Patent ID: 7600687

Claim:
A device for verification of a bar code disposed on a substrate, said device comprising: (A) an imaging assembly including a solid state image sensor; (B) a hand held housing encapsulating a component of said imaging assembly, said hand held housing defining a front surface, a rear surface and side surfaces of said device, wherein walls of said hand held housing extend upward from said substrate when said device is positioned in a position to measure print quality of said bar code; (C) an illumination assembly at least partially disposed in said housing projecting an illumination pattern onto said substrate; (D) a window disposed at a front surface of said device, said window being light transmissive to enable an operator to view said bar code when said device is positioned in a position over said bar code; (E) a trigger disposed on said device, wherein said housing and said trigger are configured in a complementary manner so that an operator grasping said device in a grasping position can actuate said trigger with a digit of a hand that is grasping said device without releasing said device from said hand; (F) an image capture module incorporated in said device; (G) a bar code decoding module further incorporated in said device; (H) a bar code print quality measurement module incorporated in said device; (I) an interpolation module disposed in said device; and (J) a high spatial frequency correction module incorporated in said device; wherein said device is configured so that when said trigger is actuated, said device automatically executes said image capture module, said bar code decoding module and said bar code print quality measurement module, wherein said device when executing said image capture module captures a frame of image data corresponding to said bar code symbol, wherein said device when executing said bar code decoding module processes a frame of image data to determine a decoded out message, and wherein said device when executing said print quality measurement module determines at least one of a print contrast measurement, an edge contrast measurement and a modulation measurement of said bar code symbol; and wherein said device is further configured so that when said trigger is activated, said reader automatically executes each of said interpolation module and said high spatial frequency error correction module.