Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-28
2004-05-11
Lee, Diane I. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S462070, C235S462150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06732932
ABSTRACT:
RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material to which a claim of copyright protection is made. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all other rights whatsoever.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to bar code reading and in particular to a new bar code or symbol with structure and features that make it particularly suitable for consumer-scanning applications. Its features include a user-recognizable graphic pattern located within the symbol, at least a portion of which is machine read able and recognizable by a symbol decoder.
2. Background of the Invention
Bar code symbols are formed from bars and spaces, such elements being typically rectangular in shape with a variety of possible widths. The specific arrangement of elements defines characters represented according to a set of rules and definitions specified by the code or “symbology” used. The relative size of the bars and spaces is determined by the type of coding used, as is the actual size of the bars and spaces. The number of characters (represented by the bar code symbol) is referred to as the density of the symbol. To encode a desired sequence of the characters, a collection of element arrangements is concatenated together to form a complete bar code symbol, with each character of the symbol being represented by its own corresponding group of elements. In some symbologies, a unique “start” and “stop” character is used to indicate when the bar code begins and ends. A number of different bar code symbologies is in widespread use, including UPC/EAN, Code 39, Code 128, Codeabar, and Interleaved 2 of 5.
In order to increase the amount of data that can be represented or stored on a given amount of surface area, several more compact bar code symbologies have been developed. One of these code standards, Code 49, exemplifies a “two-dimensional” symbol by reducing the vertical height of a one-dimensional symbol, and then stacking distinct rows of such one-dimensional symbols, so that information is encoded both vertically as well as horizontally. That is, in Code 49, there are several rows of bar and space patterns, instead of only one row as in a one-dimensional symbol. The structure of Code 49 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,239. Another two-dimensional symbology, known as “PDF417”, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,786.
Still other symbologies have been developed in which the symbol is comprised not of stacked rows, but of a matrix array made up of hexagonal, square, polygonal and/or other geometric shapes, lines, or dots. Such symbols are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,2276,315 and 4,794,239. Such matrix code symbologies may include Vericode, Datacode, and MAXICODE.
Ever since the advent of the Universal Product Code in the 1970's, linear bar code symbols have been widely adopted as an inexpensive but effective way of automating the link between printed numbers on paper and computer databases. Several bar code “languages,” called “symbologies” have been developed, each with its advantages for certain applications. Because bar codes are so common in our daily environment, and used in so many different applications, it is often important that a symbology, or a distinct variant of a symbology, be reserved for one specific application. For example, a bar code scanning system may read a bar code encoding a string of digits such as “12345678905”. It is very important that the system can unequivocally determine that this string is to be used to look up the price of a grocery item, and that the price can be found, using the decoded string of digits as a key, in a database of numbers assigned by the Uniform Code Council for this purpose. In the past, many other symbologies and symbology variants have also been reserved for such specific uses, such as a Code 128 symbol for marking medical instruments, a 14-digit Interleaved Two-of-Five symbol for marking cases for logistics tracking, and a 6-digit Code 39 symbol for marking telecommunications equipment.
One aspect held in common by all of the above traditional bar code applications, is that a worker (such as a checkout clerk at a supermarket) will be trained and paid to scan the specific kind of bar code required by the application. Recently, however, as the cost of computers, and of scanning hardware, has decreased, a new set of consumer-scanning applications has become feasible.
Consumer scanning applications will, in principle, have many requirements in common with traditional bar code applications, except that the consumer-scanning application will increase the difficulty of meeting some of these requirements. In addition, consumer scanning places some new requirements on the symbology.
Just like in traditional applications, the consumer scanning system needs the ability to distinguish bar codes for the intended application from all other bar code types. A new requirement, however, is that the consumer-as-scanner-operator needs, without training, to be able to visually distinguish the consumer bar code from the other bar codes in the environment. Also, the consumer must realize, at a glance and almost instinctively, that scanning a bar code with a certain graphical “message” will cause a specific action that is desired by the consumer. For example, a consumer bar code may have the purpose of linking a print advertisement to a specific page on the World Wide Web. The consumer bar code must be easily recognized as a bar code that will, in this example, launch a web browser program. In other words, the ideal consumer-oriented bar code must serve not only a paper-to-machine interface, but also as a graphical user interface (GUI) to the associated consumer application.
An Interface Graphic, although highly desirable in helping consumers identify the proper bar code to scan, will inevitably require some additional space (compared to a similar bar code without any Interface Graphic). Advertisers may be tempted to print the bar code minus the graphic, so that the bar code takes up less space within the advertisement. However, this will reduce consumer recognition, and reduce the overall effectiveness of the system. Thus, the ideal consumer scanning symbology would incorporate its Interface Graphic as an integral portion of the scannable symbol. In this way, the overall size of the symbol-plus-graphic can be reduced, and further, removal of the interface graphic would disable the symbol entirely (thus negating any motivation to remove it). Furthermore, it is desirable for the Interface Graphic itself to be usable in other contexts than the bar code (for example, in a corporate logo) to help reinforce the consumer's association between the bar code and the program (web browser, etc.) for which the bar code serves as input. Thus, a preferred embodiment of the Interface Graphic would contain “scannable” elements, yet can also stand on its own as a graphic design.
A consumer scanning system often lacks the checks-and-balances that, in business bar coding systems, help enforce good print quality. In a business system such as retail checkout in a supermarket, or such as a shipping/receiving application, badly printed symbols impact the supermarket or receiving company as a measurable loss of productivity. As a result, it is common for business to automatically capture statistics on bar code performance, and to enforce sanctions on suppliers who do not print acceptable bar codes. In contrast, performance of consumer bar codes will not be tracked, and it is expected that they will not always be printed according to specification. One of the most common violations of bar code specifications is to reduce the required white space surrounding a bar code, in order to save space on the paper. Thus the ideal consumer scanning symbology will work with minimal amounts of white space surrounding the bar
Hamilton Alistair R.
Schuessler Frederick
Kirschstein et al.
Koyama Kumiko C.
Lee Diane I.
Symbol Technologies Inc.
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