Arm mounted scanner actuatable by hand movement

A hands-free integrated scanner and data terminal for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity, comprising:

• (a) a housing having a window;
• (b) actuatable electro-optical scanner means in the housing, for projecting a light beam through the window to indicia to be read, for scanning the indicia, and for detecting light of variable intensity that is reflected off the indicia to generate an electrical signal representative of the indicia;
• (c) means for mounting the housing on an arm of an operator;
• (d) actuating means for actuating the scanner means to initiate reading of the indicia upon movement of the operator's hand relative to the arm;
• (e) data entry means on the housing, for manually entering data;
• and
• (f) display means on the housing for displaying information.

A scanner arrangement in a light scanning system for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity, comprising:

• (a) a light source component for emitting a light beam;
• (b) an optical component for optically directing the light beam along an optical path toward indicia located in the vicinity of a reference plane exteriorly of the system;
• (c) a photodetector component having a field of view and operative for detecting at least a portion of light of variable intensity reflected off the indicia, and for generating an electrical signal indicative of the detected light intensity;
• (d) a scanning component for scanning at least one of the light beam and the field of view;
• (e) an electrical connecting component for conducting the electrical signal away from the photodetector component;
• (f) all of said components being mounted together in a common assembly to constitute a compact, lightweight scan module;
• (g) means for mounting the scan module on an arm of an operator;
• and
• (h) actuating means to actuate the scanner by moving the hand relative to the arm.

A scanning system for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity, comprising:

• (a) a housing having a window;
• (b) actuatable electro-optical scanner means in the housing, for projecting a light beam through the window to indicia to be read, for scanning the indicia, and for detecting light of variable intensity that is reflected off the indicia to generate an electrical signal representative of the indicia;
• (c) means for mounting the housing on an operator;
• and
• (d) actuating means for actuating the scanner means to initiate reading of the indicia upon movement of the operator's finger from one position relative to the hand to another different position relative to the hand.

A scanning system for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity, comprising:

• (a) a housing having a window;
• (b) actuatable electro-optical scanner means in the housing, for projecting a light beam through the window to indicia to be read, for scanning the indicia, and for detecting light of variable intensity that is reflected off the indicia to generate an electrical signal representative of the indicia;
• (c) means for mounting the housing on an operator;
• and
• (d) actuating means for actuating the scanner means to initiate reading of the indicia upon movement of the operator's hand as the operator's finger is moved to an outstretched position in which the finger generally points at the indicia.