DECODING METHOD FOR MULTICHARACTER LABELS

摘要

In decoding a UPC-type label, a partial decode and majority vote technique is employed to select final values for ambiguous characters (i.e., 1-7, 2-8) appearing in the label. During the partial decode phase, character-identifying values are established for every character but a common value is assigned to any ambiguous character in a given subset of such characters. An ambiguity-resolving value is additionally assigned to an ambiguous character each time it appears. Through algebraic summation of the ambiguity-resolving values for each character position occupied by an ambiguous character, the ambiguous character which appears a majority of times in that position is finally selected.