Biomerieux, Inc.

Guido Salvi

Antonio Sanesi

Andrea Carignano

Davide Visconti

Silvano Scaccabarozzi

An optical device () including a fixed focus camera having a predetermined depth of field with an optical axis (), wherein the optical device () comprises a diaphragm () positioned in the optical axis () of the camera and comprising a light passing aperture () for increasing the predetermined depth of field of said camera to provide an increased depth of field, wherein the diaphragm is attached to the camera, wherein the light passing aperture () of the diaphragm () is circular shaped within an opaque screen and positioned to have its centre point coincide with the optical axis () of the camera and wherein the optical device () further comprises illumination means evenly positioned around the optical axis () for evenly illuminating an object positioned within the increased depth of field of the camera.

Optical device including a camera, a diaphragm and illumination means for increasing the predetermined depth of field of the camera

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for identifying and reading a barcode on a circular label. Such method and system, in the embodiment discussed, is concretely addressed to a specific example in the engineering of a barcode reader in an electromechanical system for biological analyzes which uses cone-shaped tubes and corresponding strips of fluid containers. It is a requirement of the system that the right cone matches with the right strip. In order to avoid any human error, barcode reading system is implemented, by placing a barcode (e.g. a 2D barcode) on the cone-shaped tube and a barcode on the strip: however the particular shape of the cone poses some problems in the automatic localization and reading of the barcode on the circular label on top of the cone. An additional difficulty of the present system is that of the inclination of barcode reader with respect to the circular label carrying the code, due to the relative positioning of the various components of the machine which does not allow a straight alignment between the reader and the target. With the method according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure the circular label is scanned to detect the 2D barcode and it is then read, with a simplified algorithm requiring limited power and hardware resources.

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Vaiano, Italy

Guido Salvi