Dual laser scanning code symbol reading system employing automatic object presence detector for automatic laser source selection
First Claim
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1. A laser scanning code symbol reading system for reading code symbols comprising:
- a housing with a light transmission window;
a laser scanning module, disposed in said housing, for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field having a near portion and a far portion defined external to said light transmission window,wherein said laser scanning module is responsive to one or more control signals generated by a system controller and comprises;
(i) a laser drive module for driving a near-field laser source to produce a near-field laser beam focused within the near portion of said laser scanning field in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, and for driving a far-field laser source to produce a far-field laser beam in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, and(ii) a laser scanning mechanism for scanning said near-field laser beam across said laser scanning field, and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field, or scanning said far-field laser beam across said laser scanning field and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field;
an automatic object detector disposed in said housing for automatically detecting when said object is present in only the near portion of said laser scanning field, and only generating an object detection event when said object is present in the near portion of said laser scanning field, said automatic object detector being the only object detector in the laser scanning code symbol reading system;
light collection optics, disposed in said housing, for collecting light reflected/scattered from scanned object in said laser scanning field;
a photo-detector, disposed in said housing, for detecting the intensity of collected light from said code symbols, and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to said detected light intensity during laser scanning operations;
an analog scan data signal processor, disposed in said housing, for processing said analog scan data signals and converting the processed analog scan data signals into digitized data signals;
a programmed decode processor, disposed in said housing, for decode processing said digitized data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each code symbol scanned by said near-field or far-field laser beam; and
an input/output (I/O) communication interface, disposed in said housing, for interfacing with a host system and transmitting symbol character data to said host system, via a communication link, supported by said laser scanning code symbol reading system and said host system;
said system controller, responsive to the generation of said object detection event, for controlling operations within said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system;
wherein when said system controller detects the generation of said object detection event, said system controller generates said one or more control signals causing said near-field laser source to generate said near-field laser beam and said laser scanning mechanism scans said near-field laser beam across a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field during laser scanning operations, so as to generate an analog scan data signal which is processed and converted into a digitized data signal, which is then decoded processed in effort to read said code symbol on said object.
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Abstract
Method of and system for reading code symbols a dual-laser scanning bar code symbol reading system having the capacity to automatically select in a user-transparent manner, and activate either a near-field source of laser illumination, or a far-field source of laser illumination, using an automatic object presence detection subsystem in the near-field portion of the laser scanning field.
485 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A laser scanning code symbol reading system for reading code symbols comprising:
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a housing with a light transmission window; a laser scanning module, disposed in said housing, for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field having a near portion and a far portion defined external to said light transmission window, wherein said laser scanning module is responsive to one or more control signals generated by a system controller and comprises; (i) a laser drive module for driving a near-field laser source to produce a near-field laser beam focused within the near portion of said laser scanning field in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, and for driving a far-field laser source to produce a far-field laser beam in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, and (ii) a laser scanning mechanism for scanning said near-field laser beam across said laser scanning field, and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field, or scanning said far-field laser beam across said laser scanning field and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field; an automatic object detector disposed in said housing for automatically detecting when said object is present in only the near portion of said laser scanning field, and only generating an object detection event when said object is present in the near portion of said laser scanning field, said automatic object detector being the only object detector in the laser scanning code symbol reading system; light collection optics, disposed in said housing, for collecting light reflected/scattered from scanned object in said laser scanning field; a photo-detector, disposed in said housing, for detecting the intensity of collected light from said code symbols, and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to said detected light intensity during laser scanning operations; an analog scan data signal processor, disposed in said housing, for processing said analog scan data signals and converting the processed analog scan data signals into digitized data signals; a programmed decode processor, disposed in said housing, for decode processing said digitized data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each code symbol scanned by said near-field or far-field laser beam; and an input/output (I/O) communication interface, disposed in said housing, for interfacing with a host system and transmitting symbol character data to said host system, via a communication link, supported by said laser scanning code symbol reading system and said host system; said system controller, responsive to the generation of said object detection event, for controlling operations within said laser scanning bar code symbol reading system; wherein when said system controller detects the generation of said object detection event, said system controller generates said one or more control signals causing said near-field laser source to generate said near-field laser beam and said laser scanning mechanism scans said near-field laser beam across a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field during laser scanning operations, so as to generate an analog scan data signal which is processed and converted into a digitized data signal, which is then decoded processed in effort to read said code symbol on said object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of reading code symbols comprising the sequence of steps of:
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(a) bringing a laser scanning code symbol reading system in proximity with an object bearing one or more code symbols, wherein said laser scanning code symbol reading system comprises; (i) a housing with a light transmission window; (ii) a laser scanning module, disposed in said housing, for scanning a laser beam across a laser scanning field having a near portion and a far portion defined external to said light transmission window, wherein said laser scanning module is responsive to one or more control signals generated by a system controller and comprises; (1) a laser drive module for driving a near-field laser source to produce a near-field laser beam focused within the near portion of said laser scanning field in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, or driving a far-field laser source to produce a far-field laser beam in response to receiving said one or more control signals from said system controller, and (2) a laser scanning mechanism for scanning said near-field laser beam across said laser scanning field, and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field, or scanning said far-field laser beam across said laser scanning field and a code symbol on an object in said laser scanning field; (3) an automatic object detector disposed in said housing for automatically detecting when said object is present in only the near portion of said laser scanning field, and only generating an object detection event when said object is present in the near portion of said laser scanning field, said automatic object detector being the only object detector in the laser scanning code symbol reading system; (4) light collection optics for collecting light reflected/scattered from said object in the scanning field, and a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of collected light and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to the detected light intensity during scanning operations; (iii) an analog scan data signal processor, disposed in said housing, for processing said analog scan data signals and converting the processed analog scan data signals into digitized data signals; (iv) a programmed decode processor, disposed in said housing, for decode processing said digitized data signals, and generating symbol character data representative of each code symbol scanned by said near field laser beam and said far-field laser beam; and (v) an I/O communication interface for transmitting symbol character data to a host system; (b) detecting an object in the near portion of said laser scanning field and generating an object detection event; (c) in response to the generation of said object detection event, said near-field visible laser source generating said near field laser beam, said laser scanning mechanism repeatedly scanning said near field laser beam across any code symbol on the object in the near portion of said laser scanning field, said light collection optics collecting light reflected/scattered from said scanned visible code symbol in said laser scanning field, said photo-detector automatically detecting the intensity of collected light and generating an analog scan data signal corresponding to the light intensity detected during scanning operations, said analog scan data processor processing said analog scan data signal and converting the processed analog scan data signal into a first digitized data signal; (d) said decode processor processing said first digitized data signal in effort to read a code symbol scanned during step (c); and (e) in the event that said decode processor reads said code symbol during step (d), then said decode processor producing symbol character data representative of said code symbol, and said I/O communication interface transmitting said symbol character data to a host system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A symbol reading system having a laser scanning field, comprising:
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a near-field source of laser illumination for scanning an object in a near portion of said laser scanning field; a far-field source of laser illumination for scanning an object in a far portion of said laser scanning field; an automatic object presence detection subsystem for automatically detecting an object only in the near portion of said laser scanning field, and only generating an object detection event when an object is present in the near portion of said laser scanning field, said automatic object presence detection subsystem being the only object presence detection subsystem in the symbol reading system; and a system controller, responsive to said automatic object presence detection subsystem, for automatically selecting and activating said near-field source of laser illumination when an object is automatically detected in said near portion of said laser scanning field. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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Specification