Method, System and Apparatus Employing an Adaptive Threshold to Decode Barcodes

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer program instructions executable by at least one computer processor that when executed by the at least one computer processor perform a method for decoding a barcode included in at least one scan line into a string of decoded characters, the method comprising:

• for each of at least one barcode character set, establishing a validation threshold, respectively, the respective validation threshold determined based, at least in part, on a degree of difference found among a respective set of reference barcode symbols employed in representing a respective set of reference characters included in the barcode character set with which the respective validation threshold is associated;
• detecting, in the at least one scan line, barcode symbols ordered according to a reading direction;
• for each of the detected barcode symbols, decoding the detected barcode symbol into a decoded character for a corresponding character position in the string using a selected character set included in the at least one barcode character set, respectively, the decoding including:
• identifying a best-matching symbol for the detected barcode symbol among the respective set of reference barcode symbols of the selected character set;
• and
• validating, as the decoded character, a best-matched character that is represented by the best-matching symbol using the respective validation threshold established for the selected character set;
• and
• outputting the string of decoded characters.