CODED ARTICLE

• US 3,632,995 A
• Filed: 05/09/1968
• Issued: 01/04/1972
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/1968
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Howard W. Wilson
• Original Assignee: Howard W. Wilson
• Inventors: Wilson, Howard W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cook, Daryl W.
• Application Number:
  US04/729,876
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 235/61.11,61.115,61.12 250/219 178/69.5
• US Class Current: 235/494
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06018 one-dimensional coding

Abstract

A merchandising coupon having a coded information track comprising a pair of substantially parallel rows of adjacent portions of contrasting character (for example, black and white), the portions of the first of said rows serving as a timer track, and the portions of the second of said rows serving as an information track; the contrasting portions of the first row being symmetrically and uniformly spaced to serve as a timing or clocking track, and the contrasting portions of the second row being of a length to overlie one or more of the adjacent contrasting portions of the first row, whereby said rows, when correlated in a binary system, operate according to a nonreturnto-zero method in order to provide substantial manufacturing, shipping, receiving, ordering or marketing inventory control and accounting information, and capable of being imprinted at any handling stage with one or more additional rows of data operating in substantially the same manner.

Claims

1. A coded computer input article having a face with an optically coded machine language readable asymmetric track thereon comprising at least two rows, one of said rows comprising a timing row and having alternating optically contrasting areas readable by an optical scanner and indicative of associated data information in an accompanying second row, said optically contrasting areas in the one row having substantially equal dimensions in the direction of scanning, and the other of said rows having areas corresponding to the successive information indicating positions of the first-mentioned row and directly readable in machine language by an optical scanner, said areas of said information row comprising alternating optically contrasting portions, some of said portions having dimensions in the direction of scanning which are substantially equal to that of an area of said timing row, and some of said portions having dimensions in the direction of scanning which are substantially equal to that of an area of said timing row, and some of said portions having dimensions in the direction of scanning which are substantially a multiple of that that of an area of the timing row so that such successive pieces of information represented by said portions constitute a serial display of the entire information of the code and are gated for direct reading successively by the contrasting areas of said timing row that serves only as a clock in a nonreturn-to-zero code, said track having at least one start reading area adjacent the leading end and at least one stop reading area adjacent the trailing end.

2. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 and further including a human-readable information track on said face of said article.

3. A coded article as set forth in claim 2 wherein the human-readable track is in optical machine characTer recognition indicia and is therefore machine readable.

4. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 and further including at least one additional information-bearing row corresponding to the first-mentioned timing row and bearing information different from that of the first-mentioned information-bearing row.

5. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 wherein said track is arranged in a circle.

6. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 wherein said track is arranged substantially in a square.

7. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least first ones of said contrasting areas are of symmetric geometric shape.

8. A coded article as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first ones of said area are rectangular.

9. A coded article as set forth in claim 8 wherein the rectangular areas are square.

10. A coded article as set forth in claim 9 wherein the square areas have concave sides.

11. A coded article as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first ones of said areas are circular.

12. A coded article as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first ones of said areas are ellipses.

13. A coded article as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first ones of said areas are diamond shaped.

14. A coded article as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first ones of said areas are cross shaped.

15. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 comprising a coupon formed as an integral part of a larger label and separated from the remainder of said label by perforations to facilitate tearing of said coupon from said label.

16. A coded article as set forth in claim 15 and further including a tapered tear tab extending from a perforated edge of said coupon further into said label.

17. A coded article as set forth in claim 16 and further including a flap extending from said tear tab further into said label and defined by a slit between said flap and the remainder of said label.

18. A coded article as set forth in claim 1 comprising a coupon formed as an integral part of an envelope flap.

19. A sheet of material having a binary nonreturn-to-zero asymmetric code track portion:

said track portion having first and second elongated spaced-apart rows each of optically contrasting portions;

said first row being only a timing row and said second row being only an information row, each of said rows comprising alternate first and second adjacent portions, each of said first adjacent portions being optically contrasting in character relative to each of said second adjacent portions, said first and second adjacent portions of said first row being alternately disposed and contiguous with each other;

each of said first and second adjacent portions of said first row being generally rectangular and being of dimensions similar to one of said portions of said first row, and some of said first and second adjacent portions of said second row being relatively elongated longitudinally along said second row and of a length equal to a plurality of said first and second adjacent portions of said first row so that successive bits of information represented by said elongated portions may be read directly as one of two states of the binary code during successive timing intervals as gated by said portions of said first row, said track portion having at least one start reading portion adjacent the leading end and at least one stop reading portion adjacent the trailing end.

20. A sheet of material as set forth in claim 19 wherein said sheet has a marginal edge, and wherein said track is disposed adjacent said edge.

21. The invention as defined in claim 19 wherein:

said sheet of material is a photographic microfilm, and whereon a plurality of said track portions are arranged generally in parallel adjacent relationship to each other and directed transversely of the longitudinal axis of the film.

22. The invention as defined in claim 19 wherein:

said sheet of material is a photographic microfilm, and whereon a plurality of said track portions are arranged generally in paraLlel adjacent relationship to each other and directed longitudinally of the longitudinal axis of the film.

23. The invention as defined in claim 19 wherein:

said first and second adjacent portions of said first row are spaced slightly from said first and second adjacent portions of said second row to avoid ink flow printing problems between said rows when said first adjacent portions of said first and second rows are printed on said sheet.

24. The invention as defined in claim 19 wherein:

a plurality of said sheets are integral with each other in edge-to-edge relationship.

25. The invention as defined in claim 19 wherein:

an elongated start portion is similar to said first adjacent portion of said first and second rows and a start portion of each of said first and second adjacent rows is located at one end of said first row and at an opposite end of said second row, said start portions being adapted to serve as scanning start and stop indicators relative to timing and data bits represented by said first and second rows, respectively.

26. A merchandising coupon comprising an asymmetric code track portion, said track portion having a timing row and a plurality of information rows, each row comprising first and second adjacent portions, each of said first portions in a row being optically contrasting in character relative to the second portions in the row, said first and second portions in the timing row being alternately disposed and contiguous with each other, said first portions of said timing row also being symmetrically spaced apart by said second portions thereof, at least one of said portions of each information row being generally of a dimension similar to one of said portions in the timing row, at least one of said first and second portions of each information row being of a length equal to a plurality of said first and second portions of the time row, and means furnishing gating signals to a reading device to read the information directly from an information row upon completion of the reading of the information from a preceding information row, said means comprising adjacent contrasting portions of information rows, said track portion having at least one start reading portion adjacent the leading end and at least one stop reading portion adjacent the trailing end.

27. A method comprising preparing a computer input document by imprinting thereon an asymmetric binary track having at least two optically coded rows, one of said rows being entirely a timing row and having alternating optically contrasting areas readable by an optical scanner, another of said rows being entirely a merchandising data alternating row, said contrasting areas of the timing row having substantially equal dimensions in the direction of scanning, said information row having alternating optically contrasting portions readable by an optical scanner, some of said portions having dimensions in the direction of scanning which are substantially equal to that of an area of said timing row, and some of said portions having dimensions in the direction of scanning which are substantially a multiple of that of an area of the timing row, said track portion having at least one start reading portion adjacent the leading end and at least one stop reading portion adjacent the trailing end, optically scanning said rows to determine a binary value of the information of said information row directly and gating the reading of said information row by said timing row such that the timing row constitutes purely a clock for reading information from the information row in a nonreturn-to-zero code in which all of the data information is represented by said information row, and turning said reading on and off by said start and stop areas.

28. A method according to claim 27 including spacing apart slightly said two rows to avoid ink flow printing problems between said rows when they are printed on said document.

29. A method according to claim 27 including providing on said document a distinctive Appearing indicia correlative to a particular merchandising scheme.