JP6999537B2 - Portable input terminal - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a portable input terminal such as a handy terminal, and more particularly to a portable input terminal capable of preventing reading defects due to dew condensation.

This type of portable input terminal includes a reading module such as an image pickup element or a light receiving element that reads a code such as a bar code or a two-dimensional code. These reading modules are enclosed in a sealed body case, and external codes can be read through a transparent cover.

In such a device, when dew condensation occurs on the inside of the cover, the light does not reach the reading module straight, so that there is a problem that normal reading cannot be performed.
In addition, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for improving the airtightness inside the case and preventing dew condensation by enclosing a dry inert gas inside.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-221748

However, there is a limit in improving the airtightness of this type of portable input terminal, and there is a problem that dew condensation is likely to occur because the temperature change in the usage environment is large. Therefore, it was difficult to completely prevent dew condensation inside the case.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable input terminal in which reading defects are less likely to occur even when dew condensation occurs inside the case.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and forms a reading module for reading a code and a window portion for accommodating the reading module and allowing light to pass through the reading module. The cover body includes a thick portion facing the reading module and a thin portion provided around the thick portion. As a result, a step is formed on the back surface of the cover body so as to surround the central portion, and on the back surface of the cover body, the thin-walled portion of the peripheral portion is adhered to the window portion, and the thick-walled portion is formed. The back surface of the thin-walled portion is not exposed at the top and bottom, and the back surface of the thin-walled portion is exposed at the left and right sides of the thick-walled portion .

The present invention is as described above, and the transparent cover body attached to the window portion includes a thick portion facing the reading module and a thin portion provided around the thick portion. According to such a configuration, even if dew condensation occurs inside the case, the dew condensation is concentrated on the thin-walled portion that does not affect the reading. That is, when the environmental temperature drops sharply, such as when a portable input terminal is brought into the refrigerator from a normal temperature environment, the cover body cools and dew condensation occurs inside the cover body. At this time, since heat is more easily transferred to the thin-walled portion than to the thick-walled portion, the temperature is lowered before the thick-walled portion to cause dew condensation. By intentionally causing dew condensation on the thin-walled part in this way, the relative humidity inside the cover body is lowered, and dew condensation does not occur on the thick-walled part facing the reading module, so that the adverse effect on reading due to dew condensation is avoided. be able to.

The cover body may be positioned with respect to the housing by the step between the thick portion and the thin portion. With this configuration, by changing the thickness of the cover body, it is possible not only to take measures against dew condensation but also to improve the ease of assembly.

Further, the thin portion of the cover body may be arranged so as to face the lamp arranged in parallel with the reading module. That is, in the case of a model equipped with a lamp arranged side by side in the reading module, by providing a thin-walled portion so as to face this lamp, a large area of the thin-walled portion can be secured without unnecessary forming a large cover body. can do. By securing a large area of the thin-walled portion, the amount of dew condensation on the thin-walled portion (the amount of water that can be removed) increases, so that dew condensation on the thick-walled portion can be effectively prevented.

It is an external view of a portable input terminal. (A) A view showing the front surface of the cover body, (b) a view showing the back surface of the cover body, (c) a view showing the back surface of the cover body to which the adhesive seal is attached, and (d) a sectional view taken along line AA. .. It is a front view of the vicinity of the reading module of the portable input terminal, (a) a view in a state where the cover body is removed, (b) a figure in a state where the cover body is attached, and (c) an end face of line BB. FIG. 3D is an end view taken along the line CC.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The portable input terminal 10 according to the present embodiment has a function of reading a code such as a bar code or a two-dimensional code, and is sealed by attaching a cover body 11 to the front surface of the housing 30 as shown in FIG. It constitutes the case, and various electronic parts are built in the case.

The housing 30 is for accommodating electronic components such as the reading module 20 described later. As shown in FIG. 1, a window portion 31 is formed on the front surface of the housing 30 as an opening. The window portion 31 is for passing light from the reading module 20 to the cord surface, passing light reflected on the cord surface to the reading module 20, and radiating the light of the lamp 25, which will be described later, forward. It is provided.

As shown in FIG. 3, the window portion 31 of the housing 30 according to the present embodiment has a stepped shape on the opening surface. Specifically, the window portion 31 is formed of three continuous surfaces of an outer opening 32, a mounting surface 34, and an inner opening 33.

The outer opening 32 is arranged on the outermost side of the window portion 31, and is formed perpendicular to the opening surface of the window portion 31. Further, the mounting surface 34 is formed horizontally with respect to the opening surface of the window portion 31 so as to be continuous from the end portion of the outer opening 32, and projects toward the center of the window portion 31. Further, the inner opening 33 is arranged on the innermost side of the window portion 31, and is formed perpendicular to the opening surface of the window portion 31 so as to be continuous from the end portion of the mounting surface 34. With such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the window portion 31 is viewed from the front, the mounting surface 34 is formed between the outer opening 32 on the front side and the inner opening 33 on the back side. , The mounting surface 34 is arranged so as to face the front.

A transparent cover body 11 as shown in FIG. 2 is attached to the window portion 31. The cover body 11 is made of a synthetic resin such as polycarbonate. As shown in FIG. 2D, the cover body 11 is formed so as to have two stages of thickness, and includes a thick portion 12 and a thin portion 13 provided around the thick portion 12. To prepare for. In the present embodiment, the thickness of the thick portion 12 is about twice that of the thin portion 13, the thick portion 12 is formed to be about 2 mm, and the thin portion 13 is formed to be about 1 mm. The larger the difference between the thick portion 12 and the thin portion 13, the higher the effect of preventing dew condensation. Therefore, it is desirable that the thickness of the thick portion 12 is at least twice the thickness of the thin portion 13.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the cover body 11 has a flat surface 11a facing the outside of the machine. On the other hand, the back surface 11b facing the inside of the machine is formed so that the height is different between the central portion and the peripheral portion. That is, the back surface 11b of the cover body 11 is formed so that the central portion is high and the peripheral portion is low, and the step 14 is formed so as to surround the central portion. The inside of the step 14 is the thick portion 12, and the outside of the step 14 is the thin portion 13.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the cover body 11 is adhered to the mounting surface 34 of the window portion 31 by the adhesive seal 15 attached to the back surface 11b. The adhesive seal 15 is attached to the peripheral edge of the back surface 11b of the cover body 11. The area to which the adhesive seal 15 is attached is all the thin-walled portion 13, but the adhesive seal 15 is not attached to all the areas of the thin-walled portion 13, and the adhesive seal 15 is attached to the thin-walled portion 13 excluding the peripheral portion. I can't paste it.

When the cover body 11 is attached to the window portion 31, the back surface 11b of the cover body 11 and the attachment surface 34 of the window portion 31 are fixed in close contact with each other by the adhesive seal 15 as shown in FIGS. 3 (c) and 3 (d). To. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3D, the step 14 of the cover body 11 engages with the step shape of the window portion 31 in a part of the opening of the window portion 31. That is, the cover body 11 is positioned with respect to the housing 30 by the step 14 between the thick portion 12 and the thin portion 13.

By covering the window portion 31 with the cover body 11 in this way, as shown in FIG. 3C, the thin-walled portions 13 are arranged on the left and right sides of the thick-walled portion 12. A reading module 20 and a lamp 25 are arranged behind the window portion 31 covered with the cover body 11 in this way.

The reading module 20 is a functional unit that reads a code such as a barcode or a two-dimensional code. As the configuration of the reading module 20, conventionally known ones can be used. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the reading module 20 according to the present embodiment has a light projecting unit 21 made of a lighting means such as an LED and reflected light obtained by applying light from the light projecting unit 21 to a cord surface. It is provided with a light receiving unit 22 composed of an image pickup element such as a CCD that receives light, and an aiming light 23 that irradiates the aiming light for reading. When the user executes an operation for performing a scanning operation, the reading module 20 emits light from the light projecting unit 21 to scan the code, and the reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 22. The waveform received by the light receiving unit 22 is decoded and converted into usable data by the control unit. You can use this data to read the contents of the code.
Further, the lamp 25 is a light source that is not directly involved in reading the code. For example, it can be used as a light source for illuminating the surroundings when working outdoors.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 3 (c) and 3 (d), in the cover body 11 described above, a thick portion 12 is arranged at a position facing the reading module 20. Specifically, it is arranged so that the light projected by the light projecting unit 21 and the light received by the light receiving unit 22 are always performed through the thick portion 12. Further, the lamp 25 arranged in parallel with the reading module 20 is arranged so as to face the thin wall portion 13 provided around the thick wall portion 12. That is, the light of the lamp 25 passes through the thin-walled portion 13 and is emitted to the outside.

According to such a configuration, even if dew condensation occurs inside the case, the dew condensation is concentrated on the thin-walled portion 13 which does not affect the reading. That is, when the environmental temperature drops sharply, such as when the portable input terminal 10 is brought into the refrigerator from a normal temperature environment, the cover body 11 cools and dew condensation occurs inside the cover body 11. At this time, since heat is more easily transferred to the thin-walled portion 13 than to the thick-walled portion 12, the temperature is lowered before the thick-walled portion 12 to cause dew condensation. By intentionally causing dew condensation on the thin-walled portion 13 in this way, the relative humidity inside the cover body 11 can be lowered, and dew condensation can be prevented from forming on the thick-walled portion 12 facing the reading module 20. Therefore, even if dew condensation occurs, it is possible to prevent the reading of the code from being affected.

In this embodiment, the cover body 11 is positioned with respect to the housing 30 by the step 14 between the thick portion 12 and the thin portion 13. According to such a cover body 11, not only can the measures against dew condensation be taken, but also the assembling property can be improved.

Further, the thin portion 13 of the cover body 11 is arranged so as to face the lamp 25 arranged in parallel with the reading module 20. By providing the thin-walled portion 13 so as to face the lamp 25, it is possible to secure a large area of the thin-walled portion 13 without forming the cover body 11 unnecessarily. By securing a large area of the thin-walled portion 13, the amount of dew condensation on the thin-walled portion 13 (the amount of water that can be removed) increases, so that dew condensation on the thick-walled portion 12 can be effectively prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, the thin-walled portions 13 are arranged on the left and right sides of the thick-walled portion 12. With this configuration, the condensed water droplets do not flow toward the thick portion 12, and the area of the thin portion 13 can be secured widely. However, the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this, and the arrangement of the thick portion 12 and the thin portion 13 may be changed according to the configuration of the machine.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the reading module 20 is provided with an image pickup device such as a CCD has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The reading module 20 can be replaced with a known one. For example, a reading module 20 equipped with an image sensor such as CMOS may be adopted, or a laser type reading module 20 may be adopted to transmit the reflected light of the laser. The light receiving element may receive light.

10 Portable input terminal 11 Cover body 11a Front side 11b Back side 12 Thick part 13 Thin part 14 Step 15 Adhesive seal 20 Reading module 21 Floodlight part 22 Light receiving part 23 Aiming light 25 Lamp 30 Housing 31 Window part 32 Outside opening 33 Inside opening 34 Mounting surface

Claims (3)

A reading module that reads the code and
A housing in which the reading module is housed and a window portion for allowing light to pass through the reading module is formed.
A transparent cover body attached to the window,
Equipped with
The cover body includes a thick portion facing the reading module and a thin wall portion provided around the thick portion , so that a step is formed on the back surface of the cover body so as to surround the central portion. And
On the back surface of the cover body, the thin-walled portion of the peripheral portion is adhered to the window portion.
The back surface of the thin portion is not exposed above and below the thick portion, and the back surface of the thin portion is not exposed.
A portable input terminal characterized in that the back surface of the thin-walled portion is exposed on the left and right sides of the thick-walled portion . The portable input terminal according to claim 1, wherein the cover body is positioned with respect to the housing by a step between the thick portion and the thin portion. The portable input terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thin portion of the cover body is arranged so as to face a lamp arranged side by side in the reading module.

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