Laser-beam bar code reader

Abstract: Bar code reader including two sources (3,4) which are enabled to emit respective laser beams with a cyclic alternation; the laser beams are focused by optical elements (5-11) on two different regions (A1,A2) of a read area. Reflected rays from the read area are processed by a decoding unit (14) operatively connected to the laser-beam sources (3,4) so that when the presence of a code in the read area is detected, only the laser beam which is focused on the region in which the bar code is present remains enabled.

Description: The present invention relates to a bar code reader which uses a laser beam. The use of a laser beam generated by a solid-state diode or by a NeHe gas tube to read bar codes is known. In order to read the bar code, the laser beam is first focused by means of an appropriate optical system and then deflected by means of a polygonal rotor fitted with mirrors, which is rotated rapidly so as to perform a periodic scanning of the region in which the bar code is located. In applications of this type, the image of the laser source in the focusing point must remain within very precise limits which are in practice set by the thickness of the bars of the code. The reading of the code would in fact be erroneous if the wavefront of the beam had such a diameter as to cover more than two bars. Moreover, if the source of the laser beam is a solid-state diode, the emitted light beam has a spherical divergent wavefront. In order to keep the diameter of the light beam within the limits which allow to decode the bar code, the use of an optical system arranged in front of the laser source, which focuses the light beam at a preset distance from the concentration lens, is known. By way of example, figure 1 schematically illustrates the method of operation of such a known focusing system. In figure 1, the reference numeral 1 indicates the laser source and the numeral 2 indicates the lens which concentrates the light beam in a point P which has a distance d from the lens. Once the point P has been passed, the light beam diverges again, so that its diameter remains within the limits required for practical use only in a rather narrow region 2s around the focusing point P. Outside the region 2s thus defined, the diameter of the laser beam is greater than the thickness of the bars of the code, and accordingly the light signal received by the reader does not allow a correct reconstruction of the alternation of the light and dark bars of the code. The narrowness of the focusing region furthermore reduces the scanning area of the laser beam, and ultimately the read area is reduced, such read area being shown by figures 2 and 3, which illustrate two read areas A1 and A2 which have an equal width at a different distance from the laser source, depending on the location of the focusing point of the laser beam. In order to expand the read area, for example to read an area equal in width to the sum of the widths of A1 and A2, solutions have already been proposed which entail movable focusing systems driven by an external sensor. These systems allow to vary the focusing point and thus adapt the optical system to the point in which the passage of the bar code occurs, so that the reading capability is thus increased in practice. However, such systems are disadvantageous for the following reasons: a) the need arises for an external sensor which detects the position of the bar code and activates the variation of the focusing point; b) a slowness in reacting to the activation of the sensor occurs, since the focusing point is changed by means of a mechanical movement, the execution whereof requires a long time; c) the possibility of error presents itself, due to an incorrect match between the placement of the bar code and the dimensions of the object on which it is applied; and, d) low reliability becomes inherent. A commodity data reading apparatus including the features recited in the preamble of claim 1 is known from EP-A-360 249. The technical aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a bar code reader which can operate on a significantly larger read area and does not have the disadvantages described above in conventional readers. This aim is achieved by a laser-beam bar code reader, according to the present invention, as defined in the appended claims. Further advantages and characteristics will become apparent from the following description on the basis of the accompanying drawings, wherein: figure 4 is a block diagram of the reader according to the present invention; figure 5 charts the time sequence of the signals at the output of some blocks; figure 6 is a view of the read area achieved by the reader according to the present invention. With reference to figure 4, the numerals 3 and 4 indicate two laser beam sources, for example constituted by solid-state diodes of the type commercially known by the code TOLD 9211 and manufactured by the Toshiba company (Japan). The beams at the output of the diodes are mutually perpendicular and are focused at different distances by respective optical assemblies 5 and 6. The beam arriving from the optical assembly 5 is sent through a semireflecting mirror 7 which is arranged at the intersection point of the beams and reflects the beam arriving from the assembly 6. The angles of incidence of the laser beams arriving from the optical assemblies 5, 6 with respect to the mirror 7 are chosen so as to generate a unidirectional beam 8 which is directed, through a hole of an optical receiver assembly 9, onto a polygonal rotor 10. The polygonal rotor 10 comprises a plurality of peripheral mirrors 11 which, by means of the rotation of the rotor 10, scan a preset read area. The beam reflected from the read area is deflected by said rotor and by the receiver assembly 9 toward an optical return system 12 and then to the input of a video amplifier 13 which provides to a microprocessor-based decoding unit 14 a signal which corresponds to the image of the area scanned by the laser beam. A rotation sensor 15 is operatively associated with the rotor 10 and provides, for each mirror 11 which passes in front of it, a signal which actuates a control device 16 which can alternately activate the power supplies 17, 18 of the two diodes 3 and 4. More precisely, the signals supplied by the sensor 15 occur in the form of pulses A which are emitted at regular intervals in the period of transition between one mirror and the subsequent one during the rotation of the rotor 10. The control device 16 alternatively activates, upon each pulse A arriving from the sensor 15, the power supplies 17, 18 of the two laser diodes 3 and 4 if the scanning of the read area has not detected the presence of a code. Vice versa, if the scanning determines the presence of a code, the control device 16 keeps active the power supply of the diode which has produced the laser beam which has identified the code. The above described reader operates as follows. If no code is present in the read area, the pulses A alternate, as mentioned, the activation of the two power supplies 17 and 18 with a frequency f = 1/T, where T is the period which elapses between two pulses. Therefore, while the power supply 17 receives a level "1" signal, with the corresponding switching on of the diode 3 for the period T, the power supply 18 receives a level "0" signal which keeps the diode 4 switched off for the same period T. The duration T1 of the pulses is used to complete the switching of the diodes, and no scanning of the read area is performed during this time. During the time T2 until the subsequent pulse A, the read area is scanned by the laser beam emitted by the diode 3, 4 which is connected to the power supply which receives, at that instant, the level "1" signal from the control device; the other power supply is blocked by the level "0" signal. In figure 5, the signal sent to the power supply 17 is indicated by B and the one sent to the power supply 18 is indicated by C. The alternation of the signals B and C is controlled by the signal D at the output of the decoding unit 14, which can assume two levels, "1" and "0", depending on whether the presence of a bar code in the read area is detected or not. From what has been described above, it is evident that the rotor 10, by means of the sensor 15, is synchronized with the power supplies 17, 18, so that each mirror of the rotor reflects onto the region to be scanned the laser beam emitted by the power supply which has received the level "1" signal at that instant. Since the laser beams emitted by the diodes 3, 4 are focused on two different areas A1 and A2 (see figure 6), the alternation in emission also produces the alternation in the scanning of the two regions A1 and A2 which compose the read area. In fact, if the scanning is performed with the mirror N1 in the instant t1, the signal B of the power supply 17 is at level "0" and therefore the diode 3 is off, whereas the signal C of the power supply is at level "1" and therefore the diode 4 is on, so that the region A2, on which the beam emitted by the diode 4 is focused, is scanned. In the instant t2, scanning is performed by the subsequent mirror N2, so that since the signals B and C are respectively at level "1" and "0", the region A1 is scanned by the beam emitted by the diode 3. The image of the scanning area is reflected in each instance by the optical assembly 9 and sent to the decoding unit 14, and when said decoding unit identifies a bar code E therein, the output signal D changes level, thus indicating, even before the code is decoded, the presence of a probable useful data item. The change in level of the signal D is interpreted by the control device 16 as a command for locking the power supplies 17, 18 in the state in which they are at that instant. For example, in figure 5, at the instant t3 the change in level from "0" to "1" of the signal D causes the locking of the signal B at level "0" and of the signal C at level "1", so that the subsequent scans are performed by the same laser beam, in this case by the beam emitted by the diode 4, which is focused in the region A2 explored thereby, where the presence of the code has been detected. At the end of decoding, or when the code is removed from the read area (instant t4), the signal D returns to level "0", restoring the alternating scan. As can be seen, the described reader perfectly achieves the intended aim. In particular, it should be noted that the cyclic scanning of the regions which compose the read area with laser beams, each of which is focused on a respective region, allows a high read probability. Furthermore, since no mechanical focusing of the laser beams on the read area is required, the read times are very short. The invention is susceptible to numerous modifications and variations being within the scope of the claims. For example, the number of laser sources can be higher than two, so as to include a larger read area. A further variated embodiment provides the driving of the power supplies on the part of an external sensor which can detect the presence of the code. In this case, the signal D is no longer necessary, since switching from one power supply to the other is controlled by the external sensor. Another possibility provides the continuous switching of the reading from region A1 to region A2, regardless of the presence of the code. In this case a simpler electronic circuitry is obtained, but half of the scans cannot be used since they are performed on an area in which the code is not present. Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the scope of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims: Laser-beam bar code reader comprising: at least two laser beam sources (3, 4); power supply means (17, 18) for enabling said sources (3, 4) to emit respective laser beams; optical focusing means (5 - 6) suitable for focusing the emitted beams, optical means (7 - 12) for directing the focused beams on read areas (A1, A2) and for directing the beams reflected from said areas (A1, A2) to processing means (14); characterized in that electric control means (16) are provided which is adapted to alternatively activate the power supply means (17, 18) to emit said laser beams periodically and with a cyclic alternation and in that each of said laser beams is focused by the optical focusing means (5 - 6) on read areas (A1, A2) defined at preset different distances from the laser-beam bar code reader along substantially the same scanning path. Laser-beam reader according to claim 1, characterized in that electronic circuit means are provided which, when the processing means (14) detect the presence of a bar code (E) in one of said read areas (A1, A2), selectively activates said electric control means (16) so as to cause them to enable only the source (3, 4) which emits the beam which is focused on said area (A1, A2) and to disable the remaining sources (3, 4). Laser-beam reader according to claim 1, characterized in that said optical means (7 - 12) is adapted to superimpose the beams emitted by said sources (3, 4) and focused at different distances from the laser-beam bar code reader, so as to generate a unidirectional beam (8). Laser-beam reader according to claim 3, characterized in that said beams are intersecting one another and in that said optical means (7 - 12) comprises a semireflecting mirror (7), arranged at the intersection point of the beams, so that one of said beams is reflected and the other one passes through the semireflecting mirror (7), the angles of incidence of said beams onto the mirror (7) being chosen so as to generate said unidirectional beam (8). Laser-beam reader according to claim 3, characterized in that said optical means (7 - 12) comprises a receiver assembly (9) provided with a hole through which said unidirectional beam (8) is guided, a poligonal rotor (10) being arranged after said receiver assembly (9) for deflecting said unidirectional beam (8) onto one of said read areas (A1, A2) so as to perform the scanning thereof. Laser-beam reader according to claim 5, characterized in that said receiver assembly (9) is adapted to direct the beam reflected from said read areas (A1, A2) towards a video amplifier (13) which is suitable for providing a signal which corresponds to the image of the scanned area to a unit (14) for decoding said signal. Laser-beam reader according to claim 6, characterized in that said electric control means (16) is controlled by said decoding unit (14) and by a rotation sensor (15) operatively associated with the rotor (10), so that when the decoding unit (14) does not detect the presence of a bar code (E) in the read areas (A1, A2), the electric control means (16) is enabled by the rotation sensor (15) so as to alternatively activate the laser beam sources (3, 4) and thus alternatively scan the read areas (A1, A2), whereas when the decoding unit (14) detects the presence of a bar code (E) in the read areas (A1, A2), the electric control means (16) enables only the source (3, 4) of the laser beam which is focused on the read area (A1, A2) in which the bar code (E) is present. Laser-beam reader according to claim 1, characterized in that said laser beam sources (3, 4) comprise a solid-state diode. Laser-beam reader according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises an external sensor adapted to detect the presence of a bar code (E) on an object so as to activate the source (3, 4) of the laser beam which is focused on the read area (A1, A2) where the bar code (E) is present for the entire time during which the object remains within the read area (A1, A2).

Inventors: MAZZONE CLAUDIO, STANZANI GIUSEPPE, MAZZONE, CLAUDIO, STANZANI, GIUSEPPE
Applicants: DATALOGIC SPA, DATALOGIC S.P.A.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: G06K7
IPC codes: G06K7