Patent ID: 7673803
Filing Date: 2010-03-09
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A planar laser illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based engine comprising: an engine housing having light transmission aperture; an image formation and detection module, disposed in said engine housing, and having an image detection array and image formation optics with a field of view (FOV) extending from said image detection array, through said light transmission aperture and onto an object moving relative to said engine housing during object illumination and imaging operations; a planar laser illumination beam (PLIB) producing device, disposed in said engine housing, and having at least one visible laser illumination source arranged in relation to said image formation and detection module, for producing a planar light illumination beam (PLIB), and projecting said PLIB beam through said light transmission aperture and oriented such that the plane of said PLIB is coplanar with the field of view of said image formation and detection module so that the object can be simultaneously illuminated by said PLIB and imaged within said FOV and onto said image detection array for detection as a digital linear image of the object; a laser despeckling mechanism, disposed in said engine housing, for reducing the coherence of said PLIB during object illumination and imaging operations so that the power of speckle-pattern noise is substantially reduced in digital linear images detected on said image detection array; an image grabber, disposed in said engine housing, for grabbing digital linear images formed and detected by said image formation and detection module; and an image data buffer, disposed in said engine housing, for buffering said digital linear images grabbed by said image grabber.