Patent ID: 8038066

Claim:
A scanning apparatus comprising: a laser source adapted to emit a beam along an axis and illuminate a target; a scanning mirror disposed intermediate the laser source and the target, the scanning mirror adapted to deflect the beam emitted from the laser source so that the beam scans across the target according to a scan pattern; a focusing apparatus comprising an actuator and a deformable lens element, said deformable lens element being in optical communication with the laser source and having a deformable surface, at least part of which transmits the beam, the actuator adapted to impart a force to the deformable surface, the force being in a first direction substantially parallel with the axis; a detector adapted to receive light of varying intensities scattered from the target and convert the light into a signal; and a controller operatively associated with the detector for receiving the signal from the detector and decoding the signal, and further operatively associated with the focusing apparatus for actuating the actuator to vary a lens setting, the lens setting establishing a focus distance to the target; wherein the scanning apparatus is operative to capture a first signal with the focusing apparatus set to a first focus distance; wherein the scanning apparatus is operative to capture a second signal with the focusing apparatus set to a second focus distance; wherein the scanning apparatus is further operable so that the controller utilizes each of the first signal and the second signal for attempting to decode the target.