Indicia location coprocessor

1. An imaging device comprising:

an image sensor to capture image data;

a front-end processing assembly configured to:

receive the image data and determine image statistics for the image data,

determine, from the image statistics, an indicia location corresponding to a set of point coordinates in the image data, and

communicate the image data and the determined indicia location to a host processor communicatively coupled to the front-end processing assembly; and

wherein the host processor is configured to receive the image data and the indicia location and is configured to decode an indicia in the image data based upon determining a position in the image data corresponding to the indicia location;

wherein the front-end processing assembly passes the image data to the host processor such that the front-end processing assembly and the host processor process the image data in parallel.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein determining the image statistics include segmenting the image data into a plurality of image blocks of a predetermined size and the image statics includes, for each image block, one or more of: (i) image contrast, (ii) maximum intensity, (iii) minimum intensity, (iv) average intensity, (v) direction of edges, or (vi) diversity of direction of edges.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the front-end processing assembly is configured to determine the image statistics by constructing a contrast version of the image data and is further configured to determine the indicia location from the contrast version of the image data.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the front-end processing assembly is configured to determine the image statistics by constructing a maximum intensity version of the image data and is further configured to determine the indicia location from the maximum intensity version of the image data.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the front-end processing assembly is configured to determine the image statistics by constructing a minimum intensity version of the image data and is further configured to determine the indicia location from the minimum intensity version of the image data.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the indicia location includes a set of one or more point coordinates related to an object of interest in the image data.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the indicia location includes a rectified bounding box enclosing an object of interest in the image data, wherein the rectified bounding box has horizontal sides parallel to a horizontal axis of a coordinate plane and vertical sides parallel to a vertical axis of the coordinate plane.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the front-end processing assembly comprises (i) a first processor configured to receive the image data and determine the image statistics and (ii) a second processor configured to determine the indicia location.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the first processor and the second processor are co-processors of an integrated circuit.

10. The device of claim 8 , wherein the first processor and the second processor are dedicated processors coupled together via a dedicated communication bus.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is activated in response to one or more of: (i) detected light from a light sensor, (ii) detected object from a proximity sensor, (iii) detected motion from a motion sensor, (iv) detected weight differential from a scale, (v) mechanical activation, or (vi) a set time duration.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

capturing, by an image sensor, image data;

passing, by the image sensor to a front-end processing assembly, the image data;

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, image statistics for the image data;

determining, by the front-end processing assembly from the image statistics, an indicia location corresponding to a set of point coordinates in the image data;

passing, by the front-end processing assembly to a host processor, the image data and the indicia location;

determining, by the host processor a position in the image data corresponding to the indicia location; and

decoding, by the host processor, an indicia in the image data based upon the determined position in the image data corresponding to the indicia location;

wherein the front-end processing assembly passes the image data to the host processor such that the front-end processing assembly and the host processor process the image data in parallel.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein capturing image data comprises:

capturing, by the image sensor, a series of images at a first predetermined time interval; and

passing, by the image sensor to the front-end processing assembly, each image in the series of images at the first predetermined time interval.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising:

passing, by the front-end processing assembly to the host processor, the indicia location at a second predetermined time interval, wherein the first predetermined time interval is shorter in time than the second predetermined time interval.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining the image statistics comprises:

segmenting, by the front-end processing assembly, the image data into a plurality of image blocks of a predetermined size; and

determining, by the front-end processing assembly for each image block, one or more of:

(i) image contrast, (ii) maximum intensity, (iii) minimum intensity, (iv) average intensity, (v) direction of an edge, or (vi) diversity of directions of edges.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining the image statistics comprises:

constructing, by the front-end processing assembly, a contrast version of the image data; and

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, the indicia location from the contrast version of the image data.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining the image statistics comprises:

constructing, by the front-end processing assembly, a maximum intensity version of the image data; and

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, the indicia location from the maximum intensity version of the image data.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining the image statistics comprises:

constructing, by the front-end processing assembly, a minimum intensity version of the image data; and

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, the indicia location from the minimum intensity version of the image data.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining an indicia location corresponding to a set of point coordinates in the image data comprises:

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, a set of one or more point coordinates related to an object of interest in the image data.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein determining an indicia location corresponding to a set of point coordinates in the image data comprises:

determining, by the front-end processing assembly, a rectified bounding box enclosing an object of interest in the image data, wherein the rectified bounding box has horizontal sides parallel to a horizontal axis of a coordinate plane and vertical sides parallel to a vertical axis of the coordinate plane.