Patent ID: 6182898
Filing Date: 2001-02-06
Classification: A61K,C07K,G02B,G06K,G07F,G07G

Abstract:
A laser scanner comprising:(a) a hand-supportable housing having a light transmission window through which laser light can exit said hand-supportable housing, travel towards an object bearing a code symbol and reflect therefrom, and at least a portion of said reflected laser light travel back through said light transmission window and enter said hand-supportable housing;(b) an optical bench mounted in said hand-supportable housing and having a longitudinal extent which extends along a central reference axis;(c) a laser beam producing mechanism disposed within said hand-supportable housing for producing a laser beam;(d) a laser beam sweeping mechanism mounted within said hand-supportable housing with respect to said optical bench for rotation about a rotational axis intersecting said central reference axis, where the intersection of said rotational axis and said central reference axis defines a central reference plane which extends along the longitudinal extent of said optical bench,said laser beam sweeping mechanism having a plurality of rotating light reflective surfaces each being disposed at a different acute angle with respect to said rotational axis, for sequentially sweeping the laser beam about said rotational axis along a plurality of different paths;(e) a stationary array comprised of a plurality of stationary light reflective surfaces mounted within said hand-supportable housing with respect to said optical bench and disposed substantially under said light transmission window;wherein at least two of the plurality of said stationary light reflective surfaces are symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of said central reference plane, and closely adjacent said laser beam sweeping mechanism;(f) a light collection subsystem disposed within said hand-supportable housing, and including(1) a light collection element, mounted along said central reference plane and adjacent at least two of said stationary light reflective surfaces, for allowing the laser beam produced from said laser beam producing mechanism to pass along a portion of said central reference plane, to said laser beam sweeping means, for sweeping about said rotational axis thereof along said plurality of different paths, and(2) a light receiver for receiving light from said light collection element at a point substantially within said central reference plane, and detecting the intensity of said received light and producing an electrical signal indicative of said detected intensity;(g) a signal processor disposed within said hand-supportable housing, for processing said electrical signal and producing scan data representative of a scanned code symbol;(h) a control mechanism within said hand-supportable housing for controlling the operation of said hand-supportable projection laser scanner so that, during scanner operation, the laser beam produced from said laser beam producing mechanism passes along a portion of said central reference plane, to at least one of the rotating light reflective surfaces of said laser beam sweeping mechanism, and as the laser beam sequentially reflects off a plurality of the rotating light reflective surfaces, the laser beam is repeatedly swept across a plurality of the stationary light reflective surfaces thereby producing a plurality of groups of plural scan lines, respectively, which are projected out through said light transmission window and intersect about a projection axis within a collimated scanning volume having an approximately columnar extent and extending from adjacent said light transmission window to at least about six inches therefrom so as to produce a highly collimated projected scanning pattern; and(i) said hand-supportable housing being supportable relative to an object bearing a code symbol so that when a code symbol is presented within said collimated scanning volume,(i) the code symbol is scanned omnidirectionally by said highly collimated scanning pattern,(ii) at least a portion of the laser light reflected from said scanned code symbol is directed through said light transmission window, reflected off at least one of said stationary light reflective surfaces, and then reflected off at least one of said rotating light reflective surfaces of said laser beam sweeping means, and(iii) thereafter said reflected laser light is collected by said light collection element, and received by said light receiver for detection, whereupon said electrical signal is produced for processing by said signal processor;wherein said hand-supportable housing allows the user to easily control the direction of said projection axis by way of the handle portion of said hand-supportable housing, and thus align said collimated scanning volume with the bar code symbol on the object to be scanned and identified.