Assisted aimer for optimized symbol scanning by a portable computing device having an integral camera

An apparatus comprising:

• an optical beam transformer;
• a mechanical coupler to couple the optical beam transformer to a removable enclosure usable to enclose a smart phone;
• wherein the smart phone is a standard smart phone not having any barcode imaging application-specific hardware, is enabled to support general purpose mobile applications, and has a built-in flash and a built-in digital camera enabled to support general purpose photography;
• wherein the smart phone is enabled to execute a barcode software application to control the built-in flash, to control the built-in digital camera to capture an image of a barcode, to convert the captured barcode image to an internal form, and to store the internal form in a data file;
• wherein the mechanical coupler has at least one surface shaped to be compatible with removable attachment of the apparatus to an external surface of the removable enclosure and is formed to retain the optical beam transformer in alignment with an aperture of the built-in flash when the smart phone is inserted in the removable enclosure;
• wherein the optical beam transformer has an optical input to receive light from the built-in flash aperture and an optical output to provide a transformation of the received light into an aiming pattern, the aiming pattern enabling a user to distance the smart phone in accordance with optimum speed focusing of the built-in digital camera;
• and
• wherein the aiming pattern assisted distancing enables the user to more rapidly process the barcode than possible with the smart phone alone.