JP2800407B2 - Bar code reader reading condition setting / change method, bar code label therefor and reading condition setting / change device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention sets various reading conditions such as communication conditions of a barcode reader and designation of a reading code by reading a barcode for setting / changing a reading condition. The present invention relates to a method for setting and changing reading conditions of a barcode reader to be changed, and a barcode label and a reading condition setting and changing device therefor.

[Related Art] In recent years, when setting / changing various reading condition items such as a communication condition in a barcode reader and a data transfer format or a reading code designation, a barcode label sheet (hereinafter referred to as a barcode label sheet) defined for each item is set. ,
A method of reading a bar code menu) and storing the data in an electrically writable and erasable storage element (hereinafter referred to as an EEPROM) provided in the bar code reader has been increasing.

By the way, such setting / change processing is programmed as a processing routine different from a normal bar code reading processing in a bar code reader. To start this routine, a mechanical switch disposed on the main body is switched. Or a method of reading a barcode having a data structure signifying the start of this processing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the former method using a mechanical switch, it is necessary to open the lid of the main body and perform the switching operation of the switch, and the procedure of the setting / change work is complicated.

In the latter case, the data indicating the start of processing is distinguished from ordinary barcode labels by mixing characters that are difficult to use in products existing in the market,
Still, as long as data characters are used, it cannot be said that labels having the same configuration never exist in the market. Therefore, during a normal reading operation of reading a barcode label attached to a product or the like, a data having the same data configuration as that of the barcode menu for starting the processing is accidentally read. In spite of this, there is a risk that a routine for setting / changing processing is started.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention is a complicated operation for setting and changing various reading conditions such as a communication condition of a barcode reader and designation of a reading code by reading a barcode for setting / changing a reading condition. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for setting and changing a reading condition of a bar code reader and a bar code label and a reading condition setting and changing device for the bar code reader so as to surely perform the process only when intended, without performing the process.

Therefore, in the bar code reader reading condition setting / changing method according to the first aspect of the present invention, a bar code reading / setting bar for printing data representing various reading conditions such as bar code reader communication conditions and designation of a reading code is provided. A process of setting a barcode reading condition in a memory or changing a barcode reading condition already set in a memory based on the barcode for setting / changing the reading condition by reading a code. In the method of setting and changing the reading conditions of the bar code reader that executes the method, the combination of only the optical code pattern representing the contents other than the data such as the start code and / or the stop code used in a certain bar code is used. Has a different structure from the barcode label It is characterized in that to start the processing by reading a bar code label for the process start instruction seen take conditions set or changed.

According to the bar code label for instructing the start of the reading condition setting / change processing of the bar code reader according to the second aspect of the present invention, the combination of only a start code and / or a stop code used in a certain bar code is provided. It is characterized in that it has a different structure from the barcode label representing the data.

Furthermore, in the bar code reading condition setting / changing device, the bar code label reading means, and the bar code label read by the bar code label reading means are used as a start code and / or stop code used in a certain bar code. Judgment to judge whether it is a bar code label for instructing the start of reading condition setting / change processing which has a different structure from the bar code label representing data by a combination of only optical code patterns representing contents other than data Means, if the determination means determines that the barcode label read by the barcode label reading means is a barcode label for instructing the start of the reading condition setting / change process, the barcode read thereafter The data represented by the label Based on the data, and a read condition setting and changing means for executing a process of setting and changing various scanning conditions specified of the communication conditions and read for the bar code reader, comprising: a.

[Operation] The bar code label according to the second aspect of the present invention has a configuration that is completely impossible as a general bar code label used for product identification in the market. Therefore,
Never be confused with barcode labels on the market. Further, the optical code pattern attached to the bar code label is not completely meaningless, but is a start code and / or a stop code used in a certain kind of bar code. Can read the bar code of this type that is originally provided.

In addition, in the case of simply using a meaningless thing, for example, a black band having a width of 30 mm (which is impossible as a bar code) may be considered. However, such a black belt may be present as a pattern on a wrapping paper of a product or the like. In other words, even if the barcode reader has a program that performs some processing when it accepts such a meaningless code, it is clearly distinguished from the barcode in the market, If this is the case, there is still a possibility that the processing is erroneously executed.
As described above, in a configuration in which a meaningless code is simply used, confusion may still occur.
As described in the above, the configuration of a combination of only optical code patterns representing a stop code and / or a stop code used in a certain type of bar code,
It can be said that there is almost no probability that there is even in the pattern of the product wrapping paper.

As described above, the barcode label according to the second aspect has an effect of being completely distinguished from a barcode that may exist in the market, and being completely distinguished from a mere pattern.

In the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, a bar code of a combination that cannot be included in a general bar code label in a form as described in the second aspect is read to start a process for setting and changing conditions. A bar code is used to start the reading condition setting / change processing of the bar code reader only when a combination of the code patterns specific to the reading condition setting / change bar code is read. This process does not accidentally start when a label reading operation is being performed.

In the apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the communication condition of the bar code reader is used only when a bar code having the structure according to the second aspect is read by employing the judging means and the reading condition setting / changing means. When a process of setting and changing various reading conditions such as designation of a reading code and a reading code is performed, and the operation of reading a general barcode label or the like is performed, this process is not accidentally activated.

Next, a preferred embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment, in the handy type barcode reader 1, various reading conditions such as a communication condition caused by an interface on the host computer 10 and designation of a reading code are set by reading a reading condition setting / change barcode. The present invention relates to a method for setting and changing reading conditions of a barcode reader to be changed, and a barcode label and a reading condition setting and changing device for the method.

First, the configuration of the barcode reader 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The bar code reader 1 is a handy type, and includes a control unit 20, an irradiation LED 31, a condenser lens 32, a plane reflecting mirror 33, an imaging lens 34, an image sensor 35, and a piezoelectric buzzer 36. Are built in the main body, and a display LED 37 is attached to the surface of the main body, so that data and the like can be exchanged with the host computer 10.

The control unit 20 of the barcode reader 1 includes a CPU 21 serving as a center of various control processes, a ROM 22 storing a control processing program and the like, a RAM 23 used for temporarily storing data in various calculations and the like, and predetermined information. An EEPROM 24 that can write / erase, but acts as a read-only memory, and a clock 25 that provides timekeeping information,
A logical operation circuit capable of exchanging data and commands with the irradiation LED 31, the host computer 10, and the like via the input / output port 26 is configured.

When the switch 38 is operated, the control unit 20 transmits a command to cause the irradiation LED 31 to be issued. Then, this light is condensed and diffused by the condenser lens 32 and irradiates the bar code label BL, and the reflected light from the bar code label BL is reflected by the plane reflecting mirror 33 and guided to the imaging lens 34. An image sensor in which the imaging lens 34 is at a predetermined position
Image the barcode image on 35. The control unit 20 fetches an electric signal corresponding to the formed barcode image from the image sensor 35, converts it into a communication format corresponding to the interface of the host computer 10, and transfers it. It is well known that the barcode attached to the product or the like is taken into the host computer 10 to execute various arithmetic processes related to inventory management, order management, and transactions.

Here, one feature of the barcode reader 1 of the present embodiment is that the barcode reader 1 includes an EEPROM 24. This EEPROM 24 has a host computer for specifying communication conditions and read codes.
The reading conditions according to the type of the interface on the 10 side are stored, and these can be set and changed as necessary.

The processing for this is stored in the ROM 22 as a reading condition / setting change processing routine. When it is determined in the main routine of FIG. 2 that the bar code labels BL1 to BL3 for reading condition setting / change have been read, Is activated.

 First, the main routine will be described.

In the control unit 20 of the barcode reader 1,
When the barcode is read, a process of converting it into data is executed (S1, S2).

Here, as the barcode, for example, NW-7, CODE39, P
Various types such as OS, ITF or JAN are supplied to the market. However, since these do not have overlapping patterns, it is immediately apparent from the read pattern which type of barcode it is. It is well known that the barcode reader 1 has a function of determining the type of the read barcode and a function of converting data according to each type. Also in the present embodiment, an arithmetic processing program as a function realizing means for that purpose is stored in the ROM 22.

In the data conversion process in the process of S2, it goes without saying that the process of converting data into code content such as "12345" also indicates, but when transmitting data as a bar image, data conversion up to code conversion is performed. Processing need not be performed.

A bar code read and converted into data in this way usually has an optical pattern portion as data between an optical pattern called a start code and an optical pattern called a stop code. The optical pattern used as the start code or the stop code is not used at all as data.

Taking NW-7 as an example, the start code or stop code that can be used is the English letter "a",
There are only four, "b", "c", and "d", and the data code is configured by combining only the characters "0" to "9" and characters such as "*". . The same applies to other types of barcodes.

For this reason, if the converted barcode consists of a combination of only a start code and a stop code instead of a data code, or if, for example, some start codes and stop codes are mixed in the data part, the normal data Is not determined.

From such a viewpoint, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the converted barcode is normal data (S3). If the data is normal data, the control unit 20 executes a data transfer process according to the setting of the EEPROM 24 (S4). If the data is not normal data, the process shifts to S5 without shifting to the data transfer process.

The process of S5 is a process of determining whether or not the read barcode has a data configuration for setting and changing the reading conditions. If "YES" is determined here, the process proceeds to the process of S6, and the reading condition setting / changing process is started. On the other hand, if “NO” is determined, the process proceeds to other processes (S7) such as error notification.

The reading condition setting / change processing routine in FIG. 3 shows the details of the processing in S6.

Here, before explaining the contents of FIG. 3, the barcode labels BL1, BL2, BL3 for instructing the start of the reading condition setting / change processing used in the embodiment will be described.

Barcode labels BL1 and BL for setting and changing reading conditions
As shown in FIG. 4, the barcodes BC1, BC2, and BC3 composed of NW-7 code patterns are attached to 2, BL3.

Barcode BC1 attached to the upper barcode label BL1
Has a code pattern configuration of "aaaaaa" using only English characters, and is used to instruct the start of asynchronous setting in the reading condition setting / change processing.
The barcode BC2 attached to the middle barcode label BL2 has a code pattern configuration of “aabbaa” using only English characters, and is used to instruct the start of the synchronous setting in the reading condition setting / change processing. Things. Further, the barcode BC3 attached to the lower barcode label BL3 has a code pattern configuration of “aaccaa” using only English characters, and the reading condition setting / reading described later is performed.
This is for instructing the start of bar image setting in the change processing.

As shown in the figure, each of the NW-7s is composed of only an optical pattern that can be used as a start code or a stop code, and does not exist in the market as a code form of the NW-7. It is. Also, it does not match with other types of code formats. Conversely, since it is a combination of a start code and a stop code used in a specific code format called NW-7, it is not completely meaningless, The probability of existence as a pattern on the product wrapping paper may be zero.

That is, it can be said that these barcode labels BL1 to BL3 do not exist at all as barcode labels on the market and do not exist as patterns on wrapping paper.

In this embodiment, the reading condition setting / change processing routine is not activated only when these barcode labels BL1 to BL3 are read, so that the reading condition setting / change is performed only when the operator truly intends. The process is started, and this process is not started by mistake.

When any one of these barcode labels BL1 to BL3 is read, a reading condition setting / change processing routine shown in FIG. 3 is started. First, the long beep is sounded once by the piezoelectric buzzer 36, and the display LED 37 is turned on. Light up (S11).
The display LED 37 is turned off after a predetermined time.

Next, according to the read barcode labels BL1 to BL3, the process proceeds to any one of the asynchronous setting process (S20), the synchronous setting process (S30), and the bar image setting process (S40). Each processing of S20, S30, S40 is a routine for executing each processing by reading a barcode label displaying a barcode representing various instruction contents, and a barcode label indicating end is read. Do not escape here (S29, S39, S49).

Here, the asynchronous is a communication method corresponding to an asynchronous interface. When the barcode reader 1 transmits data at a communication speed of, for example, 9,600 baud,
The data is read by the host computer 10 following the transmission speed of 9,600 baud. Synchronous is a communication method corresponding to a synchronous interface, in which the barcode reader 1 transmits data in synchronization with a predetermined clock signal, and the host computer 10 reads data in accordance with the clock signal. It is of the system. The bar image is a system for communicating a signal as a bar code as data, and is used when a system having a function of converting the data into data on the host computer 10 side is used.

The setting processing in the asynchronous setting processing (system 20) includes "asynchronous parameter specification" such as what communication speed, parity check is even or odd, and how many stop bits, and the type of bar code in the data. "Data transfer format designation" such as adding a symbol or aligning the number of digits, and the code that the barcode reader 1 should read and communicate as data
"Read code specification", such as NW-7 and POS, and JAN etc. can be read in addition to this, and also to specify the buzzer sounding time, sound pressure, etc. as required, etc. Is executed. As described above, these are all executed by reading the barcode label on which the barcode representing the designated content is printed, and the designated content is temporarily stored in the RAM 23.

Similarly, in the synchronous setting process (S30), "synchronous parameter designation", "data transfer format designation", "read code designation", and "other designation" are executed. Is stored.

Similarly, in the bar image setting process (S40), "image transfer format designation", "read code designation", and "other designation" are executed, and specific contents are temporarily stored in the RAM 23.

When one of the communication methods is selected and various designations are completed, an intermittent buzzer sounds to notify the end of the designation (S51), and the designated contents stored in the RAM 23 are stored in the EEPROM 24.
And returns to the main routine (S52).

Note that whether or not to end the process is executed by reading a barcode label on which a barcode indicating the end is printed.

By the way, in the embodiment, the reading condition setting / change processing routine is started using special barcode labels BL1 to BL3 in a form that cannot exist at all in the market. It has a form that can be used.

This is because, once this routine has been started, it is better to use data that can be used as data rather than special data. This is because it is advantageous in that it can be selected.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, various reading conditions can be set and changed by reading a barcode label without performing a mechanical switch operation or the like. Then, the reading condition setting / change processing is not erroneously activated.

The barcode labels BL1 to BL3 indicate special barcodes. The code units are in accordance with NW-7, and can be converted into data by the function originally provided in the barcode reader 1. . In other words, the fact that the barcode displayed on the barcode label is not just a meaningless mere pattern means that the barcode reader does not confuse the pattern of the product wrapping paper with the barcode reader as described above. It has a remarkable function and effect that it is possible to reliably prevent a process from being started by mistake without changing the operation method at all and without complicating the internal configuration. It is helping.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment at all, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented with various durability without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, the type of barcode used to start the reading condition setting / change processing is not limited to NW-7, but may be any type such as CODE39 or POS.

Also, in the NW-7, "aaa" sets the asynchronous setting, "aaaa" sets the synchronous setting, and "aaaa"
For example, "a" means bar image setting, and may be represented by the number of start codes and stop codes.
In JAN, the expression by the number is thus better.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above in detail, according to the present invention, various reading conditions such as a communication condition of a barcode reader and designation of a reading code are set and read by reading a barcode for setting / changing a reading condition. In making the change, a method for setting / changing the reading condition of the barcode reader and a barcode label and a reading condition setting / changing device for the barcode reader to perform the process only when intended without any troublesome operation. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a bar code reader in the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a main routine executed by the bar code reader, FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a reading condition setting / change processing routine, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a barcode label for starting reading condition setting / change processing to be used. 1 ... Barcode reader 10 ... Host computer 20 ... Control unit 21 ... CPU, 22 ... ROM 23 ... RAM, 24 ... EEPROM 25 ... Clock, 26 ... I / O ports BL1, BL2, LB3 …… Bar code label for setting and changing the reading conditions

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bar code for setting / changing a reading condition by reading data representing various reading conditions such as a communication condition of a bar code reader and designation of a reading code. A barcode reader reading condition setting / changing method for executing a process of setting a barcode reading condition in a memory or changing a barcode reading condition already set in a memory based on By combining only optical code patterns representing contents other than data, such as start codes and / or stop codes used in various barcodes, reading condition settings / structures different from barcode labels representing data are provided. To read the bar code label for change processing start instruction Therefore, a method for setting and changing the reading conditions of a barcode reader, wherein the processing is started. 2. A bar code reader having a structure different from a bar code label representing data by a combination of only a start code and / or a stop code used in a certain kind of bar code, and an instruction to start a reading condition setting / change process of a bar code reader. Barcode label for 3. A bar code label reading means, and a bar code label read by the bar code label reading means stores contents other than data such as a start code and / or a stop code used in a certain bar code. Determining means for determining whether or not the bar code label is a reading condition setting / change process start instruction bar code label having a structure different from that of a bar code label representing data by a combination of only optical code patterns to be represented; If the bar code label read by the label reading unit is determined by the determination unit to be the bar code label for instructing the start of the reading condition setting / change process, the data represented by the bar code label read thereafter. Of the barcode reader based on the Bar code reading condition setting and changing apparatus provided with a read condition setting and changing means for executing a process of setting and changing various scanning conditions specified such conditions and read code.