JPH06162247A - Two-dimensional code read bar code reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize the two-dimensional code read bar code reader, and to reduce its cost by using a linear image sensor. CONSTITUTION:This bar code reader is constituted by providing a projecting part 2 for irradiating a two-dimensional code label 1 with light, a photodetecting lens 4 for condensing a reflected light on a bar code of an irradiation light and forming an image, a linear image sensor 5 for converting image information subjected to image information by the photodetecting lens 4 to an electric signal, a signal processing circuit 7 for processing the electric signal detecting bar width information of the bar code, a microprocessor 8 for fetching an output of the signal processing circuit 7, and reading successively at every one stage the information in the horizontal direction of a two-dimensional code, a memory 9 for storing read information of the two-dimensional code of the microprocessor 8, and an indicator 10 for displaying a fact that the microprocessor 8 is executing a two-dimensional code read processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a two-dimensional code reading bar code reader using a linear image sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Bar codes are used for inputting individual information of articles such as prices and specifications to a computer. That is, a bar code reader for reading a one-dimensional bar code as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-198175 is well known. However, in recent years, there has been a demand for increasing the amount of individual information input to a computer, and as shown in FIG.
The two-dimensional code as shown in (1) has been developed and is becoming popular.

A conventional two-dimensional code reading bar code reader will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the video camera 11 that captures the image of the two-dimensional code label 1, the image memory 12 that stores the image signal of the video camera 11, and the contents of the image memory 12 are processed to obtain the bar code information. It consisted of a personal computer 13 for reading.

[0004]

However, since the video camera 11 is used to read the two-dimensional bar code in the above-mentioned conventional structure, the reader is large and expensive.

The present invention solves such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a small-sized and low-priced bar code reader for reading a two-dimensional code.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a light projecting portion for irradiating a bar code with light and an image formed by condensing reflected light of the irradiation light on the bar code. A light receiving lens, a linear image sensor for converting image information formed by the light receiving lens into an electric signal, a signal processing circuit for processing the electric signal and detecting bar width information of a bar code, and the signal processing circuit output Of the two-dimensional code, which sequentially reads the information in the horizontal direction of the two-dimensional code, a memory for storing the read information of the two-dimensional code of the microprocessor, and the microprocessor instructing the two-dimensional code to be read by the microprocessor. The display device is configured to display that the reading process is being performed.

In the reading process of the microprocessor, means for detecting information on the number of steps in the read code, means for detecting the amount of information of the entire read code, and the read information in the memory based on the information on the number of detected steps. And a means for comparing the detected information amount and the stored information amount in the memory, and when the comparison result matches, the reading process is completed, and after a lapse of a predetermined time, the information amount and If the amounts of information stored in the memories do not match, the reading of the two-dimensional code is interrupted and the processing is terminated.

[0008]

According to the present invention, it is possible to construct a reader capable of reading a two-dimensional bar code by using the linear image sensor and inexpensive peripheral parts without using a video camera or the like in the above configuration.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Will be described with reference to.

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the two-dimensional code label 1 has a bar code having information in the horizontal direction and a bar code having information in the vertical direction.
With the CODE 16K labels that are stacked, the light projecting portion 2 that irradiates the two-dimensional code label 1 with light, and the light reflected from the two-dimensional code label 1 are refracted by the reflection mirror 3 toward the light receiving lens 4 to form an image thereof. Linear image sensor 5
It forms an image on the top and converts it into an electrical signal. The circuit unit 6 is a circuit for processing the output signal of the linear image sensor 5 and reading the bar code. As shown in FIG. 1B, the circuit unit 6 processes the output of the linear image sensor 5 and outputs the two-dimensional code label 1
Signal processing circuit 7 for detecting the bar width information of the two, a microprocessor 8 for reading the two-dimensional code label 1 by taking in the output of the signal processing circuit 7, and a microprocessor 8
And a display 10 for displaying that the microprocessor 8 is reading the two-dimensional code label 1 according to an instruction from the microprocessor 8. In this embodiment, the display 10 has LE
D was used.

FIG. 2 shows the operation of the bar code reader when reading the two-dimensional code label 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the bar code reader is aligned with the upper end margin part or the lower end margin part of the two-dimensional code label 1, and the bar code reader is operated in the arrow direction so that the information of each stage of the two-dimensional code label 1 can be sequentially read. To do. When operated as shown in Figure 2,
The linear image sensor 5 shown in FIG. 1A sequentially outputs the image information of each stage, and the image information passes from the input port of the microprocessor 8 to the microprocessor 8 through the signal processing circuit 7 shown in FIG. 1B. It is captured. The microprocessor 8 reads the two-dimensional code label 1 as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The reading process of the microprocessor 8 will be described below with reference to the flowchart. After the power is turned on, the microprocessor 8 sets the time of the # 1 timer and then repeats the processes # 2, # 3, and # 4 until the information for one stage of the two-dimensional code label 1 is read. The process # 2 is a process of checking the end of the set time of the timer and starts at # 6 when the reading of one stage of the two-dimensional bar code becomes possible. # 3 is a process for loading bar width information from the signal processing circuit 7, and # 4 is a process for reading one stage of a two-dimensional bar code. When one-step reading is possible, if the timer is counting in # 5, the display 10 indicating that the two-dimensional barcode is being read is turned on. If the timer has not started, the timer is started in # 6 and the display 10 is turned on in # 7. Processes # 8, # 9, and # 10 are processes for storing the read information in the memory 9. The CODE 16K has the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and is composed of the start codes S1, S2, ... And the stop codes E1, E2 ,.
Second stage, ... Represents stage number information. The first character S in the first row represents the total information amount (total number of rows) of the label. D
, 1 are data characters, and C1 and C2 are check digits for checking the correctness of reading.
In process # 8, stage number information is detected from the read start code and stop code for one stage, and the number of read information and read stage number information is stored in the memory 9 based on the stage number information detected in process # 9. In the process # 10, if the information stored in the memory 9 is the first stage information, the total information amount S of the read code is detected and stored in the memory 9. FIG. 5 shows information stored in the memory 9. The information detected in process # 9 is
As shown in FIG. 5A, information (data) is stored in the area corresponding to the detected step, and the stored information amount m is stored. In process # 10, as shown in FIG. 5B, the total information amount (number of steps) M of the read code is stored. Process # 11 checks whether or not all the stage number information of the two-dimensional code label 1 has been read. When all stage number information is read (when M = m in FIG. 5), # 1
The check digit calculation process is performed in 2, the read information transmission process is performed in # 13, and the display is turned off in # 14 to complete the read process. In the check digit calculation process of # 12, if the read data and the check digit calculation result do not match, the read data is not transmitted and the process is interrupted and ended. If all the codes have not been read, the process # 2 is performed until the timer time is up in the process # 2.
Repeat # 11. If the timer time is up, #
At 15, the display is turned off, the process is interrupted, and the process ends. In this embodiment, the timer setting time is 500 ms. Figure 6
Shows an example of the storage state of the memory 9 when the four-stage code in FIG. 7 is read, and shows the state in which only the third-stage code cannot be read. In this state, NO is obtained in process # 11, and the reading of the code in the third row is repeated until the timer is updated in process # 2. When the code in the third row becomes readable, the reading process is completed. While the reading process is being repeated, the barcode reader repeats scanning on the two-dimensional code label 1 as shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, after the reading process is completed or the interruption is completed, the process is repeated from the start in FIG.

In the present embodiment, the case of reading the CODE 16K is shown, but the same processing can be performed even when reading the CODE 49.

[0013]

As is apparent from the above description of the embodiments, the bar code reader for reading a two-dimensional code according to the present invention reads a two-dimensional bar code using a linear image sensor, and thus is small and inexpensive. Can be

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a bar code reader for reading a two-dimensional code according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a block diagram of the same circuit section.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the same two-dimensional code reading operation.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a microprocessor process of the same.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the information structure of a CODE 16K label.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing stored information corresponding to a detected stage in the memory of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing the total information amount of the read code.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing stored information corresponding to a stage detected from the CODE 16K label of the present invention, and FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the total amount of information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a CODE 16K label.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view showing the configuration of a conventional two-dimensional code reading bar code reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Two-dimensional code label 2 Light emitting unit 4 Light receiving lens 5 Linear image sensor 7 Signal processing circuit 8 Microprocessor 9 Memory 10 Display

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A light projecting unit for irradiating a bar code with light, a light receiving lens for converging and forming an image of the reflected light of the irradiation light on the bar code, and image information formed by the light receiving lens. A linear image sensor for converting into an electric signal, a signal processing circuit for processing the electric signal to detect bar width information of a bar code, and a signal processing circuit output taking in the lateral information of the two-dimensional code sequentially for each stage. A microprocessor for reading, a memory for storing information for reading the two-dimensional code of the microprocessor, and a display for displaying that the microprocessor is in the process of reading the two-dimensional code according to an instruction from the microprocessor. Bar code reader for reading dimension codes. 2. The microprocessor reading process according to claim 1, wherein the reading number information in the read code is detected, the information amount of the entire reading code is detected, and the memory is stored in the memory based on the detected reading number information. A means for storing the read information and a means for comparing the detected information amount and the stored information amount in the memory are provided, and when the comparison result matches, the reading process is completed, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, the A two-dimensional code reading bar code reader that interrupts the reading of the two-dimensional code and terminates the processing when the amount of information does not match the amount of information stored in the memory.