JP2572306Y2 - Book code reader - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a book code reader, and more particularly to an apparatus for automatically reading a "book code" (hereinafter, ISBN code) described in a book.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of book codes is an ISBN code (international standard book number). This ISBN code is printed in the OCR-B font on the back of the book, and the printing place varies depending on the book, but is expressed as follows.

[0003] ISBN4-? ? ? ? -? ? ? ? − ＄ (First part) (Second part) (Third part) (Fourth part) Here, the first part is a national symbol and a language, and 4 represents Japanese. The second part is the publisher symbol, the third part is the title symbol,
The fourth part represents a check character. The total of the publisher symbol and the title symbol is eight digits. For example, the case where the publisher code number is the minimum and the title code number is the maximum is expressed as follows.

[0004] ISBN4-? ? -? ? ? ? ? ? -＄ Also, for example, the case where the number of digits of the publisher code is the largest and the number of digits of the title code is the smallest is expressed as follows.

[0005] ISBN4-? ? ? ? ? ? ? -? -＄ By the way, such ISBN codes are printed on the back of the book, but the printing location differs depending on the book. At present, a worker reads the ISBN code with the naked eye and manually inputs it into a slip or the like, or a book reader reads a book using a hand scanner and automatically enters it into a slip or the like. A method of reading a code and automatically inputting the code into a slip or the like is used.

[0006] Among these methods, the first method of manual input is manually performed, and therefore has a problem that efficiency is low and mistakes are likely to occur.

Further, the second method using the hand scanner requires a worker to accurately position the hand scanner on the portion where the ISBN code is to be printed.

Further, the third method based on reading a bar code uses the first method because the printing rate of the bar code is not 100%.
In addition, the method must be used in combination with the second method, so that the problems of these methods are inherited as they are, and there is a problem that the operation is complicated and the efficiency is poor by using the method together.

[0009]

In such a situation where books are diversified, automatic reading of ISBN codes is becoming extremely important. In a book dispatch system at a book agency, for example, a large number of books need to be processed at high speed.
Automation is desired. However, books are not always transported in one direction, and there is no guarantee that the books will be transported in any direction and where the ISBN code is written on the back of the book. There is a problem that cannot be read.

[0010] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and in the publishing and book brokerage industry, the dispatch of books,
The purpose is to streamline sorting, voucher submission, and return processing.

[0011]

In the apparatus of the present invention, there is provided a transport table on which a book is placed on a transport surface, and a movable table which is movable with respect to the transport table in one direction on the transport surface. A transport rod for transporting a book placed on the transport surface of the transport table in one direction via a pressing surface orthogonal to the moving direction, and a transport rod installed downstream of the transport table and transported. A book code reading apparatus comprising: an image reading unit that optically captures image information of the entire surface of a book; and a processing unit that searches for an ISBN code printed portion from the image information captured by the image reading unit and recognizes the printed portion. Make up the device.

It is preferable that the transport surface of the transport table has a higher friction coefficient at a portion upstream of the image reading section than at a portion downstream thereof.

[0013] Further, the transport rod is provided on the transport surface,
It is preferable to arrange a plurality of them at a predetermined interval from each other.

[0014]

According to the above construction, while the book put on the transfer surface of the transfer table is pressed by the transfer rod, most postures are corrected to a state where one side thereof is in contact with the pressing surface. At the same time, since the ISBN code in a predetermined format is recognized and processed from the entire image information captured by the image reading unit, the book code of the book code is compared with the conventional manual input method and the hand scanner method. Reading can be performed more efficiently.

By configuring the transport surface of the transport table such that a portion upstream of the image reading section has a higher coefficient of friction than a portion downstream thereof, the book is transported to the image reading section. While the posture can be corrected more reliably, the load on the driving system of the transport rod can be reduced as much as possible by smoothly transporting the read book.

Further, if a plurality of transport rods are arranged on the transport surface at predetermined intervals, a large number of books can be handled in parallel on the transport table.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

This book code reading apparatus 100 has the structure shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 (a) and FIG. 2 (b), a transport table 1 having an elongated rectangular shape and a book S placed on a transport surface, and transport of the transport table 1 A transport rod 2 that moves along the surface thereof along the longitudinal direction thereof; and an image reading unit 3 that is provided at an intermediate portion of the transport table 1 and optically captures the entire image information of the book S placed on the transport surface.
An ISBN code printed portion is searched for from the entire image information captured by the image reading section 3, an ISBN code is recognized for each character from the searched ISBN code printed portion, and the recognized character is converted into a code string. A processing unit 4 for transferring information to a host computer; and a discharge unit 5 for discharging a book S downstream of the transport table 1
And classifies the book S discharged from the discharge unit 5 into a predetermined stacker based on the code string information from the processing unit 4. The transport table 1 has a high-friction slide plate 1s for the transport surface on the upstream side of the image reading unit 3 and the low-friction slide plate for the transport surface on the downstream side of the image read unit 3. It is constituted by a slide plate 1p.

The transport rod 2 is formed in a rectangular shape and, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a portion along the transport surface of the transport table 1 at a right angle to the longitudinal direction of the transport table 1 on the transport surface. A plurality of endless chains 6 having a predetermined distance from each other, and when a chain 6 is driven by a motor, a constant direction at a constant speed on the conveying surface of the conveying table 1. , The book S placed on the transport surface is transported sequentially from the upstream side to the downstream side with one side surface as a pressing surface. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, even if the book S on the transport surface is inclined with respect to the transport direction, most of the book S is pressed by the transport rod 2 and the high friction slide plate 1s on the transport surface. As a result, it rotates appropriately around its center of gravity, and is corrected to a state where one side thereof is in contact with the transport rod 2 before reaching the image reading unit 3. In addition, since a plurality of the transport rods 2 are arranged at predetermined intervals on the transport surface, a large number of books S can be handled in parallel on the transport table 1.

The image reading unit 3 illuminates a cover 30 that covers a part of the transport surface, a pressing plate 31 that presses the book S that has reached the inside of the cover 30, and a back surface of the book S that passes over the transport surface. A light source (not shown) composed of a high-frequency lighting fluorescent lamp, and an optical system 32 composed of an optical path turning mirror, a lens, and the like configured to guide the reflected light from the book S to a sensor 33 composed of a CCD line sensor. It has an operation of optically capturing image information on the entire back surface of the book S while the book S is passing therethrough.

The pressing plate 31 may be omitted.
In addition, although the transfer surface of the transfer table 1 is constituted by the high friction slide plate 1s, a part of which is constituted by the high friction slide plate may be used.

FIG. 4 is a layout diagram of an overall system of a sorting processor using the book code reader 100, and FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram thereof. This system uses a sorter conveyor 20
0, the book code reader 100 attached to a part of the sorter conveyor 200 and discharging the book S after reading the ISBN code to the sorter conveyor 200, and the book code reader 100 determined that there is no ISBN code. A reject stacker 300 for ejecting the articles and the articles that could not read the ISBN code;
A host computer 500 receives code string information corresponding to the ISBN code from the book code reader 100, and sorts and stacks the books S into the stacker 400 based on the ISBN code. The host computer 500 is connected to the operation box 600, and can operate the classification of the book S by operating the operation box 600.

According to the sorting apparatus using the book code reading apparatus 100, as long as the book S is placed on the carrying surface of the carrying table 1, the image reading section 3 takes in the entire image information, and Since the ISBN code is read by the processing unit 4 from the captured whole image information, the ISBN code is manually input, and a reading device such as a hand scanner is compared with the conventional device which matches the ISBN code printing portion each time. Thus, the ISBN code can be read more efficiently.

In this book code reader, the book S is transported by maintaining the transport table 1 in a stationary state and moving only the transport rod 2, but the transport table is run at a low speed. It is also possible to make the moving speed of the transport rod faster than the traveling speed of the transport table.

Next, an application example of this apparatus will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a book dispatch processing system. When a dispatch book list signal is sent from the dispatch data file 700 to the automatic warehouse 800, the books are transported from the automatic warehouse, and the book code reader 100 reads the book. ISBN
The code is read and supplied to the conveyor 200. On the other hand, book code reader 100
The signal of the ISBN code read in is sent to the shipping data file 700.
The N-code book is moved from the shipping list to the shipped list, and a shipping slip is sent out at the same time. Then, on the transport conveyor, the paper is discharged to a stacker for the bookstore. In this manner, the book shipping process can be performed without any user.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a book return processing system. When a book returned from a bookstore reads an ISBN code by a book code reader 100 and sends it to a sorting conveyor 200, the book is sorted by each publisher. At the same time as it is discharged, an inspection slip is created for each bookstore, while a return slip is created for each publisher.

FIG. 8 shows a slip issuing system. When the book code reader 100 is turned on by the operation panel 600, the ISBN code is read and signals are transmitted and received to and from the database search device 900. Issued.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to manually input or operate a reading device such as a hand scanner, so that the ISBN code can be read efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a book code reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a transport rod of the apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an overall system diagram of a sorting process using the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an overall explanatory view of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a book shipping processing system using the same device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a book return processing system using the same device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a slip sending system using the same device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 transport table 2 transport rod 3 image reading unit 4 processing unit 5 discharge unit 6 chain 100 book code reader 200 sorter conveyor 300 reject stacker 400 stacker 500 host computer 600 operation box 700 shipping data file 800 automatic warehouse 900 database search device

Claims (3)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A transport table on which a book is placed on a transport surface, and a pressing surface disposed movably on the transport surface in one direction with respect to the transport table, and a pressing surface orthogonal to the moving direction. And a transport rod that transports the book placed on the transport surface of the transport table in one direction, and is disposed downstream of the transport table, and optically captures the entire image information on the transported book. An image reading unit; and I based on the image information captured by the image reading unit.
A book code reading device comprising: a processing unit for searching for an SBN code printing portion and recognizing the SBN code printing portion. 2. The book code reading device according to claim 1, wherein the conveying surface of the conveying table has a higher coefficient of friction at a portion upstream of the image reading portion than at a portion downstream thereof. apparatus. 3. The book code reader according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the transport rods are arranged at predetermined intervals on the transport surface.