Patent ID: 8286878

Claim:
An apparatus for imaging a symbol on an object, the apparatus comprising: a hand held portable imaging system having an imager; a lens disposed between the imager and a region of interest, the region of interest being the intended position of the symbol on the object, the lens and imager defining a field of view and an optical axis; an illuminator adjacent to the lens, directing illumination towards the region of interest; a tapered translucent diffuser concentrically aligned with the optical axis, having a first distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the lens, and a second distal end surrounding the field of view proximate to the region of interest, the tapered translucent diffuser tapering along the length of the tapered translucent diffuser from the first end toward the second end; and wherein the tapered translucent diffuser has a first color characteristic and wherein the illuminator emits illumination having a color characteristic similar to the first color characteristic.