JP2001052123A - Data reader - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a data reading device that can read a barcode and an electronic tag with one scanner and can use properly according to the purpose of use. A dielectric plate (2) is laminated on a conductor ground plate (1), and an antenna element (3) for an electronic tag scanner is provided on the dielectric plate (2). , And at an angle of 45 ° with respect to the AA line passing through the center with the feeding point 5. The feeder coaxial line 6 is attached to the conductor ground plate 1 below the center, and the center conductor 6 a is connected to the antenna element 3 to form the feed point 5. A through hole 7 is provided at the upper end of the conductor ground plate 1 and the dielectric plate 2, that is, at a position outside the antenna element 3, and a laser light emitting element 8 is provided in the through hole 7. A photodiode 9 is mounted at the center of the conductor ground plate 1 and the dielectric plate 2, and a through hole 10 is formed at the center of the antenna element 3 so that light reflected from an object enters the photodiode 9. Constitute.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data reading device provided with a bar code scanner and an electronic tag reading scanner.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bar code scanner is generally used as an apparatus for reading information recorded on a price tag of a product, for example. This bar code scanner (bar code reader) uses, for example, a laser as a light source, irradiates a laser beam to a code plate on which a bar code is recorded, detects the reflected light, and reads the contents of the bar code. It is configured. The bar code scanner employs a method in which reflected light from a code plate is returned along the same path as that at the time of irradiation and guided to a photodetector. For this reason, when the code plate is irradiated with laser light from an oblique direction, the reflected light does not return along the same path, so that when reading, the code plate attached to the object and the bar code scanner are placed vertically. Must be kept. Further, the barcode scanner has problems that the reading distance is short and the amount of information is small, but there is also an advantage that a code plate can be produced at low cost.

Recently, a scanner for transmitting and receiving microwaves, and an electronic tag (unpowered) having an IC chip embedded therein have been used.
An electronic tag system which supplies power to the electronic tag from a scanner and performs data communication has been considered. In this case, when the electronic tag receives the microwave transmitted from the scanner, the electronic tag rectifies the microwave to a DC power supply, operates the IC chip with the DC power supply, reads information stored in the memory, and reads the stored information. Transmitted to the scanner by microwave.

[0004]

The above-described electronic tag system has a longer communication distance than a barcode system, and can communicate with an object even in an oblique direction.
There are advantages such as large capacity. Further, since the electronic tag system has a built-in IC chip in the electronic tag, the data content can be rewritten and reused. However, there is a problem that the electronic tag system is very expensive compared to the barcode system.

In order to effectively use the advantages of the barcode system and the electronic tag system, it is conceivable to combine the two systems and use them according to the purpose. However, in this case, there is a problem that the scanner for reading the barcode and the scanner for reading the electronic tag must be prepared separately, which is very expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and comprises a bar code reading scanner and an electronic tag reading scanner, which can be selectively used according to the purpose of use and can be constructed at low cost. It is intended to provide a device.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data reading apparatus in which a conductor grounding plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element are laminated, and a feeding point is provided at a position offset from the center of the antenna element. A scanner antenna for reading electronic tags,
A bar code reading scanner including a light emitting element and a photodiode provided at a position close to the center of the antenna and the outside of the antenna element, and on a line passing through the center of the antenna element and a feeding point, and The light emitting element or the photodiode is arranged at a position opposite to a feeding point.

A data reading apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is an electronic tag reading scanner in which a conductor ground plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element are laminated, and a feed point is provided at a position offset from the center of the antenna element. An antenna, and a bar code reading scanner including a light emitting element and a photodiode provided at the center of the antenna are provided.

A data reading apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is an electronic tag reading scanner comprising a conductor ground plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element laminated on each other, and a feed point provided at a position offset from the center of the antenna element. An antenna, a matching element provided on an outer peripheral edge of the antenna element on a line passing through the center of the antenna element and the feeding point, and opposite to the feeding point; a light emitting element and a photodiode provided at the center of the antenna And a bar code reading scanner.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a front view of an antenna device portion in a data reading apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. FIG.
And in FIG. 2, 1 is, for example, a rectangular conductor ground plate,
A dielectric plate 2 is laminated on the conductor ground plate 1. As the dielectric plate 2, for example, a PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) substrate or a glass cloth base fluororesin substrate is used. An antenna element 3 is provided on the dielectric plate 2, and circularly polarized wave generating elements 4 a and 4
b are provided so as to face each other. The above antenna element 3
For example, a circular microstrip patch antenna is used. The circular polarization generating elements 4a and 4b are:
It is formed at an angle of 45 ° with respect to a line passing through the feeding point 5 and the center. The feed point 5 is provided at a position slightly displaced from the center, for example, at a position displaced downward in the figure.

A feed coaxial line 6 is mounted on the conductor ground plate 1 at a position displaced downward from the center, for example, in the figure, and the center conductor 6a passes through the dielectric plate 2 and is connected to the antenna element 3. Connected. The connection point between the center conductor 6a and the antenna element 3 is the feed point 5. The conductor ground plate 1, the dielectric plate 2, the antenna element 3, the coaxial line 6 for feeding, and the like constitute an antenna of a scanner for reading an electronic tag.

Further, through holes 7 are provided at the upper end portions of the conductor ground plate 1 and the dielectric plate 2, that is, at positions outside the antenna element 3.
And a laser light emitting element 8 is provided in the through hole 7.
Is provided, and the laser light from the laser light emitting element 8 is applied to the outside through the through hole 7. The laser light-emitting element 8 is AA which passes through the center of the antenna
On the line, it is arranged on the opposite side of the feed point 5 and at a position sufficiently close to the antenna element 3.

A photodiode 9 is mounted at the center of the conductor ground plate 1 and the dielectric plate 2 and a through hole 10 is formed at the center of the antenna element 3 so that the laser beam reflected from the object can be reflected. From the through hole 10 to the photodiode 9
To be incident on. The laser emitting element 8 and the photodiode 9 constitute a bar code reading scanner. The antenna device configured as described above is used by being mounted on a case such as a hand scanner or a fixed scanner.

The antenna element 3, laser light emitting element 8 and photodiode 9 are connected to an electronic circuit shown in FIG. That is, the antenna element 3 is connected to the coaxial line 6.
, The data carrier device 11, the laser light emitting element 8 is connected to the automatic light output control circuit (APC circuit) 12, and the photodiode 9 is connected to the decoder 13. Further, the data carrier device 11 and the decoder 13 are connected to a processing circuit 14, and the automatic optical output control circuit 12 is connected to a driving circuit 15. The data carrier device 11 radiates an electromagnetic wave, that is, a microwave, from the antenna element 3 toward the electronic tag, receives the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the electronic tag via the antenna element 3 in response thereto, and processes the received information. Output to the circuit 14.

On the other hand, the drive circuit 15 drives the laser light emitting element 8 via the automatic light output control circuit 12, and irradiates the laser light toward the target code plate. The reflected light from the code plate is received by the photodiode 9 and
And outputs it to the processing circuit 14.

In the electronic circuit shown in FIG. 2, the data carrier device 11 for the electronic tag and the automatic optical output control circuit 12 for reading bar codes and the decoder 13 are selectively switched by switches. Is also good.

In the data reading apparatus configured as described above, a bar code system is used when data can be read using a bar code scanner. However, when reading in oblique directions, which is impossible with a barcode scanner, reading data at a position where the object cannot be read with a barcode scanner due to curvature, refraction, etc., or when a data amount that cannot be covered by a barcode is required, etc. Uses an electronic tag system.

For example, in an article transport system, when a plurality of articles are stored in a box and transported to a predetermined area,
For example, the pass box is equipped with an electronic tag that stores the entire large-capacity data such as the transportation area and the contents of the object, and each object stored in the pass box has a code plate indicating individual information. Stick it on. As a result, the data carrier device 11 can read the data from a place somewhat away from the pass-through electronic tag to know the destination or the like. And
After the pass-through box arrives at the destination, the user can take out the target object from the pass-through box and read the barcode recorded on the code plate with a barcode scanner to know the individual delivery destination of the target object. .

In the data reading device according to the present invention, the reading of the barcode and the reading of the electronic tag are realized by one scanner. Therefore, when both the barcode and the electronic tag are used as in the above-described transport system, It can be processed efficiently.

In reading data from the electronic tag, the data carrier device 11 sends the coaxial line 6
The electromagnetic wave transmitted to the feeding point 5 via the antenna resonates with the antenna element 3 and emits an electromagnetic wave having a required frequency. The resonance frequency at this time can be obtained from the relative permittivity ε of the dielectric plate 2 and the thickness of the dielectric plate 2 and the like, and the length in the direction from the center of the antenna element 3 toward the feeding point 5, ie, It is determined by the radius of the antenna element 3. When the diameter of the antenna element 3 is almost half the wavelength of the transmitted / received electromagnetic wave, the voltage (electric field) at the center of the antenna element 3 is zero,
It becomes higher toward the periphery. Since the voltage at the center of the antenna element 3 is zero as described above, even if the center of the antenna element 3 is short-circuited to the conductor ground plate 1, the electrical characteristics of the antenna are not affected. Therefore, even if the photodiode 9 is attached to the center of the antenna element 3, the electrical characteristics of the antenna are not affected. For example, dielectric plate 2
PTFE having a thickness of 1.6 mm and a relative permittivity ε of 2.5
When using (polytetrafluoroethylene) substrate,
The radius of the antenna element 3 is 21.5 mm. If the diameter of the photodiode 9 at that time is 6 mm or less, there is no effect on the electrical characteristics of the antenna.

Further, the laser light emitting element 8 is arranged on the line AA passing through the center of the antenna element 3 and the feeding point 5 on the opposite side of the feeding point 5 and at a position sufficiently close to the antenna element 3. , And acts as a matching element of the antenna, so that it is not necessary to provide a matching element.

In the above embodiment, the antenna element 3
A photodiode 9 at the center of the antenna element 3
The case where the laser light emitting element 8 is arranged close to the outer periphery of the
May be arranged in reverse. Also in this case, the same electrical characteristics as in the above embodiment can be obtained. In the above-described embodiment, the case where a circular microstrip patch antenna is used as the antenna element 3 has been described. However, the same electrical characteristics can be obtained by using a rectangular microstrip patch antenna.

(Second Embodiment) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a front view of an antenna device portion in a data reading device according to a second embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 1 and 2
In the figure, 1 is, for example, a rectangular conductor ground plate,
The embodiment shows an example in which a laser light emitting element 8 and a photodiode 9 are arranged side by side at the center of the antenna element 3. In this embodiment, since the laser light emitting element 8 is provided at the center, AA which passes through the upper part of the antenna element 3, that is, the center of the antenna element 3 and the feeding point 5.
The matching element 2 is positioned on the line opposite to the feed point 5.
1 is provided. Otherwise, the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, the same parts as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

In the second embodiment, the laser light emitting element 8
And the photodiode 9 are provided side by side at the center of the antenna element 3, so that even when the antenna device and the code plate are brought close to each other, the bar code recorded on the code plate can be reliably read. In addition, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0026]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a bar code scanner and an electronic tag scanner are provided because a laser light emitting element and a photodiode for reading a bar code are arranged for an antenna for reading an electronic tag. Can be configured as one scanner, and a new system can be constructed. In addition, the scanner can be configured at a lower cost than when a scanner for reading an electronic tag and a scanner for reading a barcode are separately prepared.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a configuration of an antenna device portion in a data reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary block diagram showing an electronic circuit according to the embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary front view showing the configuration of an antenna device in a data reading device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 conductor grounding plate 2 dielectric plate 3 antenna element 4a. 4b Circularly polarized wave generating element 5 Feed point 6 Coaxial line 6a Central conductor 7 Through hole 8 Laser light emitting element 9 Photodiode 10 Through hole 11 Data carrier device 12 Automatic optical output control circuit 13 Decoder 14 Processing circuit 15 Drive circuit 21 Matching element

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 5B058 CA15 CA40 KA40 YA01 5B072 AA00 BB10 CC06 DD01 DD10 JJ08 LL12 LL20 5J046 AA19 AB13 PA07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An antenna for a scanner for reading an electronic tag, comprising a conductor ground plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element laminated on each other, and a feed point provided at a position deviated from the center of the antenna element. A bar code reading scanner comprising a light emitting element and a photodiode provided at a position close to the outside of the antenna element,
A data reading device, wherein the light emitting element or the photodiode is arranged on a line passing through a center of the antenna element and a feeding point and on a side opposite to the feeding point. 2. An antenna for an electronic tag scanner in which a conductor ground plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element are stacked, and a feed point is provided at a position deviated from the center of the antenna element, and provided at a center of the antenna. And a bar code reading scanner comprising a light emitting element and a photodiode. 3. An antenna for an electronic tag scanner in which a conductor ground plate, a dielectric plate, and an antenna element are laminated, and a feeding point is provided at a position deviated from the center of the antenna element. A matching element provided on an outer peripheral edge of the antenna element on a line passing through the point and opposite to the feeding point; and a bar code reading scanner including a light emitting element and a photodiode provided at the center of the antenna. A data reading device, comprising: