Laser scanning with improved decoding

A scanning apparatus (10) for decoding an encoded symbol character of a symbology includes a laser source (26) operable to emit a beam along an axis (28) and illuminate a target (30). The target includes an encoded symbol character. A focusing apparatus in optical communication with the laser source focuses the beam on the target at an object distance, and a detector (92) receives light of varying intensities scattered from the encoded symbol character and converts the light into a first signal. A digitizer (97) converts the first signal to a digital bit stream. The scanning apparatus further includes pre-stored information (100) correlating a non-standard symbol pattern to a valid symbol character according to a standard definition of the symbology. The non-standard symbol pattern comprises a first number of elements that deviates from a second number of elements associated with the valid symbol character. A decoder (95) receives the digital bit stream and utilizes the pre-stored information for decoding the signal.