Optical device for reading and decoding bars of different reflectivity arranged in accordance with a barcode and adjoining one another

Abstract

Optical device for reading and decoding bars of different reflectivity arranged in accordance with a barcode and adjoining one another, comprising an optical scanning device for scanning the bars by means of a light beam, a sensor for receiving the reflected light beam and the conversion thereof into an electrical sensor output signal, a transition detector for detecting the level transitions in the sensor output signal and a decoding device which decodes the scanned barcode on the basis of the output signals from the transition detector. The transition detector is provided with a comparator and a flipflop connected to the output thereof. The sensor output signal is fed to one of the inputs of the comparator. The output of the flipflop is coupled via at least a number of first integrators to the other input of the comparator. The transition detector also comprises one or more second integrators connected to the output of the flipflop and a device, connected to said second integrators, for determining the positions of the transitions in the barcode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.