Indicia reading terminal including frame quality evaluation processing

• US 9,323,969 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Ynjiun P., Deng, Shulan
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHEDEKEL, TABITHA F
• Application Number:
  US14/153,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20140124577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462.1, 235/462.25, 235/462.45, 235/472.01
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10851 Circuits for pulse shaping, amplifying, eliminating noise signals, checking the function of the sensing device basic electronic circuitry H03
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1092 sensing by means of TV-scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1443 locating of the code in an image

Abstract

There is described an indicia reading terminal that can be operative to capture a succession of frames of image data and that can be operative so that a certain frame of the succession of frames is subject to quality evaluation processing where a result of the quality evaluation processing is responsive to one or more of an incidence and sharpness of edge representations of the frame of image data.

Claims

1. An indicia reader comprising:

an image sensor for generating frames of image data;

a processor in communication with the image sensor, the processor being configured for;

capturing a succession of frames of image data with the image sensor;

processing a certain frame, frame=frame_j of the succession of frames to evaluate its frame quality based on an incidence of edges and/or a sharpness of edges represented in the certain frame and determine if the certain frame satisfies a predetermined criteria;

while processing the certain frame, attempting to decode a previous frame, frame=frame<sub>j−

k</sub>, where k≧

1; and

if the certain frame satisfies the predetermined criteria, ceasing the attempt to decode the previous frame.

2. The indicia reader of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for, when processing the certain frame to evaluate its frame quality, applying an edgelet filter.

3. The indicia reader of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for, when processing the certain frame to evaluate its frame quality, calculating an autocorrelation score for a sampling path.

4. The indicia reader of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for:

running a multitasking operating system;

processing the certain frame to evaluate its frame quality according to a first program thread; and

attempting to decode the previous frame according to a second program thread.

5. The indicia reader of claim 1, comprising memory, wherein the processor is configured for:

storing the captured succession of frames in memory;

at a first time, commencing attempting to decode the previous frame;

at a second time, determining whether the previous frame can be decoded;

if the previous frame cannot be decoded, selecting a next frame that was stored in memory at a time between the first time and the second time; and

attempting to decode the next frame.

6. An indicia reader comprising:

an image sensor for generating frames of image data;

a lens assembly for use in focusing light onto the image sensor;

a memory for storing frames of image data generated by the image sensor;

a processor in communication with the image sensor and the memory, the processor being configured for;

capturing a succession of frames of image data with the image sensor, the frames being stored in the memory;

processing a certain frame, frame=frame_j of the succession of frames to evaluate its frame quality based on an incidence of edges and/or a sharpness of edges represented in the certain frame and determine if the certain frame satisfies a first predetermined criteria;

while processing the certain frame, attempting to decode a previous frame, frame=frame<sub>j−

k</sub>, where k≧

1; and

if the certain frame satisfies the first predetermined criteria, ceasing the attempt to decode the previous frame.

7. The indicia reader of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured for:

in response to a successful attempt to decode the previous frame, storing a first code word from the decoded previous frame;

decoding the certain frame to obtain a second code word; and

combining the first code word and the second code word.

8. The indicia reader of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured for, when processing the certain frame to evaluate its frame quality, applying an edgelet filter.

9. The indicia reader of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured for, when processing the certain frame to evaluate its frame quality, calculating an autocorrelation score for a sampling path.

10. The indicia reader of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured for:

processing the certain frame to determine its quality score;

processing the previous frame to determine its quality score;

determining if the certain frame'"'"'s quality score is higher than the previous frame'"'"'s quality score; and

if the certain frame'"'"'s quality score is higher than the previous frame'"'"'s quality score, ceasing the attempt to decode the previous frame.

11. The indicia reader of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured for:

determining a decode status of the attempt to decode the previous frame;

determining if the previous frame'"'"'s decode status satisfies a second predetermined criteria; and

if the previous frame'"'"'s decode status satisfies the second predetermined criteria and the certain frame satisfies the first predetermined criteria, continuing the attempt to decode the previous frame.

12. The indicia reader of claim 11, wherein the decode status is based on a percentage of total code words decoded, a decoding stage, and/or an elapsed time for decoding.

13. An indicia reader comprising:

an image sensor for generating frames of image data;

a processor in communication with the image sensor, the processor being configured for;

capturing a succession of frames of image data with the image sensor at a frame rate, wherein each frame is captured within a frame time;

processing each of a plurality of frames from the succession of frames to evaluate its frame quality based on an incidence of edges and/or a sharpness of edges represented in the frame and determine if it satisfies a first predetermined criteria;

for each of the plurality of frames, determining if a processing time for the processing to evaluate its frame quality exceeds the frame time;

for each of the plurality of frames, if the processing time exceeds the frame time, ceasing the processing to evaluate its frame quality; and

for each of the plurality of frames, if a certain frame satisfies the first predetermined criteria, ceasing an attempt to decode a previous frame relative to the certain frame of the succession of frames.

14. The indicia reader of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured for:

for each of the plurality of frames, determining if a processing time for the processing to evaluate its frame quality exceeds half of the frame time; and

for each of the plurality of frames, if the processing time exceeds half of the frame time, ceasing the processing to evaluate its frame quality.

15. The indicia reader of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured for:

selecting a next frame based on the processing of the plurality of frames; and

attempting to decode the next frame.

16. The indicia reader of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured for:

while processing a certain frame to evaluate its frame quality, determining a region of interest; and

attempting to decode the certain frame using the determined region of interest.

17. The indicia reader of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured for attempting to decode a given frame from the succession of frames.

18. The indicia reader of claim 13, comprising:

a display in communication with the processor; and

a user interface component for generating an activated signal in response to actuation of the user interface component, wherein the processor is configured for;

receiving the activated signal;

in response to the activated signal, capturing the succession of frames of image data;

selecting an output frame from the plurality of frames based on its image quality; and

displaying the selected output frame on the display.

19. The indicia reader of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured for:

attempting to decode a frame generated by the image sensor; and

in response to the activated signal, not attempting to decode the captured succession of frames.

20. The indicia reader of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured for:

selecting a certain frame from the captured succession of frames that is not the output frame; and

attempting to decode the certain frame.