Importance

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Abstract

By providing subpixel accuracy in the detection of the position of an element of a pixel data image, the invention makes possible reductions in scanner and storage resolution of the order of 65 percent or greater for two-dimensional applications. Methods use normalized gray level values to determine the extent of coverage of an image cell by individual pixels. By then applying such gray level values of a plurality of successive pixels to a preconstructed lookup table, ambiguities are resolved to determine the position of cell edges. The cell edge data can be used to determine cell position or used directly in edge-based bar code decoding techniques. Cell position data is used for construction of a virtual image of a bar code or other dataform of interest and virtual image information may then be used for purposes of decoding the bar code or other dataform. For two-dimensional applications, the gray level values of a plurality of successive pixels, as referred to, may be implemented as a sliding window of three such gray level values along successive lines in a first dimension which are applied to a lookup table, followed by repetition for successive lines in a perpendicular dimension, to derive cell edge data for both dimensions.

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First Claim