US-12626080-B2 - Test sample reading device and test sample reading method

US12626080B2US 12626080 B2US12626080 B2US 12626080B2US-12626080-B2

Abstract

Self-luminous barcode readers 102 A, 102 B, 102 C, 102 D, 102 E, 102 F are provided in an arrangement such that irradiating light emitted from the barcode readers 102 A, 102 B, 102 C, 102 D, 102 E, 102 F entirely covers a surface provided with a barcode 107 and optical axes 104 A, 104 B, 104 C, 104 D, 104 E, 104 F of the irradiating light are inclined horizontally at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value and vertically at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value from normal vectors 105 A, 105 B, 105 C of a test surface of a test sample 101 provided with the barcode 107 . This arrangement provides a test sample reading device and a test sample reading method with which the success rate of barcode reading can be raised compared to the past.

Inventors

Kento SEKIYA
Jiro Hashizume
Taiki FUJI
Jaesung YANG

Assignees

HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221221
Priority Date: 20220329

Claims (10)

1 . A test sample reading device that reads a barcode provided on a test sample, comprising: self-luminous barcode readers, wherein the barcode readers are arranged so that irradiating light emitted from the barcode readers entirely covers a surface provided with the barcode and optical axes of the irradiating light are inclined in a horizontal direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value and in a vertical direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value with respect to normal vectors of a test surface of the test sample provided with the barcode; the test sample reading device comprises two or more of the barcode readers, the two or more barcode readers are arranged so that, an irradiation area obtained by combining the two or more of the barcode readers entirely covers the surface, and the two or more optical axes are deviated from all normal vectors of the test surface, and each of the optical axes is deviated from all the others of the optical axes.
2 . The test sample reading device according to claim 1 , wherein the test sample has a circular cross section, the test sample reading device further comprises ribs that support a side surface of the test sample at at least three points, the ribs are plates parallel to one of the optical axes, and are discretely arranged with respect to the side surface of the test sample.
3 . The test sample reading device according to claim 2 , wherein the barcode readers are arranged at equal intervals around the test sample, and are arranged so that an angle between the optical axis and the normal vector is greater than 0° and equal to or less than 20° in the horizontal direction, and greater than 0° and equal to or less than 30° in the vertical direction, and the ribs are arranged between the plurality of barcode readers.
4 . The test sample reading device according to claim 3 , wherein the test sample reading device comprises six of the barcode readers, the six barcode readers are arranged at 60° intervals around the test sample, and arranged so that the angle between the optical axis and the normal vector is 10° in the horizontal direction and 15° in the vertical direction.
5 . The test sample reading device according to claim 2 , wherein the ribs are configured to absorb the irradiating light.
6 . The test sample reading device according to claim 1 , wherein a conveyance device that conveys the test sample is provided with an area where the barcode readers scan the test sample in all directions, and the barcode readers read information on the test sample located in the area.
7 . The test sample reading device according to claim 6 , wherein the area is configured by arranging the barcode readers to be deviated so that the irradiating light does not overlap, and sequentially scan the test sample in portions of all directions during the conveyance of the test sample.
8 . The test sample reading device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a controller that causes the barcode readers to emit light at different timings.
9 . The test sample reading device according to claim 8 , wherein if reading of the barcode is successful, the controller ends a reading operation, and if the reading of the barcode fails, the controller selects one of the barcode readers that have not yet emitted light and causes the barcode reader to emit light.
10 . A test sample reading method for reading, by a test sample reading device, a barcode provided on a test sample, wherein the barcode is read by a plurality of self-luminous barcode readers arranged so that irradiating light emitted from the self-luminous barcode readers entirely covers a surface provided with the barcode provided on a test sample and optical axes of the irradiating light are inclined in a horizontal direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value and in a vertical direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value with respect to normal vectors of a test surface of the test sample provided with the barcode, the test sample reading device comprises two or more of the barcode readers, the two or more barcode readers are arranged so that, an irradiation area obtained by combining the two or more of the barcode readers entirely covers the surface, and the two or more optical axes are deviated from all normal vectors of the test surface, and each of the optical axes is deviated from all the others of the optical axes.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a test sample reading device and a test sample reading method for reading a barcode affixed to a test sample. BACKGROUND ART PTL 1 describes that “a conveyance device, which is configured to hold and convey a container having a barcode label in an automated system in an in vitro diagnostics environment where a plurality of peripheral readers can read the barcode label”, “can consistently capture the container by the double spring arrangement when the container is mounted on the conveyance device and held within the conveyance device during the conveyance operation. Due to the centrally arranged spring housing, an efficient use of space is possible. A mirror image double slot design is provided and the unobstructed space for each slot is complimented, so that a completely unobstructed field of view of the container can be constructed by imaging the same container (sequentially) in both slots and merging the resulting data”. Further, PTL 2 describes that, as a technique that makes it possible to read a symbol affixed to the circumferential surface of an article without changing the direction of the article on a conveyance line, a plurality of symbol readers for irradiating a container to which a barcode is affixed with laser beams from respectively different directions are included, and by combining respective readable ranges of the respective symbol readers to the container, the entire periphery of a side surface of the container is turned to the readable range, and the barcode is read. CITATION LIST Patent Literature PTL 1: JP2019-525169APTL 2: JP2013-134512A SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem A barcode reader is known as a device that reads the barcode affixed to the test sample. The test sample is often rod-shaped, such as a test tube, and the barcode is usually affixed along the longitudinal direction of the test sample, but an affixation position of the barcode is not always constant. Therefore, there are a plurality of techniques that automatically read the test sample whose affixation position of the barcode is not constant on a conveyance line. As an example thereof, the technique described in PTL 1 is known as a technique for holding the container on the conveyance line without blocking a barcode surface. Furthermore, a technique described in PTL 2 is known as a technique for reading the entire circumference of an article by a plurality of barcode readers. A conventional barcode reading system is configured to irradiate the barcode with light from the front, and has a problem in that strong regular reflection light returns to the light receiving part to thereby reduce the success rate of reading. When reading the barcode affixed to the test sample on the conveyance line, since a barcode surface is a curved surface, an attempt is made to move the test sample to avoid a regular reflection area of the barcode reader, but this has not reached an essential problem solution. Furthermore, when reading the barcode on a stationary test sample or when the barcode surface is not the curved surface, there is a problem that regularly reflected light cannot be avoided with a configuration in which it is irradiated with light from the front. The present invention provides a test sample reading device and a test sample reading method that can increase the success rate of barcode reading compared with conventional ones. Solution to Problem The present invention includes a plurality of means for solving the problems described above, and one example thereof is a test sample reading device that reads a barcode provided on a test sample, the test sample reading device including self-luminous barcode readers, in which the self-luminous barcode readers are arranged so that irradiating light emitted from the barcode readers entirely covers a surface provided with the barcode, and optical axes of the irradiating light are inclined in a horizontal direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value and in a vertical direction at an angle greater than 0° in absolute value with respect to normal vectors of a test surface of the test sample provided with the barcode. Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, the success rate of barcode reading can be increased compared to the conventional one. Problems, configurations, and effects other than those described above will be made clear by the description of the following examples. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a test sample reading device according to Example 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an arrangement of a barcode reader according to Example 1. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the arrangement of the barcode reader according to Example 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a test sample reading device according to Example 2. FIG.