A hand-supportable automatic digital imaging-based bar code symbol reading
device comprises: an automatic object presence detection subsystem; an
area-type image formation and detection subsystem having a narrow-area
image-capture mode of operation; a LED-based illumination subsystem
having narrow-area illumination mode of operation; an image capturing and
buffering subsystem; and an image-processing bar code symbol reading
subsystem. The automatic object presence detection subsystem
automatically detects an object, and the LED-based illumination subsystem
automatically illuminates the detected object in a field of narrow-area
narrow-band illumination, while the area-type image formation and
detection subsystem captures a narrow-area image thereof. The
image-processing bar code symbol reading subsystem automatically and
directly applies decode image processing operations on the captured
image, in an outwardly-directed manner, referenced from the center of the
captured narrow-area image, to automatically read a 1D bar code symbol on
the detected object.