JPS5960570A - Optical reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an input operation error at the time of continuous scannint by executing information corresponding to the number of data in a memory so that quantity of a data stored in the memory or its residual quantity can be confirmed. CONSTITUTION:Light emitting diodes LED1-LEDn are provided linearly on the outside surface of a hand scanner 1 containing a light emitting element and a photodetector, a reflected ray from a bar-code is read by the scanner 1, is digitized by an A/D converting circuit 2 and is inputted to a pulse detecting circuit 3. By this circuit 3, a pulse synchronizing with fall and rise of an input square wave is detected, and an interrupt signal is inputted to a CPU5. A buffer memory 6 for storing an address of a memory M, a time counter TC and FFs I , IIare connected to this CPU5. In this state, whenever a data is written and read out to and from the memory M, LED1-LEDn are turned on or turned off through a display buffer circuit 9 and a decoder 10, so that quantity of the data of the memory M can be confirmed, by which generation of an input operation error is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical reading device for a barcode reader, which reads barcode information by, for example, irradiating a medium on which a barcode is recorded with light.

(2) Prior Art Conventionally, as data hexagonal means such as electronic cameras and registers, a price tag with an amount printed in a barcode is irradiated with light using a hand scanner that can be manually scanned, and the reflectance of the light is measured. Optical reading devices have been put into practical use that convert the difference into an electrical signal (the magnitude of current), generate data based on this signal, and store it in a memory.

(3) Problems with the Prior Art In this type of optical reading device, when barcodes are read continuously, memory overflow occurs if data is input faster than the processing capacity of the read data. This could cause the entered data to become invalid.

(4) Purpose of the Invention This invention was made in response to the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to ensure input operations during continuous scanning by providing notification according to the number of data in memory. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical reading device that can perform the following operations.

(5) Key Points of the Invention This invention has the advantage of making it possible to check, for example, the remaining capacity of the memory or the previous capacity of the memory, by making notifications according to the number of data stored in the memory. This is a summary.

(6) Example Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained based on an example shown in the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a hand scanner capable of manual scanning. The scanner 1 includes at least a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and VCn related light emitting diodes LED, .about.LEDn are arranged on its outer surface along the axial direction. Then, the hand scanner 1 converts the reflectance of light when the barcode is irradiated with light into an electrical signal, and converts it into an electrical signal.
digital] output to the conversion circuit 2. The digital signal (square wave signal) converted by this A/D conversion circuit 2 is
The signal is input to the Noculus detection circuit 3. Noyals detection circuit 3
outputs a trigger in synchronization with the rising edge and falling edge of the input rectangular wave pulse, and outputs an interwoven signal 1 to the CPU (central processing unit) 5 via an AND gate 4. ) J T I.

The CI'U3 controls various operations, and has various registers such as XXY, Z, and registers for arithmetic operations. Address section A W that stores the write address of the memo IJ M, address section AR that stores the read address of the memory)4.

Further, an address gt;Bw for storing a write address of the buffer memory 6 when data is written into and read from the buffer memory 6.

It is configured to include an address section BR that stores the read address of the buffer anomaly 6. 0PU5 is the S and R of the SR type flip-flop li'F.
A fii' control signal is outputted to each input terminal to set or reset the flip-flop FFI of the first node.

In this case, the flip-flop FFI applies its set output Q as an AND gate 4 IF-1 open/close signal, and the CPU
5 is designed to execute interrupt processing in response to interoperability. Also, apu
s outputs control signals to the S and R input terminals of the SR type flip-flop 1i'FII, respectively, to set and reset the flip-flop FF Ji.

In this case, the flip-flop FFn applies its set output Q to the AND gate door as a gate opening/closing signal. The data transfer from 汞 CH-CO is input to the CPU 5 as an interwoven signal IN'L'n via the AND gate 7, and as a result, 0 K is set to execute. still,
C! PU51, for AND gate 8 -1-IH
JR), open the AND gate 8, and input the predetermined same wave multi-channel signal t applied to the input terminal of the AND gate 8 to the time m1 count TC. . This time counter To is 1 which multiplies the multi-check signal t from the AND gate 8 by ni, and the i-1 numerical data obtained with the counting operation is stored in the CPU 5, and Clear signal CL from 0PU5 is busy - (
The contents of ffl111ij SOJ counter TC are cleared.

The time counter TG outputs a carry signal to the CPU 5 as an interwoven signal lNTl when its count value overflows.

Naive, the CPU 5 sends and receives data to and from the memory M and the buffer memory 6 so that it sends and receives data to and from the memo IJ 11 and also to and from the buffer memory 6.
are connected to each other in the phase direction. The memory M1 buffer memory 6 is constituted by a RAM (Random Access Memory) and performs write and read operations under the control of the CPU 5. Therefore, the count value data from the time counter TO is stored in the memory M, and the count value data written in the memory MK is stored in the CPU 5.
The data is decoded, converted into a predetermined format, and written into the buffer memory 6. The data written to this sofa memory 6 is transferred to 0PU5 when the data transfer request signal CO from the EcR side is input to 0PU5.
The data is then transferred to the EcR side as data DT. Note that the buffer memory 6 has n areas in the row direction, and l
The data read from the price tag of the label can be stored in one area, and each area is associated with n light emitting diodes LED, to LEDn arranged in the hand scanner 1. In this case, a light emitting diode LED,
~LEDn, the light emitting diode corresponding to the area of the buffer memory 6 into which data is stored is lit. That is, each time the CPU 5 performs an actual data pull-in or read-out operation through the buffer memory 6VcTJ, the CPU 5 detects the number of data in the buffer memory 6 and transfers numerical data corresponding to this to the display buffer circuit 9. The contents of this display buffer circuit 9 are transferred to the decoder 10.
The voltage is applied to the light emitting diodes LED through LEDn, and a trap is formed so that a predetermined diode is lit.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 to 4. First, main 7 of CPU5
0- will be explained based on FIG.

When the power is turned on, the processing of step fS is started.

In this step fS1, initialization processing is executed to clear the address section Bw for specifying the write address of the buffer memory 6, the address section BR for specifying the read address, xXy, and X registers, and the flip-flop FF17 is reset. Executes processing to disable interlaced signal INTII. Next is Stetsuno S.

Proceed to , open address designation 8, and open time counter T.
Start C's word 1 number movement. In short, the time counter To is turned on. In the next step oS8, the time counter TC1 memory M1, the address field Aw that specifies the write address of this memory M, and the address field Arti, 1 that specifies the read address are cleared, and the flip-flop FFI'' is set. , Anne 1
Dart 4 is opened and the interrupt processing of the incident signal lNTl is set to an executable state.

In this state, for example, when a price tag on which the amount of money is printed in the form of a barcode is scanned with the hand scanner 1, the number from the hand scanner 1 is input to the A/D conversion circuit 2. It is converted into a digital wound signal and input to the pulse detection circuit 3.

Then, the output of the pulse detection circuit 3 is inputted to the 0PU5 via the AND gate 4. By this, 0PU
5 executes interrupt processing for the interat signal lNTl. In other words, when the interwoven signal lNTl arrives, 0PU5 sets "1" to the contents of the address field AW.
Then, the count value data of the time counter TC is read and the area KiJ of the memo υM that is addressed according to the contents of the address section AW is written. Then, the process of clearing the contents of the time counter Tc is repeatedly executed every time the interwoven signal lNTl is input. As a result, (the count value data of the time counter To read into the 3PU5 is the time interval of the pulse at the output of the pulse detection circuit 3, in other words,
This width value data corresponds to the width value of the black and white barcode area, and this width value data is written into the area of the memory M for the 7mth time.

In this way, the width value data of the barcode is written in the memory MK, but if the barcode is not scanned, the width value data is not written in the memo 17M. Therefore, in the next step 7O83, the contents of the memory M are read out, the presence or absence of data is checked, and the process waits until the width value data is loaded into the memory M. When the memory MK7'-Y is written, the process proceeds to the next step S, where it is checked whether the contents of the X register are rnJ. In this case, the X register stores the number of data stored in the buffer memory 6, and the fact that the content of the X register is rnJ means that data has been written to the final address area of the buffer memory 6. This is the case. Therefore, when the content of the X register is "n" in step S, the buffer memory 6 is in an overflow state, so it is returned to the state fS, and the data can be reread. , if the contents of the X register are not rnJ, then
Proceed to the next step S6. Here, the flip-flop 5FFn is reset and the interwoven signal INTII is inhibited to prevent the interwoven signal INT[ from being input during the execution of the next step S8 and step S0.
Upon execution of S10, the data is written to a predetermined address area of the buffer memory 6. In other words, stets 7°
s8 is for executing processing for resetting the control flop FFI and disabling the interlaced signal NTl before loading data into the buffer memory 6. Then, in the next step S, "1" is added to the contents of the address field Bw to count up, update the write address of the pack memory 6, and designate the next address of the buffer memory 6. And the next step's...
Then, the process of omitting data into the designated address area of the buffer memory 6 is executed.

As a result, the f-event number in the buffer memory 6 increases by one, so in the next step S, t, the X register (
Execute increment processing to add D contents VCV I J. The contents of this X register will be used in the next step SI.
By executing step 2, )゛< is transferred to the display buffer circuit 9,
Light emitting diode LED, -LED through decoding 10
nK is applied. As a result, the light emitting diode “EDT-
``Among the LEDs, the light emitting diodes corresponding to the number of areas of the buffer memory 6 into which data has been written will light up.In other words, for example, if data has been written into two areas of the buffer memory 6, When it is assumed that the buffer memory 6 is loaded, only the light emitting diodes LED, , and LED2 are lit, and the storage capacity of the buffer memory 6 is displayed in a so-called integrated manner.

5; Then, proceed to step srs, set the Noritsubu flop FF[, and set it in a state where the processing of the interwoven signal INT■ can be executed, and then return to step S.
Repeat the same action.

When the processing of the interwoven signal QIN TII is set to be executable, when the data transfer request signal CO comes from the ECR side, the interrupt flow of the interwoven signal INTII shown in FIG. 3 is executed. . First, in step S21, data is read from the specified area of the buffer memory 6 that is addressed according to the contents of the address field BR, and data D is transferred from 0PU5 to E(, R side).
Send 11j as T. Next, the process proceeds to step SZt, where the area of the buffer memory 6 that stores the data that has just been sent out on the ECR side is cleared. As a result, the number of data in the buffer memory G decreases by one, so the next step 8
23 Subtract "1" from the contents of the ij and X registers,
The resulting data is transferred to the X register.

Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S4, where the contents of the X register are transferred to the display expander circuit 9, and predetermined diodes of the light emitting diodes LED1 to LEDn are turned on according to the contents of the X register. In this case, since the number of data in the buffer memory 6 decreases by one, the number of lit light emitting diodes also decreases by one accordingly.

The mouse goes to Stella fS, and the contents of the X register are "
0'', in other words, whether all the data in the buffer memory 6 has been read out is determined by W,°4. As a result, when "O", step S, ,I
The step fS, 7 of the flip-flop F performs a process of counting up the contents of the address field BR, and stores the next read address of the buffer memory 6. After that, the main flow in FIG. 2 wg;b.

On the other hand, when the carry signal is output from the time counter To, the 0PU5 executes the input process of the interrupt signal INT according to FIG.

This process is executed, for example, when the next barcode is not read even after a certain period of time has elapsed.

That is, first, step 831 detects the contents of the address field Aw, and if the contents do not correspond to the address value corresponding to the pore of one label, that is, the memo υMKI is detected.
In this process, an error occurs when the price tag data for the label is not stored. If an error occurs, the process moves to step SsK in FIG. 2, and if there is no error, the process proceeds to the next step SsK.
, proceed to 2.

In step S2, the dl and fritz 70-tube FFs are reset and the interwoven signal INTI is inhibited. Therefore, in the next step 838, the contents of the counter TO between B and '1 are cleared. Thereafter, the process returns to the main flow shown in FIG.

Nao, Sat.: In the embodiment, each time data is stored in the backup memory 6, one light emitting diode is turned on.
The light emitting diodes are turned on one by one and then turned off one by one each time data is read out to display the storage capacity of the data stored in the backup memory 6. Conversely, the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 6 may be displayed. In addition, although a plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged to display the itl'J integration, a single light emitting diode is provided, and when the remaining capacity of the pack memory 6 is exhausted, the light emitting diode is turned on. You may also do so. Furthermore, the storage capacity and remaining capacity of the printer stored (XA'ed) in the backup memory 6 may be displayed digitally.

'! k. The means of notifying the number of data in the buffer memory is by means of a buzzer.
Good too.

(Effects of the Invention) This invention not only corrects the light but also makes an intervention notification according to the number of data in the memory where the data is stored. You can check the amount of data stored each month or the remaining capacity, and prevent input operation errors during continuous scanning.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one implementation f11 of this start-up 1, and FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are flowcharts for inter-station Wiυ production. 1...Hand scanner, 5...CPU
, 6...Buffer memory, LED, ~LEDn
......Light emitting diode, TC...Time counter. Patent applicant Casio if'fi, & Co., Ltd. Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] a scanner comprising at least a built-in light-emitting display that irradiates a medium on which data is recorded and a light-receiving element that receives reflected light from the medium; a means for generating data based on a signal from the scanner; What is claimed is: 1. An optical reading device comprising: storage means for storing the data stored in the storage means; and notification means for giving notification according to the number of data stored in the storage means.