> Perhaps there is no patent that covers decoding barcodes with an 
> array-based image sensor?  I find it hard to believe there isn't, but then 
> I also find it hard to believe they would have been granted the patent if 
> it already existed.
>
> From a purely Engineering point of view, it seems that using a few optical 
> mouse sensors would be a cheaper way of making a supermarket checkout than 
> using those rapidly moving red beam scanning thingies.  There's definitely 
> commercial potential in it if it can be developed to work just as reliably 
> as the existing systems.

Been done with OK cameras, that's part of why it seems so odd
to give out a patent to me.
http://en.barcodepedia.com
The hard part would be cleaning up a bad lo-res image, but it
might be doable.  Of course, they could stick a better camera in
the mice.

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