Abstract: A method of decoding a color barcode involves simultaneously illuminating the color barcode with three light zones in a manner that illuminates each bar of the color barcode with each of the three spatially separated light zones, where the three light zones are each illuminated by a different one of three colors; capturing a monochrome image of light reflected off of the color barcode that includes each of the bars in the barcode illuminated by the three light zones; and for each bar in the color barcode, determining a color of the bar by analysis of the intensity of the light captured in the image of the reflected light intensity in each of the three light zones.

Abstract: A method of reading bar code symbols using a digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of a bar code symbol reading application.

Abstract: Digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of a bar code symbol reading application.

Abstract: A method of reading code symbols using a digital image capture and processing system which includes: an image formation and detection subsystem; an illumination subsystem; an illumination control subsystem; a digital image processing subsystem; and an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem. In the illustrative embodiment, a micro-computing platform implements the digital image processing subsystem, the input/output subsystem and the system control subsystem. The micro-computing platform includes a microprocessor, a memory architecture, and a multi-tier modular software architecture responsive to the generation of a triggering event within the system. Triggering events can be generated by an automatic object detector or by a manually actuated trigger switch.

Abstract: A wireless hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprising: 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-actuatable trigger switch; and a system control subsystem for controlling these subsystems.

Abstract: A digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an automatic object presence detection subsystem; an image formation and detection subsystem employing a CMOS area-type image sensing array; an LED-based illumination subsystem; 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 the subsystems. The LED-based illumination subsystem is automatically driven by the automatic light exposure measurement and control subsystem responsive to the generation of control activation signals by the image sensing array and the automatic object presence detection subsystem during object illumination and image capture operations.

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 method of reading bar code symbols comprising the steps of: (a) projecting an image cropping zone (ICZ) framing pattern within the FOV of an image sensing array during wide-area illumination and image capturing operation; (b) visually aligning an object to be imaged within the ICZ framing pattern; (c) forming and capturing an wide-area image of the entire FOV, which spatially encompasses the ICZ framing pattern aligned about the object to be imaged; (d) using automatic software-based image cropping algorithm to automatically crop the pixels within the spatial boundaries defined by the ICZ framing pattern, from those pixels contained in the entire wide-area image frame captured during step (c); and (e) automatically decode processing the image represented by the cropped image pixels in the ICZ framing pattern so as to read a 1D or 2D bar code symbol graphically represented therein.

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: 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 digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading system which comprises: an automatic object presence and range detection subsystem; an image formation and detection subsystem having an area-type image sensing array with a field of view (FOV); a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem having LED illumination arrays for producing fields of narrow-band illumination in near and far portions of the FOV; 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 the subsystems. The LED illumination arrays are automatically driven by the automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem in response to the generation of control activation signals by the automatic object presence and range detection subsystem.

Abstract: A digital image capture and processing system comprising an illumination measurement subsystem for measuring the level of illumination at a particular region of the field of view (FOV) of the system during object illumination and imaging operations, and producing and storing an illumination measure for achieving a desired spatial intensity in a digital image to be formed and detected by the image formation and detection subsystem. An illumination control subsystem uses the illumination measure to control a LED-based illumination array during object illumination and imaging operations. A programmed image processor supports an image-processing based illumination metering program, as well as processes digital images formed and detected by the image formation and detection subsystem so as to read or acquire information graphically represented in the digital images.

Abstract: A hand-supportable digital-imaging based system for reading bar code symbols involving: automatically detecting the presence of an object within a field of view FOV of the system, and in response thereto, automatically generating an image cropping zone (ICZ) framing pattern and projecting the ICZ framing pattern within the FOV and onto the detected object; visually aligning the code symbol on the detected object, within the ICZ framing pattern; manually actuating a trigger switch when the code symbol on the object is located within the ICZ framing pattern, and while the ICZ framing pattern and a field of illumination are being simultaneously projected onto the object during object illumination operations, forming and capturing a digital image of the code symbol on the detected object; automatically cropping the image pixels contained within the spatial boundaries of the ICZ framing pattern, from the pixels of the digital image; and decode processing the cropped image so as to read one or more 1D and/or 2D cod

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 digital-imaging based code symbol reading system comprising an image sensing array with a field of view (FOV), an illumination subsystem with an LED illumination array, an automatic illumination measurement subsystem, an illumination control subsystem, and programmed imager processor supporting an image-processing based illumination metering program. The automatic illumination measurement subsystem automatically measures the illumination level at a particular region of the FOV and determines the illumination duration necessary to achieve a desired spatial intensity in the detected digital image. The illumination metering program automatically analyzes and measures, in real-time, the spatial intensity distribution of the digital image and determines whether or not a corrected illumination duration is required or desired when detecting the next or subsequent digital images, during the current or subsequent object illumination and imaging cycle.

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 reading device comprises: an IR-based object presence and range detection subsystem; a area-type image formation and detection subsystem having an image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode led-based illumination subsystem for providing a narrow-band field of illumination; 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 integrated with each of the above-described subsystems.

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 semi-automatic digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading system comprises: an automatic object presence 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-actuatable trigger switch; and a system control subsystem for controlling the subsystems. The digital imaging-based bar code reading system employs a three-tier modular software architecture for carrying out its image-processing based bar code symbol reading operations. The three-tier software architecture comprises an application layer, a system core layer, and an operating system (OS) layer.

Abstract: A digital-imaging based code symbol reading system comprising an image sensing array with a field of view (FOV), an illumination subsystem with an LED illumination array, an automatic illumination measurement subsystem, an illumination control subsystem, and programmed imager processor supporting an image-processing based illumination metering program. The automatic illumination measurement subsystem, employing a photodetector operating independently from the image sensing array, is used to automatically measure the illumination level at a particular region of the FOV and determine the illumination duration necessary to achieve a desired spatial intensity in the detected digital image.