A DEVICE FOR THE AUTOMATIC READING OF BAR-CODES APPLIED ON ARTICLES

Abstract: The device as described comprises a sliding plane (2) whereon a dragging section of a conveyor belt (3), having a plu­ rality of windows consecutively aligned, is advanced. Each window defines, in the conveyor belt, two orientating edges (5a, 5b) perpendicularly arranged to form a right angle, whose ver­ tex is orientated opposite to the feed sense of the conveyor belt itself. In each opening there is dropped an article (9) provided with a bar-code (10) to be read by a read head acting at a readout station (11), towards which the dragging section of the belt is moving.Through the feed of the belt, the article is shifted toward the readout station and is simultaneously ar­ ranged with two orthogonal sides in abutment with the orien­ tating edges of the belt, in order to approach the readout station according to a prefixed orientation.

Description: The present invention relates to a device for the automatic reading of bar-codes applied on articles, of the type comprising: a sliding pane whereon the articles, each provided with at least a bar-code applied on at least one if its sides,are advanced in sequence ; and at least a read-out station wherein at least a laser beam read head is arranged to read the bar-code applied on the articles travelling on the sliding plane. As it is known,the packagings of many products are provided with the so-called "bar-codes" which allow the identification and/or the classification of the product by means of electronic equipments.These bar-codes are essentially formed by a series of parallel strips of different width which, according to the sequence they are consecutively arranged, carry particular coded informations which can be interpreted by special read units associated to the above mentioned electronic equipments. At the present time, the reading of bar-codes can be performed by means of the so-called "light pens", i.e. by photoelectric cell read units which are manually run over the bar-code. It is clear that this reading method causes a not negligible problem of requiring the use of manpower. In order to eliminate this problem, automatic reading systems have been realized wherein the products are advanced, singly and in sequence, on a sliding plane,downstream which a readout station is located. In the readout station are provided one or more laser beam read heads, alternatively one or more telecameras, effective to transmit to the aforesaid electronic equipment data detected from reading the bar-codes. Normally, to assure that bar-codes are read irrespective of their orientation at the readout station,a plurality of read heads orientated according to different directions are provided. In this way, there is assured that at least one of the beams emitted by the read heads intersects the bar-code along its whole length and transversally with respect to the strips thereof, in order to detect all the informations contained therein. However, it is to be noted that for a reliable operation of the reading system it is necessary that the dimensions of bar-codes do not decrease below certain values. This necessity gives rise to remarkable inconvenients, in case the bar-codes are to be applied on article packagings of limited sizes, and/or contain a considerable number of informations as, for instance, in the pharmaceutical sector. In the above instances the bar-code, to be read correctly, must have a very accurate orientation with respect to the beam emitted by the read head, so the automated read-out systems, as hereinbefore described, cannot perform effectively their functions. Hence, it follows that for correctly reading the bar-code having small size and/or containing a considerable number of informations, it is necessary to manually use light pens. German patent application DE-A-31.37.572 describes a device for the reading of bar-codes applied on articles lying in boxes mounted on a conveyor belt. This device is not adapted for an automatic positioning of the articles since their positioning is manually realised. European patent application EP-A-0.119.402 describes also such a device where the articles are manually handled. One edge of each article reposes on a rib and the flat surface of each article on a conveyor belt which advances in direction of a reading station. In this device, it is also not possible to obtain an automatic orientation of the articles. The main object of the present invention is to eliminate the problems of the known art through a device capable to orientate, in a very accurate manner, the articles moved towards a reading station, in order to assure the correct interpretation of the bar-code even if this latter has small sizes or contains a considerable number of informations. This object and other yet, which will become more apparent in the following description, are substantially achieved by a device for the automatic reading of bar-codes applied on articles, including: a sliding plane whereon the articles, each provided with a bar-code printed on at least one side of the article, are advanced; at least one readout station wherein at least one laser beam read head is operated to read the bar-code applied on the articles travelling along the sliding plane, this device comprising a conveyor belt having a dragging section effective to advance on the sliding plane and provided with a plurality of windows consecutively aligned along the same, each window defining, on the conveyor belt, at least two orientating edges arranged to form a right angle whose vertex is oriented opposite to the feed sense of the conveyor belt, each of the articles being prepared to be laid down on the sliding plane inside one of these windows, and to come in engagement with the conveyor belt orientating edges so as to be shifted towards the readout station and, simultaneously, oriented with two its orthogonal sides in abutment with these orientating edges, so as to approach the readout station according to a prefixed orientation. Further characteristics and advantages will be more apparent from the detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a device for the automatic reading of bar-codes applied on articles according to the present invention. Such description will be taken hereinafter in conjunction with the attached drawings, given as an indicative and therefore not limitative example,in which : figure 1 is a broken perspective and schematic view of the device according to the present invention; figure 2 is a broken perspective and schematic view partially illustrating the subject device associated to a sorting unit of the articles; figure 3 is an enlarged section illustrating a detail of the conveyor belt provided in the device of the invention. With reference to the mentioned figures and particularly to figure 1, reference numeral 1 indicates as a whole a device for the automatic reading of bar-codes applied on articles, according to the present invention. The device 1 comprises a sliding plane 2 whereon a dragging section 3a of a conveyor belt 3 is originally advanced. According to the present invention, along the conveyor belt 3 there is a plurality of windows consecutively aligned and each defining, on the belt itself, at least two orientating edges 5a, 5b perpendicularly arranged to form a right angle α (fig.2) oriented opposite to the feed direction of the dragging section 3a. In the shown embodiment, the bisecting line of angle α coincides with the longitudinal axis of conveyor belt 3. Preferably, along each of the orientating edges 5a, 5b,a plurality of sliding rollers 6, mutually placed side by side,are arranged. As clearly shown in figure 3, each roller 6 is a rotatively mounted on a pivot 7,supported in turn by a bracket 8 fixed,for instance by a rivet,on the edge 5a,5b of belt3. It has been pivoted that,while the conveyor belt 3 advances,the articles 9 are sequentially laid down on the sliding plane 2,each through one of the windows 4,each article being provided with a bar-code 10 to be read by at least a readout station 11, towards which the belt itself is moving. In the shown embodiment it is provided that each of the articles 9 is of parallelepiped configuration,of limited height,has its bar-code printed on one its larger sides 9a and is located parallel near to one its smaller sides 9b. Preferably, the discharge of single articles 9 on the sliding plane 2 occurs at a loading station 12 comprising a routing chute 13 extending according to an inclined development,descending towards its lower end 13a arranged on the belt 3.Besides, the routing chute 13 has at least at its lower end 13a,an axis substantially parallel to one of the orientating edges 5a, 5b. The articles 9 are arranged on chute 13 in a backed relationship one after the other and,by means of distributing means 14, not described since known per se' and not relevant for the invention, are singly dropped from the chute itself, each inside one of the windows 4. The readout station 11 comprises a bearing structure 11a whereon at least a laser beam read head is mounted,not described herein as known and of conventional type. In the illustrated embodiment,two upper read heads 15a, 15b have been provided at opposite sides over the conveyor belt 3 and arranged to perform the reading of bar-codes 10, each in a direction parallel to one of the orientating edges 5a, 5b. Furthermore, it can be advantageous to provide two lower read heads 16a,16b arranged beneath the sliding plane 2 and capable to perform,through a transparent portion 2a of the sliding plane itself, the reading of bar-codes in a direction respectively parallel to the orientating edges 5a, 5b,when said bar-codes are positioned on the lower surface of articles 9. In the indicatively illustrated embodiment arranged downstream the readout station 11 is a sorting unit indicated as a whole by reference numeral 17, at which the articles 9 are sorted according to a prefixed sequence,on the basis of data detected from reading the bar-codes 10 at the readout station itself. As clearly illustrated in figure 2,the sorting unit 17 may include for instance a plurality of openable portions 18, 19, 20 made out of,and reciprocally aligned along, sliding plane 2. Each of the openable portions 18, 19, 20,is swingly pivoted with respect to the sliding plane 2 and can be lowered according to what is visible in figure 2, upon command from a conventional electronic equipment,known per se', and therefore not described and illustrated, by which the readout station 11 is controlled.By lowering the openable parts 18, 19 20, the articles 9 are selectively dropped into special containers 21, 22, 23 or alternatively, on auxiliary conveyor belts or other collecting means. As previously mentioned, the operation of the device according to the invention essentially provides that, when one of the windows 4 passes beneath the lower end 13a of chute 13, the object 9 arranged at the end itself is dropped into the window. In this situation, the object 9 is laid down on the sliding plane 2, with the respective bar-code 10 which, according to circumstances, can be situated upwards, as in figure 1, or towards the sliding plane itself. In case only the upper read heads 15a,15b are used, the articles 9 arranged on the chute 13 must be preoriented with the bar-code situated upwards. As the chute 13 has its longitudinal axis substantially parallel to one of the orientating edges 5a, 5b, the article 9, laid down into the window 4, is already orientated with its sides substantially parallel to the orientating edges themselves. Through the feed motion of conveyor belt 3,the orientating edges 5a, 5b come in abutment on the corresponding sides of article 9, so that one of the article angles coincides exactly with the angle formed by the orientating edges themselves.This operation is made easier by the presence of the sliding rollers 6 disposed along the orientating edges 5a, 5b. In the situation hereinbefore described,the article 9 is so arranged that its bar-code extends in a direction exactly parallel to one of the orientating edges 5a, 5b. The article 9 is thus led to the readout station 11 always keeping the aforesaid prefixed orientation, so that its bar-code can be read, without risk of mistake,by one of the upper read heads 15a, 15b or lower ones 16a, 16b according to its positioning. Proceeding in the handling of conveyor belt 3, the article 9, got to the readout station, is subsequently pushed away from this latter in order to join the sorting station 17. In this step, the electronic equipment from which the readout station 11 is controlled, provides for selectively operating the window of the openable portions 18,19,20 in order to lay down the article 9 into one of the containers 21, 22, 23, according to data detected from the reading of bar-code 10 associated to the article itself. Naturally, the fact that a sorting station is operating downstream the readout station 11 is not bounding. The device 1 can be used also to perform the sole reading of bar-codes 10, or to selectively submit the articles 9 to operative steps different from sorting. The present invention thus achieves the prefixed objects. Indeed, we notice that the device of the present invention is capable to assure a perfect orientation of the articles in process, in order that their bar-codes can be read with an extreme reliability even in case, as often occurs in the pharmaceuticals sector, they must contain a large number of informations within very limited spaces.

Claims: A device (1) for the automatic reading of bar-codes (10) applied on articles (9), including: a sliding plane (2) whereon said articles (9), each provided with a bar-code (10) printed on at least one side of said article (9), are advanced; at least one readout station (11) wherein at least one laser beam read head (15a,15b,16a,16b) is operated to read the bar-code (10) applied on said articles (9) travelling along said sliding plane (2), the device (1) comprising a conveyor belt (3) having a dragging section (3a) effective to advance on said sliding plane (2) and provided with a plurality of windows (4) consecutively aligned along the same, each window (4) defining, on said conveyor belt (3), at least two orientating edges (5a,5b) arranged to form a right angle whose vertex is oriented opposite to the feed sense of said conveyor belt (3), each of said articles (9) being prepared to be laid down on said sliding plane (2) inside one of said windows (4), and to come in engagement with said conveyor belt (3) orientating edges (5a,5b) so as to be shifted towards said readout station (11) and, simultaneously, oriented with two its orthogonal sides in abutment with said orientating edges (5a,5b), so as to approach said readout station (11) according to a prefixed orientation. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the discharge of said articles (9) on said sliding plane (2) is performed close to at least one loading station (12) provided with at least a routing chute (13) extending according to an inclined development towards its lower end (13a), arranged over said dragging section (3a) of said conveyor belt (3), said chute (13) having at least, at its lower end (13a), an axis of developement orientated parallel to one of said orientating edges (5a,5b). A device according to claim 1, characterized in that said readout station (11) comprises at least two upper read heads (15a,15b) arranged over said conveyor belt (3), each read head (15a,15b) being arranged to read a bar-code (10) orientated parallel to one of said orientating edges (5a,5b). A device according to claim 1, characterized in that said readout station (11) comprises at least two lower read heads (16a,16b) operating beneath said sliding plane (2) and arranged to read, through a transparent portion (2a) of said sliding plane (2), a bar-code (9) orientated parallel to one of said orientating edges (5a,5b). A device according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of sliding rollers (6), each swivellingly connected to said conveyor belt (3) according to a vertical axis, are disposed along each said orientating edges (5a,5b). A device according to claim 1, characterized in that, downstream said readout station (11), is an operative sorting unit (17) which comprises a plurality of openable portions (18,19,20) made out of said sliding plane (2), each associated to respective collecting means (21,22,23) and effective to be opened selectively, as a function of data detected from the bar-codes (10) reading, so as to discharge said articles (9) into said collecting means (21,22,23).

Inventors: SCATA, MARIO, Scatà, Mario
Applicants: ALCATEL ITALIA S.P.A.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65G47
IPC codes: G06K7