Portable encoded information reading terminal configured to acquire images

• US 9,652,734 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2014
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Plocher, Tom, Putrevu, Sriharsha, Zumsteg, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): GUDORF, LAURA A
• Application Number:
  US14/532,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20150053761A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 235440, 235435, 702150, 356614
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/089 hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10089 the interrogation device using at least one directional antenna or directional interrogation field to resolve the collision direction or location finding, such as triangulation techniques, G01S13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10712 Fixed beam scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/403 Edge-driven scaling; Edge-based scaling
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/00 Image enhancement or restoration

Abstract

An apparatus may include a motion sensing device, a communication interface; and a processor. The processor may receive a point of origin that corresponds to a spatial position of the apparatus. The processor may determine, responsive to detecting a user interface command and based on a plurality of values received from the motion sensing device, a spatial position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin, and to acquire an image of an object in a field of view of the apparatus. The processor may also determine a scale factor of the image based on at least the spatial position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader that scans for RFID tags in an area that includes an object, the RFID tags being associated with items located on or proximate to the object;

a processor that;

receives a point of origin that corresponds to a location of the object,

determines, responsive to detecting a user interface command, a spatial position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin,

receives an image of the object in a field of view of the apparatus;

determines a scale factor of the image based on a determined distance of the apparatus from the point of origin, wherein the image scale factor is provided by a ratio of a size of the object along a chosen direction to a size of an image of the object in the chosen direction; and

processing the image to be displayed on a display by changing the size of the object in the image as initially acquired based on the scale factor,

wherein the processed image is displayed on the display along with displaying information from scanning of the RFID tags associated with the items located proximate to the object.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured, before determining said scale factor, to process said image to remove one or more distortions selected from the group consisting of:

keystone-related distortions, and rotation-related distortions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to process said image to detect a plurality of edges of an object and to determine one or more dimensions of said object.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to transmit said image to an external computer via a communication interface.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to transmit to an external computer said image and at least one of:

an identifier of said object, a description of said object, one or more dimensions of said object.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further configured to identify said object by performing one of:

scanning a bar code attached to said object, reading an RFID tag attached to said object.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an RFID reading device;

wherein said apparatus is further configured to identify said object by reading an RFID tag attached to said object.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is associated with a device selected from the group consisting of:

a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, a magnetic card reading device;

wherein the device is configured to perform at least one of;

outputting raw message data containing an encoded message, outputting decoded message data corresponding to an encoded message.

9. A method of producing an image of an object by an apparatus, the method comprising:

storing in memory a spatial position of the apparatus as a point of origin corresponding to a location of the object;

responsive to detecting a user interface command, determining a position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin;

acquiring an image of the object, wherein the object in the image has a size when initially acquired; and

determining a scale factor of the image based on at least the spatial position of the apparatus wherein said image scale factor is provided by a ratio of a size of said object along a chosen direction to a size of an image of said object in said chosen direction;

scanning, via a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, at least one item on the object;

processing the image by changing the size of the object in the initially-acquired image based on the scale factor; and

displaying the processed image on a display along with information from the scanning.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said image scale factor is provided by a ratio of a size of said object along a chosen direction to a size of an image of said object in said chosen direction.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

processing said image to detect a plurality of edges of an object; and

determining one or more dimensions of said object.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting said image to an external computer.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting to an external computer said image and at least one of:

an identifier of said object, a description of said object, one or more dimensions of said object.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying said object.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying said object;

wherein said identifying said object is performed by one of;

scanning a bar code attached to said object;

reading an RFID tag attached to said object.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a motion sensing device; and

a processor that;

receives a point of origin that corresponds to a first spatial position of the apparatus based on the apparatus being detected to be located at the point of origin,

determines, responsive to detecting a user interface command and based on a plurality of values received from the motion sensing device indicating movement of the apparatus from the point of origin, a second spatial position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin,

receives an image of an object in a field of view of the apparatus after determining the point of origin and after the apparatus has been moved from the point of origin;

determines a scale factor of the image based on at least the second spatial position of the apparatus relative to the point of origin, wherein the image scale factor is provided by a ratio of a size of the object along a chosen direction to a size of an image of the object in the chosen direction;

scanning at least one item located on or proximate to the object; and

processing the image to be displayed on a display by changing the size of the object in the image as initially acquired based on the determined scale factor,

wherein the processed image is displayed on the display along with displaying information from the scanning.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said motion sensing device is provided by atleast three accelerometers configured to measure proper acceleration values of said apparatus along at least three-mutually perpendicular axes.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said motion sensing device is provided by a 9-DOF (degree of freedom) motion sensing unit containing a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis magnetometer, and 3-axis gyroscope sensors.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the motion sensing device is provided by at least three accelerometers configured to measure proper acceleration values of said apparatus along at least three mutually-perpendicular axes.