Hybrid system and method for reading indicia

Abstract

An indicia-reading system is provided that incorporates a hybrid approach to decoding indicia such as barcodes. An indicia-capturing subsystem acquires information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view. An indicia-decoding module decodes indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem. The indicia-decoding module includes a primary, basic signal processor for initially decoding indicia information, and a secondary, advanced signal processor for decoding indicia information that is not decoded by the primary, basic signal processor.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . An indicia-reading method, comprising:
 acquiring information about indicia; and   decoding the indicia information, wherein decoding the indicia comprises:
 attempting to decode the indicia using a first program; 
 determining that the attempt to decode the indicia fails; 
 transmitting pre-processed indicia information, determined during the processing of the indicia using the first program, to a second program; and 
 decoding the indicia using at least the pre-processed indicia information by the second program. 
   
     
     
         22 . The indicia-reading method of  claim 21 , wherein the indica information is acquired by an indicia-capturing subsystem. 
     
     
         23 . The indicia-reading method according to  claim 21 , wherein the first program includes programmable-logic signal processing, and the second program includes a software signal processing. 
     
     
         24 . The indicia-reading method according to  claim 23 , wherein the first program is executed by a first signal processor and the second program is executed by a second signal processor. 
     
     
         25 . An indica-reading system comprising:
 an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view; and   an indicia decoder configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem, the indicia decoder configured to:
 attempt to decode the indicia using a first program; 
 determine that the first program failed to decode the indica; 
 transmit a pre-processed indica information from the first program to a second program; and 
 decode the indica using at least pre-processed indica information by the second program. 
   
     
     
         26 . The indica-reading system according to  claim 25 , wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem is an imaging subsystem for capturing images within the imaging subsystem's field of view. 
     
     
         27 . The indica-reading system according to  claim 25 , wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem is a laser scanning subsystem for scanning indicia within the laser scanning subsystem's field of view. 
     
     
         28 . The indica-reading system according to  claim 25 , wherein the first program includes programmable-logic signal processing, and the second program includes a software signal processing. 
     
     
         29 . The indica-reading system according to  claim 28 , wherein the first program is executed by a first signal processor and the second program is executed by a second signal processor. 
     
     
         30 . The indica-reading system according to  claim 29 , wherein the first signal processor comprises a programmable controller and the second signal processor comprises a computer processor. 
     
     
         31 . A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to facilitate reading of an indica, the computer program product is configured to:
 acquire information about an indica; and   decode indica information, wherein the computer program product configured to decode the indica decoding comprises:
 attempting to decode the indicia using a first program; 
 determining that the attempt to decode the indicia fails; 
 in response to determining that the attempt to decode the indica has failed, transmitting pre-processed indicia information, determined during the processing of the indicia using the first program code, to a second program code; and 
 decoding the indicia using at least the pre-processed indicia information by the second program code. 
   
     
     
         32 . The computer program product according to  claim 31 , wherein the first program is a programmable-logical signal processing, and the second program is a software signal processing. 
     
     
         33 . The computer program product according to  claim 32 , wherein the first program is executed by a first signal processor and the second program is executed by a second signal processor. 
     
     
         34 . The computer program product according to  claim 33 , wherein the first signal processor comprises a programmable controller and the second signal processor comprises a computer processor.