Patent ID: 7017813

Claim:
An automatic bar code symbol reading system, comprising: a housing having a light transmission aperture through which light of at least one wavelength can exit and enter into the housing; a bar code presence detection mechanism in the housing, for detecting a presence of a bar code located in a scan field defined external to the housing, and for automatically generating an activation signal in response to the detection of the presence of the bar code located in the scan field; an activatable scan data producing mechanism in the housing, for producing scan data from a bar code located in the scan field, the scan data producing mechanism including: a laser beam generating mechanism for generating a laser beam, a directing mechanism for directing the laser beam through the light transmission aperture and into the scan field, a laser beam scanning mechanism for repeatedly scanning the laser beam across the scan field and the detected bar code symbol, a laser light detecting mechanism for detecting the intensity of laser light reflected off the bar code symbol and passing through the light transmission aperture as the laser beam is repeatedly scanned across the scan field and the detected bar code, and a data producing mechanism for automatically producing scan data indicative of the detected intensity; an activatable scan data processing mechanism for processing produced scan data so as to detect and decode a bar code symbol in the scan field, and for automatically producing symbol character data representative of the decoded bar code symbol; and a control mechanism for controlling the operation of the automatic bar code symbol reading system, the control mechanism including: (i) an activation mechanism for automatically activating the activatable scan data producing mechanism and the activatable scan data processing mechanism for up to a predetermined time period in response to the generation of the activation signal, and (ii) a mechanism for automatically deactivating the activatable scan data producing mechanism and the activatable scan data processing mechanism in response to the failure of the scan data processing mechanism to detect and decode the bar code symbol on the detected object within the predetermined time period.