METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY SEGMENTING A BAR CODE

A method and apparatus are disclosed for reading a two-dimensional bar code having bars located nominally at predetermined pitch increments. The invention provides a method and apparatus for reading a two-dimensional bar code and dynamically segmenting it into individual bars on a real time basis, as it is read. The segmentation is done on a bar-to-bar basis, and may be adjusted for an individual bar as necessary. The method and apparatus locate the bar data, scan it, and create a profile vector having elements based upon the amount of image data in each scan. The vector is compared to a predetermined stored set of vector elements representing the likelihood that each scan line of image data contains bar image data. Those scan lines of image data corresponding to a bar image are sent to recognition logic and those scan lines of image data corresponding to a space are disregarded.