US-12626075-B2 - Reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information on objects and methods for safeguarding such a reading apparatus

Abstract

A reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information on objects that can be guided past the reading apparatus, wherein the reading apparatus has a data processing unit, a scanner unit, a communication unit, a contact recognition unit, and a housing. The contact recognition unit is configured to recognize contacts with the housing of the reading apparatus.

Inventors

• Frank Schütz

Assignees

• SICK AG

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20230622

Priority Date

20220628

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information on objects that can be guided past the reading apparatus, wherein the reading apparatus has a data processing unit, a scanner unit, a communication unit, a contact recognition unit, and a housing, wherein, in operation, the reading apparatus is arranged in a fixed position with respect to objects moved past the reading apparatus, and the reading apparatus provides contactless readout of information on the objects moving past the reading apparatus, wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to recognize contacts with the housing of the reading apparatus and, responsive to contact, provides an indication of said contact, and wherein the reading apparatus comprises a circuit board, wherein the circuit board has a conductor path to which the contact recognition unit is connected, and wherein the housing has, at its inner side, a contacting projection, attached to the housing, that electrically contacts the conductor path in a closed state of the housing and configured to transmit an electrostatic discharge from the housing to the conductor path of the circuit board by contacting the conductive path of the circuit board for detection by the contact recognition unit; and responsive to a predetermined criteria of indication of contacts, the data processing unit switches to a predetermined operating mode.
2. 2 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the scanner unit: a) comprises an optical scanner module, wherein the scanner unit is configured to read information in the form of optical codes, and/or b) comprises a radio module, wherein the scanner unit is configured to read information in the form of RFID tags.
3. 3 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the optical codes comprise one of 1D codes and 2D codes.
4. 4 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to recognize electrostatic discharges at the housing based on contacts.
5. 5 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the data processing unit is configured to draw conclusions about a type of the contact based on the intensity of the electrostatic discharge, and wherein the data processing unit is further configured to: a) to record the type of the contact in a memory unit; and/or b) to transmit the type of the contact to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via the communication unit.
6. 6 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the housing is electrically conductive and is composed of or consists of metal or a metal alloy.
7. 7 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the contact recognition unit comprises at least one amplifier that is configured to amplify the electrostatic discharges.
8. 8 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the housing comprises different housing parts that are electrically insulated from one another, wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to detect which housing part is contacted.
9. 9 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the data processing unit is configured: a) to record a point in time of the contact in a memory unit; and/or b) to transmit a point in time of the contact to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via the communication unit.
10. 10 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the data processing unit is configured: a) to record a time duration of the contact in a memory unit; and/or b) to transmit a time duration of the contact to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via the communication unit.
11. 11 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the data processing unit is configured to recognize a contact pattern.
12. 12 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 11 , wherein contact patterns comprise a plurality of contacts: a) in a certain time period; and/or b) with a certain contact duration.
13. 13 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the data processing unit is configured to switch to a specific operating mode depending on the contact pattern.
14. 14 . A reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information on objects guided past the reading apparatus, wherein the reading apparatus has a data processing unit, a scanner unit, a communication unit, a contact recognition unit, and a housing, wherein, in operation, the reading apparatus is arranged in a fixed position with respect to objects moved past the reading apparatus, and the reading apparatus provides contactless readout of information on the objects moving past the reading apparatus, wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to recognize contacts with the housing of the reading apparatus and, responsive to contact, provides an indication of said contact, wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to recognize electrostatic discharges at the housing based on contacts, wherein the housing has, at its inner side, a contacting projection, attached to the housing, that electrically contacts the conductor path in the a closed state of the housing, and responsive to a predetermined criteria of indication of contacts, the data processing unit switches to a predetermined operating mode and configured to transmit an electrostatic discharge from the housing to the conductor path by contacting the conductive path of a circuit board for detection by the contact recognition unit, and wherein the housing is electrically conductive and is composed of or consists of metal or a metal alloy.
15. 15 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the reading apparatus comprises a circuit board, wherein the circuit board has a conductor path to which the contact recognition unit is connected, and wherein the housing is electrically connected at its inner side to the conductor path via a cable connection.
16. 16 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the data processing unit is configured to correlate a detected contact with the housing with other events, said other events including one of: a) an interruption of a communication between the communication unit and a higher-ranking data processing apparatus; and/or b) a deterioration of the reading rate and/or an interruption of the readout of the information on objects that can be guided past the reading apparatus.
17. 17 . A method for safeguarding a reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information on objects, comprising the following method steps: providing contactless readout of the information on the objects moving past the reading apparatus; monitoring a housing of the reading apparatus as to whether a contact with the housing is taking place using a reading apparatus arranged in a fixed position with respect to the objects while moving the objects past the reading apparatus; recording that a contact has taken place; and/or communicating that a contact has taken place to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via a communication unit of the reading apparatus; responsive to a predetermined criteria of indication of contacts, the data processing unit switches to a predetermined operating mode, wherein the reading apparatus has a contacting projection, attached to the housing, that electrically contacts a housing to detect a conductive path resulting from contact with the housing and configured to transmit an electrostatic discharge from the housing to the conductor path by contacting the conductive path of a circuit board for said detection of the conductive path.
18. 18 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the reading apparatus comprises a circuit board, wherein the circuit board has a conductor path to which the contact recognition unit is connected, and wherein the housing has a screw connection, wherein the screw connection electrically contacts the conductor path in a closed state of the housing.
19. 19 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the data processing unit is configured to draw conclusions about a type of the contact based on the intensity of the electrostatic discharge, and wherein the data processing unit is further configured to: c) to record the type of the contact in a memory unit; and/or d) to transmit the type of the contact to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via the communication unit.
20. 20 . The reading apparatus in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the housing comprises different housing parts that are electrically insulated from one another, wherein the contact recognition unit is configured to detect which housing part is contacted.

Description

FIELD The invention relates to a reading apparatus for a contactless readout of information (e.g. barcodes, RFID tags) on objects and to a method for safeguarding such a reading apparatus. BACKGROUND Reading apparatus, which can also be designated as identification devices, can in particular be used to read information, in particular in the form of 1D codes (barcodes), 2D codes (QR codes), and/or RFID tags on objects. An object can be a specific product as well as its packaging. The information that can be read out can in this respect be directly applied to the object (1D codes, 2D codes can be painted on or printed on) or indirectly applied to the object (labels with 1D codes, 2D codes, or RFID tags can be glued on). These objects are moved past the reading apparatus, for example, on a conveyor belt. The reading apparatus is mounted and set up at the reading point such that that an optimal reading with the best possible quality is achieved. If, in the further course of operation, the reading fails or the quality is reduced (poorer reading rate), the downtimes are often time-consuming and thus also costly. The error analysis is often ambiguous, which in turn influences the downtime. If the downtime increases, the downtime costs usually increase as well. SUMMARY It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a reading apparatus that has a reduced downtime and in particular a simpler error analysis. The reading apparatus in accordance with the invention serves for the contactless readout of information (e.g. 1D codes (barcodes), 2D codes (QR codes), RFID tags) on objects that can be guided past the reading apparatus. The reading apparatus comprises a data processing unit, a scanner unit, a communication unit, a contact recognition unit, and a housing. The contact recognition unit is configured to recognize contacts with the housing of the reading apparatus. It is particularly advantageous that contacts with the housing can be recognized via the contact recognition unit. The contact recognition unit is preferably configured to detect any type of contact (whether gentle or forceful, short or long) at the total housing. For example, contacts with the reading apparatus often cause the reading apparatus to change in its orientation and therefore the error rate to increase when reading the information on the objects. Furthermore, contamination of an optical sensor of the scanner unit can also occur, whereby the error rate likewise increases when reading the information. The communication unit in particular serves to transmit data, such as the read-out information, to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus. The connection to the higher-ranking data processing apparatus in particular takes place in a cable-based manner. It could also take place wirelessly. The communication unit in particular provides a TCP/IP connection, an Ethernet connection, Profibus, Profinet and/or CAN bus. The contact recognition unit can be part of the data processing unit. It can also be arranged separately from the data processing unit and can be configured to communicate with the data processing unit. In accordance with an advantageous embodiment, the scanner unit comprises an optical scanner module. The scanner unit is thereby configured to read optical codes, in particular 1D codes and/or 2D codes. The scanner module can, for example, comprise a laser unit and/or a camera. Additionally or alternatively, the scanner unit comprises a radio module, wherein the scanner unit is then configured to read RFID tags. In accordance with an advantageous embodiment, the contact recognition unit is configured to recognize electrostatic discharges at the housing based on contacts. These electrostatic discharges at the housing correspond to a contact. The contact recognition unit is further configured to transmit the information of the contact to the data processing unit. Since the contact recognition unit can detect electrostatic discharges, very gentle contacts can also be reliably recognized. In contrast to an acceleration sensor, very small contacts are detected in this way. In an advantageous embodiment, the data processing unit is configured to be able to draw conclusions about a type of the contact based on the intensity of the electrostatic discharge, wherein the data processing unit is further configured to record the type of the contact in a memory unit and/or to transmit the type of the contact to a higher-ranking data processing apparatus via the communication unit. Thus, it can, for example, be determined in dependence on the intensity whether the contact takes place with a glove or without a glove. The detection of the electrostatic discharge therefore preferably takes place in an analogous manner. An analog-to-digital converter is further preferably provided that is part of the contact recognition unit. For certain levels of the electrostatic discharge, different types of the contact can be stored in a memory unit that