Waveform recognition with application to bar codes

The authors propose that the location and area under a peak can be the features of choice for a waveform recognition system. If the waveform is a result of the convolution of a Gaussian shape point spread function with a bi-level image, the image can be reconstructed by considering the areas under the waveform peaks. This is demonstrated by using a bar code as the bi-level image and the convolution is performed by scanning the bar code with a commercial bar code laser beam scanner. This waveform recognition system shows improved performance over current bar code readers that use hardware edge detectors to reconstruct the bi-level image.<>