Symbology reader with a variable orientation head

A hand-held symbology reader, comprising:

• a handle for grasping by a user;
• a symbology reader head attached to said handle;
• a reading module positioned within said reader head and rotatably supported by said reader head, said reading module being rotatable relative to said handle and relative to said reader head between a plurality of angular orientations;
• and
• a retainer selectively retaining said reading module in a selected one of said plurality of angular orientations.

A method of reading symbology with a hand-held symbology reader having a handle and a symbology reader head movably attached to the handle for adjustable angular movement relative to the handle, the symbology having a known angular orientation relative to the handle, comprising the steps of:

• positioning the hand-held symbology reader adjacent to the symbology;
• holding the handle at a fixed angular orientation relative to the symbology;
• moving the symbology reader head relative to the handle about a first axis of rotation from a first position to a second position to point the reader head at the symbology;
• moving the reader head relative to the handle about a second axis of rotation to adjust the angular orientation of the symbology reader head to correspond to the angular orientation of the symbology;
• and
• reading the symbology with the symbology reader.

A method of reading symbology with a hand-held symbology reader having a handle, a symbology reader head movably attached to the handle for adjustable angular movement relative to the handle, and a reading module rotatably supported by said reader head for angular movement of the reading module relative to the reader head, the symbology having a known angular orientation relative to the handle, comprising the steps of:

• positioning the hand-held symbology reader adjacent to the symbology;
• holding the handle at a fixed angular orientation relative to the symbology;
• moving the symbology reader head relative to the handle from a first position to a second position to point at the symbology;
• rotating the reading module relative to the reader head to adjust the angular orientation of the reading module to correspond to the angular orientation of the symbology;
• and
• reading the symbology with the symbology reader.