Optical systems for bar code scanners

An optical emitting and sensing system, for emitting light to illuminate optically encoded information and sensing light reflected from the optically encoded information, said system comprising:

• a molded optical device having a refractive front surface and an internally reflective surface;
• emitter means, embedded within the molded optical device, for emitting light, wherein:
• (i) the refractive front surface focuses a paraxial portion of the emitted light onto a first focal point, and the refractive front surface focuses an off-axis portion of the emitted light onto a second focal point, and
• (ii) the first and second focal points are different distances from the front surface of the molded optical device;
• and
• a photodetector for detecting light reflected from the optically encoded information.

A system for reading optically encoded information comprising:

• an emitting and optics assembly comprising:
• (i) a molded optical device having a refractive front surface and an internally reflective surface which cooperate to provide two focal lengths, and
• (ii) emitter means embedded within the molded optical device for emitting light;
• a photodetector for optically sensing the encoded information and in response thereto producing at least one electrical signal corresponding to the sensed optically encoded information;
• means responsive to said at least one electrical signal for deriving two channels of data for each scan or pass of the encoded information by the photodetector and optics assembly, the two channels of data having respectively two different resolutions, one being higher than the other;
• and
• a decoder responsive to both channels of derived data for producing a single data output representative of the sensed optically encoded information.

An optical emitting and sensing system, for emitting light to illuminate optically encoded information and sensing light reflected from the optically encoded information, said system comprising:

• a molded optical device having a refractive front surface and an internally reflective surface;
• emitter means, embedded within the molded optical device, for emitting light, wherein:
• (i) the molded optical device focuses a paraxial portion of the emitted light onto a first focal point and focuses an off-axis portion of the emitted light onto a second focal point, and
• (ii) the first and second focal points are different distances from the front surface of the molded optical device;
• and
• a photodetector for detecting light reflected from the optically encoded information.