JPS5851386A - Handy optical information reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read surely information of a label with easy operation, by covering the whole of a coded information label with the aperture part of a handy operation case to read its information as two-dimensional information. CONSTITUTION:Power is supplied to a handy reading tool 2, and the whole of a label 1 is covered with an aperture part 20b, and a reflected light 2b from a character train 1a (or bar code) irradiated by a lamp 23 is focused on a two- dimensional read sensor 21 through a lens 22. The output of the sensor 21 is amplified in an amplifier 4 by the clock of a reference clock generating circuit 3 and is subjected to A/D conversion in a converter 5 to be coded into binary and is inputted to a microcomputer 6, and the matching between every character of the character train 1a and standard character patterns, which are stored in a non-volatile memory of the microcomputer 6, is checked to recognize the character train 1a, and a signal 6a for driving an external device is outputted. Thus, information of the label is read accurately only by covering the label with the aperture face. A bar-code label is processed similarly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hand-held optical information reading device that reads code information such as characters, (1) numbers, and barcodes recorded on information media such as labels.

OCR (opt i-
Cal Charac-ter Recogni
-tion) uses a reading sensor of a one-dimensional or two-dimensional solid-state image sensor. In OCR using this one-dimensional solid-state imaging sensor reading sensor, firstly, it is necessary to scan in one direction to obtain two-dimensional information, and secondly, in order to store characters as one-dimensional information, A device is required to know the reading position of the one-dimensional data, and a precise scanning mechanism is required. Third, the one-dimensional data is sequentially read by scanning, so a powerful irradiation light is required during that time. There are drawbacks such as:

In addition, OCR using a reading sensor of a two-dimensional solid-state image sensor
, For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-911733, there is a manual operation type that stores character data by manually scanning a character string to form an image on a solid-state image sensor one character at a time. Since each character is read by scanning, it takes a certain amount of time to read all the characters (2). Furthermore, the images formed on the image pickup device have considerable differences in direction, image formation position, blur, etc. for each character, resulting in poor reading accuracy.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks, and allows the entire encoded information image of an information medium to be stored simultaneously by simply placing the opening of the hand-held operating case over it.
The image is formed on the reading surface of the dimensional reading sensor, and
The purpose is to convert it into an electrical signal through a reading operation using dimensional electronic scanning, and to read the encoded information with high precision.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention includes a hand-held operation case having an opening for irradiating illumination light onto an information medium and taking in the reflected light, and has a light source for the irradiation light and a light source for the information medium inside. A lens that forms an image of the code information by condensing and passing reflected light from the code information on the medium, and a two-dimensional lens that is placed at the image formation position and converts it into an electrical signal through the reading operation of two-dimensional electronic scanning. The reading sensors are housed in respective predetermined positions.

(3) An embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.
is a read data label of an information medium, on which a character string 1a of code information written in a certain format is printed. Reference numeral 2 denotes an optical information reading device that reads the character string 1a printed on the read data label 1 and outputs it as an electrical signal.It can be held by the grip 2d and manually operated freely. The reading device 2 includes, in its hand-held operation case 20, a two-dimensional reading sensor 21 of a two-dimensional solid-state image sensor that converts a code information image 2a of the entire character string imaged on its surface into an electrical signal, and a read data label 1. A two-dimensional sensor 2 reads the brightness and darkness above, that is, the strength and weakness of the reflected light.
In order to illuminate the lens 22 and the read data label 1 arranged so as to be connected to the surface of the label 1, miniature bulb lamps 23 arranged in parallel are built in. Reference numeral 20b denotes an opening formed at one end of the case 20, which defines the area of the readable data section and has a shape that allows the user to see the readable section. ) This is used to adjust the focus. In the above configuration, with the aperture 20b in contact with the read data label l, the read data label l is irradiated by the miniature bulb lamps 23 arranged in parallel, and the reflectance is determined according to the character string 1a on the read data label 1 by this luminous flux. As a result, reflected light 2b with a different light intensity distribution is generated, and this reflected light 2b forms an entire two-dimensional image of the character string 1a on the surface of the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 through the lens 22. I'm letting you do it.

Furthermore, 3 is a reference clock generation circuit that drives the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 by electronic scanning and simultaneously generates a clock signal 3a indicating the start of scanning. Reference numeral 4 denotes an amplification circuit section that amplifies the weak video signal 4a from the two-dimensional reading sensor 21. Reference numeral 5 denotes an A-D conversion circuit that converts the video signal 4b amplified by the amplifier circuit section 4 into two signals that can be connected to the micro combinator 6, and one point on the read data label l is black or It generates an output signal 5a representing white, that is, the presence or absence of a line excluding characters, expressed by two symbols. 6 is a microcomputer (5) which receives a clock signal 3a from the A/D conversion circuit 5 and the reference clock generation circuit 3, and a coordinate signal 3b of the image signal from the two-dimensional reading sensor 21, and executes a process according to a program in the microcomputer 6. , has the function of converting the character code represented by the video signal 4a of the character written in the read data section into a signal 6a for driving an external device (not shown). 7 is a lamp drive circuit that drives the lamp 23.

Next, the overall operation will be explained. When the power is turned on, the electronic circuit section becomes operational and the lamp 23 lights up.
The two-dimensional image 2a of the character string 1a formed on the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 is converted into an electrical signal synchronized with a clock signal by the two-dimensional reading sensor 21, and then sent to the amplifier circuit section 4 and the A-D converter. It is manually inputted to the microcomputer 6 through the circuit 5. Then, this binary data and 2
A binary image corresponding to the image on the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 is formed from the dimensional coordinate signal 3b on a memory (not shown) in the microcomputer 6, and is stored in advance in a non-volatile (6) memory (not shown) in the microcomputer 6. By matching each character one by one with each standard character pattern stored in the system, the characters written in the character string are recognized and the external equipment is driven. Furthermore, a bar code, that is, a coded gray pattern can also be read by forming an image on the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 in exactly the same manner.

FIG. 2 shows an example of reading a barcode lb of code information printed on a barcode label IA, which can be read by the same reading device used for OCR reading.

Next, the reading operation will be explained. FIG. 3 shows a schematic flowchart of the microcomputer 6. First, a signal is input at a signal input step 100, and a determination step 20 determines whether the input data is a barcode.
If the determination is NO, the process proceeds to an OCR reading routine 300 to execute an OCR reading operation and perform recognition processing for the character string 1a of the read data label 1.

On the other hand, the determination in the determination step 200 is YES (YES).
), the program proceeds to barcode reading routine 400 (7), executes barcode reading calculations, and performs barcode recognition processing.

Next, the above barcode reading routine 400 and OC
Detailed calculations of the R reading routine 300 will be explained. 2
The number of pixels of the dimensional reading sensor 21 is <10 as shown in FIG.
It is 24×1024 bits. FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart of the barcode reading routine 400. On the two-dimensional reading sensor 21, the barcodes are imaged in a row in the X direction. And the microcomputer 6 has
The black part on the label is ``0'' and the white part is ``1''.
The two-dimensional reading sensor 21
By counting consecutive "0"s in the X direction of the image formed at the center in the Y direction, the width of the bar is determined, and the number string is decoded to recognize the bar code.

FIG. 7 is a detailed flowchart of the OCR routine 300. As shown in FIG. 6, the character string imaged on the two-dimensional reading sensor 21 is divided into areas for each character, and each area containing character information is stored in advance (8). Matching is performed, and character recognition results are output by comparing the degrees of similarity.

Therefore, the entire image of the code information attached to the label l is simultaneously imaged on the reading surface of the two-dimensional reading sensor 21, and the detection signal from this reading sensor 21 is processed, and the barcode, character string, etc. The code information can be recognized and read by a simple operation of holding the grip 2a of the reading instrument 2 in your hand and simply placing the opening 20b on the code information.

In addition, since several concave bulb lamps arranged in parallel are used as the lamps 23, illumination can be provided with a long life and constant brightness, and even if the lamp fails, the information can be read by the illumination provided by the other three lamps. can.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the lens 22.2 in the reading instrument 2
Although the storage position of the dimensional reading sensor 21 is shown fixed, the reading sensor 2 can also be used when the size of code information is different.
It is also possible to always form a fixed-size image of the food information on the image sensor 1, and in that case, a zoom lens is used or the reading sensor 21 is used.
The configuration may be such that the relative positions of the two are changed.

Furthermore, a function may be added to change the brightness of the illumination light from the lamp 23, and the brightness of the illumination light may be controlled according to a change in the contrast of the code information.

As described above, in the present invention, code information can be read with high precision by an extremely simple manual operation of simply placing the opening of the hand-held operation case so as to enclose the entire code information of the information medium. It has excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of its usage state, FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart showing arithmetic processing of the microcomputer in FIG. 1, and FIG. The figure is an explanatory diagram of barcode reading, Figure 5 is a detailed flowchart of the barcode reading routine of Figure 3, Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram of OCR reading, and Figure 7 is a detailed flowchart of the OCR reading routine of Figure 3. be. (10) 1...Reading data label of information medium, la...Character string of code information, 2...Optical information reading device, 20...
・Hand-held operation case, 20b...opening, 21...2
Dimension reading sensor, 22...lens, 23...lamp serving as a light source, 6...micro combinator. (11) Figure 3 Figure 4 X-0, Y-Ox-IU2J Figure 7 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A light source that emits illumination light that illuminates code information on an information medium; a lens that collects and passes reflected light from the code information illuminated by the illumination light to form an image of the code information; a two-dimensional reading sensor disposed at the image formation position of the code information image and converting the code information image imaged on the reading surface into an electrical signal by a reading operation of two-dimensional electronic scanning; A hand-held optical information reading device comprising a hand-held operation case having an opening for irradiating illumination light and taking in the reflected light, and housing the light source, lens, and two-dimensional reading sensor at predetermined positions inside.