Indicia reading system employing digital gain control
First Claim
1. An indicia reading system, comprising:
- a laser scanning module for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field in a scanning cycle;
a scan line detector for detecting a start of each scanning cycle performed by the laser scanning module and generating a start of scan (SOS) signal in response to the detection of the start of each scanning cycle;
a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the laser scanning field and generating a first signal corresponding to the detected light intensity;
a signal processor having an amplification stage for amplifying the first signal followed by a processing stage for processing the first signal and converting the processed first signal into a second signal;
a gain control module for, during each scanning cycle, controlling the gain of the processing stage within the signal processor using the SOS signal generated by the scan line detector and the second signal generated by the signal processor; and
a decode processor for processing the second signal and generating data representative of indicia in the scanning field;
wherein, in response to the SOS signal during each scanning cycle, the gain control module processes the second signal, calculates a histogram from the second signal, calculates a cumulative histogram from the calculated histogram, calculates a discrete gain for the scanning cycle from the cumulative histogram, calculates a discrete gain change from the discrete gain, and transmits the discrete gain change as the digital control signal for the scanning cycle to the signal processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A laser scanning code symbol reading system includes an analog scan data signal processor for producing digitized data signals, wherein during each laser beam scanning cycle, a light collection and photo-detection module generates an analog scan data signal corresponding to a laser scanned code symbol, an analog scan data signal processor/digitizer processes the analog scan data signal to generate digital data signals corresponding thereto, and a synchronized digital gain control module automatically processes the digitized data signals in response to start of scan (SOS) signals generated by a SOS detector. The synchronized digital gain control module generates digital control data which is transmitted to the analog scan data signal processor for use in controlling the gain of at least one signal processing stage in the light collection and photo-detection module and/or analog scan data signal processor, during the corresponding laser beam scanning cycle.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An indicia reading system, comprising:
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a laser scanning module for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field in a scanning cycle; a scan line detector for detecting a start of each scanning cycle performed by the laser scanning module and generating a start of scan (SOS) signal in response to the detection of the start of each scanning cycle; a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the laser scanning field and generating a first signal corresponding to the detected light intensity; a signal processor having an amplification stage for amplifying the first signal followed by a processing stage for processing the first signal and converting the processed first signal into a second signal; a gain control module for, during each scanning cycle, controlling the gain of the processing stage within the signal processor using the SOS signal generated by the scan line detector and the second signal generated by the signal processor; and a decode processor for processing the second signal and generating data representative of indicia in the scanning field; wherein, in response to the SOS signal during each scanning cycle, the gain control module processes the second signal, calculates a histogram from the second signal, calculates a cumulative histogram from the calculated histogram, calculates a discrete gain for the scanning cycle from the cumulative histogram, calculates a discrete gain change from the discrete gain, and transmits the discrete gain change as the digital control signal for the scanning cycle to the signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An indicia reading system, comprising:
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a laser scanning module for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field in a scanning cycle; a scan line detector for detecting a start of each scanning cycle performed by the laser scanning module and generating a start of scan (SOS) signal in response to the detection of the start of each scanning cycle; a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the laser scanning field and generating a first signal corresponding to the detected light intensity; a signal processor having a processing stage for amplifying the first signal, processing the first signal, and converting the processed first signal into a second signal; a gain control module for, during each scanning cycle, controlling the gain of the processing stage within the signal processor using the SOS signal generated by the scan line detector and the second signal generated by the signal processor; and a decode processor for processing the second signal and generating data representative of indicia in the scanning field; wherein, in response to the SOS signal during each scanning cycle, the gain control module processes the second signal, calculates a histogram from the second signal, calculates a cumulative histogram from the calculated histogram, calculates a discrete gain for the scanning cycle from the cumulative histogram, calculates a discrete gain change from the discrete gain, and transmits the discrete gain change as the digital control signal for the scanning cycle to the signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An indicia reading system, comprising:
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a laser scanning module for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field in a scanning cycle; a scan line detector for detecting a start of each scanning cycle performed by the laser scanning module and generating a start of scan (SOS) signal in response to the detection of the start of each scanning cycle; a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the laser scanning field and generating a first signal corresponding to the detected light intensity; a signal processor having a processing stage for processing the first signal and converting the processed first signal into a second signal; a gain control module for, during each scanning cycle, controlling the gain of the processing stage within the signal processor using the SOS signal generated by the scan line detector and the second signal generated by the signal processor; and a decode processor for processing the second signal and generating data representative of indicia in the scanning field; wherein, in response to the SOS signal during each scanning cycle, the gain control module processes the second signal, calculates a histogram from the second signal, calculates a cumulative histogram from the calculated histogram, calculates a discrete gain for the scanning cycle from the cumulative histogram, calculates a discrete gain change from the discrete gain, and transmits the discrete gain change as the digital control signal for the scanning cycle to the signal processor. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An indicia reading system, comprising:
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a laser scanning module for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field in a scanning cycle; a scan line detector for detecting a start of each scanning cycle performed by the laser scanning module and generating a start of scan (SOS) signal in response to the detection of the start of each scanning cycle; a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the laser scanning field and generating a first signal corresponding to the detected light intensity; a signal processor having a processing stage for processing the first signal and converting the processed first signal into a second signal comprising the first signal'"'"'s raw intensity data, first derivative data, and the absolute value of the first derivative data; a gain control module for, during each scanning cycle, controlling the gain of the processing stage within the signal processor using the SOS signal generated by the scan line detector and the second signal generated by the signal processor; and a decode processor for processing the second signal and generating data representative of indicia in the scanning field.
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Specification