Systems, methods, and articles for laser marking machine-readable symbols

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10427417-B2
Application number	US-201415539595-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 24, 2014
Priority date	Dec 24, 2014
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for generating machine-readable symbols on surfaces of objects using laser marking systems and processes. A specialized contour fill pattern for a laser beam path may be used that combines modules of a machine-readable symbol into bounded blocks or islands according to adjacencies and/or according to role (e.g., finder pattern, timing pattern, encoded payload data). In some implementations, the islands of modules may be filled using a laser beam path that traverses contour path lines from inner path lines to outer path lines. Once the islands have been generated during pre-processing, they are sorted to reduce the required time for the laser to “jump” (i.e., move with the laser turned off) from one island to a subsequent island to be filled. A filling pattern for bounded areas with sharp corners (e.g., squares, rectangles) may be simplified by rounding corners to optimize speed while maintaining suitable marking quality.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of operation in a machine-readable symbol laser marking system including at least one processor having at least one nontransitory processor-readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and which stores at least one of processor-executable instructions or data, the method comprising:
obtaining, by the at least one processor, machine-readable symbol data representative of a machine-readable symbol, the machine-readable symbol having a plurality of first type modules that collectively encode information of a first type and a plurality of second type modules that collectively encode information of a second type, the information of a second type different from the information of a first type;
grouping, by the at least one processor, the plurality of first type modules into one or more first type bounded areas, each first type bounded area including a continuous outer boundary;
grouping, by the at least one processor, the plurality of second type modules into one or more second type bounded areas, each second type bounded area including a continuous outer boundary;
for each bounded area of the one or more first type bounded areas and second type bounded areas, generating, by the at least one processor, a bounded area fill pattern comprising an outer boundary path line corresponding to the outer boundary of the bounded area and progressively smaller path lines offset from each other; and
generating, by the at least one processor, a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to traverse the bounded area fill pattern for each of the first type bounded areas and the second type bounded areas by, for each bounded area, traversing each of the path lines of the bounded area fill pattern from a start point on a starting path line to an end point on an ending path line.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating a laser beam path comprises generating a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to successively traverse the bounded area fill pattern for each of the first type bounded areas and the second type bounded areas in a determined order.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein generating a laser beam path comprises generating a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to be turned off when moved from an end point of one bounded area fill pattern to a start point of a subsequently traversed bounded area fill pattern.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining machine-readable symbol data representative of a machine-readable symbol comprises obtaining machine-readable symbol data representative of a machine-readable symbol, the machine-readable symbol having a plurality of payload data modules that collectively encode payload information and a plurality of non-payload modules that collectively encode non-payload information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the information of the first type comprises payload data information and the information of the second type comprises non-payload information.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
controlling, by the at least one processor, a laser beam to traverse the laser beam path to mark a surface of an object with the machine-readable symbol, wherein controlling a laser beam to traverse the laser beam path to mark an object with the machine-readable symbol comprises altering an optical characteristic of the object with the laser beam.

7. A laser marking path generation system, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one nontransitory processor-readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and which stores at least one of processor-executable instructions or data that when executed by the at least one processor of the laser marking path generation system, cause the at least one processor to:
obtain machine-readable symbol data representative of a machine-readable symbol, the machine-readable symbol having a plurality of first type modules that collectively encode information of a first type and a plurality of second type modules that collectively encode information of a second type;
group the plurality of first type modules into one or more first type bounded areas, each first type bounded area including a continuous outer boundary;
group the plurality of second type modules into one or more second type bounded areas, each second type bounded area including a continuous outer boundary;
for each bounded area of the one or more first type bounded areas and second type bounded areas, generate a bounded area fill pattern comprising an outer boundary path line corresponding to the outer boundary of the bounded area and progressively smaller path lines offset from each other; and
generate a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to traverse the bounded area fill pattern for each of the first type bounded areas and the second type bounded areas by, for each bounded area, traversing each of the path lines of the bounded area fill pattern from a start point on a starting path line to an end point on an ending path line.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
generates a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to successively traverse the bounded area fill pattern for each of the first type bounded areas and the second type bounded areas in a determined order.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the at least one processor:
generates a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to be turned off when moved from an end point of one bounded area fill pattern to a start point of a subsequently traversed bounded area fill pattern.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the information of the first type comprises payload data information and the information of the second type comprises non-payload information.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
groups the plurality of second type modules into one or more finder pattern bounded areas.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
grouping a number N1 of first type modules into the number N1 of first type bounded areas.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one processor:
groups a number N2 of second type modules into a number N3 of second type bounded areas, the number N3 less than the number N2.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the at least one processor:
groups the number N1 of first type modules into the number N1 of first type bounded areas, the first type bounded areas each including a continuous outer boundary that is circular in shape.

15. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
for each bounded area fill pattern, sets the start point on the starting path line at a directional corner, and sets the end point on the ending path line at the directional corner.

16. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
generates a bounded area fill pattern comprising an outer boundary path line and progressively smaller path lines offset from each other by a selectable offset distance.

17. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor:
controls a laser beam to traverse the laser beam path to mark a surface of an object with the machine-readable symbol.

18. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
obtains data to be encoded; and
encodes the data into the machine-readable symbol data.

19. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one processor:
generates a laser beam path that directs a laser beam to traverse the bounded area fill pattern for each of the first type bounded areas and the second type boun

Assignees

• Datalogic IP Tech Srl

Inventors

• Greggio Roberto

Classifications

• B44C1/228

  by laser radiation · CPC title

• B41J2/442

  using lasers · CPC title

• B23K26/0665

  by beam condensation on the workpiece, e.g. for focusing · CPC title

• G06K15/1228

  involving the fast moving of a light beam in two directions (G06K15/1233 - G06K15/129 take precedence) · CPC title

• B23K26/082

  Scanning systems, i.e. devices involving movement of the laser beam relative to the laser head · CPC title