OMNIDIRECTIONAL LASER SCANNING BAR CODE SYMBOL READER GENERATING A LASER SCANNING PATTERN WITH A HIGHLY NON-UNIFORM SCAN DENSITY WITH RESPECT TO LINE ORIENTATION
First Claim
1. A laser scanning bar code symbol reading system comprising:
- a system housing having a vertical housing section having a vertical scanning window and a horizontal housing section having a horizontal scanning window;
a laser scanning subsystem disposed in said system housing;
wherein said laser scanning subsystem employs multiple off-center lasers directed onto an irregular multi-sided scanning polygon rotating about an axis of rotation, and producing a non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern over a total sweep of approximately 180 degrees of polygon rotation, and covering a scanning region including a center scanning region with a first plurality of scanning lines, two mid scanning regions with a second plurality of scanning lines, and far left and right scanning regions each having a third plurality of scanning lines, to support high density, mid density, and low density scanning over said 180 degrees scanning region;
wherein said multi-sided scanning polygon has multiple scanning surfaces and multiple interior angles, wherein said interior angles between said multiple scanning surfaces are not all equal; and
a plurality of scanning pattern folding mirrors, for folding said non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern and generating and projecting a plurality of laser scanning planes through said vertical and horizontal scanning windows, which intersect within a 3D scanning volume defined between said vertical and horizontal scanning windows and provide an omni-directional laser scanning pattern within said 3D scanning volume, for scanning one or more objects within said 3D scanning volume and producing scan data for decode processing.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An improved laser scanning system is provided employing multiple off-center lasers and an irregular multi-sided scanning polygon, producing a laser scanning raster over a total sweep of approximately 180 degrees of polygon rotation (i.e. sweep), wherein the scanning region includes (i) a center scanning region with a first plurality of scanning lines, (ii) two mid scanning regions with a second plurality of scanning lines, and (iii) far left and right scanning regions each having a third plurality of scanning lines, to supports high (full) density, mid (2/3) density, and low (1/3) density scanning over the 180 degrees scanning region, for robust omni-directional scanning performance.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A laser scanning bar code symbol reading system comprising:
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a system housing having a vertical housing section having a vertical scanning window and a horizontal housing section having a horizontal scanning window; a laser scanning subsystem disposed in said system housing; wherein said laser scanning subsystem employs multiple off-center lasers directed onto an irregular multi-sided scanning polygon rotating about an axis of rotation, and producing a non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern over a total sweep of approximately 180 degrees of polygon rotation, and covering a scanning region including a center scanning region with a first plurality of scanning lines, two mid scanning regions with a second plurality of scanning lines, and far left and right scanning regions each having a third plurality of scanning lines, to support high density, mid density, and low density scanning over said 180 degrees scanning region; wherein said multi-sided scanning polygon has multiple scanning surfaces and multiple interior angles, wherein said interior angles between said multiple scanning surfaces are not all equal; and a plurality of scanning pattern folding mirrors, for folding said non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern and generating and projecting a plurality of laser scanning planes through said vertical and horizontal scanning windows, which intersect within a 3D scanning volume defined between said vertical and horizontal scanning windows and provide an omni-directional laser scanning pattern within said 3D scanning volume, for scanning one or more objects within said 3D scanning volume and producing scan data for decode processing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A bi-optical laser scanning system comprising:
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a system housing including a vertical housing section having a vertical scanning window, and a horizontal housing section having a horizontal scanning window, wherein said vertical housing section and said horizontal housing section are disposed in a substantially orthogonal relationship; a first laser scanning subsystem installed in said vertical housing section, and a second laser scanning subsystem installed in said horizontal housing section; a first laser scanning pattern folding mirror array mounted in said vertical housing section, and a second laser scanning pattern folding mirror array mounted in said horizontal housing section; a multi-sided irregular scanning polygon mounted between said first and second housing sections, and rotating about an axis of rotation; wherein said multi-sided irregular scanning polygon has multiple scanning surfaces and multiple interior angles, wherein said interior angles between said multiple scanning surfaces are not all equal; and wherein said first laser scanning subsystem includes at least one source for producing a first set of multiple laser beams that are directed off axis to strike said single multi-sided irregular scanning polygon rotating about said axis of rotation, and generate a first non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern in said vertical housing section; wherein said second laser scanning subsystem includes at least one source for producing a second set of multiple laser beams that are directed off axis to strike said single irregular multi-sided scanning polygon rotating about said axis of rotation, and generate a second non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern in said horizontal housing section; wherein said first non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern are folded in said vertical housing sections by said first laser scanning pattern folding mirror array, and projected as a first group of laser scanning planes through said vertical scanning window; wherein said second non-uniform laser scanning raster pattern are folded in said horizontal housing sections by said second laser scanning pattern folding mirror array, and projected as a second laser scanning planes through said horizontal scanning window; and wherein said first and second groups of laser scanning planes intersect within a 3D scanning volume disposed within said vertical and horizontal scanning windows, to generate an omni-directional laser scanning pattern for supporting robust omni-directional scanning performance. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A symbol reading system, comprising:
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a system housing comprising a vertical housing section having a vertical scanning window and a horizontal housing section having a horizontal scanning window; a laser scanning subsystem within the system housing, comprising; an irregular, scanning polygon having an axis of rotation, multiple scanning surfaces, and multiple interior angles, wherein the interior angles between the multiple scanning surfaces are not all equal; a laser source producing a first set of multiple laser beams directed onto the irregular, scanning polygon; and wherein the laser scanning subsystem produces a first non-uniform raster pattern over a sweep encompassing an angular range of approximately 180 degrees about the polygon, the first non-uniform raster pattern covering a scanning region such that the scanning region'"'"'s center has a first plurality of scanning lines, each of the scanning region'"'"'s two mid sections has a second plurality of scanning lines, and each of the scanning region'"'"'s left and right sections has a third plurality of scanning lines. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification