Narrow-bodied, single- and twin-windowed portable laser scanning head for reading bar code symbols
First Claim
1. In a scanning system for reading symbols, a lightweight, small volume hand-held laser scanning head contained within a housing configured to be held in one hand during scanning, comprising:
- (a) a laser diode source supported within the housing, and operative for emitting a laser beam along a first optical path;
(b) a sensor supported within the housing and defining a field of view along a second optical path;
(c) a movably supported optical scanner including only a single light-reflective element positioned in both optical paths for receiving both the laser beam from the source and the field of view from the sensor and providing them to the symbol such that the laser beam is at least in part within the field of view at the symbol;
(d) a driving mechanism supported within the housing and operative for moving the single light-reflective element relative to the symbol to thereby repetitively scan the field of view and the laser beam across the respective symbol;
(e) said sensor being operative, during scanning, for detecting laser light of variable intensity reflected off the respective symbol, and for generating an electrical signal which is indicative of the detected intensity of the reflected laser light; and
(f) a signal processor in the housing for processing the electrical signal to generate therefrom data descriptive of the respective symbol being read.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A narrow-bodied single-and twin-windowed hand-held, laser scanning head for reading bar code symbols includes at least one window mounted at the rear region of the head, and through which either the incident beam going to the symbol and/or the reflected beam returning from the symbol, passes unobstructedly and exteriorly of, and past, the front and intermediate body regions of the head. A field-replaceable laser tube arrangement, a laser tube and method of making the same, an arrangement for and method of controlling a scanning system, optical passive elements for increasing the depth of field, a trigger protective device, and a one-piece support bench and method of fabricating the same by mass-production techniques are also disclosed.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. In a scanning system for reading symbols, a lightweight, small volume hand-held laser scanning head contained within a housing configured to be held in one hand during scanning, comprising:
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(a) a laser diode source supported within the housing, and operative for emitting a laser beam along a first optical path; (b) a sensor supported within the housing and defining a field of view along a second optical path; (c) a movably supported optical scanner including only a single light-reflective element positioned in both optical paths for receiving both the laser beam from the source and the field of view from the sensor and providing them to the symbol such that the laser beam is at least in part within the field of view at the symbol; (d) a driving mechanism supported within the housing and operative for moving the single light-reflective element relative to the symbol to thereby repetitively scan the field of view and the laser beam across the respective symbol; (e) said sensor being operative, during scanning, for detecting laser light of variable intensity reflected off the respective symbol, and for generating an electrical signal which is indicative of the detected intensity of the reflected laser light; and (f) a signal processor in the housing for processing the electrical signal to generate therefrom data descriptive of the respective symbol being read. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 25)
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15. In a scanning system for reading symbols, a lightweight, small volume hand-held laser scanning head contained within a housing configured in a gun shape to be held in one hand during scanning, comprising:
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(a) a laser diode source supported within the housing, and operative for emitting a laser beam along a first optical path; (b) a sensor supported within the housing and defining a field of view along a second optical path; (c) a movably supported optical scanner including only a single light-reflective element positioned in both paths for receiving both the laser beam from the source and the field of view from the sensor and providing them to the symbol such that the laser beam is at least in part within the field of view at the symbol; (d) a driving mechanism supported within the housing and operative for moving the single light-reflective element relative to the symbol to thereby repetitively scan the field of view and the laser beam across the respective symbol; (e) said sensor being operative, during scanning, for detecting laser light of variable intensity reflected off the respective symbol, and for generating an electrical signal which is indicative of the detected intensity of the reflected laser light; (f) a signal processor in the housing for processing the electrical signal to generate therefrom data descriptive of the respective symbol being read; and (g) a trigger mechanism supported from said housing for enabling and disabling operation of said laser diode source. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26)
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Specification