Patent ID: 7963444

Claim:
A reader for electro-optically reading symbols located in a working range of distances from the reader, comprising: a housing movable by an operator; an imaging assembly supported by the housing, for capturing light over a field of view from a symbol, for optically modifying the captured light for optimum capture at an imaging plane, and for generating an electrical signal indicative of the captured light; a controller supported by the housing, for processing the electrical signal into data indicative of the symbol being read; a guiding assembly supported by the housing and operatively connected to the controller, for guiding the operator to move the housing to an optimum reading position at which the symbol is located substantially at the imaging plane in the working range; and wherein the focusing element is a lens including a non-light-transmissive obscuration at the lens, for forming the guiding light pattern as a focused, generally circular, light spot at the optimum position, and as an unfocused, blurry, toroidal spot away from the optimum position.