System and method for embedding characters in a bar of a bar code

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DESCRIPTION

System and method for inserting characters in a bar of a barcode.

Field of the invention

The present invention concerns a system and method for placing information in a bar code and, more particularly, provides for the insertion of at least one character or symbol in a bar of a bar code without affecting the capacity of the bar code. to be interpreted by a barcode reader device.

Background of the invention

Bar codes contain information in their bars and spaces that are interpreted by electronic devices, referred to here as bar code reading devices. A barcode reading device, for example a scanner, a reading pen, an optical scanner or a verifier, reads the bars and spaces by measuring their widths and decoding the dimensions according to the rules of that particular barcode, known as its "Symbology". Bar code symbology is a set of coding algorithms that essentially provide the grammar to produce the bar code pattern. As in written languages, barcode symbologies have grammar rules that dictate how the bar and space patterns are formed for any particular code data. Examples of recognized barcode symbologies are: UCC / EAN 128, Codabar, Code 128, Code 39, Code 93, UPC-A, UPC-E, JAN-13, ITF, ISSN, ITF, and ISBN. Typically, a barcode reading device determines the differences between the thickness of the bars and the thickness of the gaps by counting light and dark pulses of light as the reading device passes through the bars.

Most products are marked with at least one barcode. In addition to the barcode, another character or image can be placed on the product, such as a company logo or other brand. This character or image often represents the origin of the product. For example, a phone made by AT&T has the AT&T logo printed on the phone, and the phone also includes a barcode that contains information about the phone, such as the phone's model number. It is expensive to place a barcode and / or a separate identifier or other human-recognizable icon on a product. For example, two printing processes must be performed and two separate tasks are required to place the barcode and icon separately on the product.

Alternatively, some goods are marked with a barcode and no other identifying element. In such cases, therefore, a consumer or user is not able to distinguish the origin of the product with the help of a barcode reading device. The barcode itself can identify the product and its origin, but cannot be distinguished without a barcode reading device.

Among the most common barcode symbologies in the United States and Canada is the Universal Product Code (UPC-A). As shown in Figure 1, a bar code symbol bar and space pattern is a unit bar 10. The unit bar 10 is a narrow bar that has a width determined for a bar code symbol in a certain magnitude. The dimensions of the bars and spaces in the symbol are exact multiples of the unit bar 10. Thus, the double bar 12 in the symbol is twice as wide as the unit bar 10, while the triple bar 14 it is three times as wide and the quad bar 16 is four times as wide.

Each barcode symbol begins and ends with beginning and ending characters, referred to here as frame bars. Frame bars are unique to the symbology involved and indicate to a barcode reading device what symbology to expect when reading the symbol. The frame bars of the symbol illustrated in Figure 1 are composed of the unit bars 10.

In an ideal UPC symbol, the unit bar has a certain thickness and the other bars and spaces in between have thicknesses that are exact multiples of the unit bar thickness. Consequently, if when a UPC symbol is printed on one or more bars it is found to be thicker or thinner than the thickness of the unit bar of the ideal symbol, the dimensions of the bars and the spaces that make up the symbol deviate of the ideal symbol correspondingly.

For each barcode symbology, reports have been published that provide instructions for barcode producers. ANSI standards are widely considered the accepted standard for every symbology. Bar code systems are awarded under certain instructions so that all entrants conform to published standards. Electronic verifiers can be used to measure the adjustment of a barcode symbol to these standards.

Reading a bar code symbol depends, in part, on the ability of a bar code reading device to measure the relative widths of bars and spaces in a bar code. The ability of a barcode reader to distinguish the relative widths of bars and gaps can depend on increments of the order of one ten thousandth of an inch. A poorly printed barcode symbol can be considered unreadable by barcode scanning devices if defects have been generated during barcode production:

ES 2 290 347 T3 for example, during the printing process. For example, ink stains, voids, smudges, and the like on a barcode can render the barcode unreadable.

Symbologies that use only two bar and space weights set a value for wide bars and spaces compared to thin. This is known in the industry as scale and represents a ratio of width. For example, a width ratio of 2: 1 indicates that a wide bar is twice as thick as a thin bar. If a printer has a dot size one twelfth inch wide, it takes six dots to print a half-inch image and 12 dots to produce a one-inch image. Therefore, the image needs a multiple of six points, regardless of the width of the printed image. If a barcode requires ¾ of an inch for a wide bar, the width ratio is impaired because the printer in this example is unable to print a ¾-inch pattern and maintain the same width ratio. Since a printer only prints full dots, improper scaling causes problems with barcode production and readability.

Some of the most serious barcode printing problems are caused by the physical properties of ink on various substrates. Due to the viscosity of the ink and the porosity of different types of paper, images tend to expand more or less. Expansion caused by ink or paper is called print gain. The print gain causes the bars to be printed too thick and the gaps to narrow too much, distorting the dimensions of the symbol and impairing its readability by a scanner.

Print gain can cause huge changes in dimensions, for example doubling the width of the printed bars. Very fine ink or a non-porous glossy substrate can result in print gains of 50% to 100%, or even more. To overcome the print gain problem, barcode designers use a technique known in the industry as "bar width reduction." The bar width reduction technique involves reducing the printed bars in anticipation of an expected print gain. By reducing the width of the bars, bar code scanning devices should be able to interpolate the data in the bar code symbol on the substrate.

Print gain can occur repeatedly during a production run. Many operations, p. ex. Image placement, character placement, scanning, plate production, and prepress operations can all contribute to print gain. The passage through the printing press can be the greatest agent of printing profit. Also, different production processes can counteract each other, whereby one process nullifies the effects of the other. Alternatively, the effects of the processes can be cumulative, generating a print gain for one process on top of the gain for another.

Despite the poor production of a barcode, the information inserted into it may still be readable by a barcode reading device. Many barcode symbologies have a degree of tolerance for the production quality of a barcode. For example, the Code 39 barcode symbology allows a bar to be not perfectly black with a margin of up to 50%. As long as the bar remains within the tolerance level of the symbology, for example being at least 50% black for Code 39, the bar code will remain readable by a bar code reading device. Another type of tolerance of a barcode symbology is the acceptance of a blank space or any other gap within a bar. As long as the gap is small enough, the barcode will remain readable by a barcode reading device.

Also, many barcode reading devices employ an averaging technique that allows the devices to interpret a barcode that is not perfectly produced. For example, a typical UPC-A barcode with 30 bars and 29 spaces generates 670 points with a handheld scanner. This averages points per unit bar. However, if you try to determine whether a 13-millimeter bar is or 14 millimeters thick, the 11 points per unit bar provides insufficient information. To compensate for this lack of information, well-known averaging techniques are used to extract the information contained in the barcode. State-of-the-art averaging techniques are useful for extracting information in barcodes with scaling problems.

US 4,889,367 describes human readable symbology that overlaps machine readable symbology. Different inks with different light / infrared absorption properties are used for human-readable characters and machine-readable characters.

Document US 5,563,401 describes an object marking and coding device in which the bar codes or similar optical readable marks have auxiliary information encoded therein and / or between the discrete marks that make up the bar code. The auxiliary information is made up of scannable electro-optical elements or magnetic recordings readable by a magnetic picker. This prior art is cited in the preamble of the independent claims.

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Summary of the invention

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method and system for generating a bar code symbol as defined in the independent claims.

The present invention serves to provide information to a user and to save time and money by inserting at least one human-readable or recognizable character in a barcode, particularly within a barcode bar, without affecting the ability of the barcode. bars being interpreted by a barcode reading device. This reduces the amount of additional space required by state-of-the-art methods to place a barcode and an additional human-readable or human-recognizable character on a product. By exploiting a margin of imperfection allowed by a given symbology, a character, for example a company logo or a human-readable character, is preferably inserted into the bar code symbol by the present invention.

By inserting a letter, icon or other mark in the bar code, in particular in a bar of the bar code, the present invention saves physical space, time and costs associated with the prior art techniques of placing a bar code. separated from an identification badge and access to both information indicators and assess them.

Also, by inserting a letter, icon, or other mark on a bar code bar, additional information can be stored in the bar code. Such information can be easily interpreted without the aid of a barcode reading device.

Alternatively, a character, letter, icon, or other mark can be inserted into a space in the barcode. Since the tolerance levels provided by different symbologies are not limited to bars only, the present invention preferably takes advantage of the allowable margin of imperfection for bars and spaces to insert additional information therein.

In accordance with the present invention, the degree of deficiency of a barcode that is allowable with state-of-the-art averaging techniques is used to develop poorly scaled barcode symbols that still pass verification. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a bar of a bar code is made wider than it would appear in the ordinary way. Since state-of-the-art averaging techniques tolerate dimension errors, the bar code symbol is kept within an acceptable tolerance and the information contained therein can still be interpreted. Having this enlarged bar allows an icon, letter or other character to be inserted into the bar by means of the present invention.

Alternatively, the present invention preferably takes advantage of state-of-the-art averaging techniques to insert a mark, icon, letter or other character into a space of a barcode. Preferably, one or more spaces of a bar code symbol are expanded within an acceptable range to accommodate the additional information.

Brief description of the drawings

In order to illustrate the invention, a preferred embodiment is shown in the drawings, it being understood however that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instruments shown. The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a typical UPC barcode symbol;

Figure 2 illustrates a typical UPC barcode with human-readable characters inserted into one of the bars;

Figure 3 illustrates a typical UPC barcode with human-readable characters inserted into an enlarged bar intentionally;

Figure 4 illustrates an alternative arrangement with characters inserted into a space between bars, and Figure 5 illustrates another alternative with characters spread across various bars.

Detailed description of the embodiments of the invention

The present invention is directed to the insertion of a letter, icon or other mark in a bar code, particularly in a bar of a bar code and possibly in a space between the bars of the code, without the bar code becoming unreadable for a barcode reading device.

Figure 2 illustrates a typical UPC barcode symbol having an enlarged bar to accommodate characters therein. The thickest bar 18 of the bar code is extended within an acceptable tolerance range relative to an averaging technique employed by a bar code reading device. As it

ES 2 290 347 T3 shows in the example of figure 2, the words "BROAD CODE" are inserted in the enlarged bar 18, the bar code maintaining its readability for a bar code reading device.

Figure 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the present invention. As shown therein, the letters "ABCD" are inserted into the bar 20. In the example shown in Figure 3, the bar code symbol continues to be readable by a bar code reading device because the letters are small enough. By inserting a small enough letter, icon, or other character into a bar code bar, the bar is kept within an acceptable tolerance for bar code symbology, and the information contained in the bar code can be interpret.

Figure 4 illustrates an alternate design in which a letter, icon, or other mark is inserted into a space 22 between adjacent bars 24, 26. That same symbol can span a bar and a space, as shown in the figure. 5 with the numerical reference 28, and even by various bars and intermediate spaces.

Thus, the present invention provides for the insertion of additional information, preferably human-recognizable, into a bar code symbol. Since many barcode symbologies allow a certain degree of imperfection in the bars and / or spaces, the present invention preferably uses the relative degree of tolerance of each symbology to insert additional information, for example a letter, icon or other marking. , in a barcode symbol. The additional information can be inserted into a space between two of the bars or it can even be spread across one bar and an adjacent space.

Alternatively, a simple bar or space is enlarged to accommodate additional information, for example, a letter, icon, or other mark, in the bar code symbol. Taking into account the deficiencies allowed by the averaging techniques of the state of the art, by means of the present invention barcode symbols are intentionally modified that continue to be verifiable and readable by a barcode reading device. Different grade averaging techniques also provide various symbologies here to tolerate bar code imperfections.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with particular embodiments thereof, many other variations, modifications, and other uses will be apparent to those skilled in the art.