Patent ID: 8702002

Claim:
An optical code scanner for automatically detecting and reading optical codes presented to the optical code scanner from different sides, the optical code scanner comprising: a housing that includes a vertical housing component where the vertical housing component includes a cashier facing side and a customer facing side; a first optically transparent window located on the cashier facing side of the vertical housing component; a second optically transparent window located on the customer facing side of the vertical housing component; an image capture device for capturing images of optical codes; an image directing device movable between a first position and a second position where images passing through the first optically transparent window are directed to the image capture device when the image directing device is in the first position and where images passing through the second optically transparent window are directed to the image capture device when the image directing device is in the second position; a light level detector where the detector generates a signal representing the level of ambient light passing through the second optically transparent window; an actuator attached to the image directing device where the actuator moves the image directing device between the first position and the second position; and a processor where the processor executes instructions that cause the processor to determine when the signal from the light level detector falls below a predetermined threshold value and to cause the actuator to move the image directing device to the second position.