SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MANIPULATE AN IMAGE

• US 20140125999A1
• Filed: 01/13/2014
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Longacre, Andrew Jr., Hawley, Thomas, Pankow, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 9,210,294 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1443 locating of the code in an image
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1447 extracting optical codes from image or text carrying said optical code
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1452 detecting bar code edges
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1456 determining the orientation of the optical code with respect to the reader and correcting therefore
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/146 the method including quality enhancement steps
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/242 by image rotation, e.g. by 90 degrees
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/243 by compensating for image skew or non-uniform image deformations
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40068 Modification of image resolution, i.e. determining the values of picture elements at new relative positions H04N1/3935 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of operating an image reader typically includes: searching a digital image for nominally straight edges; characterizing the nominally straight edges in terms of length and/or direction; determining a predominant orientation of the nominally straight edges; establishing a group of edges as a function of their proximity to the center of the image; establishing a group of edges as a function of their proximity to other remaining edge positions; and transmuting a rectangle bounding those edges into a rectified image. The rectified image is typically an image that is cropped or rotated.

Claims

1. A method of operating an image reader comprising:

searching a digital image for nominally straight edges;

characterizing the nominally straight edges in terms of length and/or direction;

establishing a first group of edges as a function of their proximity to the digital image'"'"'s center;

establishing a second group of edges as a function of their proximity to other remaining edges;

transmuting a rectangle bounding the first group of edges and the second group of edges; and

discarding portions of the digital image outside of the rectangle to form a rectified image.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising searching the digital image in high resolution and low resolution.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a predominant orientation of the nominally straight edges; and

discarding edges that are not nominally parallel or perpendicular to the determined predominate orientation.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising rotating the digital image.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising capturing the digital image and automatically searching the digital image for nominally straight edges.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing the digital image in high resolution and low resolution at the same time; and

searching the digital image in high resolution and low resolution.

7. A method of operating an image reader comprising:

searching a digital image at a high resolution for nominally straight edges;

searching the digital image at a low resolution for nominally straight edges;

characterizing the nominally straight edges in terms of length and/or direction;

determining a predominant orientation of the nominally straight edges;

discarding edges that are not nominally parallel or perpendicular to the determined predominate orientation establishing a first group of edges as a function of their proximity to the digital image'"'"'s center;

establishing a second group of edges as a function of their proximity to other remaining edges;

transmuting a rectangle bounding the first group of edges and the second group of edges; and

discarding portions of the digital image outside of the rectangle to form a rectified image.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising rotating the digital image.

9. The method of claim 7, comprising capturing the digital image and automatically searching the digital image at a low resolution for nominally straight edges.

10. The method of claim 7, comprising capturing the digital image in high resolution and low resolution at the same time.

11. An indicia reading device comprising:

an image sensor for outputting signals representative of an image in a field of view; and

a processor communicatively connected to the image sensor, the processor being configured for;

searching an image for nominally straight edges;

characterizing the nominally straight edges in terms of length and/or direction;

establishing a first group of edges as a function of their proximity to the image'"'"'s center;

establishing a second group of edges as a function of their proximity to other remaining edges;

transmuting a rectangle bounding the first group of edges and the second group of edges; and

discarding portions of the image outside of the rectangle to form a rectified image.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for searching the image in high resolution and low resolution.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for:

determining a predominant orientation of the nominally straight edges; and

discarding edges that are not nominally parallel or perpendicular to the determined predominate orientation.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for rotating the image.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for capturing the image and automatically searching the image for nominally straight edges.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured for:

capturing the image in high resolution and low resolution at the same time; and

searching the image in high resolution and low resolution.

17. An indicia reading device comprising:

an image sensor for outputting signals representative of an image in a field of view; and

a processor communicatively connected to the image sensor, the processor being configured for;

searching an image at a high resolution for nominally straight edges;

searching the image at a low resolution for nominally straight edges;

characterizing the nominally straight edges in terms of length and/or direction;

determining a predominant orientation of the nominally straight edges;

discarding edges that are not nominally parallel or perpendicular to the determined predominate orientation

establishing a first group of edges as a function of their proximity to the image'"'"'s center;

establishing a second group of edges as a function of their proximity to other remaining edges;

transmuting a rectangle bounding the first group of edges and the second group of edges; and

discarding portions of the image outside of the rectangle to form a rectified image.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured for rotating the image.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured for capturing the image and automatically searching the image at a low resolution for nominally straight edges.

20. The device of claim 17, wherein the processor is configured for capturing the digital image in high resolution and low resolution at the same time.