Bar code reading apparatus capable of reading bar codes having long and short bars
First Claim
1. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
- light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information;
light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars;
one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, portions of the converted signal representing the short bars, the long bars, and the spaces; and
bar code information readout means, responsive to the converted signal generated by the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, for reading the information carried by the bar code, where the bar code information readout means include means for discriminating between the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the bars and the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, for removing portion of the converted signal which corresponds to the spaces, and for reading out the information represented by the bar code by discriminating between portions of the converted signal which correspond to the long bars and the short bars.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A bar code reader is provided which is designed to read a bar code carrying information according to a combination of lengths of bars of the code. The bar code reader includes a light source for radiating light onto the bar code, a light gathering system for gathering the light reflected from the bar code to compress the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars, a photoelectric converter, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering system, for providing a signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, and a bar code information reading unit, responsive to the signal from the photoelectric converter, for reading the information carried by the bar code. With this arrangement, the bar code may be read in a one-time scanning operation completely regardless of a type of image sensor: one-dimensional or two dimensional sensors.
31 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, portions of the converted signal representing the short bars, the long bars, and the spaces; and bar code information readout means, responsive to the converted signal generated by the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, for reading the information carried by the bar code, where the bar code information readout means include means for discriminating between the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the bars and the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, for removing portion of the converted signal which corresponds to the spaces, and for reading out the information represented by the bar code by discriminating between portions of the converted signal which correspond to the long bars and the short bars. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a predetermined rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, portions of the converted signal representing the short bars, the long bars, and the spaces; removing means for discriminating between a portion of the converted signal corresponding to the bars and a portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, and for removing the portion of the signal corresponding to the spaces; and bar code information read out means for reading out the information represented by the bar code by discriminating between the long bars and the short bars according to the levels of the portions of the converted signal.
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8. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code including a plurality of bars which carry information represented by a combination of lengths of the bars; light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code to compress the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars; photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for providing a signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light; bar code information readout means, responsive to the signal from said photoelectric conversion means, for reading the information carried by the bar code; and determining means for determining an orientation of the bars of the bar code and for generating a signal indicative thereof. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal, portions of the converted signal being one of a first, second, and third level which are different from each other, the first level corresponding to the long bars, the second level corresponding to the short bars, the third level corresponding to the spaces; and bar code information read out means for reading out the information represented by the bar code based on the converted signal generated by the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light gathering means for gathering light reflected from a bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, portions of the converted signal representing the short bars, the long bars, and the spaces; and bar code information readout means, responsive to the converted signal from the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, for discriminating between the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the bars and the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, for removing the portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, and for reading out the information represented by the bar code by discriminating the long bars and the short bars based on the levels of the portions of the converted signal.
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14. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light gathering means for gathering light reflected from a bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal having a level corresponding to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, portions of the converted signal representing the short bars, the long bars, and the spaces; and removing means for discriminating between a portion of the converted signal corresponding to the bars and a portion of the converted signal corresponding to the spaces, and for removing the portion of the signal corresponding to the spaces; and bar code information read out means for reading out the information represented by the bar code by discriminating between the long bars and the short bars based on the levels of the portions of the converted signal.
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15. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light gathering means for gathering light reflected from a bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by a space, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal, portions of the converted signal being one of a first, second, and third level which are different from each other, the first level corresponding to long bars, the second level corresponding to short bars, the third level corresponding to the spaces; and bar code information read out means for reading out the information represented by the bar code based on the converted signal generated by the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A bar code reading apparatus comprising:
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light radiating means for radiating light onto a bar code, the bar code including long and short bars which are separated by spaces, a combination of lengths of the bars representing information; light gathering means for gathering the light reflected from the bar code and for compressing the gathered light at a preselected rate in a lengthwise direction of the bars; one-dimensional photoelectric conversion means, responsive to the light compressed by the light gathering means, for generating a converted signal varying over a range of first, second, and third levels according to a degree of intensity of the compressed light, the first level corresponding to the spaces between the bars, the second level corresponding to the short bars, the third level corresponding to the long bars; and bar code information readout means for reading out the information represented by the bar code, the bar code information readout means generating first and second signals based on the converted signal generated by the photoelectric conversion means, the first signal having a first bar code level in response to an increase in the level of the converted signal to a second level from a first level followed by a decrease from the second level to the first level, the second signal having a second bar code level in response to an increase in the level of the converted signal to a third level from the first level followed by a decrease from the third level to the first level, where the first and second signals are generated when the converted signal respectively remains at the second and third level for a given period of time. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification