Patent ID: 6367698
Filing Date: 2002-04-09
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A bar code reader comprising:an image capturing device capturing an image containing a bar code; a binary coding circuit transforming the image captured by said image capturing device into a binary image in which a background is expressed in a binary 0, and each pattern is expressed in a binary 1; an image storage storing therein the binary image produced by said binary coding circuit; a shrinking circuit shrinking each pattern in a binary image outputted from said binary coding circuit by k pixels (k is a positive integral number) from a background side; a vertical expansion circuit expanding each pattern in a binary image outputted from said shrinking circuit vertically by m pixel (m is a positive integral number); an edge detector detecting a contour of each pattern in a binary image outputted from said vertical expansion circuit to produce a binary image containing an edge of each pattern in the inputted binary image; a horizontal expansion circuit expanding each pattern in the binary image outputted from said edge detector horizontally by n1 pixel (n1 is a positive integral number); a horizontal contraction circuit contracting each pattern in a binary image outputted from said horizontal expansion circuit horizontally by n2 (n2 is a positive integral number); an identification circuit labeling patterns in a binary image outputted from said horizontal contraction circuit to identify the patterns, said identification circuit specifying a bar code area based on shape characteristics of the patterns; and a decoder selecting data on the binary image stored in said image storage which belongs in the bar code area specified by said identification circuit to decode the bar code in the image captured by said image capturing device.