Patent ID: 10146978

Abstract:
An apparatus and method are described for accurately reading barcodes. For example, one embodiment of an apparatus comprises: a sensor to detect transitions between bars on a barcode having bars with N different widths as the barcode passes by the sensor; a timer to associate a time value with each of the transitions; a delta calculation module to determine a current delta value for a current bar; a bar identification module to compare the current delta value with N delta values stored in a memory, each of the N delta values associated with a different one of N different bar widths, the bar identification module to identify the current bar as being one of the N widths based on a difference between the current delta value and each of the N delta values, the bar identification module to update the memory to include the current delta value as a representative value for the one of the N widths which the current bar is determined to be; and a code translation module to receive a sequence of detected bar widths from the bar identification module and responsively translate the sequence of detected bars into a code.