Patent ID: 8608075

Claim:
A code reading apparatus comprising: a variable focal lens; a focus drive section which adjusts a focal position of the variable focal lens; an image pickup section which obtains image data in an image pickup direction in which the variable focal lens faces; a light emitting section which emits a laser light beam in the image pickup direction; and a control section which controls an operation of each of the focus drive section, the image pickup section and the light emitting section so as to read a code symbol included in the obtained image data, the control section including: a first adjustment section which repeats, within a first execution time, focus setting to move the focal position based on coordinates of a bright point in the image data, the bright point being formed in a plane including the code symbol by the emitted laser light beam, so as to execute first focus adjustment; a second adjustment section which changes the focal position within a second execution time, and moves the focal position based on a magnitude of contrast calculated for each image data obtained by the image pickup section with each changed focal position, so as to execute second focus adjustment; a timer section which counts a first execution number of the first focus adjustment and a second execution number of the second focus adjustment; and a time setting section which sets the first execution time to be shortened starting from a predetermined first initial set time such that the first execution time is shortened as the first execution number increases, and sets the second execution time to be shortened starting from a predetermined second initial set time such that the second execution time is shortened as the second execution number increases.