Patent ID: 6918540

Claim:
A bioptical laser scanning system capable of scanning a bar code symbol locate on the surface of an object presented within a 3-D scanning volume at any orientation and from any direction at a point of sale (POS) station, said bioptical laser scanning system; comprising: a horizontal section integrally connected to a vertical section; a horizontal-scanning window formed in said horizontal section; a vertical-scanning window formed in said vertical section, and being substantially orthogonal to said bottom-scanning window; a first plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said horizontal section; a second plurality of laser beam folding mirrors disposed within said vertical section; a first laser beam production module for producing first laser beam, and a second laser beam production module for producing a second laser beam; a first polygonal scanning element disposed within said horizontal section and having multiple reflective surfaces rotating about a first axis of rotation, for scanning said first laser beam and producing a first laser scanning beam that reflects off said first plurality of laser beam folding mirrors to generate and project a first plurality of laser scanning planes through said horizontal-scanning window; and a second polygonal scanning element disposed within said vertical section and having multiple reflective surfaces rotating about a second axis of rotation, for scanning said second laser beam and producing a second laser scanning beam that reflects off said second plurality of laser beam folding mirrors to generate and project a second plurality of laser scanning planes through said vertical-scanning window, whereby said first and second pluralities of laser scanning planes (i) intersect within predetermined scan regions contained within a 3-D scanning volume defined between said horizontal-scanning and vertical-scanning windows, and (ii) generate a plurality of groups of quasi-orthogonal laser scanning planes within said 3-D scanning volume, and wherein said plurality of groups of quasi-orthogonal laser scanning planes form a complex omni-directional 3-D laser scanning pattern within said 3-D scanning volume capable of scanning a bar code symbol located on the surface of an object presented within said 3-D scanning volume at any orientation and from any direction at said POS station.