Patent ID: 8668149

Claim:
A method for operating a scanning apparatus comprising: providing a laser light source, a focusing apparatus, a scanning apparatus, a detector, a digitizer, and a decoder; passing a laser beam through the focusing apparatus along an axis illuminating a target comprising an encoded symbol; scanning the encoded symbol; receiving scattered light from the target and converting the received scattered light to a first signal; converting the first signal to a second signal comprising a digital data stream; decoding the second signal into a decoded symbol; determining whether the decoded symbol includes a data misread error, where the determining comprises, generating print variation measurement data for the encoded symbol from the second signal and the decoded symbol, and transforming deviations on individual element print variation measurements for elements comprising the encoded symbol relative to baseline print measurements for the encoded symbol to identify when the decoded symbol includes the data misread error; and outputting the decoded symbol that does not include the data misread error for display or storage.