JPH0496192A - Circular bar code display body and identification device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify production, to prevent a bar code from being stripped and to prevent from being imitated easily by forming a concentric circular ring groove against the center of a disk on a circular surface formed on the body and displaying the bar code with the crest and trough of the ring groove. CONSTITUTION:On one side or both sides of a circular substrate 1 made of metallic material, plural ring grooves 2 of the concentric circular matching with the center of the substrate 1 are formed, and bar code data are expressed by the crest and trough of the ring groove 2. There are thick and thin two kinds of groove width in each ring groove 2, the inside diameter is equally spaced and the thickness of the trough is decided to be either of thickness or thinness based on the contents of data. Thus, the bar code is not stripped, the ring groove can be simply formed by press working, and the imitation of the construction can be prevented since a press type is necessary for construction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention is applicable to medals, cans, bottles, etc., which have a disc-shaped surface and are used as coins to be used in the operation of equipment such as play machines and vending machines. The present invention relates to a device for displaying an identification barcode on an object and identifying data on the object.

(Prior art and problems) It is desirable for each store in a store where game machines are installed to use special medals that are different from those used in other stores, but in order to do so, it is necessary to change the diameter and weight of the medals for each store. There is.

However, changing the specifications (diameter, weight) of medals for each store reduces the number of medals manufactured with one specification, which poses a problem of increasing the unit price of the medals.

Furthermore, when medals with various specifications are manufactured, the diameters and weights of the medals are extremely similar, so it becomes necessary to identify minute differences in the diameters of the medals.

It is difficult to perform this minute discrimination due to the structure of the discriminator, and even when a predetermined medal is inserted, there is a high probability that it will be erroneously determined to be defective.

displaying a barcode on the surface of the product for identification;
It is read optically. It has been proposed to apply this technique to draw a pattern of concentric circles on game machine medals and use this pattern as a barcode (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-245386).

Since the above-mentioned conventional concentric barcode pattern is formed by printing on the surface of the article, there is a problem that it easily peels off and becomes unidentifiable.

Also, because it is enough to draw concentric circles and color them, there is a problem that they are easily imitated.

The present invention discloses a barcode display object and its identification device that is easy to manufacture, the barcode does not peel off, and is not easily imitated.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The barcode display object of the present invention has a ring groove (2) concentric with the center of the disk on a disk-shaped surface formed on the object.
The bar code is displayed by the peaks and valleys of the ring groove.

The identification device for the display object includes a light sensor placed in the passage of the display object, and a light emitter (19 ), and a control circuit (36) connected to the optical sensor and converting the received light signal into a barcode signal.

Alternatively, a depth detector (14) for detecting the depth of the groove bottom of the ring groove (2) may be provided in the passage of the display object, and the control circuit (36) may be linked to the depth detector. stomach.

(Operations and Effects) Since the barcode is displayed by the ring groove (2) instead of by printing as in the conventional case, the barcode will not peel off and become unidentifiable.

The ring groove can be easily formed by pressing, a press mold is required for imitation, and imitation can be prevented.

(Example) Figure 1 a1 Figure 1 shows a first example of an object representing a ring-shaped barcode pattern according to the present invention. ", a plurality of concentric ring grooves (2) coinciding with the center of the base are formed on one or both sides of a disc-shaped base (1) made of metal, and the peaks of the ring grooves are Barcode data is expressed in the and valleys.

The ring groove (2) can be easily and efficiently formed by press working.

The material of the base (1) is not limited to metal, and synthetic resin and other materials can be used. When the base is made of synthetic resin, a convex shape is formed in the mold to correspond to the ring groove. If this is done, barcode data can be added at the same time as the substrate (1) is formed.

Each of the ring grooves (2) has two types of groove widths, one wide and one narrow, and the inner diameters of each ring groove (2) are equally spaced.

The thickness of the valley of the ring groove (2) is determined to be either thick or thin depending on the content of the data, and in the example of FIG.
The th ring groove (2) is thicker and is three times as thick as the 1st, 3rd, and 6th ring grooves.

When light is applied to the surface of the medal from an oblique direction, the light is reflected on the surface of the ridges of the ring groove, and the ring groove becomes a blind spot for light incidence, so there is no reflection of light from the bottom of the groove.

As described above, when the data reading optical sensor is passed relative to the medal in the diametrical direction while shining light on the medal, a current changes depending on the strength of the reflected light and a light reception signal is output.

By processing this signal to create a pulse that turns off when reflected light enters and turns on when reflected light disappears, the pulse signal waveform shown in FIG. 1C is obtained.

Assuming that a pulse signal with a large pulse width is "1" and a pulse signal with a narrow pulse width is "0", then in Fig. 1 a glue>'jtUIA is 0
It can be seen that barcode data of 10110 is expressed.

The pulse width is determined by counting the number of clock pulses that conduct while the signal pulse is on, as is known in the art.

After the 6th ring pattern of the medal passes in front of a part of the sensor, after an off time of about 3 pulse pitches has elapsed, it scans in the reverse direction from the 6th ring pattern to the 1st ring pattern. , a symmetrical pulse waveform appears.

However, signal processing is performed so that the latter half of the signal waveform is not read due to the appearance of a predetermined number of pulses or an off signal that continues for three pitches from the start of detection.

Furthermore, since the subsequent signal waveform after passing through the convex part (13a) at the center of the medal is symmetrical to the first half signal, the second half waveform is controlled so that it appears in the opposite direction. If the circuit is set so that the waveforms cancel each other out, if the same signal waveforms in the first half and the second half do not cancel each other out, it can be post-processed as a fraudulent medal, making it possible to identify it with high reliability.

In the medal of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2a, ring grooves (2) are formed in the seven regions except for the third and fifth regions.

Therefore, when this medal is scanned in the diametrical direction by a portion of the sensor, the pulse signal waveform shown in FIG. 2C is obtained.

The first and second ring grooves are for sampling and detect the presence or absence of a pulse every second with the pulse period t as a reference.

When there is a pulse, the signal is “1”; when there is no pulse, the signal is “1”
0'', it can be read that the medal in FIG. 2a represents barcode data 01011.

FIG. 3a and FIG. 3s show a third embodiment of the present invention,
The thick and thin ring groove (2) allows the pulse signal to be changed from “1” to “0”.
” is displayed, and the interval (6) of the ring pattern has a size, so the length of the signal-off time without pulses represents the data.

For example, it is set to "0" during a short signal-off period, and "1" during a signal-off period that is three times as long. In the example shown in FIG. 3a, the pulse signal waveform shown in FIG. 3 is output. In this waveform, when a longer pulse of the wide pulse is detected, it means the center of the medal, so the reading is stopped, and when a long OFF section lasting more than three times as long as the wide section of the signal OFF is detected, , stops the sensor output.

The pulse waveform shown in FIG. 3 expresses 110110011101, and 12-bit data can be displayed by the six ring grooves (2).

An example of a device for identifying data from medals is shown in Figures 4 and 5.
As shown in the figure.

A medal passage (9) is formed in the detection device body (7) by a pair of guides (8).
) A medal sorting pin (lla) driven by a solenoid (lO) is provided in the lower passage, and a guide (12) is further attached to the lower part of the medal sorting pin (lla).

A sensor part (14) is opened in the center of the medal passage (9), and the sensor part (14) has a detection position at one point in the width center of the moving path of the center of the medal (13). A light sensor (16) is provided at the.

At a position upstream or downstream of the optical sensor (16), a light emitting device (19) such as a light emitting diode is installed in the medal passage (9) to project light from an oblique direction onto the medals passing through a part of the sensor. is being deployed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the electrical configuration of the identification device of the present invention.

The output of the optical sensor (18) is guided to the data reading section (31) via the sensor amplifier (29) of the control circuit (36) and the waveform shaping section (30).
The output of is connected to the determination section (32).

Further, the output of the code setting section (33) is introduced into the determination section (32).

Then, two outputs are sent out from the determination section (32),
One is a drive unit (34) that drives the solenoid (10);
The other one is led to a control section (not shown).

The operation of the identification device with the above configuration will be explained below.

The inserted medals (13) fall down the medal passage (9) of the detection device main body (7) as shown in FIG.

At this time, the obliquely projected light from the light emitter (19) is reflected by the peak surface of the medal (13), as described above.

The reflected light from the medal (13) is transmitted to the optical sensor (1
8).

As the medal (13) falls through the coin path (9), the ring pattern on the surface of the medal forming the barcode display section is scanned along the diameter across the sensor part (14) to show the ring pattern. A signal appears at the output of the light sensor (18).

This output is amplified by the sensor amplifier (29), shaped into a rectangular wave by the waveform shaping section (30), becomes an on/off pulse signal, and is processed by the data reading section (31) to form barcode data. A data signal is output to the determination section (32).

When the data sent from the data reading section (31) and the data set by the code setting section (33) are equal, the determining section (32) generates a signal (35) indicating medal insertion.
) is sent to the control unit, and a signal is also sent to the drive unit (34) to operate the solenoid (10).

The medals (13) that have fallen down the medal path (9) are repelled to the left side in Figure 4 by the medal sorting pin (lla), pass through the discharge port (36), and reach the medal storage box (not shown). .

Further, if the data indicated by the pulse signal does not match the data set by the code setting section (33), no signal is sent out from the determining section (33), and therefore the medal selection pin is set at (llb). ),
The medals flipped to the right pass through the ejection port (37) and are returned to the return port (not shown).

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the identification device, in which a sensor part is installed in the center of the metal passage (9), and the detection position is a point in the width center of the movement path of the center of the medal (13). (14)
is open, and this sensor section (14) emits a laser beam, receives reflected light from the peaks and grooves, and is a depth detector (37) that identifies peaks and valleys based on the distance of the reflective surface. is provided, and a control circuit (36) similar to that described above is linked to the detector.

The groove pattern is detected by a depth detector (37) and controlled in the same manner as described above.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of a coin with varying groove depths.

In this case, the signal can be changed depending on the groove depth, and the number of data can be increased.

FIG. 9 shows a situation in which the present invention is applied to a round can.
Barcode data is displayed by pressing a plurality of ring-shaped grooves (2) on the disc-shaped surface of the end face of a cylindrical container such as a round can.

While rolling the container, data is read by a sensor (18) placed towards the path (9).

The article of the present invention is not limited to medals and cylindrical containers, but can also be applied to articles having a circular cross section such as bottles.

In addition, medals can be used in many applications, such as being used in place of identification keys that display data in general industrial machinery, and used for operating equipment.

The configuration of the present invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1a is a front view of the object according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line X-X in Fig. 1a, and Fig. 1C is a signal obtained when the object in Fig. 1a is scanned. Waveform diagrams, Figures 2a to 2C are front views, cross-sectional views, and signal waveform diagrams of the object of the second embodiment;
3a and 3 are front views and signal waveform diagrams of the object of the third embodiment, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the identification device, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the detection state of the object, Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing the electrical structure of the identification device, Fig. 7 is a sectional view of an identification device of another embodiment, Fig. 8 is a sectional view of a medal with multi-stage grooves, and Fig. 9 is a bookmark. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a situation in which the invention is applied to a can. (1)...Base (13)...Coin (19)...Light emitter O]01]○ (2)...Ring groove (18)...Light sensor (36)...Control Circuit diagram 4, 36 Figure 6 Procedural amendment (voluntary) ■ Specification page 8, line 19, Figure 9, page 9, line 7 Indication patent application for the December 6, 1990 case 2-211877 Name of the invention Relationship between circular barcode display object and identification device correction case

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A ring groove (2) concentric with the center of the disk is formed on the disk-shaped surface of the object, and a barcode is displayed by the peaks and valleys of the ring groove. Circular barcode display object. (2) The circular barcode display object according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the groove bottom of some or all of the ring grooves is formed in multiple stages. (3) A device for identifying a display object displaying a barcode by recessing concentric ring grooves on a circular surface, and an optical sensor (18) installed in the passage of the display object.
, a light emitter (19) tilted to emit light obliquely to the circular surface of a display object passing in front of the optical sensor, and a light emitter (19) that is connected to the optical sensor and converts the received light signal into a barcode signal. A circular barcode display object identification device comprising a control circuit (36). (4) A device for identifying display objects displaying barcodes by recessing concentric ring grooves (2) in a circular surface, which is installed in the path of the display object and uses a laser to identify the ring grooves of the display object. Depth detector (3) to detect depth
7) and a control circuit (36) connected to depth detection and converting a received light signal into a barcode signal.