Optical reader having placement detecting mechanism
AssigneeAsahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsNobuhiro Tani, Shuzo Seo, Tetsuya Abe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A casing of an optical reader comprises a reading head and a handle. The reading head includes a frame portion having a bottom opening of a parallelogram. A first switch and a second switch are provided on the frame portion, adjacent to the bottom opening. The first switch and the second switch are placed symmetrically and diagonally about the center of the bottom opening. When the first switch and the second switch are pressed and the tip ends of them become flush with the frame portion, they are turned on. The optical reading is controlled in accordance with the combination of the signals outputted from the first and second switches.
Claims11
An optical reader that optically reads an information pattern representing coded data, comprising:
- a casing having an opening, enclosed by a frame portion formed on a plane, said opening defining a reading area, said frame portion being placed onto a surface on which the information pattern is provided so that said information pattern is optically read;
- and
- at least two sensors provided on said frame portion that output sensing signals indicating whether said at least two sensors are respectively in contact with the surface, said reading area being imaged when the output sensing signals indicate that at least one sensor of said at least two sensors is in contact with the surface, the information pattern being optically read only when said output sensing signals indicate that said at least two sensors are in respective contact with the surface.
An optical reader that optically reads an information pattern representing coded data, comprising:
- a casing having an opening positioned proximate a surface on which an information pattern is formed, said opening defining a reading area;
- a plurality of sensors that determine a relationship of said opening of said optical reader with respect to the surface;
- a light source that emits light onto said reading area and illuminates the information pattern;
- and
- a photoelectric conversion device that converts an image of the information pattern in said reading area to an electric signal, a condition of exposure being determined in accordance with a combination of signals output by said plurality of sensors, said photoelectric conversion device further converts said image to an electric signal to accumulate an electrical charge corresponding to said electric signal,
- wherein a luminance intensity of said light and a period of accumulating said electrical charge are controlled in accordance with said combination of signals output by said plurality of sensors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.