Abstract: An omnidirectional bar code label scanner includes a conventional deviator comprising a mirror rotating about a main axis at the center of a ring of reflective facets. A thin beam directed along the axis is deviated by 90.degree. to scan the successive facets and form a star pattern with 13 segments in a scanning plane. A light collector aimed at the scanning plane passes light reflected from a bar code label centered at a scanning center to a photosensor. To reduce the accuracy with which the label needs to be centered, a laser beam emitter directs a beam onto a rotating mirror a normal to which is at a small angle of inclination to the rotation axis. The reflected beam traces out a narrow aperture cone and is reflected 90.degree. by the fixed mirror towards the rotating mirror. As a result, the center of the star pattern traces out an ellipse around the scanning center.

Abstract: A barcode label reader comprises a read window having a longer dimension parallel to an X axis and a lens system with an optical axis Y substantially normal to the window at its center which projects a conjugate image of a read line of the label onto a CCD type strip which is scanned sequentially to form a signal representing the barcode carried by the label. A strip of light-emitting diodes is disposed outside the X-Y plane to illuminate the label through the read window. A prismlike lens in the form of two refractors separated by a slot in the X-Y plane deflects the beam emitted by this strip so that it is substantially parallel to the X-Y plane. Thus, the depth of field of the reader is limited only by the aperture of the lens system.