JP2004355451A - Bar code reading device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bar code reading device which makes it possible to input bar code data without requiring manual operation from a POS register even if a bar code reading error occurs. <P>SOLUTION: The bar code reading device 1 has a decoder for optically reading a bar code by means of a CCD sensor 5 and analyzing the data read, and a voice recognition circuit for recognizing voice inputted via a microphone 6. The device can be switched by means of a changeover switch 7 to either the optical reading using the CCD sensor 5 or the voice input using the microphone 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a barcode reading device and a barcode reading method, and more particularly to a barcode reading device and a barcode reading method for reading a barcode printed on a product label.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, for example, in a barcode reader connected to a POS register, a barcode printed on a product label is optically read, the read barcode is decoded, and the barcode data is transferred to the POS register. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a conventional CCD scanner. In FIG. 6, a scanner 50 irradiates a bar code (not shown) printed on a label 52 with light emitted by an LED 51 and illuminates a bar code image with a mirror 53 and a mirror 53. The image is projected on a CCD sensor 55 via a lens 54, and an electric signal is output from the CCD sensor 55. That is, the electrical signal in the bar portion of the bar code outputs a small signal because the reflected light is small, and the electrical signal in the space portion of the bar code outputs a large signal because the reflected light is large. The electrical signal is amplified by the controller 56, converted from an analog signal to a digital signal, decoded, analyzed for a barcode, and transferred to a POS register of an external device or the like via an interface (not shown).
[0003]
However, a reading error may occur because the printed barcode cannot be decoded. In general, a reading error is caused by a barcode reading device such as an inappropriate reading angle with respect to a barcode, or a printing error of a barcode in which a void or a spot exists in a barcode of a product label. Also, even if the barcode printing accuracy is good, if characters or graphics are printed in the margins (quiet zone) before and after the barcode, a reading error may occur because signals other than the barcode are input. I do.
When a reading error occurs, the reading operation is repeatedly performed by changing the reading angle, etc. If the reading error still occurs, it is determined that the bar code is not properly printed, and the user can use the POS register keyboard to input the product code using the keyboard. I was typing manually.
As a countermeasure for a reading error, a barcode abnormality identification device that automatically verifies whether a barcode reading error is caused by a barcode reading device or a barcode printing defect and displays the error on a display unit is known. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-45306
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the above-mentioned patent document, the user can only recognize whether the reading error is caused by the reading device or the barcode itself, and the problem of the reading error has not been solved. Further, even if the user can recognize that the reading error is caused by the barcode itself, the user must end up inputting the product code from the POS register, that is, the product held by the user in both hands for reading the barcode and It was necessary to release the reader once and input the product code from the keyboard of the POS register, which required a very complicated operation.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a barcode reading apparatus capable of inputting barcode data without complicated manual input operation even if a barcode reading error occurs. And a bar code reading method.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bar code reading device, comprising: a reading unit that optically reads a bar code; a decoding unit that decodes a bar code read by the reading unit; And voice recognition means for recognizing the code information input by the voice input means.
Further, it may further include a switching unit for switching between the reading unit or the voice input unit.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bar code reading apparatus, wherein: a storage means for storing an error upper limit value; a counting means for counting the number of reading errors; a reading error number counted by the counting means; And a comparing means for comparing the error upper limit value stored in the step (c), and when the error value is equal to the reading error count by the comparing means, switching to the voice input means is performed.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a barcode reading method, wherein a barcode is optically read, and when a reading error occurs, the barcode is switched to voice input and voice information of the barcode is input.
Further, when the reading error occurs a predetermined number of times, the input can be switched to the voice input.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic side view of a barcode reader 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the barcode reader 1 mainly includes an LED 2, a mirror 3, a lens 4, a CCD sensor 5, a microphone 6, a changeover switch 7, and a control unit 8. .
[0008]
A plurality of LEDs 2 are arranged, uniformly irradiate the bar code 10 printed on the label 9 shown in FIG. 2 with light, and reflect light from the bar code 10 via the mirror 3 to the image of the bar code 10. Is projected on the CCD sensor 5 by the lens 4. The image projected on the CCD sensor 5 as a reading means is converted into an electric signal and output to the control unit 8, and converted into a digital signal by an amplifier circuit and an A / D converter circuit (not shown) to analyze the bar code 10.
The microphone 6 is used to input the code information 11 printed on the label by voice, and the microphone 6 is turned on and off by pressing the changeover switch 7.
[0009]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram mainly showing a configuration of the control unit 8 of the barcode reading device 1 according to the embodiment of FIG. The control unit 8 operates according to a predetermined control program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 20 and controls each unit, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 19, and a RAM (Random) for temporarily storing various information. Access Memory 21, an LED control unit 22 that controls the LED 2 that irradiates the barcode 10 with light, and an analog electric signal from the CCD sensor 5 that reflects light reflected from the barcode 10 by the LED 2. A decoder 23 that converts the digital signal into a digital signal by an amplifier and an A / D conversion circuit that does not analyze the bar code information, a voice recognition circuit 24 that recognizes the voice input to the microphone 6, and an optical reading or Control voice recognition switching It includes a switching control unit 25, a. These units are connected to the CPU 19 via the data bus 26, and transfer the barcode information to an external device such as the POS register 30 via the interface 27 under the control of the CPU 19.
[0010]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method of using the barcode reader 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, which will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the bar code 10 printed on the label 9 of the product is irradiated by the LED 2, the reflected light is projected on the CCD sensor 5 via the mirror 3 and the lens 4 and read (step S1), and the analog signal is converted into a digital signal. Then, a decoding process is performed by the decoder 23 (step S2).
[0011]
That is, the decoder 23 identifies the quiet zone, the start code and the stop code, the bar code type, and the bar code character, checks the check digit, and if there is no reading error (step S3), the data is read. Is converted into an ASCII code or the like, written into an output signal buffer, and transferred to an external device such as the POS register 30 via the interface 27 (step S4).
[0012]
If the decoding process is not correctly performed in the decoding process in step S2, a reading error occurs in step S3, and the process proceeds to step S5.
In the decoding process, for example, if there is not enough quiet zone before and after the bar code, the start code and stop code cannot be recognized correctly, if the character configuration of the recognized bar code type is different, or if the check digit result is incorrect, it will be read. An error occurs.
In addition, a reading error occurs when the bar code is read with a camera shake or when the reading angle with respect to the bar code 10 is too small to cause a mirror reflection.
[0013]
If it is determined in step S5 that the changeover switch 7 of the barcode reader 1 has not been pressed, the process returns to step 1 and the barcode 10 is read again. If it is determined in step 5 that the changeover switch 7 of the barcode reading device 1 has been pressed, the microphone 6 is activated (step S6).
[0014]
When code information 11 including a bar code country code, a product maker code, a product item code, a check digit, and the like is input into the microphone 6 by voice (step S7), the voice is recognized by the voice recognition circuit 24 (step S8). As a result, when a voice recognition error occurs (step S9), the process returns to step S7, and voice input is performed again. When voice recognition can be performed, the process proceeds to step S10.
[0015]
The recognized audio signal is converted into a digital signal and decoded by the decoder 23 (step S10). The data is converted into an ASCII code or the like and written into an output signal buffer. (Step S4).
[0016]
As described above, in the first embodiment of the present invention, when a reading error occurs when the barcode 10 is optically read, the microphone 6 is activated by the changeover switch 7 to enable switching to the voice recognition. Therefore, the troublesome work of manually inputting the code information 11 from the keyboard of the POS register 30 can be eliminated, and the information of the bar code 10 can be input to the POS register 30 relatively easily by inputting the code information 11 of the bar code 10 by voice. it can.
[0017]
Further, even if the bar code reading error is caused by the bar code reading device 1 or the bar code 10 cannot be optically read due to a printing error, the bar code is not transmitted to the external device connected to the bar code reading device 1. You can enter information.
[0018]
Further, in the present invention, the switching between the optical reading and the voice input of the barcode reading device can be automatically switched without using the switch.
[0019]
For example, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of using the barcode reading device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, which will be described with reference to FIG. Further, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
[0020]
First, the error count upper limit value m is set in the RAM 21 in advance (step S21), the error count n is set to 0 (step S22), and the process proceeds to step S23 to read the bar code 10 optically. The decoding process of the optically read barcode data is performed (step S24). When a reading error occurs (step S25), the process proceeds to step S27.
[0021]
The number of errors n is set to n + 1 by the counting means of the CPU 19, the number of errors is counted, and the error number upper limit value m set in step S21 is compared with the error number n by the comparing means. When n <m, the process returns to step S23 to optically read the barcode again.
[0022]
If it is determined in step S28 that the error count n is equal to the error count upper limit m, the microphone 6 is automatically activated to switch from optical reading to speech recognition (step S29). The code information 11 is input into the microphone 6 by voice (step S30), and the voice is recognized by the voice recognition circuit 24 (step S31). As a result, when a voice recognition error occurs (step S32), the process returns to step S30, and the voice is again output. Make the input. If no recognition error has occurred in step S32, the process proceeds to step S33, in which the recognized audio signal is converted into a digital signal and decoded by the decoder 23 (step S33), and the data is converted into an ASCII code or the like. The data is converted, written into the output signal buffer, and transferred to an external device such as the POS register 30 via the interface 27 (step S26).
[0023]
If no reading error has occurred in step S25, the process also proceeds to step S26, where the data is converted into an ASCII code or the like, written into an output signal buffer, and transferred to an external device such as the POS register 30 via the interface 27. .
[0024]
As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, when the number of reading errors that occur when optically reading the barcode 10 reaches the predetermined number, the microphone 6 is activated to automatically perform the voice recognition. And the switching operation can be reduced.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
By providing a reading means for optically reading a barcode and a voice inputting means for inputting a product code by voice, even if the barcode cannot be read optically due to poor printing, only the code information is read out The bar code information can be transferred to an external device connected to the bar code reader. In addition, the user does not need to manually input the product code using the keyboard of the POS register, and a smooth accounting process can be performed.
In addition, when the number of errors by the reading unit reaches a predetermined number, switching to the voice input unit is performed, so that the switching operation can be reduced and smoother accounting processing can be performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of a barcode reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a label on which a barcode and code information are printed.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of the barcode reading device in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the barcode reading device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a barcode reading device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view showing a conventional bar code reader.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Barcode reader 2 LED
3 Mirror 4 Lens 5 CCD sensor 6 Microphone 7 Changeover switch 8 Control unit 9 Label 10 Barcode 11 Code information 19 CPU
20 ROM
21 RAM
22 LED control unit 23 Decoder 24 Voice recognition circuit 25 Switching control unit 26 Data bus 27 Interface 30 POS register 50 Scanner 51 LED
52 Label 53 Mirror 54 Lens 55 CCD Sensor 56 Control Unit

Claims (5)

Reading means for optically reading a barcode;
Decoding means for decoding the barcode read by the reading means;
Voice input means for inputting bar code information by voice,
Voice recognition means for recognizing the code information input by the voice input means,
A bar code reader comprising: 2. The bar code reader according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit for switching between the reading unit and the voice input unit. Storage means for storing an error upper limit value;
Counting means for counting the number of reading errors,
Comparing means for comparing the number of read errors counted by the counting means with an error upper limit value stored in the storage means,
2. The barcode reading device according to claim 1, wherein when the error upper limit value is equal to the number of reading errors by the comparing unit, the switching to the voice input unit is performed. A bar code reading method comprising: reading a bar code optically; switching to voice input when a reading error occurs; 5. The bar code reading method according to claim 4, wherein the input is switched to a voice input when the reading error occurs a predetermined number of times.

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