Hand held symbology reader illumination diffuser
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising:
- a hand held portable imaging system having an imager;
a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis;
an illuminator adjacent to the lens, directing illumination towards the region of interest;
a tapered translucent diffuser concentrically aligned with the optical axis, having a first distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the lens, and a second distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the region of interest, the tapered translucent diffuser tapering along the length of the tapered translucent diffuser from the first end toward the second end; and
wherein the tapered translucent diffuser has a first color characteristic and wherein the illuminator emits illumination having a color characteristic similar to the first color characteristic.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hand held industrial identification symbol reader projects diffuse illumination onto a region of interest to produce high contrast images of symbols. The diffuse illumination is particularly well suited for producing images of symbols that are marked directly on objects. The diffuse illumination is created through the use of an optically translucent diffuser having a generally tapered shape that distributes diffuse illumination throughout the field of view of the reader. The diffuse illumination can be supplemented with dark field illumination using selectively actuated illumination sources.
245 Citations
24 Claims
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1. An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising:
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a hand held portable imaging system having an imager; a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis; an illuminator adjacent to the lens, directing illumination towards the region of interest; a tapered translucent diffuser concentrically aligned with the optical axis, having a first distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the lens, and a second distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the region of interest, the tapered translucent diffuser tapering along the length of the tapered translucent diffuser from the first end toward the second end; and wherein the tapered translucent diffuser has a first color characteristic and wherein the illuminator emits illumination having a color characteristic similar to the first color characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising:
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a hand-held portable imaging system having an imager; a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis; a first illuminator adjacent to the lens, directing illumination towards the region of interest; a semi-reflecting mirror disposed in front of the lens aligned with the optical axis configured to direct at least a portion of illumination reflected from the region of interest into the lens; a second illuminator directing illumination at the semi-reflecting mirror so that at least a portion of the illumination from the second illuminator is directed towards the region of interest; a first diffuser disposed between the second illuminator and the semi-reflecting mirror; and a tapered translucent diffuser concentrically aligned with the optical axis, having a first distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the lens, and a second distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the region of interest, the translucent diffuser tapering along the length of the diffuser from the first end toward the second end. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising:
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a hand held portable imaging system having an imager; a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis; an illuminator adjacent to the lens, directing illumination towards the region of interest; a translucent diffuser concentrically aligned with the optical axis, having a first distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the lens, and a second distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the region of interest, the translucent diffuser having a shape such that the portion of the translucent diffuser adjacent the first end of the translucent diffuser is closer to the optical axis than the portion of the translucent diffuser adjacent the second end of the translucent diffuser and so that the first and second translucent diffuser ends are spaced apart along a length dimension of the translucent diffuser which is aligned with the optical axis and wherein light from the illuminator passes through at least a portion of the translucent diffuser toward the region of interest; and wherein the translucent diffuser has a first color characteristic and wherein the illuminator emits illumination having a color characteristic similar to the first color characteristic.
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23. An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising:
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a hand-held portable imaging system having an imager; a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis; a semi-reflecting mirror disposed in front of the lens aligned with the optical axis configured to direct at least a portion of illumination reflected from the region of interest into the lens; a first bright field illuminator adjacent the lens and directing illumination towards the region of interest; and a second bright field illuminator directing illumination at the semi-reflecting mirror so that at least a portion of the illumination from the second illuminator is directed towards the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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Specification