JP2001291076A - Article with bar code and method for displaying bar code - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the recycle of an article and to display a bar code on the outer face of the article by excluding any printing process using ink. SOLUTION: An article 10 with a bar code is provided with a metallic part 16 exposed on the outer face 14 and a laser-developable plastic part 18 exposed on the outer face 14 adjacent to the metallic part 16. A bar code 12 corresponding to the article data is colored and displayed by laser beam irradiation on a surface 18a of the plastic part 18. A sign 20 relate with the bar code 12 is marked in the vicinity of the bar code 12 by the laser beam irradiation on the surface 16a of the metallic part 16. The metallic part 16 may be formed of a metallic part at least partially covering the outer periphery of the article 10. The plastic part 18 may be arranged inside the metallic part, and formed of the exposed part of a plastic part partially exposed to the outer face 14 through an opening 24 formed in the metallic part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar-coded article having a bar code displayed on its outer surface. Further, the present invention relates to a method of displaying a barcode on an article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Displaying barcodes on articles is widely practiced as a means for efficiently recognizing and managing articles in the distribution process (commerce, mail, etc.) of various articles. The barcode is obtained by encoding various data on an article by setting the thickness and intervals of a plurality of bars displayed in parallel in various manners. (Possible positions) enables high-speed and high-precision data reading by a reading device such as a barcode scanner.

Conventionally, this type of bar code is formed by attaching a label obtained by printing a bar code and its related signs (letters, numbers, symbols, etc.) on paper or plastic film, or attaching the label to the article itself or the package of the article. The bar code and its associated indicia are printed directly on the outer surface of the article. In any case, in order to increase the accuracy of the optical reading operation, the bar color of the bar code is usually displayed so as to have a clear contrast with the background color on which the bar code is printed.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional bar code display method, in the method using a label, a different material is attached to the article. It is necessary to remove the label during the process, and as a result, there is a concern that the recycling cost will increase. In addition, since it is generally difficult to remove the ink from the article material in the recycling process, it is prudent not to apply the method of printing the barcode on the article itself when recycling the article. In addition, any of these methods requires measures for the printing process itself and environmental pollution.

[0005] Further, when attempting to display a barcode on an electric or electronic product having a metal part at least partially exposed to the outside, such as an electromagnetic shield plate, the barcode can be displayed due to the product form during distribution. The location may be limited to the surface of the metal component. In such a case, in order to obtain a clear contrast of the bar code display, the above-described label display method is generally employed. However, also in this kind of electric and electronic products, a new method that replaces the conventional bar code display method is desired from the viewpoint of recycling and environmental protection.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a bar-coded article having a bar code displayed on its outer surface, in which the article can be easily recycled and the bar code can be displayed without going through a printing step using ink. An object of the present invention is to provide a bar-coded article that can be advantageously applied to an electric / electronic product having a metal part partially exposed to the outside.

Another object of the present invention is a method of displaying a bar code on an article, wherein the article can be easily recycled and the bar code can be displayed without going through a printing step using ink.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bar code display method which can be advantageously applied to an electric / electronic product having a metal part exposed at least partially on the outer surface.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a bar-coded article having a bar code displayed on an outer surface, a metal portion exposed on the outer surface and a metal portion exposed on the outer surface are provided. A laser-colorable plastic portion exposed on the outer surface adjacent to the barcode, wherein the plastic portion includes a barcode colored by laser light irradiation, and the metal portion is engraved in proximity to the barcode by laser light irradiation. Provided with a bar code-related sign.

[0009] In the bar-coded article having the above structure,
Since the bar code is displayed in color on the plastic portion by the laser beam irradiation, it is possible to avoid using labels and inks made of different kinds of materials. Further, by a series of laser light irradiation steps, color display of a bar code on a plastic portion and marking of a mark on a metal portion can be performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the article with a bar code according to the first aspect, the metal portion is made of a metal part that at least partially covers the outer periphery of the article, and the plastic part is inside the metal part. And a bar-coded article comprising an exposed part of a plastic part partially exposed to an outer surface through an opening formed in the metal part. According to this configuration, it is possible to display a barcode using a metal part and a plastic part inherently included in the article without adding a new part.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the bar-coded article according to the first aspect, the metal portion is made of a metal component that covers at least partially an outer periphery of the article, and the plastic portion is formed of an outer portion of the metal component. The present invention provides a bar-coded article comprising a plastic part attached to a vehicle. According to this configuration, a barcode can be displayed even in a place where a plastic component is not arranged inside a metal component.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying a bar code on an article, wherein a metal portion and a laser-colorable plastic portion are exposed adjacent to each other on the outer surface of the article, and Providing a barcode display method, which comprises: irradiating a laser beam to display a color of a barcode; irradiating a metal portion with the laser beam; and engraving a barcode-related sign at a position close to the barcode. I do.

In the bar code display method having the above-described structure, the bar code is colored and displayed on the plastic portion by irradiating the laser beam, so that the use of labels and inks of different materials can be avoided. Further, by a series of laser light irradiation steps, color display of a bar code on a plastic portion and marking of a mark on a metal portion can be performed.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same or similar components are denoted by common reference numerals. Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of a bar-coded article 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the bar-coded article 10. Article 1 with bar code
0 explicitly includes a bar code 12 encoding various data relating to itself at a desired position on the outer surface 14 of the article 10 (that is, a position that can be read from the outside by a reading device such as a bar code scanner). .

The bar-coded article 10 includes a metal portion 16 exposed on the outer surface 14 and an outer surface 14 adjacent the metal portion 16.
And a plastic portion 18 capable of laser coloring that is exposed to the outside. By irradiating a laser beam to a surface 18a of the plastic portion 18 which is a part of the outer surface 14 of the article, a bar code 12 including a plurality of bars having individual thicknesses and arrangement intervals corresponding to the article data is colored. Is displayed. The metal portion 16 has an outer surface 14 of the article.
By irradiating the surface 16a, which is a part of the bar code 12, with a laser beam, a sign 20 including characters, numerals, symbols, and the like related to the data of the bar code 12 is imprinted near the bar code 12 on the plastic part 18. Have been.

Further, in the bar code display method according to the present invention, a step of exposing a metal portion 16 and a laser-colorable plastic portion 18 on the outer surface 14 of the article 10 so as to be adjacent to each other; Irradiating light to display the bar code 12 in color, and irradiating the metal portion 16 with laser light to
Engraving a barcode-related indicia 20 at a location proximate to 2. Here, the color display of the bar code 12 on the plastic portion 18 and the engraving of the mark 20 on the metal portion 16 can be continuously performed by a series of laser beam irradiation steps.

The metal portion 16 can be formed from various metal materials that can cause a local depression at the irradiation site due to the thermal energy of the laser beam. It is desirable that the metal portion 16 does not have a surface coating such as a coating in order to efficiently concentrate the heat energy of the laser beam on the irradiated portion. In addition, the plastic portion 18 can be formed from various plastic materials that can be colored locally (ie, with high contrast) by the thermal energy of the laser beam. In particular, in order to improve the contrast between the bar color of the bar code 12 and the ground color of the surface 18a, it is advantageous to employ a white plastic material capable of developing a black color or a black plastic material capable of developing a white color. . The plastic part 18 also
Like the metal part 16, it is desirable not to have a surface coating such as painting.

As shown in FIG. 2, the metal portion 16 is exposed on the outer surface 14 at least in part of itself to
Can be formed by a metal component 22 that at least partially covers the outer periphery of the metal. An example of such a metal component 22 is an outer shield member for electromagnetic shielding used in electric and electronic products. In this case, an opening 24 is formed through the metal component 22 at a desired position. Further, the plastic part 18 is arranged inside the metal part 22,
It can be formed from an exposed portion of the plastic component 26 that is partially exposed to the outer surface 14 through the opening 24 provided in the metal component 22.

In the article 10 with a barcode and the barcode display method having the above-described configuration, a barcode label made of a different material such as paper or a plastic film is unnecessary.
Further, the barcode 12 can be displayed on the outer surface 14 of the article without going through a printing process using ink. Therefore, when the bar-coded article 10 is to be recycled, the recycling process is simplified by avoiding the label peeling operation and the ink removing operation, thereby suppressing an increase in recycling costs.
In addition, there is no need to take measures against environmental pollution due to the printing process for displaying the barcode, which is extremely ecological.

In particular, according to the configuration shown in FIG.
Component 22 inherently has
There is an advantage that the bar code 12 can be displayed without adding a new part using the and the plastic part 26. In addition, the bar code 12 that is colored by laser light irradiation can be clearly displayed even with a thin bar of 1 mm or less in thickness.
High-speed and high-precision data reading is possible.

As described above, the bar-coded article 10 and the bar-code display method having the above-described configuration are particularly advantageously applied to an electric / electronic product having a metal part 22 that is at least partially exposed to the outside, such as an electromagnetic shield plate. it can. In such an electric / electronic product, even when the barcode displayable portion is limited to the surface of the metal component 22 due to the product form at the time of distribution, the electromagnetic shielding effect or the like inherently provided by the metal component 22 Impairment of the intended function by bar code display should be avoided as much as possible. From this point of view, the opening 24 formed in the metal component 22 to partially expose the plastic component 26 is reduced to the minimum area necessary for displaying the barcode 12 in color, and the optical reading operation is not required. The sign 20 indicates a metal part 22 near the opening 24.
The above-described configuration in which the mark is imprinted works extremely advantageously.

As an example of such an electric / electronic component, in a keyboard which is an input device of an electronic device such as a personal computer or a word processor, an electromagnetic shielding property is provided on a bottom surface of a lower housing of the keyboard in order to realize a thinner. Having a metal panel attached thereto. In a thin keyboard of this type, a barcode displayable portion during distribution is often limited to a metal panel on the bottom surface, so that the article with a barcode and the barcode display method according to the present invention can be suitably applied.

FIG. 3 shows a modification of the above-described bar-coded article 10. In this modification, the plastic part 26
The part forming the plastic part 18 of the metal part 2
2 is formed as a protruding portion 28 that can be inserted into the opening portion 24 provided in the opening 2. According to such a configuration, the metal component 22
Even if the thickness of the metal portion 16 is relatively large, the surface 18a of the plastic portion 18 can be arranged substantially flush with the surface 16a of the metal portion 16 by forming the protrusion 28 having a height corresponding to the thickness. , High-precision data reading is realized.

FIG. 4 shows a bar-coded article 30 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The bar-coded article 30 has substantially the same configuration as the bar-coded article 10 described above, except that the metal portion 16 and the laser-colorable plastic portion 18 are exposed on the outer surface 14 so as to be adjacent to each other. Therefore, corresponding components are denoted by common reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

In the bar-coded article 30, the metal portion 16
Is a metal part 32 that is exposed on the outer surface 14 at least in part of itself and at least partially covers the outer periphery of the article 30.
Formed by An example of such a metal component 32 is an outer plate member for an electromagnetic shield used in electric and electronic products. Also, the plastic part 18 includes a plastic part 34 attached to the outside of the metal part 32.
Formed from

The plastic part 34 is a tag-like member that defines a substantially flat surface 18a of the plastic part 18, and is attached to and detached from the metal part 32 at a position where the bar code 12 (FIG. 1) can be read from the outside. It is installed freely.
For this purpose, through holes 36 are formed at a plurality of locations in the metal component 32, and correspondingly, the plastic component 34 has
On the back surface 18b opposite to the front surface 18a, the through holes 36
A plurality of locking pieces 38 that can be inserted into the projection are provided. The locking piece 38 inserted into each through hole 36 engages with the back surface 16b of the metal component 32 at the hook portion 38a at the tip thereof so that the plastic component 34 does not easily fall off the metal component 32. Mounted.

It will be understood that the bar code-attached article 30 having the above-described configuration also has the same operation and effect as the bar-coded article 10 described above. In this case, article 3
The plastic part 34 for displaying a bar code may be made of the same material as the plastic part (not shown) that the element 0 essentially has as its constituent part. The configuration of the article 30 with a barcode is particularly effective when there is no plastic component inside the metal component 32 at the barcode displayable location.

[0028]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily recycle articles and display barcodes without going through a printing process using ink. An article and a barcode display method are provided. The invention is particularly advantageously applicable to electrical and electronic products having metal parts that are at least partially exposed to the outside.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an article with a barcode according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a line II-II of a main part of the bar-coded article of FIG. 1;
FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of a main part of the bar-coded article of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a main part of an article with a bar code according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 ... Bar code 14 ... Outer surface 16 ... Metal part 18 ... Plastic part 20 ... Sign 22,22 ... Metal part 24 ... Opening part 26,34 ... Plastic part

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An article with a barcode having a barcode displayed on an outer surface, comprising: a metal portion exposed on the outer surface; and a laser-colorable plastic portion exposed on the outer surface adjacent to the metal portion. The plastic part includes a barcode that is colored by laser light irradiation, and the metal part includes a barcode-related sign that is engraved near the barcode by laser light irradiation. Articles with barcode. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the metal part comprises a metal part that at least partially covers an outer periphery of the article, and the plastic part is disposed inside the metal part and through an opening formed in the metal part. 2. The bar-coded article according to claim 1, comprising an exposed portion of the plastic part partially exposed on the outer surface. 3. The bar coded device according to claim 1, wherein the metal part comprises a metal part that covers at least a part of the outer periphery of the article, and the plastic part comprises a plastic part attached to the outside of the metal part. Goods. 4. A method of displaying a bar code on an article, comprising exposing a metal portion and a laser-colorable plastic portion on an outer surface of the article so as to be adjacent to each other, and irradiating the plastic portion with laser light. Displaying a bar code in color, irradiating the metal part with a laser beam, and engraving a bar code related sign at a position close to the bar code;
A bar code display method.