Sensing apparatus

Claim 2

Sensing apparatus comprising scanning means for producing electrical digit signals corresponding to code marks in a code on an article as the code is scanned along a path corresponding to the disposition of said code marks, said code defining a series of code mark receiving locations disposed in a row, each said code mark receiving location defining a digit space having a plurality of digit value positions within said digit space in which a code mark can be placed, and one and only one code mark detectable by said sensing apparatus and each said digit space, the position of each said code mark in its digit space defining the value of the digit in that digit space, digit recording circuitry, error check circuitry, circuitry for generating a digit space signal defining a digit space interval of fixed time duration, circuitry for generating a plurality of code-sampling gate signals during the duration of each said digit space interval, said code-sampling gate signals being generated at a series of predetermined points in each said digit space interval, each said point corresponding to a particular digit value position, and steering circuitry for channelling an electrical digit signal gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a first portion of said digit space interval to said digit recording circuitry and for channelling an electrical digit signal gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a second portion of said digit space interval to said error check circuitry.

Claim 3

The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which a binary code is used and wherein said code-sampling gate generation means circuitry generates a first gate signal in the lefthand portion of each digit space and a second gate signal in the righthand portion of each digit space, and said output producing means produces a first output representing one binary digit when said first gate signal is coincident with the production by said scanning means of an electrical signal corresponding to a code mark, and a second output representing the other binary digit when said second gate signal is coincident with the production by said scanning means of an electrical signal corresponding to a code mark.

Claim 4

The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said circuitry for generating said code-sampling gate signal is responsive to said digit space signal generating circuitry.

Claim 5

The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said digit space signal generating circuitry includes means responsive to electrical signals corresponding to two consecutive control marks on said article for adjusting the valuE of said digit space signal.

Claim 6

The apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said digit space signal generating circuitry includes a first timer and said code-sampling gate generating circuitry includes a second timer, and said logic includes logic responsive to said first and second timers to generate a first gate signal in a first half of each digit space and a second gate signal in the second half of each digit space and a second timer reset signal at the end of each digit space.

Claim 7

An article sortation system for sorting articles as a function of a code on each article, each code comprising a series of elongated code marks disposed in a single row perpendicular to the lengths of said code marks, said code defining a series of digit spaces and each digit space defining a plurality of digit value positions, comprising digit recording circuitry, error check circuitry, a scanner including a photosensor for producing an electrical scanner signal as a function of each sensed code mark in said code on an article as the article is moved past said photosensor, scanner signal conditioning circuitry responsive to said electrical scanner signal for producing a series of output code signals, code signal reading circuitry responsive to said output code signals comprising circuitry for generating a digit space signal defining a digit space interval of fixed time duration, circuitry for generating a plurality of code-sampling gate signals during the time duration of each digit space interval, a code-sampling gate signal being generated corresponding to each digit value position in each digit space, means for producing a control output in response to each output code signal produced by said conditioning circuitry coincident with a code-sampling gate signal, steering circuitry for channelling a control output gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a first portion of said digit space interval to said digit recording circuitry and for channelling a control output gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a second portion of said digit space interval to said error check circuitry, and control circuitry responsive to said digit recording circuitry for providing a sortation control signal.

Claim 8

An article sortation system for sorting articles as a function of a code on each article, each code comprising a series of elongated code marks disposed in a single row perpendicular to the lengths of said code marks, said code defining a series of digit spaces and each digit space defining a plurality of digit value positions, comprising digit recording circuitry, error check circuitry, a scanner including a photosensor for producing an electrical scanner signal as a function of each sensed code mark in said code on an article as the article is moved past said photosensor, scanner signal conditioning circuitry responsive to said electrical scanner signal for producing a series of output code signals, code signal reading circuitry responsive to said output code signals comprising circuitry for generating a digit space signal defining a digit space interval of fixed time duration, circuitry for generating a plurality of code-sampling gate signals during the time duration of each digit space interval, a code-sampling gate signal being generated corresponding to each digit value position in each digit space, means for producing a control output in response to each output code signal produced by said conditioning circuitry coincident with a code-sampling gate signal, steering circuitry for channelling a control output gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a first portion of said digit space interval to said digit recording circuitry and for channelling a control output gated by a code-sampling gate signal during a second portion of said digit space interval to said error check circuitry, and control circuitry responsive to said digit recording circuitry for providing a sortation control signal.

Claim 9

The system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said scanner signal conditioning circuitry includes means to generate a reference signal as a function of said electrical scanner signals, and comparator logic for producing said output code signal as a function of an electrical scanner signal and said reference signal.

Claim 10

The system as claimed in claim 7 wherein said scanner further includes control sensor means and said scanner signal conditioning circuitry includes logic responsive to output signals of said control sensor means for controlling the initiation and termination of said series of output code signals.

Claim 11

The system as claimed in claim 6 wherein said code sampling gate signal generating circuitry includes timer means for repetitively generating a series of gate signals as a function of said digit space signal.

Claim 12

The system as claimed in claim 6 and further including means to modify said digit space signal as a function of the speed at which the article is moved past said scanner for code sensing purposes.

Claim 13

The system as claimed in claim 9 wherein said digit space signal generating circuitry and said timer means each includes a ramp generator.

Claim 14

The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein said scanner further includes control sensor means and said scanner signal conditioning circuitry includes means to generate a reference signal as a function of said electrical scanner signals, comparator logic for producing said output code signal as a function of an electrical scanner signal and said reference signal, and logic responsive to output signals of said control sensor means for controlling the initiation and termination of said series of output code signals.

Claim 15

The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein said code-sampling gate generaTion circuitry generates a first gate signal in the lefthand portion of each digit space and a second gate signal in the righthand portion of each digit space, and said control output producing means produces a first control output when said first gate signal is coincident with an output code signal, and a second control output when said second gate signal is coincident with an output code signal.

Claim 16

The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 and further including digit space signal modifying means responsive to two consecutive output code signals for adjusting the value of said digit space signal.