Patent ID: 7299986
Filing Date: 2007-11-27
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A digital imaging-based bar code symbol driven portable data terminal (PDT) system having a working distance, and comprising: a hand-supportable housing for support in a cradle portion of a base station; a manually-actuatable trigger switch integrated with said hand-supportable housing, for producing a control activation signal; a multi-mode image formation and detection subsystem having image formation optics for producing a field of view (FOV) upon an object to be imaged and an area-type image sensing array for detecting imaged light reflected off the object during illumination operations in either (i) a narrow-area image-capture mode in which a few central rows of pixels on the image sensing array are enabled, or (ii) a wide-area image-capture mode in which substantially all rows of said area-type image sensing array are enabled; a multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem for producing fields of narrow-area and wide-area narrow-band illumination within said FOV during narrow-area and wide-area image-capture modes, respectively; an automatic object presence detection subsystem for producing an object detection field that spatially-overlaps said FOV along a substantial portion of said working distance; an automatic light exposure measurement and illumination control subsystem for automatically measuring the light exposure incident upon a central portion of said FOV and for controlling the operation of said multi-mode LED-based illumination subsystem during object illumination and imaging operations; an image capturing and buffering subsystem for capturing and buffering a digital image detected by said multi-mode image formation and detection subsystem; an image-processing based bar code symbol reading subsystem for processing said digital image captured and buffered by said image capturing and buffering subsystem and reading 1D and 2D bar code symbols graphically represented in said captured and buffered digital image; an input/output subsystem for outputting processed image data to an external host system or other information receiving or responding device; a user control console integrated with said hand-supportable housing; a display panel associated with said user control console, for displaying digital images captured by said image capturing and buffering subsystem, and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) generated by an end-user application running on said device; a manual data entry device associated with said user control console, for manually entering data into said digital imaging-based bar code symbol driven PDT system; and a system control subsystem for controlling or coordinating said subsystems.