JPH1049620A - Radio type bar-code reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain a low power consumption by illuminating a bar code with an external light without deteriorating any readability, and to use this device without charging a battery by using a solar battery. SOLUTION: An external light 3 emitted from an outside light source 2 outside a case 1 is diffused by a diffusing member 14 in the neighborhood of a reading port 4 of the case 1, and a bar code label 6 is illuminated. A reflected light reflected on this bar code label is image-formed at a prescribed position by an image forming lens 7, converted into an electric signal by a CCD image sensor 15 with an electronic shutter, processed and decoded by a controlling part 9, and converted into data. The controlling part 9 issues an instruction to a current controlling part 16 so that light quantity on the bar code label 6 can be uniform based on the processed result of the electric signal, and supplies currents to an LED array 17 for auxiliary illumination in which plural LED for individually adjusting a light are arranged. Also, the external light 3 irradiated by the outside light source 2 is converted into electricity by a solar battery 18, and condensed by a condensing pat 12. The condensed electricity is supplied to the controlling part 9. Data converted by the controlling part 9 are modulated into harmonic wave by a high frequency generating part 10, radiated in air by an antenna 11, and transmitted to a host computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to point-of-sale information management.
The present invention relates to a wireless barcode reader used in (POS), physical distribution, production management, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-225884, in order to reduce power consumption, a conventional wireless bar code reader directly transmits extraneous light from the surroundings near a case reading opening. Thus, a light passing window for illuminating the bar code label placed in the reading port is provided.

Further, in order to supply electricity to a power storage unit for storing electricity, there is a dedicated charger and a connection part which is provided in a part of a case and is connected to the charger.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a conventional wireless bar code reader. As shown in FIG. 7, an external light source 2 such as the sun, a fluorescent lamp, an incandescent lamp, etc.
The external light 3 radiated from the light source passes through a light passing window 5 near a reading port 4 at one end of the case 1 to directly illuminate a bar code label 6. The light reflected by the barcode label 6 is imaged at a predetermined position by an imaging lens 7 and is converted into an electric signal by an image sensor 8 installed at the predetermined position. The electric signal is processed and decoded by the control unit 9 and converted into data. The data converted by the control unit 9 is modulated into harmonics by the high frequency generation unit 10, radiated into the air by the antenna 11, and transmitted to a host computer (not shown). The power storage unit 12 is charged by an external charger through the connection unit 13 and stores electricity. The stored electricity is supplied to the control unit 9.

[0005]

However, in the conventional wireless bar code reader, since the external light 3 directly illuminates the bar code label 6, the illumination of the bar code label changes depending on the incident direction and illuminance of the external light. However, it is difficult to uniformly illuminate the barcode label, and the barcode reading performance is poor. In particular, as shown in FIG.
When the incident angle x incident on the bar code label 6 and the exit angle y incident on the image sensor 8 through which the reflected light 19 from the bar code label 6 passes through the imaging lens 7 coincide with the direct reflected light of the extraneous light 3 Incident on the image sensor 8, saturates a part of the image sensor 8, and makes reading impossible.

In addition, since there is no means for generating electricity, it is necessary to frequently charge the battery from an external charger through the connection unit 13, and it often fails due to static electricity from the connection unit 13.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above conventional problems.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve these objects, a first means of the present invention is to provide a wireless bar code reader which diffuses and transmits external light from outside the case near a reading port. And a diffusion material for illuminating the bar code label.

A second means is a wireless bar code reader in which a solar cell for generating electricity by external light and supplying electricity to a power storage unit is provided on an upper portion of a case.

The third means is that in a wireless bar code reader, a diffusing material for diffusing and passing external light from outside the case and illuminating the bar code label is provided near the reading opening, and provided at the upper part of the case. In addition, a solar cell that generates electricity by external light and supplies electricity to the power storage unit is provided.

[0011] A fourth means is that, in the wireless bar code reader, a diffusing material for diffusing and passing extraneous light from outside the case and illuminating the bar code label is provided near the reading opening; Are provided with a plurality of illuminating means whose light amounts can be individually adjusted.

A fifth means is that, in the wireless bar code reader, a diffusing material for diffusing and transmitting external light from outside the case and illuminating the bar code label is provided in the vicinity of the reading port, and in the vicinity of the reading port. Are provided with a plurality of illuminating means whose light amounts can be individually adjusted, and a solar cell for generating electricity by the extraneous light and supplying electricity to the power storage unit is provided above the case.

According to the first means of the present invention,
In the vicinity of the reading port, by diffusing and transmitting extraneous light from outside the case and providing a diffusing material for illuminating the barcode label, even if the extraneous light illuminates the barcode label from any direction, the reflected light is directly reflected. Thus, reading performance can be improved and power consumption can be reduced.

According to the second means, since the bar code reader is directly operated by a human, it is often used in a bright place such as a store front. Therefore, by providing a solar cell at the top of the case that generates electricity from external light and supplies electricity to the power storage unit, it is possible to use a wireless barcode reader without charging under constant illuminance. Become. This eliminates the need for a charger and a connection portion for connecting the charger, and reduces costs and eliminates failure due to static electricity.

According to the third means, a diffuser for diffusing and passing external light from outside the case and illuminating the bar code label is provided in the vicinity of the reading port, so that the external light can be used for the bar code label. By illuminating and reducing power consumption, by providing a solar cell that generates electricity by extraneous light and supplies electricity to the power storage unit, it can be wirelessly operated without charging even under low illuminance compared to the case of the second means. It is possible to use a barcode reader.

According to the fourth means, a diffuser is provided near the reading opening for diffusing and transmitting external light from outside the case and illuminating the bar code label. The barcode label can be illuminated with extraneous light to reduce power consumption, and the barcode label can always be uniformly illuminated by providing a plurality of auxiliary lighting means that can be adjusted, further improving the reading performance. Becomes possible.

According to the fifth means, as in the case of the fourth means, the reading performance can be further improved as compared with the case of the third means, and the wireless bar code can be charged without charging even under low illuminance. It is possible to use a reader.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of a wireless bar code reader according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 denotes a diffusing material provided near the reading port 4 at one end of the case 1, reference numeral 15 denotes a CCD image sensor with an electronic shutter capable of adjusting the amount of received light, reference numeral 16 denotes a current control unit, and reference numeral 17 denotes an amount of light. LE for auxiliary lighting with multiple possible LEDs
D array, 18 is a solar cell. Other blocks having the same functions as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. However, since there is no need to receive external power, the connection unit 13 is omitted.

Next, an outline of the operation will be described. An external light 3 radiated from an external light source 2 such as the sun, a fluorescent lamp, or an incandescent lamp outside the case 1 is supplied to a reading port 4 at one end of the case 1.
The bar code label 6 is illuminated by being diffused by the diffusion material 14 in the vicinity of. The reflected light reflected by the bar code label 6 is imaged at a predetermined position by an imaging lens 7 and is provided with an electronic shutter having an adjustable amount of received light and installed at the predetermined position.
It is converted into an electric signal by the CD image sensor 15. The electric signal is processed and decoded by the control unit 9 and converted into data.

The control unit 9 issues a command to the current control unit 16 based on the processing result of the electric signal so that the light amount on the bar code label 6 becomes uniform, and the light amount can be individually adjusted. A current is supplied to an auxiliary illumination LED array 17 in which a plurality of LEDs are arranged.

The external light 3 emitted from the external light source 2 is converted into electricity by the solar cell 18 and stored in the power storage unit 12. The stored electricity is supplied to the control unit 9.

The data converted by the control unit 9 is modulated by a high-frequency generation unit 10 into harmonics, radiated into the air by an antenna 11, and transmitted to a host computer (not shown). In this example, an example of transmitting data by harmonics was shown. However, such as optical communication and storage in the built-in memory and uploading later,
Other wireless communication systems may be used.

Next, a detailed operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows the angle (incident angle) at which extraneous light emitted from an external light source enters the barcode label 6 and the reflection reflected by the barcode label 6 in a conventional wireless barcode reader having a light passing window. FIG. 3 is a diagram when light enters an imaging lens at equal angles (emission angles). FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the output of the image sensor 8 in FIG. FIG. 4 is a view in which a diffuser 14 is provided in the light passing window 5 of the present invention to diffuse the external light 3. FIG. 5 shows the image sensor 15 shown in FIG.
FIG.

When illuminating with the external light 3, when the external light source 2 comes to the position shown in FIG. 2, the external light 3 becomes the direct reflected light 19 as shown in the part A of FIG. Part was saturated.

In order to solve this, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. At this time,
As shown in FIG. 5, the influence of the direct reflection of the portion A is dispersed and reduced.

FIG. 6A shows a part (left side in the drawing) of the bar code label 6 is shaded by the incident angle of the extraneous light 3. FIG. 6 (2) is a diagram showing the output of the image sensor 8 in the state of FIG. 6 (1) in a conventional wireless bar code reader having a light passing window. The broken line in FIG. 6 (2) indicates the amount of light on the barcode label. FIG.
(3) is a diagram showing an output of the image sensor 15 when a diffusion material is installed in the wireless barcode reader of the present invention. FIG. 6D is a diagram showing the light quantity on the bar code label of the auxiliary lighting means of the present invention. FIG. 6 (5) is a diagram showing an output of the image sensor when a diffusing material is installed in the wireless bar code reader of the present invention and the auxiliary lighting unit illuminates the wireless bar code reader. The broken lines in FIGS. 6 (3) and (5) indicate the light amount on the barcode label in each case.

When illuminating with external light, the conventional wireless bar code reader has a part of the bar code label 6 which is shadowed by the position of the external light source 2 as shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), the light amount on the barcode label changed suddenly, the output of the image sensor was distorted, and the barcode could not be detected accurately. On the other hand, according to the present invention, when the diffusing material 14 is provided in the light passing window 5, the light amount on the bar code label changes gradually as shown in FIG.
There is no distortion in the output of 15 and barcode detection can be performed reliably. Further, by turning on a part of the auxiliary lighting means as shown in FIG. 6 (4), the light amount on the bar code label can be made uniform as shown in FIG. Can be further increased. The auxiliary illuminator only illuminates the barcode label illuminated with extraneous light in an auxiliary manner, so that the power consumption is small.

[0028]

As described above, the wireless bar code reader of the present invention can reduce power consumption and improve reading performance by using extraneous light as illumination.

The average operating current of a wireless bar code reader using extraneous light as illumination is about 5 mA and 8 c
A mx 6 cm (48 square cm) size solar cell generates 0.56 mA of current under 1,0001 x illuminance, and the usage rate of wireless barcode readers at cash registers such as convenience stores is about 10%. Therefore, it can be used without charge under an illuminance of 1,0001x or more. This eliminates the need for a connection to an external charger and eliminates failure due to static electricity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of a wireless barcode reader according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a conventional wireless barcode reader when the angle at which extraneous light enters a barcode label (incident angle) is equal to the angle at which reflected light enters an imaging lens (emission angle).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an output of the image sensor at the time of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram in which a diffuser is provided in a light passage window in the wireless barcode reader of the present invention to disperse extraneous light.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the output of the image sensor at the time of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where a part of a barcode label is shaded by the incident angle of extraneous light (1), and the output of the image sensor 8 in the state (1) in the conventional wireless barcode reader; (2), (3) showing the output of the image sensor 15 of the wireless barcode reader of the present invention, (4) showing the light amount on the barcode label of the auxiliary lighting means, (5) shows the output of the image sensor 15 when the auxiliary bar code reader is illuminated supplementarily by the auxiliary illumination means.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional wireless bar code reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... case, 2 ... external light source, 3 ... extraneous light, 4 ...
Reading port, 5: Light passage window, 6: Bar code label,
7: imaging lens, 8: image sensor, 9: control unit, 10: high frequency generation unit, 11: antenna, 12: power storage unit, 13: connection unit, 14: diffusing material, 15: CCD image sensor with electronic shutter, 16: current control unit, 17: LED array for auxiliary lighting, 18: solar cell, 19: reflected light.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An imaging lens for imaging optical information of a bar code placed in a reading port at a predetermined position in a case having a reading port at one end, and an optical signal for transmitting the formed optical signal. An image sensor that converts the data into a signal, a control unit that decodes the electric signal and converts the data into data, a power storage unit that stores electricity to be supplied to the control unit, and an antenna that modulates data from the control unit into harmonics. A radio barcode reader comprising a high frequency generator radiating from the outside, wherein a diffusing material is provided in the vicinity of the reading port for diffusing and passing extraneous light from outside the case and illuminating the barcode. Wireless barcode reader. 2. An imaging lens for forming optical information of a bar code placed in the reading port at a predetermined position in a case having a reading port at one end, and an electric signal for forming the optical signal. An image sensor that converts the data into a signal, a control unit that decodes the electric signal and converts the data into data, a power storage unit that stores electricity to be supplied to the control unit, and an antenna that modulates data from the control unit into harmonics. A radio barcode reader comprising a high-frequency generator radiating from the radiographing device, wherein a radio cell, which generates electricity by extraneous light and supplies electricity to the power storage unit, is provided above the case. Barcode reader. 3. An imaging lens for imaging optical information of a bar code placed in the reading port at a predetermined position in a case having a reading port at one end, and electrically connecting the formed optical signal to an image. An image sensor that converts the data into a signal, a control unit that decodes the electric signal and converts the data into data, a power storage unit that stores electricity to be supplied to the control unit, and an antenna that modulates data from the control unit into harmonics. And a high frequency generator radiating from the radio bar code reader, in the vicinity of the reading port, diffuses and passes extraneous light from outside the case, and a diffusion material for illuminating the bar code; A wireless bar code reader, comprising a solar cell at an upper portion for generating electricity by external light and supplying electricity to the power storage unit. 4. An imaging lens for imaging optical information of a bar code placed in the reading port at a predetermined position in a case having a reading port at one end, and electrically connecting the formed optical signal to an image. An image sensor that converts the data into a signal, a control unit that decodes the electric signal and converts the data into data, a power storage unit that stores electricity to be supplied to the control unit, and an antenna that modulates data from the control unit into harmonics. A radio-frequency barcode reader comprising: a high-frequency generator radiating from the outside; a diffuser illuminating the barcode in the vicinity of the reading opening, for diffusing and passing extraneous light from outside the case, and the reading opening; A plurality of illumination means each of which is capable of individually adjusting a light amount in the vicinity of the wireless barcode reader. 5. An imaging lens for imaging optical information of a bar code placed in the reading port at a predetermined position in a case having a reading port at one end, and electrically connecting the formed optical signal. An image sensor that converts the data into a signal, a control unit that decodes the electric signal and converts the data into data, a power storage unit that stores electricity to be supplied to the control unit, and an antenna that modulates data from the control unit into harmonics. And a high frequency generator radiating from the radio bar code reader, in the vicinity of the reading port, diffuses and passes extraneous light from outside the case, and a diffusion material for illuminating the bar code; A wireless bar code library, comprising, at the top, a solar cell that generates electricity by external light and supplies electricity to the power storage unit, and a plurality of illumination units that can individually adjust the amount of light near the reading port. Da.