JP2001155108A - Method and device for reading information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reading method and a reader of character, barcode and two-dimensional code which are marked in a spectacle lens on form block. SOLUTION: Marked information 2 on a spectacle lens 1 is irradiated with light transmitted by the lens 1 and is read by the reader 6. The information 2 on the lens 1 is made to appear in dark color by moving the lens 1 away from an illuminator 5 by more than a prescribed distance, and the reader 6 can obtain a clear gradation pattern. Working instructions in which barcodes are printed are not needed by using the identification number of the lens 1 recognized by the reader so that the operation to check the lens 1 with the working instructions can be abolished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reading information imprinted on a transparent body, and more particularly to a method for reading information imprinted on a spectacle lens or a mold used in a manufacturing process of a spectacle lens. And a reading device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Spectacle lenses can be broadly classified into standard products, which are manufactured in batches of several to several tens of prescription ranges, which are ordered in large quantities, and custom-made products, which are manufactured in single units in accordance with customer orders. . In recent years, the ratio of custom-made products has increased. For example, after ordering, shipments take about 3 to 8 days. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure delivery time management. The process flow management, such as whether it has been done, is performed finely.

[0003] For spectacle lenses ordered by customers,
In order to ensure the process flow control, the host computer in the manufacturing process assigns and manages a unique identification number to each spectacle lens, and attaches a processing instruction printed with the identification number to the spectacle lens. Flowing through the manufacturing process.

[0004] The content printed on the processing instruction sheet is, for example, information used for various processing in the manufacturing process or an identification number used for the process flow management described above. The identification number is printed in the form of a character indicating the identification number, a bar code, or a two-dimensional code.

Various processes are performed by an operator,
Some processing is performed by a processing device operated by an operator.When processing is performed by the processing device, the barcode printed on the processing instruction sheet is read and the processing information corresponding to the identification number is processed by the host computer. From
I am processing eyeglass lenses.

Further, in order to transmit the time and status of passing through each process to the host computer for each spectacle lens, an operator uses a bar code or a two-dimensional code printed on the processing instruction sheet. Work is being performed on the terminal.

As described above, in the process of manufacturing a custom-made product, a processing instruction sheet that flows along with the spectacle lens is required. After the work is done, the work is done to match the eyeglass lens with the working instructions again.

[0008]

[0005] Such a matching operation, which is a work that does not produce added value, requires a large number of man-hours, and is one of the factors that increase the manufacturing cost of the spectacle lens. In addition, there is a high possibility that a plurality of spectacle lenses and a processing instruction sheet may be incorrectly combined, which causes confusion in process flow and causes a delivery delay.

As a method of solving the confusion in the process flow,
A method was considered in which an identification number was added to the spectacle lens to facilitate the matching operation with the processing instruction sheet. As a method of adding information to the spectacle lens, a laser marking method can be cited as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-095086. With this method, characters, bar codes, and two-dimensional codes can be engraved. The letters were sufficiently available for identification by workers.

However, when characters on the surface of the spectacle lens are automatically read and used by a terminal of a host computer or a processing device, the characters must be extracted and recognized by image processing technology or the like. Further, when reading and using bar codes or two-dimensional codes indicating similar information instead of characters, these engraved information must be obtained in a black and white pattern on the reading side. But,
The spectacle lens is transparent, and the information engraved by the laser marking method is also transparent because it is not colored. Furthermore, depending on the order of the customer, the spectacle lens may be colored, the amount of light transmitted through the spectacle lens is attenuated at various ratios depending on the color and density, and the engraving information by the laser marking method is also visible to the operator's eyes. Visibility is significantly reduced. Due to such characteristics of the spectacle lens, stable character extraction and character recognition cannot be performed under normal room illumination even by using an image processing technique. Similarly, it is difficult to obtain a good shading pattern from an imprinted barcode or two-dimensional code, and it has been impossible to use it as a substitute for a barcode in a processing instruction.

For this reason, a processing instruction is required, and the work of matching the spectacle lens with the processing instruction cannot be abolished, and the cost of the eyeglass lens has been increased by a work that does not create added value.

The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a method and apparatus for reading information imprinted on a spectacle lens, which is used in a manufacturing process of the spectacle lens. The purpose is to:

[0013]

According to the present invention, when light applied to a spectacle lens passes through information engraved on the spectacle lens, the light is refracted more rapidly than its peripheral portion,
Since it deviates from the optical axis on the reading device side, the engraved portion rises darkly with respect to the bright peripheral portion, and a good shading pattern can be obtained. This light and shade pattern can be stably read by a code reader as a reading device or a CCD camera attached to an image processing device.

Further, depending on the shape of the spectacle lens, the irradiation light is bent by the refraction action, and the irradiation area of the engraved portion is not sufficiently secured. However, a lens for adjusting the refraction is provided between the illumination device and the spectacle lens. By the insertion, the irradiation area can be adjusted and a good shading pattern can be obtained.

Further, with respect to the colored spectacle lens, a light amount detecting means is arranged on the reading device side, and the irradiation light amount of the illumination device is adjusted so that the light amount transmitted through the spectacle lens becomes a predetermined amount, or By setting the wavelength of the illuminating device itself to a wavelength that is hardly attenuated by the colored spectacle lens, a good shading pattern can be obtained.

[0016] By combining the methods described above,
With a reading device such as a code reader or a CCD camera attached to the image processing device, the information engraved on the spectacle lens can be read and used, making processing instructions unnecessary and requiring a lot of man-hours. The work of aligning the instructions and the spectacle lens can be eliminated, and the cost of the spectacle lens can be reduced.

Therefore, in the information reading method and the reading apparatus according to the present invention, the invention of claim 1 is an information reading method, wherein the information imprinted on a transparent body is read by irradiating the information with transmitted light. And a method for reading information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information reading method according to the first aspect, one or more lenses are inserted between the transparent body and the lighting device according to the refractive power of the transparent body.
An information reading method is provided, in which an irradiation area on a transparent body is adjusted by adjusting a refraction direction of a light beam.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading method according to the first or second aspect, wherein the transparent body is colored.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information reading method according to the third aspect, a predetermined amount of transmitted light is obtained.
Provided is a method for reading information, which comprises adjusting an irradiation light amount.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading method according to the third aspect, wherein light having a wavelength that is hardly attenuated by the transparent body is applied.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading method according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the transparent body is an eyeglass lens or a mold.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the information reading method according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the information imprinted on the transparent body is any one of a character string, a bar code, a two-dimensional code, and a mark. There is provided a method for reading information characterized by including one.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information reading apparatus, comprising: a holding unit for holding a transparent body; an illuminating device for irradiating the transparent body; a reading apparatus for reading information engraved on the transparent body; There is provided an information reading apparatus comprising one or more irradiation area adjusting lenses inserted between a transparent body and an illuminating device according to the refractive power of the body.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading method according to the eighth aspect, wherein the transparent body is colored.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the information reading apparatus according to the ninth aspect, there is provided a light amount detecting means for detecting a transmitted light amount, and a light amount adjusting means for adjusting an irradiation light amount of the illumination device according to the detected light amount. An information reading device provided with:

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading apparatus according to the ninth aspect, wherein the illumination device emits light having a wavelength that is hardly attenuated by the transparent body.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the information reading apparatus according to any one of the eighth to eleventh aspects, wherein the transparent body is an eyeglass lens or a mold. .

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the information reading apparatus according to any one of the eighth to twelfth aspects, the information imprinted on the transparent body includes a character string, a bar code, a two-dimensional code,
An information reading device including any one of marks is provided.

[0030]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an information reading apparatus according to the present invention. An eyeglass lens 1 is placed on a holding means 4 by a transport means 3 (not shown). The holding means 4 may be of any type as long as it has transparency to the irradiation light of the illumination device 6, such as glass and plastic. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, if the surface of the spectacle lens 1 is held in the conveying means 3 so that the engraved information is not hidden, the holding means 4 may be omitted. of course,
When holding the spectacle lens 1 by hand, neither the holding means 4 nor the transport means 3 is required.

When the spectacle lens 1 has a strong concave shape, the irradiation light from the illumination device 6 is refracted by the refraction action of the spectacle lens 1, and the marking information 2 on the spectacle lens 1 cannot be sufficiently irradiated. In such a case, one or more irradiation area adjusting lenses 5 are inserted between the spectacle lens 1 and the illumination device 6 to adjust the irradiation area on the spectacle lens 1. In the irradiation area adjusting lens 5, the spectacle lens 1 has a convex shape or a weak concave shape, or has no refraction action (the radius of curvature of both surfaces is the same), or the distance between the illumination device 6 and the spectacle lens 1 is reduced. Not necessary in some cases.

The illuminating device 6 arranged at a predetermined position below the spectacle lens 1 is a flat illuminating device for irradiating the spectacle lens 1 with uniform light. The distance between the upper surface of the spectacle lens 1 and the lighting device 6 is, for example, 20 mm or more. In this case, the engraving depth of the engraving information 2 is 0.03 to 0.2 mm. Further, the distance between the upper surface of the spectacle lens 1 and the illumination device 6 can be reduced. By increasing the distance from the lighting device 6, the vector of the light emitted from the lighting device 6 and reaching the spectacle lens 1 has a substantially constant component. When such light is applied to the engraved information 2 on the spectacle lens 1, the transmitted light travels in the optical axis direction of the reading device 7 while gently refracting in the peripheral portion where the engraving is not performed. The amount of light can be obtained and it can be detected brightly. On the other hand, in the portion where the shape is deformed by the engraving, the irradiation light is sharply refracted, and the transmitted light hardly proceeds in the optical axis direction on the reading device 7 side. As a result, the engraved portion such as a character or a two-dimensional code becomes dark, and the other portions become bright, so that the reading device 7 can detect it as a good density pattern.

The light emitted from the illumination device 6 is visible light,
When the spectacle lens 1 is colored, the light is attenuated in the process of transmitting the illuminating light. As shown in FIG. 3, the amount of transmitted light is detected by the light amount detecting means 10 provided on the reading device 7 side. The light amount of the illuminating device 6 may be adjusted by performing detection and performing feedback to the illuminating device adjusting means 11 so that the reading device 7 can obtain sufficient brightness. In addition, if light having a wavelength that is hardly attenuated by the colored spectacle lens 1 such as infrared light is used instead of visible light, light amount adjustment is unnecessary. For example, when a general CCD element is used on the detection side, sufficient sensitivity can be obtained even with near-infrared light having a wavelength of 800 nm to 900 nm.
D or the like may be used as the light source of the lighting device 6.

The reading device 7 is, for example, a code reader having a built-in CCD element, and is used for reading bar codes and two-dimensional codes. The distance between the reading device 7 and the surface of the spectacle lens 1 cannot be said unconditionally because it varies depending on various conditions such as the type of camera lens attached to the code reader, the reading field of view, and the like. For example, the focal length is 25 mm and the maximum aperture ratio is 1: 1.8mm camera lens, close-up ring 10mm
When the field of view is set to 16 mm × 12 mm, the range is preferably 10 mm or more and 95 mm or less. is there. The read barcode or two-dimensional code information is decoded by the decoder 8 and transmitted to the terminal 9 of the host computer via a communication line such as RS-232C. The terminal 9 includes a case connected to a processing device (not shown) and a case used for process flow management. Give to the device. In the latter case, in order to perform the process flow management, the identification number read at the end of processing of the process and data such as the processing end time are transmitted to the host computer together.

The reading device 7 is not a code reader but C
If it is used instead of a CD camera and connected to an image processing device (not shown), it becomes possible to recognize an identification number engraved as a character by pattern matching. After extracting characters by the image processing apparatus and comparing the character with an alphanumeric character or the like registered in advance as a pattern and recognizing the identification number, and transmitting the identification number to the terminal 9, similar to the example of FIG. In addition, input for processing data inquiry and process flow management is possible.

Although the spectacle lens has been described above, a glass mold used as a molding die of a plastic spectacle lens can be similarly read by the present invention.

[0038]

As described above, according to the information reading method and the information reading apparatus of the present invention, characters, bar codes, two-dimensional codes and marks engraved on the spectacle lens can be read and used. The processing instruction accompanying the document becomes unnecessary. Accordingly, the work of aligning the processing instruction sheet and the spectacle lens, which has conventionally required a large number of man-hours, can be eliminated, and the cost of the spectacle lens can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an information reading device used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of an information reading device used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing still another example of the information reading device used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Eyeglass lens 2. Engraving information 3. 3. Conveying means Holding means 5. 5. Irradiation area adjusting lens Lighting device 7. Reader 8. Decoder 9. Terminal 10. Light intensity detecting means 11. Light intensity adjustment means

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A method for reading information, comprising irradiating information imprinted on a transparent body with transmitted light and reading the information. 2. The information reading method according to claim 1, wherein
In accordance with the refractive power of the transparent body, one or more lenses are inserted between the transparent body and the illuminating device to adjust the refraction direction of the light beam to adjust the irradiation area on the transparent body. Method of reading information. 3. The information reading method according to claim 1, wherein the transparent body is colored. 4. The information reading method according to claim 3, wherein
A method for reading information, comprising adjusting an irradiation light amount so as to obtain a predetermined transmitted light amount. 5. The information reading method according to claim 3, wherein
A method for reading information, comprising irradiating light having a wavelength that is not easily attenuated by a transparent body. 6. The information reading method according to claim 1, wherein the transparent body is a spectacle lens or a mold. 7. The information reading method according to claim 1, wherein the information engraved on the transparent body includes any one of a character string, a bar code, a two-dimensional code, and a mark. A method for reading information. 8. An information reading apparatus, comprising: a holding means for holding a transparent body; an illuminating device for irradiating the transparent body; a reading apparatus for reading information imprinted on the transparent body; An information reading apparatus, comprising one or more irradiation area adjusting lenses inserted between the transparent body and the lighting device accordingly. 9. The information reading method according to claim 8, wherein
An information reading device, wherein a transparent body is colored. 10. An information reading apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a light amount detecting means for detecting a transmitted light amount, and a light amount adjusting means for adjusting an irradiation light amount of said lighting device according to the detected light amount. Information reading device. 11. An information reading apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said illuminating device emits light having a wavelength that is hardly attenuated by a transparent body. 12. An information reading apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said transparent body is a spectacle lens or a mold. 13. The information reading apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the information imprinted on the transparent body is one of a character string, a bar code, a two-dimensional code, and a mark.
An information reading device, comprising: