Patent ID: 7407103

Claim:
A bioptical laser scanning system providing 360° of omni-directional bar code symbol scanning coverage at a point of sale (POS) station, said bioptical laser scanning system comprising: a horizontal section integrally connected to a vertical section; a horizontal-scanning window formed in said horizontal section; a vertical-scanning window formed in said vertical section, and being substantially orthogonal to said horizontal-scanning window; a first plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said horizontal section; a second plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said vertical section; a laser beam generating subsystem for generating a plurality of laser beams; a laser beam scanning subsystem disposed within said horizontal section, for scanning said plurality of laser beams and (i) producing and projecting a first plurality of laser scanning planes through said horizontal-scanning window, and (ii) producing and projecting a second plurality of laser scanning planes through said vertical-scanning window, whereby said first and second pluralities of laser scanning planes (i) intersect within predetermined scan regions contained within a 3-D scanning volume defined between said horizontal-scanning and vertical-scanning windows, and (ii) generate a plurality of groups of intersecting laser scanning planes within said 3-D scanning volume, and wherein said plurality of groups of intersecting laser scanning planes form a complex omni-directional 3-D laser scanning pattern within said 3-D scanning volume capable of scanning a bar code symbol located on a surface of an object presented within said 3-D scanning volume at any orientation and from any direction at said POS station so as to provide 360° of onmi-directional bar code symbol scanning coverage at said POS station.