JPH01307882A - Code reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the burden on an information processor and to distinguish equal bar codes different in position by comparing a decoded bar code and the counted value of a bar code space with preceding data to control bar code transfer. CONSTITUTION:An optically read and decoded bar code is stored in a first data memory 62 and is compared with the preceding decoded bar code in a second data memory 64 by a first comparator 65. Meanwhile, the clock counted value which is stored in a bar space counter memory 72 and corresponds to the width between adjacent edges due to edge detection of bars spaces of the bar code counted by a bar space counter circuit 71 is compared with the counted value, which is obtained by dividing the preceding counted value in a preceding bar space counter memory 74 in a divider 76 by a constant, by a second comparator 77. Outputs of circuits 65 and 77 are supplied to an AND gate 70, and a transfer permission signal is outputted from the gate 70 only when the decoded bar code is different from preceding that or is equal to preceding that but is different from that in position, and thus, the burden on the information processor is reduced.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention converts a barcode symbol displayed on a medium into an electrical signal using a photoelectric converter, and decodes it into data that can be processed by an information processing device. Reducing the amount of output data of a code reading device that uses a self-scanning photoelectric converter, in particular, reducing the burden on the information processing device that receives and receives this output data, The present invention relates to a code reading device that can distinguish and process barcodes placed at different positions even if the barcode symbols are the same.

[Prior Art] As a means of inputting data into an information processing device such as a computer, a barcode code input method is used in which a barcode code is created using black bars and white spaces, and this barcode code is read by a photoelectric converter. Ka system is known. This type of barcode entry system significantly reduces data entry time compared to input using a keyboard, etc.
The field of application is expanding day by day because the input operation is easy, there are few input errors, and there are no mechanical parts in the photoelectric converter that is the input device, so there are fewer failures.

For example, product type, price, sales volume, and sales region.

This barcode code is used for various information management using various data such as sales management mainly using data such as VTR program reservations and room cooler control, and for operating and checking the functions of various industrial and consumer equipment. Input systems are widely used.

The barcode code standard used in the barcode code input system is Japanese Industrial Standard JIS, B9550-
Published by CQ Publishing on July 1, 1978 or 1984.

It is explained in detail in Transistor Technology Special Issue [Sensor, Interfacing J NO4, pp. 179-199, "Production of Barcode System", etc.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of this barcode symbol and its read waveform, where (a) is the displayed barcode symbol, (b)
) is a read waveform diagram obtained by scanning the barcode in (a) in the direction of the arrow with a photoelectric converter. Incidentally, in (a), S is a start code or a stop code, which is used for setting the initial state of the code reading device or for bar/space determination criteria. In (a), C is a message code indicating the information (message) of this barcode. In (a), an arrow and a code configured to be read in the opposite direction to the arrow are shown.

A code reading device that reads such a code uses a “Hyt
, each adjacent change point of the two-level waveform of ``L'' (
count the width between edges as the number of clock signals,
Decode the barcode information C based on the count value (
For example, a self-scanning photoelectric converter is used as the photoelectric converter, and binary data from which information C of the barcode is decoded is supplied from this code reading device to an information processing device. Ru.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] In this type of code reading device using a self-scanning photoelectric converter, one barcode symbol is scanned many times, from several thousand to several hundred times, to decode it. . However, transmitting the same code after the read code has been correctly decoded unnecessarily places a burden on the information processing device and wastes the resources of the information processing device.

Furthermore, barcodes are used to create data tables such as product type, price, sales volume, sales destination, etc., and this data table is read and processed to analyze sales performance and formulate the next sales plan. In order to handle many types of information, or for reasons of convenience, barcode codes with the same configuration but different information may be used for data processing. In such a case, barcodes with different and identical configurations of this type of information may be arranged in the vertical direction of the data table, for example.
Differences in information are distinguished and processed based on their arrangement position or order.

In such cases, if the code reading device itself could distinguish between differences in information between barcode codes with the same configuration located at different positions in the data table (for example, different row positions in the vertical direction), processing would be more efficient. It is convenient.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, reduce the burden on the information processing device that processes decoded data, and provide a system configured to distinguish and process barcodes with the same configuration located at different positions. An object of the present invention is to provide a code reading device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a first data memory for storing currently decoded data and a first data memory for storing previously decoded data on the output side of the decoding unit. 2 data memory, the data stored in the first data memory and the second data memory;
and a second comparator that detects that the number of bars and/or spaces is less than a certain ratio with respect to a predetermined value. an output control unit is provided, and when the comparison by the first comparator is different, the data stored in the first data memory is transferred to the information processing device as decoded data, and the comparison by the second comparator is The present invention is characterized in that when the ratio is below the certain ratio, the barcode symbol is transferred as separate information.

[Operation] When the self-scanning photoelectric conversion section starts reading the barcode symbol displayed on the medium, the edge detection section and the counter section are activated based on the output signal of this self-scanning photoelectric conversion section. The barcode symbol is decoded by the decoding section based on the output signals of the edge detection section and the counter section.

The data decoded by the decoding section is input to the output control section, the first data memory of the output control section stores the currently decoded data, and the second data memory stores the previously decoded data. .

In addition, the first comparator provided in the output control section allows
The data stored in the first data memory and the data stored in the second data memory are compared, and the number of pars and/or spaces is set to a predetermined value by a second comparator provided in the output control unit. compared to

If the data stored in the first data memory and the data stored in the second data memory do not match in the comparison by the first comparator, the data stored in the first data memory is transferred to the information processing device as decoded data. be done. Furthermore, when the comparison result of the second comparator is less than or equal to a predetermined value, even if the barcode codes have the same configuration, they are distinguished as separate information and transferred.

In this way, in the present invention, barcodes with the same configuration but displayed at different positions are distinguished as different information and a highly accurate reading operation is performed, and the obtained decoded data reduces the burden on the information processing device. In this way, the information is supplied to the information processing device.

[Example code] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a code reading device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the specific configuration of the output control section in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a photoelectric conversion section, 2 is an edge detection section,
3 is a counter section, 4 is a start/stop determination section, 5 is a decoding section, 6 is an output control section, and 7 is a switch.

In the figure, a photoelectric conversion unit 1 is a self-scanning line sensor consisting of a photoelectric conversion element array such as a CCD.

It is equipped with an imaging optical system, a digitizer, etc., and photoelectrically converts the barcode displayed on the medium into It H+7 or 11.
The binary value of L It is applied to the edge detection section 2 as a bell signal a. This edge detection section 2 has a binary bell signal a that is
It detects the change point from HIT to “L” or from “L” to “H” and uses this as an edge detection signal to be sent to the counter section 3.
, to the start/stop determining section 4 and the decoding section 5.

The counter section 3 is cleared to 0 by the input of this edge detection signal S, counts the clock signal CL from a clock signal generation means (not shown) between two adjacent edge signals input from the edge detection section 2, A count signal C indicating a count value is given to the start/stop determining section 4 and the decoding section 5.

The start/stop determination unit 4 detects the start code S shown in FIG. 3 from the edge detection signal and the count signal C to perform a start determination. If the start determination is not satisfied, the signal Give to 5. Then, the stop code S following the message code C input after the start determination is detected, and when the stop condition is satisfied, a signal e is given to the decoding section 5.

Furthermore, upon receiving the edge detection signal S, the decoding section 5 takes in the count signal C from the counter section 3 and performs decoding processing, and when the decoding is performed correctly, outputs a signal i indicating success of the decoding to the control section. 6, and also supplies the decoding result data d to the output control section 6 and the switch 7. If decoding is not performed accurately in the decoding section 5, a signal r indicating decoding failure is given to the counter section 3 and the start/stop determining section 4 to reset them. Note that, when the signal f is input from the start/stop determining section 4, the decoding section 5 clears the count signal C captured and stored from the counter section 3.

Then, as will be described later, the output control unit 6 determines that the data stored in the first data memory 62 and the data stored in the second data memory 64 are different due to the comparison by the first comparator 65 shown in FIG. By the second comparator 77, bar and/or
Alternatively, if it is detected that the number of spaces is less than a certain ratio with respect to a predetermined value, the data stored in the first data memory 62 is transferred to the information processing device as decoded data. If the comparison by the first comparator 65 is a match, no data is transferred to the information processing device.

That is, the output control unit 6 has a specific configuration as shown in FIG.
4 is a second data memory for storing previously decoded data; 65 is a first comparator for comparing the data stored in the first data memory 62 and the data stored in the second data memory 64; 7° is a second data memory for storing previously decoded data; 71 is a bar/space counter circuit that counts edge signals; 72 is a bar/space counter memory that stores the count value of the bar/space counter circuit 71; 73 is a switch; 74 is the previous bar/space counter. The previous bar/space counter memory stores the count value of the memory 72, and 75 is a predetermined value (>
1) is set in the constant register 76, the count value of the previous bar/space counter memory 74 is set in the constant register 7.
77 is a second comparator that compares the stored count value of the bar/space counter memory 72 and the calculated value of the division value 76;

As shown in FIG. 2, a first data memory 62 is connected to the switch 61, and this switch 61 is turned on by a signal i indicating successful decoding.

The data d resulting from the decoding is input to the first data memory 62 as input data d2. first data memory 6
2 stores the input data d2 that is input, and supplies the stored data d2 to the first comparator 65 and switch 63 connected to the first data memory 62 as output data d3.

A second data memory 64 is connected to the output side of the switch 63, and the output terminal of the second data memory 64 and the output terminal of the first data memory 62 are connected to the first comparator 6.
5. One output terminal of the first comparator 65 and the output terminal of the second comparator 77 are connected to the input terminal of the AND circuit 70, and the output terminal of the AND circuit 70 is connected to the switch 63 and the switch 73. connected, AND circuit 7
When the ON signal g is output from 0, the switch 63 and the switch 73 are turned on.

When the switch 63 is in the ON state in this way, the switch 63
The data d3 of the first data memory 62 is transferred to the second data memory 62 via
The data is inputted to the data memory 64 as data d4.

The data d4 stored in the second data memory 64 is input to the first comparator 65 as previously decoded data d5,
In the first comparator 65, this data d5 is compared with the currently decoded data d3 inputted from the first data memory 62. As a result of this comparison, data d3 and data d5
If they match, the first comparator 65 outputs an OFF signal. Further, if the data d3 and the data d5 do not match in the comparison by the first comparator 65, the first comparator 65
5, the signal cp3 is applied to the AND circuit 70.

On the other hand, the bar/space counter circuit 71 counts the edge signals from the edge detection section 2 shown in FIG. is memorized. A second comparator 77 and a switch 73 are connected to the output terminal of the bar/space counter memory 72, and the bar/space counter memory 72 outputs the stored count value bcl as a signal bc2. 2 comparator 77 and switch 73.

When this switch 73 is ON, the signal bc2 from the switch 73 is given to the previous bar/space counter memory 74 connected to the switch 73 as a signal bc3. The output terminal of the previous bar/space counter memory 74 and the output terminal of the constant register 75 are connected to the divider 7.
The output terminal of the divider 76 is connected to the input terminal of the second comparator 77, and the output terminal of the second comparator 77 is connected to the input terminal of the AND circuit 70. connected to the terminal.

Then, the output signal bc4 corresponding to the previous counter value of the bar/space counter memory 74 is sent to the constant register 75.
is divided by a predetermined value set in advance by a divider 76,
The calculated value rsl and the bar/space counter memory 72
The second comparator 77 compares the output signal bc2 with the output signal bc2. In this comparison, if the output signal bc2 corresponding to the counter value of the bar/space counter memory 72 is smaller than the calculated value rsl of the divider 76, the second comparator 77 outputs the signal cp4 to the AND circuit 70. It will be done. In this way, when the signal cp3 and the signal cp4 are applied to the AND circuit 70, the ON signal g is output from the AND circuit 70.

This ON signal g turns on the switch 63 and the switch 73, and also turns the switch 7 shown in FIG. 7, the data is transferred to the information processing device as data d1. When the OFF signal is applied to the switch 7, the switch 7 is turned off, so that no data is transferred from the decoder 5. Furthermore, in this embodiment, unless the second comparator 77 outputs the signal cp4, the AND
The circuit 70 does not output the ON signal g.

Note that when the second comparator 77 outputs the signal cp4, the second data memory 64 clears the stored data.

Since what is stored in the previous bar/space counter memory 74 is the bar and/or space count value at the time of successful decoding, the count value of the bar/space counter circuit 71 will decrease below a certain ratio of this count value. means that the number of bars and/or spaces is abnormally small.

This can occur, for example, by reading blank spaces between barcodes when sequentially scanning barcodes arranged vertically at intervals.

In this embodiment, in this case, the second data memory 64 is cleared, new stored data is taken in, and a new comparison operation is performed, thereby processing that the barcode information has changed. For this reason, even if barcode codes have the same configuration, information can be clearly classified.

Further, in this embodiment, the signal cp4 is output from the second comparator 77.
Since the data from the decoding unit 5 is transferred to the information processing device when the is issued, the burden on the information processing device is significantly reduced.

Note that if the data stored in the first data memory 62 and the data stored in the second data memory 64 are different, the first comparator 65 transfers the data in the first data memory to the information processing device and transfers the data in the first data memory 62 to the second data memory 64. Although a configuration has been described in which when the comparator 77 detects that the number of bars and/or spaces is less than a certain ratio of a predetermined value, the decoded data is transferred to the information processing device as separate information. is not limited to the embodiment, and the second comparator may be configured to compare the number of bars or spaces;
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the transfer is performed when the second comparator 65 detects a discrepancy, and the information change process is performed each time, in addition to the transfer, based on the detection signal of the second comparator 77.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, in a code reading device that has a self-scanning photoelectric conversion section and performs reading by scanning several thousand to several hundred times, the information processing device side Data is transferred without wasting the resources of the information processing device by reducing the load.Barcodes that are arranged in different display positions can be treated as different information even if the code structure is the same. Since information can be transferred separately, information aggregation processing and analysis using barcodes can be performed efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the code reading device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the specific configuration of the output control section in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a read waveform. 1...Photoelectric conversion unit, 2...Edge detection unit, 3...Counter unit, 4...Start/stop determination unit, 5... ...Decoding section, 6.
...Output control section, 70...AND circuit,
71...Bar space counter circuit, 72...
...Bar/space counter memory, 74...
...Previous bar/space counter memory, 75...
...constant register, 76...divider, 77.
...Second comparator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A self-scanning photoelectric conversion section that converts the barcode symbol displayed on the medium into an electrical signal, and a signal indicating the edge of the bar/space of the barcode symbol is detected from the output signal of the self-scanning photoelectric conversion section. an edge detection section, a counter section that outputs the width between adjacent edges detected by the edge detection section as a count value of a clock signal, and information possessed by the barcode symbol based on the count value from this counter section. A code reading device having a decoding unit that decodes data into data that can be processed by an information processing device, the output side of the decoding unit having a first data memory that stores currently decoded data and a first data memory that stores previously decoded data. a second data memory for storing; a first comparator for comparing stored data in the first data memory and stored data in the second data memory; and a first comparator for comparing data stored in the first data memory and data stored in the second data memory; A bar that remembers the number of bars and/or spaces.
a space counter memory, a previous bar/space counter memory that stores the number of bars and/or spaces based on the edge signal used in the previous decoding, and a memory value of the bar/space counter memory that is stored in the previous bar/space counter memory; and a second comparator for detecting that the value stored in the memory is less than or equal to a predetermined ratio set in advance, and when the comparison by the first comparator is different, the first transfer the data stored in the data memory as decoded data to the information processing device, and when the comparison result by the second comparator is less than or equal to the predetermined ratio, transfer the barcode code to the information processing device as separate information. A code reading device characterized by having a configuration in which: