Scanner agnostic symbol print quality tool
The present disclosure relates to signal encoding and decoding, such as digital watermarking. One aspect of the technology relates a method of evaluating print quality of a test digital watermarking patch. The method includes: determining a reading window representing a distance in inches or centimeters from the test digital watermark patch and a camera utilized to collect a set of image frames depicting the test digital watermark patch, the test digital watermark patch comprising a first plural-bit payload, the reading window comprising a close edge and a far edge, the close edge representing a closest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded, and the far edge representing a farthest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded; determining a size ratio representing a size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the close edge and a size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the far edge; and utilizing the size ratio to evaluate the print quality of the test digital watermarking patch. Other aspects are described as well.
1. A method comprising:
collecting, for first time period, a first set of image frames depicting an exemplary digital watermark patch, the exemplary digital watermark patch including a first plural-bit payload;
analyzing with a digital watermark decoder each image frame within the first set of image frames to decode the first plural-bit payload, and tracking a number of successful decodes of the first plural-bit payload;
collecting, for the first time period, a second set of image frames depicting a test digital watermark patch, the test digital watermark patch including a second plural-bit payload;
analyzing with the digital watermark decoder each image frame within the second set of image frames to decode the second plural-bit payload, and tracking a number of successful decodes of the second plural-bit payload;
generating a decode ratio representing the number of successful decodes of the second plural-bit payload over the number of successful decodes of the first plural-bit payload;
determining a reading window representing a distance in inches or centimeters from the test digital watermark patch and a camera utilized to collect the second set of image frames, the reading window comprising a close edge and a far edge;
determining a size ratio between the test digital watermark patch at the close edge and at the far edge; and
utilizing both the decode ratio and the size ratio to evaluate the test digital watermarking patch.
2. The method of claim 1 in which the decode ratio comprises 50%<decode ratio<100%, and the size ratio comprises 2.0<size ratio<4.0.
3. The method of claim 1 in which the size ratio comprises a ratio representing a size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the close edge and the size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the far edge.
4. A method of evaluating print quality of a test digital watermark patch comprising:
determining a reading window representing a distance in inches or centimeters from the test digital watermark patch and a camera utilized to collect a set of image frames depicting the test digital watermark patch, the test digital watermark patch comprising a first plural-bit payload, the reading window comprising a close edge and a far edge, the close edge representing a closest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded, and the far edge representing a farthest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded;
determining a size ratio representing a size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the close edge and the size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the far edge; and
utilizing the size ratio to evaluate the print quality of the test digital watermark patch.
5. The method of claim 4 in which the size ratio comprises 2.0<size ratio<4.0, and the print quality is acceptable.
6. The method of claim 4 in which the size ratio comprises 2.0>size ratio, and the print quality is unacceptable.
7. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more multi-core processors, cause said one or more multi-core processors to perform the following acts:
determining a reading window representing a distance in inches or centimeters from a test digital watermark patch and a camera utilized to collect a set of image frames depicting the test digital watermark patch, the test digital watermark patch comprising a first plural-bit payload, the reading window comprising a close edge and a far edge, the close edge representing a closest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded, and the far edge representing a farthest distance between the test digital watermark patch and the camera at which the first plural-bit payload can be decoded;
determining a size ratio representing a size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the close edge and the size of the test digital watermark patch relative to the far edge; and
utilizing the size ratio to evaluate print quality of the test digital watermark patch.
8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 in which the size ratio comprises 2.0<size ratio<4.0, and the print quality is acceptable.
9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7 in which the size ratio comprises 2.0>size ratio, and the print quality is unacceptable.