Barcode localization in difficult environments I'm creating a program for localizing types of barcodes.
(I know plenty exist, that's not the question :) )
I'm focusing for the time being on 1D barcodes. 

The difficulty I have is that the barcodes I need to be able to locate could be situated anywhere within an image with other information (text/images/...), inequal lighting conditions (-> gradients), and barcodes could be scaled and orientated in any way.

[Edit] Unlike most barcode-related cases however, my application does not need to be run on a smartphone, so can allow myself some processing bandwidth

I have been researching as much as possible in books and publications, but think it's time to ask the experts...

What is the most appropriate approach for reliably localising 1D barcodes in difficult environments?

Currently, I'm applying otsu thresholding, basic edge detection and hough transforms.
Problems i currently face:
- otsu thresholding is global and doesn't handle local gradients on large images well. are there localized algorithms that exist?
- hough locates the lines of the barcodes, but also other items (in particular text), and it's difficult to filter only the barcodes (thresholding the min number of pixels in the line throws out a lot, but also throws out the smaller barcodes)

Could anyone point me in the right direction?

I'm wondering about Fourier and Gabor filters, but they seem more complex, so want opinions before i start.

PS: I am doing everything in Octave and Java
Other than commercial barcode reading algorithms (many of which fail to read challenging codes), I would like to direct you to this paper which is one of the best academic works in that field in my opinion:

Gallo, Manduchi: Reading Challenging Barcodes with Cameras.

Here is a more recent version:

Gallo, Manduchi: Reading 1D Barcodes with Mobile Phones Using Deformable Templates

Judging by the performance they present it can decode really deformed and low quality barcodes. 

Following the localization stage, you will require a robust and fast decoding algorithm. Here is one very strong algorithm from Simsekli and Birdal:

Simsekli, Birdal: A Unified Probabilistic Framework for Robust Decoding of Linear Barcodes.