JPS61208580A - Data collecting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize efficiently and economically a data collecting system by an optical connection from an equipment to which a data is collected by using a portable data collecting terminal unit provided with a commercial pen type bar code reader of a standard specification. CONSTITUTION:A microprocessor 62 outputs a similar signal to an electric signal obtained by photoelectrically converting a scanning reflected light of a bar code based on a data from a memory 61. Light rays fed from a luminescent section 7 by a flash control based on this signal are converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is amplified by an amplifier and converted into digital signals of '1', '0' by a binary circuit 24. Then these time series signals '1', '0' are decoded by a microprocessor 11 and accumulated in a memory 12. An accumulated data of the memory 12 is read to an external equipment according to the necessity. In the microprocessor 62, a signal to a driving section 63 is formed in a form corresponding one managing data of a series of data from the memory 61 to a bar code symbol.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a data collection method using a portable data collection terminal device, and in particular, data is stored in the data collection device using a portable barcode reader. Concerning the method of collecting data.

(Prior Art) Data input using a barcode reader is used in a wide range of fields, and an example thereof will be explained with reference to FIG. This is an example in which data is collected using a portable data collection terminal device 1 having a pen-shaped barcode reader 2. For example, in supermarkets, barcode labels representing product numbers are affixed to name plates placed near displayed products. When placing a replenishment order for a product, the barcode reader 2 scans the barcode label and inputs the product number to be restocked into the data collection terminal device 1.
Enter the number of replenishment orders using the numeric keypad 3. These data are displayed on the display section 4 and also stored in the memory. The data inputted for each product in this way is outputted all at once by connecting the data output section of the data collection terminal device 1 to the main unit of the product ordering system. Many portable data collection terminal devices equipped with such barcode readers are commercially available at relatively low prices and are highly versatile.

On the other hand, management data of vending machines is also being collected using dedicated data collection equipment. That is, vending machines are usually scattered over a wide area, and replenishment of products, collection of coins, etc. are performed at certain regular intervals. When doing this work, sales by product,
Total sales, quantity of replenishment products, etc. are recorded as management data, but data collection equipment is designed to automatically collect a large amount of management data in a short and easy manner without the hassle of such bookkeeping. be. Conventionally, this data collection device, unlike the above-mentioned barcode reader, automatically collects management data of the vending machine by electrically or optically coupling it to a control section including its storage section. there were. However, the interface condition for this combination is
Currently, the specifications of data collection equipment are not standardized and differ depending on the manufacturer. Operator companies whose business is to replenish products in vending machines use vending machines from different manufacturers, and because each manufacturer has a different ink face, they have to carry multiple types of data collection equipment, which is uneconomical. This caused inconvenience.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) For automatic data collection from vending machines, it is preferable to use the above-mentioned commercially available standardized portable data collection terminal device in terms of versatility, price, etc. . However, this is difficult to implement because the connection interfaces are not unified as described above.

To solve this problem, in the invention of Patent Application No. 60-, a flashing light proportional to the length of the black and white bars of the barcode pattern is emitted to the light detection section of the pen-type barcode reader, and the device is improved. The idea of transmitting side data to a portable data collection terminal device was proposed. Although the present invention is effective in solving the above problems, the detectable wavelength ranges of the photodetectors of some commercially available pen-type barcode reading devices are not necessarily the same. That is, there are some that are sensitive to red wavelengths and others that are sensitive to infrared wavelengths, which has the disadvantage that they may not match the emission wavelength range of the light emitting element described above.

In view of these problems, the present invention aims to easily and quickly collect data from data collection devices such as vending machines by using a portable data collection terminal device equipped with a portable barcode reader. The present invention aims to provide a light emitting unit that can obtain sufficient reading capability even for pen-type barcode readers that have photodetectors with different detectable wavelengths.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The light emitting section according to the present invention is characterized by comprising at least two or more light emitting elements each having different emission wavelength characteristics.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in the case where data is collected from a vending machine using a portable data collection terminal device equipped with a pen-shaped barcode reader.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the coupling relationship between a data sending section and a portable data collection terminal device installed in a vending machine, and the vending machine itself is not shown. The data sending section 5 is composed of a control section 6 that controls the operation of the entire vending machine and a light emitting section 7. Further, the light emitting section 7 is composed of two light emitting elements 7a and 7b. The control unit 6 stores management data to be sent to the portable data collection terminal device in a built-in memory (not shown). The storage method of this management data is the same as the conventional one, and its explanation will be omitted. The data sending section 5 also has an insertion section 51 for the pen-shaped barcode reader 2 provided in the data collection terminal device 1,
A light emitting section 7 is provided in this insertion section 51 . From this light emitting unit 7, two light emitting elements 7a and 7b with different emission wavelengths generate an optical signal that is the same as the scanning reflected light obtained when scanning a bar code with a bar code reader, but this will be described later. .

The pen-shaped barcode reader 2 has a built-in light beam emitting section, and sends out the beam through a ball lens 21 provided at the tip. When a barcode is scanned with the ball lens 21, the reflected light from the barcode surface is reflected by the ball lens 21.
The barcode 6 is focused into the reader 2 through the barcode 6 . The collected light is converted into an electrical signal by a photoelectric conversion section within the barcode reader 2, and this electrical signal is sent to the main body of the data collection terminal device. The data collection terminal device processes the incoming electrical signals and decodes the data represented by the barcode. The configurations and operations of the barcode reader and data collection terminal device main body as described above are well known, and detailed explanations thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, when collecting data from a vending machine, the pen-shaped barcode reader 2 is inserted into the insertion section 51.

The light emitting unit 7 is the ball lens 2 of the inserted barcode reader 2.
It is provided at a position opposite to 1. As a result, the optical signal from the light emitting section 7 is focused into the barcode reader 2 by the ball lens 21, and converted into an electric signal by a photoelectric conversion section (not shown). Note that the barcode reader 2 sends out a scanning beam of light through a spherical lens 21.
When this light beam illuminates the light emitting section 7, reflected light is captured through the ball lens 21. If this level is large, the light signal from the light emitting section 7 becomes noise, so the positional relationship between the light emitting section 7 and the ball lens 21 is set so that the reflected light from the light emitting section 7 is sufficiently weak. . This can be realized, for example, by moving the installation position of the light emitting unit 7 away from the focal position of the ball lens 21.

The optical signal from the light emitting unit 7 is the same as the reflected light obtained when the barcode is scanned with a beam of light in the barcode reader 2, and this will be explained below.

Figure 4 shows J A N (Japanese Artic
This is an example of a barcode symbol based on the LE Number) standard.

When the barcode reader 2 touches and scans the barcode 10 in the direction of the arrow, the photoelectric conversion unit in the barcode reader 2 generates a time-series electric signal (partially shown) as shown in FIG.
is obtained. Note that the photoelectric conversion section includes a binarization circuit, and the signal shown in FIG. 5 is a binarized digital signal. The data collection terminal device uses a built-in microprocessor to perform predetermined processing on digital signals and collects information (usually
digit string information).

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the control unit 6 and the portable data collection terminal device in a block diagram.

The control unit includes a memory 61 that stores management data for the vending machine, a microprocessor 62 that reads data from this memory 61 and performs predetermined processing, and a light emitting unit based on signals from the microprocessor 62. 7 and a drive section 63 that controls the blinking of the light. Based on the data from the memory 61, the microprocessor 62 outputs a signal similar to the electrical signal obtained by photoelectrically converting the scanning reflected light of the bar code. The light beams sent out from the light emitting section 7 under blinking control based on this signal are focused by the ball lens 21 onto the photoelectric conversion element 22 and converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is amplified by an amplifier 23, and then converted into a binary signal by a binarization circuit 24.

“This IT I
F.T.

The time series signal of er_Otr is decoded by the microprocessor 11 and then stored in the memory 12. The data stored in the memory 12 is read out to an external device as necessary.

The barcode symbol may be a black bar or a black bar depending on the standard.
The number and configuration of white bars are determined, so the microprocessor 62 sends a signal to the drive unit 63 in a format in which one piece of management data out of a series of data from the memory 61 corresponds to one barcode symbol. to make.

International standards have already been established for barcode symbols, such as UPC in the United States, EAN in Europe, and JAN in Japan. In addition, NW-
Several standards such as 7 and Code 39 have been established. A typical portable data collection terminal device has a barcode decoding function compatible with each of the above standards. For this reason, the control unit 6 also has a flashing control method for the light emitting unit 7 that corresponds to the various standards mentioned above, and by specifying the barcode standard as necessary, it can be configured to correspond to the specified barcode standard. Since optical signals are sent out, interface specifications can be standardized.

Incidentally, the wavelength sensitivity of the photoelectric conversion element 22 built into a commercially available pen-shaped barcode reader may differ depending on the model. For example, some have sensitivity peaks at red wavelengths, others have sensitivity peaks at infrared wavelengths. In such a case, there is a drawback that sufficient output cannot be obtained unless the emission wavelength of the light emitting section matches the sensitivity wavelength characteristics of the photoelectric conversion element 22.

This is illustrated by a concrete example in the figure. FIG. 6 is a spectral sensitivity characteristic diagram of a silicone PIN photodiode with an infrared filter. If this photodiode is a photoelectric conversion element 22 built into a pen-type barcode reader, the emission spectrum of the light emitting element of the light emitting section 7 may be caused by a GaAs infrared light emitting diode as shown in FIG. For example, the wavelength characteristics match and a sufficient output electric signal can be obtained. However, if the emission spectrum of the light emitting element of the light emitting section 7 is based on a GaAsP red light emitting diode as shown in FIG. Because they do not match, the output electrical signal of the photoelectric conversion element 22 becomes small, and signal transmission from the light emitting section 7 becomes impossible.

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, the light emitting section 7 includes two light emitting elements 7a having different emission wavelength characteristics.
, 7b. Specifically, the light emitting elements 7a and 7b are light emitting diodes shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively. In this way, a sufficient output electric signal can be obtained regardless of whether the spectral sensitivity of the photoelectric conversion element 22 is in the infrared or red.

However, at this time, it is assumed that the light emitting elements 7a and 7b are arranged sufficiently close to each other, and the light from both of them is focused on the photoelectric conversion element 22.

Although a pen-shaped barcode reader was used in the above embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable to all portable data collection terminal devices equipped with a portable barcode reader. Furthermore, the data collecting device is not limited to vending machines.

Further, the number of light emitting elements may be three or more as necessary.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, even if the wavelength sensitivity characteristics of the built-in photoelectric conversion element vary, a commercially available pen-shaped pen with standard specifications, portable data with a code reader, etc. By using the collection terminal device, it is possible to efficiently and economically realize a data collection method using optical coupling from the data collection target device. That is, in data collection equipment such as vending machines that are already installed, it may be difficult to add and modify the data sending unit later. Even in such cases, if you use a portable data collection terminal equipped with a barcode reader and use the normal barcode scanning data collection method, you can input the product code using the bar code printed on the product. Accurate data can be collected in a short time by scanning codes or scanning a correspondence table between product names and barcodes.

In this way, in the data collection method according to the present invention, the same data collection terminal device can be used in common not only when the data collection device is equipped with a data transmission section, but also when it is not equipped with a data transmission section, and it is possible to use the same data collection terminal device for both collections. The effect is that work efficiency can be improved by collecting data and transferring it to the master device all at once.

Further, due to standardization in which the optical coupling signal standard is defined by the internationally standardized bar code standard, there is an effect that a large number of models can be selected as a portable data collection terminal device. For example, when a lower-priced portable data collection terminal device becomes available, an economical data collection system can be created by adopting it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a coupled state of a data collection device and a portable data collection terminal device in order to explain the data collection method according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the method of the present invention, and FIG. A schematic diagram of an example of a portable data collection terminal device, Fig. 4 shows an example of a barcode symbol, and Fig. 5 shows a part of the electrical signal obtained by optically scanning this with a barcode reader. Figure 6 is a spectral sensitivity characteristic diagram of a photodiode with an infrared filter, and Figure 7 is a Ga
FIG. 8 is a diagram of the emission spectrum of an As infrared light-emitting diode, and FIG. 8 is a diagram of the emission spectrum of a GaAsP red light-emitting diode. 1... Portable data collection terminal device 2... Pen-shaped barcode reader 6... Control section 7... Light emitting section s1 Figure 3 Figure 6 Wavelength λ (*lI) Figure 7 Wavelength λ (1-) GaAs ← 5 diodes (infrared) Figure 8 λ 6 list n Ga AsP light emitting diode Patent Application No. 49898 of 1985 2, Title of the invention 3, Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment Patent applicant Telephone: (0270) 24-1211 Name (184) Sanden Co., Ltd. 4, Date of amendment order (Attachment) ) This resulted in uneconomical and inconvenient conditions. (Problem to be solved by the invention) For automatic data collection from vending machines, it is better to use the commercially available standardized data collection terminal device mentioned above in terms of versatility, price, etc. preferable. However, this is difficult to implement because the connection interfaces are not unified as described above. To solve this problem, in the invention of Patent Application No. 60-9817, a flashing light proportional to the length of the chalk bar of the barcode pattern is emitted to the light detection section of the pen-type barcode reader. An idea was proposed to transmit data from the device to a portable data collection terminal. Although this invention is effective in solving the above-mentioned problems, the detectable wavelength ranges of the photodetectors of commercially available pen-type barcode readers are not necessarily the same. , some are sensitive to infrared wavelengths,
Emission wavelength range and procedure correction of the above light emitting elements
Calligraphy (spontaneous) December 13, 1985

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least two or more light-emitting elements that convert the data to be collected into a time-series optical signal that is the same as the reflected light obtained by optically scanning a barcode and send it out, and each has different emission wavelength characteristics. 1. A data collection method characterized in that each data collection target device is provided with a data transmission unit having a data collection unit, and data is collected by converting the time-series optical signal into an electrical signal using a portable barcode reader.