JPS599334Y2 - optical reader - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an optical reading device that optically reads barcodes, characters, etc. using a hand scanner.

Nowadays, supermarkets, department stores, etc. handle an extremely large variety of products, so in order to understand the sales and inventory status of each product and decide on order quantities, information related to each product at the point of sale, For example, information such as price, product type, supplier, etc. is required.

However, it is not appropriate to input such information by key operations of conventional cash registers because the increased amount of input data causes input errors, operator fatigue, and increased input time.

Therefore, hand scanners that optically read barcodes or characters written on product price tags, etc., are installed at POS (point of sale) in supermarkets and department stores.
es) used in systems and others.

For example, as shown in Figure 1, a light source such as a lamp, a lens system,
Hold the hand scanner 1 with a built-in photoelectric conversion element etc. in the hand 6, read the barcode or characters such as the price and product type written on the price tag 2 etc. by moving it in the direction of the arrow 3, and send the read information to the cable 4. The information is input to the terminal device 5 via the .

However, in the case of the conventional optical reading device as described above, the light source such as a lamp built into the hand scanner 1 is always turned on with a constant amount of light emitted after the power is turned on.
In other words, even when the information written on the price tag 2 etc. is not being read, the light is lit with the same amount of light as when reading that information, so deterioration progresses quickly and the service life of the hand scanner 1 is shortened. There was a drawback.

The present invention is a new invention that improves the conventional drawbacks as described above, and its purpose is to easily and reliably reduce the amount of light emitted from the light source of a hand scanner when information written on price tags etc. is not being read. The aim is to provide a means of

Examples will be described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in the figure, a hand scanner 11 includes a lamp 11 as a light source.
A, a lens 11b, a photoelectric conversion element 11C, and a means for controlling the amount of light emitted from the lamp 11a based on the output of the photoelectric conversion element 11C, which will be described later, are built in.

A hand scanner 1 having such a lamp 11a etc.
1, when reading information written on a price tag or the like, the device is held in the hand as explained in FIG. 1 and the information is read.

However, when you are not doing the work of reading that information,
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a hand scanner 11 is placed on a mounting table 12.

That is, this mounting table 12 can place the scanning section 11 d of the hand scanner 11 housed in the container 12 a, and also has a reflector with a high reflectance on the part facing the scanning section 11 d of the hand scanner 11. Since it has the surface 12b,
If the hand scanner 11 is placed as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lamp 11 a of the hand scanner 11
When the light of
1 d and the photoelectric conversion element 11 via the lens 1 l b.
While the light is being received at C.

At that time, the output of the photoelectric conversion element 11C becomes larger than before the hand scanner 11 is placed on the mounting table 12, so
The output of the photoelectric conversion element 11C causes the lamp 11a to
A means for controlling the amount of light emitted from the lamp 11a is operated to reduce the amount of light emitted from the lamp 11a.

In the above, in order to form the reflective surface 12 with a high reflectance on the mounting table 12, for example, a mirror, a magnesium oxide plate, etc. can be used.

Note that 13 is a terminal device, and 14 is a cable that connects the terminal device 13 and the hand scanner 11.

Further, as a means for controlling the light amount of the lamp 11a of the hand scanner 11, for example, a circuit configuration shown in FIG. 4 can be adopted.

In the figure, 11e indicates a lamp 11 between both terminals of power supply E.
This is a light amount controller connected in series with the light amount controller 11e, and the resistance value of the light amount controller 11e is changed in accordance with a control signal from the level detection circuit 11f.

That is, when the hand scanner 11 is placed on the mounting table 12, most of the light from the lamp 11H is reflected by the reflective surface 12b and enters the photoelectric conversion element 11C.
The output of the photoelectric conversion element 11C reaches a level exceeding a desired constant value, and this output. Level detector 11 f
is detected and controlled to increase the resistance value of the optical controller 11e.

Therefore, the amount of light from the lamp 11a is reduced compared to during the reading operation.

Furthermore, when reading information by holding the hand scanner 11 in hand, the amount of light incident on the photoelectric conversion element 11C decreases and its output level decreases, so the level detector 11
f is controlled to reduce the resistance value of the optical controller 11e.

As a result, the amount of light emitted from the lamp 11a increases, information such as a bar code is read, and the charging conversion element 11
The output of C is converted into a binary signal corresponding to information by a binarization circuit 11g.

In this case, the reflectance of the paper on which the barcode etc. are written is smaller than the reflectance of the reflective surface 12b of the mounting table 12, so that the output of the charging conversion element 11C is obtained which is higher than the level detected by the level detector 11f. Therefore, during the reading operation, no control is performed to reduce the amount of light emitted from the lamp 11a.

As explained above, the present invention reduces the amount of light emitted from the light source of the hand scanner when the hand scanner is not being held in the hand and reading information such as barcodes or characters written on price tags, etc. A hand scanner that has a means for controlling the amount of light emitted by a light source using a charging conversion element, and a mounting table that has a reflective surface with a high reflectance, so that the hand scanner is placed on the mounting table. That is, when the hand scanner is not in use, the amount of light from the light source of the hand scanner can be reduced.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the progress of deterioration of the light source can be slowed down, and the service life of the hand scanner can therefore be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a hand scanner in use, FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a hand scanner being placed on a mounting table. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the stand, FIG. 3 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating means for controlling the amount of light emitted from the light source.・11 is a hand scanner, 11a is a lamp,
11 b is a lens, 11 C is a charging conversion element, 11 d
12 is a scanning unit, 12 is a mounting table, 12a is a container, and 12b is a reflective surface with high reflectance.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A hand scanner having a built-in light source and a photoelectric conversion element, and having means for controlling the amount of light emitted from the light source by the output of the charging conversion element, and on which the hand scanner can be mounted;
An optical reading device comprising a mounting table having a reflective surface with a high reflectance that reflects light projected from the light source.