METHOD AND APPARATUS SUPPORTING HIGH SPEED EVALUATION OF BAR CODE INDICIA

A method and apparatus supporting 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 may be sampled by an analog-to-digital converter, wherein the sample values produced are processed in real-time to determine all occurring peak sample values, including all positive peak sample values and all negative peak sample values, for each element of the bar code indicia. The peak sample values determined, including at least one peak value for each element, are made accessible for post-processing to determine appropriate figures 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 samples values stored, while still providing the critical values for the scanned elements to support high speed verification of the quality of bar code indicia.