Patent ID: 7581681
Filing Date: 2009-09-01
Classification: G06K

Abstract:
1. A tunnel-type digital imaging system for within retail shopping environments such as supermarkets, said tunnel-type digital imaging system comprising: a tunnel configuration arranged about a conveyor structure for transporting objects through said tunnel configuration; and an image capturing and processing subsystem embodied within said tunnel configuration, and supporting a 3D digital imaging volume above said conveyor structure and within said tunnel configuration, for capturing digital 1D images of objects transported through said 3D digital imaging volume; wherein said image capturing and processing subsystem includes a plurality of coplanar illumination and imaging subsystems, wherein each said coplanar illumination and imaging subsystem generates a coplanar light illumination beam (PLIB) and field of view (FOV), coplanar (PLIB/FOV), that projects into said 3D digital imaging volume for imaging of objects passing therethrough and generating digital 1D images of each said object intersecting with one or more of said coplanar PLIB/FOVs; and a digital image processing subsystem for processing said digital 1D images of objects passing through said 3D digital imaging volume; and a system control subsystem for controlling and/or orchestrating said coplanar illumination and imaging subsystems during system operation; wherein each said coplanar illumination and imaging subsystem includes one or more coherent light sources, and said plurality of coplanar light illumination beams are generated by said one or more coherent light sources; and wherein each said coplanar illumination and imaging subsystem further includes a despeckling mechanism for substantially reducing the coherence of said PLIB so as to substantially reduce speckle-pattern noise power observed in said captured digital 1D images.