METHOD AND APPARATUS TO ENABLE THE HIGH SPEED EVALUATION

A method and apparatus to enable the high speed evaluation of the quality of a bar code indicia by processing a scan reflectance profile signal generated by a scanner unit. The scan reflectance profile signal is sampled by an analog-to-digital converter, with the sample values from the converter processed as they are produced in real-time to determine a highest positive peak sample value and a lowest negative peak sample value for each element of the bar code indicia. The lowest negative and highest positive peak sample values for each element being accessible for post-processing to determine at least one figure of merit indicative of the quality of the bar code indicia being evaluated. The samples produced by the a/d converter are processed as they are generated to filter and reduce the total collection of sample values stored and/or considered, while still providing the critical highest and lowest peak sample values for the scanned elements to enable high speed verification.