Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-29
2003-03-04
Pitts, Harold I. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S454000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06527185
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reading apparatus, and, in particular, to an information reading apparatus for reading information such as a bar code provided on a label.
Recently, the number and type of goods having bar code labels provided thereon have significantly increased. The bar codes are used for goods classification, selection, pricing and accounting when goods are sold, and so forth, and are typically read by optical reading devices such as a portable type, a stationary type, and a combination portable/stationary type. For combination portable/stationary type readers, it is necessary that the readers have configurations which can easily be held in the hand of a user, and effectively used in a stationary condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bar-code reading apparatuses for reading bar codes include contact type and non-contact type. Non-contact type bar-code reading apparatuses are typically of the laser type. Laser type bar-code reading apparatuses emit laser scanning light to bar codes, and then detect light reflected by the bar codes and thus read the bar codes. Laser type bar-code reading apparatuses can be portable, stationary, and combination portable/stationary type. Combination portable/stationary type will be discussed below.
FIG. 9
shows a perspective view of a prior art combination portable/stationary scanner in a stationary condition. This hand scanner
11
includes a hand-holding portion
12
and a reading portion
13
. A cable
14
extends from the rear end of the hand-holding portion
12
and is connected to a point-of-sale (POS) system (not shown, but which could include cash registers, computers, terminals, etc.). Within the hand-holding portion
12
and reading portion
13
, a reflected-light detecting mechanism is provided. Laser light emitted by a laser diode is provided to scanning means such as a polygon mirror, and the scanning means causes the laser light to scan in a plurality of directions, and thus the laser light is externally emitted through a reading window of the reading portion
13
as scanning light
15
.
When scanning light
15
is incident on a bar code, the light is reflected by the bar code, passes through the reading window of the reading portion
13
, and is incident on a photodiode in the reading portion
13
. The light incident on the photodiode is converted into an electric signal therethrough. This electric signal based upon the bar code is processed by a CPU and then is supplied to the above-mentioned POS system. The bar code has an alternating arrangement of bar portions and space portions, which arrangement is standardized by UPC (Universal Product Code), EAN (European Article Code), JAN (Japan Article Number (code)) or a similar code protocol.
In situations where the hand scanner
11
is used in a stationary condition, a stand
16
is used. In the stand
16
, a supporting portion
18
is vertically fixed on a reading table
17
. A placement portion
19
is formed on the top of the supporting portion
18
, and the hand-holding portion
12
of the hand scanner
11
is placed on the placement portion
19
. An operator faces the stand
16
. When the hand scanner
11
is placed on the stand as shown in
FIG. 9
, the laser scanning light is emitted toward the reading table
17
from the reading window of the reading portion
13
.
FIGS. 10A and 10B
illustrates situations in which the hand scanner
11
is used.
FIG. 10A
illustrates a case in which the hand scanner
11
is used in a condition in which the hand scanner
11
is placed on the stand
16
. In this case, as shown in the figure, the laser scanning light
15
is emitted in a direction to the side of an operator
20
from the reading portion
13
of the hand scanner
11
. The operator
20
holds a label
21
, or an article having the label
21
provided thereon, on which a bar code
21
a
is provided, and causes the label
21
to block the laser scanning light
15
in a condition where the surface of the label
21
having the bar code
21
a
provided thereon faces the reading portion
13
. Thereby, the bar code
21
a
reflects the laser scanning light
15
, the reflected light is incident into the reading portion
13
, and thus the reflected light is used in the reading portion
13
to read the bar code
21
a.
FIG. 10B
illustrates a situation where the operator
20
holds the hand scanner
11
by his or her hand. In this situation, the operator
20
holds the hand-holding portion
12
, aims the reading window of the reading portion
13
at the bar code
21
a
portion of the label (article)
21
, and causes the reading portion to emit the laser scanning light.
FIGS. 11A and 11B
illustrate a hand scanner having another configuration in the prior art. Hand scanner
22
is a stationary one. The hand scanner
22
has a box-shaped enclosure
22
a
and can be simply set on a reading table
23
by itself without needing a stand such as the abovementioned stand
16
. Further, the hand scanner
22
has a width which is set to be small enough that operator
20
can hold it by his or her single hand. As shown in
FIG. 11B
, the hand scanner
22
has a reading window
22
b
at one side wall thereof. Laser scanning light
24
is emitted in a direction of that side, as shown in
FIG. 11B
, through the reading window
22
b.
When using the hand scanner
22
, as shown in
FIG. 11A
, the operator
20
positions the bar code
21
a
portion of the label or article
21
at a position such that the laser scanning light
24
emitted by the scanner
22
which is set on the reading table
23
is incident on the bar code
21
a
portion. The bar code
21
a
can therefore be read.
FIG. 11B
illustrates a situation where the enclosure
22
a
of scanner
22
is held by the operator
20
in a state in which the reading window
22
b
faces externally. In this case, the laser scanning light
24
emitted from the reading window
22
b
is caused to be incident on the bar code
21
a
portion of the label or article
21
. The bar code
21
a
is thereby read.
Referring to the configuration shown in
FIG. 10A
, when the hand scanner
11
is used in a stationary condition, the reading window of the reading portion
13
is positioned in the direction of the operator
20
, while the hand-holding portion
12
is positioned at a position farther from the operator
20
. In a situation where the operator
20
then desires to hold the hand-holding portion
12
by hand to use the hand scanner
11
in a hand-held condition such as that shown in
FIG. 10B
, the operator
20
must pass the hand scanner
11
from one hand to the other in order to change the orientation of the hand scanner
11
. Thereby, the operator
20
can use the hand scanner
11
in the situation shown in FIG.
10
B. In fact, as shown in
FIGS. 10A and 10B
, the orientations of the hand scanner
11
are reverse to one another with respect to the spatial relationship with the operator
20
. Otherwise, the operator
20
needs to extend his or her hand to the back side of the hand scanner
11
and directly hold the hand-holding portion
12
so as to change the orientation of the hand scanner
11
. A similar difficulty occurs with scanner
22
shown in
FIGS. 11A and 11B
. When using the scanner
22
in the hand-held condition after using the same in the stationary condition, the operator
20
either needs to pass the scanner
22
from one hand to the other or needs to extends his or her hand to the back side of the scanner
22
, hold it directly, and thereby change the orientation of the scanner
22
. Due to these configurations, the hand scanners
11
and
22
in the prior art are troublesome when used as hand held scanners. Further, the cable
14
extending from the rear end of the hand-holding portion
12
is also troublesome when the operator
20
holds the hand-holding portion
12
, because the cable
14
prevents the operator
20
from freely holding the hand-holding portion
12
and also from freely moving the hand scanner
11
.
The present invention has been deve
Ishii Mitsuharu
Katoh Hiroaki
Kumagai Toshimitsu
Takashima Yuichirou
Arent Fox Kintner & Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC
Fujitsu Limited
Pitts Harold I.
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