Compact mirror arrangement for and method of capturing light and illuminating targets through a horizontal window of a point-of-transaction workstation

摘要

A pair of overhead mirror portions splits a field of view of an imager into first and second subfields of view. An illuminating assembly is energized to illuminate a target. A first part of the imager is exposed to capture return illumination light from the target passing through a horizontal window of a workstation over the first subfield of view, and a second part of the imager is alternately and subsequently exposed to capture return illumination light from the target passing through the horizontal window over the second subfield of view.

主权项

1. An apparatus for imaging targets, comprising:
a housing; a horizontal window supported by the housing; an exposable, solid-state imager supported by the housing and having an array of image sensors with a field of view looking upwardly along a vertical axis; an energizable, illuminating assembly supported by the housing and operative for illuminating a target through the horizontal window with illumination light; a compact optical arrangement supported by the housing, and including a pair of first and second overhead mirror portions positioned along the axis directly above the imager and operative for splitting the field of view of the imager into a pair of first and second subfields of view, a pair of first and second relay mirrors spaced away from the axis and respectively facing the first and second overhead mirror portions, and a pair of first and second field mirrors spaced away from the axis and respectively facing the first and second relay mirrors; and a controller for energizing the illuminating assembly to illuminate the target, and for exposing a first part of the imager to capture return illumination light from the target passing through the horizontal window and successively reflected by the first field mirror, the first relay mirror, and the first overhead mirror portion to the imager over the first subfield of view, and for alternately and subsequently exposing a second part of the imager to capture return illumination light from the target passing through the horizontal window and successively reflected by the second field mirror, the second relay mirror, and the second overhead mirror portion to the imager over the second subfield of view.