JP2012247875A - Article holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an article holder that enables an operation to hold an article for a movement and an operation to read article information on the article with an information reader to be performed by a single hand quickly.SOLUTION: A tong 10 has a pair of holders 101 and 102 for holding a food product 40 by mutual tips 113 thereof. A bar code reader 20 which is fixed to the holder 101 is used to read food product information that is information on the food product 40.

Description

  The present invention relates to an article holding tool used for an operation of picking an article that is not preferable to be touched directly by a hand such as food or medicine.

  In supermarkets and convenience stores, sales information is recorded every time a product is sold, and a so-called POS system (Point Of Sales system) is introduced as a system for using the recorded sales information as inventory management and marketing materials. Yes. In this POS system, a bar code reader that optically reads a bar code written on a product packaging is generally used (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the barcode reader described in Patent Document 1, information indicating the number of sales of the same product is stored in the POS system in order to eliminate operations on the POS system side when registering sales information of a plurality of the same product in the POS system. A repeat key is provided for transmission to the network.

JP-A-5-165993

  By the way, in bakery shops, sweets shops, donut shops, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “shops”), food is displayed in showcases and tongs are used to pick them. However, since the food is sold in an unwrapped state and is a food, it is difficult to directly attach a barcode. Therefore, the applicant provides a plate displaying a barcode indicating information (product name, product price, etc.) regarding the food at a position close to the position where the food is displayed in the showcase, and the barcode of the plate is displayed. The store clerk came up with a method of reading with a barcode reader.

  According to this method, it is possible to introduce a POS system into the shop, but the store clerk holds the tray with one hand and picks the food selected by the customer who came to the store using the tongs held in the other hand. It is necessary to transfer the tray to the tray and then read the barcode by moving the tongue to the barcode reader. That is, it is necessary to pick up the selected food and transfer it to the tray and to read the barcode with one hand. For this reason, even if the barcode reader described in Patent Document 1 is used, it is still necessary to carry out a series of operations by changing the tongue and barcode reader each time a different food is selected. It was difficult for the store clerk to perform a series of operations quickly with one hand.

  Such a problem is caused by picking up an article such as medicine with tweezers, for example, or reading a two-dimensional code indicating article information on the article with a scanner, from an RF tag in which the article information is recorded, and RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification). The same may occur when article information is read by short-range wireless communication using technology.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and is an article holding tool that allows a user to quickly perform an operation of picking and moving an article and an operation of reading article information related to the article with an information reader. Is to provide.

  An article holding tool according to the present invention is an information reading apparatus that is fixed to one of a pair of holding members that hold an article by a tip portion of each other and a pair of holding members, and reads article information that is information about the article With.

  According to this configuration, since the information reading device is fixed to one of the holding members, an operation of picking up the article with the article holding tool and transferring it to, for example, a tray, and an operation of reading the article information of the article with the information reading apparatus are performed. In this case, it is not necessary to change the article holding tool to the information reading device. Therefore, the operation of picking and moving the article and the operation of reading the article information by the information reader can be quickly performed with one hand.

  Here, examples of the article include foods and medicines that should not be directly touched by hand. Examples of the article information include an article name, an article price, an article inventory quantity, and an article manufacturing date. The information reading device is a barcode reader when the article information is recorded as a barcode, and is a scanner capable of reading the two-dimensional code when the article information is recorded as a two-dimensional code. When the article information is recorded on the RF tag, the reader acquires the article information by short-range wireless communication using RFID technology.

  The information reading device is a barcode reader that obtains article information by irradiating a barcode indicating article information with light and reading the reflected light. The barcode reader has a light irradiation direction on one of the holding members. It is fixed to one of the clamping members so as to substantially coincide with the direction from the base end to the tip.

  According to this configuration, when the article information is recorded in a position close to the article, although the article information is not directly attached to the article, the orientation of the article clamping tool when performing the operation of picking up the article and the operation of reading the article information There is no need to change. For this reason, it is possible to easily and smoothly perform an operation of picking and moving an article and an operation of reading article information by a barcode reader without changing how to hold the article clamping tool.

  The information reading apparatus is preferably fixed to a surface of one clamping member opposite to the surface facing the other clamping member.

  According to this configuration, since the information reading device is fixed to the outer surface of the one clamping member, the information reading device can prevent the pair of clamping members from interfering with the operation of clamping the article. Become. That is, when the information reading device is fixed to the inner surface of the sandwiching member, the information reading device is sandwiched between the pair of sandwiching members, and the operation in which the tip portions of the pair of sandwiching members approach each other is prevented. According to the configuration, it is possible to prevent such a problem from occurring.

  One clamping member preferably includes a fixture for detachably fixing the information reading device.

  According to this configuration, since the information reading device can be removed, it is possible to prevent the information reading device from being damaged due to the cleaning of the clamping member. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide the information reading device with a configuration for fixing the information reading device to one of the clamping members, the present invention can be used by using the information reading device without changing the structure of a general information reading device. Can be realized.

  According to the present invention, since the information reading device is fixed to one clamping member, the operation of picking and moving an article and the operation of reading the article information by the information reading apparatus can be quickly performed with one hand.

Explanatory drawing which shows the use environment of the tong 10 which concerns on this embodiment A plan view showing the configuration of the tongue 10 Explanatory drawing which shows the state before a salesclerk picks food 40 with tongs 10 Explanatory drawing which shows the state in which the clerk picked the food 40 with the tongue 10 Explanatory drawing which shows a mode that the foodstuff 40 which the salesclerk picked with the tongue 10 moves Explanatory drawing which shows a mode that a salesclerk reads barcode 30 with the barcode reader 20 fixed to the tongue 10

  Hereinafter, the tongue 10 according to an embodiment of the article picking tool of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Description of usage environment of tongs 10]
First, the use environment of the tongue 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the usage environment of the tongue 10. In the shop illustrated in this embodiment, a showcase 60 (see FIG. 1) is provided to display a plurality of types of food sold to customers who visit the shop. FIG. 1 illustrates a state in which a short cake, food (bread) 40, and donuts are displayed side by side on the same stage of the showcase 60. Although not shown in the drawing, the front side (the visitor side) of the showcase 60 is covered with glass so that the visitor cannot directly touch the product with his / her hand.

  The visitor places an order with respect to the store clerk on the opposite side of the store visitor across the showcase 60 while moving sideways along the width direction of the showcase 60. On the other hand, the store clerk moves with the customer while holding the tray 70 with one hand (for example, the left hand), and uses the tongue 10 (an example of an article picker) to select the food selected by the customer. It moves from the showcase 60 to the tray 70, and when the order is completed, the accounting work is performed.

[Description of POS system]
A bar code reader 20 and a POS register 50 constituting a so-called POS system are provided in a shop where the tongue 10 is used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a bar code 30 is attached to the showcase 60 for each food item. Since the food displayed in the showcase 60 is not packaged, the barcode 30 is pasted at a position close to the corresponding product (in this embodiment, a position immediately before the displayed food). It is attached. The bar code 30 is an identifier that represents a numerical value or a character by the thickness of a striped line, and records food information (corresponding to article information) regarding the food 40.

  The barcode reader 20 is an information reading device that acquires food information by irradiating the barcode 30 with light and reading the reflected light. The barcode reader 20 is configured as a substantially hexahedron having a flat shape. Specifically, it is narrow in the height direction (perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2), and has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the width direction (up and down direction in FIG. 2) and the depth direction (left and right direction in FIG. 2) are longer than the above height direction. Is formed.

  The barcode reader 20 is provided with a button 201 and a display 203 on the upper surface having the largest area, and an exit port 202 on the distal end surface having the smallest area.

  The barcode reader 20 in the present embodiment is a laser scanning barcode scanner. Although not shown in the figure, the barcode reader 20 includes a light source that emits laser light, a rotating mirror that rotates while reflecting the laser light from the light source, and an optical sensor that detects reflected light from the barcode. Built-in. When the store clerk presses the button 201 with the exit port 202 of the barcode reader 20 facing the barcode 30, the laser light emitted from the light source is reflected by the rotating mirror, and the laser light is emitted through the exit port 202. Are scanned across the lines constituting the bar code 30. As a result, the reflected light changes depending on the black and white or brightness of the barcode 30, so that the food information is acquired by the optical sensor converting the change in the reflected light into an electrical signal.

  The display 203 is a liquid crystal display device, for example, and displays the current reading status, read food information, and the like. Further, the display 203 also displays information on the expiration date of the food that is transmitted when the POS register 50 determines that the set time has elapsed by comparing the food information input time with the date of manufacture included in the food information. Is done.

  The barcode reader 20 has a function of transmitting / receiving food information read from the barcode 30 to / from the POS register 50 by wireless communication according to a communication standard such as Wi-Fi (registered trademark) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). That is, the barcode reader 20 is a wireless barcode scanner. For this reason, the barcode reader 20 is operated by the power supplied from the storage battery. As a result, even if the food displayed at each of the one end and the other end in the width direction of the showcase 60 is ordered, it can be quickly moved and dealt with. Further, the barcode reader 20 transmits its terminal number to the POS register 50 in addition to the food information read from the barcode 30. Thereby, the POS register 50 can specify that the bar code reader 20 has transmitted the food information based on the received terminal number.

  The reading method of the barcode reader 20 is not limited to the laser scanning method, and for example, a manual scanning method for manually scanning the barcode 30 may be used. That is, as long as the barcode 30 can be read, the structure of the barcode reader 20 is not particularly limited.

  The POS register 50 includes a register main body having a database function for storing food names, selling prices, etc., a cash drawer for popping out a drawer for storing money in accordance with an instruction from the register main body, a receipt printer for printing the receipt 51 and a receipt, It consists of an automatic change machine that automatically calculates and discharges change, a display that displays the amount of money, etc. The POS register 50 also includes an antenna 501 for transmitting and receiving food information with the barcode reader 20 by wireless communication.

  The store clerk puts all the food items selected by the customers on the tray 70 and then inputs the terminal number of the barcode reader 20 using the input keys provided in the POS register 50. Thereby, the total amount is calculated based on the food information received from the barcode reader 20, and accounting is performed.

  So far, the outline of the POS system in the present embodiment has been described, but the POS system is not limited to the one exemplified in the present embodiment. In other words, in addition to the POS register 50 and the barcode reader 20, the POS system is connected to a plurality of POS registers 50 through a communication line so that the data from each POS register 50 can be aggregated and stored in inventory or sold. An office server that performs management may be further included.

[Description of tongs 10]
Next, the configuration of the tongue 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the tongue 10, FIG. 2A shows a state where the barcode reader 20 is attached, and FIG. 2B shows a state where the barcode reader 20 is removed from the tongue 10. . The tongue 10 is roughly divided and includes a pair of clamping members 101 and 102, a holder 104, and the barcode reader 20 described above.

  The sandwiching member 101 and the sandwiching member 102 are connected to each other so that their base end portions 103 can be rotated by a rotation shaft. Although not shown in the drawing, a coil spring as an elastic member is provided between the proximal end portion 103 of the sandwiching member 101 and the proximal end portion 103 of the sandwiching member 102. The member 102 is urged in a direction in which the tip portions 113 are separated from each other. Moreover, in order to prevent the picked food from falling, a plastic having irregularities is fixed to the front end portions 113 of the sandwiching members 101 and 102. For example, the clerk holds the clamping members 101 and 102 in, for example, the right hand so that the clamping member 101 is positioned above the clamping member 102 and grips the clamping members 101 and 102. As a result, the food product 40 is sandwiched by the tip portions 113 of the sandwiching members 101 and 102 approaching and contacting the food product 40.

  The holder 104 is a fixture for detachably fixing the barcode reader 20 and is formed of, for example, plastic. Two insertion holes (not shown) through which the two bolts 107 are inserted are formed in the bottom plate of the holder 104 and the clamping member 101. The holder 104 is formed on the outer surface of the clamping member 101 (the paper surface in FIG. 2). It is fixed to the clamping member 101 by screwing a bolt 107 and a nut (not shown) while being in contact with the front surface (see FIG. 2B). For this reason, the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the surface of the clamping member 101 opposite to the surface facing the clamping member 102.

  Side walls 105 and 106 extending in the longitudinal direction of the bottom plate (left and right direction in FIG. 2) are erected on both ends of the bottom plate of the holder 104. The lengths of the side walls 105 and 106 in the longitudinal direction of the bottom plate are set to be approximately equal to the length of the barcode reader 20 in the depth direction (left and right direction in FIG. 2). Further, the height of the side walls 105 and 106 from the bottom plate is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the barcode reader 20. The interval between the side wall 105 and the side wall 106 is set to be slightly smaller than the length of the barcode reader 20 in the width direction. For this reason, by arranging the barcode reader 20 in a space formed by the bottom plate of the holder 104 and the side walls 105 and 106, the barcode reader 20 is sandwiched between the side wall 105 and the side wall 106 and fixed to the holder 104 (see FIG. 2A). The holder 104 is open on its upper surface and both side surfaces in the longitudinal direction. For this reason, the barcode reader 20 can be easily detached from the clamping member 101 by pulling the barcode reader 20 above the holder 104 or sliding it in the longitudinal direction of the holder 104. Thus, the barcode reader 20 is detachably fixed to the holding member 101 by the holder 104.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the barcode reader 20 is supported by side walls 105 and 106 on both sides thereof. For this reason, in the state where the barcode reader 20 is fixed, the emission port 202 provided on the front end surface thereof is positioned on the front end portion 113 side of the clamping member 101 (see FIG. 2A). Therefore, in a state where the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the holder 104, the radiation direction of the laser light from the barcode reader 20 is the direction from the proximal end portion 103 of the clamping member 101 toward the distal end portion 113 (the right direction in FIG. 2). ).

  Although the case where the barcode reader 20 is detachably fixed to the holding member 101 via the holder 104 has been described here, the barcode reader 20 may be fixed to the holding member 101 by, for example, a hook-and-loop fastener.

[How to use Tong 10]
Hereinafter, a method of using the tongue 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3D. Here, FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram showing a state before the clerk picks the food 40 with the tongue 10. FIG. 3B is an explanatory view showing a state where the store clerk picks the food 40 with the tongue 10. FIG. 3C is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the clerk moves the food 40 picked by the tongue 10. FIG. 3D is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the clerk reads the barcode 30 with the barcode reader 20 fixed to the tongue 10.

  When the customer selects the food 40 (bread in this case) displayed in the showcase 60, the store clerk holds the tray 70 (see FIG. 1) on the left hand and the tong 10 with the right hand. Is brought close to the food 40 (see FIG. 3A). Then, the store clerk grasps the tong 10 lightly and picks the food 40 with the tip portions 113 of the holding members 101 and 102 (see FIG. 3B), and moves the food 40 from the showcase 60 to the tray 70. At that time, the store clerk pulls the tongue 10 forward and lowers it so that the front end 113 of the sandwiching member 101 is located in front of the barcode 30 corresponding to the food 40 being picked (FIGS. 3C and 3D). reference). Then, the store clerk presses the button 201 of the barcode reader 20 with the thumb of the right hand holding the tongue 10. As a result, the barcode reader 20 reads the barcode 30 to acquire food information and transmits the food information to the POS register 50 by wireless communication.

[Operational effects of this embodiment]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the clamping member 101, the operation of picking the food 40 with the tongue 10 and transferring it to the tray 70 and the food information of the food 40 are read. When working, it is not necessary to change the tongue 10 to a bar code reader. Therefore, the operation of picking and moving the food 40 and the operation of reading the food information of the food 40 with the barcode reader 20 can be quickly performed with one hand.

  In the present embodiment, the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the sandwiching member 101 so that the laser beam irradiation direction of the barcode reader 20 substantially coincides with the direction from the proximal end portion 103 to the distal end portion 113 of the sandwiching member 101. ing. For this reason, it is not necessary to change the direction of the tongue 10 when performing the operation of picking the food 40 and the operation of reading the food information by the barcode reader 20. Therefore, the operation of picking and moving the food 40 and the operation of reading the food information of the food 40 with the barcode reader 20 can be performed easily and smoothly without changing the way of holding the tongue 10.

  In the present embodiment, the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the outer surface of the clamping member 101 (the surface opposite to the surface facing the clamping member 102). For this reason, like the case where the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the opposite surface, the barcode reader 20 is sandwiched between the sandwiching members 101 and 102, and the operation in which the distal end portions 113 of the sandwiching members 101 and 102 approach each other is hindered. Can be prevented.

  In the present embodiment, the barcode reader 20 is detachably fixed by the holder 104. In other words, since the tongue 10 picks the food 40 in an unwrapped state, it requires periodic hygiene cleaning, but since the bar code reader 20 can be removed, the bar code reader 20 can be removed by the cleaning. A failure can be prevented. Further, it is not necessary to provide the barcode reader 20 with a configuration for fixing the barcode reader 20 to the holding member 101. Therefore, the present invention can be realized using the barcode reader without changing the structure of a general barcode reader.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described form, and may be the following form, for example.
That is, in the above embodiment, the case where the tongue 10 is used in a bakery shop will be described. It may be used in other shops.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the switch that instructs the barcode reader 20 to read the barcode 30 is the button 201 has been described. However, this switch may be a slide switch. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a store clerk's erroneous operation (reading the barcode 30 by mistake).

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the irradiation direction of the laser beam of the barcode reader 20 substantially coincides with the direction from the proximal end portion 103 to the distal end portion 113 of the clamping member 101 has been described, but these directions do not necessarily coincide. You don't have to.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the barcode reader 20 is fixed to the outer surface of the clamping member 101 has been described. However, the gap between the outer surface and the surface of the clamping member 101 facing the clamping member 102 is described. The barcode reader 20 may be fixed to the surface. If the barcode reader is very small, the barcode reader 20 may be fixed to the facing surface. However, in this case, since the food 40 picked by the tongue 10 may interfere with the reading of the barcode 30, it is preferable to change the order of operations so that the food 40 is picked after the barcode 30 is read.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the barcode reader 20 is detachably fixed to the holding member 101 has been described. However, the barcode reader 20 may be configured not to be removable from the holding member 101. However, in this case, it is preferable to use the barcode reader 20 having a waterproof function so that the barcode reader 20 does not break down due to the cleaning of the tongue 10.

  Moreover, although the case where food information (article information) was recorded as the barcode 30 was described as an example in the above embodiment, the article information may be recorded by other means. For example, the article information may be recorded as a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark). In this case, a scanner capable of reading a two-dimensional code functions as the information reading apparatus of the present invention. The article information may be recorded on the RF tag. In this case, a reader that acquires article information from the RF tag by short-range wireless communication using RFID technology functions as the information reading apparatus of the present invention.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the article clamping tool of this invention was the tong 10, the tweezers etc. which pick up a chemical | drug | medicine may be sufficient as an article clamping tool, for example.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to an article clamping tool used for picking up an article that is not preferable to be directly touched by a hand such as food or medicine.

10 tongs (an example of an article clamp)
20 Bar code reader (an example of an information reader)
30 barcode (example of article information)
40 Food (example of goods)
50 POS register 51 Receipt 60 Showcase 70 Tray 101 One clamping member 102 The other clamping member 103 Base end 104 Holder (an example of a fixture)
105, 106 Side wall 107 Bolt 113 Tip portion 201 Button 202 Exit port 203 Display 501 Antenna

Claims (4)

A pair of clamping members that clamp the article with each other's tips; and
An article holding tool, comprising: an information reading device that is fixed to one of the pair of holding members and reads article information that is information about the article. The information reader is a barcode reader that acquires the article information by irradiating a barcode indicating the article information with light and reading the reflected light.
2. The article according to claim 1, wherein the barcode reader is fixed to the one clamping member so that an irradiation direction of the light substantially coincides with a direction from a proximal end portion to a distal end portion of the one clamping member. Pinching tool.   The article clamping device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information reading device is fixed to a surface of the one clamping member opposite to a surface facing the other clamping member. The article clamping tool according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the one clamping member includes a fixture that detachably fixes the information reading device.