An apparatus for collecting and processing information bearing indicia (IBI) comprising: a converter for converting light reflected off an IBI into IBI signals representative of the converted light; and, at least one processor adapted for: running at least one application process for acquiring the IBI signals and providing those IBI signals for signal processing; and, running at least one signal process for processing the IBI signals, wherein running of the at least one application process is independent of running of the at least one decoder process and wherein the at least one application process is adapted for resetting the at least one signal process.