Patent ID: 6257490
Filing Date: 2001-07-10
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
A bar code scanning method, comprising the steps of:a) scanning a particular location with at least one CCD camera having a plurality of pixels each positioned to receive reflected light from a distinct portion of the particular location;b) providing separate control for a plurality of different scan lines to be generated, the different scan lines scanning the particular location at different angular scanning directions;c) outputting data from different subsets of the plurality of pixels based on the separate control provided in the step b), so as to provide a plurality of virtual scan lines, respectively, each of the virtual scan lines corresponding to a particular angular scanning direction of the particular location; andd) determining if a bar code has been scanned by simultaneously decoding the data from each of the different subsets,wherein the separate control is provided by a master CPU providing a count value to be used as a trigger for creation of each of the plurality of scan lines, the count value being used to receive only certain data from the CCD camera that corresponds to certain pixels of the CCD camera, andwherein the data for the plurality of subsets are respectively stored in axis memories before being read at predetermined instants by a corresponding slave processor to determine if a possible bar code label has been scanned.