Bar code reader
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of reading a two-dimensional bar code symbol having a plurality of linearly arranged indicia patterns of encoded information having a reading direction corresponding to said linear direction, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) optically imaging upon a light-detector array a field of view including said symbol to be read;
(b) directly transferring serially only to a serial port of a memory array a binary representation of light impinging on the light-detector array;
(c) scanning said binary representation in the memory array via a parallel port of said memory array to produce electrical data output to processing means;
(d) evaluating said electrical output including finding the presence of bar code symbol information by said processing means to thereby determine orientation of said linearly arranged pattern of bar code data in said bar code symbol; and
(e) thereafter scanning said binary representation in the memory array via said parallel port of said memory array using addressing based on said determined orientation to produce electrical bar code data to said processing means, and decoding said electrical bar code data using said processing means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a bar code reader, a field of view which includes a symbol to be read is imaged upon a light-responsive array such as a CCD imager device. The output of this array is transferred to a memory array to provide a bit-mapped type of binary representation of the image including the symbol. The memory is scanned (instead of the field of view itself being mechanically scanned) to recognize and decode the symbol. Because the angular orientation of the symbol is variable, this binary representation may be interpreted to determine how the memory array is to be scanned to recognize the bar code symbol. For example, the distinctive patterns of characters used in bar codes may be found by scanning the memory and the relative positions of these patterns interpreted to determine the position, size and shape of the symbol in the memory, thereby defining at what angular displacement the memory array need be addressed to traverse the rows of the bar code symbol. Or, the memory array may be simply scanned using preselected scan lines (beginning with a raster-type scan) until code recognition is obtained.
374 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method of reading a two-dimensional bar code symbol having a plurality of linearly arranged indicia patterns of encoded information having a reading direction corresponding to said linear direction, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) optically imaging upon a light-detector array a field of view including said symbol to be read; (b) directly transferring serially only to a serial port of a memory array a binary representation of light impinging on the light-detector array; (c) scanning said binary representation in the memory array via a parallel port of said memory array to produce electrical data output to processing means; (d) evaluating said electrical output including finding the presence of bar code symbol information by said processing means to thereby determine orientation of said linearly arranged pattern of bar code data in said bar code symbol; and (e) thereafter scanning said binary representation in the memory array via said parallel port of said memory array using addressing based on said determined orientation to produce electrical bar code data to said processing means, and decoding said electrical bar code data using said processing means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of operating a bar code scanner for reading two-dimensional bar code symbols of the type having a plurality of rows of bar code data, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating directly in a light-responsive array a binary representation of a two-dimensional field of view, said field of view including a symbol to be read;
said generating including the step of optically imaging said field of view onto said light-responsive array to generate said binary representation of said field of view;
then serially transferring said binary representation to a memory array by direct serial only coupling;(b) scanning said memory array via a parallel port to said memory array, said scanning including generating an effective scan line having an angular orientation corresponding to that of a representation of said symbol included within said binary representation, said scanning being effective to produce electrical data output; and
scanning including using said processing means to read the electrical data output to locate a portion of the bar code information and determine said angular orientation of said bar code information, and thereafter addressing said memory based on said angular orientation to produce electrical data output corresponding to complete rows of said symbol. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. Apparatus for reading a two-dimensional bar code symbol having plurality of rows of bar code information, comprising:
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(a) optical means for imaging upon a light-responsive array a field of view which includes said symbol to be read, the array having a serial output; (b) a memory array having a serial port receiving from said serial output a serial binary representation of light impinging upon said light-responsive array, the memory array also having a parallel port; (c) processing means accessing the memory array via said parallel port, to determine the orientation of a symbol included within said binary representation and producing electrical data output derived from said memory array by scanning based upon orientation, and said processing means including means for finding bar code information in said binary representation for one row of said symbol to determine said orientation of said symbol for accessing said memory array to scan complete rows of said symbol. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of reading a two-dimensional symbol, said symbol having a plurality of different linearly arranged indicia patterns of encoded information, each pattern having a reading direction corresponding to said linearly arranged patterns, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) optically imaging upon a light-detector device a field of view including said symbol to be read; (b) transferring to a port of a memory a binary representation of light impinging upon the light-detector device; (c) scanning said binary representation in said memory using a plurality of scan paths, via a port of said memory, to produce electrical output to processing means; (d) evaluating said electrical data output including finding the presence of a part of said encoded information by said processing means and further including determining the orientation of one of said plurality of said linearly arranged patterns in said symbol; and (e) thereafter scanning said binary representation in the memory using scan paths based on said determined orientation to produce encoded information to said processing means. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of operating a scanner for reading a two-dimensional symbol, said symbol having differing pattern s in vertical versus horizontal directions and having preferred directional paths for reading data therein, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating with a light-responsive device a representation of a two-dimensional field of view, the field of view including said symbol to be read;
said generating including the step of optically imaging said field of view onto said light-responsive device to generate said representation of said field of view;
then transferring said representation in binary form to a memory array;(b) scanning said memory by accessing said memory array by processing means, said scanning including generating a scan line by addressing said memory and evaluating data accessed by said addressing to find indications of valid data for a complete row of said symbol to thereby develop a scan line for a first readable path, and thereafter generating additional scan lines oriented to said scan line for a first readable row, to read additional paths of said symbol.
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34. A method of reading a two-dimensional symbol, said symbol having a plurality of different linearly arranged indicia patterns of encoded information, each pattern having a preferred reading direction corresponding to said linearly arranged patterns, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) optically imaging upon a light-detector device a field of view including said symbol to be read; (b) transferring to a port of a memory a binary representation of light impinging upon the light-detector array; (c) scanning said binary representation in the memory using a plurality of scan paths, via a port of said memory to produce electrical data output to processing means; (d) evaluating said electrical data output including finding said symbol by detecting characteristics of a portion of said symbol, then orienting said scan paths until a full pattern is found in a given scan path, then continuing to scan said memory using further scan paths oriented according to said given scan path. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of reading a bar code symbol or the like comprising the steps of:
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(a) optically imaging upon a light-detector array a field of view including a symbol to be read; (b) transferring to a memory array a binary representation of light impinging upon the light-detector array; (c) scanning said memory array along a sequence of scan paths to produce electrical data output to at least a corresponding segment of a row including bar code information; (d) changing said sequence of scan paths if a partial row of bar code information is detected within a single scan line of said scan paths; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until the data represented in the complete symbol has been recognized.
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Specification