Patent ID: 7055745

Claim:
A method of automatically identifying packages during manual package sortation operations, comprising the steps of: (a) supporting a laser scanning system above a workspace environment of 3-D spatial extent occupied by a human operator involved in the manual sortation of packages bearing bar code symbols, said laser scanning system including a housing having a light transmission aperture, and a laser scanning pattern generator disposed within said housing; (b) projecting from said laser scanning pattern generator, and through said light transmission aperture, a laser scanning pattern substantially confined within the spatial extent of a predefined 3-D scanning volume and spatially encompassing a substantial portion of said workspace environment; (c) projecting from a visible scanning-zone indication pattern generator, a visible scanning-zone indication pattern onto a floor surface immediately beneath said workspace environment so as to provide a visible indication of points substantially corresponding to the boundary of the projection of said laser scanning pattern onto said floor surface; (d) said human operator using said visible scanning-zone indication pattern to help guide the transport of a package bearing a bar code symbol through said predefined 3-D scanning volume so that said laser scanning pattern automatically reads the bar code symbol on said package, and said laser scanning system automatically produces symbol character data representative of said read bar code symbol and the identity of said package; and (e) manually sorting said package identified during step (d) within said workspace environment.