Laser scanning system employing an optics module capable of forming a laser beam having an extended depth of focus (DOF) over the laser scanning field

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9589166-B2
Application number	US-201615178854-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2016
Priority date	Sep 15, 2011
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

A laser scanning system having a laser scanning field, and a laser beam optics module with an optical axis and including: an aperture stop disposed after a laser source for shaping the laser beam to a predetermined beam diameter; a collimating lens for collimating the laser beam produced from the aperture stop; an apodization element having a first and second optical surfaces for extending the depth of focus of the laser beam from the collimating lens; and a negative bi-prism, disposed after the apodization element, along the optical axis, to transform the energy distribution of the laser beam and cause the laser beam to converge to substantially a single beam spot along the far-field portion of the laser scanning field, and extend the depth of focus of the laser beam along the far-field portion of the laser scanning field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a source;
an optics module having an optical axis, wherein the optics module comprises:
an aperture stop for shaping the laser beam to a predetermined diameter;
a collimating lens for collimating the laser beam shaped by the aperture stop;
an apodization element having a first optical surface and a second optical surface; and
a negative bi-prism, after the apodization element along the optical axis, for transforming the energy distribution of the laser beam to substantially a single beam spot in a scanning field; and

a scanning mechanism for scanning the laser beam across the scanning field.

2. The system of claim 1 , comprising a wired communication link and/or a wireless communication link for transmitting data to an external system.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the negative bi-prism has an angle of about 0.5 degrees.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which converges to a single beam spot in the scanning field.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots approximately 6 inches from the system.

6. A system, comprising:
a source;
an optics module having an optical axis, wherein the optics module comprises:
an aperture stop for shaping the laser beam to a predetermined diameter;
a collimating lens for collimating the laser beam shaped by the aperture stop;
an apodization element having a first optical surface and a second optical surface; and
a negative bi-prism, after the apodization element along the optical axis, for transforming the energy distribution of the laser beam to substantially a single beam spot in a scanning field;

a scanning mechanism for scanning the laser beam across the scanning field;
a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the scanning field and generating a signal corresponding to the detected light intensity; and
a processor for decoding the generated signal to generate data representative of a symbol in the scanning field.

7. The system of claim 6 , comprising a communication interface for transmitting data to an external system.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the negative bi-prism has an angle of about 0.5 degrees.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which converges to a single beam spot approximately 100 inches from the system.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots approximately 6 inches from the system.

11. The system of claim 6 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots separated by approximately 1.5 millimeters approximately 6 inches from the system.

12. An optics module having an optical axis, the optics module comprising:
an aperture stop for shaping a laser beam to a predetermined diameter, the laser beam having been produced by a source;
a collimating lens for collimating the laser beam shaped by the aperture stop;
an apodization element having a first optical surface and a second optical surface; and
a negative bi-prism, after the apodization element along the optical axis, for transforming the energy distribution of the laser beam to substantially a single beam spot in a scanning field across which a scanning mechanism scans the laser beam.

13. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the negative bi-prism has an angle of about 0.5 degrees.

14. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which converges to a single beam spot in the laser scanning field.

15. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which converges to a single beam spot approximately 100 inches from the optics module.

16. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots in a near-field portion of the laser scanning field.

17. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots approximately 6 inches from the optics module.

18. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the source and the optics module produce a laser beam which degenerates into two beam spots separated by approximately 1.5 millimeters in a near-field portion of the laser scanning field.

19. The optics module of claim 12 , wherein the optics module is in the same system as a photo-detector for detecting the intensity of light reflected from the scanning field and generating a signal corresponding to the detected light intensity.

20. The optics module of claim 19 , wherein the same system comprises a processor for decoding the generated signal to generate data representative of a symbol in the scanning field.

Assignees

• Metrologic Instr Inc

Inventors

• Fritz Bernard
• Cox James Allen
• Reutiman Peter L

Classifications

• G06K7/10831

  Arrangement of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors, prisms (optical elements per se G02B) · CPC title

• G06K7/10633 Primary

  by oscillation · CPC title

• G06K7/10683

  Arrangement of fixed elements · CPC title

• G06K7/10811

  Focalisation · CPC title

• G02B27/0031

  for scanning purposes · CPC title