Back to results
US 7,007,843 B2Granted
Light beam shaping arrangement and method in electro-optical readers
AssigneeSymbol Technologies, Inc.
InventorPaul R. Poloniewicz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A micro-electro-mechanical system component is deformed to control a shape and size and orientation of a laser beam spot that is scanned across a symbol to be read by an electro-optical reader.
Claims20
A beam shaping arrangement, comprising:
- a) a light source for emitting a light beam along an optical axis, the light beam having a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis;
- b) a drive for scanning a target;
- c) a deformable, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror located between the light source and the drive for reflecting the light beam along an optical path toward the drive as a reflected beam having a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the optical path;
- and
- d) means for changing the cross-section of the reflected beam to be different from the cross-section of the light beam emitted by the source by deforming the MEMS mirror between curved configurations, thereby enabling the drive to scan the target with the reflected beam of different cross-section.
2 more elements
A beam shaping method, comprising the steps of:
- a) emitting a light beam from a light source along an optical axis, the light beam having a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis;
- b) scanning a target with a drive;
- c) positioning a deformable, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirror relative to the light beam between the light source and the drive for reflecting the light beam along an optical path toward the drive as a reflected beam having a cross-section in a plane perpendicular to the optical path;
- d) changing the cross-section of the reflected beam to be different from the cross-section of the light beam by deforming the MEMS mirror between curved configurations;
- and
- e) enabling the drive to scan the target with the reflected beam of different cross-section.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.