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Abstract

In a method and apparatus for locating the acquisition target of a two-dimensional symbol in a pixel image, the image is convolved with a double template. The position with the greatest correlation coefficient between the double template and the image is selected as the location of the acquisition target. The double template comprises two identical parallel one-dimensional single templates corresponding to two lines that cross the symmetrical acquisition target at equal distances from the center of the acquisition target. Using a double template instead of only a single template reduces the possibility of finding false positive locations of the acquisition target. Since the double template comprises two identical halves, the image is preferably convolved with only one half of the double template and the double-template correlation coefficients are then generated from these intermediate single-template correlation results. In a preferred embodiment, a binary pixel image is run-length encoded prior to being convolved with a run-length-encoded template.

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