Optical reader for printed bit-encoded data and method of reading same

An optical scanner utilizing the principle of transversely crossed cylindrical lenses moving relative to one another to determine point focus for reading parallel data lines of bit areas from a data strip, including,

• a chassis, means for supporting said chassis proximate to said data strip, and means for moving said chassis longitudinally of said data strip,
• a first cylindrical lens mounted on said chassis parallel to the surface of said data strip and to said data lines,
• a drum rotatably mounted on said chassis above said first lens, the axis of said drum being para11el to the surface of said data strip and perpendicular to said first lens,
• means for rotating said drum,
• said drum including a plurality of second cylindrical lenses in the periphery thereof and parallel to the axis of said drum, and
• a detector at the focal point of said first and second lenses for receiving information from said bit areas from said data lines,
• whereby said data lines are scanned as said chassis moves along said data strip.

A reader for a data strip, said data strip including an information portion having a plurality of contiguous, parallel data lines of encoded bit areas, said data lines being perpendicular to the longitudinal dimension of said strip, the improvement in said reader including,

• a chassis, means for positioning said chassis proximate to and aligned with said strip and means for moving said chassis along said strip in a direction perpendicular to said data lines and longitudinally of said strip,
• a detector carried by said chassis,
• a first cylindrical lens carried by said chassis and positioned parallel to said data lines, said lens having a focal length such, and being so positioned, as to focus said data lines upon said detector, and
• at least one second cylindrical lens carried by said chassis and positioned parallel to said strip and transverse to said first lens, said second lens having a focal length such, and being so positioned, as to focus said data lines on said detector,
• whereby said data lines are scanned in sequence over their lengths as said chassis is moved along said data strip.

In an optical scanner utilizing the principle of transversely crossed cylindrical lenses moving relative to one another to determine point focus for reading parallel data lines of data bits from a data strip on a substrate and including a chassis carrying a data bit detector and at least one upper cylindrical lens so positioned on said chassis that is perpendicular to said data lines when said chassis is positioned to read said data strip, said upper lens being mounted for movement in an arcuate line longitudinally of said data lines, the improvement including,

• a supporting frame secured to said chassis,
• a lower cylindrical lens carried by said frame, said lower lens being substantially parallel to, but concave with respect to, said data lines to focus said data bits on said detector, and
• a field flattener carried by said frame proximate to said lower lens and configured to vary the focus of said upper lens over the length of said data line to compensate for varying distances of said upper lens from said data line and maintain said data bits in focus on said detector,
• whereby both said upper and said lower lenses focus said data bits of said data lines on said detector as the length of said data lines is scanned by said lenses.

In an apparatus for scanning data encoded in bit form on a substrate in a plurality of contiguous, conterminous, parallel data lines of uniform width and length, said data lines together forming a data strip having a longitudinal dimension perpendicular to said data lines,

• and said apparatus including means for sequentially scanning said data lines at a pre-determined rate along the lengths thereof and for moving said scanning means longitudinally of said data strip during scanning,
• that improvement including,
• means for synchronizing the scanning rate of said data lines with the rate of longitudinal movement of said scanning means, said synchronizing means providing relative rates of movement of scanning said data lines and movement of said scanning means such that each said data line is scanned a plurality of times, and
• means for utilizing the data from only one of the scannings of each said data line.

A method of reading data encoded in bit form on a longitudinal data strip, said data strip including:

• (a) an information area including a plurality of contiguous, conterminous data lines of encoded data bits running transversely across said strip, said data lines being of equal length and parallel to each other, whereby the totality of said lines defines the length of said information area of said data strip, said encoded data being encoded in a known and predetermined sequence, said information area being preceded longitudinally of said strip by
• (b) a lead-in portion including (1) a horizontal synchronization section with longitudinal bars having ends transverse to said data strip and encoding information as to the number of bits in each said data line and (2) a vertical synchronization section encoding information as to the height of said bits in said data lines, and
• (c) alignment guidelines along opposite ends of said data lines, said guidelines being parallel to the longitudinal dimension of said data strip and having patterned configurations aligned with said data lines,
• said method including the steps of
• (a) scanning said horizontal synchronization section generally transversely of said strip while moving said data strip transversely to said scanning direction, determining from said scanning the angle, if any, between said data lines and said direction of scanning and adjusting the angle of said scanning to reduce said angle.
• (b) scanning said vertical synchronization section to determine the height of said bits in said data lines, and
• (c) detecting the bits in said data lines by scanning said data lines one at a time and sequentially along the length thereof and simultaneously scanning said data lines transversely to their length, said scanning along said data line length being at a speed sufficiently greater than said transverse scanning such that each data line is scanned a plurality of times in its transverse direction before an adjacent data line is scanned, and selecting only one of said scannings of each said data line.

The method of storing and retrieving data which comprises:

• forming a data strip encoded with data elements, each element being in the form of a pair of optically distinguishable bits, said elements being disposed across the width of said data strip in a plurality of contiguous lines, the encoded data being encoded in a predetermined sequence;
• including in each data line at least one parity checking element designating the information content of said data line;
• providing a first tilt adjustment figure along one edge of said strip and a second tilt adjustment figure along the other edge of said strip;
• scanning said data strip in a direction from its start end to its finish end, each data line being scanned sequentially across said strip to retrieve data encoded therein, and
• perceiving the presence or absence of tilt from the relative relationships of said first and second tilt adjustment figures on each of said scans.