JPH11203398A - Bar code reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hand-scanner fixed type bar code reader capable of adjusting the position of a bar code on an article such as a card according to the position of the sensor of a hand scanner, and of being applied to plural kinds of articles whose bar code positions are different. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a cover 2, a hand scanner 4 fixed and held on the inside ceiling face of the cover 2 so that a sensor 6 for reading a bar code can be faced downward, a base 3 on which the cover 2 is mounted, an opening 19 formed at either the cover 2 or the base 3 or both of them for inserting the bar code part of an article with a bar code into the lower part of the sensor, a position-variable forward and backward guide 11 mounted on the base 3 so as to be slidable back and forth for positioning the bar code to the sensor 6, and a position-variable right and left guide 15 mounted on the base 3 so as to be slidable right and left for positioning the bar code part to the sensor 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code reader, and more particularly to a bar code reader fixed to a hand scanner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A bar code is provided on a product integrally or by bonding, and at the time of sale, the bar code is read by a bar code reader connected to a cash register. It is common practice in many stores and the like to input the "." The barcode reading device includes a device using a pen scanner and a device using a hand scanner.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a conventional bar code reader using a hand scanner. In the bar code reading device 40, the hand scanner 4 is formed in an L-shape, is connected to a cash register (not shown) by a connection cable 5, and a sensor 6 for reading a bar code is provided at the lower end of the hand scanner. . Then, the information recorded in the barcode 42 is read by the sensor 6 by tracing the barcode 42 provided on the article 41 such as a product or a card.

Conventionally, a store clerk or the like has performed a bar code reading operation using the above-described hand scanner, and has not been performed by ordinary customers. However, recently, customer-operated information provision, such as the customer's own operation to read personal information into a terminal and issue a ticket or coupon, or read a return card at a hospital or the like and issue a medical treatment card, etc. Automatic machines called terminals have become widespread, and the opportunity for ordinary people to use hand scanners has increased.

Next, a first example of a customer-operated information providing terminal will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

The customer operation type information providing terminal 51 has a display section 52 and a hand scanner 4 as a bar code reading device. The hand scanner 4 is electrically connected to a terminal device 51 by a connection cable 5 and is placed on a table 53. In this terminal device 51, the hand scanner 4 can be freely moved, so it is called a hand scanner movable type. The customer, for example, has a card 21 with a barcode.
Is read by the hand scanner 4 and the information is input to the terminal 51.

[0007] Reading a bar code with a hand scanner requires some skill. This is because there are regulations such as an appropriate relative position with respect to the surface of the barcode 22, a prescribed distance, a prescribed front / rear left / right angle, and a stationary barcode recognition time.

[0008] Apart from those who are accustomed to handling the hand scanner, such as store clerks, ordinary people are not accustomed to handling the hand scanner. There are people who do not even know to trace the code section, cannot read the barcode correctly, collide the hand scanner with nearby objects, drop it and damage it,
There was a problem that accidents such as cutting off the tires did not stop.
Therefore, a hand scanner fixed type information providing terminal has been devised.

Next, a second example of the customer operation type information providing terminal will be described with reference to FIGS.

The customer operation type information providing terminal 61 includes a display unit 62 and a cover 63 containing the hand scanner 4.
And a barcode reading device 65 including a base 64. An opening 67 for inserting a card is provided in the cover 63 or the base 64. The bar code reader 65 is called a hand scanner fixed type because the hand scanner is fixed. The customer inserts the barcode 22 of the card 21 with a barcode shown in FIG.
To enter.

As shown in FIG. 9, the hand scanner 4 is
The band 63 is fastened and fixed to the ceiling surface inside the cover 63. Below the sensor 6 is a barcode reading area 7.
Many hand scanners are made of resin in a rounded shape so that they can be easily grasped by hand, and the cover 63 and the base 64 are made of metal. Position is not fixed. Therefore, an elastic sheet such as rubber 9 is provided between the hand scanner 4 and the cover 63. A fixed depth guide 66 that regulates the depth of card insertion is attached to the base 64. The customer only needs to insert the card 21 until the card 21 comes into contact with the depth guide 66. Further, the bar code reader 65 is provided with a stay 10 to be attached to a side surface of the customer operation type information providing terminal 61.

[0012]

As described above, in the conventional bar code reading apparatus, the hand scanner 4 is fixed to a hand scanner which is protected by being surrounded by a cover 63 and a base 64. 4 can be prevented or the connection cable 5 can be cut off.

However, as shown in FIG. 7, there are two types of cards 21 and 25 having different insertion directions in the card, and the dimensions of a to h which define the positions of the barcodes 22 and 26 are different for each card. And bar codes 22, 26
Position is not constant.

Therefore, in the customer operation type information providing terminal 61 using the bar code reading device 65 as shown in FIG. 9, only a card having a fixed position of a bar code portion and a fixed insertion direction can be used, and lacks versatility. There is a problem. vice versa,
If the customer operation type information providing terminal 61 is to be made versatile, the positions and insertion directions of the barcode portions of all cards must be kept constant, which is not practical.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a hand which can adjust the position of a bar code portion provided on an article such as a card in accordance with the position of a sensor of a hand scanner, and can handle various types of articles having different bar code positions. An object of the present invention is to provide a bar code reader of a scanner fixed type.

Another object of the present invention is to automatically transfer a barcode portion to a sensor position of a hand scanner and read the barcode, regardless of the position of the barcode portion provided on an article such as a card. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hand-scanner fixed type bar code reader which does not need to regulate the position of the bar code portion.

[0017]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A barcode reader, comprising: a cover; a hand scanner fixedly held with a sensor for reading a barcode facing downward on an inner ceiling surface of the cover; a base to which the cover is attached; and a barcode. In order to insert the barcode part of the attached article below the sensor, one of the cover and the base, or an opening provided in both of them, and the base is slidably attached to the base so as to be slidable back and forth, Position-variable front / rear guide for aligning a portion with respect to the sensor; and a position-variable left / right guide which is slidably mounted on the base so as to be slidable left and right with respect to the sensor. And characterized in that:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bar code reader, comprising: a cover; and a hand scanner fixedly held on a ceiling surface inside the cover with a sensor for reading a bar code facing downward. A base to which the cover is attached, an opening provided in one or both of the cover and the base for inserting a barcode part of an article with a barcode below the sensor, and the opening. A barcode position detection sensor for detecting the position of the barcode portion of the article inserted in the X-Y table for moving the article so that the barcode portion is located below the sensor; Calculating the difference between the motor for moving the Y table and the detected position of the bar code portion and the reference position, And a controlling unit for determining a rotation amount of over data.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a bar code portion of the article with a bar code, which is provided inside the cover and the base and near the opening, is inserted below the sensor, or is inserted. And a suction / discharge roller for discharging the article from which the barcode is read.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the position-variable front-rear guide and the position-changeable front-rear guide so that the barcode portion provided on the article (for example, a card) is positioned below the sensor of the hand scanner. Since the position can be adjusted by moving the variable left and right guides, it is possible to cope with articles having different barcode positions.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the position of the bar code portion is detected by the bar code position detection sensor, and the difference between the detected position of the bar code portion and the reference position is calculated. Is determined, whereby the X-Y table is moved so that the bar code portion provided on the article is automatically positioned below the sensor of the hand scanner. Can read the bar code, and there is no need to regulate the position of the bar code portion.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a bar code portion of an article with a bar code is inserted below the sensor near the opening, or a suction / discharge roller for discharging the inserted bar code read article is provided. Therefore, the user only needs to insert the article into the opening, and can read the barcode even if the user is not accustomed to handling the hand scanner.

[0023]

Next, a specific example of an embodiment of a bar code reading apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a first embodiment of a barcode reader according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The bar code reader 1 has a cover 2
, A base 3, a hand scanner 4, a position-variable front / rear guide 11, a position-variable left / right guide 15, and the like.

The cover 2 is made of metal together with the base 3, and the cover 2 is fixed to the base 3 by screws. A sensor 6 for reading a bar code is directed downward on the ceiling surface inside the
Is fixedly held using the band 8.

Many hand scanners are made of resin in a rounded shape so that they can be easily grasped by hand.
Since the base 3 is made of metal, the position of the hand scanner 4 cannot be determined by tilting the hand scanner 4 back and forth and left and right only by tightening the base 8 with the band 8. Therefore, an elastic sheet such as rubber 9 is provided between the hand scanner 4 and the cover 2.

An article with a bar code, for example, a card 21
An opening 19 is provided in one or both of the cover 2 and the base 3 so that the position of the barcode 22 in FIG. 7 can be inserted below the sensor 6. The barcode reading area 7 is located below the sensor 6.

The base 3 has a position-variable front-rear guide 11
Is attached. In order to align the bar code 22 with the sensor 6, the position variable type front / rear guide 11 is provided with an elongated hole 12 so as to be slidable forward and backward (in a direction indicated by an arrow 14). The variable position front / rear guide 11 is fixed by passing a vault through the nut and tightening it with a nut 13.

The base 3 is further provided with a position-changeable left / right guide 15. The position-variable left / right guide 15 is provided with an elongated hole 16 so as to be slidable left and right (in the direction indicated by the arrow 18) in order to align the position of the barcode 22 (FIG. 7) with respect to the sensor 6. And
A vault is passed through the elongated hole 16 and fastened with a nut 17 to fix the position-variable left / right guide 15.
The barcode reader 1 is provided with a stay 10 to be attached to a side surface of the customer operation type information providing terminal.

Next, the operation of the bar code reader 1 will be described with reference to FIG. This operation will be described for the case where the card 21 shown in FIG. 7A is used.

When the card 21 is inserted in the direction of the arrow 23 and comes into contact with the position-variable front / rear guide 11 and the position-variable left / right guide 15, the barcode 22 is positioned in the barcode reading area 7 (FIG. 1). As described above, the position-variable left-right guide 1 is
5 is adjusted in the direction of arrow 18 and nuts 13 and 17 are tightened and fixed. This allows the customer to insert the card along the guides 11 and 15.

Next, another example of the operation of the bar code reader 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7A shows a card with a bar code.
In addition to the card 21 shown in FIG. 7, there is a card 25 shown in FIG. Since the directions of the cards 21 and 25 differ only by 90 °, the position adjustment method of the position-variable front-rear guide 11 and the position-variable left / right guide 15 is the same as that in the case of FIG.

That is, when the card 25 is inserted in the direction of the arrow 27 and comes into contact with the position-variable front / rear guide 11 and the position-variable left / right guide 15, the barcode 22 is positioned in the barcode reading area 7 (FIG. 1). So that the position-changeable front-rear guide 11 is adjusted in the direction of arrow 14 and the position-changeable left-right guide 15 is adjusted in the direction of arrow 18 so that the nut 13,
Tighten 17 to fix. And the customer has both guides 11,
The card may be inserted along the line 15.

As described above, the provision of the position-variable front / rear guide 11 and the position-variable left / right guide 15 enables adjustment according to the position of the bar code portion attached to the card. It is only necessary to unify the position of the barcode part to one standard for the operation type information providing terminal or one barcode reader, and the barcode part position of all types of cards to one standard There is no need to unify.

Next, a second embodiment of the barcode reader according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Also in the present embodiment, the cover 32 and the base 33 are provided, the hand scanner 4 is fixedly held on the inner ceiling surface of the cover 32, and the cover 32 is attached and fixed to the base 33 as in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown on the left side of FIG. 4, a space is provided by extending the cover 32 near the opening 19 and the base 33, and the suction / discharge roller 3 is provided in this space.
4 are arranged.

Under the control of the control unit 38, the suction / discharge roller 34 inserts the bar code portion of the bar-coded article (for example, a card) into the bar code reading area 7 below the sensor 6, and the bar code is read. Discharge the goods.

A bar code position detection sensor 35 is provided in the opening 19, and detects the position of the bar code portion of the article inserted in the opening 19. The control unit 38 calculates the difference between the detected barcode position and the reference position, and calculates X
-The amount of movement of the Y table 36 and the amount of rotation of the motor 37 are determined.

The motor 37 rotates by a specified amount,
The XY table 36 is moved in the X-axis direction and Y by the specified amount.
Move in the axial direction. Thus, the suction / discharge roller 34
The bar code portion is automatically sent to the bar code reading area 7, the bar code is read by the sensor 6, and the article sucked through the opening 19 is discharged from the opening 19 by the suction / discharge roller 34. You.

With the structure as in the second embodiment, the bar code position detecting sensor 35 detects the position of the bar code portion regardless of the position of the bar code portion provided on the article such as a card. Since the bar code can be automatically transferred to the bar code reading area 7 and the bar code can be read by the sensor 6, it is not necessary to uniformly control the position of the bar code portion for all models. Therefore, the position-variable front / rear guide 11 and the position-variable left / right guide 15 in the first embodiment become unnecessary.

The suction / discharge roller 34 can also be provided in the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, since the position variable type front and rear guide 11 and the position variable type left and right guide 15 are provided, the inhaled article is regulated to a predetermined position by both guides 11 and 15, and the bar code portion is formed by the bar code. It is positioned in the reading area 7.

Although the above embodiment has been described by taking a card as an example, the present invention is not limited to a card, but is applicable to all articles similar to a card.

[0044]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the position-variable front / rear guide and the position-variable left / right guide so that the bar code portion provided on the article (for example, a card) is positioned below the sensor of the hand scanner. Since the position can be adjusted by moving the guide, it is possible to provide a bar code reading device that can cope with articles having different bar code positions.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the position of the bar code portion is detected by the bar code position detecting sensor regardless of the position of the bar code portion provided on the article such as a card, and the detected bar code portion is detected. The rotation amount of the motor is determined by calculating the difference between the position of the part and the reference position, thereby moving the XY table, and the bar code provided on the article is automatically positioned below the sensor of the hand scanner. As a result, it is not necessary to regulate the position of the barcode portion, and it is possible to provide a barcode reading device that can handle various types of articles having different barcode position positions.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a bar code portion of an article with a bar code is inserted below the sensor in the vicinity of the opening, or a suction / discharge roller for discharging the inserted bar code-read article is provided. With the provision, the user need only insert the article into the opening, and it is possible to provide a bar code reader that can read a bar code even if the user is not accustomed to handling the hand scanner.

[0047]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a first embodiment of a bar code reading apparatus according to the present invention, wherein (a) is a front view and (b) is (a).
3A is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA, and FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional plan view for explaining an example of the operation of the barcode reading device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional plan view for explaining another example of the operation of the barcode reading device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the barcode reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining a barcode reading operation using a conventional hand scanner.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a first example of a conventional customer operation type information providing terminal.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an example of a conventional card with a bar code.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a second example of a conventional customer operation type information providing terminal.

9 (a) is a front view, FIG. 9 (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 9 (a), and FIG. 9 (c) is a view of the conventional bar code reader shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line DD of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 3 Barcode reader 2, 32 Cover 3, 33 Base 4 Hand scanner 5 Connection cable 6 Sensor 7 Barcode reading area 8 Band 9 Rubber 10 Stay 11 Position variable front / rear guide 15 Position variable left / right guide 16 Slot 17 Nut 19 Opening 34 Suction and discharge roller 35 Barcode position detection sensor 36 XY table 37 Motor 38 Control unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cover, a hand scanner fixedly held with a sensor for reading a bar code facing downward on an inner ceiling surface of the cover, a base to which the cover is attached, and an article with a bar code. In order to insert a barcode section below the sensor, an opening provided in one or both of the cover and the base, and an opening provided in the base so as to be slidable back and forth, A position-variable front / rear guide for positioning with respect to a sensor; and a position-variable left / right guide which is slidably mounted on the base so as to be slidable left and right with respect to the sensor. A bar code reader characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. A cover, a hand scanner fixedly held with a sensor for reading a bar code facing downward on an inner ceiling surface of the cover, a base to which the cover is attached, and a bar code attached article. An opening provided in one or both of the cover and the base for inserting a barcode part below the sensor, and a position of the barcode part of the article inserted in the opening. A bar code position detection sensor for detecting, an XY table for moving the article so that the bar code portion is located below the sensor, a motor for moving the XY table, and the detected bar A control unit that calculates a difference between the position of the code unit and the reference position, and determines a movement amount of the XY table and a rotation amount of the motor. Bar code reading apparatus characterized. 3. The bar code portion of the article provided with a bar code, which is provided inside the cover and the base and near the opening, is inserted under the sensor, or the bar code is read. 3. The bar code reader according to claim 1, further comprising a suction / discharge roller for discharging the article.