JP2567002Y2 - Optical reader - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical reader, and more particularly to an optical reader for reading optical information from a read medium on which optical information such as a bar code is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an optical reading apparatus for reading optical information from a reading medium on which optical information such as a bar code is recorded, irradiation light from a light source is applied to an information recording surface of the reading medium.
The obtained reflected light is received by a light receiving sensor and read by a processing circuit to read the optical information.
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of a main part of a conventional optical reading apparatus of this type. A reflected light 1 from a reading medium (not shown) is transmitted by a lens 2 to a printed circuit board for attaching a line sensor (hereinafter referred to as P).
The light is converged on a line sensor 5 provided in the CB 3. The line sensor mounting PCB 3 is disposed at a right angle to the main PCB 7 on which the processing circuit 6 is formed.
Connected via a connection cable 8 between the main PCBs 7,
The analog signal detected by the line sensor 5 is processed by the processing circuit 6
Is subjected to signal processing such as binarization, and the optical information of the read medium is read.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional optical reading apparatus, the line sensor mounting PCB 3 needs to be disposed at right angles to the main PCB 7 so that the convergent light from the lens 2 is received by the line sensor 5. There was a problem in making the device thinner. In addition, since it is composed of two PCBs, the main PCB 7 and the PCB 3, the structure is complicated, the manufacturing operation is complicated, and the manufacturing cost is disadvantageous. Also especially the equipment
Shape directly holds the case containing the optical system and circuits with your hand.
Independent optics for miniaturization and thinning
Prepare a system unit and incorporate it inside the case.
Is difficult in practice, and also depends on the grip strength of the user.
Therefore, some deformation of the case is inevitable. Soshi
Each component of the optical system is fixed separately to the case or substrate, etc.
In particular, the dimensions between the components of the optical system
It is difficult to satisfy the requirements for accuracy,
Has caused a decrease in reading performance.

The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the conventional optical reading apparatus as described above, and its object is to make it possible to greatly reduce the thickness with a simple structure, reduce the number of manufacturing steps, and reduce the manufacturing cost. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical reading device which is advantageous in the above.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer- readable medium comprising: a support substrate;
A lens that converges reflected light from the lens, and convergent light that passes through the lens
Crosses the reflected light and bends in the direction of the support substrate to guide the light.
A light-receiving and light-guiding unit, and a light-receiving and light-receiving unit for receiving light from the light-receiving and light-guiding unit.
Optical element and processing circuit for processing an output signal of the light receiving element
And a case for holding the support substrate therein and holding it by hand.
And the support substrate has the processing circuit mounted thereon.
The lens, the light receiving and light guiding unit and the light receiving element
It is mounted on the same side with the position shifted, and further, the support
The lens and the light receiving and guiding light so that the reflected light is along the substrate.
This is the first means in which the parts are positioned and arranged.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising :
According to the invention described in claim 1, the reading medium is further used in claim 1.
A light source unit for emitting light for illumination, and light from the light source
And a light source light guide section for bending the light guide toward the reading medium.
The direction of illumination from the light source unit is different from the surface of the support substrate.
In a direction intersecting with each other, further comprising:
Part and the light source light guide part are also mounted on the same surface side as the lens etc.
This is the second means to be performed. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention described in claim 3 is based on claim 1 or 2.
Further, the support substrate includes a plurality of support substrates provided in the case.
The third means is mounted and fixed on the convex part of
is there.

[0007]

By the action, wherein said first means, it is possible to arrange the light receiving element on a common support substrate, it can be greatly thinned optical reader. Further, since most of the constituent elements can be provided on the common support substrate, the reading accuracy can be easily set, the manufacturing operation can be simplified, and the manufacturing cost is advantageous. By the second means, all light on the light receiving side and the light source side
After assembling the academic system on the support substrate and adjusting it,
Since it can be inserted, assembly is easy. The third
By means, the support substrate can be further
If the substrate is not directly supported by the inner surface of the case,
To prevent deformation of the case when gripped by hand.
The deformation of the supporting substrate due to
Since dimensional changes are suppressed, optical characteristics are less likely to deteriorate.
You.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the first embodiment. FIGS. 1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams of the entire configuration, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a processing circuit, and FIG. 4 is a first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the modification of a light-receiving light guide part.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an opening 11 is provided at one end of a cylindrical thin case 10.
Are provided with a plurality of projections 19, 19,.
PCB12 which is a common support substrate on the convex portions 19, 19 ...
Is attached and fixed. The opening 11 of this PCB 12
LED13 and LED1 as a light source section near the side end.
3 is refracted and emitted light L1 through aperture 11
The light source light guide 16 for irradiating the reading medium 15 is fixed. In this manner, the irradiation light L1 is
And the reflected light L2 from the information recording surface enters the case through the opening 11. The PC
The other end of B12 has a light shielding property having an inclined end face 17a.
The holding part 17 is fixed, and a reflection part 18 is fixed to an end face 17 a of the holding part 17. And this reflection part 1
On top 8 of the lower PCB12 line sensor 20 is a light receiving element is fixed, the lens 21 in the vicinity of the holding portion 17 is P
It is fixed to CB12. The light source light guide 16 is L2
Below, a reflector 16a and a lens 16b for improving the convergence of irradiation on the reading medium 15 are integrally formed. What
In addition, the reflecting portion 18 or the reflecting portion 18 and the holding portion 1
Reference numeral 7 corresponds to the light receiving and guiding unit.

For this reason, the PC in the case 10 through the opening 11
The reflected light L <b> 2 guided along B <b> 12 is converged by the lens 21, further reflected by the reflector 18, bent at substantially a right angle, and enters the line sensor 20. Lens 21 and reflection
A circuit element 23, which is a processing circuit, is disposed on the PCB 12 so as not to block the reflected light L2, and optical information of the reading medium 15 detected as an analog signal by the line sensor 20 is provided between the sections 18. The binary signal processing is performed by the circuit element 23 and read.

Next, the signal processing operation will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, 36 is a DC amplifier circuit, 37 is an AC amplifier circuit, 38 is a binarization circuit, 39 is a decoder,
0 is a constant voltage circuit, 41 is a frequency dividing circuit, 42 is a clock circuit, 43 is a power supply circuit, and 44 is a driving circuit.

As described above, the reflected light from the surface of the reading medium 15 on which the bar code 15B is displayed is reduced by a line sensor 20 in which a plurality of light receiving elements of a CMOS type or a CCD type are arranged in a line. Is received through the lens 21 which is A read start signal output from a host device (not shown) based on an operation of a push button or the like (not shown) by the operator causes the drive circuit 44 supplied with power from the power supply circuit 43 to drive the light source 13 to emit light with a constant current for a predetermined period. The clock circuit 42, which is supplied with power from the power supply circuit 43, starts counting from the initial value.
Are supplied so as to set the decoder 39 supplied with the power from the decoder 39 to a state where the decoding operation can be started.

From the constant voltage circuit 40 supplied with power from the power supply circuit 43, the charging voltage of the line sensor 20, the amplification operation voltage of the DC amplification circuit 36, the amplification operation voltage of the AC amplification circuit 37, A binarized operating voltage of the circuit 38;
Are stabilized and applied constantly. The frequency dividing circuit 41, which is supplied with power from the power supply circuit 43, has a readout period corresponding to the number of light receiving elements (photodiodes) of the line sensor 20 and the repetition cycle of the clock pulse from the clock circuit 42, and a light amount exposed by the reflected light. The clock pulse supplied from the clock circuit 42 is frequency-divided and a detection command signal is supplied to the line sensor 20 so as to indicate a charging period for changing the clock signal into a voltage signal.
The line sensor 20, to which both the detection command signal and the clock pulse are supplied, is supplied with a pulse indicating the charging period of the detection command signal, and at the same time, is supplied to each charging element (semiconductor capacitor) connected to each of the light receiving elements. As soon as the currently charged electric charge is instantaneously reset to the initial value, the charging voltage is applied to all the light receiving elements for a period corresponding to the time during which the pulse is supplied. The line sensor 20 in this state supplies a charging current corresponding to the amount of light received by each light receiving element to each charging element connected to each light receiving element without depending on the supplied clock pulse. I'm wearing Then, the line sensor 20, to which the detection command signal indicating the readout period is supplied, has a scanning period corresponding to the period of the supplied clock pulse.
A voltage value corresponding to the charge amount supplied to each charging element is sequentially output to the DC amplifier circuit 36.

The weak analog waveform signal sequentially read from the line sensor 20 is amplified to a predetermined power by a DC amplifier circuit 36, and is sequentially supplied to an AC amplifier circuit 37 via an AC-coupling capacitor for blocking DC power. Is done. The AC amplifier circuit 37 converts the amplified signal corresponding to the AC component of the analog waveform signal output from the line sensor 20 into a binary signal
8. The binarization circuit 38 binarizes the amplified signal of the voltage amplitude waveform corresponding to the input change in the reflectance of the reading medium 15 into two voltage states corresponding to the change cycle of the reflectance. The binarized signals of the “H” and “L” levels are output to the decoder 39. The decoder 39 quantizes and quantizes the level duration of the binarized signal that changes between "H" and "L" levels with reference to the clock pulse supplied from the clock circuit 42, and based on the quantified value. The image data is sequentially decoded and converted into character data, and the decoding result is output to the host device.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the line sensor 20 can be mounted on the PCB 12 and the reading optical axis can be arranged in parallel with the surface of the line sensor 20. Can be significantly reduced in thickness. LED 13, reflector 16, lens 2
1. PCB1 in which the reflection unit 18 and the line sensor 20 are common
2 are mounted and supported on the
The reading accuracy is determined by the mounting accuracy on the CB 12, and the optical reading device having a predetermined reading characteristic can be manufactured by a simple operation of mounting the PCB 12 mounting these constituent elements in the case 10, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost. Furthermore, the space on the PCB 12 between the light source light guide 16 and the lens 21 can be effectively used, and the circuit element 23 can be mounted to reduce the size. In the first embodiment, the case where the reflecting portion 18 is used as the light receiving and guiding portion has been described. However, a prism 30 can be used as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the main part of the second embodiment. In this embodiment, the circuit element 2 is mounted on the PCB 12.
3, a lens 21, a line sensor 20, and a holding unit 17 to which a reflecting unit 18 is fixed are mounted, and an LED 2 serving as a light source
Numeral 2 is attached by a positioning member (not shown) so as to directly irradiate the reading medium 15 with irradiation light from a light collecting section integrally mounted on the front surface of the light emitting chip. The configuration, operation and effect of the other parts of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment described above.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are explanatory views showing the structure of the main part of the third embodiment. An LED 13, a circuit element 23, a lens 21, a line sensor 20, and a reflecting part 18 are fixed on a PCB 12. FIG. The holding part 17 is fixed and the LED
The irradiation light L1 from the light source 13 crosses the reflected light L2 of the reading medium 15 and is reflected above the reflected light L2 by a reflector 26, which is a light source light guide, fixed to a case (not shown) above the reflected light L2. Is to be irradiated. FIG. 7 shows another example of the light source light guide of the third embodiment, in which a lens 27 is fixed on the front surface of a reflector 26 to improve the convergence of irradiation of irradiation light onto the reading medium 15. I have. The configuration, operation and effect of the other parts of the third embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment already described. The reflector 26 may be mounted on a PCB.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the main part of the fourth embodiment. The LED 13, the reflector 28,
Circuit element 23, lens 21, line sensor 20, and reflection
The holding part 17 to which the part 18 is fixed is fixed,
The irradiation light L1 from D13 is reflected by the reflector 28 located below the reflected light L2 from the reading medium 15, and the reflected light L1
The light enters the reading medium 15 at a predetermined angle with respect to the second optical axis. The configuration, operation and effect of the other parts of the fourth embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment already described.

In each of the above-described embodiments, a device with high reading accuracy can be assembled by housing and disposing the PCB 12 in which the constituent elements are mounted with high mounting accuracy in a case. This is advantageous in terms of cost. Further, the LED 13 and the line sensor 20 are set so that the reading optical axis is substantially parallel to the PCB 12, and the common PCB 12
Since it can be arranged on the upper side, it is possible to achieve a downsizing that realizes a significant reduction in thickness.

[0020]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a processing circuit is provided.
Mount the components of the optical system on the same surface
So that it can be gripped by hand and greatly reduced in thickness.
It can provide an optical reading device with excellent
Do not degrade reading accuracy while maintaining dimensional accuracy of academic systems
In addition, by assembling each optical component along the supporting substrate, it is possible to simplify the assembling work and reduce the manufacturing cost. According to the invention of claim 2, the light receiving side and the light source
After adjusting all the optical systems on the side on the support substrate,
Easy to assemble because it can be incorporated into the case.
You. According to the invention of claim 3, the supporting substrate is further provided.
For example, support the board directly on the inner surface of the case.
Instead of holding it with multiple projections,
The deformation of the support substrate with respect to the deformation of the case at the time is relaxed,
Since the dimensional change of the optical system on the support substrate is suppressed,
Characteristics are less likely to deteriorate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the first embodiment of the present invention as viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a processing circuit according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a modified example of the reflection unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view schematically showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view schematically showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a modified example of the light source light guide according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a main part of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of a conventional optical reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Case 13, 22 LED 15 Reading medium 16 Light source light-guiding part 18 Reflecting part 19 Convex part 26, 28 Reflector 20 Line sensor 21 Lens 23 Circuit element 30 Prism

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] And 1. A supporting substrate, a lens for converging the reflected light from the reading medium, the convergent light passing through the lens intersects with the reflected light, said supported
A light receiving / guiding unit that bends and guides in the direction of the holding substrate, a light receiving element that receives light from the light receiving / guiding unit, a processing circuit that processes an output signal of the light receiving element, and the support substrate therein. Case for holding by hand
And wherein the support substrate has the processing circuit mounted thereon and the lens
And the light receiving and light guiding section and the light receiving element are positioned on the same surface side.
The lens and the lens are mounted such that the reflected light is along the support substrate.
An optical reading device, wherein a light receiving and guiding unit is positioned and arranged . 2. A reading medium according to claim 1, further comprising:
A light source unit that emits light for emitting light, and light that bends the light from the light source and guides the light toward the reading medium
A light guide section, and the direction of illumination from the light source section is forward.
The direction intersecting with the surface of the support substrate, further on the support substrate, the light source unit and the light source light guide unit
An optical reading device mounted on the same surface as the lens and the like . 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the supporting substrate is mounted on a plurality of convex portions provided on the case.
An optical reader characterized by being placed and fixed .