Optical bar coding scanning apparatus

Claim 2

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes of said sectors radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to the longitudinal axes of contigous sectors, and electronic circuitry additively connecting said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels directly proportional to the light received.

Claim 3

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and wherein said multiple of sectors extends over a complete circle about said center, thereby obviating any necessity for orienting said device with respect to the direction of said bars.

Claim 4

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and incorporating a photosensitive section insulated from said sectors and interposed therebetween at said center, and connections from said section to said electronic circuitry for increasing the effective area of said couples.

Claim 5

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 3 and wherein said section is circular in configuration.

Claim 6

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and wherein said sectors have substantially triangular configuration.

Claim 7

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 5 and wherein said sectors have a substantially rectangular configuration extending outwardly from said triangular configuration.

Claim 8

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and incorporating an electronic summing circuit having input terminals and output terminals, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said input terminals of said summing circuit, and connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit.

Claim 9

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 7 and wherein said selector switching circuit comprises a multiple of field effect transistor devices having source and drain electrodes connected as switch terminals and gating electrodes.

Claim 10

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 8 and incorporating a binary counting circuit having an input to which a cycling pulse wave is applied and a plurality of output terminals, and a one-out-of-n decoding circuit having input terminals individually connected to said counting circuit output terminals and having output terminals individually connected to the gating electrodes of said multiple of field effect transistors.

Claim 11

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 7 and incorporating a mark detector circuit having positive and negative peak storing circuits coupled to said sector couples, and comparator circuits individually coupled to said sector couples and to one of said peak storing circuits and having output terminals at which levels are presented indicating over or under the level of said one peak storing circuit.

Claim 12

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors. an electronic summing circuit having input terminals and output terminals, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said input terminals of said summing circuit, and connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a positive peak following circuit having input and output terminals, a negative peak following circuit having input and output terminals, electric connections from said common terminals of said multiplex switching circuit to said input terminals of said peak following circuits, another electronic summing circuit having input terminals individually connected to the output terminals of said peak following circuits and having output terminals, a slope detecting circuit having input terminals connected to the output terminals of said other summing circuit and having positive going and negative going output terminals, a bilateral reciproconductive circuit having set and reset terminals connected to said positive going and said negative going output terminals respectively of said slope detecting circuit and having a pair of output terminals, another slope detecting circuit having input terminals connected to said photosensitive section and having positive going and negative going output terminals, another reciproconductive circuit having set, reset terminals connected to said positive going and said negative going output terminals respectively of said other slope detecting circuit and having a pair of output terminals, and an AND gating circuit having two input terminals connected individually to like output terminals of said reciproconductive circuits and having output terminals.

Claim 13

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors. an electronic summing circuit having input terminals and output terminals, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said input terminals of said summing circuit, and connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a positive peak following circuit having input and output terminals, a negative peak following circuit having input and output terminals, electric connections from said common terminals of said multiplex switching circuit to said input terminals of said peak following circuits, another electronic summing circuit having input terminals individually connected to the output terminals of said peak following circuits and having output terminals, a slope detecting circuit having input terminals connected to the output terminals of said other summing circuit and having positive going and negative going output terminals, a bilateral reciproconductive circuit having set and reset terminals connected to said positive going and said negative going output terminals respectively of said slope detecting circuit and having a pair of output terminals, another slope detecting circuit having input terminals connected to said photosensitive section and having positive going and negative going output terminals, another reciproconductive circuit having set, reset terminals connected to said positive going and said negative going output terminals respectively of said other slope detecting circuit and having a pair of output terminals, and an AND gating circuit having two input terminals connected individually to like output terminals of said reciproconductive circuits and having output terminals.

Claim 14

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 11 and wherein said slope detecting circuits have a substantial hysteresis characteristic, thereby providing immunity to noise.

Claim 15

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received, peak following circuitry comprising an OR gating circuit comprising another resistance element and a multiple of unilateral impedance devices having one terminal connected in common to said resistance element and the other terminals individually connected to said sector couples, another OR gating circuit comprising another resistance element and a like multiple of like unilateral impedance devices having one terminal of polarity opposite to that of the first said unilateral impedance devices connected in common to said other resistance element and the other terminals individually connected to said sector couples, a summing circuit having a plurality of input terminals individually connected to said common connections and having output terminals at which an indication of light level received by said photosensitive device is delivered.

Claim 16

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received, peak following circuitry comprising an OR gating circuit comprising another resistance element and a multiple of unilateral impedance devices having one terminal connected in common to said resistance element and the other terminals individually connected to said sector couples, another OR gating circuit comprising another resistance element and a like multiple of like unilateral impedance devices having one terminal of polarity opposite to that of the first said unilateral impedance devices connected in common to said other resistance element and the other terminals individually connected to said sector couples, a summing circuit having a plurality of input terminals individually connected to said common connections and having output terminals at which an indication of light level received by said photosensitive device is delivered.

Claim 17

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 13 and incorporating a photosensitive section interposed between and insulated from said sectors, and a connection from said section to said summing circuit at another input terminal.

Claim 18

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 14 and incorporating a multiple of amplifying circuits interposed individually between each sector couple and the associated unilateral impedance device.

Claim 19

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 14 and incorporating another amplifying circuit between said photosensitive section and said summing circuit.

Claim 20

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and incorporating automatic sector couple selection circuitry comprising, a multiple of switching transistors each having gating electrodes and a pair of switch contact electrodes, one switch electrode of each of said transistors being connected in common to output terminals and the other switch electrodes being connected individually to said sector couples, a multiple of selecting transistors each having base, collector and emitter electrodes, circuitry interconnecting said collectoR electrodes individually to said gating electrodes of said switching transistors, peak clamping circuits individually coupled to said sector couples and having output terminals, peak storing circuits individually connected between said output terminals of said clamping circuits and the base electrode of the selecting transistor associated with the switching transistor connected to the same sector couple, and energizing circuitry connected in common to said emitter electrodes, whereby that selecting transistor having the highest light value is rendered conducting for closing the switch contact electrodes of the associated switching transistor.

Claim 21

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 17 and wherein said interconnecting circuitry is electric level shifting circuitry.

Claim 22

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 17 and wherein capacitors are interposed in the coupling of said sector couples and said clamping circuits.

Claim 23

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and incorporating a mark detector circuit comprising a pair of unilateral impedance devices having opposite electrodes connected in common to said sector couples, a pair of capacitors connected in common to a point of reference potential and connected individually to the other electrodes of said unilateral impedance devices, a pair of isolating circuits having input terminals connected individually to said other electrodes of said unilateral impedance devices and having output terminals, a pair of resistance components connected in series to said output terminals of said isolating circuits, and a differential amplifying circuit having one input terminal connected to the junction between said resistance components, another input terminal connected to said common connected electrodes of said unilateral impedance devices, and having output terminals.

Claim 24

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 20 and wherein said isolating circuits are amplifying circuits.

Claim 25

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 20 and wherein said resistance components are of substantially equal resistance value.

Claim 26

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 3 and incorporating an electronic summing circuit having two input terminals and output terminals, connections between one of said input terminals and said center section, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said other input terminal of said summing circuit, and connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit.

Claim 27

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising an optical system comprising a source of light arranged for illuminating at least a part of said document, a photosensitive device arranged for receiving at least a portion of said light reflected from said document being scanned, and an elongated optical aperture stop arranged in the optical path between the ends thereof defined by said light source and said photosensitive device and defining an elongated pupil at said document, said photoresponsive device comprising a sectored light wavelength responsive device of which the configuration of diametrically colinear sectors thereof constitutes said optical aperture stop, and electric circuitry coupled to said photoresponsive device and arranged for connecting at least one couple of colinear sectors effectively for phasing said aperture stop in substantial alignment with said bars for sensing the light reflected from said bars and background of said document of said contrasting characteristics.

Claim 28

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising an optical system comprising a source of light arranged for illuminating at least a part of said document, a photosensitive device arranged for receiving at least a portion of said light reflected from said document being scanned, and an elongated optical aperture stop arranged in the optical path between the ends thereof defined by said light source and said photosensitive device and defining an elongated pupil at said document, said photoresponsive device comprising a sectored light wavelength responsive device of which the configuration of diametrically colinear sectors thereof constitutes said optical aperture stop, and electric circuitry coupled to said photoresponsive device and arranged for connecting at least one couple of colinear sectors effectively for phasing said aperture stop in substantial alignment with said bars for sensing the light reflected from said bars and background of said document of said contrasting characteristics.

Claim 29

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in Claim 23 and wherein said electric circuitry is arranged for imparting effective rotation of said pupil about the center thereof at said document by connecting the couples of said photo device sequentially.

Claim 30

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received, an electronic summing circuit having input terminals and output terminals, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said input terminals of said summing circuit, connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a mark detector circuit having positive and negative peak storing circuits coupled to said sector couples, comparator circuits individually coupled to said sector couples and to one of said peak storing circuits and having output terminals at which levels are presented indicating over or under the level of said one peak storing circuit, an OR gating circuit having input circuitry coupled to all of said comparator circuits and having an output lead, a transistor having a base electrode connected to said output lead, a collector electrode connected in circuit with a load element and an emitter electrode, a current source transistor having a collector electrode connected to said base electrode of the first said transistor, a base electrode connected to the emitter electrode of said first transistor, and having an emitter electrode connected to a current sink element, and circuitry for applying energizing potentials to said transistors for maintaining said first transistor non-conducting with less than two of said comparators at levels under or over said peak storing circuit level.

Claim 31

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received, an electronic summing circuit having input terminals and output terminals, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said input terminals of said summing circuit, connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a mark detector circuit having positive and negative peak storing circuits coupled to said sector couples, comparator circuits individually coupled to said sector couples and to one of said peak storing circuits and having output terminals at which levels are presented indicating over or under the level of said one peak storing circuit, an OR gating circuit having input circuitry coupled to all of said comparator circuits and having an output lead, a transistor having a base electrode connected to said output lead, a collector electrode connected in circuit with a load element and an emitter electrode, a current source transistor having a collector electrode connected to said base electrode of the first said transistor, a base electrode connected to the emitter electrode of said first transistor, and having an emitter electrode connected to a current sink element, and circuitry for applying energizing potentials to said transistors for maintaining said first transistor non-conducting with less than two of said comparators at levels under or over said peak storing circuit level.

Claim 32

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 25 and wherein said comparator circuits are differential amplyfying circuits.

Claim 33

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received. A photosensitive section insulated from said sectors and interposed therebetween at said center, connections from said section to said electronic circuitry for increasing the effective area of said couples, an electronic summing circuit having two input terminals and ouput terminals, connections between one of said input terminals and said center section, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said other input terminal of said summing circuit, connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a pair of level triggering bistatic output level electronic circuits having input terminals coupled individually to the output terminal of said electronic summing circuit and to said photosensitive section and having pairs of output terminals at which levels appear corresponding to determinations of light or dark levels, and an OR gating circuit having input terminals connected individually to like terminals of said bistatic output level circuits and having output terminals.

Claim 34

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device arranged for receiving light from said document being scanned, said photosensitive device having a configuration of a multiple of photosensitive sectors insulated from each other and having longitudinal axes radiating outwardly from the center of said device at relatively small angles with respect to contiguous sectors, electronic circuitry connected to said sectors in couples comprising diametrically colinear sectors for generating electric levels proportional to the light received. A photosensitive section insulated from said sectors and interposed therebetween at said center, connections from said section to said electronic circuitry for increasing the effective area of said couples, an electronic summing circuit having two input terminals and ouput terminals, connections between one of said input terminals and said center section, a multiplex selector switching circuit having a multiple of separate circuit terminals and a common terminal connected to said other input terminal of said summing circuit, connections individual to said couples of sectors and said separate terminals of said switching circuit, a pair of level triggering bistatic output level electronic circuits having input terminals coupled individually to the output terminal of said electronic summing circuit and to said photosensitive section and having pairs of output terminals at which levels appear corresponding to determinations of light or dark levels, and an OR gating circuit having input terminals connected individually to like terminals of said bistatic output level circuits and having output terminals.

Claim 35

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device having an even number of separate photosensitive sectors radiating from a central point section and connected in a multiple of diametrically collinear sector-couples, a multiplex switching circuit having taps individually connected to said sector-couples and output terminals a summing circuit having input terminals connected to said output terminals of said multiplex switching circuit and having output terminals, a mark-space detecting circuit having at least one component charge storage circuit connected to the output terminals of said summing circuit and having output terminals at which signal levels indicative of mark and space are delivered, a comparing voltage generating circuit connected to said component charge storage circuit and having output terminals at which a level indicative of the output of said one sector-couple is presented, a multiple of comparator circuits individually connected to said sector-couples and connected in common to said output terminals of said comparing voltage generating circuit and having output terminals at which are delivered one of two levels indicative of that sector-couple associated with the comparator circuit under consideration, being in better alignment with said bars on said document than in said one sector couple and electronic circuitry connected to said comparator circuits and to said multiplex switching circuit for stepping the latter to select that sector-couple having a response greater than that of said one sector-couple.

Claim 36

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device having an even number of separate photosensitive sectors radiating from a central point section and connected in a multiple of diametrically collinear sector-couples, a multiplex switching circuit having taps individually connected to said sector-couples and output terminals a summing circuit having input terminals connected to said output terminals of said multiplex switching circuit and having output terminals, a mark-space detecting circuit having at least one component charge storage circuit connected to the output terminals of said summing circuit and having output terminals at which signal levels indicative of mark and space are delivered, a comparing voltage generating circuit connected to said component charge storage circuit and having output terminals at which a level indicative of the output of said one sector-couple is presented, a multiple of comparator circuits individually connected to said sector-couples and connected in common to said output terminals of said comparing voltage generating circuit and having output terminals at which are delivered one of two levels indicative of that sector-couple associated with the comparator circuit under consideration, being in better alignment with said bars on said document than in said one sector couple and electronic circuitry connected to said comparator circuits and to said multiplex switching circuit for stepping the latter to select that sector-couple having a response greater than that of said one sector-couple.

Claim 37

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 29 and incorporating circuitry interposed in the input circuitry of said summing circuit and said comparing voltage generating circuitry for introducing an off-set voltage.

Claim 38

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 29 and wherein said electronic circuitry comprises a detector circuit connected to the output terminals of said comparator circuits for determining that no more than one comparator circuit is at the level indicating better alignment with said bars on said document of the associated sector-couple than that of said one sector-couple.

Claim 39

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 31 and wherein said detector circuit comprises an OR gating circuit having one input line to each of said comparator circuits and an output line, an AND gating circuit having an input line connected to the output line of said OR gating circuit, at least one other input line and an output terminal, and a plurality detector circuit having one input line to each of said comparator circuits and an output line connected to said other input line of said AND gating circuit, said plurality detector circuit being arranged for disabling said AND gating circuit on the presence of two comparator circuits having outputs at said one level.

Claim 40

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 32 and wherein said electronic circuitry further comprises address encoding circuitry having input lines individually connected to the output terminals of said comparator circuits and having output terminals, a select address register having input terminals and output terminals, an address decoding circuit connected to the output terminals of said register and to said multiplex switching circuit, an address loading gating circuit interconnecting the output terminals of said address encoding circuit and the input terminals of said register and having enabling terminals coupled to said output line of said AND gating circuit.

Claim 41

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 33 and incorporating a loading monostable reciproconductive circuit interposed between said detector circuit and said address loading gating circuit.

Claim 42

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 34 and incorporating a bilateral reciproconductive circuit having a set terminal connected to the operating terminal of said monostable circuit, a reset terminal, a set state terminal and an idling state terminal connected to a further input line to said AND gating circuit.

Claim 43

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 35 and incorporating a reset reciproconductive circuit connected between the idling terminal of said loading monostable circuit and said reset terminal of said bilateral circuit.

Claim 44

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 29 and incorporating sample-and-hold circuitry interposed between said summing circuit and said mark detecting circuit and having a hold control line connected to the set state terminal of said bilateral circuit for obviating the effect of any transient voltages during address loading and switching.

Claim 45

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 36 and wherein said electronic circuitry further comprises a pair of data selector circuits each having input lines individually connected to said output terminals of said comparator circuits in given order with like terminals staggered by a factor of two terminals, address input lines connected to said select address register, and having output terminals internally connected in accordance with the address on said address input lines individually to those comparators one address on either side of that sector-couple under consideration, said select address register further having individual address lines for incrementing by one address and for decrementing by one address, and a slope detecting circuit coupled to said summing circuit and having output terminals gating circuitry having selecting input lines individually connected to the output terminals of said data selector circuits, output lines connected individually to the individual address lines of said address select register, and gating lines coupled to said mark-space detecting circuit and to said slope detecting circuit for strobing said data selector circuits and selecting an adjacent sector-couple in the event that such sector-couple is indicated to be more nearly aligned with the marks on said document than said sector-couple under consideration.

Claim 46

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 36 and incorporating detecting circuitry in said electronic circuitry coupled to said summing circuit and to said select address register for switching said multiplex switching circuit on the rate-of-rise of the output of said summing circuit.

Claim 47

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device having a central photosensitive section and an even number of separate photosensitive sectors radiating from said central section and connected in a multiple of diametrically collinear sector-couples, a multiplex switching circuit having taps individually connected to said sector-couples and having switching terminals and output terminals a summing circuit having input terminals connected to said output terminals of said multiplex switching circuit and to said central photosensitive section and having output terminals, a sample-and-hold circuit connected to the output terminals of saiD summing circuit and a mark-space detecting circuit having at least one component charge storage circuit connected to said sample-and-hold circuit and having output terminals at which signal levels indicative of mark and space are delivered, a slope detecting circuit connected to the input of said mark-space detecting circuit and having output terminals, a resetting reciproconductive circuit connected to said slope detecting circuit and to said component charge storing circuit in said mark-space detecting circuit for discharging the charge, a comparing circuit having one input line connected to said summing circuit and another input line connected to said sample-and-hold circuit for comparing the rate-of-rise of the waveforms thereat and having output terminals, a multiplex address counter, a timing wave generator connected to said counter for stepping the same, a quadruplex timing wave divider connected to said counter for dividing each step of the latter, a multiplex address decoder connected to said counter, a select address gating circuit connected to said counter, a select address register connected to said select address gating circuit and having address lines arranged for incrementing and decrementing addresses, an address comparing circuit connected to said multiplex address counter and to said multiplex switching circuit and having a compare output line, gating circuitry having a selecting input line connected to the address compare line of said address comparing circuit, output lines connected individually to the individual address lines of said address select register, and gating lines coupled to said mark-space detecting circuit and to said slope detecting circuit for serially strobing said sector-couples and selecting that sector-couple indicated to be most nearly aligned with the marks on said document.

Claim 48

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus for recovering information encoded in a series of elongated parallel bars laid down on a document in contrasting characteristic to that of said document, comprising a photosensitive device having a central photosensitive section and an even number of separate photosensitive sectors radiating from said central section and connected in a multiple of diametrically collinear sector-couples, a multiplex switching circuit having taps individually connected to said sector-couples and having switching terminals and output terminals a summing circuit having input terminals connected to said output terminals of said multiplex switching circuit and to said central photosensitive section and having output terminals, a sample-and-hold circuit connected to the output terminals of saiD summing circuit and a mark-space detecting circuit having at least one component charge storage circuit connected to said sample-and-hold circuit and having output terminals at which signal levels indicative of mark and space are delivered, a slope detecting circuit connected to the input of said mark-space detecting circuit and having output terminals, a resetting reciproconductive circuit connected to said slope detecting circuit and to said component charge storing circuit in said mark-space detecting circuit for discharging the charge, a comparing circuit having one input line connected to said summing circuit and another input line connected to said sample-and-hold circuit for comparing the rate-of-rise of the waveforms thereat and having output terminals, a multiplex address counter, a timing wave generator connected to said counter for stepping the same, a quadruplex timing wave divider connected to said counter for dividing each step of the latter, a multiplex address decoder connected to said counter, a select address gating circuit connected to said counter, a select address register connected to said select address gating circuit and having address lines arranged for incrementing and decrementing addresses, an address comparing circuit connected to said multiplex address counter and to said multiplex switching circuit and having a compare output line, gating circuitry having a selecting input line connected to the address compare line of said address comparing circuit, output lines connected individually to the individual address lines of said address select register, and gating lines coupled to said mark-space detecting circuit and to said slope detecting circuit for serially strobing said sector-couples and selecting that sector-couple indicated to be most nearly aligned with the marks on said document.

Claim 49

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 1 and wherein said electronic circuitry comprises a sector-coupled alignment detector circuit connected to all sector-couples, and a sector-couple selecting switch circuit connected to all sector-couples and to said sector-couple alignment circuit and having output terminals, said switch circuit being arranged for sequentially connecting said sector-couples to said detector circuit for determining the best aligned sector-couple and for connecting that sector-couple to said output terminals in response to said detector circuit.

Claim 50

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 39 and wherein said detecting circuitry includes peak predicting circuitry comprising a binary up-down counting circuit having count-up input terminals, count-down input terminals, reset terminals, and at least one output terminal at the high order bit stage, a source of electric timing pulses, a gating circuit having timing pulse terminals connected to said source of timing pulses, enabling terminals, and counting direction terminals, a direction latching reciproconductive circuit having output terminals connected individually to said counting direction terminals of said counting circuit, set terminals and reset terminals for changing count direction, an enabling bilateral reciproconductive circuit having output terminals connected to said enabling terminals of said gating circuit, set terminals connected to the set terminals of said direction latching circuit and to the resetting terminals of said binary counting circuit, and reset terminals connected to said one output terminal of said binary counting circuit for disabling the counting, means for applying a timing pulse to said set terminals of said reciproconductive circuits for initiating a count-up operation, and means for applying mark signal to said reset terminals of said latching circuit for reversing the counting in said counting circuit at a change in said mark signal signifying substantially the half-time period prior to thE predicted peak.

Claim 51

Optical bar coding scanning apparatus as defined in claim 29 and wherein said electronic circuitry comprises a priority encoding circuit having input terminals individually connected to the output terminals of said comparator circuits, address line terminals, and an ''''any selected'''' output terminal, said priority encoding circuit being arranged to present voltages on said address line terminals indicative of the address of the highest order comparator circuit indicating greater output of a sector-couple than that of said selected sector-couple and a voltage of said ''''any selected'''' output terminal indicative of at least one such comparator circuit, a select address register having input terminals and output terminals, an address decoding circuit connected to the output terminals of said register and to said multiplex switching circuit, an address loading gating circuit interconnecting the address line terminals of said priority encoding circuit and the input terminals of said register and having enabling terminals coupled to said ''''any selected'''' output terminal, thereby to step said circuitry until the one sector-couple of highest output is selected.