Patent ID: 8251290

Claim:
A method of validating a bar code, the method comprising: in a wireless communication device, optically receiving and processing a bar code and a background item to the barcode to generate image data; in the wireless communication device, transferring the image data to a processing system; in the processing system, processing the image data to identify a bar code portion of the image data and to identify a background portion of the image data; in the processing system, processing the barcode portion of the image data to generate decoded data; in the processing system, processing the background portion of the image data to generate background data; in the processing system, processing the decoded data and the background data to determine if the bar code is valid; in the processing system, transferring a bar code valid message to the wireless communication device if the bar code is valid; in the processing system, transferring a bar code invalid message to the wireless communication device if the bar code is invalid; in the wireless communication device, in response to receiving the bar code valid message, generating a bar code valid signal; in the wireless communication device, in response to receiving the bar code invalid message, generating a bar code invalid signal if the bar code is invalid.