Machine for reading article carrying coded indicia

Claim 2

Apparatus for reading a label of the type having binary information exhibiting two contrasting characteristics presented serially along a reference line, the label having a start section and a data section, the start section comprising a plurality, X, of said two contrasting characteristics in an alternating pattern, each characteristic being of a given unit width U, the data section comprising a plurality of said characteristics in an alternating pattern, each of said plurality of characteristics of said data section being of any multiple from one through N of unit width U, where N is an integer greater thAn two, comprising in combination: means for scanning said label along said reference line, at a rate which may vary as the scan progresses, for producing a scan signal corresponding to the characteristic pattern being scanned, the scan passing first over said start section than over said data section; means responsive to the transitions in said scan signal while scanning said start section for determining and storing a signal indicative of the average time to scan a unit width U; means responsive to said scan signal while scanning said data section and to said signal indicating the average time to scan a unit width U for determining the number of unit widths of a characteristic being scanned; and means responsive to a transition from one characteristic to the other in the data section, and to the number of unit widths most recently scanned for modifying the signal indicative of the time to scan one unit width.

Claim 3

The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for determining and storing a signal comprises a pulse source producing a uniform series of pulses at a rate which is at least ten times the time required to scan one unit width, counter means for counting the number of pulses produced while scanning said X characteristics and scaler means for scaling the count in said counter by X so that the count is indicative of the average time to scan one unit width, U.

Claim 4

The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means responsive to the number of unit widths most recently scanned comprises means responsive to said indication of the time to scan a unit width for producing a clock pulse in the nominal center of the scan of each subsequent unit width and counter means responsive to each clock pulse for determining the number of unit widths being scanned.

Claim 5

The combination as set forth in claim 3, wherein there is further included register means responsive to said clock signal and to said scan signal for entering serially into said register an indication of the characteristics of each unit width being scanned.

Claim 6

The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein said means responsive to a transition from one characteristic to the other in the data section and to the number of unit widths most recently scanned comprises means for counting each unit width scanned, means responsive to a count, Y, of said unit widths at least equal to N and to the next thereafter occurring transition from one characteristic to the other for resetting the unit width counter and for modifying the signal indicative of time to scan one unit width by the count indicative of the time on the average to scan each of the most recent Y unit widths.

Claim 7

Apparatus for discriminating a label from a noise background environment in which the label is situate, the label being of the type having binary information exhibiting two contrasting characteristics presented serially along a reference line, the label having a start section and a data section, the start section comprising a plurality, N, of said two contrasting characteristics in an alternating pattern, each characteristic being of a given unit width, U, the total width being N U, and further comprising a plurality greater than N of unit widths U of one of said two characteristics, the data section comprising a plurality of said characteristics in an alternating pattern, each of said plurality of characteristics of said data section being of any multiple of one through N of unit width U, where N is an integer greater than two, comprising in combination: means for scanning said label along said reference line at a rate which may vary as the scan progresses, for producing a scan signal corresponding to the characteristic pattern being scanned, the scan passing first over said plurality greater than N of one of said two characteristics, then over said alternating characteristics of total width N.U, then over said data section; means responsive to said scanning signal For storing an indication of time, t1, required to scan any one of said characteristics; means responsive to said scanning signal for producing an indication of time t2 to scan the next N presented characteristics; means for producing a start signal when t1 is greater than t2, indicating a scan first over said plurality greater than N of said one characteristic then over said plurality N of said alternating characteristics of total width N.U; and means responsive to said start signal for scanning and decoding the data in said data section.

Claim 8

Apparatus for discriminating a label from a noise background environment in which the label is situate, the label being of the type having binary information exhibiting two contrasting characteristics presented serially along a reference line, the label having a start section and a data section, the start section comprising a plurality, N, of said two contrasting characteristics in an alternating pattern, each characteristic being of a given unit width, U, the total width being N U, and further comprising a plurality greater than N of unit widths U of one of said two characteristics, the data section comprising a plurality of said characteristics in an alternating pattern, each of said plurality of characteristics of said data section being of any multiple of one through N of unit width U, where N is an integer greater than two, comprising in combination: means for scanning said label along said reference line at a rate which may vary as the scan progresses, for producing a scan signal corresponding to the characteristic pattern being scanned, the scan passing first over said plurality greater than N of one of said two characteristics, then over said alternating characteristics of total width N.U, then over said data section; means responsive to said scanning signal For storing an indication of time, t1, required to scan any one of said characteristics; means responsive to said scanning signal for producing an indication of time t2 to scan the next N presented characteristics; means for producing a start signal when t1 is greater than t2, indicating a scan first over said plurality greater than N of said one characteristic then over said plurality N of said alternating characteristics of total width N.U; and means responsive to said start signal for scanning and decoding the data in said data section.

Claim 9

The combination as set forth in claim 6, wherein said means for storing an indication of time t1 includes a pulse source producing pulses at a rate of at least ten times the rate of scan over a unit width, means producing transition pulses marking the transition of the scan from one characteristic to the other, counter means responsive to said transition pulses and to said pulses from said pulse source for counting pulses between transitions, scaler means for scaling the pulses in said counter means to a value greater than the number of pulses produced while N unit widths are scanned, push-down register means comprising N series registers coupled to said counter means and receptive of said transition pulses for clearing the count from said counter means, for transferring the count in said counter means to the first one of said N registers in said series, and for transferring the count previously in a register to the next register such that, after N transition pulses following the time when said counter means contained a given count, a count indicative of time t1 will be in the last register of said series.

Claim 10

The combination as set forth in claim 7 wherein the means producing an indication of time t2 comprises a plurality of N counters, each responsive to pulses from said pulse source, means responsive to successive transition pulses for sequentialy resetting said N counters and concurrently reading out the count in each counter as it is reset, the count being indicative of t2.

Claim 11

The combination as set forth in claim 8, further including means responsive to said start signal and to the count in the one of said N counters which is read out at the time said start signal is produced for generating and storing a count indicative of the time to scan across a unit width determined by averaging the count generated in scanning across the last N unit widths.