US-20260127767-A1 - OPTIMIZED FRAME SEQUENCES FOR FAST DECODE ON DUAL SENSOR SCAN SYSTEMS

US20260127767A1US 20260127767 A1US20260127767 A1US 20260127767A1US-20260127767-A1

Abstract

A method and system for decoding encoded data appearing within a field of view (FOV) of an indicia reader. The method includes obtaining, via an imaging assembly, a first image and a second of the FOV of an environment. The first and second images are passed to a decoder and the decoder attempts a first decode operation on the first image and a second decode operation on the second image, the first and second decode operations having a first decode timeout time. Responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the first and second images, a decode payload is determined and transmitted to a host, or, responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first and second imaged, the method further includes performing additional decode operations having a second decode timeout time, with the second decode timeout time being longer than the first decode timeout time.

Inventors

Justin F. Barish
Harry E. Kuchenbrod
Thomas L. Pyle

Assignees

ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20241101

Claims (20)

1 . A method for decoding encoded data appearing within a field of view (FOV) of an indicia reader, the method comprising: obtaining, via an imaging assembly, a first image of the FOV of an environment, the first image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a first focal plane distance; obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a second image of the FOV of the environment, the second image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a second focal plane distance; passing the first image to a decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a first decode operation on the first image to determine a payload, the first decode operation having a first decode timeout time; passing the second image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a second decode operation on the second image to determine a payload, the second decode operation having the first decode timeout time; responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the first and second images, transmitting a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first image and second image further performing additional decode operations having a second decode timeout time, with the second decode timeout time being longer than the first decode timeout time.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations of the first image and second image the method further comprises: obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a third image of the FOV of the environment, the third image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at the first focal distance; obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a fourth image of the FOV of the environment, the fourth image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus as the second focal distance; passing the third image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a third decode operation on the third image to determine a payload, the third decode operation having the second decode timeout time; passing the fourth image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a fourth decode operation on the fourth image to determine a payload, the fourth decode operation having the second decode timeout time; and responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the third and fourth images, transmitting a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the third image and fourth image, further tuning one or more parameters of the indicia reader, obtaining, by the imaging assembly, one or more additional images, and performing additional decode operations on the one or more additional images.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein tuning the one or more parameters of the indicia reader comprises performing at least one of a focus ramping, a focus dither, and a focus bracket on one or more imagers of the imaging assembly.
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein tuning one or more parameters of the indicia reader comprises tuning one or more of an illumination brightness, image sensor gain, an image capture frame rate, and exposure.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first timeout time and second timeout time is dependent on a frame rate of a respective imaging sensor of the imaging assembly.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first image and second image, the method further comprises tuning one or more parameters of the system before performing the one or more additional decode operations.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image is obtained via a first imaging sensor of the imaging assembly, the first imaging sensor having a fixed focal distance.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second image is obtained via a second imaging sensor of the imaging assembly, the second imaging sensor being a variable focus imaging sensor.
9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising performing, via an aiming assembly, a ranging measurement and tuning, based on the ranging measurement, the focus of the second imaging sensor.
10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing an autotune of one or more imaging sensors of the imaging assembly.
11 . A data capture device comprising: an imaging assembly having (i) a first imaging sensor configured to capture images of a field of view (FOV), and at a first focal distance, of the imaging assembly, and (ii) a second imaging sensor configured to capture images of the FOV, at a second focal distance, of the imaging assembly; one or more processors and machine readable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the device to: obtain, via an imaging assembly, a first image of the FOV of an environment, the first image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a first focal plane distance; obtain, via the imaging assembly, a second image of the FOV of the environment, the second image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a second focal plane distance; pass the first image to a decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a first decode operation on the first image to determine a payload, the first decode operation having a first decode timeout time; pass the second image to the decoder and attempt, by the decoder, a second decode operation on the second image to determine a payload, the second decode operation having the first decode timeout time; and responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the first and second images, transmit a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first image and second image further perform additional decode operations having a second decode timeout time, with the second decode timeout time being longer than the first decode timeout time.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations of the first image and second image the wherein the machine-readable instructions further cause the device to: obtain, via the imaging assembly, a third image of the FOV of the environment, the third image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at the first focal distance; obtain, via the imaging assembly, a fourth image of the FOV of the environment, the fourth image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus as the second focal distance; pass the third image to the decoder and attempt, by the decoder, a third decode operation on the third image to determine a payload, the third decode operation having the second decode timeout time; pass the fourth image to the decoder and attempt, by the decoder, a fourth decode operation on the fourth image to determine a payload, the fourth decode operation having the second decode timeout time; and responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the third and fourth images, transmit a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the third image and fourth image, further tune one or more parameters of the data capture device, obtaining, by the imaging assembly, one or more additional images, and performing additional decode operations on the one or more additional images.
13 . The device of claim 12 , wherein to tune the one or more parameters of the data capture device, the machine readable instructions cause the device to perform at least one of a focus ramping, a focus dither, and a focus bracket on one or more imagers of the imaging assembly.
14 . The device of claim 12 , wherein to tune one or more parameters of the data capture device, the machine readable instructions cause the device to tune one or more of an illumination brightness, image sensor gain, an image capture frame rate, and exposure.
15 . The device of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first timeout time and second timeout time is dependent on a frame rate of a respective imaging sensor of the imaging assembly.
16 . The device of claim 11 , wherein responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first image and second image, the machine readable instructions cause the device to tune one or more parameters of the data capture device before performing the one or more additional decode operations.
17 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the first image is obtained via a first imaging sensor of the imaging assembly, the first imaging sensor having a fixed focal distance.
18 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the second image is obtained via a second imaging sensor of the imaging assembly, the second imaging sensor being a variable focus imaging sensor.
19 . The device of claim 18 , wherein the machine readable instructions further cause the device to perform, via an aiming assembly, a ranging measurement and tune, based on the ranging measurement, the focus of the second imaging sensor.
20 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the machine readable instructions further cause the device to perform an autotune of one or more imaging sensors of the imaging assembly.

Description

BACKGROUND Industrial scanners and/or barcode readers may be used in warehouse environments, in point of sale systems, and/or other environments and may be provided in the form of fixed, mountable, or mobile scanning devices, for example. These scanners may be used to scan barcodes and other objects. Scanners are frequently used in environments that involve scanning or resolving barcodes across a range of distances or in a variety of environmental and lighting conditions. In any such application, a primary objective for performing decoding of indicia is to perform efficient decoding at fast rates or short decode times. To provide for multiple fields of view, or broader imaging working distance ranges, some systems implement multiple cameras, each having different scanning ranges. Obtained images may require significant processing resources and time to perform image processing, and for performing machine vision processes or indicia detection and decoding. Additionally, some images may be obtained that do not include indicia or target objects, that are too blurry, or otherwise are not useful for decoding indicia or performing machine vision processes. Such images typically are further processed and time and processing resources are wasted attempting to identify and decode indicia in the images. Such operations reduce the overall efficiency of imaging and barcode readers, and may further delay future scans and barcode readings. These useless images further create a bottleneck for systems that employ multiple imagers by using resources that might be better used to analyze and process additional images obtained by the system. The result in such systems is long, undesirable image processing and decode times, which, may not even result in a successful decode operation. Accordingly, there is a need for improved designs having improved functionalities. SUMMARY In accordance with a first embodiment, the present invention is a method for decoding encoded data appearing within a field of view (FOV) of an indicia reader. The method includes obtaining, via an imaging assembly, a first image of the FOV of an environment, the first image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a first focal plane distance; obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a second image of the FOV of the environment, the second image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at a second focal plane distance; passing the first image to a decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a first decode operation on the first image to determine a payload, the first decode operation having a first decode timeout time; passing the second image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a second decode operation on the second image to determine a payload, the second decode operation having the first decode timeout time; responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the first and second images, transmitting a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the first image and second image further performing additional decode operations having a second decode timeout time, with the second decode timeout time being longer than the first decode timeout time. In a variation of the current embodiment, responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations of the first image and second image the method further includes obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a third image of the FOV of the environment, the third image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus at the first focal distance; obtaining, via the imaging assembly, a fourth image of the FOV of the environment, the fourth image obtained with the imaging assembly having a focus as the second focal distance; passing the third image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a third decode operation on the third image to determine a payload, the third decode operation having the second decode timeout time; passing the fourth image to the decoder and attempting, by the decoder, a fourth decode operation on the fourth image to determine a payload, the fourth decode operation having the second decode timeout time; and responsive to performing a successful decode operation from one of the third and fourth images, transmitting a decoded payload to a host, or responsive to performing unsuccessful decode operations on the third image and fourth image, further tuning one or more parameters of the indicia reader, obtaining, by the imaging assembly, one or more additional images, and performing additional decode operations on the one or more additional images. In variations, tuning the one or more parameters of the indicia reader may include performing at least one of a focus ramping, a focus dither, and a focus bracket on one or more imagers of the imaging assembly. In more variations, tuning one or more parameters of the indicia reader comprises tuning one or more of an illumination brightness, image sensor gain, an image capture fr