CODING PATTERN WITH DATA ELEMENTS ENCODING BY MULTI-PULSE POSITION MODULATION

• US 20090078778A1
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Lapstun, Paul
• Application Number:
  US12/178,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20090078778A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/494
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1265 Printing by reference, e.g. retrieving document/image data for a job from a source mentioned in the job
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1284 Local printer device
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding

Abstract

A substrate having a coding pattern disposed on a surface thereof. The coding pattern comprises a plurality of data elements, which encode data values by multi-pulse position modulation.

Claims

1. A substrate having a coding pattern disposed on a surface thereof, said coding pattern comprising a plurality of data elements, said data elements encoding data values by multi-pulse position modulation.

2. The substrate of claim 1, wherein said data elements are macrodots.

3. The substrate of claim 2, wherein a portion of data is represented by two or more macrodots, each of said macrodots occupying a respective position from a plurality of predetermined possible positions within said coding pattern, the positions of said two or more macrodots representing one of a plurality of possible data values.

4. The substrate of claim 1, comprising:

a plurality of target elements defining a target grid, said target grid comprising a plurality of cells, wherein neighboring cells share target elements;

a plurality of said data elements contained in each cell; and

a plurality of tags, each tag being defined by a plurality of contiguous cells, each tag comprising respective tag data encoded by a respective set of said data elements.

5. The substrate of claim 4, wherein a portion of data is represented by m macrodots, each of said macrodots occupying a respective position from a plurality of predetermined possible positions p within said cell, the respective positions of said macrodots representing one of a plurality of possible data values.

6. The substrate of claim 5, wherein said portion of data is a Reed-Solomon symbol.

7. The substrate of claim 6, wherein each cell defines a symbol group, each symbol group comprising a plurality of Reed-Solomon symbols encoded by a plurality of said data elements.

8. The substrate of claim 6, wherein m is an integer of 2 or more, and p>

m.

9. The substrate of claim 8, wherein p≧

2m.

10. The substrate of claim 9, wherein p is 6 and m is 2 or 3.

11. The substrate of claim 7, wherein said tag data is encoded as a local codeword comprised of a set of said Reed-Solomon symbols.

12. The substrate of claim 11, wherein each local codeword identifies a location of a respective tag.

13. The substrate of claim 7, wherein each tag comprises one or more common codewords, each common codeword being comprised of a set of said Reed-Solomon symbols, wherein said one or more common codewords are defined as codewords common to a plurality of contiguous tags.

14. The substrate of claim 13, wherein each symbol group comprises a fragment of at least one of said one or more common codewords, and contiguous symbol groups are arranged such that any substantially tag-sized portion of said coding pattern is guaranteed to contain said one or more common codewords irrespective of whether a whole tag is contained in said portion.

15. The substrate of claim 13, wherein said one or more common codewords encode region identity data uniquely identifying a region of said surface.

16. The substrate of claim 15, wherein said one or more common codewords uniquely identifies said substrate.

17. The substrate of claim 1, wherein each cell comprises one or more registration symbols encoded by a respective set of said data elements, said registration symbols identifying one or more of:

a translation of said cell relative to a tag containing said cell;

an orientation of a layout of said tag data with respect to said target grid; and

a flag for said tag.

18. The substrate of claim 17, wherein each cell comprises a pair of orthogonal registration symbols, each orthogonal registration symbol identifying one or more of:

a respective orthogonal translation of said cell relative to a tag containing said cell;

a respective direction component of said orientation; and

a flag for said tag.

19. The substrate of claim 1, wherein said target elements are sufficiently large to be distinguishable from said data elements by a low-pass filter.

20. The substrate of claim 1, wherein said target elements are target dots and said data elements are macrodots, and wherein each target dot has a diameter of at least twice that of each macrodot.