Patent ID: 7594608

Claim:
An automatic omni-directional bar code symbol reading system for use in a POS environment, comprising: a system housing having a light transmission window; a plurality of linear-type bar code symbol reading stations, disposed in said system housing, for generating and projecting a complex of linear illumination planes through said light transmission window and into a 3D imaging volume definable relative to said system housing; at least one area-type bar code reading station, disposed in said system housing, for generating and projecting an area illumination beam through said light transmission window and into said 3D imaging volume, along with said linear illumination planes, wherein said linear illumination planes and said area illumination beam support the omni-directional reading of bar code symbols on an object passing through said 3D imaging volume, and the generation of symbol character data representative of the read bar code symbols; an object detection subsystem for automatically detecting said object passing through said 3D imaging volume, and generating motion data representative of said detected object within said 3D imaging volume; and a control subsystem for controlling operations within said linear-type and area-type bar code symbol reading stations, using control data derived from said motion data generated by said object detection subsystem.