Patent ID: 8657196

Claim:
An automated system for reading items bearing optical codes, comprising: a transport mechanism to transport items placed thereon through one or more read zones; an illumination source configured to illuminate the one or more read zones, the illumination source triggered to pulse light at a pulse rate; one or more decode imagers configured to capture image data and read an optical code disposed on an item transported through the one or more read zones, each decode imager having a field of view (FOV) directed to and defining at least one of the one or more read zones, wherein each decode imager is configured to capture image data of a scene in its corresponding read zone when triggered, including at least a portion of an item within the corresponding read zone when the decode imager is triggered, wherein each decode imager is triggered synchronously with pulses of the illumination source at a rate that is a factor of the pulse rate of the illumination source; a security imager configured to capture images of items that are transported through the data reader, such that the images captured by the security imager are used to identify exception items, wherein the security imager is triggered synchronous with the pulses of the illumination source and slower than the pulse rate of the illumination source; and a display to present images of exception items captured by the security imager.