Conveyor-belt mounted bar code symbol reading system employing a steerable bar code symbol scanner to automatically scan bar code symbols detected by a holographic-based bar code position detector

Abstract

An automatic bar code symbol reading system for automatically reading bar code symbols on packages transported along a conveyor belt through a 3-D scanning volume. The system includes a holographic-based bar code symbol detector and a bar code symbol scanner mounted above the conveyor belt. The holographic-based bar code position detector produces a first laser scanning pattern within the 3-D scanning volume, and scans each transported package, detects the position of the bar code symbol therein, and automatically produces bar code position data specifying the position of the detected bar code symbol. In automatic response to the produced bar code position data, the bar code symbol scanner is steered so as to collect light reflected off the detected bar code symbol, and produce scan data indicative of the detected bar code symbol. A scan data processor automatically processes the produced scan data so as to automatically read the detected bar code symbol and produce symbol character data representative thereof. By virtue of the present invention, it is now possible automatically detect the position of high-resolution bar code symbols on packages transported through a large 3-D scanning volume using a holographic-based bar code position detector, and collect high-resolution scan data from the detected bar code symbol using a steerable high-speed bar code symbol scanner, so that such collected scan data can then be subsequently decode processed in a high-speed manner, as required in numerous industrial scanning applications.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.