Metrologic Instruments, Inc.

Other

Garrett K Russell

Mark C Schmidt

C Harry Knowles

Xiaoxun Zhu

Ka Man Au

Sung Byun

John Bonanno

Thomas A Amundsen

Anatoly Kotlarsky

Yong Liu

Xi Tao

Liang Liu

David M Wilz

Michael Schnee

Sankar Ghosh

Rui Hou

Wenhua Zhang

Hongpeng Yu

Pasqual Spatafore

George B Rockstein

Robert E Blake

Donald T Hudrick

Stephen J Colavito

Patrick Anthony Giordano

Congwei Xu

Lin Wang

Min Jiang

MingQing Ji

Hongjian Jin

Meng Hu

Shamei Shi

Carl Harry Knowles

Peter Bressler

Kevin DiPlacido

Shane Michael Edmonds

Kai Ji

William Martin

Wuqing Zhang

Timothy A Good

Charles A Naylor

Benjamin Hejl

Shawn Defoney

Mikhail L Veksland

Harry C Knowles

James Osborn

George Kolis

James C Nahill

Peter Byar

Sergio Movsessian

Zoey Juhng

Matthew Jefferson

Frank J Travea

David M Witz, Sr

Ronald Jackson

Mathieu Turpault

Charles P Naylor

Shane Edmonds

Wenhua Room 203 Building 03 Zhang

Ming Qing Ji

Ming Jiang

The wireless PDT of the present invention employs a 'display-on bottom' design which places the unit perfectly centered in the hand of the operator, allowing for the best possible viewing as well as providing comfortable single-handed operation. The high-resolution LCD display allows the PCT to show sharp, clear bitmap images while supporting all Windows-recognized font types and sizes. With the auto back-lit feature, the brightness adjusts automatically making the screen easy to read in all light conditions. The PDT is designed for support within the download/charger cradle of a base station which interfaces with a host system using either USB or RS232 interface. Two standard 'AA' or rechargeable Li-Ion batteries provide more than 100 hours of operation. In addition, the PDT comes standard with 2 MB of RAM providing enough memory to store over 100,000 records. Applications for the PDT can be developed using a novel integrated development and deployment environment (IDE) which contains an easy-to-use Windows-based application generator and download utilities. For advanced programming, developers can choose to write software using an advanced application generator or 'C' programming application generator which provides the developer with simple programming and fast setup. Further enhancements available in the application generator include drag and drop icons, time/datestamp, battery level indicator and variable fonts, giving the developer the ability to create custom screen layouts.

Wireless bar code symbol driven portable data terminal (PDT) system for running application programs on an operating system emulated on a virtual machine

Novel POS-based bar code symbol reading systems are disclosed having an integrated customer-kiosk terminal. Also disclosed are novel POS-based bar code reading cash register Systems having integrated Internet-enabled customer-kiosk terminals.

POS-based checkout system configured to enable the reading of code symbols on cashier and customer sides thereof, during a retail transaction being carried out at a point-of-sale (POS) station

Novel POS-based bar code symbol reading systems are disclosed having an integrated customer-kiosk terminal. Also disclosed are novel POS-Based Bar Code Reading Cash Register Systems having Integrated Internet-Enabled Customer-Kiosk Terminals.

POS-based code driven retail transaction system configured to enable the reading of code symbols on cashier and customer sides thereof, during a retail transaction being carried out at a point-of-sale (POS) station, and driven by a retail transaction application program

A wireless code symbol reading system including a wireless hand-supportable code symbol reader in two-way RF communication with a base station operably connected to a host system, by way of an RF-based wireless data communication link having a predetermined RF communication range over which two-way communication of data packets can occur. The wireless hand-supportable code symbol reader is programmed to automatically detect when it is located inside and outside of the predetermined RF communication range. When the wireless reader is inside the RF communication range, then symbol character data is automatically transmitted to the base station, and when the wireless reader is located outside of the RF communication range, then symbol character data is automatically collected and stored in a data packet buffer, until the wireless reader has re-entered its RF communication range.

Wireless code symbol reading system with automatic communication range dependent control

An ergonomic single-line compact laser bar code scanning system having a compact housing for hand-held disposition at a counter. The scanning system is automatically-activated and includes a bar code symbol reading mechanism contained within a hand-supportable housing having a manually-activatable data transmission switch formed integrally in the housing. During symbol reading operations, the bar code symbol reading mechanism automatically generates a visible laser scanning pattern for repeatedly reading one or more bar code symbols on an object during a bar code symbol reading cycle, and automatically generating a new symbol character data string in response to each bar code symbol read thereby. During system operation, the user visually aligns the visible laser scanning pattern with a particular bar code symbol on an object (e.g., product, bar code menu, etc.) so that the bar code symbol is detected, scanned, and decoded. The user depresses the data transmission switch to produce a data transmission control activation signal and enabling a currently or subsequently produced symbol character data string to be automatically selected and transmitted to a host system.

Hand-held compact ergonomic laser scanner with integrated scanner activation or data transmission switch in scanner housing

An automatically-activated code symbol reading system includes a hand-supportable housing having a light transmission aperture through which a field of view (FOV) passes; and an automatically-activated bar code symbol reading mechanism for repeatedly reading code symbols on an object in the FOV, within a predetermined time period, and in response to each new successful reading of the code symbols, producing a new symbol character data string representative of the read code symbol. A system control subsystem (i) automatically activates the automatically-activated bar code symbol reading mechanism in response to the detection of the object in at least a portion of the FOV, and (ii) automatically activates the data transmission circuit in response to the generation of the data transmission control activation signal so that a symbol character data string, produced currently with or immediately subsequent to the activation of the manually-activatable data transmission switch, is transmitted to a host system.

Automatically-activated code symbol reading system

A method of reading bar code symbols using a digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of a bar code symbol reading application.

Method of reading bar code symbols using a digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of bar code symbol reading application

A digital-imaging based code symbol reading system having a hands-on mode operation and a hands-free presentation mode of operation, and supporting automatic programming of system parameters for automatic configuration of the system in hands-on and hands-free modes of operation. The system comprises: an image formation and detection subsystem; an illumination subsystem; a digital image processing subsystem; a system control subsystem for managing system parameters, and controlling and/or coordinating operations of the system; and a configuration detection mechanism. The image formation and detection subsystem has the area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the illumination subsystem produces a field of illumination that illuminates the object during the image capture mode of operation, and one or more digital images thereof are detected by an area-type image sensing array. When the hand-supportable housing is picked up from on a countertop surface or support stand and held in an operator's hand, the system parameters are automatically programmed so that the digital-imaging code symbol reading system is automatically configured into its hands-on mode of operation. When the hand-supportable is resting on the countertop surface or in the support stand, the system parameters are automatically programmed so that the digital-imaging code symbol reading system is automatically configured into its hands-free presentation mode of operation.

Digital-imaging code symbol reading system supporting automatic programming of system parameters for automatic configuration of said system in hands-on and hands-free modes of operation

A method of reading bar code symbols comprising the steps of: (a) projecting an image cropping zone (ICZ) framing pattern within the FOV of an image sensing array during wide-area illumination and image capturing operation; (b) visually aligning an object to be imaged within the ICZ framing pattern; (c) forming and capturing an wide-area image of the entire FOV, which spatially encompasses the ICZ framing pattern aligned about the object to be imaged; (d) using automatic software-based image cropping algorithm to automatically crop the pixels within the spatial boundaries defined by the ICZ framing pattern, from those pixels contained in the entire wide-area image frame captured during step (c); and (e) automatically decode processing the image represented by the cropped image pixels in the ICZ framing pattern so as to read a 1D or 2D bar code symbol graphically represented therein.

Hand-supportable digital image-processing based bar code symbol reading system employing image cropping zone (ICZ) framing and post-image capture cropping

A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising: an image formation and detection subsystem; a narrow-band illumination subsystem; a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem; an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem; and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the narrow-band illumination subsystem produces a field of narrow-band illumination consisting essentially of a narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination. The narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem transmits substantially only the narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination produced from the narrow-band illumination subsystem, and rejects all other optical wavelengths outside the narrow band however generated by ambient illumination sources. The automatic light exposure measurement subsystem employs a photo-detector operated independently from the area-type image sensing array, for automatically measuring the light exposure incident upon a selected portion of the FOV, and producing an electrical signal representative of the light exposure measurement. The automatic illumination control subsystem responds to the electrical signal and controls the duration of narrow-band illumination produced from the narrow-band illumination subsystem.

Digital image capturing and processing system employing an area-type image sensing array exposed to narrow-band illumination from a narrow-band illumination subsystem for a time duration controlled using a photodetector operated independently from said area-type image sensing array

A hand-supportable digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading device comprises: an IR-based object presence and range detection subsystem; a area-type image formation and detection subsystem having an image capture modes of operation; a multi-mode led-based illumination subsystem for providing a narrow-band field of illumination; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem; an image capturing and buffering subsystem; a image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem; an input/output subsystem; and a system control subsystem integrated with each of the above-described subsystems. The automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem has a light collecting element and a photodiode arranged within the hand-supportable housing, wherein incident illumination is collected from the predetermined portion of the FOV using the light collecting element, and then focused upon the photodiode for detection of the intensity of incident illumination and subsequent processing by the automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem.

Hand-supportable imaging based bar code symbol reader employing automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem integrated therein

A portable digital image capturing and processing system comprising: an image formation and detection subsystem; a narrow-band illumination subsystem; a narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem; an automatic light exposure measurement subsystem; and an automatic illumination control subsystem. The image formation and detection subsystem has an area-type image sensing array for detecting digital images of objects formed thereon by image formation optics providing a field of view (FOV) for the system. Within the FOV of the image formation and detection subsystem, the narrow-band illumination subsystem produces a field of narrow-band illumination consisting essentially of a narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination. The narrow-band transmission-type optical filter subsystem transmits substantially only the narrow band of wavelengths of visible illumination produced from the narrow-band illumination subsystem, and rejects all other optical wavelengths outside the narrow band however generated by ambient illumination sources. The automatic light exposure measurement subsystem employs a photo-detector operated independently from the area-type image sensing array, for automatically measuring the light exposure incident upon a selected portion of the FOV, and producing an electrical signal representative of the light exposure measurement. Only when all sensor elements in the image-sensing sensing array are activated and in state of integration, then narrow-band illumination is produced for illuminating objects in FOV of the system and simultaneously detected by a photo-detector for measuring light exposure within the FOV, and also by an area-type image sensing array for detecting a digital image of said illuminated object.

Method of reading code symbols using a hand-supportable digital image capturing and processing device employing a micro-computing platform supporting an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture

Digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of a bar code symbol reading application.

Digital-imaging based code symbol reading system employing an event-driven multi-tier modular software architecture and supporting automatic operating system login and loading of code symbol reading application

A wireless automatically-activated bar code symbol reading system for use in a work environment, the system including a device controller programmed to automatically detect when a wireless hand-supportable bar code symbol reader is located inside of a predetermined RF communication range based on measuring the strength of a detected reference signal, and thereupon to automatically transmit to a first RF-based transceiver, the symbol character data string produced while the wireless hand-supportable bar code symbol reader is located inside of the predetermined RF communication range. Also, the device controller is programmed to automatically detect when the wireless hand-supportable bar code symbol reader is located outside of the predetermined RF communication range based on measuring the strength of the detected reference signal, and thereupon to automatically collect and store in the data packet group buffer, the symbol character data string produced while the wireless hand-supportable bar code symbol reader is located outside of the predetermined RF communication range.

Automatically-activated wireless hand-supportable laser scanning bar code symbol reading system with automatic communication range dependent control

An automatically-activated bar code reading system including: a visible laser light source, scanning element and a plurality of stationary mirrors. When arranged in a first configuration, the visible laser light source, scanning element and plurality of stationary mirrors cooperate to produce a visible omni-directional laser scanning pattern with multiple laser scanning lines having substantially uniform spatial and temporal intensity characteristics at a given scanning plane parallel to a scanning window within a working distance of the system. When the visible laser light source, the scanning element and the plurality of stationary mirrors are arranged in a second configuration, these components cooperate to produce a visible omni-directional laser scanning pattern having temporally varying intensity characteristics, against a single visible laser scanning line having substantially uniform spatial and temporal intensity characteristics, at a given scanning plane parallel to the scanning window within the working distance of the system.

Automatically-activated hand-supportable omni-directional laser scanning bar code symbol reader having a user-selectable linear scanning menu-reading mode supported by a omni-directional laser scanning pattern having temporally varying intensity characteristics for improved bar code symbol navigation and alignment during menu-reading operations

Growing community of inventors

Wilmington, DE, United States of America

Garrett K Russell