JP2001265309A - Portable information reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable information reader capable of displaying information in an easy-to-read state without changing the direction of the device itself. SOLUTION: The portable information reader 1 is provided with a sensor for detecting the gravitational direction g. The reader displays read information by rotating it so that the projective direction onto the display 11 of the detected gravitational direction g is vertical to the read information. In such an arrangement, not only in the case of reading a code stuck at a breast level (a) but also in the case of reading a code stuck at the foot (b), the read information is always displayed horizontally, therefore it is not necessary to change the direction of the portable information reader 1 itself every time when confirming the display contents.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a portable information reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a portable information reading device such as a bar code reader provided with a display for displaying the read contents and various information. Various information such as characters and figures are displayed on these displays.

[0003] However, the display direction on the display is fixed such that the information is easy to read when the apparatus is oriented in a predetermined direction. That is, the vertical and horizontal directions of the display are predetermined, and the information is displayed in the determined vertical and horizontal directions.

[0004] Therefore, for example, when presenting information displayed to an opponent opposing the device, it is necessary to redirect the device itself in a direction in which the opponent can easily read the information displayed on the display. Further, since such a portable information reading device can read information at various positions, the orientation of the device at the time of use is often not constant. Therefore, for example, in the orientation of the device at the time of reading, the direction of the information displayed on the display may be upside down or inclined, making it difficult to read. In such a case, after reading, the device must be turned each time so that the displayed information can be read.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information reading device capable of displaying information in a state that is easy for a user to read without changing the orientation of the device itself.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable information reading apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problems. The information is displayed while moving based on the information. Therefore, the display direction and the display position can be changed according to the degree of movement. Therefore, the information can be displayed in an easily viewable direction without moving the portable information reading device itself. Note that the “reference display state” may be a conventional normal display state. For example, in the case where the display is moved once and then moved again, the display state after the first movement is used as a reference. May be displayed.

[0007] The degree of mobility may be information stored as described in claim 2. As the movement degree, for example, the movement distance and direction may be stored in a ROM or the like in advance, or the movement degree input from an input device or the like may be stored in a RAM or the like. By doing so, the information is displayed in a state of moving based on the stored degree of movement. Therefore, the display can be performed in a state of being moved from the reference display state.

The mobility may be obtained based on information input by a user. The expression “determined based on the input information” may be the input information as it is, or may be determined by processing the input information. Specifically, for example, there is a case where a moving distance and a direction are input from input means such as a keyboard, and the distance and the direction are set as a degree of movement.

The degree of movement may be the moving distance and the direction as described above, or may be the rotation angle. That is, “movement” includes rotation. As described above, by including the rotation angle in the mobility, the information can be rotated and displayed. Therefore, there is no need to rotate the device itself to read the displayed information.

At this time, the center of rotation may be a predetermined position, for example, the center coordinates of the display means, but it is preferable that the degree of movement includes the rotation center coordinates. By doing so, it is possible to rotate and display at an arbitrary rotation center and a rotation angle according to the usage form of the user. In addition, for example, when the center coordinates are at a predetermined position, information that protrudes from the display area of the display unit when rotated can be displayed at a visible position.

According to the present invention, if an arrangement is provided in which information can be written from the touch panel to the display means, an area (margin) where information is not displayed by movement can be created on the display means. Information such as characters and figures can be written in this area.

In this way, when moving and displaying, it is possible to always move and display based on the degree of movement. However, when a movement instruction is input, as described in claim 7, For the first time, the display information may be moved and displayed based on the degree of movement. In this way, the display can be moved when the user wants to move it. For example,
Usually, the display is performed in the reference display direction, and when a movement instruction is input by pressing a key or the like, the display can be moved in the display direction based on the degree of movement and displayed. Therefore, for example, when there is a person suitable for viewing from the normal display direction and a person suitable for viewing from the moved display direction, it is possible to immediately switch to a display that is easy for each person to view by a movement instruction.

[0013] Further, as described in claim 8, it is preferable that an instruction to display in a display state before the movement is input and the display is performed in a display state before the movement. By doing so, for example, by pressing a predetermined key after the movement, the display information before the movement can be displayed. Therefore, when the input of the degree of movement is erroneously entered or when a movement instruction is input by mistake, it is possible to immediately return to the display state before the movement. If the movement is performed multiple times, the display state before the movement is
The display state may be the immediately preceding display state or the first display state.

As described above, the mobility may be input by the user. However, as described in the ninth aspect, the mobility is obtained by detecting a reference direction in the own apparatus. You may. In this way, the degree of movement can be automatically obtained without the user inputting.
For example, the direction of the user is detected as a “reference direction” by a sensor or the like, and a shift between a display state estimated to be easy to see from the detected direction of the user and a reference display state is calculated and output as a mobility. I do. With this configuration, even if the position of the user has moved, the information can be displayed on the display means in a display state in which it is always assumed that the user can easily see from the direction of the user. Therefore, the user does not need to rotate the device itself to read the displayed information, and the display is easy to read.

Preferably, the detecting means detects the direction of gravity. For example, the direction of gravity may be detected by a sensor, and the difference in angle between the projection of the direction of gravity on the display surface of the display means and the vertical direction as a reference of the display surface may be output as the mobility. In this way, for example, it is possible to always display the gravity direction as the vertical direction. Therefore, the display is always displayed in a fixed direction even if the display means is tilted, so that the display is easy to read without rotating the device itself.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It is needless to say that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following examples, and can take various forms as long as they belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a portable information reading apparatus 1 according to the embodiment. The portable information reading device 1 includes a display input unit 10, an optical unit 20, a processing unit 30, and a power supply unit 40. The display input unit 10 includes the display 1
1, keyboard 12, touch panel 13, sensor 14,
A pen 15 is provided. Further, the optical unit 20 includes an illumination 21, a lens 22, an optical sensor 23, a sensor driving circuit 24 for driving the optical sensor 23, and an illumination driving circuit 25 for driving the illumination 21. The processing unit 30 includes a microcomputer 31 that inputs and outputs information to and from each unit and performs a predetermined process;
2, a waveform shaping unit 33 and a data output unit 34 are provided. The power supply unit 40 includes a battery 41 and a power supply circuit 42, and supplies power to each unit.

The portable information reader 1 reads information recorded in the code 2 shown in FIG. 1 and displays the read information on a display 11. Further, characters and the like can be written from the touch panel 13 to the displayed display 11. Hereinafter, the reading process and the rotation process will be described. First, the microcomputer 31 shown in FIG.
To output a control signal. The illumination drive circuit 25 turns on the illumination 21 according to the control signal, and the illumination 21 irradiates the code 2. The reflected light forms an image on the optical sensor 23 by the lens 22. The optical sensor 23 photoelectrically converts the formed image and outputs the image to the waveform shaping unit 33 as an image signal. The waveform shaping unit 33 amplifies and binarizes the image signal and outputs image data to the microcomputer 31. The microcomputer 31 takes in the image data. The microcomputer 31 decodes the captured image data to obtain read information.
Then, the microcomputer 31 controls to display the read information on the display 11, and the read information is displayed on the display 11.

At this time, when the user presses a rotation key on the keyboard 12, the microcomputer 31 executes a rotation process shown in the flowchart of FIG. Prior to the rotation processing, various modes can be set from the keyboard 12. The various modes are set as follows: when the rotation key is pressed, rotation is performed at the set origin (origin fixed mode), or rotation is performed by specifying the origin (origin designation mode)
And an origin input device setting for designating whether to input the origin from the keyboard 12 (keyboard input mode) or the touch panel 13 (touch panel input mode) in the case of the origin instruction mode. In the initial setting, the mode is set to the origin fixing mode. In this embodiment, the origin corresponds to the rotation center.

The rotation process will be described below with reference to FIG. In S100, it is determined whether or not the mode is the origin instruction mode. In the case of the origin designation mode (S10
0: YES), the process proceeds to S120, and if the mode is not the origin instruction mode (S100: NO), the process proceeds to S110.

In step S110, a predetermined origin is read from the memory 32, and the read information is displayed by rotating the read information by 180 degrees about the origin. In the initial setting, the center of the display 11 is set as the origin. On the other hand, in S120, it is determined whether the current mode is the keyboard input mode. If the mode is the keyboard input mode (S120: YES), S
The flow shifts to 140, and if not in the keyboard input mode (S120: NO), the flow shifts to S130. In S130, the designated coordinates are input from the touch panel 13. That is, the touched coordinates on the touch panel 13 are input.

On the other hand, in S140, a coordinate input screen is displayed, and designated coordinates are input from the keyboard 12. Regarding the input of the coordinates, the X coordinate and the Y coordinate may be input as numerical values, or a screen for selecting the coordinates may be displayed and the user may be able to select from the screen. Then, in S150, the display is performed by rotating the designated coordinates by 180 degrees from the origin.

By such a rotation process, the display information can be rotated and displayed on the display 11. According to the above-described processing, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a particularly effective effect is exhibited in a usage mode in which a plurality of persons need to see the display 11. FIG. 3A shows an operator 71.
And the checker 72 face each other with the portable information reading device 1 interposed therebetween.
It is the figure which showed the mode that it has. 3B and 3C show the display state of the display 11, and the display state of FIG. 3B corresponds to a "reference display state".

When the operator 71 brings the portable information reading device 1 close to the code 2 (see FIG. 1) and the portable information reading device 1 reads the code 2, the display 11 displays the code 2 shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), "12345" which is read information is displayed. Here, when the operator 71 or the checker 72 presses the rotation key 12a, the display is rotated 180 degrees with the center of the display 11 being the origin as shown in FIG. You. And then,
By pressing the rotation key 12a again, it is possible to return to the original display state as shown in FIG.

If the portable information reading device 1 is set to the origin indicating mode, the process shown in FIG.
The image is rotated 180 degrees about the origin input from the touch panel 13 or the keyboard 12 and displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 3D, when a point 80 on the display 11 is touched with the pen 15 or a finger or the like, the coordinates are input as the coordinates indicated by the rotation processing. Then, the image is rotated 180 degrees with the designated coordinates as the origin, and a display as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3E, by rotating around the point 80 as the origin, the read information “1234” is obtained.
5 ”can be displayed near the center of the display 11. Further, when viewed from the side of the checker 72, the margin portion 82 can be obtained above the read information “12345”. Therefore, the checker 72 can write information such as a memo, a check result, and a signature in the margin 82 with the pen 15 or a finger.

As described above, it is possible to easily display the displayed information without rotating the portable reader 1 itself in a state where both can be read easily. Also, since the origin of rotation can be specified, the display can be moved to a position that is easy for the user to read. If the origin is designated so as to create a margin, information can be written in the margin.

Although the angle of rotation was 180 degrees, it was 9 degrees.
It may be 0 degrees. By doing so, for example, even when four people surround the portable information reading device 1 and look at the display 11, it is possible to display at a position that is easy for each person to see. Further, the angle of rotation may be any angle. The direction of rotation may be set to either clockwise or counterclockwise. These settings are made by including them in the settings of the various modes described above.
10, it can be realized by rotating in consideration of the settings of the various modes when rotating in S150 and the like.

The input of the rotation angle is performed by the keyboard 12.
Therefore, the value may be input as a numerical value such as “45 degrees” or may be input from the touch panel 13. When inputting from the touch panel 13, for example, a line connecting the predetermined origin and a point selected by touching the touch panel 13 is rotated around the origin such that the straight line is parallel to the predetermined reference line. Good to do. Note that the reference line may be fixed so as to be parallel to any one of the sides around the display 11, or may move with the rotation of the display, for example. The origin may be the center point of the display 11.

Similarly, rotation can be performed by designating two points from the touch panel 13. That is,
The first selected point is set as the origin, and the straight line connecting the origin and the second selected point is rotated so as to be parallel to the reference line. Conversely, the second selected point is set as the origin. The rotation may be performed such that a straight line connecting the origin and the first selected point is parallel to the reference line.

By doing so, it is possible to rotate at an arbitrary origin and an arbitrary rotation angle. Therefore, it is possible to rotate the display to a position where the user can easily view. Note that such rotation is performed after the rotation key 12a is pressed, but the rotation may be displayed from the beginning.

Further, when a predetermined key is pressed from the keyboard 12, the display state before the rotation may be returned. In order to return to the display state before the rotation, the rotation direction, the rotation angle and the origin are stored in the memory 32 during the rotation,
When this predetermined key is pressed, the rotation direction may be reversed at the stored origin and rotated by the rotation angle. Further, a predetermined key for returning to the initial display state may be provided, and when this key is pressed, the display may be performed in the initial display state.

It should be noted that a portion that has been input from the keyboard 12 may be input from the touch panel 13. When inputting from the touch panel 13, menus, buttons, a virtual keyboard, and the like may be displayed on the display 11. In this way, the display can be rotated and displayed by inputting a rotation instruction and its parameters from the touch panel 13 and the keyboard 12, but the display can be further rotated by taking into account various information input from the sensor 14. Is also good. With this configuration, the display is rotated according to the state detected by the sensor, so that there is no need to input a rotation instruction, a parameter, or the like.

The portable information reading apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 4 has a gyro sensor for detecting the direction of gravity (the direction indicated by g in FIG. 4) as the sensor 14 (see FIG. 1). Then, the microcomputer 31 inputs the direction of gravity from the sensor 14, and projects the direction of projection of the direction of gravity onto the display 11,
The display is rotated so as to be in the vertical direction of the display. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4A, for example, when reading the code 2 attached to the chest, as shown in FIG. 4B, even when reading the code 2 attached to the foot, The read information “12345” is always displayed horizontally. That is, unlike the related art, it is not necessary to change the direction of the portable information reading apparatus 1 each time to confirm the read information. In this case, the display 1
The rotation display may be performed with the gravity direction as the up-down direction only when 1 becomes substantially parallel to the gravity direction. Further, in the above-described example, the direction parallel to the direction of gravity is set as the vertical direction of the display. However, the information displayed on the display 11 is set by setting in advance the reference direction of the sensor 14 using the touch panel 13 or the keyboard 12. The display direction of
The read information can always be displayed in a direction in which the read information can be easily confirmed. For example, the reference direction may be set as an angle with the gravity direction.

In the above embodiment, the display 11 may be, specifically, an LCD or other display device, and the touch panel 13 may be a position input device such as a tablet. Although the power supply unit includes the power supply circuit 42 and the battery 41, power may be supplied from outside by a cable or the like. The optical sensor 23 is a one-dimensional line sensor,
Either of the two-dimensional area sensors may be used.

The information to be displayed is not limited to the read information, and various kinds of conventionally displayed information such as a menu screen and a form screen may be rotated and displayed. Then, the information may be displayed in a square pseudo area such that the display does not protrude from the display 11 when rotated at an arbitrary angle. In this way, all information can be obtained regardless of the rotation angle.

In this embodiment, the portable information reader 1 has been described as an optical information reader for reading optical information such as a code 2. However, as long as the information can be read, any type of reader can be applied. May be. For example, reading may be performed by utilizing electric or magnetic properties or other physical or chemical properties.

In this embodiment, the memory 32 and the microcomputer 31 correspond to the mobility output means.
Reference numeral 1 corresponds to a display control unit. The keyboard 12 and the touch panel 13 correspond to input means, and the rotation key 1
Reference numeral 2 corresponds to a movement instruction input unit. The above-mentioned predetermined key in the keyboard 12 corresponds to a display state restoration instruction input unit, and the sensor 14 corresponds to a detection unit. Also,
The designated coordinates and the coordinates of the origin correspond to the rotation center coordinates.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a portable information reading device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a rotation process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage example of a portable information reading device and a display on a display.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of display according to an input from a sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Portable information reading device 2 ... Code 10 ... Display input part 11 ... Display 12 ... Keyboard 12a ... Rotation key 13 ... Touch panel 14 ... Sensor 15 ... Pen 20 ... Optical part 21 ... Illumination 22 ... Lens 23 ... Optical sensor 24 sensor drive circuit 25 illumination drive circuit 30 processing unit 31 microcomputer 32 memory 34 data output unit 40 power supply unit 41 battery 42 power supply circuit 71 operator 72 checker 80 point 82 margin Department

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/107 H04N 1/04 A F term (Reference) 5B069 AA01 BA03 DD13 DD17 JA06 5B072 AA08 CC21 DD01 DD21 GG06 GG07 JJ11 LL07 LL11 LL18 MM12 5C072 AA01 BA10 PA04 PA10 RA20 5C082 AA22 AA25 AA27 BA02 BA12 BB15 CA42 CA81 CB01 CB05 DA51 MM09 MM10

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A display means for displaying information, a mobility output means for outputting a mobility of information to be displayed from a reference display state on the display means, and an output from the mobility output means. A portable information reading apparatus, comprising: a display control unit that performs control to display information on the display unit in a state where the display unit has moved from the reference display state, based on the determined degree of movement. 2. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, wherein the mobility output means stores the mobility and outputs the stored mobility. Information reading device. 3. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, further comprising an input unit for a user to input information necessary for obtaining a desired degree of movement, wherein the degree of movement is provided. The portable information reading device, wherein the output means obtains and outputs the degree of movement based on information input from the input means. 4. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, wherein the degree of movement includes a rotation angle. 5. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, wherein the degree of movement includes a rotation angle and a rotation center coordinate thereof. 6. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a touch panel on a display surface of said display means, wherein information can be written electronically on said display means by said touch panel. A portable information reading device characterized by the above-mentioned. 7. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a movement instruction input means for inputting a movement instruction, wherein said display control means moves by said movement instruction input means. A portable information reading device, wherein when an instruction is input, control is performed to move and display information based on the mobility output from the mobility output means. 8. The portable information reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display state restoring instruction input means for inputting an instruction to display in a display state before movement. The portable information reading device, wherein, when an instruction is input from the display state restoration instruction inputting means, the control means performs control to display the display state before the movement. 9. The portable information reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a detecting means for detecting a reference direction, wherein said mobility output means detects the direction detected by said detecting means. A portable information reading device, wherein the mobility is obtained and output based on a reference direction and a reference display state. 10. The portable information reading apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said detecting means detects a direction of gravity as said reference direction.