Patent ID: 8342409

Claim:
An imaging reader for electro-optically reading targets on objects by image capture, comprising: a housing; a chassis mounted in the housing and having chassis walls bounding a front chassis opening and a chassis compartment, one of the chassis walls being a rear chassis wall; a window overlying the front chassis opening and being spaced from the rear chassis wall; an imaging module in the chassis compartment for capturing return imaging light from a target through the window over an imaging field of view, wherein the imaging module includes a solid-state imager with a sensor array of photodetectors, wherein the imaging module further includes an imaging lens assembly for projecting the captured return imaging light onto the sensor array along an upright axis perpendicular to the plane of the sensor array; a controller for operating the reader in a standby state of operation in which no target is read, and for processing the captured return imaging light to read the target during a reading state of operation; and an object sensing assembly supported by the rear chassis wall and spaced from the window, for sensing the presence of an object bearing the target in front of the window by detecting return sensing light from the object through the window over a sensing field of view that at least partially overlaps the imaging field of view, and for triggering the controller to change from the standby state to the reading state upon detection of the return sensing light.