Reading device for bar code symbol

The present invention relates to a device for reading a barcode symbol such as a one-dimensional bar code symbol or a two-dimensional bar code symbol used for displaying information such as a manufacturer or a product name.

Conventionally, the above-mentioned bar code symbols containing information such as the manufacturer and product name include one-dimensional bar code symbols and two-dimensional bar code symbols, but large-capacity and space-saving high-speed readable two-dimensional bars Code symbols have become widespread, and recently, these two-dimensional bar code symbols can be read by mobile phones. In the case of such a two-dimensional bar code symbol, since it can be read relatively easily, confidential information cannot be input.

In recent years, in two-dimensional bar code symbols, security bar code symbols in which public information and non-public information are separately entered have appeared, and in this bar code symbol, decryption processing is performed based on the key information entered together with the public information. By performing the above, non-public information can be read (see, for example, Patent Document 1).<patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-299422</text></patcit>

<p> However, in the above-mentioned two-dimensional bar code symbol containing non-public information, since the key information for reading this non-public information is displayed together with the public information, there is no possibility that this key information will be deciphered. However, in the unlikely event that the key information is decrypted, there is a risk that the non-public information will be easily read by a general reader or mobile phone, and this problem has been solved. It has been a conventional task to do so.</p><p> An object of the present invention is to provide a barcode symbol developed by the present inventor focusing on the above-mentioned conventional problems, that is, a reading device dedicated to a barcode symbol in which there is almost no risk of confidentiality information being leaked. It is said.</p>

<p> The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is based on key information printed with a printing liquid that is invisible under visible light and visible only under ultraviolet rays (preferably ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of about 365 nm), and the key information. It is a device for reading barcode symbols consisting of this data such as product information and personal information including encrypted and barcode-converted private data. The barcode symbol is irradiated with light rays and the barcode symbol is used. The barcode reader unit that receives the reflected and returned light beam and reads the data of the barcode symbol, and the ultraviolet irradiation that makes the key information visible by irradiating the barcode symbol with ultraviolet rays to excite and emit light. A control that inputs the unit and the key information that has become visible due to the ultraviolet irradiation by the ultraviolet irradiation unit, and decodes and outputs the data read by the barcode reader unit based on the input key information. The feature is that the configuration is provided with a unit, and the configuration of the barcode symbol reading device is used as a means for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems.</p><p> Further, in the barcode symbol reading device according to claim 2 of the present invention, the control unit decodes the input visible key information by using a fixed key for data identification to obtain the final key information. Is created, and based on this final key information, the data read by the barcode reader unit is decoded and output. Further, in the barcode symbol reading device according to claim 3 of the present invention, the ultraviolet irradiation unit automatically operates for a certain period of time when the barcode reader unit reads the data of the barcode symbol. It is configured to irradiate ultraviolet rays toward the barcode symbol.</p><p> Here, the barcode symbol developed by the present inventor is a print in which the key information for reading this data is invisible under visible light and visible only under ultraviolet light (preferably ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 365 nm). Since it is printed in liquid, it is unlikely that this key information will be decrypted by a normal reader or mobile phone, and thus the concern that the confidentiality information will be read can be dispelled.</p><p> With respect to such a barcode symbol, in the reading device according to the present invention, after the reading of the data of the barcode symbol by the barcode reader unit is completed, the ultraviolet irradiation unit is operated to emit ultraviolet light toward the barcode symbol. When the data is irradiated, the key information printed with the printing liquid, which is visible only under ultraviolet light, is excited and emitted to be visible. Then, when the operator inputs the visible key information to the control unit using an input means such as a keyboard, the control unit reads the data read by the barcode reader unit based on the key information. Since the information is decoded and converted into information that can be disclosed, the content of the data contained in the barcode symbol can be known only when the reading device according to the present invention is used.</p>

<p> Since the barcode symbol reading device according to claim 1 of the present invention has the above-described configuration, it is safe to use as a reading device dedicated to the barcode symbol in which there is almost no risk of confidentiality information leaking out. It has a very good effect of making it possible to build an extremely highly sexual information system. Further, in the barcode symbol reading device according to claim 2 of the present invention, the final key information is created by decoding the key information with the fixed key for data identification, so that the security at the time of reading is obtained. It has a very good effect that it is possible to realize further improvement of.</p><p> Further, since the barcode symbol reading device according to claim 3 of the present invention has the above-described configuration, it has a very excellent effect that it is possible to improve the operability at the time of reading. Is done.</p>

Hereinafter, the barcode symbol reading device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show an embodiment of a barcode symbol reader according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a barcode symbol developed by the present inventor together with the barcode symbol reader. There is. As shown in FIG. 4A, this barcode symbol 1 is a two-dimensional barcode symbol printed on the label L, and has the present data 2 such as product information including non-public data and personal information. This data 2 is displayed in a state where it is encrypted by the key information and converted into a barcode.

The above key information is printed with a printing liquid that is invisible under visible light and visible only under ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 365 nm, and as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the numerical information 3 of "69". It is converted to and printed in a state of being superimposed on the above data 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the barcode symbol reading device 10 for reading such a barcode symbol 1 irradiates the barcode symbol 1 with a light beam, and the light beam reflected and returned by the barcode symbol 1 is reflected. In response to this, the barcode reader unit 11 that reads the data 2 of the barcode symbol 1 and the ultraviolet rays that make the numerical information 3 which is the key information visible by irradiating the barcode symbol 1 with ultraviolet rays to excite and emit light. The LED (ultraviolet irradiation unit) 12 and the numerical information 3 of "69", which is the key information that can be visually recognized by the ultraviolet irradiation by the ultraviolet LED 12, are input, and the input numerical information 3 is used for data identification. It is provided with a control unit 13 that decrypts with a fixed key to create final key information, and decodes and outputs the data 2 read by the barcode reader unit 11 based on the final key information.

In this embodiment, the ultraviolet LED 12 is arranged on the light emitting side of the barcode reader portion 11 together with the reading light source 14 and the target light source 15 and irradiates ultraviolet rays in the same direction as the barcode reading light and the target light. It has become like. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 16 is a keyboard unit as an input means for inputting numerical information 3 of 69, which is visible key information, to the control unit 13, and reference numeral 17 is an operation content and reading by the keyboard unit 16. A display unit that displays the result, reference numeral 18 is an external interface unit that outputs the reading result to the outside, and reference numeral 19 is a power supply unit.

When reading the data of the barcode symbol 1 using the barcode symbol reading device 10, first, as shown in FIG. 3, in step S1, the light projection of the barcode reader unit 11 in the barcode reading mode is performed. When the trigger button (not shown) of the barcode reader unit 11 is pressed with the side facing the barcode symbol 1, the target light beam is projected from the target light source 15 and the reading light beam is projected from the reading light source 14, respectively. When the target ray aligns with the center of the barcode symbol, the reading of the encrypted data 2 of the barcode symbol 1 is completed.

Next, after the reading of the data 2 of the barcode symbol 1 is completed, the ultraviolet LED 12 is turned on by pressing the keyboard unit 16 or the trigger button to irradiate the ultraviolet LED toward the barcode symbol 1. In step S2, Numerical information 3 of "69", which is the key information of the barcode symbol 1 exposed to ultraviolet rays, is excited and emitted to be visible. Next, in step S3, when the operator inputs the numerical value of "69" of the numerical information 3 to the control unit 13 via the keyboard unit 16, the control unit 13 predetermined the numerical information 3 in step S4. Create final key information 3A by decrypting with a fixed key for data identification.

Then, in step S5, the control unit 13 decrypts the encrypted data 2 previously read by the barcode reader unit 11 with the final key information 3A, converts it into information that can be disclosed, and subsequently. , This reading result is displayed on the display unit 17 and output to the outside via the external interface unit 18. In the above-mentioned barcode symbol 1, since the numerical information 3 of "69", which is the key information for reading this data 2, is printed with a printing liquid that can be visually recognized only under ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of about 365 nm, it is usually There is almost no possibility that this numerical information 3 (key information) will be deciphered by the reading device or mobile phone of the above, and therefore, the concern that the confidentiality information can be read can be dispelled.

For the barcode symbol 1 in which there is almost no risk of such confidentiality information being leaked, only when the reading device 10 according to this embodiment is used, the data 2 contained in the barcode symbol 1 Since the contents can be known, the reading device 10 according to this embodiment can construct an extremely safe information system together with the barcode symbol 1.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, in step S4, the numerical information 3 is decrypted with a predetermined fixed key for data identification to create the final key information 3A, so that the security at the time of reading is further enhanced. Improvements can be achieved. Since the creation of the final key information 3A in step S4 is not necessarily a necessary process, the process of creating the final key information 3A can be omitted.

The configuration of the barcode symbol reading device according to the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the reading device 10 according to the above-described embodiment, and as another configuration, for example, an ultraviolet LED 12 as an ultraviolet irradiation unit is used as a bar. When the reading of this data 2 of the barcode symbol 1 by the code reader unit 11 is completed, it automatically operates (preferably operates for a certain period of time) to irradiate ultraviolet rays toward the barcode symbol 1. Can be adopted.

<figref num="1">It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the bar code symbol reading apparatus which concerns on this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is a perspective explanatory view which shows the bar code reader part of the bar code symbol reading device in FIG. 1 simply.</figref><figref num="3">There is a flowchart showing the operation of the bar code symbol reader in FIG.</figref><figref num="4">It is a visual state explanatory view (a) under visible light and a visual state explanatory view (b) under ultraviolet light of the bar code symbol corresponding to the bar code symbol reading device in FIG.</figref>

Code description

1 barcode symbol 2 This data 3 Numerical information (key information) 10 Bar code symbol reader 11 Bar code reader 12 Ultraviolet LED (ultraviolet irradiation part) 13 Control unit