Digital bar code slot reader with threshold comparison of the differentiated bar code signal

摘要

A digital bar code slot reader provides low first bar error rates and a wide scan speed range for bar codes on laminated badges and tags, and is also capable of reading bar codes on paper. The reflectance waveform from the bar code is differentiated in order to find the regions of high slope. The differentiated signal is peak detected to find the amplitude of the slope occurring at the initial card edge. This peak detected value is used to generate thresholds to be compared to the differentiated reflectance signal during the rest of the scan. When the slope of the reflectance signal is above the positive threshold or below the negative threshold, a switching signal is produced. To compensate for the lower amplitude output of the differentiator at low scan speeds, one of the amplifiers in the circuit produces a higher gain at low frequencies than at high frequencies.