Method for laser writing multiple updatable miniature 2-D barcode data bases for electronic commerce

• US 6,338,433 B1
• Filed: 10/12/1999
• Issued: 01/15/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Assa Abloy AB
• Original Assignee: Drexler Technology Corporation (Assa Abloy AB)
• Inventors: Drexler, Jerome
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, Larry D
• Application Number:
  US09/416,408
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/454, 235/462.01, 235/462.09, 235/462.1, 235/487, 235/494, 235/492
• US Class Current: 235/462.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 1/126 by photographic or thermographic registration recording apparatus for measuring instruments G01D15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 13/04 using optical elements ; using other beam accessed elements, e.g. electron or ion beam
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/54473 for use after dicing

Abstract

A method and system for recording and storing digital data on optical memory cards and labels in the form of miniature bar codes using laser recording of optical storage media to create multiple updatable, miniature 2-D bar codes, storing about 15 to more than 500 times as much digital data as the widely-adopted PDF-417, 2-D bar code. The optical storage media is of the DRAW (direct-read-after-write) type which requires no post processing. The optical storage media is pre-formatted with tracks to precisely locate the recorded microscopic data spots. Groups of these microscopic data spots form data bars which in turn form data pixels whose dimensions are at least four times greater linearly and 16 times greater in area than the microscopic data spots. The data pixels can be read with photodetector arrays such as CCD arrays.

Claims

1. A method of creating digital data pixels in the form of miniature bar code(s) readable with CCD arrays from laser-written, microscopic data spots comprising,

generating an optical beam capable of recording microscopic data spots on an optical data storage medium, the spots having a characteristic width,

providing a DRAW (direct-read-after-write) optical data storage medium capable of being laser-recorded with said microscopic data spots,

pre-formatting said medium with tracks for recording said data spots where the track has a characteristic width sufficient to accommodate two to six of said data spots if they were arranged in close proximity to one another in a column across said track width,

optically recording a row of said data spots along and within a first track in a manner so as to form a first laser-recorded data bar which has the approximate width of said data spots and a length of approximately one to two times the track width,

laser recording one to five more data bars parallel and adjacent to said first data bar within the width of the same track and having a length similar to that of the first data bar,

identifying one data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns on said optical storage medium and which encompasses two to six of said data bars and that portion of said track that contains said data bars, and

grouping data pixels to form bar codes or bar code data bases.

2. The method of claim 1 where said optical data storage medium is disposed on one of optical memory cards, label tape or individual labels.

3. The method of claim 1 where said bar codes are 2-D bar codes of a type including the following:

PDF-417, Aztec, Code 16K or Code 49.

4. The method of claim 1 where said bar codes are of the 1-D bar code type including the following:

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, Code 11, Code B, Coda Bar, EAN, UPC, MSI, PostNet, Royal Mail (RM 45CC) or Telepan.

5. The method of claim 1 further defined by writing adjacent spots in the widthwise direction as well as the lengthwise direction until most of the entire width of the track is written upon.

6. The method of claim 1 further defined by writing, in some tracks, spots in the lengthwise direction in the center of the track, leaving space in the track on both sides of the spots, and in other tracks spots in the widthwise direction as well as the lengthwise direction until most of the entire width of the track is written upon.

7. The method of claim 1 further defined by writing data across the width of the optical recording medium with a laser while moving the recording medium in the lengthwise direction and again writing data across the width of the medium.

8. A method of creating digital data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes readable with CCD arrays from laser-written, microscopic data spots comprising,

providing a laser capable of recording microscopic data spots on a DRAW (direct-read-after-write) optical data storage medium,

pre-formatting said medium with tracks for recording said data spots where the track is wide enough to accommodate two to six said data spots if they were arranged in close proximity to one another in a column across said track width,

laser recording a row of said data spots along and within a first track such that said spots form a first laser-recorded data bar which has the approximate width of said data spots and a length of approximately two to four times the track width,

laser recording one to five more data bars parallel and adjacent to said first data bar within the width of the same first track and having a length similar to that of the first data bar,

laser recording in a second track adjacent to the first track two to six data bars of similar widths and lengths to those in the first track,

identifying one data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns on said optical storage medium and which encompasses four to twelve of said data bars in the first and second tracks and that portion of the two tracks containing said data bars, and

grouping data pixels to form bar codes or bar code data bases.

9. The method of claim 8 where said optical data storage medium is disposed on one of optical memory cards, label tape or individual labels.

10. The method of claim 8 where said bar codes are 2-D bar codes of a type including the following:

PDF-417, Aztec, Code 16K or Code 49.

11. The method of claim 8 where said bar codes are of the 1-D bar code type including the following:

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, Code 11, Code B, Coda Bar, EAN, UPC, MSI, PostNet, Royal Mail (RM 45CC) or Telepan.

12. A method of creating digital data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes readable with CCD arrays from laser-written, microscopic data spots comprising,

providing a laser capable of recording microscopic data spots on a DRAW (direct-read-after-write) optical data storage medium,

pre-formatting said medium with tracks for recording said data spots where the track is wide enough to accommodate two to six said data spots if they were arranged in close proximity to one another in a column across said track width,

laser recording a row of said data spots along and within a first track such that said spots form a first laser-recorded data bar which has the approximate width of said data spots and a length of approximately three to six times the track width,

laser recording one to five more data bars parallel and adjacent to said first data bar within the width of the same first track and having a length similar to that of the first data bar,

laser recording two to six data bars of similar widths and lengths in a second track adjacent to the first track and two to six data bars in a third track which is adjacent to either the first or second track,

identifying one data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns on said optical storage medium and which encompasses six to eighteen of said data bars in the three tracks and that portion of the three tracks containing said data bars, and

grouping data pixels to form bar codes or bar code data bases.

13. The method of claim 12 where said optical data storage medium is disposed on one of optical memory cards, label tape or individual labels.

14. The method of claim 12 where said bar codes are 2-D bar codes of a type including the following:

PDF-417, Aztec, Code 16K or Code 49.

15. The method of claim 12 where said bar codes are of the 1-D bar code type including the following:

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, Code 11, Code B, Coda Bar, EAN, UPC, MSI, PostNet, Royal Mail (RM 45CC) or Telepan.

16. A method of creating digital data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes readable with CCD arrays from laser-written, microscopic data spots comprising,

providing a laser capable of recording microscopic data spots on a DRAW (direct-read-after-write) optical data storage medium,

pre-formatting said medium-with tracks for recording said data spots where the track is wide enough to accommodate two to six said data spots if they were arranged in close proximity to one another in a column across said track width,

laser recording a row of said data spots along and within a first track such that said spots form a first laser-recorded data bar which has the approximate width of said data spots and a length of approximately four to eight times the track width,

laser recording one to five more data bars parallel and adjacent to said first data bar within the width of the same first track and having a length similar to that of the first data bar,

laser recording two to six data bars of similar widths and lengths in each of a second track, third track, and fourth track, which form a group of four adjacent tracks,

identifying one data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns on said optical storage medium and which encompasses eight to twenty-four of said data bars in the four tracks and that portion of the four tracks containing said data bars, and

grouping data pixels to form bar codes or bar code data bases.

17. The method of claim 16 where said optical data storage medium is disposed on one of optical memory cards, label tape or individual labels.

18. The method of claim 16 where said bar codes are 2-D bar codes of a type including the following:

PDF-417, Aztec, Code 16K or Code 49.

19. The method of claim 16 where said bar codes are of the 1-D bar code type including the following:

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, Code 11, Code B, Coda Bar, EAN, UPC, MSI, PostNet, Royal Mail (RM 45CC) or Telepan.

20. A method of creating digital data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes readable with CCD arrays from laser-written, microscopic data spots comprising,

providing a laser capable of recording microscopic data spots on a DRAW (direct-read-after-write) optical data storage medium,

pre-formatting said medium with tracks for recording said data spots where the track is wide enough to accommodate two to six said data spots if they were arranged in close proximity to one another in a column across said track width,

laser recording a row of said data spots along and within a first track such that said spots are either in close proximity, contiguous, or overlapping one another so as to form a first laser-recorded data bar which has the width of said data spots and a length of approximately five to ten times the track width,

laser recording of at least one more data bar adjacent to said first data bar within the approximate width of the same track and having a length similar to that of the first data bar,

laser recording two to six data bars of similar widths and lengths in each of a second track, third track, fourth track, and fifth track, which form a group of five adjacent tracks,

identifying one data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns on said optical storage medium and which encompasses ten to thirty of said data bars in five tracks and that portion of the five tracks containing said data bars, and

grouping data pixels to form bar codes or bar code data bases.

21. The method of claim 20 where said optical data storage medium is disposed on one of optical memory cards, label tape or individual labels.

22. The method of claim 20 where said bar codes are 2-D bar codes of a type including the following:

PDF-417, Aztec, Code 16K or Code 49.

23. The method of claim 20 where said bar codes are of the 1-D bar code type including the following:

Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, Code 11, Code B, Coda Bar, EAN, UPC, MSI, PostNet, Royal Mail (RM 45CC) or Telepan.

24. An updatable optical memory card containing miniature bar codes readable with a photodetector array comprising a wallet-size card having a strip, patch or stripe of optical contrast pre-formatted DRAW laser recording material disposed thereon, a plurality of laser-written microscopic data spots create a plurality of data bars recorded on said strip with at least two said data bars on each track having a track width at least three times greater than the width of the data bars and the combination of at least two adjacent tracks having said data bars recorded thereon, forming a data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns and which encompasses at least 2n data bars which are approximately n to 2n track widths long and that portion of the n tracks encompassed containing at least 2n said data bars, and where said data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes are capable of being read with a photodetector array.

25. The updatable optical memory card of claim 24 wherein said photodetector array is a CCD array.

26. The updatable optical memory card of claim 24 where the number of tracks n can range from one to ten.

27. The updatable optical memory card of claim 24 where the data pixel linear size dimension ranges from approximately one track width to ten times the track width.

28. The updatable optical memory card of claim 24 where said miniature bar codes are in the form of miniature 2-D bar codes.

29. The updatable optical memory card of claim 24 where some of the data recorded in microscopic data spots on said card is also recorded redundantly on the same card using data pixels which are at least twice as large as said microscopic data spots.

30. An optical memory label tape or individual labels for attaching to documents, plastic cards and manufactured products containing miniature bar codes comprising a strip, patch or stripe of optical contrast pre-formatted DRAW laser recording material in the form of single or multiple labels in the form of a tape, a plurality of laser-written microscopic data spots create a plurality of data bars recorded on said strip, patch or stripe with at least two said data bars on each track having a track width at least three times greater than the width of the data bars and the combination of at least two adjacent tracks having said data bars recorded thereon, forming a data pixel among many data pixels as a region whose smallest dimension is at least seven microns, that encompasses at least 2n data bars which are approximately n to 2n track widths long and that portion of the n tracks encompassed containing at least 2n said data bars, and where said data pixels in the form of miniature bar codes are capable of being read with a photodetector array.

31. The optical memory label tape or individual labels of claim 30 wherein said photodetector array is a CCD array.

32. The optical memory individual labels of claim 30 which are utilized for a purpose and said purpose is authentication, validation, authorization, or identification of said documents, plastic cards and manufactured products.

33. The optical memory label of claim 30 where the number of tracks n can range from one to ten.

34. The optical memory label of claim 30 where the data pixel linear size dimension ranges from approximately one track width to ten times the track width.

35. The optical memory label tape of claim 30 which is utilized for a purpose and said purpose is authentication, validation, authorization, or identification of said documents, plastic cards and manufactured products.

36. The optical memory label tape or individual labels of claim 30 where the labels that comprise the tape or the individual labels have serial numbers or other features that distinguish one label from another label.

37. A method of recording digital data in the form of miniature bar codes comprising:

pre-formatting a length of direct read after write (DRAW) optical data recording medium with optically reflective parallel linear regions having a narrower linear edge region width than the edge-to-edge spacing, thereby defining data tracks of characteristic width,

in a track, writing a number of adjacent spots in the lengthwise direction, each spot having a dimension less than said track width, the spots extending for a predetermined distance along the length of the track, thereby changing the optical contrast of the track for said distance, the number of adjacent spots forming a oblong bar encoding a first data state,

providing unwritten space for said predetermined length along the track, encoding a second data state, and

combining written and unwritten spaces in a plurality of tracks to form a two-dimensional miniature bar code.