Rotation-independent reading of rectangular insignia

Claim 1

A system for reading a coded insigne which is upon an article moving past detecting means, regardless of the orientation or proximity of said coded insigne with respect to said detecting means, comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging light beam means emitting a light beam, movable mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two intersecting planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said coded insigne as it passes through said two intersecting light planes and providing two sets of electrical signals representative of the code on said insigne resulting from at least two scannings of said coded insigne by said light beam, error checking circuit means to which said two sets of electrical signals are applied for checking code validity, including means for comparing the two sets of electrical signals for identicality and producing an output signal if code validity and means for the comparison are acceptable, and means responsive to said output signal for utilizing one of said sets of said electrical signals.

Claim 2

A system for reading a coded insigne which is upon an article moving past detecting means, regardless of the orientation or proximity of said coded insigne with respect to said detecting means, comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging light beam means emitting a light beam, movable mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two intersecting planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said coded insigne as it passes through said two intersecting light planes and providing two sets of electrical signals representative of the code on said insigne resulting from at least two scannings of said coded insigne by said light beam, error checking circuit means to which said two sets of electrical signals are applied for checking code validity, including means for comparing the two sets of electrical signals for identicality and producing an output signal if code validity and means for the comparison are acceptable, and means responsive to said output signal for utilizing one of said sets of said electrical signals.

Claim 7

A system for reading a coded insigne which is upon an article moving past detecting means, regardless of the orientation or proximity of said coded insigne with respect to said detecting means, comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging liGht beam means emitting a light beam, mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said coded insigne as it passes through said two light planes and providing two sets of electrical signals representative of the code on said insigne resulting from at least two scannings of said coded insigne by said light beam, a first, second and third register means, means for entering a set of electrical signals simultaneously into said first and second register means, means for applying said first set of electrical signals to said means for entering, means for testing whether the set of electrical signals stored in said first register means is in the proper or reverse order and producing a reversing signal when the order is in reverse, means responsive to said reversing signal for clearing said second register means, means responsive to said reversing signal for transferring the contents of said first register means to said second register means in reverse order, means for checking the validity of the contents of said second register and producing a validity signal if the validity is accepted, means for comparing for identicality the contents of said third register means with the contents of said second register means responsive to said validity signal and producing an identicality signal when they are the same, means for utilizing the contents of said second storage means in response to said identicality signal, and means for transferring the contents of said second register means into said third register means after said means for comparing has operated, and means for applying said second set of electrical signals to said means for entering.

Claim 8

A system for reading a coded insigne which is upon an article moving past detecting means, regardless of the orientation or proximity of said coded insigne with respect to said detecting means, comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging liGht beam means emitting a light beam, mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said coded insigne as it passes through said two light planes and providing two sets of electrical signals representative of the code on said insigne resulting from at least two scannings of said coded insigne by said light beam, a first, second and third register means, means for entering a set of electrical signals simultaneously into said first and second register means, means for applying said first set of electrical signals to said means for entering, means for testing whether the set of electrical signals stored in said first register means is in the proper or reverse order and producing a reversing signal when the order is in reverse, means responsive to said reversing signal for clearing said second register means, means responsive to said reversing signal for transferring the contents of said first register means to said second register means in reverse order, means for checking the validity of the contents of said second register and producing a validity signal if the validity is accepted, means for comparing for identicality the contents of said third register means with the contents of said second register means responsive to said validity signal and producing an identicality signal when they are the same, means for utilizing the contents of said second storage means in response to said identicality signal, and means for transferring the contents of said second register means into said third register means after said means for comparing has operated, and means for applying said second set of electrical signals to said means for entering.

Claim 12

A system for reading an insigne applied to an article moving past detecting means, wherein said insigne includes region marks enclosing a coded indicia region, said coded indicia region including timing marks and marks representative of an N bit binary code, said system comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging light beam means emitting a light beam, mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two intersecting light planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said insigne as said article passes through said light planes for providing for each light plane region signals responsive to said region marks, timing signals responsive to said timing marks and N binary code signals responsive to said N bit binary code marks, a first counter means for counting a predetermined number of said region signals and producing a region count signal output, second counter means responsive to said region count signal for producing a plurality of output counts, first, second and third register means, said first register having 2N+1 stages and said second and third registers having 2N stages, means responsive to a last of said second counter means output counts for transferring the first stage of said first register into its one representative state and clearing the remaining stages of said register, means responsive to the output of said photocell means for entering binary code signals simultaneously into said first and second register means timed by the timing signals, gate means responsive to the presence of a timing signal and the 2N+1 stage representing a one bit to produce an error signal, means responsive to the absence of said error signals, one of said second counter means outputs and said first register means first stage representing a one bit for clearing said second counter, means responsive to the absence of said error signal a second of said counter means outputs and said first register means first stage representing a one bit for transferring in reverse order the contents of the first 2N stages of said first register means to the 2N stages of said second register means, means for verifying the accuracy of the code in said second counter means and producing a verify signal output indicative thereof, means responsive to said verify signal and a third count output of said second counter for comparing the contents of said second and third register means and producing an identity output when they are identical, means responsive to said identity output for decoding the code in the second register, and means responsive to a next to last output count of said counter and said verify signal for transferring the contents of said second register means to said third register means.

Claim 13

A system for reading an insigne applied to an article moving past detecting means, wherein said insigne includes region marks enclosing a coded indicia region, said coded indicia region including timing marks and marks representative of an N bit binary code, said system comprising: high intensity substantially non diverging light beam means emitting a light beam, mirror means positioned to receive said light beam and to reflect it in a manner to describe two intersecting light planes through which said article is moved, photocell means positioned for receiving light signals from said insigne as said article passes through said light planes for providing for each light plane region signals responsive to said region marks, timing signals responsive to said timing marks and N binary code signals responsive to said N bit binary code marks, a first counter means for counting a predetermined number of said region signals and producing a region count signal output, second counter means responsive to said region count signal for producing a plurality of output counts, first, second and third register means, said first register having 2N+1 stages and said second and third registers having 2N stages, means responsive to a last of said second counter means output counts for transferring the first stage of said first register into its one representative state and clearing the remaining stages of said register, means responsive to the output of said photocell means for entering binary code signals simultaneously into said first and second register means timed by the timing signals, gate means responsive to the presence of a timing signal and the 2N+1 stage representing a one bit to produce an error signal, means responsive to the absence of said error signals, one of said second counter means outputs and said first register means first stage representing a one bit for clearing said second counter, means responsive to the absence of said error signal a second of said counter means outputs and said first register means first stage representing a one bit for transferring in reverse order the contents of the first 2N stages of said first register means to the 2N stages of said second register means, means for verifying the accuracy of the code in said second counter means and producing a verify signal output indicative thereof, means responsive to said verify signal and a third count output of said second counter for comparing the contents of said second and third register means and producing an identity output when they are identical, means responsive to said identity output for decoding the code in the second register, and means responsive to a next to last output count of said counter and said verify signal for transferring the contents of said second register means to said third register means.