Bar code symbology capable of encoding 16-bit characters, and method and apparatus for printing and reading same

• US 5,811,781 A
• Filed: 08/21/1996
• Issued: 09/22/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Ackley, H. Sprague
• Primary Examiner(s): Hajec, Donald T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Thien Minh
• Application Number:
  US08/701,304
• Time in Patent Office: 762 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462, 235/463, 235/487, 235/375, 235/494, 235/454, 235/472, 380/28, 380/51, 380/55
• US Class Current: 235/462.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/121 by printing code marks applying code marks to labels B65C9/46; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence

Abstract

The new bar code symbology under the present invention directly encodes one symbol character for each human readable character in known 16-bit data character encoding standards, such as Unicode. The symbology employs six bars and six spaces for each symbol, and has a total width of 21 modules for each symbol character, and thus is a (21,6) symbology. Bars and spaces in symbol characters having greater than six modules in width are eliminated, as are bounding strings of more than six adjacent one-wide elements. As a result, the symbology is wand scannable, readily printable, and can be read when out-of-focus. Parity codes are employed, to enable Hamming distances between symbol characters to be maximized, and thereby improve data security of the symbology (e.g., the total width of all bars in each symbol character is equal to an even number). As a result, the present symbology preferably encodes 80,077 data characters. By employing a prime number of symbol characters, the symbology provides robust error correcting and error detection capabilities. The encoded data characters include not only the Unicode characters, but also compressed three- and four-digit numeric characters, and compressed pairs of alphanumeric characters, each encoded as a single unique symbol character. A set of start characters under the symbology not only indicate the start of a given label but also encode data characters therein.

Claims

1. A method of converting a selected human readable character to machine-readable symbols, each symbol having a pattern of dark shapes and light spaces between the shapes, the selected human readable character represented by a character code having at least 16 bits, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a single human readable character from a standard set of human readable characters, the standard set of human readable characters having more than 6,400 human readable characters in the set;

determining a character code having at least 16 bits for the selected single human readable character, the selected single human readable character and character code being selected from the standard set of human readable characters, wherein each character in the set of human readable characters has a corresponding character code;

converting the selected character code to a selected symbol code; and

printing a single symbol corresponding to the selected symbol code, the symbol and the selected symbol code being selected from a (21,6) symbology wherein each symbol in the symbology has 6 bars and 6 spaces and a width of 21 modules, and wherein the set of symbols is at least equal to the set of human readable characters.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the steps of determining, converting and printing are repeated for each human readable character in a selected string of human readable characters.

3. The method of converting according to claim 1 wherein the step of converting includes the step of retrieving the selected symbol code from a table of stored symbol codes.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the standard set of human readable characters is the Unicode standard, and wherein the step of determining a character code determines a 16-bit code from the Unicode standard.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of printing the selected single human readable character with the printed single symbol.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

selecting three or more digits;

converting the three or more of digits to a single symbol code; and

printing a single additional symbol corresponding to the single symbol code, wherein the single additional symbol and the single symbol code are selected from the (21,6) symbology.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of printing a start symbol, the start symbol being selected from a set of start symbols in the (21,6) symbology, each of the start symbols has an identical first portion, and a unique second portion with respect to each of the start symbols in the set of start symbols, and wherein the unique portion encodes at least one data character.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein each symbol in the (21,6) symbology in the step of printing is selected from the set of symbols, the set of symbols having a prime number of symbols.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

computing a check value based on at least the character code; and

printing a check symbol corresponding to the computed check value, the check symbol and the check value being from the (21,6) symbology.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of converting includes algorithmically generating the selected symbol code based on the selected character code.

11. A method of converting data characters to machine-readable symbols, each symbol having a pattern of dark shapes and light spaces between the shapes, wherein a selected human readable character is represented by a character code having at least 16 bits, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a character code having at least 16 bits for the selected single data character, the selected data character and the selected single character code being selected from a standard set of more than 6,400 data characters, wherein each character in the set of data characters has a corresponding character code;

converting the selected single character code to a single selected symbol code; and

printing a single symbol corresponding to the single selected symbol code, the single symbol and single selected symbol code being selected from a set of symbols in a symbology, wherein a number of symbols in the set of symbols in the symbology is at least equal to a number of data characters in the set of human readable characters.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the steps of determining, converting and printing are repeated for each data character in a selected string of data characters.

13. The method of converting according to claim 11 wherein the step of converting includes the step of retrieving the symbol code from a table of stored symbol codes.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the standard set of data characters is the Unicode standard, and wherein the step of determining a character code determines a 16-bit code from the Unicode standard.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of printing a selected single human readable character with the printed single symbol, the human readable character corresponding to the selected single data character.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

selecting a plurality of digits;

converting the plurality of digits to a single symbol code; and

printing a single additional symbol corresponding to the single symbol code, wherein the single additional symbol and the single symbol code are selected from the symbology.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of printing a start symbol, the start symbol being selected from a set of start symbols in the symbology, each of the start symbols having a first portion identical to each of the start symbols in the set of start symbols, and a second portion unique to each of the start symbols in the set of start symbols, wherein the unique portion encodes at least one data character.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein each symbol in the symbology in the step of printing is selected from the set of symbols, the set of symbols having a prime number of symbols.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

computing a check value based on the character code; and

printing a check symbol corresponding to the computed check value, the check symbol and the check value being selected from the symbology.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of printing includes algorithmically generating a selected pattern of dark shapes and light spaces between the shapes for the single symbol, based on the single selected symbol code.