Method and apparatus for U.P.C./EAN symbology ambiguous character compensation by localized thermal energy dot adjustment
AssigneeIntermec Corporation
InventorsGeorge Wright, IV, H. Sprague Ackley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus is disclosed that can be used to print the U.P.C./EAN symbology in a way that does not suffer poor print quality over a range of ink spread conditions by applying appropriately more or less thermal energy to at least one row of dots on the internal edges of the ambiguous characters. The resultant characters have identical edge-to-edge measurements to those without the compensation; but, the sum of the widths of the bars are beneficially adjusted. The resulting print quality grades and scanning performance are enhanced on thermal printer platforms of moderate to high resolution.
Claims34
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol being formed from a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, each of the dark regions having a respective standard width, wherein selected pairs of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- representing the symbol with a plurality of rows of dots, each row forming a portion of each of a plurality of the characters;
- and
- for each row, printing a plurality of portions of the dark regions by:
- narrowing at least one of the dark regions of a first one of the characters having the ambiguous decode by reducing the size of a dot at an edge of the dark region;
- maintaining unchanged the dark regions of one of the characters having the unambiguous decode;
- and
- printing the narrowed and the unchanged dark regions wherein the narrowed and the uncharged dark regions are in the symbol.
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol being formed from a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, each of the dark regions having a respective standard width, wherein selected pairs of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- representing the symbol with a plurality of rows of dots, each row forming a portion of each of a plurality of the characters;
- and
- for each row, printing a plurality portions of the dark regions by:
- widening at least one of the dark regions of a first one of the characters having the ambiguous decode by increasing the size of a dot at an edge of the dark region;
- maintaining unchanged the dark regions of one of the characters having the unambiguous decode;
- and
- printing the widened and the unchanged dark regions wherein the widened and the unchanged dark regions are in the symbol.
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol being formed from a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, wherein selected ones of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- segmenting the symbol into a plurality of rows, each row forming a portion of each of a plurality of characters;
- designating a data set for each row, the data set including of plurality of bits, each bit having a first state representing a dot and a second state representing an absence of a dot at a corresponding location in one of the portions of the characters, wherein each of the dots has a nominal size;
- identifying in the plurality of characters, the characters having the ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding;
- identifying in the plurality of characters, the characters having the unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding;
- and
- printing according to the designated data set for each row of the identified characters by:
- for selected ones of the identified characters having the ambiguous decode in the symbol, printing at least one edge dot with an increased size relative to the nominal size;
- and
- for the identified characters having the unambiguous decode in the symbol, printing the dots with the nominal size.
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol being formed from a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, wherein selected ones of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- segmenting the symbol into a plurality of rows, each row forming a portion of each of a plurality of characters;
- designating a data set for each row, the data set including of plurality of bits, each bit having a first state representing a dot and a second state representing an absence of a dot at a corresponding location in one of the portions of the characters, wherein each of the dots has a nominal size;
- identifying in the plurality of characters, the characters having the ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding;
- identifying in the plurality of characters, the characters having the unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding;
- and
- printing according to the designated data set for each row of the identified characters by:
- for selected ones of the identified characters having the ambiguous decode in the symbol, printing at least one edge dot with a reduced size relative to the nominal size;
- and
- for the identified characters having the unambiguous decode in the symbol, printing the dots with the nominal size.
In a demand printer printing a selected symbol including a pre-defined symbology character set having "left odd", "left even", "right odd", and "right even" versions as a series of bars separated by spaces in which the bars are formed of horizontal rows of closely adjacent dots by logic designating dots to be printed in the horizontal rows of the bars of the characters, a method for reducing ambiguous decoding of "1", "2", "7", and "8" characters printed by the printer comprising the steps of:
- adjusting the pre-defined symbology character set for the "1", "2", "7", or "8" characters by reducing a size of one dot or more per horizontal row of bars of at least one of the left even or right even "1" characters, the left even or right even "2" characters, the left odd or right odd "7" characters, or the left odd or right odd "8" characters within the selected symbol;
- and
- retaining unchanged the horizontal row from bars of others of the characters within the selected symbol.
In a demand printer printing a selected symbol including a pre-defined symbology character set having "left odd", "left even", "right even", and "right odd" versions as a series of bars separated by spaces in which the bars are formed of horizontal rows of closely adjacent dots by logic designating dots to be printed in the horizontal rows of the bars of the characters, a method for preventing ambiguous decoding of "1", "2", "7", and "8" characters printed by the printer comprising the steps of:
- adjusting the pre-defined symbology character set for the "1", "2", "7", or "8" characters by increasing a size of one dot or more per horizontal row of bars of the left odd or right odd "1" characters, the left odd or right odd "2" characters, the left even or right even "7" characters, or the left even or right even "8" characters within the selected symbol;
- and
- retaining unchanged the horizontal row from bars of others of the characters within the selected symbol.
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol representing a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, each of the dark regions being formed by a plurality of columns of dots having a nominal size, each dark region having a respective standard width, wherein selected pairs of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- printing a plurality of portions of the dark regions by:
- printing at least one of the columns of a dark region of a character having the ambiguous decode in the symbol with a reduced-size dot relative to the nominal size;
- and
- printing all of the columns of the dark regions of one of the characters having the unambiguous decode in the symbol with the nominal-size dot.
A method of printing a symbol in a pre-defined symbology character set, the symbol representing a group of characters, each character being represented by a plurality of dark regions and light regions, each of the dark regions being formed by a plurality of columns of dots having a nominal size, each dark region having a respective standard width, wherein selected pairs of the characters have an ambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding and others of the characters have an unambiguous decode upon edge-to-edge decoding, and wherein the ambiguous decoding can be resolved by evaluating a cumulative width of the dark regions, the method comprising the steps of:
- printing a plurality of portions of the dark regions by:
- printing at least one of the columns of a dark region of a character having the ambiguous decode in the symbol with an widened-size dot relative to the nominal size;
- and
- printing all of the columns of the dark regions of one of the characters having the unambiguous decode in the symbol with the nominal-size dot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.