JP2001118037A - Id tag system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the tag information read time of an ID tag system which reads tag information out of an ID tag through plural antennas. SOLUTION: Storage cases 21 to 24 are provided with shelf antennas 25 to 28. In this case, since the shelf antennas 25 to 28 belonging to the storage cases 21 to 24 are connected to controllers 29 to 32 respectively, when tag information is read out of, for example, an ID tag stuck on a rental video cassette stored in the 1st storage case 21, the respective antennas 25 to 28 belonging to the 1st storage case 21 can be accessed at the same time from the controllers 29 to 32 to read the tag information out of the ID tag in a short time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an ID tag system including a plurality of reader / writers for ID tags for reading tag information from ID tags through a plurality of antennas.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a rental video store, it has been considered to manage rental videos by ID tags. That is, a shelf antenna is arranged in a bookshelf-like storage case, rental videos are stored and displayed on the shelf antenna, ID tags are attached to these rental videos, and the rental videos are managed by the ID tags. .

FIG. 8 schematically shows the overall configuration of this type of system. In FIG. 8, a plurality of shelf antennas 4 to 7 are arranged in bookcase-shaped storage cases 1 to 3, and books, rental videos, and the like are stored and displayed on the shelf antennas 4 to 7. An ID tag is attached to these books and video tapes, and rental videos stored on shelves are managed by the ID tags.

In this case, a first storage case 1 stores and manages rental videos of Japanese movies, a second storage case 2 stores and manages rental videos of foreign films, and a third storage case 3 stores popular rental videos. It is stored and managed.

The shelf antennas 4 to 7 are connected to controllers 8 to
10 and each of the controllers 8 to 1
0 indicates that I is located on the shelf antennas 4 to 7 by controlling the shelf antennas 4 to 7 with a network communication function such as RS-485 according to a command from the host computer 11.
Tag information is obtained from the D tag.

[0006]

By the way, in order to manage rental videos, a function of simultaneously reading a number of ID tags on the shelf antennas 4 to 7 by predetermined controllers 8 to 10 is required. If the actual item management and the location search are performed one by one for ID tags that are sorted by genre corresponding to a plurality of shelves, it may not be possible to respond quickly. In other words, if the rental video for the communication target is stored on the bottom shelf of the storage case,
The controllers 8 to 10 need to access all the shelf antennas 4 to 7, and it takes a long time to obtain tag information from an ID tag as a communication target.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an ID tag system capable of shortening the tag information reading time in a configuration in which tag information is read from an ID tag through a plurality of antennas. To provide.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when reading tag information from an ID tag located in a predetermined management area, an ID tag reader / writer operates in a predetermined management area belonging to a predetermined management area. Tag information is read from the ID tag through the antenna.

In this case, since the ID tag reader / writer simultaneously performs a reading operation on a plurality of antennas belonging to a predetermined management area, tag information from the ID tag can be read in a short time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by changing the connection of the antenna by the connection means, it is possible to select an antenna that can be accessed by the reader / writer for the ID tag. Can be easily constructed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a predetermined ID tag reader / writer can access an antenna that can be accessed by another ID tag reader / writer by network means. Can access any of the antennas, and can easily construct an optimal system according to the environment.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the number of ID tags located in the predetermined management area changes, the notifying means notifies the abnormality, and based on the notification, the goods to which the ID tags are attached are grouped. It is possible to promptly deal with an abnormality such as theft of a product or the removal of an ID tag from a product.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (First Embodiment) A first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a rental video rental system will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 schematically shows the entire configuration. In FIG. 1, a plurality of shelf antennas 25 to 28 are respectively arranged in a plurality of bookcase-shaped storage cases 21 to 24, and rental videos and the like are stored and displayed on the shelf antennas 25 to 28. An ID tag is attached to these rental videos, and the rental videos stored on the shelf are managed by the ID tags.

In this case, the first storage case 21 stores and manages rental videos of Japanese movies, the second storage case 22 stores and manages rental videos of foreign films, and the third storage case 23 stores popular rental videos. The storage case is managed, and the fourth storage case 24 is for managing rental videos of other categories.

The shelf antennas 25 to 28 are connected to controllers (corresponding to ID tag reader / writers) 29 to 32, respectively, and each of the controllers 29 to 32 responds to a command from the host computer 33.
-28 are controlled by a network communication function such as RS-485, so that I-
Tag information is obtained from the D tag.

The host computer 33 has a storage case N
O., shelf NO., And a database of ID tag information located on the shelf are stored. When communicating with a desired ID tag, a read command is output to predetermined controllers 29 to 32. I have.

Each of the controllers 29 to 32 includes an MPU, and when communicating with the ID tag, transmits a transmission command in a transmission state of a power signal from a transmission antenna (not shown) provided on the shelf antennas 25 to 28. At the same time, the tag information is read from the ID tags located on the shelf antennas 25 to 28 by sequentially selecting the receiving antennas (not shown).

Here, each controller 29-32 is provided with a predetermined shelf antenna 25-2 in each storage case 21-24.
8 is connected as follows. That is, the first controller 29 is connected to the first shelf antenna 25 of each of the storage cases 21 to 24, and the second controller 30 is connected to the second shelf antenna 26 of each of the storage cases 21 to 24.
Is connected to the third shelf antenna 27 of each of the storage cases 21 to 24, and the fourth controller 32 is connected to the fourth shelf antenna 28 of each of the storage cases 21 to 24.

With the above configuration, each of the storage cases 21 to 2
The plurality of shelf antennas 25 to 28 located at No. 4 are arranged so as to be simultaneously accessible from the first to fourth controllers 29 to 32.

The tag information stored in the ID tag includes ID No., storage case number, shelf number, title of rental video, rental start time, rental start time, scheduled return time, rental validity period, and the like.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. For example, when it is desired to read tag information from an ID tag of a popular rental video stored and managed in the third storage case 23, the host computer 33 stores the third storage case NO.
Enter Then, the host computer 33 instructs the controllers 29 to 32 to simultaneously access the shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in the third storage case 23.

In each of the controllers 29 to 32, when an instruction for simultaneous access to the third storage case 23 is received from the host computer 33 as described above, the shelf antennas 25 to 25 located in the third storage case 23 are received.
Access 28.

In this case, each of the controllers 29 to 32
Shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in third storage case 23
At the same time, the shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in the third storage case 23 are simultaneously operated, and the tag information from the ID tag attached to the rental video stored in the third storage case 23 is briefly transmitted. Can be read.

Accordingly, the host computer 33 communicates with the ID tags through the shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in the third storage case 23 by the controllers 29 to 32, so that tag information from a desired ID tag can be obtained in a short time. Can be read.

Similarly, the host computer 33
Tag information can be read in a short time from the ID tag attached to the rental video stored in the first storage case 21, the second storage case 22, or the fourth storage case 24.

FIG. 2 is a program showing the security operation of the host computer 33. In FIG. 2, for example, when managing a popular rental video, the host computer 33 switches to access the shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in the third storage case 23 (S101), and then performs tag scanning. By the third
The rental video stored in the storage case 23 is determined (S102). In this case, since the plurality of controllers 29 to 32 simultaneously access the shelf antennas 25 to 28 located in the third storage case 23 as described above, the tag scan can be executed in a short time.

Subsequently, the ID communicated by the tag scan
Based on the tag information from the tag, it is determined whether the number of rental videos stored in the third storage case 23 matches the number of rental videos obtained by the previous tag scan (S103). S103: NO) It is determined at the cashier counter whether the rental video to be stored on the popular shelf is in the process of being rented (S104).

At this time, among the rental videos to be stored on the popular shelf, the rental video having no ID tag is either borrowed or the ID tag is removed from the rental video.
Judges whether the rental processing has been completed or is being processed by the cashier counter. The time from when it is determined that the number of rental videos does not match to when it is determined that the rental video has been processed or is being processed is the average time required for the customer who has rented the rental video to receive the rental process at the cashier counter. Set.

If the rental video to be stored in the third storage case 23 has become unable to communicate with the ID tag and has not been rented at the cashier counter (S104: NO). , Third
It is determined that there is a high possibility that the ID tag of the rental video to be stored in the storage case 23 has been peeled off due to mischief. The monitor TV installed corresponding to the case 23 is turned on (S10).
6).

Therefore, the person in charge checks the state of the third storage case 23 on the monitor TV, and if the ID tag is removed as a result of the check by the monitor TV, the security function is activated to activate the security function. Address the outbreak. If no abnormality has occurred, the rental video returned by the customer is determined to have lost the ID tag, and the ID tag is attached to the rental video, and then the rental video is displayed in the third storage case 23.

According to such an embodiment, the shelf antennas 25 to 28 belonging to the respective storage cases 21 to 24 are connected so as to be simultaneously accessible from the respective controllers 29 to 32. Unlike the conventional configuration in which the shelf antennas located in the case can be simultaneously accessed from the controllers 29 to 32 and one controller manages each shelf antenna located in one storage case exclusively, Tag information from ID tags located in cases 21 to 24 can be read in a short time.

Further, as described above, each of the storage cases 21-
Since the tag information can be read in a short time from the ID tag attached to the rental video located at 24, an abnormality can be found in a short time even when applied to a security system, Can be dealt with in a short time.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 6. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted. The second embodiment shows a configuration provided with a horizontal scan mode and a vertical scan mode. In this case, the horizontal scan mode refers to the simultaneous reading operation for the ID tag by each controller described in the first embodiment, and the vertical scan mode refers to the antenna belonging to the storage case corresponding to each controller. This is a read operation for the ID tag by accessing.

3, the switches Sa1 to Sa3 are provided corresponding to the respective shelf antennas 25 to 28 belonging to the first storage case 21, and the respective shelf antennas belonging to the second storage case 22 are provided. Switches Sb1 to Sb3 are provided corresponding to 25 to 28, and the third storage case 2
The switches Sc1 to Sc3 are provided corresponding to the respective shelf antennas 25 to 28 belonging to the
The connection contacts are switched by the control of 9 to 31. In this case, these switches Sa1 to Sa3, S
b1 to Sb3 and Sc1 to Sc3 correspond to connection means.

FIG. 4 shows the connection contacts of the switches in the horizontal scan mode and the vertical scan mode. In other words, in the horizontal scan mode, the connection relationship is as shown in FIG. 5, and the first controller 29 controls the first shelf antenna 25 of the first storage case 21 and the first storage antenna 22 of the second storage case 22. The shelf antennas 25 and 26 at the second and third stages and the shelf antennas 26 and 27 at the second and third stages of the third storage case 27 can be accessed. In addition, the second controller 30 is configured to control the second shelf antenna 26 of the first storage case 21, the first shelf antenna 25 of the third storage case 23, and the third shelf antenna 25 of the second storage case 22. The shelf antenna 27 can be accessed. Then, the third controller 31 can access the third-stage shelf antenna 27 of the first storage case 21.

Therefore, by executing the horizontal scanning mode, the first storage case 21 can be simultaneously accessed from the controllers 29 to 31 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. I attached to the rental video stored in the first storage case 21
Tag information can be read from the D tag in a short time.

On the other hand, in the vertical scan mode,
The connection relationship as shown in FIG. 6 is established, and the first controller 29 is connected to the shelf antenna 2 belonging to the first storage case 21.
5 to 27 can be accessed. Further, the second controller 30 can access the shelf antennas 25 to 27 belonging to the second storage case 22. Then, the third controller 31 is connected to the third storage case 23.
Can be accessed.

Therefore, by executing the vertical scanning mode, the tag information is read from the ID tag attached to the rental video stored in the storage case 21 to 23 corresponding to each of the controllers 29 to 31. be able to.

According to such an embodiment, it is possible to select a shelf antenna that can be accessed by the controllers 29 to 31 in accordance with the connection change of the switches Sa1 to Sa3, Sb1 to Sb3, and Sc1 to Sc3. Shelf antenna 25 depending on the number of rental videos on the antenna
When the communication times of the IDs 27 to 27 are different, the optimum combination is selected by selecting the shelf antennas 25 to 27 that can be accessed by the controllers 29 to 31, and all IDs are
The total time for reading tag information from the tag can be reduced.

(Third Embodiment) Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 7. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description will be omitted, and only different portions will be described. The third embodiment is characterized in that each of the shelf antennas 25 to 27 is accessed by a network.

In FIG. 7 schematically showing the overall configuration, antenna controllers (corresponding to network means) 41 to 43 are provided corresponding to the storage cases 21 to 23, and the storage cases 21 to 43 are provided by the antenna controllers 41 to 43. Twenty-three shelf antennas 25 to 27 are accessed. The antenna controllers 41 to 43
Has a built-in MPU, and forms a network with the host computer 33, the controllers 29 to 31, and other antenna controllers. In this case, the antenna controllers 41 to 43 correspond to the controllers 29 to 31.
When the command from the user is directed to the user, the tag information is read from the ID tag by accessing the shelf antennas 25 to 27 belonging to the user.

According to such an embodiment, the host computer 33 or the controllers 29 to 31 can be arbitrarily set to the shelf antennas 25 to 27 at any timing without changing the switch connection as in the second embodiment. , It is possible to construct a flexible system.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and a switch may be built in an antenna or a network function may be provided. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to rental videos but also to book management in bookstores and libraries, and to medical charts in hospitals.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a security operation of the host computer.

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1, showing a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing switching states of switches in each mode.

FIG. 5 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 in a high-speed scan mode.

FIG. 6 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 in a total scan mode.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1, showing a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 to 24 are storage cases, 25 to 28 are shelf antennas, 2
9 to 32 are controllers (reader / writers for ID tags),
33 is a host computer, and 41 to 43 are antenna controllers (network means).

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ID tag system comprising a plurality of ID tag reader / writers for reading tag information from an ID tag through a plurality of antennas, wherein a predetermined one of a plurality of antennas accessible by the predetermined ID tag reader / writer is provided. Is connected to form a predetermined management area with a predetermined antenna among a plurality of antennas that can be accessed by another ID tag reader / writer. The ID tag reader / writer is connected to the predetermined management area. An ID tag system, wherein when reading tag information from a located ID tag, the reading operation is simultaneously executed through an antenna belonging to the management area. 2. The ID tag system according to claim 1, further comprising connection means for selecting an antenna accessible by said ID tag reader / writer by changing a connection. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising network means for connecting the predetermined ID tag reader / writer via a network so that the antenna can be accessed by another ID tag reader / writer. 1. The ID tag system according to 1. 4. When the number of ID tags located in a predetermined management area among the ID tags communicated by the ID tag reader / writer according to claim 1 is different from the number of ID tags communicated last time. Is an ID tag system provided with a notifying means for notifying an abnormality.