System and method for OCR assisted bar code decoding
First Claim
1. A method for decoding an image of a label, the label including a bar code symbol and human readable characters adjacent thereto, the bar code symbol comprising bar code characters corresponding to the human readable characters, comprising the steps of:
- locating the bar code symbol in the image;
attempting to decode a bar code character;
determining whether the bar code character has been successfully decoded;
in response to the bar code character not being successfully decoded,identifying the human readable characters in the image;
mapping the unsuccessfully decoded bar code character to at least one of the human readable characters;
converting the at least one human readable character into at least one text character; and
creating a substitute bar code character corresponding to the at least one text character,whereby the substitute bar code character is used to decode the bar code symbol.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for using OCR processing to read human readable characters that correspond to an unsuccessfully decoded code word in a bar code symbol. An imaging system captures an image of a label that includes a bar code symbol and corresponding human readable characters. The system attempts to decode the bar code symbol by decoding each of the constituent bar code characters. If a bar code characters is not successfully decoded, the system locates the associated human readable text and segments the text into individual character images. The unsuccessfully decoded bar code character is mapped to one or more of the alphanumeric character images, which are converted into text characters. The resulting ASCII data is used to create a substitute bar code character in the bar code symbology. After the bar code symbol is decoded using the substitute bar code character, the symbol is validated through check summing or other means.
202 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for decoding an image of a label, the label including a bar code symbol and human readable characters adjacent thereto, the bar code symbol comprising bar code characters corresponding to the human readable characters, comprising the steps of:
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locating the bar code symbol in the image; attempting to decode a bar code character; determining whether the bar code character has been successfully decoded; in response to the bar code character not being successfully decoded, identifying the human readable characters in the image; mapping the unsuccessfully decoded bar code character to at least one of the human readable characters; converting the at least one human readable character into at least one text character; and creating a substitute bar code character corresponding to the at least one text character, whereby the substitute bar code character is used to decode the bar code symbol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for reading a data from an object, the object including a bar code symbol and human readable characters, the bar code symbol comprising bar code characters corresponding to the human readable characters, comprising:
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an imaging system including a camera for capturing an image of the package, the image including the bar code symbol and the human readable characters; and a label decoding system for processing the image; the label decoding system being programmed to; locate the bar code symbol in the image; attempt to decode each character in the bar code symbol; determine that one of the bar code characters failed decoding; locate the human readable characters in the image; map the failed bar code character to a human readable character; convert the mapped human readable character into a text character; create a substitute bar code character corresponding to the text character; and use the substitute bar code character to decode the bar code symbol. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program for decoding an image of a label, the label including a bar code symbol and human readable characters adjacent thereto, the bar code symbol comprising bar code characters corresponding to the human readable characters, the computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform the steps of:
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locating the bar code symbol in the image; attempting to decode the bar code symbol by decoding each character in the bar code; determining that a bar code character has failed decoding; identifying the human readable characters in the image; mapping the failed bar code character to at least one of the human readable characters; converting the at least one human readable character into at least one text character; creating a substitute bar code character corresponding to the at least one text character; using the substitute bar code character to decode the bar code symbol; and validating the bar code symbol. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification