Portable laser diode scanning head
First Claim
Patent Images
1. In a laser scanning system for reading symbols, a laser scanning head comprising:
- (a) means including an actuatable laser light source. mounted in the head and operative, when actuated, for generating an incident laser beam whose light is non-readily visible to a user;
(b) optic means mounted in the head for optically forming and directing said non-readily-visible incident laser beam along a first optical path toward a reference plane located exteriorly of the head, and to a symbol located in a working distance range in the vicinity of the reference plane, thereby reflecting off the symbol non-readily-visible reflected laser light, at least a returning portion of which travels along a second optical path away from the symbol, back toward the head;
(c) actuatable scanning means mounted in the head, operative, when actuated, for repetitively scanning the symbol in a scan across the symbol, said returning portion of said reflected laser light having a variable intensity over the scan;
(d) sensor means mounted in the head for detecting the variable intensity of said returning portion of said reflected laser light over a field of view, and for generating an electrical analog signal indicative of the detected variable light intensity;
(e) said scanning means being operative for scanning at least one of said incident laser beam and said field of view;
(f) signal processing means mounted in the head for processing the analog electrical signal, and for generating a processed signal indicative of the symbol;
(g) means including an actuatable aiming light source mounted in the head and operative, when actuated, for generating an aiming light beam whose light is readily visible to the user;
(h) aiming means mounted in the head for directing said aiming light beam along an aiming light path from the aiming light source toward the reference plane and to the symbol to visibly illuminate at least a part of the symbol, said aiming light path lying within at least one of said optical paths in the portion of the latter which lies exteriorly of the head; and
(i) manually-actuatable trigger means on the head and operatively connected to, and operative for actuating, the actuatable sources, the scanning means, the sensor means and the signal processing means to initiate a reading of the partly illuminated symbol upon manual actuation of the trigger means by the user, said trigger means being actuatable for each symbol to be read, each symbol in its respective turn.
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Abstract
A portable laser diode scanning head, aimable at each symbol to be read, emits and receives non-readily-visible laser light, and is equipped with a trigger-actuated aiming light arrangement for visually locating and tracking each symbol. A compact laser diode optical train and an optical folded path assembly, as well as an interchangeable component design and an integral window construction for the head also are disclosed.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. In a laser scanning system for reading symbols, a laser scanning head comprising:
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(a) means including an actuatable laser light source. mounted in the head and operative, when actuated, for generating an incident laser beam whose light is non-readily visible to a user; (b) optic means mounted in the head for optically forming and directing said non-readily-visible incident laser beam along a first optical path toward a reference plane located exteriorly of the head, and to a symbol located in a working distance range in the vicinity of the reference plane, thereby reflecting off the symbol non-readily-visible reflected laser light, at least a returning portion of which travels along a second optical path away from the symbol, back toward the head; (c) actuatable scanning means mounted in the head, operative, when actuated, for repetitively scanning the symbol in a scan across the symbol, said returning portion of said reflected laser light having a variable intensity over the scan; (d) sensor means mounted in the head for detecting the variable intensity of said returning portion of said reflected laser light over a field of view, and for generating an electrical analog signal indicative of the detected variable light intensity; (e) said scanning means being operative for scanning at least one of said incident laser beam and said field of view; (f) signal processing means mounted in the head for processing the analog electrical signal, and for generating a processed signal indicative of the symbol; (g) means including an actuatable aiming light source mounted in the head and operative, when actuated, for generating an aiming light beam whose light is readily visible to the user; (h) aiming means mounted in the head for directing said aiming light beam along an aiming light path from the aiming light source toward the reference plane and to the symbol to visibly illuminate at least a part of the symbol, said aiming light path lying within at least one of said optical paths in the portion of the latter which lies exteriorly of the head; and (i) manually-actuatable trigger means on the head and operatively connected to, and operative for actuating, the actuatable sources, the scanning means, the sensor means and the signal processing means to initiate a reading of the partly illuminated symbol upon manual actuation of the trigger means by the user, said trigger means being actuatable for each symbol to be read, each symbol in its respective turn. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. In a laser scanning system for reading symbols by aiming at each symbol a hand-held laser scanning head of the type including:
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(A) means mounted in the head for generating an incident laser beam; (B) optic means mounted in the head for optically forming and directing said incident laser beam along a first optical path toward a reference plane located exteriorly of the head, and to a symbol located in a working distance range in the vicinity of the reference plane, thereby reflecting off the symbol reflected laser light, at least a returning portion of which travels along a second optical path away from the symbol back toward the head; (C) actuatable scanning means mounted in the head, operative, when actuated, repetitively scanning the symbol in a scan across the symbol, said returning portion of said reflected laser light having a variable intensity over the scan; (D) sensor means mounted in the head for detecting the variable intensity of said returning portion of said reflected laser light over a field of view, and for generating an electrical analog signal indicative of the detected variable light intensity; (E) said scanning means being operative for scanning at least one of said incident laser beam and said field of view; (F) signal processing means mounted in the head for processing the analog electrical signal, and for generating processed signal indicative of the symbol; and (G) manually-actuatable trigger means on the head operatively connected to, and operative for actuating, the incident laser beam generating means, the scanning means, the sensor means, and the signal processing means to initiate a reading of the symbol upon manual actuation of the trigger means by the user, said trigger means being actuatable for each symbol to be read, each symbol in its respective turn; an aiming light arrangement for visually locating, and for aiming the head at, each symbol to be read when said incident laser beam and said reflected laser light are not readily visible to the user, said aiming light arrangement comprising; (a) means including an actuatable aiming light source mounted in the head and operatively connected to the trigger means, and operative, when actuated by the trigger means, for generating an aiming light beam whose light is readily visible to the user; and (b) aiming means mounted in the head for directing said aiming light beam along an aiming light path from the aiming light source toward the reference plane and to each symbol to visibly illuminate at least a part of the respective symbol and locate the latter, said aiming light path lying within at least one of said optical paths in the portion of the latter which lies exteriorly of the head to assist the user in correctly aiming the head at the respective symbol to be read. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification