Printed data strip including bit-encoded information and scanner control

A data strip carrying encoded information to be read by a reader including an optical scanner adapted to continuously scan said strip and derive angle and scanning rate information from said data strip, said data strip including

• a substrate of sheet material having printed indicia thereon,
• said indicia including
• (a) an encoded information portion formed of a plurality of aligned, contiguous, parallel data lines of uniform length formed of bit areas with the presence or absence of printing therein serially encoding information, said bit areas being of uniform height and width, said data lines being transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said data strip, and the encoded information on said data lines being sequential from one end of said information portion to the other, thereby defining a beginning and an end for said information portion,
• (b) a horizontal synchronization section preceding said encoded information portion and having demarcation edges parallel to said data lines, to provide angular position information prior to scanning said encoded information portion,
• (c) a vertical synchronization section preceding said encoded information portion, said vertical synchronization section including data as to the dimensions of said data bits, and
• (d) a pair of alignment guidelines parallel to said longitudinal dimension of said data strip, said guidelines being positioned proximate to opposite ends of said data lines and having patterns congruent with said data lines, whereby said encoded information in said data strip may be read by an optical scanner scanning said strip transversely as it moves longitudinally thereof and angular position data and rate of scanning data may be derived from said encoded information portion.

A data strip carrying encoded information to be scanned by a reader, which said reader includes an optical scanner having its angular positioning and scanning rate adapted to be controlled by scanned information from said data strip,

• said data strip including a substrate of sheet material having printed indicia thereon, said indicia including,
• (a) an encoded information portion to be read by said reader and formed of a plurality of contiguous, parallel data lines of uniform length, said data lines being formed of printed data bits of serially-encoded information, said data lines being of uniform width and transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said data strip, and said encoded information on said lines being sequential from one end of said information portion to the other, thereby defining a beginning and an end for said information portion,
• guidelines along said data lines, said alignment guidelines being parallel to said longitudinal dimension of said data strip, and having patterned shapes congruent with said data lines, whereby said lines provide information to said scanner for positioning of said scanner with respect to said data lines,
• (c) a vertical synchronization section preceding said information portion, said section having bars parallel to said longitudinal dimension, encoding information as to the height of the bits in said data lines, for timing control of said scanner, and
• (d) a horizontal synchronization section preceding said information portion, said horizontal synchronization section having areas parallel to said data lines which may be read by said scanner to control the angle of said scanner relative to said data lines,
• whereby scanning of said data strip will provide data to control said positioning and scanning rate in said reader thereby positioning and aligning said reader during scanning of said data bits and controlling the number of times each data line is scanned.

A data strip containing a plurality of encoded data bits for sequential scanning by an optical scanner, said strip including

• a paper-like substrate,
• a plurality of aligned, contiguous, parallel data lines, each said line being formed of contiguous bit areas, information being sequentially encoded in said bit areas by the presence or absence of printing thereon, and said bit areas being of uniform and predetermined height and width, the height thereof defining the width of said data line, said data lines running transversely of the longitudianl direction of said data strip,
• said plurality of data lines together defining an encoded data portion of said data strip, and
• printed pattern areas running proximate to the end of said data lines, said patterned areas being formed of bit areas of the same height and width as the said bit areas in said data lines and being congruent with said data lines, whereby data alignment information may be provided to said scanner.