TWI221586B - Bar code/text/graphics reading system - Google Patents

Abstract

A generalized bar code/text/graphics reading system, particularly specifying a reading system using the neuron network retina (NNR, or other names have been used: neural sensors-silicon retina, or BJT-based silicon retina) as the image input component, which can be adapted to read bard code, text and graphical image which can be converted into electronic signals for further signal processing. The reading system utilizes a transparent component to receive the surrounding light, as a result, no additional light source is required as similar to the LED design. And such design further achieves the power-saving and cost-saving goal accordingly, which is also critical factor for operation using battery. Moreover, such NNR can be further equipped with noise cancellation function so that the difference resulted from different scanning speed, blur image (e.g. image on fax sheet) or different scanning angle to shadow or mixed spots can all be restored to the correct bar code, text and graphical image by NNR. The electronic signals outputted by NNR can be inputted to a radio frequency (RF) transmitter so as to formulate a wireless reading system. The RF transmitter can transmit signal to the RF receiver located few meters away and the PC connected to the RF receiver can remotely proceed data decoding and storage operation. The bar code/text/graphics reading system can be designed to look like a pen and the NNR is placed on the tip of the ""reading pen"". Between the NNR and the bar code/text/graphics to be scanned is designed with a transparent component and a focusing lens to collect image, therefore, the surrounding light won't be block and the image can be always focused as image on NNR.

Description

V. Description of the invention (1) [Application field of the present invention] The present invention relates to a kind of stepping / a silk system of field # ★ Zhuma / text / graphics retrieval system, especially

ν * ^ ^ ο, ^, [Neur〇n-Network-Retina, NNR) to be used as a visual input device. ^ I admire your fighting system, ^, and the extraction system. This reading system can be applied to Proper 丨 丨, # 本 .. 的 ～ 像 'and convert them into electronic signals for further signal processing. [Prior technology] \ Analysis and construction of the model of human neural network operation through the network retina (Neur〇n —Netw〇rk —) has long been an important research area. Jing You now knows that the human brain may contain More than 10 neural units, and each neural unit has more than 103 interconnected nodes, and performs Xu Xijing's fine and fine functions in a highly parallel processing. For example, in the human eye The retina contains millions of units to perform fine image processing, such as image sensing, image smoothing, image feature extraction, and dynamic image processing. The retina is an anterior segment of the optic nervous system, which mainly performs three functions: The main image processing functions, that is, image input sensing, image boundary analysis, and capture of moving object features, and then the appropriate signals are passed to the brain. I1 pass the semiconductor IC process technology with the rapid changes, it is now possible Create artificial neural networks. At present, 'the most advanced hair chip manufacturing technology can be used to utilize a large number of microchips Electronic components or nano-electronic components to make so-called Silicon retina, or so-called Neuro-Network-Retina (NNR). Therefore, a large number of artificial neural units will be able to Implant a microchip of appropriate size

Page 5 1221586 5. In the description of the invention (2), and can have many fine functions like the human retina. This neural network retina is a form of two-dimensional array. It can be manufactured by arranging many bipolar transistors (B JT) with the same base region into a two-dimensional array by using the most advanced 1C manufacturing technology. . Therefore, this kind of nnr chip is also called π bipolar transistor-retina silicon wafer (BJT_based Silicon Retina), or Neurai Seneor-Si1i con Retina. NNR chip can be used as an optical sensor, It can convert the image into an electronic signal, just like the traditional optical sensor, such as CCD or photodiode array. However, NNR chip not only plays the role of optical sensor, but also has many advantages of parallel signal processing, such as The image smooths the NNR crystal to a computational volume; the same as that of the NNR crystal. The scanning of the reading is the same as the tilt. Each of the entries, the parsing can be small, and when it is large, it can also be read based on this system. The speed, angle, and angle of the common form before reading the above-mentioned silicon chip can greatly improve the image acquisition. These advantages will be able to be noisy, resulting in a traditional stone horse in the reading world, or capture the characteristics of moving objects, etc. Features, and the integration of all parallel image processing functions' can effectively reduce the speed of image processing operations, No additional soft-time efficiency and timely calculation capabilities are needed. Therefore, it is very reasonable to use 'such as barcodes, text or patterns, etc., when applying NNR chips to barcodes / texts / pictures to remove many scanning errors, the difference is different Blurred images (such as fax manuscripts) or non-disparity, etc. The reading system can be roughly classified into four forms, and the header design uses a few different techniques.

1221586 V. Description of the invention (3). These four types are photodiode reading heads (bar code scanners, CCD reading heads, and digital camera reading heads. "Tian Shezhi A · light f diode reading head and laser scanner and light The f set of the head ... is composed of a light source near the pen tip. When reading a bar code, the read head must drag each bar code at a steady rate. The reflected light intensity returned by the function of the photodiode , And then use the width of the black bars and blank spaces in the measured waveform ". In the barcode pattern, ... the color bars will absorb light and the blank spaces will reflect light. The waveform detected by the electric diode will The pattern is the same as that of the barcode. The waveform can be decoded in a manner similar to the Morse code. The main principle is quite similar to the photodiode read head. The main difference is that the laser beam is used as the light source, and 稜鏡 is used. Or the mirror that moves back and forth to scan the laser beam back and forth: Like the photodiode read head, the signal is read by using the photodiode to detect the intensity of the laser light reflected from the barcode. At the photodiode Head and laser sweep In the device, the light source emitted by the reading head is usually modulated by your second fixed frequency, and the photodiode is also designed to read only the light, so the background noise can be reduced. In order to read different The size of the barcode, the photodiode scanning scanner is usually designed to have different resolutions. Scanning: It is generally limited to the size of the light spot emitted by the reading head. Because the size of the spot must be The narrowest bar code width (or bar code spacing) is connected to = smaller. If the size of the light spot is significantly larger than the narrowest bar code width or bar code ^

Page 7 V. Description of the invention (4) If the value is large, the light-dark variation between light spots will cause a wrong 1111 s (approximately phase. Barcode B due to such a resolution. • The charge coupled element charge light-combination system is With each light sensor, the light just in front of it is quite small. The image of Shima can detect the voltage. The optional head and the photoelectric CCD are used by the peripheral device, and the reading head reads the c · digits. The camera reads the fourth type of digital camera to decode the captured images. The digits will be overlapped with several barcodes at the same time, so different barcodes will not be recognized. However, the light spot cannot be designed too small to make the manuscript. Some small dots are also scanned by the cat, misjudgment. Generally, the minimum barcode width used is 1 3, which is equivalent to 4 dots on a regular printer with a size of 3 00 dpi.) The size is quite small. To produce such a high image. The read head element (Charge Coupled Device; CCD) reads hundreds of tiny photo sensors arranged in an array. When the read head is used as a single photodiode, its strength can be valued. Each light sensor in the CCD reading head ^ Because there are hundreds of sensors arranged in an array; therefore, the bar code is sequentially formed by the detection of each light sensor on the reading head to be the same as the barcode image Voltage image. The biggest difference between a CCD reader head or a laser scanner is the ambient light, but the photodiode and the laser scan obscure the light of a specific frequency generated by the reader itself. Light of that particular frequency reflected from the bar code. Take the head '· Also the latest type of bar code reader uses a small lens to manipulate the image of the bar code. Therefore, the stylized image of the read head can be used for complex digital image processing and the technology used by the camera reading system is compared with the CCD reading system.

V. Description of the invention (5)-the sensor, but the main difference is that the CCD only uses a single row of light sensors. The read head of a two-sacrifice land camera uses hundreds of rows of light sensors to form a column. , So this reading technology can produce images. The white and white barcode patterns are easy to read due to the following factors. The first is that black and white must have sufficient printing contrast, and the second is that ⑽ produces a clear 佟 H ^ must be greater than the tolerance of printing analysis. If the edges can be, it will contribute to the noise of the bar code, the slippery surface and the clear barcode reader and the personal computer. "Being properly equipped, many applications must have important issues f: Bar code reading The reader can use two kinds of 2 can support barcode reading

) End is connected to the computer: First, the keyboard (electrically known input / output (I / O :) ♦. The barcode reader can use 2 other-疋 RS-232 连 connection; can also add-adapter to make the keyboard If you use the keyboard (I / 〇) Fu Chu /, Shima Shuo fetcher at the same time to enter the keyboard with the barcode readers &, " on the keyboard, the number 2 ·. This makes the barcode reader and the computer = the way to enter the computer is the same, as long as the way to receive keyboard data θ: interface design becomes very simple 彖 RS-23 2 interface. Use this kind of. Other One interface selects the RS-23 2 on the back to connect to the Fu connection; at the same time, the barcode reader computer can be used to transfer the data obtained by the barcode reader. Some applications need to be soft this way with the keyboard (1 / ( )) Fu comparison sent to other applications. The main disadvantage of the method, however, is more complicated in operation Λ, which also has a lot of control flexibility. In terms of engineering, it has increased 1221586 V. Description of the invention ( 6) [Outline of the invention] / The purpose of the invention is to provide a broad Code / text / graphics reading system 'is particularly a reading system that uses a neural network retina (Neuron-Network-Retina (NNR)) as a kind of image reading element for stone reading / text, in which NNR can manipulate bar codes , Text and graphics images' and convert them into electronic signals for further processing. In order to achieve the purpose of the invention, an embodiment of the present invention adopts the following design: This barcode / = word / graphic reading system is designed as a pen Shape, and NNR is placed on the tip of the "reading pen". The design of the reading pen has a light-transmitting component and a focusing lens to the N-factor between the nnr and the barcode / text image to be taken : The upper Λ light will not be blocked ... the image can always focus the light # This design does not require additional light sources, such as LEDs or thunder ϋ ϋΓΓΪ: In order to save power, it is very important to use batteries to supply power. This NNR can be further equipped with functions such as eliminating noise, enhancing black and white contrast, smoothing the image = image boundary, and capturing the characteristics of moving objects. Therefore, it analyzes different scanning speed, noise Point, blurred image (such as the difference caused by shadows, \ or different scanning angles, bar code, text, and graphic images of NNR images. The NNR wheels output the correct input to a radio frequency UF) transmitter, Therefore, it can be read as a sub-signal reading system. The RF transmitter can transmit the signal = wireless operation of the receiver, and the personal meter connected to the meter receiver can perform data decoding and storage. You can find it in [Detailed Description of the Invention]

Page 10 1221586 Five 'invention description (7) The bar code / text / graphic reading system of the present invention is a generalized bar code / text / graphic reading system extended from bar code reading = system, mainly composed of one piece and one The neural network retina (Neuron-Network-Retina, chip); where the light-transmitting component is used to collect barcodes, text Λ-shaped Λ images, and NNR is-an optical input element, the shadow taken by the lifter = conversion Into an electronic signal to facilitate further transmission and processing. This bar code / text / answer ^ sell system is designed in the shape of a pen, and NNR is placed on the quotation head of the "Read 1". The design of the reading pen head, There is a light-transmitting component and a focusing lens between NNR and the field image / graphic image to be read, because two, the light will not be blocked, and the image can always be focused and become 7. Shown in the figure is the schematic diagram of the light-transmitting component (1) used by the barcode / text / graphics of the present invention. The light-transmitting component package = a tubular light-transmitting reading head (11), A specific contact angle β near the tip can be compared with the barcode 'text / picture Shaped image contact. The surrounding light can pass through the translucent read head) and is reflected from the barcode / text / graphic image (β) on the contact surface (D).

Selectively pass-遽 light sheet ⑴), followed by 隹 J ⑴) to image the collected image (C) to focus on the wafer. There is a tubular outer between the focusing lens and the imaging plane of the NNR, and the tubular housing ( 15) is made of opaque material ^, so unnecessary surrounding scattered light can be blocked out, thus greatly reducing the noise caused by scattered light. The main feature of this design is to use the surrounding light and collect the text and shadow of the barcode to be scanned through the light-transmitting component 2), so there is no need to design an additional light source, such as commonly used for pen-shaped reading heads. Note (8) and the design of the LED or laser-scanning section of the laser scanning read head can achieve power saving: eye mine: 7: =: = a very important condition of the present invention. ', 疋: Battery operation must emphasize the use of this NNR, the county ’s take-off system-a specific embodiment, the second and second barcode text readers have the function of converting images into electronic signals (such as ccd or two, The polar body array, etc.) are included in the scope of this creation. However, the number system must be processed separately. ^ ^ ® ^ μ ^ r ^ 2f M '^ ^ # The design of the pixel size of a unit on the surface is at least better than that of the barcode image analysis. ‘When the voltage plate is turned on, the computer reads the input current and reads the output. Ii = r The barcode / text reading system in Figure 1 is fixed at the analysis movement n the image is moved. This result also clearly shows that the nnr pairs are in ^ force. After the noise function of the computer is shown in Figures 5A and 5β, the input and output functions of the image are as follows. From the figure, it can be seen that ‘when nnr has the effect of removing noise at the same time? The image can be converted into a clearer image. F also has contrast and sharp image boundaries. ^ Mingzhi's barcode / text / graphics reading system can be used with RF # $ 格格 n que ^ cy (RF) transmission components, so it constitutes a wireless, ..text / graphics reading system. The RF transmission module can be composed of a 1221586 V. invention description (9) RF transmitter and an RF receiver connected to a computer. Therefore, the electronic image signal output by the NNR chip can be input to the RF transmitter, and then transmitted wirelessly to an RF receiver located a few meters away, and then transmitted to a computer for further storage and decoding functions.

Page 13 1221586 Brief description of the drawings [Simplified illustration of the drawings — The first diagram is a schematic diagram of the light-transmitting component used in the present invention, which is also one of the invention, and the piece (1), which is a specific bar code pattern generally common Examples. Figure 3 shows how to use the present invention to read the barcode, neural network of the pixel array of MD and A = retina (NNR) to read the barcode or text image. Figure 4A shows the relationship between the NNR input current and time. Computer simulation results, where the barcode / text / graphics reading system moves at a fixed rate relative to the barcode image. Figure 4B is a computer simulation result of the relationship between the output voltage of NNR and time. The barcode / text / graphic reading system moves at a fixed speed σ rate relative to the barcode image. Figure 5A is a computer simulation image of the photocurrent received by NNR. Figure 5B is a computer simulation image obtained by N N R through the noise reduction function. ’[Illustration of drawing number] m

II 1 11 Light-transmitting component Light-transmitting read head 12 Filter 13 Focusing lens 14 NNR chip 15 Tubular housing Θ Contact angle A Surrounding light B Bar code / text / graphic image C Collected image D Contact surface Page 14

Claims (1)

1221586 6. Scope of Patent Application 1. A barcode / text / graphic reading system, including: a light-transmitting component to capture the image of barcode / text / graphic; a type that can convert the captured barcode / text / graphic image information into An electronic signal device. This device cooperates with the light-transmitting component so that the barcode / text / graphics reading system can read the barcode, text, and ^ ^ ^ a integrated circuit main body for signal processing. 2. The bar code / text / graphic reading system described in item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the light-transmitting component described further includes: μ a light-transmitting reading head to collect ambient light; t-focus lens to collect I want to scan the barcode / text / graphic image of cats and ..., an opaque shell to block unnecessary scattered light. 3. The barcode / text / graphics reading system described in item 2 of the scope of patent application, wherein the light-transmitting reading head described further includes a specific contact angle 'to facilitate scanning with the barcode to be scanned / The text / graphic image contacts at this angle. 4. The barcode / text / graphic reading system described in item 1 of the scope of the patent application, where the device described is a neural network retina (N) chip, which is used to convert image information into electronic signals. 5 The barcode / text / graphics reading system described in item 1 of the patent scope, where the device described is a charge-coupled device (CCD) reading head, a signal processor, and other software for converting image information into electronic signals . Page 15 / 、 Application scope n: The description in the fourth item of the scope of interest It: The described machine chip, in the form of a burst = the received optical signal is converted into an electronic signal. The door grabbed the barcode / system described in item 4 of the profit range. The face chip described in it, enter = get: the characteristics of the moving object. Resolve shirt-like boundaries' and capture 8 .: Shen = The bar / text / graphic reading system described in item 1 of the profit range provides the bar code / text / graphic reading system :: == using a battery to 9. The bar code / text / graphic system described in the item of the scope of patent application, where the light-transmitting component, I i ', described as an integrated body, and has the same as two; = integrated circuit main body are both 10. —A kind of wireless Controlled barcode / text / graphic reading system, including. A light-transmissive component to capture the image of barcode / text / graphics; a neural network retina (Neur〇n__Netw (^ k 臓) chip to capture the barcode / Text / graphic image is converted into an electronic signal and appropriate image processing is performed. This device cooperates with the light-transmitting component to make the barcode / text / graphic reading system work as a single machine to read the barcode, text and graphics. The main body of the body circuit for signal processing; and sending a radio frequency (RF) transmission component to transmit the signal wirelessly 11. = The wireless stop word / graphic reading system described in item i 0 of the patent application scope, where Description of the translucent component A translucent reading head is used to collect the surrounding light; a focusing lens is used to collect the bar code text image to be scanned; m a Λ non-Λ light shell to block unnecessary scattered light. * Ϊ́ / V / Λ 1 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ / χ = Picture $ ⑼take system, the light-transmitting read head described therein—two or two: contact angles', which is good for scanning and scanning. The Erlang code / text / graphic image contacts at this angle. ≪ Article 13. = Wireless control Ergonomic graphics reading system and system described in item No. 丄 0 of the patent application scope, where the described faces are arrays. Barrier horse =: The ladder has a built-in light sensing element to receive bar codes / text / graphics 14: >: At the same time, it can convert the received optical signals into electronic signals ^ "Wireless as described in item 10 The control stripe / text 2 graphic capture system described in which the NNR chip enters the "Boundary and Image Boundary," as well as the image of the second one; :: π: enhanced analysis shadow 15 · t range as described in item i 0 None: / Graphical reading system, which further includes the main power supply using bar code / text / graphic reading system . For the wireless control barcode / text described in Item 10 of the patent scope of Hai Hai 16 · ί / Shen Λ = Figure 3 Buy 糸 '统' RF transmission components described in it, 'further ^ 1586 A heart transmitter integrated into the main body of the integrated circuit 17 Ru Shen :: RF receiver connected to a personal computer. UP '· If the first word / graphics reading system of the patent application scope is applied, the wirelessly controlled barcode / text retina (NNR) chip described by the staff, the described light-transmitting component, and neural network are integrated and have For example, the main body of the body circuit and the M transmission wheel assembly have the same appearance as the pen. rear 苐 Page 18