Patent ID: 8028909

Claim:
An imaging system, comprising: a housing; an illuminator mounted in the imaging system including a plurality of light sources arranged to uniformly illuminate a target; a solid-state imager having an array of image sensors supported by the housing for capturing return light from the target located in a range of working distances from the housing in an image capture mode of operation, and for capturing return light from a test pattern positioned at a predetermined position in the range of working distances in a test mode of operation different from the image capture mode, and for generating an electrical signal indicative of the captured return light in each mode; a memory supported by the housing for storing an embedded test program for testing image quality; a controller supported by the housing for processing the electrical signal in the image capture mode operative to decode the electrical signal from a symbol on the target into data indicative of the symbol, and for accessing the memory to enable the controller to execute the embedded test program in the test mode to test the image quality of the test pattern imaged by the imaging system to measure at least a spatial resolution of the imaging system in situ when the test pattern is illuminated by the illuminator; and wherein the test pattern includes a resolution chart having elements of different spatial resolutions, and the embedded test program is operative for processing the electrical signal in the test mode to measure the spatial resolution of the imager by determining the smallest spatial resolution in the resolution chart that can be resolved by the imaging system.