JP2854269B2 - Conveyor device for book barcode reading - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveyor device for reading a barcode attached to a book with a barcode reader while the book is being transported.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a book B provided with a bar code is placed between a dog and a retainer provided on a transfer surface of a transfer conveyor, and the book is pushed by the dog with a bar code reader during the transfer. For example, a book barcode reading conveyor device that reads a barcode of a book is used.

In the above-described bar code reading conveyor device, as shown in FIG. 4, a jump table 22 for carrying a book B onto a transport surface of the transport conveyor 21 over a dog 21A is provided on the upstream side of the transport conveyor 21. A book B for reading a barcode is sent to the jump table 22 by another conveyor 23 provided and connected to the upstream end of the conveyor 21. Then, the book B lifted along the slope of the jump table 22
Is dropped from the front end of the jump table 22 between the dog 21A and the retainer 21B of the transport conveyor 21, and when the transport conveyor 21 is transported below the barcode reader 24, a barcode is read.

[0004]

However, in the book barcode reading conveyor device having the above-described structure, when the book falls from the jump table onto the transport conveyor,
The posture of the book becomes unstable, and the dog momentarily hits the end of the book that fell between the dog and the retainer, causing a moment to act on the book and causing rotation, resulting in poor bar code reading. , Also, due to the impact or external force applied to the book, the band attached around the book may come off,
There were problems such as slipping or falling off of the appendix sandwiched between them.

Further, when the transport conveyor is temporarily stopped while transporting the book, there is a problem that the book is moved or rotated between the dog and the retainer due to the inertia of the book, and the bar code is read poorly. Further, since the distance between the dog and the retainer on the conveyor conveyance surface is constant, it has been difficult to correspond to books of various sizes.

Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the prior art and accurately reads a bar code applied to the surface of a book by smoothly transporting the book without applying an impact or a large external force to the book. And a main object of the present invention is to provide a book barcode reader reading conveyor device capable of handling books of various sizes.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a book bar code reader reading conveyor device according to the present invention has a retainer in contact with the book protruding from a transport surface for transporting the book, and is driven synchronously in parallel. A plurality of conveyors, a width conveyor arranged between the conveyors, and driven at a different conveying speed from the conveyor, and a barcode for reading a barcode provided on the surface of a book conveyed by the conveyor. A reader is provided, and the book is slid with respect to the transport surface of the transport conveyor by the frictional force of the transport surface of the width approaching conveyor set to be larger than the frictional force of the transport surface of the transport conveyor acting on the book. With the bar code reader in contact with the retainer,
It is designed to pass through the provided position.
It is preferable that the conveying speed of the width-shifting conveyor is set to be higher than the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor.

[0008]

A book having a barcode on its surface is carried in so as to be placed over the transport surface of the transport conveyor and the transport surface of the width-shifting conveyor. Because there is a speed difference between the transport speeds of the conveyor and the width conveyor, the book is dragged by the transportation surface of the width conveyor with greater friction than the transportation surface of the transportation conveyor, and the book is moved on the transportation surface of the transportation conveyor. It slides and is pressed against the side of the retainer.

In the above-mentioned state, the book is passed through the position where the bar code reader is provided, and the bar code provided on the surface of the book is read by moving the conveyor. Further, when the conveying speed of the width shift conveyor is set to be larger than the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor, when the conveying conveyor stops during the conveyance of the book, the movement due to the inertia of the book is regulated by the retainer,
Book misalignment is prevented, and upon restart,
At the beginning of the transport operation, the book is pressed against the retainer by the width-shifting conveyor, thereby preventing the book from shifting in posture.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a book barcode reading conveyor device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the book barcode reading conveyor device. Conveyors 2, 3;
And a width conveyor 4 arranged between the conveyors 2 and 3. The transport surfaces of the pair of width shift conveyors 4 and the transport surfaces of the transport conveyors 2 and 3 are arranged at substantially the same level.

Each of the conveyors 2 and 3 is provided with retainers 2A and 3A which are in contact with a book placed and conveyed on the conveyor surface of the conveyors 2 and 3 and project from the conveyor surface at regular intervals. . Further, both the conveyors 2 and 3 are driven synchronously so that the retainers 2A and 3A provided on the left and right conveyors 2 and 3 move while maintaining the left and right facing states. ing.
The conveyors 2, 3 are driven by rotating the first drive pulley 6 of the first drive source 5 via a first drive belt 7 with a pulley on the drive side around which the conveyors 2, 3 are wound. The transmission is performed to the first driven pulley 8.

The width conveyor 4 disposed between the conveyors 2 and 3 is driven by rotating the second drive pulley 10 of the second drive source 9 via the second drive belt 11. Is transmitted to the second driven pulley 12, which is connected to the pulley on the driving side that is wound.

In this embodiment, the right and left conveyors 2, 3
The conveying speed of the center width shifting conveyor 4 is set to be higher than the conveying speed of the center. Further, the frictional force acting between the book and the transporting surface of the width-shifting conveyor 4 is larger than the frictional force acting between the book being transported and the transporting surfaces of the transporting conveyors 2 and 3. The width and the material of the conveyor surface of each conveyor are selected, and the books carried in over the left and right conveyors 2 and 3 are dragged by the high-speed conveyor 4 that runs at high speed. After being slid and moved on the transfer surface until it comes into contact with the front retainers 2A and 3A, it is configured to move together with the left and right transfer conveyors 2 and 3 while being pressed against the retainers 2A and 3A.

A first bar code reader 13 and a second bar code reader 14 are provided above the conveyors 2 and 3 and the width conveyor 4 along the direction of conveyance of these conveyors. When books pass through,
The bar code attached to the book surface can be read.

A gap is formed between the transfer surfaces of the left and right transfer conveyors 2 and 3 and the transfer surface of the center width shifter 4. The first bar code reader 13 and the second bar code reader 14 At each of the front positions, a transmission type sensor composed of light emitters 15 and 16 and light receivers 17 and 18 for detecting passage of a book by passing light up and down through the gap is arranged. The transmission type sensor includes a light emitting device 15.
When the book passes between the sensor and the light receiver 17 or between the light emitter 16 and the light receiver 18, a signal for operating the first bar code reader 13 or the second bar code reader 14 corresponding to each sensor is issued.

As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, on the downstream side of the book bar code reading conveyor device 1, a carry-out conveyor 19 is continuously provided. Width conveyer 4
The downstream ends of the conveyors 2 and 3 arranged on both sides of the conveyor extend further downstream than the downstream end position of the width-shifting conveyor 4, and the upstream ends of the unloading conveyor 19 are
The sheet enters the space between the conveyors 2 and 3 , and the conveyance surfaces are partially overlapped with each other in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. A carry-in conveyor 20 for carrying a book into the book barcode reading conveyor device 1 is disposed upstream of the book barcode reading conveyor device 1.

Next, the operation of the book bar code reading conveyor device 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the transport speed of the conveyors 2 and 3 is V0, while the transport speed of the width shift conveyor 4 is V1 and V1> V0. When reading the bar code provided on the surface of the book B, as shown in FIG. 3A, the book B is straddled over a pair of left and right conveyors 2 and 3 and a width conveyor 4. To carry in book B. In the present embodiment, the book B is carried in via the carry-in conveyor 20 as shown in FIG. 1, but may be carried in directly by hand. At this time, the book B is located at a position separated from the retainers 2A and 3A provided on the transport conveyors 2 and 3. For the book B loaded on the transport surfaces of the conveyors 2, 3 and the width conveyor 4, the transport speed V1 of the width conveyor 4 is higher than the transport speed V1 of the conveyors 2, 3.
Since it is set to be larger than 0, it is dragged by the width-shifting conveyor 4 having a high speed, and slides on the conveying surfaces of the conveying conveyors 2 and 3 as shown in FIG.
Approach A, 3A.

Then, as shown in FIG.
When the front end surface of book B abuts on the rear surface of A, 3A, book B
Is moved integrally with the conveying surfaces of the conveyors 2 and 3, and the conveying surface of the width-shifting conveyor 4 slides on the lower surface of the book B. In the above state, when the book B passes below the first barcode reader 13 as shown in FIG. 3D, the width-shifting conveyor 4 moves the bar in a state where its posture is correctly positioned by the retainers 2A and 3A. Code reading is performed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 described above, the light emitted from the first transmission type sensor light emitting section 15 is the book B
The fact that the light is shielded by the first transmissive sensor 17
As a result, the barcode reading operation of the first barcode reader 13 is performed. Also,
The same operation is performed by the second transmissive sensor light-emitting unit 16 and the second transmissive sensor light-receiving unit 18 for the second barcode reader 14 installed downstream of the first barcode reader 13.

In the above-described embodiment, two types of barcodes are read by arranging the first barcode reader 13 and the second barcode reader 14 for reading the barcode of the book B. However, only one bar code reader may be provided. In the case where a plurality of barcode readers are provided, the same barcode may be read a plurality of times and the reading result may be checked to prevent erroneous reading, in addition to reading a plurality of types of barcodes.

Further, as in the above-described embodiment, when the transport speed V1 of the width shifting conveyor 4 is set to be higher than the transport speed V0 of the transport conveyors 2 and 3,
When the book 3 is temporarily stopped, the retainer 2A, 3A prevents the book B from moving forward due to inertia.

Further, when these conveyors are restarted from the paused state, the book B is moved to the retainer 2A, at the beginning of the transport operation by the width shifting conveyor 4 having a higher transport speed than the transport conveyors 2, 3. Since the book B is pressed against 3A, the book B is prevented from being displaced, and the barcode can be read accurately.

At this time, if the width shift conveyor 4 is started before the conveyors 2 and 3, the book B is conveyed from a state where the book B is pressed against the retainers 2A and 3A in advance, and the posture of the book B is changed. Misalignment can be more reliably prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the transport speed V of the width-shifting conveyor 4 is higher than the transport speed V 0 of the transport conveyors 2 and 3.
1 is set to a large value. Conversely, by setting the transport speed V0 of the transport conveyors 2 and 3 to be higher than the transport speed V1 of the width-shifting conveyor 4, the book B is transferred to the retainers 2A and 3A of the transport conveyors 2 and 3. You may make it convey in the state pressed against the front surface.

[0025]

As described above, according to the book barcode reading conveyor device of the present invention, the width shifting conveyor is used for any one of the front and rear sides of the retainer projecting from the conveying surface of the conveying conveyor. Because the book is pressed and conveyed, the book is conveyed smoothly in a stable state, the barcode given to the book surface can be read accurately, and it can be used for books of various sizes. Can respond. Further, since no impact or large external force is applied to the book being conveyed, there is no danger that the band attached around the book or the appendix sandwiched in the book will be shifted or dropped.

Furthermore, the combination of a conveyor having a protruding retainer and a width conveyor belt, and a simple structure in which a speed difference is provided between the two conveyors to drive the conveyor, enables low-cost manufacturing and control. This simplifies and makes maintenance unnecessary.

When the transport speed of the width-shifting conveyor is set higher than the transport speed of the transport conveyor, the retainer prevents the book from moving forward due to inertia even when the transport conveyor is temporarily stopped. In addition, when the transport conveyor is restarted, the book is pressed against the retainer by the width-shifting conveyor at the beginning of the transport operation, so that the book is prevented from being displaced and the barcode can be read accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a book barcode reading conveyor device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a book barcode reading conveyor device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transport operation of the book barcode reading conveyor device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional book barcode reading conveyor device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor device for book barcode reading 2, 3 Conveyor 4 Width conveyor 2A, 3A Retainer 13, 14 Barcode reader B Book

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of transport conveyors, which are provided between a plurality of transport conveyors that are synchronously driven in parallel with a retainer that abuts the books on a transport surface that transports the books, are disposed between the transport conveyors, and have different transport speeds from the transport conveyors. A width-shifting conveyor driven by, and a barcode reader that reads a barcode attached to the surface of the book conveyed by the conveyance conveyor, wherein the friction force of the conveyance surface of the conveyance conveyor acting on the book is larger than the frictional force. With the set frictional force of the conveying surface of the width-shifting conveyor, the book is slid with respect to the conveying surface of the conveying conveyor and brought into contact with the side of the retainer, and
A book bar code reading conveyor device, characterized in that it passes through a position where a reader is provided . 2. The book bar code reading conveyor device according to claim 1, wherein the conveying speed of the width shifting conveyor is set higher than the conveying speed of the conveying conveyor.