JPH02206890A - Optical reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the juxtaposition of shafts for guiding unnecessary, and to make processability or assembling workability easy by arranging a screw shaft at the center of the rotation of a holding case so as to support the whole of a sensor driving body. CONSTITUTION:When a name card 30 is inserted, the sensor driving body 10 moves, and a bar code is read while a contact piece 21a protrudent from the holding case 21 keeps a constant distance and is in contact elastically to/with the back of the name card 30 by a spring 22. Besides, the screw shaft 6 is arranged at the center of the rotation of the case 21, and supports the whole of the driving body 10. Accordingly, a function to guide the driving body 10 exactly against an auxiliary shaft 8 is not required. Therefore, even if the dimensional precision or the positional precision of the auxiliary shaft 8 or a U-shaped channel 20a is comparatively rough, the driving body 10 can be always smoothly reciprocated along the shaft 6. Accordingly, the processability or the assembling workability becomes better.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is characterized in that when a medium such as a business card on which a barcode is written is inserted, a built-in barcode sensor moves back and forth to read the barcode of this medium. This invention relates to an optical reading device that can perform

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, for example, in European Patent No. 70, a code such as a bar code is written on a medium on which characters are printed, and automatic dialing can be performed by reading this code.
The code reading device disclosed in Patent No. 697 and the like has attracted attention as office automation progresses.

As a medium for performing such an automatic dialing operation, for example, FIG. 1 of British Patent No. 2063010,
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 10, there are cards such as business cards that have a barcode displayed outside the text printing area that corresponds to the above printed text of the telephone number.
Using such a card, for example, JP-A-60-163
As disclosed in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4 of the No. 154 publication, automatic dialing can be performed by reading this barcode.

Also, the address printed on cards such as the above business cards.

By adding barcodes corresponding to other information, it is also possible to manage business cards, etc.

At present, barcode display systems for business cards are not standardized, but if this is unified and standardized, it is fully predicted that business cards displaying barcodes will become widespread. Along with this, the demand for code reading devices for reading barcodes on business cards is expected to increase dramatically.

A barcode reader, which is an example of this type of code reading device, has a built-in barcode sensor that combines a light emitting element, a light receiving element, a lens, an optical fiber, etc.
This barcode sensor (scanner) is generally guided by a screw shaft or a guide shaft, and the barcode is read by moving it back and forth in a direction that intersects (orthogonal to) the direction in which the business card is inserted.

Examples of structures for reading barcodes by reciprocating a scanner include those disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 13858/1983, British Patent No. 1324448, and the like.

On the other hand, a barcode is printed and displayed on the non-chamfered surface of a business card, which is a medium, on which characters are printed, along a direction perpendicular to the direction of insertion into a code reading device, and British Patent No. 2063
As disclosed in FIG. 5 of the specification of No. 010, the business card inserted into the code reader with the short side as the tip is inserted into the code reader using the driving force of the built-in stepping motor while preventing incorrect insertion in the vertical and horizontal directions. Take in and transport.

The imported business card is stopped at a predetermined position, and its barcode is read by a scanner. When a barcode spans multiple lines, the paper feed structure of a well-known facsimile machine moves to the first barcode position, stops, and
The scanner scans, and the same operation is repeated one after another, and the business card that has been read is ejected from the code reading device.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the lens of the barcode sensor has a shallow depth of focus (
In order to ensure good reading accuracy, it is necessary to stabilize the distance between the reading area of the business card as a medium and the barcode sensor. However, in the conventional optical reading device described above, a slight error in the mounting position of the screw shaft or guide shaft causes variations in the height of the barcode sensor that is moved back and forth, and this variation causes the difference between the reading area and the barcode sensor. This makes the distance unstable, so high assembly precision was required to prevent reading errors.

Furthermore, in the conventional optical reading device described above, if there is an error in the distance between the axes of the screw shaft passing through the sensor drive body and the guide shaft, the sensor drive body cannot be smoothly guided. In this sense, high assembly precision is required, which inevitably leads to deterioration in assembly performance and increased costs.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical reading device that can solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, can maintain a stable distance between the reading area of a medium and a barcode sensor, and is easy to assemble. It is in.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a sensor drive body that holds a barcode sensor and is driven by a screw shaft and reciprocates in the axial direction of the screw shaft, and a sensor drive body for rotationally driving the screw shaft. an optical reading device comprising a first driving means and a second driving means for transporting a medium inserted from the outside, and reads a barcode written on the medium with the barcode sensor; The driving body has a hollow cylindrical support shaft with a threaded portion carved into the inner wall surface to be screwed into the helical groove of the screw shaft, and this support shaft is fixed to restrict rotation of the screw shaft around the axis. a holding case that holds the barcode sensor with a protruding contact piece for bringing it into elastic contact with the medium and is rotatably connected to the base via the support shaft; An elastic member is provided between the base and the holding case, and the elastic member biases the holding case around the axis of the support shaft, so that the contact piece comes into elastic contact with the medium. That is.

[Effect]

When the contact piece protruding from the holding case is brought into elastic contact with the barcode writing surface of the medium by the elastic force of the elastic member, the barcode sensor held by the holding case can be kept at a predetermined distance from the reading area of the medium. In addition, since the screw shaft is placed at the center of rotation of the holding case and supports the entire sensor drive body, it is difficult to use a guide shaft that requires the center-to-center distance between the screw shaft and the screw shaft to be defined with high precision. There is no need to install them together, and smooth transfer of the sensor drive body can be easily realized.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An optical reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Here, Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the sensor driver during reading, Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of each part of the sensor driver, and Figure 3 is a bottom view of the entire device with the board removed. be.

As shown in FIG. 3, this optical reading device includes a stepping motor 4 that rotationally drives a drive roller 3 through a gear group 2 and a screw shaft 6 that rotationally drives a screw shaft 6 through a gear group 5, as shown in FIG. A sensor drive body 10 that holds the DC motor 7, an auxiliary shaft 8 installed approximately parallel to the screw shaft 6, and a barcode sensor 9, and reciprocates in the vertical direction in FIG. 3 while being guided by the screw shaft 6.
and a contact piece 21 provided on the sensor driver 10, which will be described later.
The lower business card guide plate 11 has an opening 11a in the reciprocating range of a, the upper business card guide plate 12 exposed within this opening 11a, and the photo interrupter 13 for detection.
It is roughly constructed by housing 17 etc.

A driving roller 3 driven by a stepping motor 4 moves a business card 30 (see FIG. 1) in the left-right direction in FIG. 3 inside the frame 1.
It is for transporting the material, and is opposed to a driven roller (not shown). That is, the business card 30 inserted from the business card insertion slot 18 is first transferred to the left in FIG. 3 by the drive roller 3, and then intermittently transferred to the right in FIG. 3 by rotating the drive roller 3 in the opposite direction. The card is transferred, and after reading is completed, it is ejected from the business card insertion slot 18. By controlling the stepping motor 4, the business card 30, which is intermittently fed to the drive roller 3, is stopped every time the multi-line barcode printed on the back surface appears in the opening lla. ing.

The screw shaft 6 is installed in a direction perpendicular to the direction of transport of the inserted business card 30, and a single spiral groove 6a is carved on the outer peripheral surface of the screw shaft 6.

Further, the auxiliary shaft 8 is for preventing rotation of a base 20 of the sensor drive body 10, which will be described later.

As is clear from FIGS. 1 and 2, the sensor drive body 10 has a threaded portion 1 that is threaded into the helical groove 6a of the screw shaft 6.
a hollow cylindrical (7) T-shaft 19 with 9a carved on the inner wall surface;
A barcode sensor is constructed of a base 20 having a U-shaped groove 20a for loosely inserting the auxiliary shaft 8 into which the support shaft 19 is press-fitted and fixed into a through hole 20b, and a pair of contact pieces 21a protruding from the tip. 9 and has a larger diameter than the through hole 20b.
It consists of a holding case 21 into which the support shaft 19 is loosely inserted, and a coil spring 22 interposed between the base 20 and the holding case 21. Since it is rotatably connected to the base 20 through the support shaft 19, the coil spring 22 always biases the holding case 21 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. . Further, the base 20 which is prevented from rotating by the auxiliary shaft 8 is rotated to the first position as the screw shaft 60 rotates.
It is designed to be driven in a direction perpendicular to the paper plane of the figure (vertical direction in FIG. 3). In addition, at the bottom of the holding case 21, photo interrupters 15 to 17 (7) J, which will be described later, are installed.
A light shielding plate 23 is provided vertically to block the road.

The photointerrupters 13 to 17 are all optical sensors that output a signal when the optical path between the light receiving and emitting elements is interrupted, and the photointerrupter 13 is a sensor that detects that a business card 30 is inserted from the outside. , the photointerrupter 14 is a sensor that detects that the business card 30 has reached the innermost part of the frame 1, the photointerrupter 15 is a sensor that detects that the sensor drive body 10 is at the initial position, and the photointerrupter 16 is a sensor drive The photointerrupter 17 is a sensor that detects that the body 10 is exposed at one longitudinal end of the opening 11a, and the photointerrupter 17 is a sensor that detects that the sensor driver 10 is exposed at the other longitudinal end of the opening 11a. . The stepping motor 4 and the DC motor 7 are controlled by signals output from these photointerrupters 13 to 17.

That is, when a business card 30 is inserted from the business card insertion slot 18, the photointerrupter 13 detects this, the stepping motor 4 is driven, and the business card 30 is transported toward the innermost part of the frame 1 by the drive roller 3. When it reaches the innermost part, the photointerrupter 14 detects this and the drive roller 3 is rotated in the reverse direction, and when the barcode of the first line of the business card 30 appears in the opening 11a, the stepping motor 4 starts. Stop. During this time, the sensor driver 10 is kept waiting at the initial position at the bottom end in FIG. Ru.

Then, when the business card 30 stops with the first line barcode exposed in the opening 11a, the sensor driver 10 leaves the initial position and then moves along the longitudinal direction of the opening 11a to read the barcode. . At this time, the fact that the sensor driver 10 has moved from one end of the opening 11a to the other means that the light shielding plate 23
can be detected because it blocks the optical path of the photointerrupters 16 and 17, so when one line of reading is completed, a stop signal is output to the DC motor 7, and the stepping motor 4 is driven again to read the second line of the business card 30. The barcode of the eye is made to appear in the opening 11. Thereafter, by repeating the same operation, multiple lines of barcodes printed on the back side of the business card 30 can be sequentially read by the barcode sensor 9 held in the sensor driver 10.

Next, the operation of the sensor driver 10 will be described in detail.

When the business card 30 is inserted and stopped after the barcode printed on the back surface is exposed in the opening 11a, the screw shaft 6 is rotationally driven and the sensor driver 10 is linearly moved from one end of the opening 11a to the other. Move to. At this time,
In the sensor driver 10, since the coil spring 22 constantly biases the holding case 2I around the axis of the support shaft 19, the contact piece 21a is in elastic contact with the back surface of the business card 30, and the movement of the sensor driver 10 is prevented. Accordingly, the contact piece 21a slides on the back surface of the business card 30. In other words, even if there is some error in the mounting position of the screw shaft 6, the spring force of the coil spring 22 is always applied to the holding case 21, so there is no risk of the contact piece 21a separating from the business card 30. , Therefore, the business card 3 is irradiated with the light beam 9a of the barcode sensor 9.
The distance between the 0 reading area and the lens 9b of the barcode sensor 9 is always kept constant by the alignment piece 21a.

For the same reason, even when a thicker business card than usual is inserted, the holding case 20 is only set in a slightly tilted position clockwise in FIG.
a is always in elastic contact with the thick business card, and the distance between the reading area of the business card and the barcode sensor 9 is kept constant.

In this way, in the above embodiment, the business card 30 can be accessed from the outside.
is inserted, the contact piece 21 protruding from the holding case 21
a elastically contacts the back surface of the business card 30 by the spring force of the coil spring 22, and the sensor driver 10 moves while keeping this contact piece 21a in contact with the business card 30 to read the barcode, so that the reading area of the business card 30 is The distance between the barcode sensor and barcode sensor is always kept constant, allowing highly reliable reading.

In addition, in the above embodiment, since the screw shaft 6 is disposed at the center of rotation of the holding case 21 and supports the entire sensor drive body 10, the sensor drive body 10 is not connected to the auxiliary shaft 8. An accurate guiding function is not required, so even if the dimensional accuracy and positional accuracy of the auxiliary shaft 8 and the U-shaped groove 20a are relatively rough, the sensor drive body 10 can always be smoothly reciprocated along the screw shaft 6. The processability and assemblability are improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention brings the contact piece protruding from the holding case of the sensor driver into elastic contact with the barcode writing surface of the medium, so that the barcode sensor held by the holding case can be moved into the reading area of the medium. In addition, since the screw shaft is placed at the center of rotation of the holding case and supports the entire sensor drive body, the distance between the axis and the screw shaft can be determined with high precision. It is no longer necessary to provide a guide shaft, which must be installed in parallel, and as a result, it is possible to provide an optical reading device that can always perform reading with high reliability and is easy to assemble.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are for explaining an optical reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a sensor driver during reading, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of this sensor driver. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the entire device with the substrate removed. 3... Drive roller, 4... Stepping motor, 6... Screw shaft, 6a.
...Spiral groove, 7...DC motor, 8.
... Auxiliary shaft, 9 ... Barcode sensor, 10 ... Sensor drive body, 19 ...
・Support shaft, 19a...Threaded part, 20...
Base, 20a... U-shaped groove, 21. Old... Holding case, 21a... Contact piece, 22... Coil spring (elastic member), 30... ...Business card (media)
. Fig. 1 8: I width J Kashimazu F 9: High-hood begging size/9a: Guzu blue 21: Mechi J series “-S 21σ; #-TI history piece 22; Core A/L/l Zuriki 30: Ishisu・j

Claims (1)

[Claims] a sensor drive body that holds a barcode sensor and is driven by a screw shaft and reciprocates in the axial direction of the screw shaft; a first drive means for rotationally driving the screw shaft; and a medium inserted from the outside. and a second driving means for transporting the medium, the optical reading device reads a barcode written on the medium with the barcode sensor, wherein the sensor driver is configured to move into the helical groove of the screw shaft. A hollow cylindrical support shaft with a threaded portion carved into the inner wall surface to be screwed together, a base that fixes this support shaft and restricts rotation around the axis of the screw shaft, and a base for making elastic contact with the medium. a holding case that holds the barcode sensor with a protruding contact piece and is rotatably connected to the base via the support shaft; an elastic member, the elastic member urging the holding case around the axis of the support shaft so that the contact piece comes into elastic contact with the medium.