Patent ID: 6705528
Filing Date: 2004-03-16
Classification: G02B,G06K,G07F,G07G

Abstract:
An automated package identification and dimensioning system capable of (i) identifying packages bearing bar code symbols, and (ii) measuring dimensional characteristics of said packages during package transport operations, said automated package identification and dimensioning system comprising:a conveyor belt structure for transporting packages along a predetermined direction of travel; a support framework arranged above said conveyor belt structure, for supporting a package identification subsystem providing a tunnel-like arrangement above said conveyor belt structure through which said conveyor belt structure extends and along which said packages are transported in an automated manner, wherein said tunnel-like arrangement has an entry port and an exit port; said package identification subsystem being mounted from said scanner framework and projecting a plurality of laser scanning beams that produce a laser scanning pattern confined substantially within a three-dimensional laser scanning volume disposed above said conveyor belt structure, so that when each said package is transported through said three-dimensional laser scanning volume, the bar code symbol on said package is automatically read by at least one laser scanning beam and a scan beam data element is automatically generated, wherein said scan beam data element includes (i) symbol character data representative of the bar code symbol read by at least one said laser scanning beam and thus the identity of said package, and (ii) laser scanning beam index data indicative of said at least one laser scanning beam used to read said bar code symbol; a package dimensioning subsystem, mounted above said conveyor belt structure and before said entry port of said tunnel scanning arrangement, for optically scanning each said package as said package is transported through said three-dimensional laser scanning volume, and automatically generating a package dimension data element for each optically scanned package, wherein each said package dimension data element contains package dimension-related data representative of one or more dimension-related characteristics of said optically scanned package; a data element handling and processing subsystem for processing said scan beam data elements and said package dimension data elements, and attempting to correlate one said scan beam data element to each said package dimension data element, and for each pair of correlated scan beam and package dimension data elements, generating an output data element containing the scan beam data element correlated with the package dimension data element, thereby identifying each said package transported through said three-dimensional laser scanning volume while providing a measure of the dimensional characteristics thereof in an automated manner.