Predictive bar code decoding system and method
First Claim
1. A system for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said system comprising:
- means for obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof;
means for detecting bar edges in a first portion of the bar code from the plurality of samples, said edge detecting means being responsive to said sample obtaining means;
means for predicting at least one bar edge occurrence in a second portion of the bar code, said edge predicting means being responsive to said edge detecting means; and
means for controlling sampling of said second portion of the bar code by said sample obtaining means, based upon the at least one predicted bar edge occurrence, said controlling means being responsive to said edge predicting means.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Energy is conserved in a bar code reader by taking bar code samples on demand or as necessary, primarily when a data bearing feature of the bar code is predicted to be proximate. A plurality of samples are obtained for a bar code. Preferably, an analog to digital converter converts each of the samples into a multi-bit digital value. A feature detector is connected to the analog to digital converter for detecting bar code features from the plurality of multi-bit digital values. The displacements among the detected data bearing features are compared to thereby determine the width of bars having first and second data values in order to decode the bar code. Preferably, a relative scan speed is extracted and kept current during the scan in order to predict code feature locations. Preferably the decoding proceeds concurrently with the sampling. A controller regulates the execution of sampling based upon the predicted feature locations, and preferably reduces or eliminates sampling when no required feature is predicted.
186 Citations
78 Claims
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1. A system for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said system comprising:
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means for obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; means for detecting bar edges in a first portion of the bar code from the plurality of samples, said edge detecting means being responsive to said sample obtaining means; means for predicting at least one bar edge occurrence in a second portion of the bar code, said edge predicting means being responsive to said edge detecting means; and means for controlling sampling of said second portion of the bar code by said sample obtaining means, based upon the at least one predicted bar edge occurrence, said controlling means being responsive to said edge predicting means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said system comprising:
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means for obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; means for detecting bar edges in a first portion of the bar code from the plurality of samples, said edge detecting means being responsive to said sample obtaining means; means for identifying a bar code type from the detected bar edges, said bar code type identifying means being responsive to said edge detecting means; and means for controlling sampling of said second portion of the bar code by said sample obtaining means, based upon the identified bar code type, said controlling means being responsive to said bar code type identifying means. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A system for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said system comprising:
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means for obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; means for detecting bar edges in a first portion of the bar code from the plurality of samples, said edge detecting means being responsive to said sample obtaining means; means for determining that at least one bar edge occurrence in a second portion of said bar code need not be detected in order to decode said bar code, said determining means being responsive to said edge detecting means; and means for controlling sampling of said second portion of the bar code by said sample obtaining means, when a bar code edge need not be detected in order to decode said bar code, said sample controlling means being responsive to said determining means. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. A system for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said system comprising:
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means for obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; and means for controlling sampling of said bar code on demand, by reducing sampling of said bar code by said sample obtaining means between possible bar edge locations and by increasing sampling of said bar code by said sample obtaining means adjacent possible bar edge locations. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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27. A system for decoding an optical data code, the optical data code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of optical features, said system comprising:
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a sampler which obtains a plurality of samples of the optical data code during scanning thereof; a feature detector which detects optical features in a first portion of the optical data code from the plurality of samples, said feature detector being responsive to said sampler; a feature predictor which predicts at least one feature occurrence in a second portion of the optical data code, said feature predictor being responsive to said feature detector; and a controller which controls sampling of said second portion of the optical data code by said sampler, based upon the at least one predicted feature occurrence, said controller being responsive to said feature predictor. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for decoding an optical data code, the optical data code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of optical features, said system comprising:
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a sampler which obtains a plurality of samples of the optical data code during scanning thereof; a feature detector which detects optical features in a first portion of the optical data code from the plurality of samples, said feature detector being responsive to said sampler; an optical code type identifier which identifies an optical code type from the detected features, said identifier being responsive to said feature detector; and a controller which controls sampling of a second portion of the optical data code by said sampler, based upon the identified optical data code type, said controller means being responsive to said optical data code type identifier. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47)
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48. A system for decoding an optical data code, the optical data code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of optical features, said system comprising:
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a sampler which obtains a plurality of samples of the optical data code during scanning thereof; a feature detector which detects optical features in a first portion of the optical data code from the plurality of samples, said feature detector being responsive to said sampler; a determiner which determines that at least one feature occurrence in a second portion of said optical data code need not be detected in order to decode said optical code, said determiner being responsive to said feature detector; and a controller which controls sampling of said second portion of the optical data code by said sampler, when a feature need not be detected in order to decode said optical data code, said controller being responsive to said determiner. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50)
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51. A system for decoding an optical data code, the optical data code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of optical features, said system comprising:
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a sampler which obtains a plurality of samples of the optical data code during scanning thereof; and a controller which controls sampling of said optical data code on demand, by reducing sampling of said optical data code by said sampler between possible feature locations and by increasing sampling of said optical data code by said sampler adjacent possible feature locations. - View Dependent Claims (52)
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53. A method for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; detecting bar edges from the plurality of samples; predicting a bar edge location from the detected bar edges; and controlling sampling of the bar code between the bar edges and the predicted bar edge location. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. A method for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; detecting bar edges from the plurality of samples; identifying a bar code type from the detected bar edges; and controlling sampling of the bar code, based upon the identified bar code type. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73)
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74. A method for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; detecting bar edges from the plurality of samples; determining that at least one bar edge occurrence in said bar code need not be detected in order to decode said bar code; and controlling sampling of the bar code when a bar code edge need not be detected in order to decode said bar code. - View Dependent Claims (75, 76)
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77. A method for decoding a bar code, the bar code having data encoded in at least first and second data values as a plurality of bars, said method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a plurality of samples of the bar code during scanning thereof; reducing sampling of said bar code between possible bar edge locations; and increasing sampling of said bar code adjacent possible bar edge locations, to thereby provide sampling on demand. - View Dependent Claims (78)
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Specification