JPH0756665B2 - Print bar code automatic monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically monitoring continuous bar codes on continuous forms, and more particularly to a printing bar printed on roll paper. The present invention relates to an apparatus that extracts a code as image data, digitizes the image data, and monitors whether or not a print barcode is correctly printed by using the numerical data.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in Fig. 3 (a), a bar code is a mark printed on a medium that consists of a code part consisting of two types of black and white parallel bars and the corresponding alphanumeric characters. To tell. This bar code has a start code and an end code indicating alphabets at both ends, and a bar indicating a numerical value is arranged inside the bar. Further, the numbers shown by the bars are added below the bars.

Each number is represented by four black bars of two kinds of thickness and three white bars between them, and a pattern peculiar to each number is formed by the thickness of the bars and the arrangement of the bars. This pattern is shown in FIG. Although there are some patterns other than those shown in FIG. 3 (b) that have different bar patterns for expressing numbers, the one shown in FIG. 3 (b) is currently widely used.

This bar code is printed by a printing machine, for example, in the case of an offset foam rotary printing machine, the bar code numbering machine is attached to the letterpress printing section to continuously print the bar code on the offset printing machine. In this barcode printing, numbers are continuously printed by rotating each character ring of the barcode numbering machine.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, a number that is not in a proper order may be printed due to a malfunction in operation such as a letter wheel that does not turn where it should turn, or adjacent letter wheels that turn at the same time.

Therefore, in order to confirm that the printed barcode is printed correctly, whether several tens to several hundreds of sets of print reserve parts are provided before and after the plain paper, and whether the barcode in this print reserve part is printed properly or not. In this way, it is estimated whether or not there is an abnormality in the barcode printing on the original paper.

However, in the method of determining whether or not there is an abnormality in the print barcode of the original paper based on the print content of the print reserve unit, the barcode is not checked during printing, so the numbering machine malfunctions and a proper barcode is printed. Even if it is not printed, it cannot be found until the end of printing. As a result, the printing time and the printing roll paper for the bar code abnormal printed matter are wasted. As a means for monitoring the abnormality of the print barcode, a method of installing an existing barcode reader on the printing machine and reading the print barcode to determine the abnormality of the print barcode can be considered. However, the reading speed of the bar code reader is slower than the running speed of printed matter, so
The print bar code cannot be read on the press.

In addition, it is possible to automatically monitor the printed barcode for abnormalities by distinguishing the printed number for visual confirmation under the barcode using pattern recognition technology. The device was extremely expensive and a practical device could not be obtained.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and an image of a bar code printed on a roll paper is input as an image on a printing press, and the input content is recognized in real time to automatically determine the correctness of the print bar code. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can be used.

[Means for solving problems]

To achieve the above object, in the present invention, a barcode printed from a web running at high speed on a printing machine is image-input as a still image by strobe emission, and the inputted barcode is image-processed as numerical data. (EN) An apparatus for automatically determining whether a print barcode is correct by recognizing it and comparing it with a number to be printed originally given by a printing machine.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 7 shows an offset form rotary press for printing continuous forms as an application object of the present invention.
This offset foam rotary press is usually equipped with a paper feed section, an offset unit section, a letterpress-number printing section, a processing section, a folding section,
It is composed of a winding unit, and in addition to this, a carbon printing unit may be added.

When printing, for example, a barcode on a continuous form, the barcode is printed by replacing the plate cylinder of the letterpress-number printing section after the offset printing with a number shaft and attaching a barcode numbering machine. It is usual that a plurality of bar code numbering machines are attached to each number shaft for one axis, thereby performing printing with multiple faces.

When the number is printed, a marginal punch hole is punched in the processing section, processing such as perforation is performed and the sheet is wound up and discharged, or the sheet is cut or folded at the folding section and discharged.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a black and white ITV camera, which is mounted at a position where a number on a sheet can be photographed after the number printing on the printing machine is completed. The photographing field of view of the camera 1 can be illuminated by the strobe 2, and the pattern on the moving printing paper can be photographed in a stationary state by illuminating the strobe for a short time. That is, the flash firing time is 30
When the subject size is 15 mm and the paper speed is 120 m / min for ~ 40 μsec, the external light is suppressed to the extent that shooting is not possible without the flash firing, and the lens aperture is adjusted. For example, with a vidicon camera, the light is shielded so that the illuminance near the subject is about 20 lux, and the aperture is set to about F4.0.

The image is printed on the imaging surface by the flash emission, and the moving distance of the barcode, which is the subject, is 0.06 to 0.08 mm, which is calculated by (flash emission time) x (paper speed). This is a length equivalent to 4/1000 to 6/1000 of the character size when the subject size is 15 mm, and the barcode can be captured as a still image with almost no blur. This photographed input image is displayed on the monitor TV3, and the focus aperture of the camera 1 is adjusted and the field of view of the camera is confirmed.

The image data thus captured is stored in the image memory 4, and the stored data is stored in the CPU 5 by the CPU 5.
The image is processed, recognized as a numerical value, and displayed on the display 6. A pulse corresponding to the rotation of the plate cylinder from a rotary encoder 8 attached to the plate cylinder 7 is given to a counter 9, and the count value is given to the CPU 5. There are two types of count values: a count value of a pulse generated by a predetermined number per one rotation of the plate cylinder and a count value of a pulse obtained by dividing this pulse.

A ten key 10 and a printer 11 are connected to the CPU 5,
Calculations are performed according to the input of the number of impositions on the ten-key pad 10, and the display on the display 6 can be printed out by the printer 11.

FIG. 2 shows in more detail the configuration of the portion handling data in the apparatus of FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 indicate the same elements. As shown in this figure, the photographing input of the camera 1 is given to the monitor TV 3 and the image memory 4. The image memory 4 is connected to the CPU 5 via the data bus, and the CPU 5 is connected to the display 6, the ten-key pad 10 and the printer 11 via the data bus. Also CP
Each output of a counter 9a that counts a rotation pulse from the rotary encoder 8 and a counter 9b that counts a pulse obtained by dividing the rotation pulse by the frequency divider 12 is also given to U,
The strobe light emitting circuit 13 is operated according to the pulse count value to cause the strobe 2 to emit light, and at this time, the camera 1 inputs a photograph.

The apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 stores the image data in the image memory 4 by photographing and inputting a predetermined number of print barcodes from the surface of the paper based on the rotation of the plate cylinder, and the CPU 5 Recognize as a numerical value corresponding to the barcode by digitizing the image data of the printing barcode, the barcode is calculated by the CPU 5 by the output from the counter 9b and the correct number to be printed by the CPU 5 and the barcode is calculated. It is determined whether or not it is printed correctly.
At this time, if an abnormality is found in the bar code, an alarm is issued. Further, the printing machine may be stopped at the same time when the alarm is issued, or the printing machine may be stopped without issuing the alarm. At the same time, the stored data recognition numerical value and the correct numerical value to be printed are displayed on the display 6 or printed out to the printer 11.

This will be described more specifically as follows.

When the plate cylinder 7 makes one rotation, the rotary encoder 8 outputs a predetermined number of pulses. This pulse remains counter 9a
On the other hand, the frequency is divided by the frequency divider 12 in accordance with the number of surface attachments inputted by the ten-key pad 10, and the same number of pulses as the number of surface attachments per one rotation of the plate cylinder is given to the counter 9b. That is, the counter 9b counts the number of printing surfaces.

When a signal is given from the counter 9b, the CPU 5 starts monitoring the count output of the counter 9a counting the number of pulses of the rotary encoder 8 from this point, and the counter is output when the number printed in the center of the visual field of the camera 1 is entered. Get the output. That is, if the paper path from the plate cylinder 7 to the camera 1 is known, the pattern position in the flow direction within the visual field of the camera 1 can be calculated by the rotation speed of the plate cylinder 7.

Here, in this embodiment, the position coordinates of the barcode to be photographed on the plate surface are input from the ten-key pad 10, the CPU 5 calculates the plate cylinder phase when the barcode to be photographed enters the center of the visual field of the camera 1, and this is calculated. When the output of this counter 9a is obtained by setting it in the counter 9a, the CPU 5 sends a signal to the strobe light emission circuit 13 to make the strobe 2 emit light at this moment, assuming that the barcode to be photographed has just entered the camera field of view. Take a picture.

Here, in order to separately monitor a plurality of numbering machines provided in the paper flow direction, the shooting interval is set to a constant number that is not divisible by the number of numbering machines.

The rotation axis for timing the input image may be an axis in the processing section or folding section other than the plate cylinder as long as it rotates in a one-to-one relationship with the plate cylinder.

The image information of the bar code photographed in this way is stored in the image memory 4 and taken into the CPU 5 through the data bus. The information processing method of the bar code read by the CPU 5 will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.

First, the first print barcode processing will be described with reference to FIG.

The first print barcode is input from the ITV camera 1. At this time, the counter 9b is reset.

After that, the signals of the counter 9b are accumulated. Ie the first
Counts the number of printing surfaces after the image of the second print barcode is input. This image information is stored in the image memory 4 (S1), and the image information of the print bar code is scanned by the CPU 5 in order from the left side of the bar code as shown in FIG. The number of pixels of each of the book and the white bar is counted (S2). At this time, if the printing paper on the printing machine shifts in the vertical direction, there may be no barcode information on the scan line of the CPU 5. Therefore, it is determined whether or not the black bar of the start code has been detected (S3), and if it cannot be detected, the scanning line is moved by a certain amount in one of the vertical directions and scanning is performed again (S4).

As described above, the bar code is composed of two types of black and white bars of different thickness. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the difference between these two types of bar thickness. For this reason, the reference value of the number of pixels for determining whether the bar is thick or thin is determined based on the number of pixels of each bar of the start code that has already been read (S
Five).

If the criterion for determining the bar thickness is determined, the next bar code (4 black bars, 3 white bars), that is, the leftmost code in the unrecognized digit is read and the bar thickness is determined. The pattern is recognized based on the standard (S6). The numerical value represented by the read bar code is recognized by the read bar code pattern and the numerical information code (shown in FIG. 3) corresponding to the bar code pattern given to the CPU 5 in advance (S7). .

At this time, if the input image is in a bad state and the barcode cannot be recognized as a numerical value (S8), the scanning line is moved in the vertical direction and scanning is performed again (S9). If it can be recognized as a numerical value, this value is stored (S10).

This operation is performed over the entire width of the barcode until the encoding is recognized (S11).

When the number indicated by the full width of the barcode is recognized in this way, this number is stored (S12).

Next, the print barcode processing after the second time will be described with reference to FIG.

Steps S21 to S24 are the same as the above-described first print barcode processing, but the criteria for determining the thickness of the bar have already been determined, so here the barcode recognition is based on this criterion. To do. Step S25 ~ Step S30
The steps up to here are the same as steps S6 to S11 described above.
In this way, when the number indicated by the print bar code input from the second time and thereafter is recognized, the bar code number stored in the first time is added to the cumulative value of the counter 9b, that is, the first bar code. Then, the number of bar codes printed is added (S31). Since the barcodes are consecutive numbers, this added value is the correct number that should be printed originally when the image is input this time. It is determined whether this value matches the number recognized from the print barcode, and it is determined whether the print barcode has an error (S3
2). At this time, if the printed bar code is abnormal, an alarm is sounded (S33). However, the printing machine may be stopped at the same time when the alarm is sounded, or the printing machine may be stopped without sounding the alarm.

At the same time, the operator can visually check the abnormal number by displaying the number portion below the barcode input by the camera 1 and the correct number to be printed on the CRT 6 side by side. it can.

The process shown in FIG. 5 is repeated until the bar code printing is completed, and the print bar code is automatically monitored. Therefore, if there is an abnormality in the barcode printing, it can be immediately recognized.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, a method of image-processing a print barcode and recognizing it as a numerical value will be described. This is the step in Figure 4
It is worth S2, S6 and steps S22, S25 in FIG.

The density data of each pixel of the print barcode stored in the image memory 4 with 4 bits per pixel is taken out to the CPU 5 along the scanning line from the left end, and the density data of each pixel is cut at a predetermined slice level to determine whether it is a black pixel or not. White pixel
That is, it is determined whether it is a printed portion with ink or a non-printed background portion of the paper (white) (S41). Pixels are successively determined until black pixels are recognized (S4
2). The one digit bar code starts with the black bar and ends with the black bar. There are 4 black bars and 3 white bars in between. Therefore, if the first white pixel is skipped and the black pixel is recognized,
This is counted (S43) and the next pixel is read (S44). If this pixel is black (S45), 1 is added to the previous number of black pixels (S43). This is continued until a white pixel is recognized, and when the white pixel is recognized, the cumulative number of black pixels of black pixels is stored (S46).

There are 4 black bars in 1 digit of the bar code, and this 1 digit ends at the black bar, so check if you have read 4 black bars (S4
7) After reading four books, this process ends. If the number of black bars is less than 4, the steps for black bars for white bars
The same processing as S43 to S46 is performed (S48 to S51). Repeat this for 4 black bars and 3 white bars.
When the number of pixels of the actual pixel is stored, the process ends. By this processing, the thicknesses and the permutations of the four black bars and the three white bars constituting one digit of the barcode can be known. The 7-bit code shown in FIG. 3 can be understood from this and a reference value for judging whether the bar is thick or thin, and the bar code numerical value can be recognized from the information code previously given to the CPU 5 described above.

Explaining in detail with the bar code in FIG. 3, the bar code full width of 48 mm is divided into 512 pixels of the image memory 4 and the image is input. At this time, the thin bar has a size of 0.3 mm and thus has 3 pixels, and the thick bar has a size of 0.75 mm and thus has 8 pixels. If the reference value for determining whether the bar is thick or thin is set to 5 pixels, a bar having 5 pixels or less is considered to be thin and a bar larger than 5 pixels is considered to be thick.

Although the bar code shown in FIG. 3 has been described in the present embodiment, it is shown in FIG. 3 even if the bar code of another type, for example, the bar pattern or thickness is different from that shown in FIG. The same processing can be performed by changing the information code and changing the number of black bars read in FIG. 6 in accordance with the bar pattern.

This bar code reading operation is as follows. In the flowchart of FIG. 6, the pixel is read when the operation is started (step S41). Pixels are read until the pixels become black (steps S42 → S41). When it becomes black, the pixels are read until the black pixels are finished and the number of black pixels is stored (steps S43 → S).
46). When the number of black pixels is stored for one black bar, step S47 is directly passed and the number of white pixels is counted and stored (steps S48 → S51). Then, returning to step S43, the number of pixels of the black bar is read again. Read the number of white pixels next to the black bar,
This is repeated until there are four black bars. The operation ends when the number of black bars becomes four. This is because the target bar code is configured as a combination of four black bars and white pixel portions.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the present invention stores image data in which a barcode is image-input from a continuous form printed continuously on a printing machine in a means for storing at a predetermined timing, and then performs image data processing and code-numerical conversion. Since it is processed and recognized as a numerical value, there is no delay in printing work such as a bar code reader, and it is not expensive as a character recognition device, but the printed bar code is detected quickly and accurately. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of each element handling data in the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are intended for the present invention. FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 are flowcharts showing the barcode reading operation in the apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a printing machine to which the apparatus of the present invention is applied. is there. 1 ... monochrome camera, 2 ... strobe, 3 ... monitor TV,
4 ... Image memory, 5 ... CPU, 6 ... Display, 7 ... Plate cylinder, 8 ... Rotary encoder, 9 ...
Counter, 10 ... Numeric keypad, 11 ... Printer.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G06T 7/00

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A means for inputting an image of the print barcode on a printing machine for continuously printing the barcode on a continuous form, and a timing for inputting the print barcode at predetermined intervals by the image input means. Determining means, means for storing the image data input from the image input means in accordance with the output of the timing determining means, and numerical value by image data processing and code-numerical conversion of the image data of the storing means. As the number of printed sheets of the printing machine, and the number of printed sheets detecting means for producing an output according to the number of printed sheets of the printing machine, and comparing the output of the detecting means with the output of the recognizing means to determine whether the bar code is correctly printed. A print bar having means for determining whether the bar code is printed and a means for issuing a signal when the judgment means determines that the barcode is not printed correctly. Over de automatic monitoring equipment. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image input means includes a camera and a print bar code automatic monitoring having a strobe for illuminating the form surface in association with the operation of the printing machine. apparatus. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the timing determining unit counts an output of the rotary encoder mounted on a shaft that rotates in the same phase as the plate cylinder of the printing machine. A printing bar code automatic having a phase counter for detecting the rotational phase of the plate cylinder and a number counter for counting the frequency-divided signal of the output of the encoder and producing an output when a value corresponding to a predetermined number of sheets is reached. Monitoring equipment. 4. The printing according to claim 1, further comprising: a means for obtaining an output of the means for inputting the image and an output of the means for recognizing the numerical value and displaying both outputs in parallel. Bar code automatic monitoring device.