Patent · US Expired

Decoding method for multicharacter labels

US4421978A · kind A · utility

33Cited by
2References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 20, 1981
Grant dateDec 20, 1983
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 20, 2001

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06K7/14
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In decoding a UPC-type label, a partial decode and majority vote technique is employed to select final values for ambiguous characters (i.e., 1-7, 2-8) appearing in the label. During the partial decode phase, character-identifying values are established for every character but a common value is assigned to any ambiguous character in a given subset of such characters. An ambiguity-resolving value is additionally assigned to an ambiguous character each time it appears. Through algebraic summation of the ambiguity-resolving values for each character position occupied by an ambiguous character, the ambiguous character which appears a majority of times in that position is finally selected.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.