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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising a
multiplicity of information-encoded polygons having at least five sides,
said polyygons arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a two-dimensional hexogonal array, said polygons
having one of at least two different optical properties.
2. An article as recited in claim 1, wherein said hexagonal array has three
axes spaced 60 degrees apart.
3. An article as recited in claim 1, wherein said polygons are
substantially in the shape of regular hexagons.
4. An article as recited in claim 1, wherein said optical properties are
the colors black, white and gray.
5. An article as recited in claim 1, wherein said polygons are irregular
polygons.
6. An article as recited in claims 1, further comprising a plurality of
Concentric Rings occupying an area on said article separate from the area
occupied by said information-encoded polygons, each Concentric Ring having
one of at least two different optical properties in alternating sequence.
7. An article as recited in claim 6, wherein said Concentric Rings are
centrally located on said article.
8. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising a
multiplicity of information-encoded triangles, said triangles arranged
with the geometric centers of adjacent triangles lying at the vertices of
a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said triangles having one of at
least two different optical properties, further comprising a plurality of
Concentric Rings occupying an area on said label separate from the area
occupied by said information-encoded triangles, each Concentric Ring
having one of at least two different optical properties in alternating
sequence.
9. An article as recited in claim 8, wherein said Concentric Rings are
centrally located.
10. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons arranged
with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a
two-dimensional hexagonal array, and said polygons having one of at least
two different optical properties.
11. An article as recited in claim 10, wherein said polygons are
substantially in the shape of regular hexagons.
12. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons arranged
with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a
predetermined twodimensional array, and said polygons having one of at
least two different optical properties and said array having at least
three equally-spaced axes.
13. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons partially
contiguously arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said
polygons having one of at least two different optical properties.
14. An optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons
noncontiguously arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a two-dimensional hexagonal array, and said
polygons having one of at least two different optical properties.
15. An article as recited in claims 12, 13 or 14, wherein said polygons are
regular polygons.
16. An article as recited in claims 12, 13 or 14, wherein said polygons are
irregular polygons.
17. An article as recited in claims 12, 13 or 14, further comprising a
plurality of Concentric Rings occupying an area on said article separate
from the area occupied by said informationencoded polygons, each
Concentric Ring having one of at least two different optical properties in
alternating sequence.
18. An article as recited in claim 17, wherein said Concentric Rings are
centrally located on said article.
19. An article as recited in claims 13, wherein said array is a hexagonal
array.
20. An article as recited in claim 19, wherein said hexagonal array has
three axes spaced 60 degrees apart.
21. A process for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image corresponding to a multiplicity of
noncontiguously-arranged polygons encoded in accordance with an encoding
process, said polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces
among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric centers of
adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional
array, and said polygons and said interstitial spaces having one of at
least two different optical properties, comprising the steps of:
(a) performing a two-dimensional clock recovery on said sensed label image
to obtain a recovered clock signal;
(b) utilizing said recovered clock signal of step (a) to locate the
geometric centers of said polygons to identify the optical properties of
said polygons; and
(c) decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said encoding
process.
22. A process for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image corresponding to a multiplicity of
partially contiguously-arranged polygons encoded in accordance with an
encoding process, said polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial
spaces among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric
centers of adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined
two-dimensional array, and said polygons and said interstitial spaces
having one of at least two different optical properties, comprising the
steps of:
(a) performing a two-dimensional clock recovery on said sensed label image
to obtain a recovered clock signal
(b) utilizing said recovered clock signal of step (a) to locate the
geometric centers of said polygons to identify the optical properties of
said polygons; and
(c) decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said encoding
process.
23. A process as recited in claims 21 or 22, wherein said two-dimensional
array is a hexagonal array.
24. A process as recited in claims 21 or 22, wherein said polygons are
regular polygons.
25. A process as recited in claims 21 or 22, wherein said polygons are
irregular polygons.
26. A process as recited in claims 21 or 22, wherein said polygons are
substantially in the shape of regular hexagons.
27. A process as recited in claim 4, wherein step (a) comprises the steps
of:
(i) performing a nonlinear mapping operation on said digital signals to
identify transitions between adjacent polygons and between polygons and
interstitial spaces having different optical properties;
(ii) performing a Fourier transformation on the nonlinear mapped digital
signals to obtain a two-dimensional representation corresponding to the
direction, spacing and intensity of optical property transitions of said
polygons;
(iii) filtering said transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals to
eliminate incorrect direction and spacing of optical property transitions
of said polygons; and
(iv) performing an inverse Fourier transformation on said filtered
transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals to obtain said recovered
clock signal.
28. A process as recited in claim 21, further comprising the step, prior to
step (a), of normalizing the sensed label image to predetermined levels
for each respective optical property of the image.
29. A process as recited in claim 21, further comprising the step, prior to
step (a) of rescaling the image to create an image with equal horizontal
and vertical magnification.
30. A process as recited in claim 27, wherein step (i) comprises creating a
two-dimensional map of the transitions between adjacent polygons and
between polygons and said interstitial spaces having different optical
properties by computing the standard deviation of the optical properties
of said image recorded by each pixel and pixels proximate each pixel of
said electro-optical sensor, wherein larger standard deviation values
correspond to transition areas at the interfaces of said polygons.
31. A process as recited in claim 30, further comprising the step of
thresholding said sensed label image at the center of each polygon located
in step (b) to determine the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
32. A process as recited in claim 31, wherein the step of determining the
thresholds of said sensed label image is performed by constructing
histograms representing the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
33. A process as recited in claims 21, 21 or 32, wherein step (b)
comprises:
(i) performing an initialization step which searches the two-dimensional
recovered clock signal obtained in step (a) within a predetermined area of
said signal, to identify the position of greatest intensity; and
(ii) performing a search continuation loop step which searches the
two-dimensional recovered clock signal over the entire recovered clock
signal starting from the position of greatest intensity in step (i) and
looping to each adjacent position of next greatest intensity, wherein each
identified position corresponds to the center of a polygon.
34. A process as recited in claim 33, wherein said image sensed by said
electro-optical sensor includes an acquisition target comprising a
plurality of Concentric Rings of different, alternating optical properties
and wherein the first step of the process is locating said acquisition
target by filtering said digital signals and correlating said digital
signals to a signal of predetermined frequency.
35. A process as recited in claim 22, wherein step (a) comprises the steps
of:
(i) performing a nonlinear mapping operation on said digital signals to
identify transitions between adjacent polygons and between polygons and
said interstitial spaces having different optical properties;
(ii) performing a Fourier transformation on the nonlinear mapped digital
signals to obtain a two-dimensional representation corresponding to the
direction, spacing and intensity of optical property transitions of said
polygons;
(iii) filtering said transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals to
eliminate incorrect direction and spacing of optical property transitions
of said polygons; and
(iv) performing an inverse Fourier transformations on said filtered
transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals to obtain said recovered
clock signal.
36. A process as recited in claim 22, further comprising the step, prior to
step (a), of normalizing the sensed label image to predetermined levels
for each respective optical property of the image.
37. A process as recited in claim 22, further comprising the step, prior to
step (a) of rescaling the image to create an image with equal horizontal
and vertical magnification.
38. A process as recited in claim 35, wherein step (i) comprises creating a
two-dimensional map of the transitions between adjacent polygons and
between polygons and said interstitial spaces having different optical
properties by computing the standard deviation of the optical properties
of said image recorded by each pixel and pixels proximate each pixel of
said electrooptical sensor, wherein larger standard deviation values
correspond to transition areas at the interfaces of said polygons.
39. A process as recited in claim 38, further comprising the step of
thresholding said sensed label image at the center of each polygon located
in step (b) to determine the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
40. A process as recited in claim 37, wherein the step of determining the
thresholds of said sensed label image is performed by constructing
histograms representing the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
41. A process as recited in claims 22, 35 or 40 wherein step (b) comprises:
(i) performing an initialization step which searches the two-dimensional
recovered clock signal obtained in step (a) within a predetermined area of
said signal, to identify the position of greatest intensity; and
(ii) performing a search continuation loop step which searches the
two-dimensional recovered clock signal over the entire recovered clock
signal starting from the position of greatest intensity in step (i) and
looping to each adjacent position of next greatest intensity, wherein each
identified position corresponds to the center of a polygon.
42. A process as recited in claim 41, wherein said image sensed by said
electro-optical sensor includes an acquisition target comprising a
plurality of Concentric Rings of different, alternating optical properties
and wherein the first step of the process is locating said acquisition
target by filtering said digital signals and correlating said digital
signals to a signal of predetermined frequency.
43. A combination optical mark sensing and decoding system, comprising:
(a) an optically readable label for storing en-coded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons having at least five sides,
said polygons arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a two-dimensional hexagonal array, and said
polygons having one of at least two different optical properties;
(b) means for illuminating a predetermined area;
(c) means for optically imaging said predetermined illuminated area through
which said label is arranged to pass and generating analog electrical
signals corresponding to the intensities of light reflected from said
polygons and striking each pixel of said imaging means;
(d) means for converting said analog electrical signals into a sequenced
digital bit stream corresponding to the intensities of light recorded by
said pixels of said imaging means;
(e) means for storing said digital bit stream for subsequent decoding of
said label; and
(f) means for decoding said digital bit stream, said decoding means
producing an electrical output representative of the encoded information.
44. An apparatus as recited in claims 43, wherein said optically readable
label further comprises a plurality of Concentric Rings, said Concentric
Rings having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two
of the optical properties of said polygons.
45. A combination optical mark sensing and decoding system, comprising:
(a) an optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons
noncontiguously-arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a two-dimensional hexagonal array, said polygons
having one of at least two different optical properties;
(b) means for illuminating a predetermined area;
(c) means for optically imaging said predetermined illuminated area through
which said label is arranged to pass and generating analog electrical
signals corresponding to the intensities of light reflected from said
polygons and striking each pixel of said imaging means;
(d) means for converting said analog electrical signals into a sequenced
digital bit stream corresponding to the intensities of light recorded by
said pixels of said imaging means;
(e) means for storing said digital bit stream for subsequent decoding of
said label; and
(f) means for decoding said digital bit stream, said decoding means
producing an electrical output representative of the encoded information.
46. An apparatus as recited in claim 45, wherein said optically readable
label further comprises a plurality of Concentric Rings, said Concentric
Rings having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two
of the optical properties of said polygons.
47. An apparatus as recited in claim 46, wherein said polygons are
substantially in the shape of a regular hexagon.
48. A combination optical mark sensing and decoding system, comprising:
(a) an optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded triangles, said triangles arranged
with the geometric centers of adjacent triangles lying at the vertices of
a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said triangles having one of at
least two different optical properties and further comprising a plurality
of Concentric Rings, said Concentric Rings having alternating optical
properties corresponding to at least two of the optical properties of said
triangles;
(b) means for illuminating a predetermined area;
(c) means for optically imaging said predetermined illuminated area through
which said label is arranged to pass and generating analog electrical
signals corresponding to the intensities of light reflected from said
triangles and striking each pixel of said imaging means;
(d) means for converting said analog electrical signals into a sequenced
digital bit stream corresponding to the intensities of light recorded by
said pixels of said imaging means;
(e) means for storing said digital bit stream for subsequent decoding of
said label; and
(f) means for decoding said digital bit stream, said decoding means
producing an electrical output representative of the encoded information.
49. A combination optical mark sensing and decoding system, comprising:
(a) an optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons
noncontiguously-arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons,
lying at the vertices of a two-dimensional hexagonal array, said polygons
having one of at least two different optical properties;
(b) means for illuminating a predetermined area;
(c) means for optically imaging said predetermined illuminated area through
which said label is arranged to pass and generating analog electrical
signals corresponding to the intensities of light reflected from said
polygons and striking each pixel of said imaging means;
(d) means for converting said analog electrical signals into a sequenced
digital bit stream corresponding to the intensities of light recorded by
said pixels of said imaging means;
(e) means for storing said digital bit stream for subsequent decoding of
said label; and
(f) means for decoding said digital bit stream, said decoding means
producing an electrical output representative of the encoded information.
50. An apparatus as recited in claim 49, wherein said optically readable
label further comprises a plurality of Concentric Rings, said Concentric
Rings having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two
of the optical properties of said polygons.
51. A combination optical mark sensing and decoding system, comprising:
(a) an optically readable label for storing encoded information comprising
a multiplicity of information-encoded polygons, said polygons partially
contiguously-arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons
lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional array, said
polygons having one of at least two different optical properties;
(b) means for illuminating a predetermined area;
(c) means for optically imaging said predetermined illuminated area through
which said label is arranged to pass and generating analog electrical
signals corresponding to the intensities of light reflected from said
polygons and striking each pixel of said imaging means;
(d) means for converting said analog electrical signals into a sequenced
digital bit stream corresponding to the intensities of light recorded by
said pixels of said imaging means;
(e) means for storing said digital bit stream for subsequent decoding of
said label; and
(f) means for decoding said digital bit stream, said decoding means
producing an electrical output representative of the encoded information.
52. An apparatus as recited in claim 51, wherein said optically readable
label further comprises a plurality of Concentric Rings, said Concentric
Rings having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two
of the optical properties of said polygons.
53. An apparatus for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image of a multiplicity of
noncontiguosly-arranged polygons encoded in accordance with an encoding
process, said polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces
among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric centers of
adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional
array, and said polygons and said interstitial spaces having one of at
least two different optical properties, comprising:
(a) means for performing a two-dimensional clock recovery on said sensed
label image to obtain a recovered clock signal;
(b) means for utilizing said recovered clock signal of step (a), to locate
the geometric centers of said polygons and identify the optical properties
of said polygons; and
(c) means for decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said
encoding process.
54. An apparatus for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image of a multiplicity of
noncontiguously-arranged polygons encoded in accordance with an encoding
process, said polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces
among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric centers of
adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional
array, and said polygons and said interstitial spaces having one of at
least two different optical properties, comprising:
(a) means for performing a nonlinear mapping operation on said digital
signals to identify transitions between adjacent polygons having different
optical properties;
(b) means for performing a Fourier transformation on the nonlinear mapped
digital signals to obtain a two-dimensional representation corresponding
to the direction, spacing and intensity of optical property transitions of
said polygons;
(c) means for filtering said transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals
to eliminate incorrect direction and spacing of optical property
transitions of said polygons;
(d) means for performing an inverse Fourier transformation of said filtered
transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals to obtain said recovered
clock signal;
(e) means for utilizing said recovered clock signal to locate the geometric
centers of said polygons and to identify the optical properties of said
polygons; and
(f) means for decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said
encoding process for said polygons.
55. An apparatus as recited in claim 54, wherein said nonlinear mapping
means comprises means for creating a two-dimensional map of the
transitions between adjacent polygons having different optical properties
by computing the standard deviation of the optical properties of said
image recorded by each pixel and pixels proximate each pixel of said
electro-optical sensor, wherein larger standard deviation values
correspond to transition areas at the interfaces of polygons.
56. An apparatus as recited in claim 54, further comprising means for
normalizing the sensed label image to predetermined optimums for each
respective optical property of the image prior to performing the nonlinear
mapping operation.
57. An apparatus as recited in claim 54, further comprising means for
rescaling the sensed label image to create an image with equal horizontal
and vertical magnification prior to performing the nonlinear mapping
operation.
58. An apparatus as recited in claim 55, further comprising means for
thresholding said sensed label image at the center of each polygon located
by means (e) to determine the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
59. An apparatus as recited in claim 58, wherein the thresholding means
further comprises means for constructing histograms representing the
respective optical properties of said polygons.
60. An apparatus as recited in claims 53, 54 or 59, wherein said searching
means comprises:
(i) initialization means to search said two-dimensional recovered clock
signal within a predetermined area of said signal, to identify the
position of greatest intensity; and
(ii) a search continuation loop means to search said two-dimensional
recovered clock signal over the entire recovered clock signal starting
from the position of greatest intensity obtained by means (i) and looping
to each adjacent position of next greatest intensity, wherein each
identified position corresponds to the center of a polygon.
61. An apparatus as recited in claim 60, wherein said image sensed by said
electrooptical sensor includes an acquisition target comprising a
plurality of Concentric Rings of different, alternating optical properties
and means for locating said acquisition target by filtering said digital
signals and correlating said digital signals to a signal of predetermined
frequency.
62. An apparatus for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image of a multiplicity of partially
contiguouslyarranged polygons encoded in accordance with an encoding
process, said polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces
among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric centers of
adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional
array, and said polygons and said interstitial spaces having one of at
least two different optical properties, comprising:
(a) means for performing a two-dimensional clock recovery on said sensed
label image to obtain a recovered clock signal;
(b) means for utilizing said recovered clock signal to locate the geometric
centers of said polygons and identify the optical properties of said
polygons; and
(c) means for decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said
encoding process.
63. An apparatus for decoding a stream of digital signals representing an
electro-optically sensed label image of a multiplicity of partially
contiguously-arranged polygons defining a multiplicity of interstitial
spaces among said polygons, said polygons arranged with the geometric
centers of adjacent polygons lying at the vertices of a predetermined
two-dimensional array, said polygons and said interstitial spaces having
one of at least two different optical properties, comprising:
(a) means for performing a nonlinear mapping operation on said digital
signals to identify transitions between adjacent polygons having different
optical properties;
(b) means for performing a Fourier transformation on the nonlinear mapped
digital signals to obtain a two-dimensional representation corresponding
to the direction, spacing and intensity of optical property transitions of
said polygons;
(c) means for filtering said transformed nonlinear mapped digital signals
to eliminate incorrect direction and spacing of optical property
transitions of said polygons;
(d) means for performing an inverse Fourier transformation of said filtered
transformed non-linear mapped digital signals to obtain said recovered
clock signal;
(e) means for utilizing said recovered clock signal to locate the geometric
centers of said polygons and identify the optical properties of said
polygons; and
(f) means for decoding said polygons by performing the inverse of said
encoding process for said polygons.
64. An apparatus as recited in claim 63, wherein said nonlinear mapping
means comprises means for creating a two-dimensional map of the
transitions between adjacent polygons having different optical properties
by computing the standard deviation of the optical properties of said
image recorded by each pixel and pixels proximate each pixel of said
electro-optical sensor, wherein larger standard deviation values
correspond to transition areas at the interfaces of polygons.
65. An apparatus as recited in claim 63, further comprising means for
normalizing the sensed label image to predetermined optimums for each
respective optical property of the image prior to said nonlinear mapping
operation.
66. An apparatus as recited in claim 63, further comprising means for
rescaling the sensed label image to create an image with equal horizontal
and vertical magnification prior to said nonlinear mapping operation.
67. An apparatus as recited in claim 64, further comprising means for
thresholding said sensed label image at the center of each polygon located
by means (e) to determine the respective optical properties of said
polygons.
68. An apparatus as recited in claim 67, wherein the thresholding means
further comprises means for constructing histograms representing the
respective optical properties of said polygons.
69. An apparatus as recited in claims 62, 64 or 68, wherein said searching
means comprises:
(i) initialization means to search said twodimensional recovered clock
signal within a predetermined area of said signal to identify the position
of greatest intensity; and
(ii) a search continuation loop means to search said two-dimensional
recovered clock signal over the entire recovered clock signal from the
position of greatest intensity obtained by means (i) and looping to each
adjacent position of next greatest intensity, wherein each identified
position corresponds to the center of a polygon.
70. An apparatus as recited in claim 69, wherein said image sensed by said
electro-optical sensor includes an acquisition target comprising a
plurality Concentric Rings of different, alternating optical properties
and means for locating said acquisition target by filtering said digital
signals and correlating said digital signals to a signal of predetermined
frequency.
71. A process for encoding information in an optically readable label
comprising a multiplicity of partially contiguously-arranged polygons
defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces among said polygons, said
polygons arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at
the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said polygons
and said interstitial spaces having one of at least two different optical
properties, comprising the steps of:
(a) assigning one of at least two optical properties to each polygon to
create a plurality of partially contiguously-arranged polygons having
different optical properties;
(b) encoding the information by ordering the polygons in a predetermined
sequence; and
(c) printing each polygon in its assigned optical property.
72. A process as recited in claim 71, further comprising the steps of:
(d) assigning a plurality of dots in a dot matrix to define the optical
property of each polygon; and
(e) printing said plurality of dots.
73. A process for encoding information in an optically readable label
comprising a multiplicity of contiguously-arranged polygons, said polygons
arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at the
vertices of a predetermined twodimensional array, said polygons having one
of at least two different optical properties, comprising the steps of:
(a) assigning one of at least two optical properties to each polygon to
create a plurality of contiguouslyarranged polygons having different
optical properties;
(b) encoding the information by ordering the polygons in a predetermined
sequence; and
(c) printing each polygon in its assigned optical property.
74. A process as recited in claim 73, further comprising the steps of:
(d) assigning a plurality of dots in a dot matrix to define the optical
property of each polygon; and
(e) printing said plurality of dots.
75. A process for encoding information in an optically readable label
comprising a multiplicity of noncontiguously-arranged polygons defining a
multiplicity of interstitial spaces among said polygons, said polygons
arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at the
vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said polygons and
said interstitial spaces having one of at least two different optical
properties, comprising the steps of:
(a) assigning one of at least two optical properties to each polygon to
create a plurality of noncontiguously-arranged polygons having different
optical properties;
(b) encoding the information by ordering the polygons in a predetermined
sequence; and
(c) printing each polygon in its assigned optical property.
76. A process as recited in claim 75, further comprising the steps of:
(d) assigning a plurality of dots in a dot matrix to define the optical
property of each polygon; and
(e) printing said plurality of dots
77. A process as recited in claims 71, 73 or 75, wherein step (b) includes
the step of mapping groups of two or more polygons in predetermined
geographical areas on said article.
78. A process as recited in claim 77 further comprising the steps of
dividing the information being encoded into at least two categories of
higher and lower priorities, and encoding said higher and lower priority
information in separate, predetermined geographical areas.
79. A process as recited in claim 78, further comprising the step of
separately applying error detection information to said higher and lower
priority information.
80. A process as recited in claims 71, 73 or 75 further comprising the step
of encoding a plurality of selected polygons with error detection
information and interposing said error-detection-encoded polygons among
said polygons.
81. A process as recited in claim 79, further comprising the step of
utilizing said error detection information to correct errors in the
information retrieved from said article.
82. A process as recited in claim 80, wherein said error detection
information may be utilized to correct errors in the information retrieved
from said article.
83. A process as recited in claims 71, 73 or 75, further comprising the
step of structuring said encoding step to optimize the number of polygons
having different optical properties.
84. A process of storing and retrieving data, comprising the steps of:
(a) printing on a label a multiplicity of partially contiguously-arranged
polygons encoded in accordance with an encoding process, said polygons
defining a multiplicity of interstitial spaces among said polygons, said
polygons arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at
the vertices of a predetermined two-dimensional array, and said polygons
and said interstitial spaces having one of at least two different optical
properties;
(b) illuminating said label;
(c) optically sensing light reflected from said polygons with an
electro-optical sensor;
(d) generating analog electrical signals corresponding to the intensities
of light reflected from said optical properties as sensed by individual
pixels of said sensor;
(e) converting said analog electrical signals into sequenced digital
signals;
(f) storing said digital signals in a storage medium connected to a
computer to form a replica of said digital signals in said storage medium;
(g) decoding said replica of said digital signals to retrieve the
characteristics of the intensities, locations and orientations of the
individual optical properties of said polygons; and
(h) generating a digital bit stream output from the computer representing
the decoded information represented by the polygons.
85. A process as recited in claim 84, wherein said label further comprises
a plurality of centrally-located Concentric Rings, said Concentric Rings
having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two of the
optical properties of said polygons.
86. A process of storing and retrieving data, comprising the steps of:
(a) printing on a label a multiplicity of noncontiguously-arranged polygons
encoded in accordance with an encoding process, said polygons defining a
multiplicity of interstitial spaces among said polygons, said polygons
arranged with the geometric centers of adjacent polygons lying at the
vertices of a two-dimensional hexagonal array, and said polygons and said
interstitial spaces having one of at least two different optical
properties;
(b) illuminating said label;
(c) optically sensing light reflected from said polygons with an
electro-optical sensor;
(d) generating analog electrical signals corresponding to the intensities
of light reflected from said optical properties as sensed by individual
pixels of said sensor;
(e) converting said analog electrical signals into sequenced digital
signals;
(f) storing said digital signals in a storage medium connected to a
computer to form a replica of said digital signals in said storage medium;
(g) decoding said replica of said digital signals to retrieve the
characteristics of the intensities, locations and orientations of the
individual optical properties of said polygons; and
(h) generating a digital bit stream output from the computer representing
the decoded information represented by the polygons.
87. A process as recited in claim 86, wherein said label further comprises
a plurality of centrally-located Concentric Rings, said Concentric Rings
having alternating optical properties corresponding to at least two of the
optical properties of said polygons.
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