Method and Apparatus for Identifying Embossed Characters
First Claim
1. A method of identifying an embossed character comprising directing first light in a first direction across the embossed character to illuminate first parts of the character, recording first image data representing the character illuminated by the first light, directing second light in a second direction across the embossed character to illuminate second parts of the character, recording second image data representing the character illuminated by the second light, combining the first image data and the second image data to produce combined image data, comparing the combined image data to reference data, and on the basis of the comparison, identifying the character.
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Abstract
In a method and apparatus for identifying an embossed character, light of one color is directed in one direction across the embossed character to illuminate certain character parts and light of another color is directed in another direction across the embossed character to illuminate other character parts. Image data for the two colors are captured and are subjected to separate image processing to detect edges highlighted by the directed light. The processed images are combined and supplemented with OCR analysis before being compared with predicted characters. Based on the comparison, a determination is made as to the probable identity of the character.
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Citations
19 Claims
- 1. A method of identifying an embossed character comprising directing first light in a first direction across the embossed character to illuminate first parts of the character, recording first image data representing the character illuminated by the first light, directing second light in a second direction across the embossed character to illuminate second parts of the character, recording second image data representing the character illuminated by the second light, combining the first image data and the second image data to produce combined image data, comparing the combined image data to reference data, and on the basis of the comparison, identifying the character.
- 13. A system for identifying an embossed character comprising a lighting sub-system for directing first light in a first direction across the embossed character to illuminate first parts of the character and for directing second light in a second direction across the embossed character to illuminate second parts of the character, and an imaging sub-system for recording first image data representing the character illuminated by the first light and recording second image data representing the character illuminated by the second light, and a processing sub-system having a filtering module to filter the first image data to obtain first edge data corresponding to the light directed in the first direction and to filter the second image data to obtain second edge data corresponding to the light directed in the second direction, a combining module for combining the first image data and the second image data to produce combined image data, and an identification module to identify the character from the combined image data.
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19. A method of serializing packages brought to an inspection station, the method comprising capturing an image of the package, machine reading at least a part of the image to derive first data, transmitting the image to a remote station for manual reading of another part of the image to derive second data, and applying to the package a machine readable tag coded for at least a part of the first data and at least a part of the second data.
Specification