Abstract: Digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing a micro-computing platform supporting an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture the system comprises: an image formation and detection subsystem; an illumination subsystem; an illumination control subsystem; an image processing subsystem; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the illumination subsystem produces a field of illumination that illuminates the object during the image capture mode of operation, and one or more 2d digital images thereof are detected by an area-type image sensing array.

Abstract: A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising an image formation and detection subsystem, an LED-based illumination subsystem, an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem, and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. The automatic light exposure measurement subsystem employs a photodetector operated independently from the area-type image sensing array, for automatically measuring the light exposure incident upon a selected portion of the FOV, and producing an electrical signal representative of the light exposure measurement. The automatic illumination control subsystem responds to the electrical signal and controls the duration of LED-based illumination produced from the LED-based illumination subsystem during the image capture mode.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital image capture and processing system comprises: an area-type image formation and detection subsystem having an area-type image detection array; an LED-based illumination subsystem having a LED-based illumination array; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; and an image-processing subsystem. The LED array is automatically driven in a precise manner to globally expose the area-type image detection array with LED-based illumination only when substantially all of its rows of pixels are in a state of integration and have a common integration time, thereby enabling the capture of high quality images independent of the relative motion between the object and the hand-supportable digital image capture and processing system.

Abstract: A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising: an image formation and detection subsystem; a narrow-band illumination subsystem; a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem; an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem; and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the narrow-band illumination subsystem produces a field of narrow-band illumination consisting essentially of a narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination.

Abstract: A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising: an image formation and detection subsystem; a narrow-band illumination subsystem; a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem; an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem; and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the narrow-band illumination subsystem produces a field of narrow-band illumination consisting essentially of a narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination.

Abstract: A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising: an image formation and detection subsystem; a narrow-band illumination subsystem; a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem; an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem; and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the narrow-band illumination subsystem produces a field of narrow-band illumination consisting essentially of a narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an ir-based object presence and range detection subsystem; a multi-mode area-type image formation and detection subsystem having a field of view (FOV) and narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; an image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; and a system control subsystem. The LED-based multi-mode illumination subsystem produces three different fields of LED-based illumination in automatic response to the detection of different conditions within the FOV, by the automatic object presence and range detection subsystem.

Abstract: Method of performing autodiscrimination of 1D/2D bar code symbologies in a semi-automatic hand-supportable imaging-based bar code symbol reader having narrow-area and wide-area image capture modes of operation. The hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an automatic object presence and range detection subsystem; a multi-mode image formation and detection subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a multi-mode image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; and a system control subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an automatic object presence detection subsystem; a multi-mode area-type image formation and detection subsystem having a field of view (FOV), and narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; an image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem.

Abstract: A digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading system comprising: an area image formation and detection subsystem having a CMOS area image sensing array with an image capture mode; a LED-based illumination subsystem for producing narrow-band illumination; and a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem integrated within the hand-supportable housing of the device. During the image capture mode, and only when substantially all rows of pixels on the CMOS area image sensing array are enabled and simultaneously ready for photo-integration, the LED-based illumination subsystem is activated so as to produce narrow-band illumination into the FOV of the area image formation and detection subsystem while the automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem automatically measures the light exposure incident upon a central portion of the FOV, and controls the time duration that narrow-band illumination is produced from the LED-based illumination subsystem.

Abstract: A hand-supportable Digital Imaging-Based Bar Code Symbol Reading Device comprises: an IR-based Object Presence and Range Detection Subsystem; A Multi-Mode Area-type Image Formation and Detection Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a Multi-Mode LED-based Illumination Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an Automatic Light Exposure Measurement and Illumination Control Subsystem; an Image Capturing and Buffering Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Image-Processing Bar Code Symbol Reading Subsystem; an Input/Output Subsystem; an manuallyactivatable trigger switch; a System Mode Configuration Parameter Table; and a System Control Subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The bar code reading device can be configured and operated in numerous programmable modes of system operation to automatically read 1D and 2D bar code symbologies in a high-speed manner using advanced modes of image processing on captured images.

Abstract: A hand-supportable Digital Imaging-Based Bar Code Symbol Reading Device comprises: an IR-based Object Presence and Range Detection Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Area-type Image Formation and Detection Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a Multi-Mode LED-based Illumination Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an Automatic Light Exposure Measurement and Illumination Control Subsystem; an Image Capturing and Buffering Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Image-Processing Bar Code Symbol Reading Subsystem; an Input/Output Subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; a System Mode Configuration Parameter Table; and a System Control Subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The bar code reading device can be configured and operated in numerous programmable modes of system operation to automatically read 1D and 2D bar code symbologies in a high-speed manner using advanced modes of image processing on captured images.

Abstract: A hand-supportable Digital Imaging-Based Bar Code Symbol Reading Device comprises: an IR-based Object Presence and Range Detection Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Area-type Image Formation and Detection Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a Multi-Mode LED-based Illumination Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an Automatic Light Exposure Measurement and Illumination Control Subsystem; an Image Capturing and Buffering Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Image-Processing Bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; and a system control subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code reading device employs automatic object presence and range detection to control the generation of near-field and far-field wide-area illumination during bar code symbol imaging operations.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reader employing an event-driven system control subsystem, automatic IR-based object detection, and a trigger-switch activated image capture and processing subsystem.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an ir-based object presence and range detection subsystem; a multi-mode area-type image formation and detection subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a multi-mode image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; a system mode configuration parameter table; and a system control subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems.

Abstract: A hand-supportable Digital Imaging-Based Bar Code Symbol Reading Device comprises: an IR-based Object Presence and Range Detection Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Area-type Image Formation and Detection Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a Multi-Mode LED-based Illumination Subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an Automatic Light Exposure Measurement and Illumination Control Subsystem; an Image Capturing and Buffering Subsystem; a Multi-Mode Image-Processing Bar Code Symbol Reading Subsystem; an Input/Output Subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; a System Mode Configuration Parameter Table; and a System Control Subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The bar code reading device can be configured and operated in numerous programmable modes of system operation to automatically read 1D and 2D bar code symbologies in a high-speed manner using advanced modes of image processing on captured images.

Abstract: Method of and apparatus for processing captured images within a semi-automatic hand-supportable imaging-based bar code symbol reader in order to read 1D and/or 2D bar code symbols graphically represented therein. The semi-automatic hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reader comprises: an automatic object presence detection subsystem; a multi-mode area-type image formation and detection subsystem having narrow-area and wide area image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a multi-mode image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; a manually-activatable trigger switch; and a system control subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The bar code symbol reader embodies advanced image processing methods for reading 1D and/or 2D bar code symbols graphically represented in captured digital images.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading system comprises: an automatic object presence and range detection subsystem; an image formation and detection subsystem; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having an LED illumination array; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a multi-mode image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem having a first mode and a second mode of operation; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem for controlling the subsystems. The multi-mode image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem automatically switches its modes of image-processing during a single bar code symbol reading cycle, and within each mode of image-processing based bar code symbol reading a different image-processing based bar code symbol reading methodology is automatically applied.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reader comprises: an automatic object presence detection subsystem; an image formation and detection subsystem; a LED-based illumination subsystem having a wide area illumination mode of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; an image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem for controlling each of the above-described subsystems. The image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem performs helically-sweeping feature-extraction analysis on a captured digital image of an object referenced from the center thereof, so as to enable the rapid reading of a bar code symbol graphically represented therein, using advanced image-processing based bar code reading techniques.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an automatic object presence and range detection subsystem; an area-type image formation and detection subsystem; a LED-based illumination subsystem having narrow-area and wide area illumination modes of operation; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem for controlling each of the above-described subsystems. A narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem is integrated within the hand-supportable, so that only light transmitted from the LED-based illumination subsystem and reflected from the illuminated object is transmitted through the narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem and detected by the CMOS area-type image sensing array, while all other components of ambient light are substantially rejected.