Patent Publication Number: US-2023154212-A1

Title: Method on identifying indicia orientation and decoding indicia for machine vision systems

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Machine vision technologies provide a means for image-based inspection and analysis for applications ranging from automatic part inspection, process control, robotic guidance, part identification, barcode reading, and many others. Machine vision technologies rely on capturing and processing images for performing specific analysis or tasks which often require both the integrated use of imaging systems as well as processing systems. 
     Industrial machine vision (IMV) may be useful for monitoring and classifying inventory in a warehouse, along a production line, or at a receiving bay. Therefore, a means for identifying parts and products for IMV is necessary. Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technique that identifies and converts text and characters captured in images into electronic representation of the text or characters. Many identifiers for parts, such as VINs on cars or serial numbers, include characters that appear in linear, or nearly straight, horizontally oriented lines, that are recognizable using conventional OCR techniques. 
     IMV and OCR techniques often fail, or have a very low scanning success rate, when attempting to identify characters or text that are not in substantially linear orientations. Some applications have allowed for machine learning to be used to assist in improving scanning and character recognition success rates which requires additional processing resources, time, money, image samples, and may only be applied to specialized machine vision systems. Additionally, machine learning techniques for IMV and OCR are not typically robust and require very specific character and image parameters. 
     As such, it could be beneficial for a machine vision system to implement OCR or another character recognition that is efficient and highly successful at recognizing text and/or characters that are not in substantially linear and horizontal orientations. 
     SUMMARY 
     In an embodiment, the present invention is a method of performing indicia recognition for an imaging system. The method comprises obtaining, by an imaging sensor, an image of an object of interest, identifying, by a processor, one or more regions of interest in the image, each region of interest including one or more indicia indicative of a characteristic of the object of interest, determining, by the processor, positions of each of the one or more regions of interest in the image, determining, by the processor, a geometric shape from the determined positions of the one or more regions of interest, identifying, by the processor, an orientation classification to each of the one or more regions of interest, the orientation classification being identified based on the (i) determined positions and (ii) determined geometric shape, identifying, by the processor, a geometric transformation for each of the identified orientations and transforming, by the processor, each of the one or more regions of interest according to the geometric transformation for the identified orientation classification to provide a perspective normalization for each of the one or more regions of interest, and responsive to the transforming, performing, by the processor, indicia recognition on each of the one or more regions of interest. 
     In a variation of the current embodiment, the positions of each of the one or more regions of interest are determined by a centroid of each of the one or more regions of interest. In another variation of the current embodiment, the positions of each of the one or more regions of interest are determined by one or more vertices of each region of interest, wherein the region of interest is a polygon. 
     In yet another variation of the current embodiment, identifying an orientation classification for each of the one or more regions of interest comprises determining, by the processor, a plurality of quadrants of the geometric shape, identifying, by the processor, the location of each of the one or more regions of interest within a respective quadrant, and determining, by the processor, the orientation classification for each of the one or more regions of interest from the identified locations of the one or more regions of interest in respective quadrants. 
     In another variation of the current embodiment, identifying one or more regions of interest in the image comprises applying, by the processor, a deep neural network model to identify indicia in the image, and determining, by the processor, the one or more regions of interest from locations of the identified indicia in the image. Further, in a variant of the current embodiment, performing indicia recognition on each of the one or more regions of interest comprises performing, by the processor, text recognition by applying a deep neural network model. 
     Another embodiment of the present invention is an imaging system for performing indicia recognition. The system comprises an imaging sensor disposed to (i) receive light from a target and (ii) generate a signal indicative of the receive light, and a processor and computer-readable media storing machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause the imaging system to obtain, by the imaging sensor, an image of an object of interest, identify, by the processor, one or more regions of interest in the image, each region of interest including one or more indicia indicative of a characteristic of the object of interest, determine, by the processor, positions of each of the one or more regions of interest in the image, determine, by the processor, a geometric shape from the determined positions of the one or more regions of interest, identify, by the processor, an orientation classification to each of the one or more regions of interest, the orientation classification being identified based on the (i) determined positions and (ii) determined geometric shape, identify, by the processor, a geometric transformation for each of the identified orientations, transform, by the processor, each of the one or more regions of interest according to the geometric transformation for the identified orientation classification to provide a perspective normalization for each of the one or more regions of interest, and perform, by the processor and responsive to the transformation, indicia recognition on each of the one or more regions of interest. 
     In a variation of the current embodiment, to determine positions of each of the one or more regions of interest the machine readable instructions further cause the imaging system to determine, by the processor, a centroid of each of the one or more regions of interest, and determine, by the processor, the positions of each of the one or more regions of interest from the centroid of each region of interest. In another variation of the current embodiment, to determine positions of each of the one or more regions of interest the machine readable instructions further cause the imaging system to determine, by the processor, one or more vertices of each region of interest, and determine, by the processor, the positions of each of the one or more regions of interest from the one or more vertices of each region of interest. 
     In yet another variation of the current embodiment, to identify an orientation classification for each of the one or more regions of interest, the machine readable instructions further cause the imaging system to determine, by the processor, a plurality of quadrants of the geometric shape, identify, by the processor, the location of each of the one or more regions of interest within a respective quadrant, and determine, by the processor, the orientation classification for each of the one or more regions of interest from the identified locations of the one or more regions of interest in respective quadrants. 
     In a further variation of the current embodiment, to identify one or more regions of interest in the image, the machine readable instructions further cause the imaging system to apply, by the processor, a deep neural network model to identify indicia in the image, and determine, by the processor, the one or more regions of interest from locations of the identified indicia in the image. In yet another variation of the current embodiment, to perform indicia recognition on each of the one or more regions of interest, the machine readable instructions further cause the imaging system to perform, by the processor, text recognition by applying a deep neural network model. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments. 
         FIG.  1    illustrates an example imaging system configured to analyze an image of a target object to execute a machine vision job, in accordance with various embodiments disclosed herein. 
         FIG.  2    is a perspective view of the imaging device of  FIG.  1   , in accordance with embodiments described herein. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates an example environment for performing machine vision scanning of an object. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a tire as an object of interest for performing machine vision analysis to identify indicia indicative of a characteristic or property of the tire. 
         FIG.  5 A  illustrates indicia in a first region of interest as scanned by a conventional machine vision system. 
         FIG.  5 B  illustrates indicia in a second region of interest as scanned by a conventional machine vision system. 
         FIG.  5 C  illustrates indicia in a third region of interest as scanned by a conventional machine vision system. 
         FIG.  5 D  illustrates indicia in a fourth region of interest as scanned by a conventional machine vision system. 
         FIG.  6    is a flow diagram of a method for performing indicia recognition for an imaging system. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates example regions of interest and a geometric shape that may be determined using the method of  FIG.  6   . 
         FIG.  8 A  illustrates a transformed region of interest and the resultant perspective normalization images of the first region of interest of  FIG.  5 A . 
         FIG.  8 B  illustrates a transformed region of interest and the resultant perspective normalization images of the second region of interest of  FIG.  5 B . 
         FIG.  8 C  illustrates a transformed region of interest and the resultant perspective normalization images of the third region of interest of  FIG.  5 C . 
         FIG.  8 D  illustrates a transformed region of interest and the resultant perspective normalization images of the fourth region of interest of  FIG.  5 D . 
         FIG.  9    is a flow diagram of a method for determining orientation classifications, identifying orientation classifications, and identifying image transformations for performing indicia recognition for an imaging system. 
         FIG.  10    illustrates the geometric shape of  FIG.  7    having quadrants for determining and identifying orientation classifications for regions of interest. 
         FIG.  11 A  illustrates a region of interest having four vertices, and further illustrates a perspective normalized image of the region of interest for performing indicia recognition. 
         FIG.  11 B  illustrates a region of interest having four vertices in an orientation requiring a rotation to generate a perspective normalized image. 
         FIG.  11 C  illustrates a region of interest having four vertices in an orientation requiring a horizontal flip to generate a perspective normalized image. 
         FIG.  12    illustrates a tire having a tire identification number that includes five regions of interest having varying numbers of characters and character orientations in each region of interest. 
         FIG.  13 A  illustrates a normalized perspective images of the first region of interest in  FIG.  12   . 
         FIG.  13 B  illustrates a normalized perspective images of the second region of interest in  FIG.  12   . 
         FIG.  13 C  illustrates a normalized perspective images of the third region of interest in  FIG.  12   . 
         FIG.  13 D  illustrates a normalized perspective images of the fourth region of interest in  FIG.  12   . 
         FIG.  13 E  illustrates a normalized perspective images of the fifth region of interest in  FIG.  12   . 
     
    
    
     Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention. 
     The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Machine vision systems often require specific optical setups, with predetermined or known object orientations, and placements in a field of view of the imaging system. Further, any indicia such as letters, numbers, or other characters must typically be in a set orientation and substantially linear in orientation for machine vision systems to effectively identify the indicia. While machine vision is already implemented across a multitude of industries for performing text analysis, part cataloguing, part inspection, etc., an effective method and system for identifying indicia in arbitrary orientations and in non-linear arrangements would greatly increase the range of applications and industries that may utilize machine vision. Thus, the disclosed method and system provide a means for performing identification of indicia that have characters in various orientations and arrangements. As described herein, the embodiments of the present disclosure may provide for more robust machine vision analysis across a wide variety of applications. Further, the disclosed embodiments may further provide benefits as to reduce human analysis and input during automated processes, reduce computational complexity in image analysis, simplify required optics for performing imaging, and increase the versatility, scanning efficiency, and robustness of a machine vision system. 
       FIG.  1    illustrates an example imaging system  100  configured to analyze an image of a target object to execute a machine vision job, in accordance with various embodiments disclosed herein. More specifically, the imaging system  100  is configured to detect and identify indicia in a plurality of orientations and arrangements in an image. In the example embodiment of  FIG.  1   , the imaging system  100  includes a user computing device  102  and an imaging device  104  communicatively coupled to the user computing device  102  via a network  106 . Generally speaking, the user computing device  102  and the imaging device  104  may be capable of executing instructions to, for example, implement operations of the example methods described herein, as may be represented by the flowcharts of the drawings that accompany this description. The user computing device  102  is generally configured to enable a user/operator to create a machine vision job for execution on the imaging device  104 . When created, the user/operator may then transmit/upload the machine vision job to the imaging device  104  via the network  106 , where the machine vision job is then interpreted and executed. The user computing device  102  may comprise one or more operator workstations, and may include one or more processors  108 , one or more memories  110 , a networking interface  112 , an input/output (I/O) interface  114 , and a smart imaging application  116 . 
     The imaging device  104  is connected to the user computing device  102  via a network  106 , and is configured to interpret and execute machine vision jobs received from the user computing device  102 . Generally, the imaging device  104  may obtain a job file containing one or more job scripts from the user computing device  102  across the network  106  that may define the machine vision job and may configure the imaging device  104  to capture and/or analyze images in accordance with the machine vision job. For example, the imaging device  104  may include flash memory used for determining, storing, or otherwise processing imaging data/datasets and/or post-imaging data. The imaging device  104  may then receive, recognize, and/or otherwise interpret a trigger that causes the imaging device  104  to capture an image of the target object in accordance with the configuration established via the one or more job scripts. Once captured and/or analyzed, the imaging device  104  may transmit the images and any associated data across the network  106  to the user computing device  102  for further analysis and/or storage. In various embodiments, the imaging device  104  may be a “smart” camera and/or may otherwise be configured to automatically perform sufficient functionality of the imaging device  104  in order to obtain, interpret, and execute job scripts that define machine vision jobs, such as any one or more job scripts contained in one or more job files as obtained, for example, from the user computing device  102 . 
     Broadly, the job file may be a JSON representation/data format of the one or more job scripts transferrable from the user computing device  102  to the imaging device  104 . The job file may further be loadable/readable by a C++ runtime engine, or other suitable runtime engine, executing on the imaging device  104 . Moreover, the imaging device  104  may run a server (not shown) configured to listen for and receive job files across the network  106  from the user computing device  102 . Additionally or alternatively, the server configured to listen for and receive job files may be implemented as one or more cloud-based servers, such as a cloud-based computing platform. For example, the server may be any one or more cloud-based platform(s) such as MICROSOFT AZURE, AMAZON AWS, or the like. 
     In any event, the imaging device  104  may include one or more processors  118 , one or more memories  120 , a networking interface  122 , an I/O interface  124 , and an imaging assembly  126 . The imaging assembly  126  may include a digital camera and/or digital video camera for capturing or taking digital images and/or frames. Each digital image may comprise pixel data, vector information, or other image data that may be analyzed by one or more tools each configured to perform an image analysis task. The digital camera and/or digital video camera of, e.g., the imaging assembly  126  may be configured, as disclosed herein, to take, capture, obtain, or otherwise generate digital images and, at least in some embodiments, may store such images in a memory (e.g., one or more memories  110 ,  120 ) of a respective device (e.g., user computing device  102 , imaging device  104 ). 
     For example, the imaging assembly  126  may include a photo-realistic camera (not shown) for capturing, sensing, or scanning 2D image data. The photo-realistic camera may be an RGB (red, green, blue) based camera for capturing 2D images having RGB-based pixel data. In various embodiments, the imaging assembly may additionally include a three-dimensional (3D) camera (not shown) for capturing, sensing, or scanning 3D image data. The 3D camera may include an Infra-Red (IR) projector and a related IR camera for capturing, sensing, or scanning 3D image data/datasets. In some embodiments, the photo-realistic camera of the imaging assembly  126  may capture 2D images, and related 2D image data, at the same or similar point in time as the 3D camera of the imaging assembly  126  such that the imaging device  104  can have both sets of 3D image data and 2D image data available for a particular surface, object, area, or scene at the same or similar instance in time. In various embodiments, the imaging assembly  126  may include the 3D camera and the photo-realistic camera as a single imaging apparatus configured to capture 3D depth image data simultaneously with 2D image data. Consequently, the captured 2D images and the corresponding 2D image data may be depth-aligned with the 3D images and 3D image data. 
     In embodiments, the imaging assembly  126  may be configured to capture images of surfaces or areas of a predefined search space or target objects within the predefined search space. For example, each tool included in a job script may additionally include a region of interest (ROI) corresponding to a specific region or a target object imaged by the imaging assembly  126 . The ROI may be a predefined ROI, or the ROI may be determined through analysis of the image by the processor  118 . Further, a plurality of ROIs may be predefined or determined through image processing. The composite area defined by the ROIs for all tools included in a particular job script may thereby define the predefined search space which the imaging assembly  126  may capture in order to facilitate the execution of the job script. However, the predefined search space may be user-specified to include a field of view (FOV) featuring more or less than the composite area defined by the ROIs of all tools included in the particular job script. It should be noted that the imaging assembly  126  may capture 2D and/or 3D image data/datasets of a variety of areas, such that additional areas in addition to the predefined search spaces are contemplated herein. Moreover, in various embodiments, the imaging assembly  126  may be configured to capture other sets of image data in addition to the 2D/3D image data, such as grayscale image data or amplitude image data, each of which may be depth-aligned with the 2D/3D image data. Further, one or more ROIs may be within a FOV of the imaging system such that any region of the FOV of the imaging system may be a ROI. 
     The imaging device  104  may also process the 2D image data/datasets and/or 3D image datasets for use by other devices (e.g., the user computing device  102 , an external server). For example, the one or more processors  118  may process the image data or datasets captured, scanned, or sensed by the imaging assembly  126 . The processing of the image data may generate post-imaging data that may include metadata, simplified data, normalized data, result data, status data, or alert data as determined from the original scanned or sensed image data. The image data and/or the post-imaging data may be sent to the user computing device  102  executing the smart imaging application  116  for viewing, manipulation, and/or otherwise interaction. In other embodiments, the image data and/or the post-imaging data may be sent to a server for storage or for further manipulation. As described herein, the user computing device  102 , imaging device  104 , and/or external server or other centralized processing unit and/or storage may store such data, and may also send the image data and/or the post-imaging data to another application implemented on a user device, such as a mobile device, a tablet, a handheld device, or a desktop device. 
     Each of the one or more memories  110 ,  120  may include one or more forms of volatile and/or non-volatile, fixed and/or removable memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), electronic programmable read-only memory (EPROM), random access memory (RAM), erasable electronic programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or other hard drives, flash memory, MicroSD cards, and others. In general, a computer program or computer based product, application, or code (e.g., smart imaging application  116 , or other computing instructions described herein) may be stored on a computer usable storage medium, or tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., standard random access memory (RAM), an optical disc, a universal serial bus (USB) drive, or the like) having such computer-readable program code or computer instructions embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable program code or computer instructions may be installed on or otherwise adapted to be executed by the one or more processors  108 ,  118  (e.g., working in connection with the respective operating system in the one or more memories  110 ,  120 ) to facilitate, implement, or perform the machine readable instructions, methods, processes, elements or limitations, as illustrated, depicted, or described for the various flowcharts, illustrations, diagrams, figures, and/or other disclosure herein. In this regard, the program code may be implemented in any desired program language, and may be implemented as machine code, assembly code, byte code, interpretable source code or the like (e.g., via Golang, Python, C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Java, Scala, ActionScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, etc.). 
     The one or more memories  110 ,  120  may store an operating system (OS) (e.g., Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix, etc.) capable of facilitating the functionalities, apps, methods, or other software as discussed herein. The one or more memories  110  may also store the smart imaging application  116 , which may be configured to enable machine vision job construction, as described further herein. Additionally, or alternatively, the smart imaging application  116  may also be stored in the one or more memories  120  of the imaging device  104 , and/or in an external database (not shown), which is accessible or otherwise communicatively coupled to the user computing device  102  via the network  106 . The one or more memories  110 ,  120  may also store machine readable instructions, including any of one or more application(s), one or more software component(s), and/or one or more application programming interfaces (APIs), which may be implemented to facilitate or perform the features, functions, or other disclosure described herein, such as any methods, processes, elements or limitations, as illustrated, depicted, or described for the various flowcharts, illustrations, diagrams, figures, and/or other disclosure herein. For example, at least some of the applications, software components, or APIs may be, include, otherwise be part of, a machine vision based imaging application, such as the smart imaging application  116 , where each may be configured to facilitate their various functionalities discussed herein. It should be appreciated that one or more other applications may be envisioned and that are executed by the one or more processors  108 ,  118 . 
     The one or more processors  108 ,  118  may be connected to the one or more memories  110 ,  120  via a computer bus responsible for transmitting electronic data, data packets, or otherwise electronic signals to and from the one or more processors  108 ,  118  and one or more memories  110 ,  120  in order to implement or perform the machine readable instructions, methods, processes, elements or limitations, as illustrated, depicted, or described for the various flowcharts, illustrations, diagrams, figures, and/or other disclosure herein. 
     The one or more processors  108 ,  118  may interface with the one or more memories  110 ,  120  via the computer bus to execute the operating system (OS). The one or more processors  108 ,  118  may also interface with the one or more memories  110 ,  120  via the computer bus to create, read, update, delete, or otherwise access or interact with the data stored in the one or more memories  110 ,  120  and/or external databases (e.g., a relational database, such as Oracle, DB2, MySQL, or a NoSQL based database, such as MongoDB). The data stored in the one or more memories  110 ,  120  and/or an external database may include all or part of any of the data or information described herein, including, for example, machine vision job images (e.g., images captured by the imaging device  104  in response to execution of a job script) and/or other suitable information. 
     The networking interfaces  112 ,  122  may be configured to communicate (e.g., send and receive) data via one or more external/network port(s) to one or more networks or local terminals, such as network  106 , described herein. In some embodiments, networking interfaces  112 ,  122  may include a client-server platform technology such as ASP.NET, Java J2EE, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, a web service or online API, responsive for receiving and responding to electronic requests. The networking interfaces  112 ,  122  may implement the client-server platform technology that may interact, via the computer bus, with the one or more memories  110 ,  120  (including the applications(s), component(s), API(s), data, etc. stored therein) to implement or perform the machine readable instructions, methods, processes, elements or limitations, as illustrated, depicted, or described for the various flowcharts, illustrations, diagrams, figures, and/or other disclosure herein. 
     According to some embodiments, the networking interfaces  112 ,  122  may include, or interact with, one or more transceivers (e.g., WWAN, WLAN, and/or WPAN transceivers) functioning in accordance with IEEE standards, 3GPP standards, or other standards, and that may be used in receipt and transmission of data via external/network ports connected to network  106 . In some embodiments, network  106  may comprise a private network or local area network (LAN). Additionally or alternatively, network  106  may comprise a public network such as the Internet. In some embodiments, the network  106  may comprise routers, wireless switches, or other such wireless connection points communicating to the user computing device  102  (via the networking interface  112 ) and the imaging device  104  (via networking interface  122 ) via wireless communications based on any one or more of various wireless standards, including by non-limiting example, IEEE 802.11a/b/c/g (WIFI), the BLUETOOTH standard, or the like. 
     The I/O interfaces  114 ,  124  may include or implement operator interfaces configured to present information to an administrator or operator and/or receive inputs from the administrator or operator. An operator interface may provide a display screen (e.g., via the user computing device  102  and/or imaging device  104 ) which a user/operator may use to visualize any images, graphics, text, data, features, pixels, and/or other suitable visualizations or information. For example, the user computing device  102  and/or imaging device  104  may comprise, implement, have access to, render, or otherwise expose, at least in part, a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying images, graphics, text, data, features, pixels, and/or other suitable visualizations or information on the display screen. The I/O interfaces  114 ,  124  may also include I/O components (e.g., ports, capacitive or resistive touch sensitive input panels, keys, buttons, lights, LEDs, any number of keyboards, mice, USB drives, optical drives, screens, touchscreens, etc.), which may be directly/indirectly accessible via or attached to the user computing device  102  and/or the imaging device  104 . According to some embodiments, an administrator or user/operator may access the user computing device  102  and/or imaging device  104  to construct jobs, review images or other information, make changes, input responses and/or selections, and/or perform other functions. 
     As described above herein, in some embodiments, the user computing device  102  may perform the functionalities as discussed herein as part of a “cloud” network or may otherwise communicate with other hardware or software components within the cloud to send, retrieve, or otherwise analyze data or information described herein. 
       FIG.  2    is a perspective view of an example imaging device  104  that may be implemented in the imaging system  100  of  FIG.  1   , in accordance with embodiments described herein. The imaging device  104  includes a housing  202 , an imaging aperture  204 , a user interface label  206 , a dome switch/button  208 , one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs)  210 , and mounting point(s)  212 . As previously mentioned, the imaging device  104  may obtain job files from a user computing device (e.g., user computing device  102 ) which the imaging device  104  thereafter interprets and executes. The instructions included in the job file may include device configuration settings (also referenced herein as “imaging settings”) operable to adjust the configuration of the imaging device  104  prior to capturing images of a target object. 
     For example, the device configuration settings may include instructions to adjust one or more settings related to the imaging aperture  204 . As an example, assume that at least a portion of the intended analysis corresponding to a machine vision job requires the imaging device  104  to maximize the brightness of any captured image. To accommodate this requirement, the job file may include device configuration settings to increase the aperture size of the imaging aperture  204 . The imaging device  104  may interpret these instructions (e.g., via one or more processors  118 ) and accordingly increase the aperture size of the imaging aperture  204 . Thus, the imaging device  104  may be configured to automatically adjust its own configuration to optimally conform to a particular machine vision job. Additionally, the imaging device  104  may include or otherwise be adaptable to include, for example but without limitation, one or more bandpass filters, one or more polarizers, one or more waveplates, one or more DPM diffusers, one or more C-mount lenses, and/or one or more C-mount liquid lenses over or otherwise influencing the received illumination through the imaging aperture  204 . 
     The user interface label  206  may include the dome switch/button  208  and one or more LEDs  210 , and may thereby enable a variety of interactive and/or indicative features. Generally, the user interface label  206  may enable a user to trigger and/or tune to the imaging device  104  (e.g., via the dome switch/button  208 ) and to recognize when one or more functions, errors, and/or other actions have been performed or taken place with respect to the imaging device  104  (e.g., via the one or more LEDs  210 ). For example, the trigger function of a dome switch/button (e.g., dome/switch button  208 ) may enable a user to capture an image using the imaging device  104  and/or to display a trigger configuration screen of a user application (e.g., smart imaging application  116 ). The trigger configuration screen may allow the user to configure one or more triggers for the imaging device  104  that may be stored in memory (e.g., one or more memories  110 ,  120 ) for use in later developed machine vision jobs, as discussed herein. 
     As another example, the tuning function of a dome switch/button (e.g., dome/switch button  208 ) may enable a user to automatically and/or manually adjust the configuration of the imaging device  104  in accordance with a preferred/predetermined configuration and/or to display an imaging configuration screen of a user application (e.g., smart imaging application  116 ). The imaging configuration screen may allow the user to configure one or more configurations of the imaging device  104  (e.g., aperture size, exposure length, etc.) that may be stored in memory (e.g., one or more memories  110 ,  120 ) for use in later developed machine vision jobs, as discussed herein. 
     To further this example, and as discussed further herein, a user may utilize the imaging configuration screen (or more generally, the smart imaging application  116 ) to establish two or more configurations of imaging settings for the imaging device  104 . The user may then save these two or more configurations of imaging settings as part of a machine vision job that is then transmitted to the imaging device  104  in a job file containing one or more job scripts. The one or more job scripts may then instruct the imaging device  104  processors (e.g., one or more processors  118 ) to automatically and sequentially adjust the imaging settings of the imaging device in accordance with one or more of the two or more configurations of imaging settings after each successive image capture. 
     The mounting point(s)  212  may enable a user connecting and/or removably affixing the imaging device  104  to a mounting device (e.g., imaging tripod, camera mount, etc.), a structural surface (e.g., a warehouse wall, a warehouse ceiling, scanning bed or table, structural support beam, etc.), other accessory items, and/or any other suitable connecting devices, structures, or surfaces. For example, the imaging device  104  may be optimally placed on a mounting device in a distribution center, manufacturing plant, warehouse, and/or other facility to image and thereby monitor the quality/consistency of products, packages, and/or other items as they pass through the imaging device&#39;s  104  FOV. Moreover, the mounting point(s)  212  may enable a user to connect the imaging device  104  to a myriad of accessory items including, but without limitation, one or more external illumination devices, one or more mounting devices/brackets, and the like. 
     In addition, the imaging device  104  may include several hardware components contained within the housing  202  that enable connectivity to a computer network (e.g., network  106 ). For example, the imaging device  104  may include a networking interface (e.g., networking interface  122 ) that enables the imaging device  104  to connect to a network, such as a Gigabit Ethernet connection and/or a Dual Gigabit Ethernet connection. Further, the imaging device  104  may include transceivers and/or other communication components as part of the networking interface to communicate with other devices (e.g., the user computing device  102 ) via, for example, Ethernet/IP, PROFINET, Modbus TCP, CC-Link, USB 3.0, RS-232, and/or any other suitable communication protocol or combinations thereof. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates an example environment  300  for performing machine vision scanning of an object as described herein. In the environment  300  of  FIG.  3    the imaging device  104  of  FIGS.  1  and  2    is position above a scanning surface  303 . The imaging device  104  is disposed and oriented such that a field of view (FOV)  306  of the imaging device  104  includes a portion of the scanning surface  303 . The scanning surface may be a table, podium, mount for mounting an object or part, a conveyer, a cubby hole, or another mount or surface that may support a part or object to be scanned. As illustrated, the scanning surface  303  is a conveyer belt having an object of interest  310  thereon. The object of interested  310  is illustrated as being within the FOV  306  of the imaging device  104 . The object of interest  312  contains indicia  312  thereon. The imaging device  104  captures one or more images of the object of interest  310  and may determine a region of interest within the image that contains the object of interest, or the ROI may be determined as a region of the image that contains the indicia  312 . As illustrated, the indicia  312  is a barcode, but the indicia  312  may include one or more of  1 D barcode, 2D barcode, QR code, static barcode, dynamic barcode, alphabetical character, text, numerals, alphanumeric, other characters, a picture, vehicle identification number, expiration date, tire identification number, or another indicia having characters and/or numerals. In examples, the object of interest  310  may have more than one indicia, and the imaging device  104  may capture an image of the FOV  306  and determine multiple ROIs in the captured image, each ROI having at least one indicia for decoding. 
     The imaging device  104  may be mounted above the object of interest  310  on a ceiling, a beam, a metal tripod, or another object for supporting the position of the imaging device  104  for capturing images of the scanning bed  303 . Further, the imaging device  104  may alternatively be mounted on a wall or another mount that faces objects on the scanning bed  303  from a horizontal direction. In examples, the imaging device  104  may be mounted on any apparatus or surface for imaging and scanning objects of interest that are in, or pass through, the FOV  306  of the imaging device  104 . 
     The described method and system may be implemented for identifying text, numerals, or characters in any orientation, and any arrangement. For clarity and simplicity, a tire will be used as the object of interest  310 . The tire having characters thereon in a radial pattern, with each character having a different angular orientation. The example of a tire with radially positioned characters is one example of the ability of the disclosed method and systems in identifying characters and indicia at any orientation and in arrangements other than horizontal linear arrangements. As used herein, “orientation” of a character or indicia refers to a rotational orientation relative to the imaging system, for example an upright letter A, a letter A rotated 90° clockwise, an upside down letter A, and a letter A rotated 270° clockwise all have different orientations. Further, a character may have an arbitrary orientation at any rotational angle in an image obtained by the imaging device  104 . As used herein, “arrangement” refers to the arrangement of a plurality of characters or symbols used for indicia. For example, a word in a horizontal line, has a different arrangement as compared to a word in a vertical line in the FOV  306  of the imaging device  104 . Further, indicia may include characters arranged in multiple horizontal or vertical lines, characters along a curve or contour, characters along a diagonal line, etc. The disclosed method and system may be used to efficiently scan and identify characters and indicia in any orientation and/or arrangement. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates a tire  410  as the object of interest  310  for performing machine vision analysis on to identify indicia  412  indicative of one or more characteristics or properties of the tire  410 . In the example of  FIG.  4   , the indicia  412  is a tire identification number (TID) that identifies where the tire was manufactured, the tire size, a manufacturers code, and the week and year the tire was manufactured. A TID may include a plurality of numbers and letters and the various format and codes of a TID may vary as manufacturers use different formats and codes. The tire  410  may be scanned in a manner similar to that illustrated in  FIG.  3   . For example, the tire  410  may be placed on the scanning bed  303  and the tire may ride along the conveyor belt of the scanning bed  303  through the FOV  306  of the imaging device  104 . The tire  310  may be place on the scanning bed  303  with the indicia  412  facing the imaging device  104 , but the tire may be placed on the scanning bed with the indicia  412  at an arbitrary orientation in the FOV  306 . Therefore, to perform efficient scanning and decoding for machine vision, the imaging system  100  must be able to identify characters and symbols at any orientation of the tire  410  in the FOV  306 . 
     Many machine vision systems require specific orientations and arrangements of indicia to efficiently scan and identify characters of the indicia. Therefore, many systems would not be able to identify any indicia contained in the example illustrated in  FIG.  4   . Some machine vision systems may be able to identify the presence of the indicia, but may not be able to properly perform OCR or identify characters of the indicia.  FIGS.  5 A- 5 D  illustrate a conventional machine vision system that may identify the presence of indicia and identify regions of interest  405 A- 405 D containing the indicia. For conventional systems, further processing using OCR is not able to properly identify the characters illustrated in  FIGS.  5 A- 5 D  due to the orientations of the characters along the tire  410 . For example, OCR is unable to identify the letters “DOT” from  FIG.  5 D  as the letters are upside down and backwards in the obtained image. 
       FIG.  6    is a flow diagram of a method  600  for performing indicia recognition for an imaging system, such as the imaging system  104  of  FIGS.  1 - 3   . For clarity, the tire  410  of  FIG.  4    will be used as the object of interest  310 . Further,  FIG.  7    illustrates example ROIs  705 A- 705 D and a geometric shape  712  that may be determined using the method  600  of  FIG.  6   . For clarity, the method  600  will be described with simultaneous reference to  FIG.  7   . 
     The method  600  includes obtaining an image of the object of interest  310  at  602 . In the current example, the tire  410  is the object of interest  310  and the imaging device  104  obtains the image of the tire  410  as the tire  410  traverses the FOV  306  of the imaging device  104 . The obtained image may include one or more frames of the FOV  306  for performing machine vision analysis and indicia recognition as described herein. A processor, such as the processor  118  or the processor  108  of  FIG.  1   , performs image processing on the obtained image and identifies one or more ROIs  705 A- 705 D in the image at  604 . Each of the ROIs  705 A- 705 D includes one or more indicia indicative of one or more characteristics of the object of interest  310 . For example, the tire  410  has four distinct groups of alphanumeric groups as illustrated in  FIGS.  4  and  5 A- 5 D , and the processor  108  may identify each ROI  705 A- 705 D as containing one of the groups of characters. To identify the one or more ROIs, the processor may apply a deep neural network model to identify indicia in the image, and the determine the ROIs from the locations of the indicia in the image. In examples, the processor determines that text or characters are present in the image, without identifying the specific characters. Based on positions of the characters in the image, the ROIs may then be identified as regions of the image that contain one or more characters grouped together. Performing character recognition is performed after ROIs are identified, as described further herein. 
     The processor  108  then determines a position of each ROI in the image at  606 . To determine a position of each ROI, the processor  108  may determine a centroid pixel  707 A- 707 D for each ROI, as illustrated in  FIG.  7   . Further, the processor may determine the location of each ROI by determining one or more vertices of each ROI and then determine the position of each ROI from the location of the one or more vertices within the image. Additionally, the position of an ROI may be represented by a convex polygon having vertices and/or a centroid. 
     The processor  108  determines a geometric shape  712  based on the positions of the centroids  707 A- 707 D of the ROIs  705 A- 705 D at  608 . To determine the geometric shape  712 , the processor  108  may determine that the centroids  707 A- 707 D of the ROIs  705 A- 705 D are positioned along an arc, and the processor  108  may determine that the geometric shape  712  is a circle having a radius of curvature and a center point  714 , with each of the ROIs  705 A- 705 D positioned along the circumference of the circle. While illustrated as a circle, the geometric shape  712  may be a horizontal line, a vertical line, a diagonal line, a curve, a jagged line, a sawtooth line, a sinusoid, an ellipse, a two-dimensional convex shape, a polygon, or an open shape. Further, the method may include determining a path that the positions of each of the ROIs  705 A- 705 D lies along. For example, the path may be the arc, illustrated in  FIG.  7   , of the geometric shape  712  that the four ROIs  705 A- 705 D are positioned along. In examples, an ROI may be positioned along a path such that a centroid of the ROI is on the path, a vertex of the ROI lies along the path, or another coordinate indicative of the position of the ROI lies along the path. 
     The processor  108  identifies an orientation classification for each of the one or more ROIs at  610 . The orientation classification is indicative of one or more features of an ROI including one or more of a rotational orientation of the indicia in a respective ROI, a position of the ROI relative to the geometric shape  712 , a position of the ROI relative to other ROIs, a position and/or orientation of the ROI in the obtained image or relative to other objects/features in the obtained image. The processor  108  may identify the orientation classification based on the determined position of an ROI and the determined geometric shape, or based on the position of the ROI along a path such as a sinusoid or other path determined by the geometric shape  712 , as will be discuss in more detail herein with reference to  FIG.  9   . Further, the orientation classification may further be based on a position of an ROI relative to the FOV and orientation of a camera, or the FOV of the imaging device  104 . for example, the orientation classification for an ROI may differ for an ROI in a same pixel position for imaging systems having two different FOVs. Additionally, knowing the FOV and orientation of the imaging system FOV allows for the transformation of an ROI position from one imaging to another imaging system having a different FOV, which allows for the comparison of ROIs across imaging systems having different FOVs or an imaging system that employs multiple cameras having different FOVs. For example, an imaging system may include two cameras both imaging a same object of interest, with one camera above the object, and the other camera imaging the side of the object. Both may capture one or more ROIs containing indicia, and the orientation classifications of the ROIs may be determined based on the different FOVs of the two different cameras in the imaging system. 
     The processor  108  then identifies one or more geometric transformations for each ROI at  612 . The processor  108  determines the geometric transformations for each ROI based on the respective orientation classification for a given ROI. For example, the determined geometric transformations may include one or more of a rotation, resize, a horizontal flip, a vertical flip, a mirror (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, etc.), a skew, a perspective transformation, or another geometric transformation. The processor  108  then performs image processing and transforms each ROI according to the determined respective transformations at  614 . Each transformed ROI may be referred to herein as a perspective normalization of each ROI, with each perspective normalization being an image on which OCR can effectively identify characters and symbols contained therein.  FIGS.  8 A- 8 D  illustrate example transformed ROIs and the resultant perspective normalization images of the four regions of interest  405 A- 405 D of  FIG.  4   . Characters and symbols in the ROIs presented in  FIGS.  8 A- 8 D  are readily identified using OCR as compared to the characters illustrated in the ROIs of  FIGS.  5 A- 5 D . 
     The processor  108  performs indicia recognition on each ROI at  616 . The processor may employ OCR to perform the indicia recognition. In examples, the processor may apply a deep neural network model, or another machine learning method, to perform the indicia recognition in the ROIs. Once the indicia recognition has been performed, the processor  108 , a user, or another system may determine information about the tire  410  from the identified characters and indicia. 
       FIG.  9    is a flow diagram of a method  900  for determining orientation classifications and identifying orientation classifications at block  610  of the method  600 .  FIG.  10    illustrates the geometric shape  712  having quadrants  1002 ,  1004 ,  1006 , and  1008  for determining and assigning orientation classifications to the regions of interest  705 A- 705 D of  FIG.  7   . For clarity, the method  900  of  FIG.  9    will be described with reference to  FIG.  10   . The method  900  includes determining quadrants of the geometric shape  712  at  902 . In the illustrated example, four quadrants are determined for the geometric shape  712 : a northwest quadrant  1002 , a northeast quadrant  1004 , a southwest quadrant  1006  and a southeast quadrant  1008 . 
     The processor  108  then identifies the locations of ROIs within the quadrants at  904 . For example, each of the ROIs of the tire  410  of  FIG.  4    are identified as being in the southwest quadrant  1006 . The processor then determines the orientation classification from the locations of the ROIs within the quadrants with the orientation classification being a label of which quadrant the ROI is in. For example, the orientation classification may be a number such as 1, 2, 3, or 4 that is indicative of the ROI being in the northwest quadrant  1002 , northeast quadrant  1004 , southwest quadrant  1006  or southeast quadrant  1008  respectively. In examples, a position of each ROI along the arc of the geometric shape, or along a path as previously described, may be determined and the orientation classification may be identified by the position of each ROI along the path. 
     Each of the quadrants  1002 ,  1004 ,  1006 , and  1008 , may require different sets of transformations for generating perspective normalized images from a determined ROI. The orientation classification is therefore indicative of one or more transformations that may be used to transform the ROI into a perspective normalized image. For example, an image of indicia in the southwest quadrant  1006 , assigned an orientation classification of 3, may require a horizontal flip, a vertical flip, and a rotation according to the location of the ROI within the southwest quadrant  1006 , while an image of an ROI from the northeast quadrant  1004  may only require a 45° counter-clockwise rotation. Further, each quadrant may be split into subregions to further identify the location or position of an ROI in a quadrant. The subregions may be used for identifying the set of transformations required for transforming the image of an ROI to a perspective normalized image. For example, the subregion locations of the geometric shape  712  may include a north subregion  101 A, northeast subregion  1010 B, east subregion  1010 C, southeast subregion  1010 D, south subregion  1010 E, southwest subregion  1010 F, west subregion  1010 G, and a northwest subregion  1010 H. Further, the orientation classification for a given subregion may include a numeral of 1-10, or character A-H to classify the position of the ROI relative to the geometric shape  712  Each subregion may require different transformations for forming the perspective normalized image. For example, a ROI in the west subregion may indicate that a 90° clockwise rotation is required to form the perspective normalized image, while the south region may indicate that a vertical flip, and a horizontal flip are required to form the perspective normalized image, even though both subregions exist, at least partially, in the southwest quadrant  1006 . While illustrated as having four quadrants  1002 ,  1004 ,  1006 , and  1008 , and eight subregions  1010 A,  1010 B,  1010 C,  1010 D,  1010 D,  1010 E,  1010 F,  1010 G, and  1010 H, the circle may be segmented into any number of regions for identifying the orientation of an ROI, and further for determining one or more transformations for transforming an ROI into the perspective normalized image for performing character recognition. Further, while illustrated as a circle, the geometric shape  712  may be another shape or line, such as a sinusoidal curve that is split into segments of arcs of the sinusoid for identifying orientations of ROIs, and further identifying image transformations for generating perspective normalized images from the ROIs. 
       FIG.  11 A  illustrates a ROI  1103  having vertices V 1 -V 4  and a perspective normalized image  1106  of the ROI  1103  after applying a transformation  1108 . The vertices V 1 -V 4  may be used to determine the position and orientation of the ROI  1103 . For example, the ROI  1103  may be identified as being in the southwest quadrant  1006  of the geometric shape  712  of  FIG.  10   . Further, the position of the ROI  1103  may be determined before determining how to label the vertices V 1 -V 4 . In the illustrated example, the ROI  1103  is determined to be in the southwest quadrant  1006  of the geometric shape  712 , and more specifically, in the southwest subregion  1010 F. The transformation  1108  is determined to include a clockwise rotation of the ROI that results in V 1  being in the top left corner of the perspective normalized image  1106  with V 2  being horizontally aligned with V 1 , and V 3  being vertically aligned with V 1 . A rotation of the ROI is one example of a transformation that may transform the ROI  1103  to the perspective normalized image  1106 . For example, the transformation  1108  may include a counterclockwise rotation that results in V 1  being in the bottom right corner, with V 2  being horizontally aligned with V 1 , and V 4  being vertically aligned above V 1 , and then performing a vertical and horizontal flip of the ROI  1103  to form the perspective normalized image  1106 . The example of  FIG.  11 A  is for illustrative purposes of using vertices for transforming an image of an ROI to a perspective normalized image for performing indicia recognition. It should be understood that the ROI  1103  may be another shape other than a rectangle having 3 vertices, 4 vertices, 5 vertices, or more vertices. Further, the ROI may be at any position or orientation along a geometric shape as previously described. 
       FIG.  118    illustrates an ROI  1113  having vertices V 1 -V 4 . The ROI  1113  of  FIG.  118    is in an orientation that requires a rotation of 180° to generate a perspective normalized image  1116  of the ROI. The disclosed method may determine an order of the vertices from the top left vertex V 3  clockwise of (V 3 , V 4 , V 1 , V 2 ) and the rotation of 180° results in a vertex orientation of (V 1 , V 2 , V 3 , V 4 ) from the top left moving clockwise. Therefore, as illustrated in  FIG.  11 B , an order of vertices may be determined for an ROI based on the orientation classification of the ROI, and transformations may be identified based on the order of vertices.  FIG.  11 C  illustrates another ROI  1123  having vertices orientations of (V 2 , V 1 , V 4 , V 3 ) which requires a horizontal flip to transform the vertices into the perspective normalized order of (V 1 , V 2 , V 3 , V 4 ) to generate the perspective normalized image  1126 . The orientation classification may be used to determine the specific vertices orientation of an ROI and then the required transformations may be identified to transform the vertex order to the perspective normalized order of (V 1 , V 2 , V 3 , V 4 ) as illustrated in  FIGS.  11 A- 11 C . While illustrated in  FIGS.  11 B and  11 C  as a rotation and horizontal flip, it should be recognized that the transformations performed may be any geometric transformation for generating a perspective normalized image of an ROI. 
       FIG.  12    illustrates a tire having a TIN that includes five ROIs having varying numbers of characters in the ROIs. The ROIs of  FIG.  12    are at different orientations and positions than the tire  410  in the example of  FIG.  4   . Further, the ROIs of  FIG.  12    traverse two different quadrants of the circular geometric shape  712  of  FIG.  10   . The disclosed methods for performing indicia identification were performed on the ROIs of  FIG.  12    and  FIGS.  13 A- 13 E  illustrate normalized perspective images of the ROIs of  FIG.  12   . The example of  FIG.  12    illustrates the robust ability of the described methods and system to identify a plurality of ROIs at various positions and orientations without limitations of conventional machine vision systems. For example, the disclosed methods may identify one ROI, two ROIs, three ROIs, or more ROIs, with each ROI being at a different orientation and/or position in an image. The methods further identify transformations for each respective ROI for generating perspective normalized images of each ROI, and then identifies characters and indicia contained in each ROI. 
     The disclosed method and system are capable of achieving character recognition accuracies of greater than 90%, with examples of recognition accuracy of 96% on  503  test runs, for images having characters at arbitrary angular orientations and arbitrary positions in the images. Conventional character recognition methods had a recognition accuracy of 30.6% for the same set of test images. As such, the disclosed method and system are able to identify indicia at arbitrary orientations and positions in obtained images, which is unable to be done in typical machine vision systems. 
     In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings. 
     The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued. 
     The above description refers to a block diagram of the accompanying drawings. Alternative implementations of the example represented by the block diagram includes one or more additional or alternative elements, processes and/or devices. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the example blocks of the diagram may be combined, divided, re-arranged or omitted. Components represented by the blocks of the diagram are implemented by hardware, software, firmware, and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. In some examples, at least one of the components represented by the blocks is implemented by a logic circuit. As used herein, the term “logic circuit” is expressly defined as a physical device including at least one hardware component configured (e.g., via operation in accordance with a predetermined configuration and/or via execution of stored machine-readable instructions) to control one or more machines and/or perform operations of one or more machines. Examples of a logic circuit include one or more processors, one or more coprocessors, one or more microprocessors, one or more controllers, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), one or more microcontroller units (MCUs), one or more hardware accelerators, one or more special-purpose computer chips, and one or more system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices. Some example logic circuits, such as ASICs or FPGAs, are specifically configured hardware for performing operations (e.g., one or more of the operations described herein and represented by the flowcharts of this disclosure, if such are present). Some example logic circuits are hardware that executes machine-readable instructions to perform operations (e.g., one or more of the operations described herein and represented by the flowcharts of this disclosure, if such are present). Some example logic circuits include a combination of specifically configured hardware and hardware that executes machine-readable instructions. The above description refers to various operations described herein and flowcharts that may be appended hereto to illustrate the flow of those operations. Any such flowcharts are representative of example methods disclosed herein. In some examples, the methods represented by the flowcharts implement the apparatus represented by the block diagrams. Alternative implementations of example methods disclosed herein may include additional or alternative operations. Further, operations of alternative implementations of the methods disclosed herein may combined, divided, re-arranged or omitted. In some examples, the operations described herein are implemented by machine-readable instructions (e.g., software and/or firmware) stored on a medium (e.g., a tangible machine-readable medium) for execution by one or more logic circuits (e.g., processor(s)). In some examples, the operations described herein are implemented by one or more configurations of one or more specifically designed logic circuits (e.g., ASIC(s)). In some examples the operations described herein are implemented by a combination of specifically designed logic circuit(s) and machine-readable instructions stored on a medium (e.g., a tangible machine-readable medium) for execution by logic circuit(s). 
     As used herein, each of the terms “tangible machine-readable medium,” “non-transitory machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage device” is expressly defined as a storage medium (e.g., a platter of a hard disk drive, a digital versatile disc, a compact disc, flash memory, read-only memory, random-access memory, etc.) on which machine-readable instructions (e.g., program code in the form of, for example, software and/or firmware) are stored for any suitable duration of time (e.g., permanently, for an extended period of time (e.g., while a program associated with the machine-readable instructions is executing), and/or a short period of time (e.g., while the machine-readable instructions are cached and/or during a buffering process)). Further, as used herein, each of the terms “tangible machine-readable medium,” “non-transitory machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage device” is expressly defined to exclude propagating signals. That is, as used in any claim of this patent, none of the terms “tangible machine-readable medium,” “non-transitory machine-readable medium,” and “machine-readable storage device” can be read to be implemented by a propagating signal. 
     In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings. Additionally, the described embodiments/examples/implementations should not be interpreted as mutually exclusive, and should instead be understood as potentially combinable if such combinations are permissive in any way. In other words, any feature disclosed in any of the aforementioned embodiments/examples/implementations may be included in any of the other aforementioned embodiments/examples/implementations. 
     The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The claimed invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued. 
     Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed. 
     The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.