JP2003341144A - Barcode printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] It is not necessary to use a seal-shaped recording medium regardless of the light reflectance of the printing surface of the recording medium, and furthermore, it is possible to prevent bar code reading errors and reduce ink consumption. The present invention provides a barcode printing device capable of achieving both of the above. SOLUTION: A print head unit 26 for selectively printing white ink and black ink, a reflectance sensor 25 for measuring light reflectance of a printing surface of a recording medium, and a reflectance value measured by the reflectance sensor 25 And a reflectance comparison processing unit that compares the level of the recording medium with the reference reflectance value. When the reflectance comparison processing unit determines that the light reflectance of the printing surface is higher than the reference reflectance value, the printing surface of the recording medium is removed. As a space portion, printing the bar portion with black ink, when the reflectance comparison processing unit determines that the light reflectance of the printing surface is lower than the reference reflectance value, the printing surface of the recording medium is a bar portion, The printing of the space part is performed with white ink.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code printing device for printing a bar code image representing a bar code.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A bar code is constructed by combining a plurality of pairs of a bar portion having a low reflectance and a space portion having a high reflectance, and various information is provided depending on the size ratio of the bar portion and the space portion and the difference in the repeating pattern. It is something to display. Recognition of the printed bar code is performed using a bar code reader.

The bar code reader reads the light reflectance of the printed surface on which the bar code is printed, detects the pattern of the bar portion and the space portion from the difference in the read reflectance, and the pattern is registered with the prescribed pattern information. It is done by comparing and collating with.

[0004]

The printing of the bar code includes the indirect printing method of printing the bar code on the sticky recording medium and the direct printing method of directly printing on the product or the like. In the indirect printing method, since the background color of the sticker-like recording medium can be freely selected, the background color with a high light reflectance or the background color with a low light reflectance is selected in advance to print either the bar portion or the space portion. By doing so, a barcode having a sufficient difference in light reflectance can be printed.

However, in the printing of the bar code, it is necessary to use a sticker type recording medium and to attach the sticker type recording medium to a product, etc., and the cost is high.
Further, the sticking work of the sticky recording medium is complicated.

The direct printing method does not require a sticky recording medium because it is printed directly on a product or the like, and it is not necessary to attach the sticky recording medium. However, since the ground color of the recording medium is not specified, the bar portion is not specified. When printing either one of the space portions, there was a possibility that a reading error would occur without sufficient difference in light reflectance. In order to prevent such a reading error, it is possible to print both the bar portion and the space portion, but there is a problem that the ink consumption increases when both are printed.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is not necessary to use a sticky recording medium regardless of the light reflectance of the printing surface of the recording medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a barcode printing apparatus that can both prevent barcode reading errors and reduce ink consumption.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print head portion for selectively printing a high reflectance color ink and a low reflectance color ink, and a light reflectance of a print surface of a recording medium. The reflectance sensor to be measured and the reflectance comparison processing unit that compares the level of the reflectance value measured by this reflectance sensor with the reference reflectance value. When it is determined to be higher than the reflectance value, the printing surface of the recording medium is used as a space portion and the bar portion is printed with color ink of low reflectance, and the light reflectance of the printing surface is determined by the reflectance comparison processing unit as a reference. When it is determined that the value is lower than the reflectance value, the printing surface of the recording medium is used as the bar portion, and the space portion is printed with the color ink having the high reflectance.

In this bar code printing apparatus, the print head unit prints only one of the bar portion and the space portion in accordance with the light reflectance of the print surface of the recording medium, and the printing is performed with the background color of the print surface. Since the color ink having a sufficient difference in light reflectance is used, a sufficient difference in light reflectance can be obtained between the bar portion and the space portion.

A second aspect of the present invention is the bar code printer according to the first aspect, wherein the reflectance sensor is mounted on a carriage that is movable together with the print head portion, It is characterized in that it is arranged on the front end side in the printing movement direction.

In this bar code printer, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the invention, the light reflectance of the area itself where the print head section applies ink is measured.

A third aspect of the present invention is the bar code printer according to the first aspect, wherein the low reflectance color ink is black ink and the high reflectance color ink is white ink. Characterize.

In this bar code printing apparatus, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the invention, the difference in light reflectance between the bar portion and the space portion becomes the largest value.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the barcode printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the print head is an ink jet head.

In addition to the operation of the invention of claim 1, the bar code printer can operate without directly contacting the recording medium even if the recording surface of the recording medium has some irregularities, so that proper bar code printing can be performed. It is possible.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the bar code printer according to the first aspect, a main body unit having a display panel portion and an input key portion, and the reflectance sensor and the print head separated from the main body unit. And a separation unit having a section.

In this bar code printing apparatus, in addition to the operation of the first aspect of the invention, the separation unit having the reflectance sensor and the print head section becomes compact.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 11 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bar code printer, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a split unit viewed from the bottom side, and FIG. 3B is a schematic perspective view of another specific example of the reflectance sensor, FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram of reflectance of various light rays, and FIG. 5A is a bottom side of the print head. FIG. 5B is a perspective view seen from the plane side of the print head, FIG.
6A is a bar code pattern diagram, FIG. 6B is a bar code character configuration diagram, FIG. 7 is a circuit block diagram on the main body unit side, FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram on the separation unit side, and FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the first half of the barcode printing operation, FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the second half of the barcode printing operation, and FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a state in which the barcode is printed on the cardboard box.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bar code printer 1
Is composed of a main body unit 2 and a separation unit 4 connected to the main body unit 2 via a signal cable 3. The main body unit 2 has a display panel section 5 composed of a liquid crystal device and an input key section 6 having a large number of operation keys, and these are used to perform data input, function selection, confirmation of information and the like. It has become. For example, in print mode, enter the memory number of the barcode to be printed,
A print start or the like is input, and in the setting mode, bar code record information is input, a reference reflectance value is registered, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the separation unit 4 has a casing 10 whose bottom side is opened, and inside this casing 10, a carriage guide shaft 11 and a ball screw 12 are arranged in parallel with each other. Has been done. Carriage guide shaft 11
A carriage 13 is slidably supported on the ball screw 12, and a fixed nut portion (not shown) of the carriage 13 is screwed into the ball screw 12. The carriage 13 is guided by the carriage guide shaft 11 by the rotation of the ball screw 12 and is rotated in the normal direction. It is provided so as to be movable in the sub-scanning directions A and B.
The ball screw 12 is rotated by the carriage driving means 14.

The carriage driving means 14 includes a pulse motor 15, a first gear 16 fixed to the rotation shaft of the pulse motor 15, and a second gear 1 meshing with the first gear 16.
7 and the third gear 1 fixed coaxially with the second gear 17.
8 and a fourth gear 19 meshing with the third gear 18 and fixed to the ball screw 12.

A home blocking plate 20 and a limit blocking plate 21 are provided on the carriage 13 so as to project therefrom.
Is detected by the home position sensor 22, the home position of the carriage 13 is detected. The limit position sensor 23 detects the limit blocking plate 21 to detect the limit position of the carriage 13. The home position is a standby position for printing start, and the limit position is an emergency stop position when the carriage 13 runs out of control.

The reflectance sensor 2 is attached to the carriage 13.
5 and the print head unit 26 are mounted, and the reflectance sensor 25 is arranged closer to the front end side than the print head unit 26 in the printing movement direction (sub scanning direction A). Reflectance sensor 25
Is arranged with the bottom surface side of the housing 10 as a light reflectance detection surface, and the print head portion 26 is arranged with the bottom surface side of the housing 10 as a printing surface.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the reflectance sensor 2
Reference numeral 5 denotes a light source LED 27 for irradiating the printing surface 65a of the recording medium with an infrared wavelength or a red visible light wavelength, a condenser lens 28 for condensing the reflected light of this irradiation light, and a condenser lens 28 for collecting the light. A CCD image sensor 29 that takes in the emitted light is provided. CCD image sensor 29
The captured analog waveform data is shown in FIG.
In the D conversion circuit unit 57, multivalued digital data (for example, 8
Bit) and use this data as the light reflectance level.

Another specific example of the reflectance sensor 25 will be described with reference to FIG. The reflectance sensor 25A includes a semiconductor laser 3 that emits a visible light laser having a wavelength of 650 nm.
0 and the light from the semiconductor laser 30 is applied to the printing surface 6 of the recording medium.
The galvano-mirror 31 that sequentially scans 5a and the light-receiving element 32 that takes in the reflected light from the printing surface 65a are provided. The light receiving element 32 sets the level according to the amount of received light as an output voltage value, and this voltage value is A / D conversion circuit unit 57 shown in FIG.
Is converted into multilevel digital data (for example, 8 bits), and this data is used as the light reflectance level.

The light emitted from the reflectance sensor 25 has the same characteristics as those used in a bar code reader (not shown), and the reflectance changes depending on the color of the printing surface 65a of the recording medium. As shown in FIG. 4, when the color of the printing surface (reflection surface) 65a is purple, blue, and green, the reflectance is low, and when the colors are yellow, orange, and red, the reflectance is high.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the print head section 26 is an ink jet head, and the white ink ejecting section 3 for ejecting white ink which is a color ink of high reflectance.
3a, a black ink ejecting portion 34a for ejecting black ink which is a low-reflectance color ink, and each of these ink ejecting portions 33.
It is composed of two ink tanks 33b and 34b for storing the respective inks to be supplied to a and 34a.

Next, a bar code for printing by the print head unit 26 will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), the bar code used in this embodiment is of a one-dimensional bar code type called "ITF-14", which is a collective package of corrugated cardboard or the like. It is often used to display the product code of the contents on the outer surface. It is composed of 14-digit characters, and the character can be an integer value of "0" to "9", and one character consists of five bar portions or space portions. The width of the bar portion and the space portion has a narrow “narrow width” and a thick “wide width”. By combining five bar portions having these two kinds of widths or by combining five space portions, it is possible to select an arbitrary width. Form a pattern of characters. The ratio of "narrow width" to "wide width" is
It is generally in the range of 1: 2 to 3. In addition, the bar code reader is used to identify the bar part or the space part as shown in FIG.
The light reflectance is measured in the same manner as in (a) and (b), and pattern recognition of the measured reflectance is performed.

Next, the main body unit 2 and the separation unit 4
Each circuit block will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, the circuit system on the main body unit 2 side includes the display panel section 5 and the input key section 6 described above.
ROM 40 and RAM 41, registration information storage memory 42 for storing registration information such as barcode numbers corresponding to memory numbers, and barcode format information storage memory 43 for storing barcode format information corresponding to each barcode number.
And a reference reflectance storage memory 44 for storing a reference reflectance value (for example, a numerical value corresponding to a reflectance of 50%), and a reflectance A / D conversion for temporarily storing the measured reflectance A / D conversion value. A value storage memory 45 and a print barcode data storage memory 46 for storing barcode data to be printed.
A print color data storage memory 47 that stores color data (white or black) to be printed, a print barcode data creation processing unit 48 that creates barcode data to be printed, a reference reflectance value and a measured reflectance value. Reflectance comparison processing unit 4 for comparing
9, a print color determination processing unit 50 for determining a print color (white or black), a print driver 51, and an interface circuit unit 52 for exchanging data with the separation unit 4 side.
And a CPU 53 that integrally controls the circuit system on the side of the main body unit 2 and the circuit system on the side of the separation unit 4 described below.

As shown in FIG. 8, the circuit system on the separation unit 4 side has a print head section 26, a white ink discharge control circuit section 54 for controlling discharge of white and black ink of the print head section 26, and a black ink discharge. A control circuit unit 55, a reflectance sensor 25, a sensor drive circuit unit 56 for controlling driving of the reflectance sensor 25, an A / D conversion circuit unit 57 for A / D converting the output of the reflectance sensor 25, Home position sensor 22, sensor drive circuit unit 58 for driving this home position sensor 22, limit position sensor 23, and sensor drive circuit unit 59 for driving this limit position sensor
A mounted ink detection sensor section 60 for detecting whether or not the two ink tanks 33b, 34b are mounted (empty), a sensor drive circuit section 61 for driving the mounted ink detection sensor 60, and a pulse motor 15,
It has a pulse motor drive circuit section 62 for driving the pulse motor 15 and an interface circuit section 63 for exchanging data with the main unit 2.

Next, the operation of printing a predetermined bar code on the cardboard box 65 by the bar code printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

First, as shown in FIG. 11, the worker carries the bar code printer 1 in the physical distribution inventory area in which the cardboard box 65 as a recording medium is stored.

Next, the operator inputs the memory number in which the information to be printed on the cardboard box 65 is registered in advance through the input key unit 6 (step S1). Then, the registration information of the bar code corresponding to the input memory number is read from the registration information storage memory 42, and this information is displayed on the display panel unit 5. The operator confirms whether or not the registration information displayed on the display panel unit 5 matches the contents of the product stored in the corrugated cardboard box 65, and if they match, the operator is informed by the input key unit 6. Input (Step S
2).

Next, the operator brings the bottom surface of the separation unit 4 into close contact with the printing surface 65a of the cardboard box 65 (step S
3) Then, a print start instruction is input from the input key unit 6 (step S4). Then, the pulse motor 15 inside the separation unit 4 starts driving, the ball screw 12 rotates, and the reflectance sensor 25 and the print head unit 26 move in the sub-scanning direction A.
To move to (step S5). Reflectance sensor 25
Measures the reflectance while moving in the sub-scanning direction A (step S6), and the measured reflectance is converted to digital data by the A / D conversion circuit unit 57 and then transferred to the main unit 2 side. Reflectance A / D conversion value storage memory 4
It is once stored in step 5 (steps S7 and S8).

In the reflectance comparison processing section 49, the reflectance A / D
The measured reflectance value in the converted value storage memory 45 is compared with the reference reflectance value in the reference reflectance storage memory 44 (step S
9), it is determined whether the light reflectance of the printing surface 65a is higher or lower than the reference reflectance value. The comparison result is output to the print color determination processing unit 50 and the print barcode data creation processing unit 48. In the print color determination processing unit 50 and the print barcode data creation processing unit 48, when the reflectance comparison processing unit 49 determines that the light reflectance of the printing surface is higher than the reference reflectance value, the printing surface 65a of the corrugated cardboard 65 is displayed. When it is determined that the bar portion is to be printed with the black ink as the printing color with the space portion and the reflectance comparison processing unit 49 determines that the light reflectance of the printing surface 65a of the corrugated board 65 is lower than the reference reflectance value. It is determined that the printing surface 65a of the corrugated board 65 is used as a bar portion and the printing color is printed in the space portion with white ink, and these data are temporarily stored in the print color data storage memory 47 or the print barcode data storage memory 46. Save to. Then, ink is ejected based on the data stored in the storage memories 47 and 46 (step S).
10, S11).

When all printing of the bar code is completed (step S12), the step motor 15 is reversely driven to move the reflectance sensor 25 and the print head portion 26 in the sub scanning direction B (step S13). Then, the reflectance sensor 25
When the print head unit 26 moves to the home position and the home position sensor 22 is turned on, the driving of the pulse motor 15 is stopped (steps S14 and S15). with this,
The barcode printing operation is completed.

As described above, in the bar code printer 1, the print head portion 26 prints only one of the bar portion and the space portion in accordance with the light reflectance of the printing surface 65a of the corrugated board box 65, and printing is performed. Since the color ink that has a sufficient difference in light reflectance from the ground color of the surface 65a is used, a barcode image in which a sufficient difference in light reflectance is obtained between the bar portion and the space portion is formed. Therefore, the cardboard box 65
It is not necessary to use a sticky recording medium regardless of the light reflectance of the printing surface 65a, and it is possible to prevent bar code reading errors and reduce ink consumption. it can.

In this embodiment, the reflectance sensor 25 is
Since it is mounted on the carriage 13 that is movable together with the print head unit 26 and is arranged on the front end side in the printing movement direction with respect to the print head unit 26, the light reflectance of the area itself to which the print head unit 26 applies ink. Is measured. Therefore, it is possible to make a reliable determination based on an accurate measurement value of the light reflectance.

In this embodiment, since the black ink is used as the low reflectance color ink and the white ink is used as the high reflectance color ink, the difference in the light reflectance between the bar portion and the space portion is maximized. can do. For this reason,
It is possible to reliably prevent barcode reading errors. The low reflectance color ink and the high reflectance color ink may be other than white ink or black ink.

In this embodiment, since the print head unit 26 is an ink jet type head, even if the print surface of the print medium has some irregularities, it can be operated without directly contacting the print medium, so that proper bar code printing can be performed. It becomes possible to do.

In this embodiment, the bar code printer 1
Is a main body unit 2 having a display panel section 5 and an input key section 6, and a separation unit 4 separated from the main body unit 2 and having a reflectance sensor 25 and a print head section 26.
Since it is provided with, the separation unit 4 having the reflectance sensor 25 and the print head unit 26 can be made compact. Therefore, the separation unit 4 can be easily handled. For example, setting on a recording medium on which barcode printing is performed can be easily performed.

In the above embodiment, in the packaging / packing work place corresponding to the final manufacturing process of the product, the shipping work place of the product, or the distribution warehouse for stocking the product, the shipping destination, the contents, or the physical distribution on the cardboard 65 for storing the product. Although the portable inkjet type barcode printer 1 that prints a one-dimensional barcode including information such as a route has been described, the barcode printer of the present invention is not separated into the main body unit 2 and the separation unit 4. Needless to say, it may be an integrated type and may have a head other than the ink jet type head. That is, the reflectance sensor 25
It is sufficient that any one of the bar portion and the space portion is printed with a desired color ink according to the reflectance value measured by the reflectance sensor 25.

[0046]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, the print head portion prints only one of the bar portion and the space portion according to the light reflectance of the printing surface of the recording medium, Since the color ink that has a sufficient difference in light reflectance from the background color is used for printing, a sufficient difference in light reflectance between the bar portion and the space portion can be obtained. Therefore,
It is not necessary to use a sticky recording medium regardless of the light reflectance of the printing surface of the recording medium, and it is possible to prevent the reading error of the barcode and reduce the ink consumption.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the light reflectance of the area where the print head portion applies ink is measured, it is possible to make a reliable determination based on the accurate measured value of the light reflectance. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the difference in light reflectance between the bar portion and the space portion can be maximized, a bar code reading error can be reliably prevented.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the print head is an ink jet type head, even if there is some unevenness on the printing surface of the recording medium, it can operate without directly contacting the recording medium, so a proper bar code can be obtained. Printing can be performed.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the separation unit having the reflectance sensor and the print head portion is compact, so that the separation unit can be handled easily and the recording medium for bar code printing can be easily set. It can be carried out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a barcode printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention as seen from the bottom side of the split unit.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a schematic perspective view of a reflectance sensor, and (b) is a schematic perspective view of another specific example of the reflectance sensor.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram of reflectance of various light rays according to the embodiment of the present invention.

5A and 5B show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5A is a perspective view seen from the bottom side of the print head, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view seen from the plane side of the print head.

6A and 6B show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 6A is a pattern diagram of a barcode and FIG. 6B is a character configuration diagram of the barcode.

FIG. 7 is a circuit block diagram on the side of a main unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram of a separation unit side according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the first half of the barcode printing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the latter half of the barcode printing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention and showing a state in which a bar code is printed on a cardboard box.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Bar code printer 2 main unit 4 Separation unit 5 Display panel section 6 Input key section 13 carriage 25 reflectance sensor 26 Print head 49 Reflectance comparison processing unit 65 Cardboard box (recording medium) 65a Print side

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A print head portion for selectively printing a high-reflectance color ink and a low-reflectance color ink, a reflectance sensor for measuring a light reflectance of a printing surface of a recording medium, and this reflectance sensor. In the reflectance comparison processing unit that compares the level of the reflectance value measured in with the reference reflectance value, when it is determined that the light reflectance of the printing surface by this reflectance comparison processing unit is higher than the reference reflectance value, When the print surface of the recording medium is a space portion and the bar portion is printed with color ink of low reflectance, when the reflectance comparison processing unit determines that the light reflectance of the printed surface is lower than the reference reflectance value. A bar code printing device characterized in that a printing surface of a recording medium is a bar portion and a space portion is printed with color ink having a high reflectance. 2. The bar code printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflectance sensor is mounted on a carriage that is movable together with the print head unit, and the tip of the reflectance sensor is in a printing movement direction with respect to the print head unit. A bar code printer characterized in that it is arranged on the side. 3. The barcode printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the low reflectance color ink is black ink, and the high reflectance color ink is white ink. Printing device. 4. The bar code printer according to claim 1, wherein the print head is an ink jet head. 5. The bar code printer according to claim 1, wherein the main body unit has a display panel section and an input key section,
A barcode printing apparatus, comprising: a separation unit separated from the main body unit and having the reflectance sensor and a print head unit.