Indicia reading terminal having spatial measurement functionality
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
- an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view;
an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor;
a light generating assembly projecting at least a first light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal;
wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article;
wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel position for a representation of said at least one formation; and
wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation utilizes at least one of setup data determined prior to said spatial measurement mode of operation being made active, and data determined utilizing said setup data.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
There is provided in one embodiment an indicia reading terminal that can execute a spatial measurement mode of operation in which the indicia reading terminal can determine a dimension of an article in a field of view of the indicia reading terminal and/or determine other spatial information. In determining a dimension of an article, an indicia reading terminal can utilize setup data determined in a setup mode of operation and/or data determined utilizing the setup data.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting at least a first light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel position for a representation of said at least one formation; and wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation utilizes at least one of setup data determined prior to said spatial measurement mode of operation being made active, and data determined utilizing said setup data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of a target substrate within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting at least a first light formation onto said article for determining a distance of said indicia reading terminal to said target substrate, said first light formation being projected onto said target substrate within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines a distance of said indicia reading terminal to said target substrate; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel position for a representation of said at least one formation; and wherein said indicia reading terminal, further while operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation to determine said distance of said indicia reading terminal to said target substrate utilizes at least one of setup data determined prior to said spatial measurement mode of operation being made active, and data determined utilizing said setup data. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for operating an indicia reading terminal comprising the steps of:
-
configuring said indicia reading terminal to project at least a first light formation on a substrate within a present field of view of said terminal; operating the indicia reading terminal in a setup mode of operation; while said indicia reading terminal is in said setup mode of operation, moving said indicia reading terminal between certain terminal to target distances and for each certain distance, recording setup data; thereafter operating said indicia reading terminal in a spatial measurement mode of operation, wherein said indicia reading terminal in said spatial measurement mode is configured to determine a dimension of an article in a field of view of said indicia reading terminal utilizing at least one of said setup data determined in said setup mode of operation, or data determined utilizing said setup data. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
-
-
14. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting at least a first light formations onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article, determines a pixel position for a representation of said at least one light formation and finds representations of edges of said article; and wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation determines pn, the pixel distance between said pixel position and one of (a) a pixel position corresponding to another light formation or (b) a reference pixel position, determines Pn, the pixel distance between said representations of edges of said article, and determines a dimension of said article selected from the group consisting of width, length, and height dimensions of said article utilizing said determined pn, and Pn values and dn where dn is an estimated present actual distance between said at least one light formation and (a) another light formation projected by said indicia reading terminal, and (b) a reference position. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting at least a first light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines dimensions of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal is in communication with an article database, the article database including dimension information for various candidate article types; and wherein said indicia reading terminal is configured so that in said spatial measurement mode said indicia reading terminal determines one or two of width, length, or height dimensions of said article by way of image processing, and utilizes said article database for determining one or more of (a) an article type identifier;
(b) an article volume value; and
(c) missing dimension(s) of said article not determined by way of image processing.
-
-
24. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting a first light formation and a second light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation and said second light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel distance between representations of said first and second light formations; and wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation utilizes said pixel distance for determination of said at least one of a width, length, of height dimension of said article.
-
-
25. A method for measuring a dimension of an article selected from the group consisting of a width, length and height of an article, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) providing in a hand held indicia reading terminal a light generating assembly that can project a pair of dimensioning light formations onto said article; (b) configuring said hand held indicia reading terminal to include a spatial measurement mode of operation; (c) activating said spatial measurement mode of operation; (d) manually aligning said hand held indicia reading terminal relative to said article in such manner that said pair of formations are projected on said article in an orientation substantially parallel to a first edge of said article and substantially perpendicularly relative to a second edge of said article; (e) actuating an actuator to capture a frame of image data including a representation of said article; and (f) processing said frame of image data to determine a dimension of said article, said processing including processing to determine a pixel distance between representations of said first and second formations of said frame of image data. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
-
28. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting a first light formation and a second light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said first light formation and said second light formation being projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal, wherein light beams forming said first light formation and said second light formation are substantially parallel to one another but deviate from one another by a deviation angle of less than 5 degrees; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel distance between representations of said first and second light formations; wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation utilizes said determined pixel distance for determination of said at least one of a width, length, of height dimension of said article; and wherein said indicia reading terminal is further configured so that in said spatial measurement mode, said indicia reading terminal normalizes terminal to target distance dependent changes in said pixel distance resulting from said deviation angle so that determined dimensions of said article are substantially independent of said terminal to target distance. - View Dependent Claims (29)
-
-
30. An indicia reading terminal comprising:
-
an image sensor having a plurality of pixels formed in a plurality of rows and columns of pixels, wherein said indicia reading terminal has a field of view; an imaging lens focusing an image of an article within said field of view onto said image sensor; a light generating assembly projecting at least one light formation onto said article for determining dimension information of said article, said at least one light formation projected onto said article within said field of view of said indicia reading terminal, wherein a light beam forming said at least one light formation deviates from a parallel relationship with an imaging axis of said indicia reading terminal by deviation angle of less than 3 degrees; wherein said indicia reading terminal is operable in a spatial measurement mode of operation in which said indicia reading terminal determines at least one of a width, length or height dimension of said article; wherein said indicia reading terminal, when operating in said spatial measurement mode of operation processes a frame of image data including a representation of said article and determines a pixel position of a representation of said at least on light formation; wherein said indicia reading terminal, further in said spatial measurement mode of operation utilizes said determined pixel position for determination of said at least one of a width, length, of height dimension of said article; and wherein said indicia reading terminal is further configured so that in said spatial measurement mode, said indicia reading terminal normalizes terminal to target distance dependent changes in said pixel position resulting from said deviation angle so that determined dimensions of said article are substantially independent of said terminal to target distance. - View Dependent Claims (31)
-
Specification