JPS6343787B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an optical reading system for barcode labels attached to each of a plurality of vertically stacked transport containers.

(Prior Art) Hereinafter, the conventional technology will be explained based on illustrative drawings. As shown in FIG. Barcode labels 6, 7 in the same position for 5
is installed. Code bars 8 and 9 displayed by the labels 6 and 7 represent the types of articles in the transport containers 1 and 2. In the previous process, the products of the types indicated by the code bars 8 and 9 are placed in the transport containers 1 and 2, and the worker manually transfers the products to the transport container 1 with the same product code.
2 are stacked in two stages and transferred onto the conveyor 10.

The two-tiered transport containers 1 and 2 are sent to the storage shelf by the conveyor 10, but on the way, the barcode labels 6 and 7 of the two-tiered transport containers 1 and 2 are removed.
is automatically read by an optical reader (hereinafter abbreviated as LCR) that scans a laser beam across the code bars 8 and 9, and confirms that the product code of each transport container 1 and 2 is the same. If they match, the two stacked transport containers 1 and 2 are transported to the storage shelf, and if they do not match, the transport containers 1 and 2 are not sent to the storage shelf but are sent to the miss line. Conventionally, the code bars 8 and 9 of the barcode labels 6 and 7 are arranged vertically as shown in FIG. Two LCR11 to read 6 and 7 separately,
12, or one LCR 13 with a beam scanning amplitude including both barcode labels 6, 7 as shown in FIG.
Scanning beam to both barcode labels 6, 7
By providing a mask 14 and driving means 15 for selectively irradiating the bar code labels 6 and 7, the bar code labels 6 and 7 can be read separately.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) The former method requires two LCRs, and the latter method requires a mast and its driving means, as well as requiring a high degree of mast stop position accuracy. However, it also had the disadvantage of high cost.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention provides a system in which barcode labels are mounted on the same side surface and in series in the vertical direction when stacked vertically. An optical reader is installed next to the transport path where multiple transport containers are transported in a stacked state, and the scanning line of the reading beam of this optical reader is It has an amplitude that can cover the barcode label on the container, and the reading beam moving in one direction does not pass continuously over the barcodes of multiple barcode labels above and below, but The reading beam of this optical reader is tilted so that it can pass through the entire area continuously, and the reading beam of this optical reader reads the barcode on the barcode label of each tier of transport containers as the stacked transport containers move. This paper proposes a barcode label reading system for stacked containers, which is characterized by reading barcode labels separately.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on FIGS. 4 to 6.
The direction in which the code bars 8 and 9 are displayed is inclined in the same direction as the direction of the conveyance as shown by the arrow 16, and a beam scanning line 17 is placed on the side of the conveyance path in the same direction as the direction of the arrangement of the code bars 16. A wide CRL 1 which is inclined in the direction and whose beam scanning amplitude 18 includes both the upper and lower barcode labels 6 and 7.
Place 9.

The inclination angle of the code bar arrangement direction 16 is set such that, as shown in FIG. 7, the extension areas of the code bars 8 and 9 in the arrangement direction do not overlap with each other, and preferably, a space 20 is created between each extension area. is set to

According to the above configuration, as the transport containers 1 and 2 move in the transport direction 5, the code bar 8 of the barcode label 6 in the lower transport container 1 first moves to the beam scanning line 17 of the LCR 19 in the illustrated example.
After that, if the code bar 9 of the bar code label 7 in the upper transport container 2 is the same
It will be scanned by the beam scanning line 17 of the LCR 19.

The code signal read by the LCR 19 is sent from the decoder section to registers 22 and 23 by a sequential feed circuit 21 shown in FIG. That is, the sequential feed circuit 21 reads the barcode label 6 read first.
The code signal of the bar code label 7 read is sent to the register 22 and stored therein, and the code signal of the read barcode label 7 is then sent to the register 23 and stored therein. The code signals stored in both registers 22 and 23 are compared by a comparison circuit 24, and a match signal 25 or a mismatch signal 26 is output. These signals 25,2
6 determines the destination of the two-tiered transport containers 1 and 2 as described above.

In addition, beam scanning line 1 of LCR19
7 scans the code bars 8 and 9 a plurality of times as the transport containers 1 and 2 move, respectively, and a code signal is output from the decoder section for each scan. When the same code signal is output, it is input to the registers 22 and 23 as a read code signal and stored. Further, the sequential feed circuit 21 operates a timer using a signal obtained when the reading of the barcode label 6 is completed (completion of reading the same code signal a specified number of times), so that the beam scanning line 17 moves to the barcode label 6.
When the time required for the barcode label to come out of the code bar area has elapsed, the reading signal of the barcode label 7 obtained from the next LCR 19 can be sent to the register 23 by switching to send the input signal to the register 23 side.

In FIG. 7, a indicates the position of the beam scanning line 17 of the LCR 19 when it has finished scanning the code bar 8 of the bar code label 6 a specified number of times, and indicates the position of the beam scanning line 17 of the LCR 19 when the code bar 8 of the bar code label 6 has been scanned a specified number of times. is the space 2 between the area of code bar 8 and the area of code bar 9 from this position a.
This is the time required for the beam scanning line 17 to reach zero, and this required time is calculated based on the moving speed of the transport containers 1 and 2 and the beam scanning speed.

In addition to the method of using a timer as described above, at least the barcode label 7 to be read later is combined with a code bar indicating "upper row" in addition to the code bar indicating the product type, and the reading signal from the LCR 19 is combined with the code bar indicating "upper row". If a code signal indicating "upper row" is input, the sequential feed circuit 21 can be switched to the register 23 side, and the read product type code signal that will be input from now on can be stored in the register 23.

In the above method, there are two types of barcode labels, one for the upper tier and one for the lower tier, and it is necessary to identify whether the containers are for the upper tier or the lower tier when stacking transport containers. A common switching signal code bar 2 is adjacent to the terminal end (terminus in the transport direction) of the product type display area 27 of Nos. 8 and 9.
When using a barcode label provided with an area 29 displaying 8, it is not necessary to distinguish between upper and lower rows, and when the LCR 19 reads the code bar 28, a switching signal is output from the decoder section. Then, based on this signal, the sequential feed circuit 21
can be automatically switched to the register 23 side.

Although the code bars 8 and 9 are formed of bars parallel to the conveyance direction 5, they can also be formed of bars perpendicular to the beam scanning direction 30, as shown in FIG. Further, both ends of each code bar may be edges perpendicular to the length direction of the code bar, or may be edges parallel to the code bar arrangement direction 16.

In the embodiment, the code bars 8 and 9 are displayed on the barcode labels 6 and 7 of the conveyance containers 1 and 2 at each stage so as to be inclined forward and backward in the conveyance direction, but this point is not an essential requirement of the present invention. That is, when displaying the code bars 8 and 9 by tilting them back and forth in the conveyance direction, the height of each stage of conveyance containers 1 and 2 is low and the barcode labels 6 and 7 approach each other in the vertical direction. This is convenient in cases such as this, or when you want to widen the width of the code bars 8 and 9. However, if the height of each stage of transport containers 1 and 2 is high and each bar code label 6 and 7 is In cases where the code bars 8 and 9 can be sufficiently spaced apart from each other or the width of the code bars 8 and 9 can be made sufficiently narrow, the code bars 8 and 9 may be displayed vertically without being inclined forward or backward in the conveyance direction. If the scanning line 17 of the reading beam is inclined as described above, the barcode labels 6 and 7 of each stage of transport containers 1 and 2 are scanned in order as the transport containers 1 and 2 move, and each bar code label is scanned in turn. Codes 8 and 9 can be read sequentially and alternatively.

(Operations and Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the barcode label reading method for stacked transport containers of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the transport containers stacked vertically contain articles of the same type. However, the greatest feature of the present invention is that when stacked vertically, a plurality of transport containers each having a barcode label attached to the side surface on the same side and in series in the vertical direction can be stacked on top of each other. An optical reader is installed next to the transport path where the containers are transported in the lower stacked state, and the scanning line of the reading beam of this optical reader covers the barcode labels of all the upper and lower stacked transport containers. In addition, the reading beam moving in one direction does not pass continuously over the barcodes of multiple barcode labels above and below, but can pass continuously over the entire area of one barcode label. The reading beam of this optical reader is used to read the barcodes on the barcode labels of each stage of transport containers separately for each stage of transport containers as the stacked transport containers move. .

That is, instead of simply reading the code bars of a barcode label with a reading beam that scans them diagonally, the code bars of a plurality of barcode labels are not connected and decoded. In order to have a plurality of barcode labels attached to the same location of a plurality of stacked transport containers separately read by one optical reader for each stage transport container, the one optical reader is used. The feature is that the reading beam of the reader is tilted as described above.

Therefore, even though barcode labels can be attached to the same position on each stage of transport containers, it is difficult to use one LCR to read the barcode labels of each transport container sequentially as the transport containers move. Moreover, it does not require a mask or its driving means as shown in FIG. 3, and can be implemented at a very low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing stacked transport containers;
Figures 2 and 3 are rear views showing a conventional general reading system, Figure 4 is a side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a rear view thereof, and Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram of the circuit. ,
FIG. 7 is a side view illustrating the relationship between the code bar and the beam scanning line, and FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams showing modified examples of the code bar. 1, 2...Transportation container, 5...Transportation direction, 6,7
...Barcode label, 8,9...Code bar,
10... Conveyor, 11 to 13, 19... Optical reader (LCR), 14... Mask, 15... Mask driving means, 16... Code bar arrangement direction, 17
... Beam scanning line, 21 ... Progressive circuit, 22, 23 ... Register, 24 ... Comparison circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. When stacked vertically, one optical reader is installed on the side of the conveyance path where multiple conveyance containers, each with barcode labels attached to them, are conveyed in a vertically stacked state on the same side and in series in the vertical direction. The scanning line of the reading beam of this optical reader has an amplitude that can cover the barcode labels of all the upper and lower stacked transport containers, and the scanning line of the reading beam moving in one direction is It is tilted so that it does not pass continuously over the barcodes of the barcode labels, but it can pass continuously over the entire area for one barcode label,
Stacked transportation characterized in that the reading beam of this optical reader reads the barcode on the barcode label of each tiered transportation container separately for each tiered transportation container as the stacked transportation container moves. Container barcode label reading method.