JPS6223913B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical reading device for optically reading barcodes, for example, and can be read in two or three ways as required.
This makes it easy to carry out heavy checks.

For example, when a barcode tag is attached to an item being transported on a conveyor and the barcode information is obtained using an optical reader while the item is being moved, some items may be important and the information will be double-checked. There is also. In this case, conventionally, one optical reading device had to be set at the first check point of the item being transported or moved by a conveyor, and another one had to be set at the second check point.
Costs are getting higher. In addition, it requires a large amount of space to install, and has disadvantages such as being unable to be used in areas where conveyors are crowded.

The present invention has focused on the above-mentioned drawbacks, and by making it possible to convert the scanning beam into different directions, as if one unit were to perform two functions, the installation space can be reduced and costs can be reduced because one unit can perform two functions. The purpose is to DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following, a conventional example will first be described using the drawings, and then an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Figure 1 shows a situation in which reading is performed by a conventional optical reading device, and shows a belt conveyor 1.
A tag 3 containing necessary information in the form of a bar code is affixed to an item 2 to be transported in the direction indicated by the arrow. When it is necessary to double-check the barcoded tag 3, optical reading devices 4 and 5 are installed at each of the first and second checking locations. Since two devices 4 and 5 must be installed in this way, space is required, and the need for two devices increases costs.

FIG. 2 shows a situation in which an optical reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention is used. In the figure, reference numeral 7 indicates an optical reading device 8 installed at a position equidistant from the belt conveyor 1 bent at right angles, and an optical reading device 8 has a reading window therein, and 2 indicates an item to which a barcode tag 3 is affixed.

FIG. 3 shows the inside of the reading device 8. As shown in the figure, a light beam 10 irradiated from a laser tube 9 disposed on a substrate 20 is projected onto a lens 11 for focusing by barcode reading sections A and A', and is then focused by a first mirror 18. It is refracted and hits the rotating body 12 made of a polyhedron having a plurality of mirrors on its outer peripheral surface through the hole 21a of the perforated mirror 21. The rotating body 12 turns the light beam 10 into a scanning beam, which scans the code surface of the tag 3 affixed to the item 2, as shown in FIG. Barcode information is
By the return method, the second mirror 15,
The light is detected by the light detection unit 13 via the rotating body 12, the perforated mirror 21, and the lens 14. 14 is a lens for narrowing down the reflected light and increasing the sensitivity of the detection unit 13. In order to refract the beam scanned by the rotating body 12 in different directions, the second
A mirror 15 is provided. This second mirror 1
5 is made movable, for example by an electric signal,
Assuming that it moves up and down, when the second mirror 15 is located above the path of the light beam from the rotating body 12, the light beam from the rotating body 12 continues straight and is scanned by the reading section A. , second mirror 1
When the light beam 5 is located in the path of the light beam, it is refracted by the second mirror 15 and scanned on the reading section A' side.
Since the light beams scan in different directions in this way, barcode tags at different positions can be selected and read by sending electrical signals to the second mirror drive motor 16 as necessary. I can do it. Although the second mirror 15 is shown to be vertically movable, it may also be rotatable so that the traveling direction of the light beam can be controlled by its rotation angle.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this case, by providing a third mirror 17 (represented by a two-dot chain line) whose direction differs by 90 degrees from the second mirror 15,
It has become possible to distribute the beam 10 in three directions. Therefore, reading windows 8 are required at three locations. Note that 19 is a motor for driving the rotating body 12.

As is clear from the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention is such that a light beam generated from a laser tube passes through a hole in a perforated mirror and is transmitted from a multifaceted rotating body via a second mirror rotatable by a drive motor. The light is projected onto a barcode attached to an item, and the reflected light is reflected onto a perforated mirror via a second mirror and a rotating body, and the light detection unit detects the barcode. Double checking of barcodes can be performed in a small space by rotating the second mirror, and the perforated mirror allows the projected light and barcode reflected light to be handled in the same optical path, allowing the light detection unit to be covered by one unit. , which has the effect of reducing costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a situation in which a conventional optical reading device is used for barcode reading, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a situation in which an optical reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention is used for barcode reading, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an optical reading device which is also an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing essential parts of an optical reading device which is another embodiment of the invention. 9... Laser tube, 12... Rotating body, 15... Second mirror, 16... Second mirror driving motor, 1
7...Third mirror, 18...First mirror, 21...
...Hole mirror, 21a...hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 having a laser tube that generates a light beam and a hole,
A mirror with a hole through which the light beam passes through this hole; a rotating body that converts the light beam that has passed through the hole into a scanning beam made of a polyhedron having a plurality of scanning mirrors on its outer peripheral surface; a mirror that switches the traveling direction of the scanning beam to different directions by a drive motor, and a light detection section that detects a barcode from the light reflected by the perforated mirror, and the light beam of the laser tube is connected to the rotating body, the An optical reading device characterized in that the reflected light is projected onto a barcode attached to a product via a mirror, and the reflected light is detected by the detection unit via the mirror, the rotating body, and the perforated mirror.