Method and apparatus for optically reading out information stored in a barcode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9230147-B2
Application number	US-35499406-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2006
Priority date	Feb 16, 2005
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

In a method, whether there is a first bar having a width and located at at least one of both ends of a first black and white pattern is determined. The width of the bar is greater than a maximum width of a second bar. The maximum width of the second bar appears in a second black and white pattern assuming that the black and white pattern is part of the first barcode. The first black and white pattern is determined as readout data of the second barcode when it is determined that there is the first bar having the width greater than the maximum width of the second bar and located at at least one of both ends of the first black and white pattern.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of optically reading out one of a first barcode and a second barcode contained within a field of view based on differences between first and second formats respectively of the first barcode and the second barcode and of decoding information stored in the one of the first and second barcodes, each of the first and second barcodes being composed of linearly-aligned parallel bars, the first format of the first barcode defining a predetermined maximum margin width and a maximum number of bars, the second format of the second barcode defining a maximum number of bars, the maximum number of bars of the second format being smaller than the maximum number of bars of the first format, and a part of the first barcode and a part of the second barcode having an identical format of continuously and linearly-aligned parallel bars, the method comprising:
optically reading out the field of view including at least the identical format of continuously and linearly-aligned parallel bars and obtaining a binarized black and white pattern of the field of view, the black and white pattern being composed of black bars and white bars; wherein the optical readout of the one of the first and second barcodes uses an area sensor in two-dimension, and the determining whether there is a margin comprises:
setting a check line on one external side region of at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern, the check line extending outwardly from the at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern:
measuring a first height of the black and white pattern in a height direction, the height direction being orthogonal to a length direction of the black and white pattern;
measuring a second height of a bar on the check line in the height direction;
comparing the first height with the second height; and
determining that the bar measured on the check line is a margin when the first height and the second height are different from each other;
subsequent to the optical reading, decoding the black and white pattern using an algorism corresponding to the second format;
subsequent to the decoding the black, determining whether there is a margin having a width greater than the predetermined maximum margin width of the first barcode and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern;
subsequent to the determining whether there is a margin, determining that a result of the decoding is good when it is determined that there is a margin with having the width greater than the predetermined maximum margin width of the first barcode and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern; wherein the method further comprises: storing a plurality of black and white patterns that are close to or equivalent to the part of the black and white pattern; and
checking whether the black and white pattern coincides with any one of the stored plurality of black and white patterns, wherein the determining whether there is a margin is carried out when the black and white pattern coincides with any one of the stored plurality of black and white patterns.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining whether there is a margin includes:
firstly determining whether there is a white bar as the margin and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern; and
secondly determining whether there is a black bar located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern when it is determined that there is no white bar located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first barcode has a format of one of POS codes as the first format, and the second barcode has an RSS_Limited format as the second format.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein each of the first and second barcodes has a bar with a narrowest width therein, and the narrowest width being set to a module, and the predetermined maximum margin width of the first bar is set to be equivalent to four times a width of the module.

5. A barcode reading apparatus capable of performing the method of claim 1 .

6. A non-transitory, computer readable medium, having instructions thereon, which when executed by a computer processor, performs the steps of optically reading out one of a first barcode and a second barcode contained within a field of view based on differences between first and second formats respectively of the first barcode and the second barcode and of decoding information stored in the one of the first and second barcodes, each of the first and second barcodes being composed of linearly-aligned parallel bars, the first format of the first barcode defining a predetermined maximum margin width and a maximum number of bars, the second format of the second barcode defining a maximum number of bars, the maximum number of bars of the second format being smaller than the maximum number of bars of the first format, and a part of the first barcode and a part of the second barcode having an identical format of continuously and linearly-aligned parallel bars;
optically reading out the field, of view including at least the identical format of continuously and linearly-aligned parallel bars and obtaining a binarized black and white pattern of the field of view, the black and white pattern being composed of black bars and white bars;
subsequent to the optical reading, decoding the black and white pattern using an algorism corresponding to the second format;
subsequent to the decoding the black, determining whether there is a margin having a width greater than the predetermined maximum margin width of the first barcode and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern;
subsequent to the determining whether there is a margin determining that a result of the decoding is good when it is determined that there is a margin having the width greater than the predetermined maximum margin width of the first bar and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern;
subsequent to the determining whether there is a margin, determining that a result of the decoding is good when it is determined that there is a margin with having the width greater than the predetermined maximum margin width of the first barcode and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern; wherein the method further comprises: storing a plurality of black and white patterns that are close to or equivalent to the part of the black and white pattern; and
checking whether the black and white pattern coincides with any one of the stored plurality of black and white patterns, wherein the determining whether there is a margin is carried out when the black and white pattern coincides with any one of the stored plurality of black and white patterns.

7. A non-transitory, computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein, when determining whether there is a margin, the means for instructing a computer further:
firstly determines whether there is a white bar as the margin and located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern; and
secondly determines whether there is a black bar located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern when it is determined that there is no white bar located at at least one of both ends of the black and white pattern.

8. A non-transitory, computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein, when determining whether there is a margin, the means for instructing a computer further:
stores a plurality of black and white patterns that are close to or equivalent to part of the black and white pattern; and
checks whether the black and white pattern coincides with any one a the stored plurality of black and white p

Assignees

• Hara Masahiro
• Denso Wave Inc

Inventors

• Hara Masahiro

Classifications

• G06K7/10871 Primary

  randomly oriented data-fields, code-marks therefore, e.g. concentric circles-code · CPC title

• G06K7/1452

  detecting bar code edges · CPC title

• G06K7/1413

  1D bar codes · CPC title

• G06K7/1486

  Setting the threshold-width for bar codes to be decoded · CPC title

• G06K7/10 Primary

  by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation · CPC title