Barcodes with security material and readers for same

A system for reading an indicator including a luminescent indicia, the system comprising:

• a housing;
• an irradiation module mounted to the housing, the irradiation module having an irradiation source configured to irradiate the indicator at one or more excitation wavelengths of the luminescent indicia;
• an image capture module mounted to the housing, the image capture module having a two-dimensional detector and configured to capture image data from radiation emitted by the luminescent indicia;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• cause the irradiation module to illuminate for at least a first time interval having a first duration,
• cause the image capture module to capture at least one first image of the luminescent indicia at a first time after the first duration and at least one second image of the luminescent indicia at a second time after the first time, and
• determine a property of the indicator based at least in part on a comparison of the luminescent indicia's luminescence between the at least one second image and the at least one first image.

A secure indicator scanner comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor;
• and
• an optical input device coupled to the processor, the processor configured to:
• cause the optical input device to capture an image of a field of view, the field of view including a secure indicator including a barcode symbol and a security portion,
• store the image in the memory,
• process the image to identify the barcode symbol within the captured image,
• analyze the barcode symbol to determine or identify elements of the barcode symbol,
• process the image to identify the security portion,
• determine an optical property of the security portion,
• decode barcode data from the identified barcode symbol,
• associate the barcode data with the determined optical property of the security portion, and
• output the associated data.

A system for reading a dataform comprising a barcode symbol, the system comprising:

• a housing;
• an irradiation module mounted to the housing, the irradiation module having an irradiation source configured to irradiate the dataform at one or more excitation wavelengths of the dataform;
• an image capture module mounted to the housing, the image capture module having a two-dimensional detector and configured to capture image data, the image capture module configured to:
• receive light from the dataform during a time period, wherein the dataform is a secure indicator having a barcode symbol with a plurality of barcode elements and a security material positioned proximate the barcode symbol on a substrate wherein the barcode symbol encodes data configured to be used in locating, reading, determining the state of, interpreting, or evaluating a security portion containing the security material,
• capture at least one image from the received light, and
• capture at least one second image from the received light after the data is irradiated;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• analyze one of the at least one image to decode data from the barcode symbol,
• analyze one of the at least one second image to detect emission light within the received light,
• associate a characteristic of the dataform with the detected emission light, and
• output the associated characteristic with the decoded data.

A method of auto-calibrating a scanner comprising:

• capturing an image of a secure indicator, the image comprising:
• a computer readable indicia encoding a data codeword,
• a security portion of the secure indicator, and
• a reference region having a known optical property,
• wherein the security portion includes a security material, the security material being at least one of a photochromic material, a luminescent material, a phosphor material, a phosphorescent material, a fluorescent material, a UV-reactive material, and
• an IR-reactive material;
• decoding data from at least one of the computer readable indicia and the reference region;
• irradiating the security material;
• confirming that the security material luminesces;
• determining an optical property of the security material;
• and
• calibrating the scanner based on the data and the known optical property.

An auto-calibration system comprising:

• a scanner;
• an illumination module;
• an image capture module, the image capture module configured to:
• capture an image of a secure indicator, the image comprising:
• a computer readable indicia encoding a data codeword,
• a security portion of the secure indicator, and
• a reference region having a known optical property,
• wherein the security portion includes a security material, the security material being at least one of a photochromic material, a luminescent material, a phosphor material, a phosphorescent material, a fluorescent material, a UV-reactive material, and an IR-reactive material;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• decode data from at least one of the computer readable indicia and the reference region, and
• calibrate the scanner based on the data and the known optical property.