JP2012064011A - Verifying device and verifying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a verifying device and a verifying method in which information necessary for verification can be input easily and accurately.SOLUTION: The verifying device comprises: a scanner part 70 for reading information on a medium; a registration part for obtaining verification information on verifying from the result read by the scanner part 70 to register the information; and a verification part for controlling the scanner part 70 to read the information on the medium to be verified and verifying the information on the medium to be verified. At least one of the control of the scanner part 70 by means of the verification part and the verification of the information on the medium to be verified is performed on the basis of the verification information registered on the registration part.

Description

  The present invention relates to a verification apparatus and a verification method for reading and verifying barcodes and characters printed on a print medium.

  Conventionally, a verification device that prints a barcode or the like on a label using a printer, reads the printed barcode by a scanner built in the printer, and verifies whether the printing is normally performed (for example, a patent) Reference 1).

JP 2005-212373 A

  A conventional verification apparatus is a form built in a printer, and includes a printer main body and a scanner used as a part of the barcode verification apparatus, and an increase in the size of the housing is inevitable. In addition, the verification apparatus is dedicated to verification of a print medium printed by an integrally provided printer, and is not versatile and expensive. For this reason, a highly versatile printer and a verification device are desired.

  When the verification device is configured separately from the printer, the print data cannot be used as verification data as it is. Therefore, the verification apparatus cannot grasp at which position on the print medium the print display to be verified such as the barcode to be verified is made, and it is necessary to read the entire surface of the print medium, which takes a long time to read. There was a case.

  In addition, in order to input position information indicating the print position to be verified on the print medium to the verification device, the print medium is actually measured manually and the measurement is performed. It was necessary to input the value via a personal computer or directly operating the verification device.

  Furthermore, in order to input content information indicating the content of a barcode to be verified or the contents of a printed character to be verified, for example, the content to be verified in advance by a personal computer is input to the verification device. A method of transmitting by a memory card or communication can be considered.

  However, inputting the above-described position information and content information by the above-described method is complicated and may cause measurement errors and input errors.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a verification apparatus and a verification method capable of easily and accurately inputting information necessary for verification.

The present invention solves the above problems by the following means. In addition, in order to make an understanding easy, although the code | symbol corresponding to embodiment of this invention is attached | subjected and demonstrated, it is not limited to this.
The invention of claim 1 includes a reading unit (70) for reading on the medium (501), a registration unit (102) for acquiring and registering verification information related to verification from a reading result by the reading unit, and a medium to be verified (500, 501) comprising: a verification unit (101) that controls the reading unit to read and verify the display on the medium to be verified, and the control of the reading unit performed by the verification unit; At least one of the verification of the display on the medium to be verified is the verification device (1) that is performed based on the verification information registered in the registration unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the verification device according to the first aspect, the registration unit (102) acquires position information that is information regarding a position on the medium (501) of a display to be verified. The verification unit (101) registers the verification information, and the verification unit (101) controls the reading unit to control the position of reading on the verification target medium (500, 501) based on the positional information registered by the registration unit. It is a verification apparatus (1) characterized by performing.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the verification device according to the first aspect, the registration unit (102) acquires content information, which is information related to the content of a display to be verified, and registers the acquired content information as the verification information. The verification unit (101) verifies the display content on the medium (500, 501) to be verified based on the content information registered by the registration unit. It is.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the verification apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the registration unit (102) can register a plurality of verification information, and the verification unit (101) ) On the medium (500, 501) controlled by the reading unit (70) and the verification target medium (500, 501) based on one or more verification information selected from the plurality of verification information registered by the registration unit. It is a verification apparatus characterized by performing at least one of verification of display.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the verification apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the insertion portion (4a) into which the medium (500, 501) to be verified is inserted, and the insertion And a transport unit (10, 20, 30) for transporting the medium inserted from the unit, and a medium printed by an external printing device can be inserted from the insert unit and can be verified independently. The verification apparatus (1) characterized by the above.

  The invention of claim 6 reads the medium (501), acquires verification information related to verification from the result of the reading, registers it, and controls the reading unit (70) on the medium (500, 501) to be verified. And verifying the display on the verification target medium, wherein at least one of the reading control and the verification of the display on the verification target medium is the registered verification information. This is a verification method performed based on the above.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that information necessary for verification can be input easily and accurately.

It is the perspective view which looked at 1st Embodiment of the verification apparatus 1 by this invention from the side. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a relationship between each unit in the verification apparatus 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a verification device 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the label continuous body 500 which verifies with the verification apparatus 1. FIG. It is the figure which expanded one sheet of the label 501 which comprises the label continuous body 500. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the verification apparatus 1 in the case of performing automatic learning operation | movement and verification operation | movement. It is a figure which shows the display operation part. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the verification apparatus 1 in the case of performing automatic learning operation | movement and verification operation | movement in 2nd Embodiment.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a verification device 1 according to the present invention as seen from the side.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the relationship between each unit in the verification apparatus 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the verification device 1.
Note that each of the following drawings including FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically shown, and the size and shape of each part are appropriately exaggerated for easy understanding.
In the following description, specific numerical values, shapes, materials, operations, and the like will be described, but these can be changed as appropriate.

The verification device 1 of this embodiment includes a lower main body 2, an upper main body 3, and an insertion guide 4.
The lower main body 2 is a portion that occupies a substantially lower half of the verification device 1.
The upper main body 3 is provided above the lower main body 2 and occupies substantially half of the verification device 1. The upper body 3 can be rotated with respect to the lower body 2 with a hinge portion (not shown) as a fulcrum to expose the conveyance path for the print medium. The upper body 3 has an exterior member 300 on the surface.
The insertion guide 4 is a portion that guides when the print medium is inserted into the verification device 1 from the insertion portion 4a, and is provided so as to protrude from the lower body 2 to the right side in FIG.
The verification device 1 of the present embodiment is assumed to be disposed or connected in the immediate vicinity of a commercially available general-purpose label printer or the like (not shown). The verification apparatus 1 then inserts a printed medium such as a printed label continuous body continuously discharged from a general-purpose label printer or the like from the insertion portion 4a using the insertion guide 4, and prints the printed bar. Various information such as codes can be verified independently.

  The verification device 1 includes an insertion sensor 5, an upstream conveyance unit 10, an intermediate conveyance unit 20, a downstream conveyance unit 30, an upstream movement detection unit 40, a downstream movement detection unit 50, and a medium position detection unit. 60, a scanner unit 70, a marking unit 80, a display operation unit 90, a control unit 100, an encoder En, and a motor M.

  The insertion sensor 5 is provided in the immediate vicinity of the insertion unit 4 a on the downstream side in the conveyance direction, detects the leading edge of the print medium, and transmits a detection signal to the control unit 100 via the paper detection control circuit 204.

The upstream conveyance unit 10, the intermediate conveyance unit 20, and the downstream conveyance unit 30 are all mechanisms that constitute a conveyance unit that conveys the print medium inserted from the insertion unit 4a, and have opposed rollers. is doing. The upstream conveyance unit 10, the intermediate conveyance unit 20, and the downstream conveyance unit 30 are connected to the motor M by a belt, a pulley, and the like (not shown).
The motor M is a drive source that generates driving force for the upstream transport unit 10, the intermediate transport unit 20, and the downstream transport unit 30, and the drive is controlled by the control unit 100 via the drive control circuit 206. .

The upstream side movement detection unit 40 and the downstream side movement detection unit 50 are movement detection units that detect the movement of the print medium conveyed by the conveyance units (10, 20, 30). The upstream side movement detection unit 40 and the downstream side movement detection unit 50 are connected to the encoder En by a belt and a pulley (not shown).
The encoder En is a rotary encoder that outputs the movement of the printing medium detected by the upstream movement detection unit 40 and the downstream movement detection unit 50 in a form that can be converted into a movement amount. The encoder En sends a detection signal to the control unit 100 via the encoder control circuit 207.

The medium position detection unit 60 detects the position of the print medium. The medium position detection unit 60 of the present embodiment includes a reflective photosensor and a transmissive photosensor.
The reflective optical sensor detects a reference position by detecting position detection marks (eye marks) printed at a predetermined interval on at least one surface of the print medium.
The transmission type optical sensor is configured such that when the print medium is composed of a mount and a label temporarily attached to the mount, the label is temporarily attached to the mount and the position where the label is temporarily attached to the mount. The reference position is detected by the difference in light transmittance from the position.
The medium position detection unit 60 sends the detection signal detected by the reflection type optical sensor or the transmission type optical sensor to the control unit 100 via the pitch detection control circuit 205.
Note that the medium position detection unit 60 detects the position of the print medium using either a reflection type optical sensor or a transmission type optical sensor depending on the presence or absence of a position detection mark.

  The scanner unit 70 is a reading unit that reads information printed on the conveyed printing medium. Information read by the scanner unit 70 is sent to the control unit 100 via the scan control circuit 202. Specifically, the scanner unit 70 includes an illumination unit (not shown) and a sensor, reads a print medium illuminated by the illumination unit using the sensor, and acquires information on the print medium in the form of an image. Then, the scanner unit 70 sends the acquired image to the control unit 100. The image data sent from the scanner unit 70 is temporarily stored in the image RAM 203 and used by the control unit 100.

  The marking unit 80 performs marking on the print medium in response to an instruction from the control unit 100 via the marking control circuit 208. Specifically, when the marking unit 80 determines that the printing result on the printing medium is a defective product that does not satisfy a predetermined condition based on information obtained from the scanner unit 70 by the control unit 100, the printing medium For example, “NG” is imprinted. In addition, as the marking part 80, you may mark using a laser, an inkjet, etc., without using a stamp, and may mark by notching a part of printing medium, or opening a hole. .

  The display operation unit 90 includes an operation unit 91 that receives various operations related to the verification apparatus 1 and a display unit 92 that displays various types of information. The display operation unit 90 is controlled by the control unit 100 via the interface (IF) 201.

The control unit 100 is a control circuit that performs overall control of the operation of the verification device 1, and includes a CPU 103, a ROM 104, and a RAM 105.
Further, the control unit 100 includes a verification unit 101, a registration unit 102, an interface (IF) 201, a scan control circuit 202, an image RAM 203, a paper detection control circuit 204, a pitch detection control circuit 205, and a drive. A control circuit 206, an encoder control circuit 207, and a marking control circuit 208 are provided. Here, a verification unit 101, a registration unit 102, an interface (IF) 201, a scan control circuit 202, an image RAM 203, a paper detection control circuit 204, a pitch detection control circuit 205, a drive control circuit 206, The encoder control circuit 207 and the marking control circuit 208 will be described as configurations independent of the above-described CPU 103, ROM 104, and RAM 105. However, for example, the functions of the verification unit 101 and the registration unit 102 may be realized as a partial function of the computer program of the verification device 1 that operates using the CPU 103, the ROM 104, the RAM 105, and the like. .

  The verification unit 101 verifies information on the print medium transferred from the scanner unit 70 and acquired as image data. The verification unit 101 verifies whether information on the print medium is correctly printed on the print medium based on verification information registered in a registration unit 102 described later. The contents to be verified can be selected as appropriate, such as contents to be printed, faint or missing prints, dirt, and the like.

The registration unit 102 stores verification information, which is various information related to verification. As the verification information, position information and content information are used.
The position information is information regarding the position on the print medium of a printed display such as a barcode or character to be verified. The verifying unit 101 scans the print medium based on the position information, so that it is possible to increase the speed of the verifying operation by skipping unnecessary scanning.

  The content information is information regarding the content of the display to be verified. For example, when the verification target is a barcode, the content information is information indicating how many numerical values the barcode should indicate. For example, when the verification target is a printed character, the content information is information indicating what character should be displayed.

In the verification device 1 of the present embodiment, the following three methods can be used as methods for inputting verification information to the verification device 1.
The first method of inputting verification information is a method of inputting by directly operating the display operation unit 90 of the verification device 1.
The second method of inputting verification information is to create verification information including position information and content information externally using an external device independent of the verification device 1, for example, a personal computer (not shown). In this method, verification information is input to the verification apparatus 1. In the present embodiment, verification information created outside is stored in the memory card 400, and the memory card 400 is inserted into the card insertion slot 305 provided in the exterior member 300, so that It is possible to input (see FIG. 3). The verification information created outside may be input from outside via communication.

A third verification information input method is a method of inputting by automatic learning. Hereinafter, this automatic learning will be described with a specific example.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a label continuum 500 that is verified by the verification apparatus 1.
FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of one of the labels 501 constituting the label continuum 500.
Here, as an example of a print medium to be verified, which is verified by the verification apparatus 1, a label continuum 500 in which the labels 501 shown in FIGS.

The display content printed on the surface of the label 501 can be divided into five areas A to E.
Area A is an area where the one-dimensional barcode indicated by CODE 39 is printed.
Area B is an area where a one-dimensional bar code indicated by a JAN code is printed.
The area C is an area where a two-dimensional code indicated by a QR code (registered trademark) is printed.
Area D is an area where characters are displayed.
Area E is an area where a serial number is displayed.

  In the present embodiment, three areas of the area A, the area B, and the area C on which the code is printed out of the area A to the area E of the label 501 are verified. Therefore, the area D and the area E do not need to be read by the scanner unit 70. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as the verification information, position information regarding the positions of the three areas A, B, and C on the label 501 is used so that unnecessary areas D and E are not read. The verification operation is speeded up. For this purpose, it is necessary to input position information to the verification device 1.

Next, a verification operation using automatic learning will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the verification apparatus 1 when performing the automatic learning operation and the verification operation.
When the verification apparatus 1 is turned on, step (hereinafter referred to as S) 10 is executed.
In S10, the verification apparatus 1 is activated in the normal mode and enters a verification wait state. Here, the normal mode is an operation mode in which the print medium is verified.
In this state, in order to shift to the automatic learning mode, the user performs the following operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the display operation unit 90.
The operation unit 91 includes a start button 93, a pause button 94, an up arrow button 95, a down arrow button 96, a select button 97, a reading LED 98, and an error LED 99.
When the upper arrow button 95 is pressed for a long time (for example, pressed for 1 second or longer) while waiting for verification in the normal mode of S10, as shown in FIG. Is displayed on the display unit 92. When the up arrow button 95 or the down arrow button 96 is pressed in this state, “high” and “no” are switched. When the select button 97 is pressed while “high” is displayed on the display unit 92, the process proceeds to S20. In addition, when the select button 97 is pressed while “No” is displayed on the display unit 92, the process returns to the verification waiting state in the normal mode in S10.

  In S20, the verification apparatus 1 shifts to the automatic learning mode by pressing the select button 97 in a state where “high” is displayed on the display unit 92 in S10 described above. And it will be in the label insertion waiting state of learning object. In this state, as shown in FIG. 7B, the message “Please pass the label” is displayed on the display unit 92.

When the user inserts only one label 501 into the insertion unit 4a in S30, the registration unit 102 scans the label 501. Here, the user needs to insert the label 501 printed correctly, that is, the label 501 printed as intended by the user into the verification apparatus 1. This is because the verification information is registered on the assumption that the inserted label 501 is correctly printed.
The registration unit 102 scans the label 501 to automatically recognize the barcode of the area A, and acquires barcode position information (xy coordinate information) from the transport distance or the like. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the upper left corner portion of the label 501 in FIG. In this case, the verification apparatus 1 acquires the coordinates of two points (xA1, yA1) and (xA2, yA2) as the coordinates representing the region A. The range of the region A is specified by the region surrounded by the rectangle by these two points.

  Note that the position coordinates of the barcode described above are set to be coordinates having a slight margin. That is, the coordinate value is not a coordinate that exactly matches the position coordinate of the barcode obtained by scanning the label 501, but a coordinate value that specifies a larger area by 1 mm in each of the vertical and horizontal directions, for example.

  In S <b> 40, the registration unit 102 acquires the position information of the barcode in the area B as in the case of the area A in S <b> 30. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the coordinates of two points (xB1, yB1) and (xB2, yB2) are acquired.

  In S50, the registration unit 102 acquires the barcode position information of the area C in the same manner as in the case of the area A of S30. In the example shown in FIG. 5, the coordinates of two points (xC1, yC1) and (xC2, yC2) are acquired.

  In S60, the registration unit 102 collects all the acquired barcode information (three in the example of FIG. 5) into one piece of verification information and stores it in the flash memory or the like (the registration unit 102) of the verification device 1. Remember. When this S60 is completed, the automatic learning mode is ended and the mode is shifted to the normal mode.

  In S70, the verification apparatus 1 is activated in the normal mode and returns to the verification wait state. In this state, when the user inserts the label continuum 500 into the verification device 1, the verification operation is started.

  In S80, verification processing is performed based on the verification information registered in the automatic learning mode described above. Specifically, the verification unit 101 uses the position information (coordinate information) from the area A to the area C included in the verification information registered in the automatic learning mode to scan the area D and the area E. The scanner unit 70 is controlled to perform high-speed conveyance without performing the above. Then, the scanner unit 70 is controlled so as to scan only the area A, the area B, and the area C, and it is verified whether or not each barcode printed in these areas is correctly printed.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the registration unit 102 registers position information as verification information. Then, the verification unit 101 controls the scanner unit 70 to control the position of reading on the print medium to be verified based on the position information registered by the registration unit 102. Therefore, registration of position information can be performed by automatic learning accurately and without making an input mistake or the like by a simple operation of inserting a correctly printed label 501 into the verification apparatus 1. In addition, since the verification operation is performed using the registered position information, the printing medium can be transported at a high speed, the verification operation can be performed at a higher speed, and the printer with a high printing speed can be supported. The versatility of the apparatus can be improved.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the verification apparatus 1 when performing the automatic learning operation and the verification operation in the second embodiment.
In addition to registering and using position information as verification information by automatic learning in the first embodiment, the verification apparatus 1 of the second embodiment also registers content information as verification information by automatic learning and makes it usable. It is a form. The verification apparatus 1 of the second embodiment performs the same operation as that of the verification apparatus 1 of the first embodiment, except that operations S21 and S22 to S24 in FIG. 8 are added. Therefore, the same reference numerals are given to the portions that perform the same functions as those in the first embodiment described above, and repeated descriptions are omitted as appropriate.

In S10, basically the same operation as in the first embodiment is performed. However, in the state of waiting for verification in the normal mode of S10 in the first embodiment, if the up arrow button 95 is pressed long (for example, pressed for 1 second or longer), as shown in FIG. "And the display of" high "on the display unit 92 are displayed differently. Specifically, instead of the display of “read position information?” In the first embodiment, the display of “read verification information?” Is performed.
In S20, the verification apparatus 1 performs the same operation as in the first embodiment.
After the label is inserted in S20, “Barcode? Character?” And “Barcode” are displayed on the display unit 92 in S21. In this state, when the up arrow button 95 or the down arrow button 96 is pressed, “bar code” and “character” are switched. When the select button 97 is pressed while “bar code” is displayed on the display unit 92, the process proceeds to S30. Further, if the select button 97 is pressed while “character” is displayed on the display unit 92, the process proceeds to S22.

  In S22, the verification apparatus 1 scans the label 501, recognizes the character region D, recognizes the character displayed by the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, and converts the character information into the content information. Get as. In this example, the characters “MODEL SATO PRINTER” are acquired.

  In S23, the verification apparatus 1 recognizes the character area E, recognizes the character displayed by the OCR technique, and acquires the character information as the content information. In this example, the character “S / No. 96000001” is acquired. When such a numerical value is recognized as a character, it is assumed that the number changes sequentially. Therefore, for example, when a numerical value is recognized in a character, the verification apparatus 1 inquires the user whether the number should be described, whether it is limited to a specific numerical value, whether it is a serial number, and the response ( Input operation) Content information may be created according to the content.

In S24, all the acquired character information (content information) is collected into one piece of verification information and stored in the flash memory or the like of the verification device 1. When S24 is finished, the automatic learning mode is finished, and the mode is shifted to the normal mode.
From S30 to S70, the verification apparatus 1 performs the same operation as in the first embodiment.

  In S80, verification processing is performed based on the verification information registered in the automatic learning mode described above. That is, when the position information is registered as the verification information by automatic learning, the verification unit 101 controls the scanning operation based on the position information as in the first embodiment. On the other hand, when the content information is registered as the verification information by automatic learning, the result of scanning the region D and the region E is verified with the content information to verify whether the correct character is displayed. Do.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the registration unit 102 acquires content information that is information related to the content of the display to be verified and registers it as verification information. The contents of the display on the print medium to be verified are verified based on the contents information registered by. Therefore, registration of the content information including the content to be verified can be performed by automatic learning with only a simple operation of inserting the correctly printed label 501 into the verification device 1 without making an input error or the like.

(Deformation)
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications and changes are possible, and these are also within the scope of the present invention.
In the first embodiment, an example in which position information is used has been described. In the second embodiment, an example in which content information is used has been described. For example, both the position information and the content information may be included in the verification information, and the verification may be performed using both of them.

  In each embodiment, the verification information has been described using an example in which information registered immediately before is automatically used in the verification operation. For example, a plurality of pieces of verification information may be registered, and one or a plurality of pieces of verification information used for the verification operation may be selected and used.

  Note that the first embodiment, the second embodiment, and the modified embodiment can be used in appropriate combination, but detailed description thereof is omitted. Further, the present invention is not limited by the embodiments described above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Verification apparatus 4 Insertion guide 4a Insertion part 10 Upstream conveyance part 20 Intermediate conveyance part 30 Downstream conveyance part 70 Scanner part 90 Display operation part 91 Operation part 92 Display part 93 Start button 94 Pause button 95 Arrow up button 96 Arrow down button 97 Select button 98 Middle LED
99 Error LED
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Control part 101 Verification part 102 Registration part 103 CPU
104 ROM
105 RAM
500 Label continuum 501 Label

Claims (6)

A reading unit for reading on the medium;
A registration unit that acquires and registers verification information related to verification from a reading result by the reading unit;
A verification unit that controls and reads the reading unit on the medium to be verified, and verifies the display on the medium to be verified;
With
At least one of the control of the reading unit and the verification of the display on the medium to be verified performed by the verification unit is performed based on the verification information registered in the registration unit. The verification apparatus according to claim 1,
The registration unit acquires position information that is information regarding a position on the medium of a display to be verified, and registers the acquired position information as the verification information.
The verification unit controls the reading unit based on the position information registered by the registration unit to read the position on the medium to be verified;
A verification device characterized by The verification apparatus according to claim 1,
The registration unit acquires content information that is information related to the content of the display to be verified and registers it as the verification information.
The verification unit verifies the content of the display on the medium to be verified based on the content information registered by the registration unit;
A verification device characterized by In the verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The registration unit can register a plurality of verification information,
The verification unit is configured to control the reading unit and verify the display on the verification target medium based on one or more verification information selected from the plurality of verification information registered by the registration unit. Doing at least one,
A verification device characterized by In the verification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An insertion part into which a medium to be verified is inserted; and
A transport unit for transporting the medium inserted from the insertion unit;
Further comprising
A medium printed by an external printing device can be inserted from the insertion section, and can be verified alone.
A verification device characterized by Read on the media,
Obtain and register verification information about verification from the result of the reading,
A verification method for reading on a verification target medium by controlling a reading unit, and verifying the display on the verification target medium,
A verification method in which at least one of the reading control and display verification on the verification target medium is performed based on the registered verification information.

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