Patent ID: 7762464

Claim:
A reader for electro-optically reading indicia, comprising: a housing; a solid-state imager in the housing and including an array of image sensors for capturing return light from the indicia during reading to produce a captured image; a controller for resisting reading failure due to specular reflection in the return light captured by the imager; an illuminator supported by the housing for illuminating the indicia during reading with illumination light directed from an illuminating light source; wherein the controller periodically energizes the illuminator to cause the illumination light to illuminate the indicia during first ones of the frames, and periodically deenergizes the illuminator to cause the illumination light not to illuminate the indicia during second ones of the frames which alternate with the first ones of the frames; and wherein the controller attempts to read the indicia in both a first image captured during the first ones of the frames and a second image captured during the second ones of the frames.