Processing system for compressing data to reduce the number of digits expressed by a micro-bar code

Claim 1

A micro-bar code data processing system comprising: means for receiving an original data to be contained in a micro-bar code; means for reducing a number of digits of said original data by compressing the received original data; means for converting the compressed data into an encoded micro-bar code data; means for outputting the encoded micro-bar code data; means for receiving an encoded data contained in said micro-bar code; means for converting said received encoded data into a compressed data; means for restoring the original data from said compressed data by decompression of the compressed data; and; means for outputting the restored original data; wherein said means for reducing the number of digits of the data comprises: means for setting maximum values A1, A2, A2, . . . An-1, An, wherein A1, A2, A3, . . . An-1, An are positive integers, for respective information items with respect to a plurality of information items are expressed as al, a2, a3, . . . , an-1, an wherein a1, a2, a3 . . . , an-1 are integers not less than zero; means for setting an operation parameter m at one of 0 and 1; means for calculating s1, s2, s3, . . . sn-1, sn respectively defined by: ##EQU3## means for deriving the compressed data Ts through Ts=s1+s2+s3+ . . . +sn-1+sn; and said means for restoring the original data from said compressed data comprises: means for setting maximum values A1, A2, A3, . . . An-1, An, wherein A1, A2, A3 . . . An-1, An are positive integers, for respective information items with respect to a sequentially arranged plurality of information items are express as al, a2, a3, . . . , an-1, an wherein al, a2, a3, . . . , an-1, an are integers not less than zero, and the maximum values A1, A2, A3, . . . An-1, An are known values; means for reading in the compressed data Ts derived through compression of said original data consisting of a plurality of information items; means for setting an operation parameter m at one of 0 or 1 depending upon the operation parameter m used in a process for deriving said compressed data; and means for calculating original values of respective information items in such a manner that processes wherein, by dividing said compressed data Ts with the maximum value An of the lowermost information item to obtain a quotient Ts1 and a remainder an', an original data value of the lowermost information item an is derived by an=an'+m, by dividing the quotient Ts1 with the maximum value An-1 of the lower information item to obtain a quotient Ts2 and a remainder an-1', an original data value of the next lower information item an-1 is derived by an-1=an-1'+m, are repeated for upper information items in order so that when the quotient becomes zero, the remainder at that time is taken as a1' to obtain an original data value of the uppermost information item by a1=a1'+m.