JP2732912B2 - Barcode reader - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Table of Contents] Overview Industrial application field Conventional technology (FIG. 6) Problems to be solved by the invention Means for solving the problem (FIG. 1) Action Embodiment (a) One Description of an embodiment (FIGS. 2 to 5) (b) Description of another embodiment [Overview] A bar code reader that optically scans a bar code of an article and reads the bar code. It is intended to allow an operator to confirm that scanning and reading are being performed, emit detection light, receive reflected light or transmitted light thereof,
An article detection unit that detects an article, emits a scanning pattern for scanning a barcode of the article, receives reflected light,
A barcode reading unit that reads a barcode of an article, a control unit that starts a scanning reading operation of the barcode reading unit according to an article detection signal of the article detection unit, and a barcode reading unit that is instructed by the control unit. And a display unit for displaying that scanning is being performed.

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a barcode reader that optically scans a barcode of an article and reads the barcode.

In supermarkets and department stores, barcodes are attached to articles (products) and read by a barcode reader to automate input.

Such barcode readers include a fixed type in which the device is fixed and a handy type in which the device is held by hand.The handy type requires the device to be held in hand, so that the fixed type is used in terms of operability. Is better.

In this stationary bar code reader, the article is read by holding the article in front of the apparatus, so that the bar code of the article can be read after detecting that the article has entered a predetermined reading area. It is required that an operator be able to identify that a bar code is being read.

[Conventional technology]

 FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the prior art.

The article detection unit 1 is configured by an LED (light emitting diode), and emits a detection light, a light reception unit 11 that receives a reflected light or a transmitted light with respect to the detection light, and a light amount change of an output of the light reception unit 11. A light amount change detection unit 12 for detecting and transmitting an article entry detection signal, and detecting entry of the article 4 into the reading space based on a change in the light amount of the light receiving unit 11.

The barcode reading unit 21 is a laser beam scanning unit that emits a scanning pattern for scanning the barcode 40 to a reading space.
20 and condensing unit 21 for condensing the reflected light from the reading space
And a detection unit (light receiving sensor) 22 that receives the collected light and converts it into an electric signal, and a barcode demodulation unit 23 that demodulates a barcode from the output of the detection unit 22 and emits a scanning pattern. Then, the bar code is read from the reflected light.

Further, the control unit 3 includes a CPU (processor) 30 and a reading time control timer 31, and upon receiving an article entry detection signal from the article detecting unit 1, scans the laser light scanning unit 20 of the bar code reading unit 2. Is started, and if demodulated data is received from the bar code reading unit 2 or if demodulated data is not obtained within a fixed time from the start of scanning of the timer 31, the laser beam scanning unit
This stops the scanning of 20.

Generally, when scanning is always performed by the laser beam scanning unit 20, the apparatus operates even when there is no article, which is not preferable in terms of the life of the apparatus and power consumption.

Therefore, in this conventional example, the article detection unit 1 detects that the article has entered the reading space, the control unit 3 instructs the barcode reading unit 2 to start reading, and when the reading is completed, the control unit 3 Monitors the article entry detection signal from the article detection unit 1 for the next reading, thereby generating a scanning pattern only when the article is in the reading space,
Power saving and long life of the device were attempted.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As described above, even when scanning and reading are performed only when an article is detected, in the related art, a helium neon laser that emits visible light is used as a laser light source of the laser beam scanning unit 20, so that the scanning beam is visually observed. Was confirmed.

However, if a laser diode is used as the laser light source to reduce the size of the device, visible light will be emitted, but if the emission wavelength of the laser diode is longer than that of the helium neon laser and the output is within the laser safety standards. ,
A situation occurs in which the output laser beam cannot be confirmed with the naked eye.

For this reason, the conventional technology has a problem that the operator cannot confirm the scanning pattern with the naked eye and cannot determine whether the article is correctly detected and the barcode is optically scanned, and the reading operability is poor for the operator. Was.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a barcode reader that allows an operator to confirm that an article has been detected and scanning and reading have been performed.

[Means for solving the problem]

 FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

The present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, emits detection light, receives reflected light or transmitted light thereof, and scans a bar code 40 of the article 4 with an article detection unit 1 that detects the article 4. A bar code reading unit 2 that emits the scanning pattern of the above, receives the reflected light, and reads the bar code 40 of the article 4, and scans and reads the bar code reading unit 2 according to the article detection signal of the article detecting unit 1. The control unit 3 includes a control unit 3 for starting the operation, and a display unit 5 for displaying that the barcode reading unit 2 is scanning and reading in accordance with an instruction from the control unit 3.

[Action]

According to the present invention, since the display unit 5 for displaying that the barcode reading unit 2 is performing the scanning reading is provided, the operator can visually confirm that the article to be read is correctly detected and the scanning reading is being performed.

Therefore, the reading operability of the operator can be improved.

〔Example〕

(A) Description of one embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 are denoted by the same symbols, 13 is a clock source,
An AND gate 14 generates a clock for driving the light emitting unit (LED) 10 in pulses, opens and closes in response to an article detection lighting signal from the CPU 30, and outputs a clock from a clock source 13, and 15 denotes a driver. Yes, it drives the LED 10 according to the clock from the AND gate 15.

Therefore, LED10 is turned on by the article detection lighting signal from CPU30.
Is turned on / off.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1a denotes an article detection window, which emits detection light of the light emitting unit 10 for detecting an article and guides reflected light to the light receiving unit 11, and 2a denotes a reading window, which is a laser light scanning unit 20.
Are emitted, and the reflected light is guided to the condensing section 21.

The display unit 5 is configured by a light-emitting lamp such as an LED, and is provided beside the article detection window 1a.

FIG. 4 is a processing flowchart of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a time chart of one embodiment of the present invention.

The CPU 30 turns on the article detection lighting signal, opens the AND gate 14, outputs the clock of the clock source 13 to the driver 15, turns on the LED 10 in pulses, and emits the detection light.

The reason why the LED 10 is not turned on continuously but is turned on in a pulsed manner is to extend the life of the LED 10 and to save power.

On the other hand, the light receiving unit 11 of the article detecting unit 1 receives the reflected light from the reading space and generates a light receiving output corresponding to the amount of reflected light.

The light quantity change detecting unit 12 detects whether there is a change in the light receiving output of the light receiving unit 11, and when there is a change, generates an article entry detection signal.

That is, when the article 4 enters the reading space, the reflected light with respect to the detection light increases, the received light output changes, and an article entry detection signal is issued.

The CPU 30 determines whether there is an article entry detection signal from the article detection unit 1, and if there is an article entry detection signal, judges that the article 4 has entered the reading space, and turns off the article detection lighting signal.

This closes the AND gate 14 and the clock source 13
Since the clock is not supplied to the driver 15, the LED 10 is turned off (light emission is stopped). Next, the CPU 30 instructs the laser beam scanning unit 20 of the barcode reading unit 2 to start scanning.

The laser light scanning unit 20 irradiates the rotating polygon mirror with laser light from a laser light source (laser diode) to generate an optical scanning pattern.

Since the polygon mirror is constantly rotating, the laser light source (laser diode) is turned on in response to a scanning start instruction from the CPU 30, a light scanning pattern is generated, emitted to a reading space, and reading is started.

By this reading start, the CPU 30 turns on the reading-in-light signal to the display unit 5 and turns on the display lamp of the display unit 5.

Thus, the operator can visually confirm that the article is detected and the reading is being performed.

Then, the CPU 30 executes a reading time control (T1) timer 31.
Start.

The reflected light from the article 4 of the light scanning pattern emitted in this manner is collected by the light collecting unit 21, received by the light detecting unit 22, converted into an electric signal, and demodulated by the barcode demodulating unit 23. Is demodulated.

The CPU 30 waits for the demodulated data of the barcode demodulation unit 23, and upon receiving the demodulated data, determines that the reading is successful.

If the reading is not successful, the CPU 30 checks whether the timer 31 has counted up.
Return to step.

If it is determined that the reading is successful in the step, the green lamp indicating the reading success of the display unit (not shown) is turned on, a confirmation sound is emitted, or the timer 31 counts up in the step,
If normal bar code demodulated data is not obtained after a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of reading, a red lamp indicating unsuccessful reading on the display unit is turned on, and the laser beam scanning unit 20 is instructed to stop scanning, and the laser beam The laser light source (laser diode) of the scanning unit 20 is turned off, and the reading ends.

Since the reading is completed, the CPU 30 turns off the lighting signal during reading, turns off the display lamp of the display unit 5, returns to the step, and turns on the article detection lighting signal for the next article detection / reading.

Here, if the reading is not performed for a predetermined time by the timer 31, the reading is terminated when the detected article is an article without a human hand or a bar code, or when the scanning pattern does not exactly hit the bar code 40. This is because it is useless to perform the reading operation forever in such a case.

In this manner, the operator correctly enters the article into the reading space, the article is detected, and the fact that the scanning and reading is being performed is displayed on the display unit 5 so that the operator can confirm with the naked eye.

Further, even if the operator brings the article to the front of the bar code reader for reading, if the display unit does not light up, it can be determined that the article has not entered the reading space correctly.

Therefore, when the operator brings the article to the front of the barcode reader, the operator can enter the article into the reading space and check whether or not the article is being read, and the operability for reading is improved.

Further, in this embodiment, when the article detecting section 1 detects that the article 4 has entered the reading space, the CPU 30 stops the light emission of the article detecting section 1 and starts barcode reading by the light scanning pattern. I have to.

For this reason, while the bar code is being read, the article detection unit 1 is turned off, so that the laser scanning light reads the bar code without the reflected light of the detection light of the article detection unit 1 being superimposed on the reflected light. Performance is improved.

(B) Description of Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, the article detection unit 1 detects the entry of the article by receiving the reflected light with respect to the detection light, but detects the entry of the article by receiving the transmitted light. May be.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the laser light source of the laser scanning unit 20 is constituted by a laser diode. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where a light source that generates light which cannot be sufficiently viewed with the naked eye is used.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention can be variously modified in accordance with the gist of the present invention, and these are not excluded from the present invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, an article is detected and the fact that scanning and reading is being performed is displayed, so that an article having a barcode to be read by an operator is correctly detected and scanning and reading are performed. Can be confirmed with the naked eye, and there is an effect that the reading operability of the operator is greatly improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 5 is a time chart of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the prior art. In the drawing, 1... Article detection section, 2... Scanning reading section, 3... Control section, 4... Article, 40... Bar code, 5.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Oyama 2-16-20 Shimura, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Inside Copal Corporation (72) Inventor Tatsuo Sasaki 2-16-20 Shimura, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo Copal Corporation (72) Inventor Kazumasa Moriya 1015 Uedanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside of Fujitsu Limited (56) References Japanese Utility Model Sho 55-131554 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Sho 49-67525 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An article detection section (1) that emits detection light, receives reflected light or transmitted light thereof, and detects an article (4), and scans a bar code (40) of the article (4). A bar code reading unit (2) for reading a bar code (40) of an article (4) by emitting a scanning pattern for reading the bar code (40) and an article detection signal of the article detecting unit (1). A control unit (3) for starting the scanning reading operation of the bar code reading unit (2); and the bar code reading unit (2) according to an instruction of the control unit (3).
A bar code reader, comprising: a display unit (5) for displaying that scanning is being performed.