JP2733129B2 - Checkout device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a checkout apparatus for reading and scanning a barcode of an article conveyed by a conveyor with a barcode scanner.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in a logistics system in a factory, a barcode scanner that attaches a barcode to a product conveyed by a conveyor including an endless belt and a number of rollers by printing or attaching a label, and reads and scans the barcode. The information distribution status of articles is managed by arranging them in close proximity to the conveyor.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-described checkout device, the distribution state of articles can be controlled mechanically. For example, while a plurality of types of articles having different sizes are conveyed by one conveyor, In a checkout device that reads and scans a code with a barcode scanner, reading errors tend to occur because the barcode height differs for each article. Therefore, in practice, a reading error is prevented by manually adjusting the relative position between the barcode scanner and the barcode of the article by, for example, arranging a dedicated operator at the position of the barcode scanner. However, this requires a dedicated operator to check out the barcode, and undesirably lowers the distribution speed of articles.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is a checkout device in which a barcode scanner that reads and scans a barcode from above on a conveyor that conveys an article with a barcode on the upper surface is disposed opposite to the barcode scanner. Providing a scanner position adjusting mechanism for supporting and positioning movably in the vertical direction, providing sensor means for detecting the height of the upper surface of the article on the conveyor,
In accordance with the detection result of the sensor means, there is provided a reading error preventing means for driving the scanner position adjusting mechanism to adjust the relative height of the bar code scanner with respect to the bar code of the article.

The bar code scanner is supported by the scanner position adjusting mechanism so as to be vertically movable, so that the reading error preventing means drives the scanner position adjusting mechanism according to the height of the upper surface of the article on the conveyor detected by the sensor means. By adjusting the relative height of the barcode scanner with respect to the barcode of the article, the barcode scanner can be positioned at an upper position corresponding to the height of the upper surface of each article, whereby the barcode is always scanned by the barcode scanner. , And accurate reading scanning is performed.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in the checkout device 1 of the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a pair of optical sensors 3 serving as sensor means are provided upright on both sides of the belt conveyor 2,
The keyboard 4 and the barcode scanner 5 are located in front of the transport direction. Here, as exemplified in FIG. 2, the bar code scanner 5 is supported above the belt conveyor 2 in a vertically movable state by a scanner position adjusting mechanism including an adjusting motor 6 and a support arm 7. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the optical sensor 3 is configured such that a plurality of detection lights 8 which are substantially horizontal and continuous in the vertical direction are emitted from one side and received by the other side.

In the checkout device 1, as shown in FIG. 4, the reading failure prevention means, the failure detection means, the transport reversing means, the transport resuming means, etc.
U (Central Processing Unit) 9, and a ROM 10 (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1
2, an encoder 13 to which the optical sensor 3 is connected, a scanner height adjustment circuit 14 to which the adjustment motor 6 is connected, and a scanner control unit 1 to which the barcode scanner 5 is connected.
5. The conveyor control circuit 17 connected to the drive motor 16 of the belt conveyor 2 and devices such as the keyboard 4 are connected.

In the checkout apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1, an article 20 having a bar code 18 on a label 19 or the like is conveyed on the belt conveyor 2.

In such a configuration, the operation of the checkout device 1 will be described below with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. First, when the article 20 conveyed on the belt conveyor 2 passes between the optical sensors 3 and the predetermined detection light 8 is cut off, the data of the detection light 8 is encoded by the encoder 13 and is transmitted from the bus 10 to the CPU 9. Is forwarded to Here, in the checkout device 1, data of a plurality of heights are previously stored on the basis of the position of the detection light 8 of the optical sensor 3.
It is set to M12 or the like, and the CPU 9 selects data of one height according to the transferred code and calculates the amount of change from the data of the height in advance. Then, the height of the barcode scanner 5 is changed by driving the adjustment motor 6 by a predetermined amount by the scanner height adjustment circuit 14 to which the data of the change amount has been transferred. The bar code 18 of the article 20 conveyed is read and scanned satisfactorily from an appropriate height.

By doing so, in the checkout device 1, the barcode 18 is read and scanned after the height of the barcode scanner 5 is adjusted to a position corresponding to the height of the upper surface of each article 20. The reading accuracy of the code 18 is improved, and the occurrence rate of reading defects is reduced.

In the checkout device 1, when a reading error occurs during the scanning of the barcode scanner 5 as described above, this is detected by the CPU 9 via the scanner control unit 15. Then, the conveyor control circuit 17 is controlled by the CPU 9, and the drive motor 16 of the belt conveyor 2 is temporarily stopped to start reverse rotation. Therefore, the articles 20 conveyed in the reverse direction by the belt conveyor 2 which reverses after the temporary stop.
Is read again by the barcode scanner 5.

When the CPU 9 detects that the bar code 18 has been read and scanned normally by the re-reading by the reverse transport as described above, the belt conveyor 2 resumes the transport in the forward direction after a temporary stop. At this time, in the checkout device 1, the barcode 18 of the article 20 whose conveyance in the forward direction has been resumed is read and scanned by the barcode scanner 5 to confirm data coincidence.

If the CPU 9 detects a reading error during the re-reading of the bar code 18 due to the reverse rotation as described above, the belt conveyor 2 resumes the conveyance in the forward direction after a temporary stop to change the bar code 18 of the article 20 to the bar code. Scanning is performed by the scanner 5. Therefore, when the CPU 9 detects that the bar code 18 has been read and scanned normally in this reading scan, the apparatus returns to the normal operation, and
Even in this case, if the reading failure of the barcode 18 is detected, the above-described operation of the reverse transport and the subsequent operations are repeated.

In this manner, in the checkout device 1, even if a reading error occurs during scanning of the barcode 18 of the article 20 conveyed on the belt conveyor 2, the belt conveyor 2 rotates in the reverse direction and the reading error occurs. Since the generated barcode 18 of the article 20 is read again, the distribution state of the article 20 can be reliably managed.

In addition, in the checkout device 1, the barcode scanner 5 has a high reading accuracy by adjusting the height of the barcode scanner 5 corresponding to each article 20 as described above. The re-reading of the bar code 18 due to the reciprocating transport of the bar code does not frequently occur. That is, in the checkout device 1, the distribution state of the articles 20 can be reliably managed without lowering the work efficiency.

Effect of the Invention As described above, the present invention relates to a checkout device in which a barcode scanner that reads and scans a barcode from above is disposed on a conveyor that conveys an article having a barcode attached to the upper surface, and a barcode scanner is provided. Providing a scanner position adjusting mechanism for supporting and positioning in a vertically movable manner, providing sensor means for detecting the height of the upper surface of the article on the conveyor, and driving the scanner position adjusting mechanism according to the detection result of this sensor means Since the reading error prevention means for adjusting the relative height of the barcode scanner with respect to the barcode of the article is provided, the barcode scanner is supported by the scanner position adjusting mechanism so as to be movable up and down, so that it is detected by the sensor means. The reading error prevention means drives the scanner position adjusting mechanism according to the height of the upper surface of the article on the conveyor. By adjusting the relative height of the barcode scanner with respect to the barcode of the article, it is possible to determine the position of the barcode scanner at an upper position corresponding to the upper surface height of each article,
As a result, the barcode is always positioned within the reading depth of the barcode scanner, so that accurate reading scanning can be performed, and the barcode can be read without requiring a dedicated operator for manually operating the barcode scanner. This has the effect that the accuracy can be improved and the incidence of reading errors can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view, FIG. 2 (a) is a plan view of a bar code scanner, and FIG.
2B is a side view, FIG. 2C is a front view, FIG. 3 is a front view of the optical sensor, FIG. 4 is an overall block diagram, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart. 1. Check-out device, 2 .... Conveyor, 3 .... Sensor means, 5 .... Barcode scanner, 6, 7 ... Scanner support mechanism, 9 ... Read failure prevention means, failure detection means, transport reverse means and Transport restart means, 18 barcode, 20 articles

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A check-out device in which a bar code scanner for reading and scanning the bar code from above is arranged on a conveyor for conveying an article having a bar code attached on the upper surface thereof, wherein the bar code scanner is moved up and down. A scanner position adjusting mechanism for freely supporting and positioning the sensor, a sensor means for detecting the height of the upper surface of the article on the conveyor, and driving the scanner position adjusting mechanism in accordance with a detection result of the sensor means; A checkout device comprising: a reading error preventing unit for adjusting a relative height of the barcode scanner with respect to a barcode of an article.