Patent ID: 7487917

Claim:
An automatic digital-imaging based code symbol reading system supporting pass-through and presentation modes of system operation, comprising: a housing supportable on a countertop surface at a point-of-sale (POS) station or other work environment, and including an imaging window; a digital image formation and detection subsystem, disposed within said housing, and having (i) image formation optics for projecting a field of view (FOV) from an area-type image detection array, through said imaging window, and upon an object to be imaged during object illumination and imaging operations, and (ii) said area-type image detection array for detecting (a) narrow-area frames of digital video data of the object during said object illumination and imaging operations carried out while said digital-imaging based code symbol reading system is configured in said pass-through mode of operation, and (b) wide-area frames of digital video data of the object during said object illumination and imaging operations carried out while said automatic digital-imaging based code symbol reading system is configured in said presentation mode of operation; an automatic object direction detection subsystem, disposed in said housing, for automatically detecting the presence and direction of movement of the object in said FOV, and in response thereto, generating a first signal indicating a triggering event and a second signal indicating the direction of movement of said object with respect to said imaging window and/or said countertop surface; an illumination subsystem, disposed within said housing, and having an illumination array for producing and projecting a narrow-area field of illumination within said FOV during said pass-through mode of system operation, and a wide-area field of illumination within said FOV during said presentation mode of system operation; an automatic illumination control subsystem, disposed within said housing, for controlling said illumination array during said object illumination and imaging operations; a digital image capturing and buffering subsystem, disposed within said housing, for capturing and buffering said frames of digital video data in memory, during said object illumination and imaging operations; a digital image processing subsystem, disposed in said housing, for processing said frames of digital video data and reading one or more 1D and/or 2D code symbols graphically represented in said frames of digital video data, and producing symbol character data representative of said read one or more 1D and/or 2D code symbols; an input/output subsystem, disposed in said housing, for transmitting said symbol character data to an external host system or other information receiving or responding device; and a system control subsystem, disposed in said housing, and responsive to said first signal, for controlling and/or coordinating the operation of said subsystems above.