A scanner determines whether a target is a bar code symbol and, if so, whether that symbol is one-dimensional or two-dimensional. For two-dimensional symbols, the scanner aligns a scanning pattern with the symbol and expands the scanning pattern to reach only to the top and bottom edges of the symbol, not beyond. The scanner also has a microprocessor-control scanning engine that uses a coil to drive a scanning element and pick up feed back signals from the scanning element. A pulse-width-modulated regulator also provides fast and efficient operation for driving the coil. The scanning engine can also be designed to generate a pattern that precesses across the target, and a powerful interface to the scanning engine allows decoding and control logic to work efficiently with and independently of the scan engine.

A control system for a scanning motor that may operate at constant power, which has a control circuit including an H-Bridge connected across the drive coil of the motor. The control circuit operates under microprocessor control for digitally generating selected high current and a low current thresholds, which can be changed to enable the scanning motor to be operative over a large range (e.g. 3.3 v to 8 v) of supply voltage and to control the arc over which the motor oscillates and, therefore, the scan angle of an optical beam which scans a bar code. The control circuit turns the current to the drive coil on and off when the high and low thresholds are reached thereby varying the current which the motor draws which determines the scan angle and scan rate and average current draw, which may be maintained constant for constant power consumption.