JPH0368425B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention optically transmits and receives data between a hand scanner that reads data by manually scanning a medium on which data is stored, and an electronic cash register. The present invention relates to a data transmitting/receiving device configured to perform data transmission/reception.

[Summary of the Invention] According to the present invention, when a hand scanner is attached to a holder part, the hand scanner receives power supply from a power supply part provided in the holder part to charge a secondary battery, and also receives power from a light emitting element of the hand scanner. The light receiving element of the holder part receives the optical signal to transmit and receive data.

[Conventional technology] Conventionally, electronic cash registers, etc.
As a data input method for a POS system, light is irradiated onto a medium on which predetermined character information is recorded (printed) as a black and white barcode, and the difference in light reflectance is converted into an electrical signal (size of current). Optical barcode reading devices that read barcode information using a barcode have been put into practical use. This type of reading device includes a pen type hand scanner type and a quantitative type scanner type, but hand scanners are more portable and convenient to use than quantitative type scanners.
It is widely used in POS systems, especially electronic cash registers.

However, conventional methods require an electrical cord and a connector to send data read by a hand scanner to an electronic cash register, which increases the number of parts and increases the cost. Furthermore,
The increased number of parts makes the device larger, and the included electrical cord makes it inconvenient to carry.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-18766, a method of optically transmitting data using a light-emitting element of a hand scanner and a light-emitting element of a transmission device has been considered, which eliminates the need for connectors and wiring. The above drawbacks have been resolved.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] By the way, hand scanners usually have a built-in secondary battery so that they can operate by themselves, but IO and LSI
Since it uses a light emitting element such as a light emitting diode, which consumes much more power than the conventional one, the operating time of the secondary battery is not very long. Therefore, the power supply voltage may drop during data transfer, making it impossible for the light-emitting element to transfer data, but processing may appear to have been transferred. In this case, there is a possibility that important data may be destroyed. It was hot. In addition, the data transfer causes the secondary battery to wear out more quickly, resulting in the need for more frequent charging.

This is because the power of the secondary battery is only consumed and not replenished when data is transferred by the light emitting element of the hand scanner.

An object of the present invention is to enable charging of a secondary battery when data is transferred by a light emitting element operated by a secondary battery.

[Means to solve the problem] The means of this invention are as follows.

The hand scanner uses a light emitting element (light emitting diode 1
5 etc.) and a secondary battery 27 that drives this light emitting element.
etc. are built-in.

The holder part is to which the hand scanner is mounted, and when the holder part is mounted, for example, the light emitting element 231, which is provided at an opposing position and receives data from the light emitting element, and the power supply for charging the secondary battery of the hand scanner. power supply section (power supply contact 1)
3, 14, etc.).

Note that the information in parentheses has been added for reference in order to clarify how each of the above-mentioned means is embodied in the embodiment.

[Effect] The operation of the means of this invention is as follows.

When the hand scanner is attached to the holder, the power supply section of the holder is electrically connected to the secondary battery of the hand scanner to charge the secondary battery. Also,
When a start of data transfer is specified with the hand scanner attached to the holder, the data is transferred to the light receiving element of the holder by an optical signal from the light emitting element of the hand scanner.

Therefore, the secondary battery can be charged when data is transferred by the light emitting element operated by the secondary battery.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

A holder section 3 for holding a pen-type hand scanner 2 is provided on the front surface of the electronic cash register (ECR) 1. This holder part 3 is
The pen-shaped hand scanner 2 is held with its lower half inserted into the circular hole, and in this state, data is optically transmitted and received between the hand scanner 2 and the ECR 1 via the holder part 3. It's becoming like that. The hand scanner 2 is connected to a portable data selector 5 via an electrical cord 4. The data selector 5 includes an I/O (input/output) switch 6 for switching between input mode and output mode, a keyboard 7 with various keys arranged, and a shoulder strap 8. ing.

FIG. 2 shows the state in which the pen-type hand scanner 2 is attached to the holder part 3. The hand scanner 2 has a lower end (tip) of a cylindrical scanner body 9.
A tapered cylinder (pen tip part) 1 is inserted through an insulating cylinder 10 to
1 is attached by means such as screwing. The scanner body 9 functions as a negative electrode, and the pen tip 11 functions as a positive electrode. When the hand scanner 2 is installed in the hole 12 of the holder 3, the power contacts 13 and 14 We're starting to come into contact.

The optical system housed inside the lower part of the scanner body 9 includes a light emitting element (light emitting diode) 15.
A lens 16 that focuses the irradiated light from the light emitting element 15, a ball lens 17 that is attached to the opening at the tip of the pen tip 11 and narrows the focus of the lens 16, and a ball lens 17 that is arranged at the axial center of the scanner body 9. The structure includes an optical fiber 19 that guides the reflected light incident through the ball lens 17 to the light receiving element 18 . Note that 20 indicates a circuit board to which the light emitting element 15 and the light receiving element 18 are connected, as well as the pen tip 11 via a power line 21.

On the other hand, the holder part 3 has a cylinder 23 of a predetermined length extending from the lower surface of the front panel 22 of the ECR 1 into the inside of the ECR 1, and the hole 12 of the cylinder 23 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the scanner main body 9.
In addition, the lower end portion thereof is formed to be tapered along the shape of the pen tip portion 11. Furthermore, a light receiving element 231 is disposed at the lowermost end of the hole 12 . In this case, the light receiving element 231 is arranged with a slight gap below the pen tip of the hand scanner so that the pen tip (ball lens 17) does not come into contact with it. Further, an annular rubber sheet member 24 is provided on the upper part of the holder part 3 to prevent light from entering the holder part 3 from the outside when the hand scanner 2 is mounted inside the holder part 3. In this case, the rubber sheet member 24 is attached to the holder part 3
is arranged concentrically with the hole 12 of the
It is fixed to the 22nd side of the front panel of ECR1.
The inner edge of the rubber sheet member 24 also has the function of tightly holding the hand scanner 2 by pressing it against the outer circumferential surface of the hand scanner 2.

Note that one end of the power contact pieces 13 and 14 is connected to the power source section, and the other end is exposed through the wall of the cylinder 23 and into the hole 12 thereof.

Next, the circuit configurations of the hand scanner 2 and data collector 5 will be explained with reference to FIG. In the figure, 11t and 9t indicate the pen tip portion 11 functioning as a positive electrode and a negative electrode, and external connection terminals of the scanner body 9. Between these terminals 9t and 11t, a switching transistor 25 and a light emitting element 15 are connected. A series circuit is provided in which these are connected in series, and a light receiving element 18 is provided in parallel to this series circuit. The terminal 11t is connected to the secondary battery 27 in the data collector 5 through the backflow prevention diode 26, and the terminal 9t is directly connected to the secondary battery 27 in the data collector 5. It is connected to the I/O controller 29 of the data collector 5 via an amplifier 28 housed in the data collector 5 .

In the data collector 5, the secondary battery 27 not only supplies driving voltage to the light emitting element 15 and the light receiving element 18, but also supplies driving voltage to various circuits forming the data collector 5. Further, the I/O controller 29 is connected to the CPU 30.
CPU30 is ROM (read only memory) 3
1. RAM (Random Access Memory) 32
are connected to each other. In addition, the CPU 30 is connected to the S and R of the SR type flip-flop (SR-FF) 33.
Outputs control signals to each input terminal, and outputs SR−
Set and reset FF33. This SR−
The set output Q of the FF 33 is applied to the base of the transistor 25 via the OR gate 34, and is a signal that controls the ON/OFF operation of the transistor 25 to control the lighting/extinguishing of the light emitting element 15. In this case, setting and resetting the SR-FF33 is performed by the CPU.
This is done in response to the operation signal of the I/O changeover switch 6 inputted to the input terminal 30, and is set when the I/O changeover switch 6 is switched to the input side, and reset when it is switched to the output side. Further, the CPU 30 receives key input signals from the keyboard 7, and executes various operations according to the input keys.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained. First, when the I/O changeover switch 6 is switched to the input side, the SR-FF 33 is set. Therefore, the set output Q of the SR-FF 33 turns on the transistor 25 via the OR gate 34, so that the light emitting element 15 lights up and is set in a data readable state. In this state,
When a medium on which data is recorded is irradiated with light to scan the data, the read data input from the light receiving element 18 is amplified by the amplifier 28 and then sent to the CPU 30 via the I/O controller 29. In this case, the CPU 30 converts the input data into a digital amount, and also converts the input data into a digital amount.
A data reading process is executed in which character data is decoded and converted into a numerical value corresponding to a predetermined character. The data processed in this manner is sequentially written to predetermined addresses in the RAM 32 and collected.

Next, input the collected data to the data selector 5.
When transmitting to the ECR 1 side, first insert the hand scanner 2 into the holder part 3 of the ECR 1. In this case, since the cylinder 23 of the holder part 3 is tapered, the pen tip part 11 of the hand scanner 2
When the pen reaches the tapered part of the cylinder 23, the pen tip part 1
1 comes to abut against the tapered part of the cylinder 23. At this time, the lower half of the hand scanner 2 is inserted into the holder part 3, and the holder part 3
Since the inner edge of the rubber sheet member 24 presses against the outer peripheral surface of the hand scanner 2 in a tight manner, the holding is stable. In this way, the hand scanner 2 is connected to the holder part 3.
When inserted into the scanner body 9 and pen tip 1
1 is a power contact piece 1 facing into the hole 12 of the holder part 3;
3 and 14, the power source of the ECR 1 and the secondary battery 27 of the data selector 5 are electrically connected, and the secondary battery 27 comes to be charged. During this charging, when the I/O changeover switch 6 of the data selector 5 is switched to the output side, the SR-FF 33 is reset and data reading operation is prohibited. The read data collected in the RAM 32 is then sent out via the I/O controller 29.
Therefore, the data sent from the I/O controller 29 turns on and off the transistor 25 via the OR gate 34, so that the light emitting element 15 turns on and off accordingly.
That is, the light emitting element 15 lights up according to the data read out from the RAM 32. As a result, the irradiated light from the light emitting element 15 is emitted to the outside via the lens 16 and the ball lens 17 and is received by the light receiving element 24 of the holder part 3, so that the data is inputted from the light receiving element 24 and transferred to the ECR 1 side. Sent.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and a light emitting element may be provided in the holder section to transmit data on the ECR side to the data collector side via the light receiving element of the hand scanner. Also configure a data collector inside the hand scanner
It may also include a built-in CPU, RAM, secondary battery, etc.

Alternatively, a switch may be provided in the holder portion to detect that a hand scanner is installed, and data reception or transmission on the main body side may be automatically started in response to a signal from the switch.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the secondary battery can be charged when data is transferred by a light emitting element operated by the secondary battery.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent data from being destroyed due to a drop in the power supply voltage of the secondary battery during data transfer. In addition, the power of the secondary battery is no longer consumed due to data transfer using the light emitting element.
Frequent charging work can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the overall appearance, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts showing the state in which the hand scanner is inserted into the holder, and FIG. 3 shows the circuit configuration of the hand scanner and data collector. It is a diagram. 1...ECR, 2...Hand scanner, 3...
Holder part, 15... Light emitting element, 18, 24...
Light receiving element, 27... secondary battery.

[Claims]

1. A system by which a bank card issuer can manage the number and nature of authorization applications sent by merchants, which is maintained at the issuer's location and contains information for evaluating the cardholder's transactions. a file device; and a data management center linked to the file device having a storage device provided with authorization parameters provided by the issuer that determine the authorization request to be sent to the issuer's file device; a management center; and a terminal located at a merchant and linked to said data management center, wherein an application is sent by a merchant from said terminal to said data management center for authorization of a transaction by a cardholder. a system in which the data management center sends the application to the file device at the issuer only when the application is within authorization parameters provided by the issuer and maintained in the storage device; . 2 further comprising multiple file devices, each belonging to each publisher and linked to the data management center.