JPH1031714A - Bar code reader for canned and bottled commodity - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bar code reader capable of accurately reading out a bar code displayed on a container for a commodity without being influenced by the size of the container, the display position and direction of the bar code, and so on. SOLUTION: The system comprises a rotary mechanism 3 for allowing a commodity container 1 to revolve in its peripheral direction while holding the container 1 on a roller 3a in laid posture, two bar code readers 4, 5 oppositely arranged on the upper part of the rotary mechanism 3 so that their scanning directions for the container 1 mounted on the mechanism 3 are respectively matched with the longitudinal direction X and peripheral direction Y of the container and a moving mechanism 6 to be moved in the longitudinal direction X of the container 1 while loading the readers 4, 5 on its inside. In this case, while executing the rotating operation of the container 1 and the moving operation of the readers 4, 5 in parallel in the state loading the container 1 on the rotary mechanism 3, the reading operation of the readers 4, 5 is executed to read out a bar code.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code reading apparatus for cans and bottles, which is mounted on a vending machine for cans and bottles or a collecting machine for waste containers such as empty cans and bottles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, canned and bottled beverage products are sold on the market by type of beverage, beverage maker, contents,
Information such as the selling price is displayed as a bar code directly on the body surface of the product container or printed on a label. On the other hand, recently, introduction of a POS system in which sales management of products sold by vending machines is performed for each vending machine installed at a location is also being considered.
As a means of this, the development of vending machines that read barcodes of products for sale and collect POS data using a barcode reader installed on the way to the product exit in the machine that leads to the product exit of the vending machine has been promoted. ing.

[0003] A bar code reader is provided in a machine for collecting waste containers such as empty cans and empty bottles in the same manner as in a vending machine, and a ticket is provided to the waste container provider by drink maker each time. There is also a study of a collection method for increasing the collection efficiency of waste containers of own products by paying prizes or compensation from the beverage maker with a predetermined number of tickets.

[0004] Further, the bar code displayed on the product container includes information on the attributes of the container (aluminum can, iron can, glass bottle) and the like, and the product container put into the waste container collection machine such as an empty can or empty bottle is displayed. When collecting by material, use a barcode reader installed in the waste container collection machine to read container attribute data displayed on the barcode and automatically sort and recover aluminum cans, iron cans, and glass bottles based on this data. Development of a waste container recovery machine is also underway.

[0005]

By the way, as described above, a bar code reader is mounted in a vending machine or a waste container collecting machine to accurately read a bar code displayed on a product container. A dedicated barcode reader that can handle various types of cans and bottles is required.

[0006] That is, currently available cans and bottles of containers have various lengths and diameters.
As shown in (b), the display location and display direction of the barcode 2 displayed on the body surface of the product container 1 are also different. Here, (a) shows the bar code 2 in the circumferential direction (horizontal direction) at the end of the can container, and (b) shows the bar code 2 in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) of the can container. ing.

In addition, the direction and posture of the goods carried out of the goods storage rack of the vending machine or the directions and postures of the empty cans and empty bottles to be put into the waste container collecting machine are not constant, and the goods are unloaded. If the bar code reader is simply installed on the way, the scanning direction of the bar code reader may not match the direction of the bar code 2, or the bar code may face the lower surface of the container 1. For example, the bar code 2 displayed on the container 1 cannot be read accurately.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is intended for a bar code reader mounted and used in a vending machine for cans, bottled goods, or a waste container collecting machine, and the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bar code reading device for cans and bottles, which can accurately read a bar code regardless of the display position of the bar code, the direction of the bar code, and the like.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a bar code reading device is configured as described above. 1) A rotating mechanism for holding the product container in an inverted posture and rotating in the circumferential direction, and a rotating mechanism for the product container placed on the rotating mechanism by adjusting the scanning direction to the circumferential direction of the container and the longitudinal direction of the container, respectively. And two moving barcode readers mounted on the rotating mechanism to move the product container in the longitudinal direction. While performing the rotation operation and the movement operation of the bar code reader in parallel, the reading operation of the bar code reader is executed to read the bar code.

As described above, if the bar code reader is moved along the longitudinal direction of the container while the product container is mounted on the rotating mechanism at the bar code reading position and rotated, the container size and the bar code display position are displayed. , Regardless of direction
The barcode of the container must pass through a position readable by the barcode reader. Here, the rotation mechanism employs a pair of left and right drive rollers that support the product container in an inverted posture over the rollers and a motor that drives the drive rollers to rotate in a fixed direction,
The bar code can be easily read by installing the rotation mechanism on the product transport path and transferring the product container to the rotation mechanism.

In the bar code reader having the above-described structure, in order to increase the bar code reading rate of cans and bottles, it is preferable to use a raster scan type bar code as the bar code reader. It is preferable that the moving mechanism is temporarily stopped at the stroke end of the moving path to read the barcode.

That is, the bar code reader of the raster scan system has a wider bar code reading range than the single scan system, and can read the bar code even if the relative position between the bar code reader and the bar code is slightly shifted. It is. In addition, most can products currently on the market are expensive by stopping the moving mechanism of the barcode reader at the stroke end at the stroke end, taking into account that the barcode is displayed near the end of the container. Bar code reading rate can be secured.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the overall configuration of the barcode reader will be described with reference to FIGS. That is, the reading device holds the product container 1 in the inverted position and rotates the container in the circumferential direction, and the scanning direction of the product container 1 placed on the rotating mechanism 3 is set to the longitudinal direction X of the container. , And two raster scan type bar code readers 4, 5 arranged opposite to each other above the rotation mechanism 3 in the circumferential direction Y of the container, and the longitudinal Moving mechanism 6 for moving in the direction
Are combined. Reference numeral 7 denotes a transfer conveyor for loading and unloading the product container 1 with respect to the rotation mechanism 3.

Here, the rotating mechanism 3 comprises a pair of left and right horizontal shaft driving rollers 3a, and a small gear 3 connected to each driving roller 3a.
b and a drive motor 3d connected to the small gear 3b via a large gear 3c.
In a state where the product container 1 is mounted in the inverted posture over the
When the drive motor 3d is started, the drive roller 3a rotates and the product container 1 rotates in the direction of arrow A.

On the other hand, the moving mechanism 6 has a moving body 6a on which bar code readers 4 and 5 are mounted and guided and supported in the longitudinal direction of the product container 1 along a guide rail 6b. 6c provides a structure that reciprocates in the direction of arrow B via the rack and pinion mechanism 6d. The X-direction barcode reader 4 is shown in FIG.
From a vertical line passing through the center of the product container 1,
It is disposed opposite to a position shifted laterally by about (about 15 °) to prevent a barcode reading error due to halation of reflected light.

In this configuration, while the container 1 is mounted on the driving roller 3a of the rotating mechanism 3 while the container 1 is rotated by the driving motor 3d, the traveling motor 6c of the moving mechanism 6 is operated in parallel with the rotation. When the bar code readers 4 and 5 are started, the guide rails 6 are arranged in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the container 1.
In the traveling path along the route b, the robot is reciprocated from one stroke end to the other stroke end to return to the standby position again. During this traveling, the bar code readers 4 and 5 perform the reading operation. By this reading operation, the barcode 2 displayed on the surface of the product container 1 passes through a reading position facing one of the barcode readers 4 and 5, and the barcode 2 is read at this time. In this case, regardless of how the product container 1 is placed and the direction of the bar code 2 (vertical or horizontal), the bar code 2
Can be reliably read.

Further, the traveling mechanism 6 performs a traveling control (the rotating mechanism 3 continues to operate) so that it temporarily stops and then reverses when it reaches the stroke end of the reciprocating traveling path, and its stop position. The running control is performed to extend the reading time in. Thus, when a raster scan type barcode reader is used, a high reading rate for the barcode 2 displayed on the end of the container 1 can be secured. After the barcode 2 is read, the commodity container 1 is delivered from the rotation mechanism 3 to the transport conveyor 7 and carried out by a handling means (not shown).

Next, as a line of applied equipment of the bar code reading apparatus, empty cans and empty bottles are selectively collected based on the bar code read data, and the collection data processing of the waste containers is simultaneously performed. Figure 3 shows a waste container recovery machine
Shown in In FIG. 3, reference numeral 8 denotes a cabinet of the collecting machine,
Reference numeral a denotes a container input port opened at the front of the cabinet 8, in which a bar code reading device 9 having the above-mentioned configuration and a press machine 1 for crushing cans are disposed behind the input port 8a.
A lifter 11, a sorting conveyor 12, an aluminum can, an iron can, and a collection container 13 according to the material of the bottle are provided.

In such a configuration, the provider of the waste container is an empty can,
When a product container (waste container) 1 such as an empty bottle is inserted into the input port 8a, the container 1 is placed on the rotation mechanism 3 (see FIG. 1) of the barcode reading device 8, and this is detected to detect the rotation. 3. Start the moving mechanism 6, and move the barcodes 4, 5
To read the bar code displayed on the container 1.
The bar code read signal is input to a control unit (not shown) in the machine to decode the material of the product container, the type of beverage, the maker, etc., and perform the following processing based on the read data. .

First, based on the read data of the bar code, if the container 1 is a bottle container, the container 1 is taken out from the reading device 9 and put into the bottle collecting container 13 to be collected. Meanwhile, container 1
If the container is a can container, it is sent to the press machine 10 via the lifter 11, where the can container is crushed flat to reduce the volume, and then the aluminum can is passed through the sorting conveyor 12 based on the bar code read data. It is put into the collection container 13 according to the material of the iron can and collected.

Further, a ticket issuing machine 14 is provided on the front door of the cabinet 1, and based on the read data of the barcode, a provider of the waste container is provided with a ticket for each beverage maker (for example, a predetermined number of tickets for the beverage). Manufacturer's products,
Or you can exchange it for money). In addition, the materials of the collected waste containers, beverage manufacturers, product types,
All data such as quantity is recorded in the data processing device in the machine, and the total data can be taken out at any time.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the bar code reading device is applied to a waste container collecting machine. In addition, a bar code reading device is provided in a vending machine, and a bar code of a sold product is taken out of a product outlet. POS data can be tabulated for each vending machine by reading it before sending it to the vending machine.

[0023]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the rotating mechanism for rotating the merchandise container in the circumferential direction while holding the merchandise container in the inverted posture, and the scanning direction with respect to the merchandise container placed on the rotating mechanism are described. Two bar code readers arranged above and facing a rotating mechanism in accordance with the circumferential direction of the container and the longitudinal direction of the container, respectively, and a moving mechanism mounted with the bar code reader and operated to move in the longitudinal direction of the product container With the product container mounted on the rotating mechanism, the barcode reader is read and the barcode is read by executing the reading operation of the barcode reader while performing the rotation operation of the container and the moving operation of the barcode reader in parallel. Thus, the bar code displayed on the surface of various cans and bottle merchandise containers can be accurately read irrespective of the display position and orientation.

The bar code reading device is mounted on a waste container collecting machine or a vending machine to read the bar code of the product container. For empty cans (aluminum cans, iron cans), sorting and collecting empty bottles, issuing tickets to providers of waste containers, and PO for vending machines.
Aggregation processing of S data can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a barcode reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a correlation position between a product container and a barcode reader in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a waste container collecting machine employing the barcode reading device of the present invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing barcode display positions of commercially available product containers, wherein FIGS. 4A and 4B are external views of the product container in which barcodes are displayed horizontally and vertically, respectively.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 commodity container 2 barcode 3 rotating mechanism 3a drive roller 3d drive motor 4 barcode reader (scan direction X) 5 barcode reader (scan direction Y) 6 moving mechanism A rotation direction of commodity container B direction of movement of barcode reader

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Koji Kawakami 1-1-1, Tanabe-Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A bar code reader for reading a bar code displayed on the surface of a can or bottle commodity container, comprising: a rotating mechanism for holding the commodity container in an inverted position and rotating in the circumferential direction; Two bar code readers are arranged above the rotating mechanism so that the scanning directions are aligned with the circumferential direction of the container and the longitudinal direction of the container, respectively. Equipped with a moving mechanism for moving the merchandise container in the longitudinal direction, and with the merchandise container mounted on the rotating mechanism, the barcode reader reading operation is performed while the container rotating operation and the barcode reader moving operation are performed in parallel. And a bar code reading device for cans and bottled goods. 2. A bar code reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said rotating mechanism includes a pair of left and right driving rollers for supporting the commodity container in an inverted posture over the rollers, and a motor for rotating said driving rollers in a fixed direction. A bar code reader for cans and bottles, comprising: 3. A bar code reader for cans and bottles according to claim 1, wherein the moving mechanism of the bar code reader is temporarily stopped at the stroke end of the moving path. 4. The bar code reader according to claim 1, wherein the bar code reader is a raster scan type bar code reader.