Registers – Coded record sensors – Particular sensor structure
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-26
2002-02-05
Lee, Michael G. (Department: 2876)
Registers
Coded record sensors
Particular sensor structure
C235S462010, C235S462070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06343742
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bar code reader and a bar code reading method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as represented by POS systems in distributors, the management of goods or the like is generally performed by bar codes. For example, in a POS system of stores and shops, information such as the type and price of an item of goods is coded into the format of a bar code, and the bar code is printed on the goods. Thereafter, checkout is performed by reading the bar code on a cash register, and the number of sold goods are counted on real time. The number of sold goods is totaled, which is useful for stock control and purchase control.
In general, when a bar code is to be read on a cash register, as shown in
FIG. 14
, a bar code reader
100
is arranged on a counter
102
of a register
101
. The reader
100
has an emission window
103
for emitting a laser beam for scanning a bar code. Each emission window
103
is arranged to face an operator S of the reader
100
. On the entrance side of the counter
102
, i.e., on the right of the emission window
103
, a shopping basket X in which a shopper puts the goods is placed. Then, the operator S takes the goods out of the basket X one by one, and passes it in front of the reader
100
, and places the goods into a basket Y. At this time, the operator S moves a bar code attached to each item toward the emission window
103
. At this time, a laser beam emitted from the emission window
103
scans the bar code, its reflected light is detected by the reader
100
, a bar code data based on the reflected light is demodulated, and the demodulation result (e.g., the price of an item) is displayed on a display device
107
.
However, the reader
100
described above has the following problems. Namely, when an item of goods taken out of the basket X is a breakable thing, e.g., eggs or tofu, the bar code of the goods is read by the reader
100
once, and, for example, the goods may be temporarily placed between the basket X and the basket Y on the counter
102
(called “temporary placed”) (see an item of goods
108
in FIG.
14
). Thereafter, as shown in
FIG. 15
, the temporarily placed goods
108
is stacked on a unbreakable goods contained in the basket Y by the operator S. At this time, the goods
108
is set within the scanning range of the laser beam emitted from each emission window
103
, and the bar code of the goods
108
may be read again.
The positions at the baskets X and Y are placed are close to the reader
100
, a part of the basket X or the basket Y may be set within the scanning range of the laser beam. In this case, the reader
100
may read the bar code of an item of goods which is contained in the basket X or the basket Y (to be referred to as “basket reading”). In this manner, the same bar code are read twice, the sum total of the prices of the goods may be erroneously calculated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bar code reader and a bar code reading method which can prevent the same bar code from being read twice.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention adopts the following configuration to solve the above problems. More specifically, a first aspect of the present invention is a bar code reader. The bar code reader includes: a bar code data detection section for scanning a bar code to detect bar code data; a demodulation data generation section for generating a demodulation bar code data including data of the entire bar code from the bar code data detected by the bar code data detection section; a storage section for storing a plurality of demodulation bar code data generated by the demodulation data generation section; a clocking section for, when the demodulation bar code data is stored in the storage section, every demodulation bar code data, starting clocking of permission time in which the appropriateness of the same demodulation bar code data as the corresponding demodulation bar code data is recognized and of prohibition time in which the appropriateness of the same demodulation bar code data as the corresponding demodulation bar code data is rejected and which is ended after a lapse of the permission time; an area determination section for, when the demodulation bar code data is generated by the demodulation data generation section, specifying the demodulation bar code data as an object to be processed and for determining in which any one of a first area and a second area the demodulation bar code data to be processed is obtained when a scanning range of the bar code is divided by two with respect to a vertical surface; a detection section for, when it is determined by the area determining section that the demodulation bar code data to be processed is obtained in the first area, detecting from the storage section the same demodulation bar code data as the demodulation bar code data to be processed; and a determining section for, when the clocking of the permission time corresponding to the demodulation bar code data detected by the detection section is ended but the clocking of the prohibition time is not ended, determining the demodulation bar code data to be processed as inappropriate demodulation bar code data.
According to the first aspect, when the object to be processed is the same as the demodulation bar code data stored in the storage section, after the permission time of the demodulation bar code data is ended and before the prohibition time is ended, the demodulation bar code data to be processed is regarded as obtained by reading a bar code of temporary placed goods, and the appropriateness of the bar code data is rejected. In this manner, the same bar code can be prevented from being read twice.
A second aspect of the present invention is specified such that the determining section according to the first aspect determines the demodulation bar code data to be processed as appropriate demodulation bar code data when clocking of permission time corresponding to the demodulation bar code data detected by the detection section is not ended.
A third aspect of the present invention is specified such that the determining section according to the first aspect determines the demodulation bar code data to be processed as appropriate demodulation bar code data when it is determined by the area determining section that the demodulation bar code data to be processed is obtained in the second area.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is specified such that the bar code reader according to the first aspect further includes a character length detection section for detecting a character length of the demodulation bar code data to be processed when the demodulation bar code data is constituted by one bar code data obtained by one scanning operation, and an allowable value storage section for storing an allowable value of the character length of the demodulation bar code data, and wherein the determining section determines the demodulation bar code data to be processed as appropriate demodulation bar code data only when the character length detected by the character length detection section is less than the allowable value stored in the allowable value storage section.
A fifth aspect of the present invention is specified such that the bar code reader according to the first aspect further includes a basic character length detection section for, when the demodulation bar code data is constituted by a plurality of bar code data obtained by a plurality of scanning operations, detecting a basic character length which is a bar width per character of each bar code data constituting the demodulated bar code data, and a second determining section for determining the demodulation bar code data as inappropriate demodulation bar code data when the basic character lengths detected by the basic character length detection section do not satisfy a predetermined correlation between the character lengths.
A sixth aspect of the present invention is specified such that the demodulation bar code data according to the fifth aspe
Itoh Motohiko
Iwaguchi Isao
Kawai Hiroaki
Watanabe Mitsuo
Fujitsu Limited
Kim Ahshik
Lee Michael G.
LandOfFree
Bar code reader and bar code reading method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Bar code reader and bar code reading method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Bar code reader and bar code reading method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2940500