Blurring in bar code signals

Abstract

When a bar code symbol is passed over a scanner, it is struck across by a fast moving laser beam. The laser light is scattered by the bar code. The total scattered power is modulated by the reflectivity of the bars and spaces in the symbol. A fraction of the scattered light is collected and focused onto a photodetector that converts the light variation into an electronic signal. The electronic signal is then digitized for analysis by a computer. The scanning and detection process can be modeled by a convolution of the laser beam profile and the bar code reflectivity function. The switching between states in the digitized bar code signal, which represents transitions from a space to a bar or vice versa, is determined by a zero-crossing point in the second derivative of the analog signal. The laser profile acts like a smoothing function. It blurs the analog electronic signal. If the width of the laser profile is less than the minimum width of bars and spaces in the bar code reflectivity function, the transition point is not affected by the location of its neighboring edges. If the laser profile is wider than the minimum width in the bar code, the transition point can be shifted due to the locations of its neighboring edges. The behavior of the shift of transition is analyzed here for all cases in a UPC symbol. It is found that the amount of shift in the transition point is almost the same for several different cases within the depth of field of the scanner. The knowledge of the behavior of transition point shift can be used to accurately compensate printing errors in an over-printed bar code. The modulation transfer function (MTF) of bar code scanning is the Fourier transform of the marginal function of the scanning laser beam. The MTF through focus for a scanning system is presented. By using an aperture with central obscuration in the laser focusing system, the high frequency resolution of bar code scanning can be enhanced and the depth of field of the scanner can be extended.