JP2007109046A - Mobile type imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce time and effort of assembly by providing sufficient light shielding property in spite of bright color appearance and reducing parts number in a mobile type imaging apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: A bar code reader 10 can make a housing case 20 itself have a light shielding property, since inner side members 22i and 24i of the housing case 20 comprise resin material of high light shielding property such as black. Consequently it becomes not necessary to set up a light shielding member in the housing case 20 and the structure can be simplified, parts number decreases, and the time and effort of assembly can be reduced. Also the housing case 20 being provided with sufficient light shielding property, while being enhanced in the design property by using bright tone such as ivory for external members 22o and 24o can be realized. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a portable imaging device such as a barcode reader or a mobile phone with a digital camera that reads a barcode image by reflected light of light irradiated to the barcode.

Bar code reading that irradiates a barcode attached to a product with illumination light from an illumination light source such as a light emitting diode, forms an image of reflected light with an imaging optical system, and reads the image of the barcode with a light receiving element The device is known. Such bar code readers are favored for bright white colors such as ivory that give a clean impression.

Here, in order to make the outer color of the barcode reading device white, the case is molded with a white resin, so that extraneous light passes through the case and enters the imaging optical system and the light receiving element. Images may not be read. For this reason, when using a white housing case, an image forming optical system and a light shielding member for shielding the light receiving element are separately required. Patent Document 1 discloses a barcode reader using a holding member that holds an imaging optical system lens and a mirror in order to facilitate assembly of the imaging optical system. In such a barcode reading apparatus, generally, the holding member serves as a light shielding plate.
JP 7-334599 A

However, in such a barcode reading apparatus, since the light shielding plate and the light shielding member are mounted in the housing case, the assembly requires a lot of time and labor. For this reason, it is desired to reduce the number of parts as much as possible to reduce the time and labor required for assembly.

Since an imaging optical system such as an optical aperture is mounted while maintaining optical precision, it requires particularly time and labor for assembly.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. The object of the present invention is to provide a light-colored appearance while having a sufficient light-shielding property in a portable imaging device and to reduce the number of components. It is to reduce assembly time and labor.

To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a portable type in which the imaging optical systems 34 and 30, the light receiving element 36, and the circuit board 38 on which the control circuit 44 is mounted are accommodated in the housing case 20. An imaging device 10,
The casing case 20 is molded by a mold using a light-shielding resin material, and the inner members 22i, 24i are configured to shield external light from entering the imaging optical systems 34, 30 and the light receiving element 36;
A technical feature is that the outer members 22o and 24o are formed integrally with the inner members 22i and 24i by a double molding method on the outer sides of the inner members 22i and 24i.

In Claim 1, since the inner members 22i and 24i of the housing case 20 are made of a light-shielding resin material having a high light-shielding property, the housing case 20 itself can be light-shielded. For this reason, it is not necessary to provide a light-shielding member in the housing case 20 of the portable imaging device 10, the structure can be simplified, the number of parts is reduced, and the time and labor for assembling the portable imaging device 10 are reduced. Can be made. Further, by using bright colors for the outer members 22o and 24o, it is possible to realize the housing case 20 having sufficient light shielding properties while improving the design.

According to the second aspect, the outer members 22o and 24o are made of a resin material having a light shielding property lower than that of the inner members 22i and 24i. That is, there is no limitation on the selection of the resin material of the outer members 22o and 24o. You can choose any color outside.

According to the third aspect, since the optical diaphragm 34 is integrally formed with the inner members 22i and 24i, it is not necessary to separately provide an optical diaphragm, the structure can be simplified, the number of parts is reduced, the assembly time of the optical diaphragm 34, Labor can be reduced.

According to the fourth aspect, since the inner members 22i and 24i are provided on substantially the entire inner surfaces of the outer members 22o and 24o, the imaging optical systems 34 and 30 and the light receiving element 36 can be reliably shielded from light.

According to the fifth aspect, the inner member 22 i is provided on a part of the inner surface of the outer member 22 o and shields the imaging optical systems 34 and 30 and the light receiving element 36 together with the circuit board 38, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the inner member. it can.

According to the sixth aspect, since a part of the inner member 22i is exposed on the surface of the casing case 20, the appearance of the two colors can be combined. Therefore, the casing case 20 with high design can be realized at a low cost.

[First embodiment]
1st Embodiment of this invention is described based on figures. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a barcode reader to which the configuration of the portable imaging device of the present invention is applied.
The barcode reading apparatus 10 includes a housing case 20, a reading unit 14, and a data processing output unit 16. A gripping portion 18 is formed at the rear portion of the housing case 20 so that the operator can hold it with a hand. The housing case 20 includes an upper case 22 and a lower case 24, and a substrate 38 is sandwiched between the upper case 22 and the lower case 24. A reading port 12 that is long in the left and right (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1), that is, long in the width direction is provided at the lower portion of the front portion of the housing case 20.

The reading unit 14 includes an irradiation red light emitting diode 40, a first reflecting mirror 32f, an optical aperture 34, an imaging lens 30, a second reflecting mirror 32s, and an optical sensor (light receiving element) 36. The first reflecting mirror 32f, the optical aperture 34, the imaging lens 30, and the second reflecting mirror 32s constitute an imaging optical system. Light from the red light emitting diode 40 for irradiation is applied to the barcode 80 outside the housing case 20. The substrate 38 is provided with an opening 38a through which reflected light passes. The red light reflected by the barcode 80 again enters the housing case 20, passes through the opening 38 a of the substrate 38, is reflected by the first reflecting mirror 32 f, passes through the optical aperture 34, and goes to the imaging lens 30. The incident light is reflected by the second reflecting mirror 32 s, and an image of the barcode 80 is formed on the optical sensor 36 in which the light receiving elements are linearly arranged in one row. The optical sensor 36 that photoelectrically converts and reads the image of the bar code 80 outputs it to the data processing output unit 16 as an electrical signal representing the pattern of the image.

The data processing output unit 16 inside the housing case 20 includes a waveform shaping unit 50 disposed on the substrate 38, a memory 42, a microcomputer (control circuit) 44, and an output circuit to a main unit such as a register or a host computer. 46 is provided. When the reading data of the barcode 80 is input from the optical sensor 36 of the reading unit 14 via the waveform shaping unit 50, the data processing output unit 16 decodes the data by the processing of the microcomputer 44. The information represented by the barcode 80 is obtained, and the information is temporarily stored in the memory 42. Next, the information stored in the memory 42 is transmitted to the main unit by the output circuit 46 at a predetermined timing by wireless or wired communication using light or radio waves.

The upper case 22 and the lower case 24 constituting the housing case 20 of the first embodiment are respectively provided with inner members 22i and 24i made of black resin having excellent light shielding properties, and outer members 22o made of ivory color resin having low light shielding properties, 24o. The upper case 22 and the lower case 24 are formed by molding inner members 22i, 24i and outer members 22o, 24o by a double molding method. The inner member 22i of the upper case 22 is further integrally molded with an optical aperture 34.

That is, the inner member 22i and the optical diaphragm 34 are integrally formed by injecting a black resin between the upper mold and the lower mold for forming the inner member 22i and the optical diaphragm 34. Subsequently, the upper case 22 is integrally molded on the inner member 22i by replacing the upper die with the upper die for the outer member 22o and injecting ivory colored resin, while the lower die is left as it is. It is formed.

In the barcode reading apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment, since the inner members 22i and 24i of the housing case 20 are made of a resin material having a high black light shielding property, the housing case 20 itself can have a light shielding property. For this reason, it is not necessary to provide a light shielding member in the housing case 20, the structure can be simplified, the number of parts can be reduced, and the assembly time and labor can be reduced. Further, by using bright colors such as ivory for the outer members 22o and 24o, the housing case 20 having light shielding properties can be realized while improving the design. That is, the outer members 22o and 24o are made of a resin material having a light shielding property lower than that of the inner members 22i and 24i. That is, there is no restriction on the selection of the resin material of the outer members 22o and 24o. You can choose freely. Furthermore, since the inner members 22i and 24i are provided on almost the entire inner surfaces of the outer members 22o and 24o, the optical diaphragm 34, the imaging lens 30 and the light receiving element 36 can be reliably shielded from light.

In the barcode reader 10 of the first embodiment, the optical diaphragm 34 is integrally formed with the inner members 22i and 24i, so that it is not necessary to separately provide an optical diaphragm, the structure can be simplified, and the number of parts can be reduced. The time and labor for assembling the optical aperture 34 can be reduced.

[Second Embodiment]
A bar code reader according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a barcode reader according to the second embodiment.
In the first embodiment described above with reference to FIG. 1, the inner members 22i, 24i are provided on substantially the entire inner surfaces of the outer members 22o, 24o. In contrast, in the second embodiment, the inner member 22i is provided on a part of the inner surface of the outer member 22o of the upper case 22, and together with the circuit board 38, the optical sensor 36 and the imaging optical system (the first reflecting mirror 32f, The optical diaphragm 34, the imaging lens 30, and the second reflecting mirror 32s) are shielded from light. Here, the board | substrate 38 is a glass epoxy laminated board, and is provided with light-shielding property by the soldering resist apply | coated to the surface. Also in the second embodiment, the optical diaphragm 34 is formed integrally with the inner member 22i.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the optical sensor 36 and the imaging optical system (the first reflecting mirror 32f, the optical aperture 34, the imaging lens 30, and the second reflecting mirror 32s) are arranged on the upper surface of the substrate 38. Therefore, the light-shielding inner member 22i is provided on the upper case 22 side. Here, when the optical sensor and the imaging optical system are disposed on the lower surface side of the substrate, the light shielding inner member 24i is provided on the lower case 24 side.

In the barcode reader 10 of the second embodiment, the inner member 22i is provided only on a part of the inner surface of the outer member 22o, so that the manufacturing cost of the inner member can be reduced.

[Third embodiment]
A bar code reading apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a barcode reader according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view.
In the first and second embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the inner member is provided only on the inner surface of the outer member. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, a part of the inner member 22 i is exposed from the surface of the housing case 20. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, an opening 22b is provided in the ivory outer member 22o, and the black inner member 22i is exposed from the opening 22b to provide an accent on the design.

In the barcode reading apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment, since the outer color can be made two colors by exposing a part of the inner member 22i to the surface of the casing case 20, the casing case 20 having high design at low cost. Can be realized. It should be noted that the outer member 22 and the exposed portion of the inner member 22i can be formed flat so as not to have a step, or can be provided with a step to further enhance the design. The third embodiment can also be applied when the inner member 22i is provided only on a part of the inner surface of the outer member 22o of the upper case 22 as in the second embodiment.

In the embodiment described above, an example in which black resin is used as the inner members 22i and 24i has been described. However, the inner members 22i and 24i can be made of any color material as long as they have light shielding properties. is there. Moreover, although the example which uses ivory colored resin was given as outer member 22o, 24o, what kind of resin may be sufficient as outer member 22o, 24o, for example, it is inner side from the material which hardly has light-shielding properties, such as transparency. It is possible to use a material having a light shielding property higher than that of the members 22i and 24i.

In the embodiment described above, an example in which the configuration of the present invention is applied to a barcode reader has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to a barcode reader, and for example, a housing is formed of resin and a diaphragm is fixed. It can also be applied to portable imaging devices such as mobile phones with digital cameras.

It is sectional drawing of the barcode reader which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the barcode reader which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the barcode reader which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a perspective view of the barcode reader which concerns on 3rd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Barcode reader 20 Case 22 Upper case 22i Inner member 22o Outer member 24 Lower case 22i Inner member 22o Outer member 26 Irradiation red light emitting diode 38 Substrate 42 Microcomputer 80 Bar code

Claims (6)

A portable imaging device in which an imaging optical system, a light receiving element, and a circuit board on which a control circuit is mounted are housed in a housing case,
The housing case is molded by a mold using a light-shielding resin material, and an inner member that shields against incident external light to the imaging optical system and the light receiving element;
A portable imaging device comprising: an outer member formed integrally with the inner member by a double molding method on the outer side of the inner member. The portable imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the outer member is made of a resin material having a light shielding property lower than that of the inner member. The portable imaging device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an optical diaphragm is integrally formed with the inner member. The portable imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the inner member is provided on substantially the entire inner surface of the outer member. The inner member is provided on a part of an inner surface of the outer member, and shields against incident external light to the imaging optical system and the light receiving element by combining with the circuit board. The portable imaging device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The portable imaging device according to claim 1, wherein a part of the inner member is exposed on a surface of the housing case.

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