Patent · US Expired

Compensation for scan line variations in a bar code scanner system

US6494376B1 · kind B1 · utility

5Cited by
32References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 13, 1999
Grant dateDec 17, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 13, 2019

Classification

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

Abstract

In a bar code scanning system, information at the leading and trailing ends of a label is corrected to adjust for distortion due to mechanical aspects of the scan line mechanism that might otherwise render information unreadable. The speed of the scanning spot can be characterized over the course of the scan line. With knowledge of the rate of change of the scan mechanism speed at the ends of the scan line, as well as position information in relation to change in speed over the scan line, a measure of the associated time distortion with respect to elements encoded in the scan line information may be established. In turn, a compensation curve may be determined to identify the offset that may be applied to the collected data to compensate for the variation in speed. In a further aspect, interpolation techniques may similarly be implemented to compensate for the distortion of elements on rounded surfaces; potential offset amounts could be determined and implemented to adjust for character/element width distortion. Such offsets could be used either directly on identified character/element widths, or they may be implemented as part of a secondary, more aggressive technique to fit elemen…

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