JP2008159014A - Managed article, game system, terminal device, and program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] To write information on the surface of a product and its packaging without damaging the design beauty.
An article to be managed, characterized in that a code string representing its management information is written as an invisible watermark on the surface of the packaging material covering itself or itself. According to such a configuration, the underlying portion is recognized by the naked eye as it is, but the invisible watermark itself superimposed on it is not recognized by the naked eye. For this reason, even if the invisible watermark of the JAN code is overlaid on the part where the name of the product itself, photo, quality assurance display, etc. are written, the part will not be difficult to see, and the surface design of the product etc. The beautiful beauty is not impaired.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a managed article, a game system, a terminal device, and a program thereof.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been widely used to read a code written on an article packaging or the like by an optical device and use the read code for various data processing. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system that optically reads a JAN code unique to a product and performs marketing analysis through collation between the JAN code and the recorded content of a product database.

Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a system in which distribution of a problem to be performed by a child and collection and evaluation of the response are made efficient by managing the problem and the response according to a predetermined code system.
JP 09-212745 A JP 06-051688 A

  However, in the case of the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, each product or part of its packaging must be secured as an area for writing a code, and the area includes other information such as the name of the product and its description. There is a problem that cannot be written. Further, when a management code such as a JAN code is written on a product or a part of its packaging, there is a problem that the beauty of the design is also lost.

  Further, in the case of the system disclosed in Patent Document 2, the process of presenting a problem to a child and collecting the answer is merely automated, and does not provide an opportunity for learning that attracts more interest from the child.

  The present invention has been devised under such a background, and its purpose is to allow a management code to be written on its surface without impairing the design beauty of the product or its packaging. To provide a mechanism.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for providing learning opportunities and games that attract more interest from children and the like.

  The managed article which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that information on itself is written as an invisible watermark on the surface of the packaging material covering itself or itself.

  In this aspect, the information may be a code string representing its own management information, and the invisible watermarks of a plurality of the code strings may be continuously written on the surface.

  The code string may be a code string representing the management information in accordance with a JAN (Japanese Article Number) code system.

  In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a game system is provided with a predetermined game by attaching a sheet on which an invisible watermark is written to a real estate such as a house or a movable property such as a car and decoding the invisible watermark. It is characterized by making it.

  A terminal device according to a preferred aspect of the present invention includes an imaging unit that images a subject and acquires the image data, and analyzes the acquired image data, and whether or not the image data includes an invisible watermark. A message indicating that a character string obtained from the invisible watermark or an invisible watermark is included when the analyzing means determines that the image data includes an invisible watermark. And display means for displaying.

  According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a program analyzes the acquired image data in a control unit of a computer apparatus having an imaging unit that images a subject and acquires the image data and a display unit that displays information. And an analysis function for determining whether or not the image data includes an invisible watermark, and the analysis function determines that the image data includes an invisible watermark. And a display control function for displaying a message indicating that a character string or an invisible watermark is included on the display means.

  According to the present invention, a management code can be written on the surface of a product or its packaging without impairing the design beauty of the product or its packaging.

  In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a learning opportunity that attracts more interest from children and the like.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  The feature of this embodiment is that each product displayed in a store or their packaging (hereinafter collectively referred to as “product etc.”) conforms to the JAN (Japanese Article Number) logistics recognition code system. Each code (hereinafter, this code is simply referred to as “JAN code”) is described as an invisible watermark. Note that the product or the like corresponds to “managed article” in the claims.

  A watermark is called a digital watermark. An invisible watermark cannot be recognized with the naked eye, but its contents can be judged (recognized) through a specific detector.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a POS (Point Of Sales system) system according to the present embodiment. This system is installed in stores displaying various products. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes a plurality of barcode readers (corresponding to a part of “terminal device”) 10, a plurality of POS terminal devices (corresponding to a part of “terminal device”) 20, and POS management. A server device 40 is provided. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 1 shows one barcode reader 10 and one POS terminal device 20. One pair of the barcode reader 10 and the POS terminal device 20 are provided at the product purchase counter in the store. On the other hand, one POS management server device 40 is provided in the backyard of the store.

  The barcode reader 10 includes a scanner 11 (corresponding to “imaging means”), an RS232C interface 12, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 13, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 14, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 15. The scanner 11 includes a laser diode, a condenser, a light receiving element, and the like. This scanner 11 irradiates light from a laser diode toward a product to be read, and acquires image data by photoelectrically converting the reflected light by a light receiving element. That is, a product or the like is imaged and image data of the surface is acquired. The barcode reader 10 is a device that can read an invisible watermark printed on a product or the like.

  The ROM 13 stores a scanner control program 16 for controlling the scanner 11. The RAM 14 provides a work area to the CPU 15 and stores image data acquired by the scanner 11. The CPU 15 controls the entire apparatus by executing the program in the ROM 13 while using the RAM 14 as a work area. The RS232C interface 12 is connected to an RS232C interface 21 (described later) of the POS terminal device 20 via a cable. When the image data is stored in the RAM 14, the CPU 15 reads the image data from the RAM 14 and transmits it from the RS232C interface 12 to the POS terminal device 20.

  The POS terminal device 20 totals the purchase price of the product based on the contents read by the barcode reader 10, and deposits and writes the total purchase price. The POS terminal device 20 includes an RS232C interface 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a CPU 24 (corresponding to “analysis means”), a touch key 25, a liquid crystal display 26 (corresponding to “display means”), a receipt printer 27, a drawer 28, an I / O. An O (input / output) port 29 is provided.

  The ROM 22 stores an analysis program 30 for analyzing image data and extracting an invisible watermark, and a device control program 31 for controlling operations of the liquid crystal display 26, the receipt printer 27, the drawer 28, and the like. The ROM 22 stores a database 32 in which JAN codes of various products and their management information are associated with each other. The product management information includes information such as the product name and retail price. The RAM 23 provides a work area to the CPU 24 and stores image data input from the RS232C interface 21. The CPU 24 controls the entire apparatus by executing the program in the ROM 22 while using the RAM 23 as a work area.

  The touch key 25 includes various keys such as a numeric keypad and a tightening key. The liquid crystal display 26 displays a subtotal amount or change when the purchase price is settled. The receipt printer 27 issues a receipt in which the product name, the product unit price, the total price, etc. of the purchased product are recorded. The drawer 28 stores banknotes, money, and the like and is opened when money is exchanged.

  When an operator of a product purchase counter scans a product or the like with the barcode reader 10 and image data obtained by the scan is transmitted from the barcode reader 10 to the POS terminal device 20 and stored in the RAM 23, the CPU 24 Extract invisible watermarks from the data. Further, management information corresponding to the JAN code indicated by the extracted invisible watermark is acquired from the database 32 of the ROM 22 and stored in the RAM 23. Further, the retail price included in the management information is added to the subtotal amount in another area of the RAM 23. The above operation is repeated each time the operator causes the barcode reader 10 to scan a product or the like.

  When the operator touches the tightening key, the subtotal is displayed on the liquid crystal display 26. Then, when the operator receives the price from the customer and inputs the amount using the numeric keypad, the CPU 24 opens the drawer 28, and the price and change are exchanged. Then, the CPU 24 issues a receipt on which the subtotal amount is written from the receipt printer 27. Further, the CPU 24 transmits a series of management information stored in the RAM 23 from the I / O (input / output) port 29 to the POS management server device 40.

  Here, the JAN code written on the product etc. will be described in detail. This JAN code is repeatedly written as an invisible watermark over the entire surface of the product or the like. An invisible watermark is formed by converting an image obtained by superimposing a series of JAN codes over the entire surface of the background (in this embodiment, the surface of a product, etc.) according to a stenographic encoding algorithm. The

  When an image converted according to this steganographic encoding algorithm is written on the surface of a product or the like, the underlying portion is recognized by the naked eye as it is, but the invisible watermark itself superimposed on it is not recognized by the naked eye. For this reason, even if the invisible watermark of the JAN code is superimposed on the part where the name of the product itself, photo, quality assurance display, etc. are written, the part will not be difficult to see, and the surface design of the product etc. The beauty is not lost.

  In addition, since the invisible watermark of the JAN code is superimposed on the entire surface of the product etc., the invisible watermark of the JAN code can be extracted regardless of the direction in which the barcode reader 10 is applied to scan the product etc. .

  The POS management server device 40 includes a ROM 41, a RAM 42, a CPU 43, an I / O port 44, and a hard disk 45. The ROM 41 stores a tabulation program 46 that tabulates sales status based on management information transmitted from each POS terminal device 20. The RAM 42 provides a work area to the CPU 43. The CPU 43 controls the entire apparatus by executing the program in the ROM 41 while using the RAM 42 as a work area. Management information transmitted from each POS terminal device 20 is sequentially stored in the hard disk 45 together with the sales status totaled based on the management information.

  In the present embodiment described above, the JAN code is written as an invisible watermark that cannot be recognized by the human naked eye on products that are managed articles in stores. Therefore, it is possible to embed a JAN code, which is information indispensable for specifying management information of each product, on the surface of the product or the like without impairing the design beauty of the surface of the product or the like. The invisible watermark is repeatedly written over the entire surface of the product or the like. Therefore, the operator can recognize the JAN code only by placing the barcode reader 10 on any part of the surface of the product or the like without searching for the barcode printing position as in the prior art.

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the mobile phone terminal 50 (corresponding to “terminal device” in the claims) according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile phone terminal 50 includes a liquid crystal display 51 (corresponding to “display means” in the claims), an input key 52, a wireless communication unit 53, and a camera 54 (corresponding to “imaging means” in the claims). ), An I / O port 55, a CPU 56 (corresponding to “control section” and “analysis means” in the claims), a RAM 57, and an EEPROM (Electronically Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) 58.

  The liquid crystal display 51 includes a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) type liquid crystal device. The input key 52 has various keys such as a numeric keypad and a cursor key. The wireless communication unit 53 includes a changeover switch, a PLL (Phase Locked Loop), a modulation / demodulation circuit, a channel link control circuit, and the like, and exchanges wireless signals with a base station according to a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) communication protocol. To do.

  The camera 54 has a lens and an image sensor. The image sensor is a photoelectric conversion sensor using CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). This image sensor acquires image data of a subject by photoelectrically converting the amount of light received by the light collected on the lens.

  The CPU 56 executes each program in the EEPROM 58 while using the RAM 57 as a work area. The EEPROM 58 stores a communication control program 59, a display control program 60, a camera control program 61, and an analysis program 62.

  The communication control program 59 causes a packet addressed to a node on the mobile packet communication network or the Internet to be transmitted as a radio signal from the radio communication unit 53, and restores a packet addressed to the terminal from the radio signal received by the radio communication unit 53. It is a program for. The display control program 60 is a program for controlling the liquid crystal display 51. The camera control program 61 is a program for controlling imaging of a subject by the camera 54 and writing of image data obtained by the imaging to the RAM 57.

  The analysis program 62 is a program for extracting an invisible watermark from image data written in the RAM 57. When the image data obtained by the camera 54 capturing an image of the subject is stored in the RAM 57, the CPU 56 analyzes the stored image data to determine whether or not the invisible watermark is included in the image data. . If it is determined that an invisible watermark is included, a message indicating that is displayed on the liquid crystal display 51.

  Next, the characteristic operation of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a characteristic operation of the present embodiment. The operation shown in FIG. 3 is executed when the mobile phone terminal 50 is used as a support tool for children's extracurricular classes. In this extracurricular lesson, a plurality of sheets on which predetermined information is recorded as invisible watermarks are pasted in the classroom (for example, school yard or gymnasium). Similar to the first embodiment, the invisible watermark is formed by converting an image in which predetermined information is superimposed on a sheet according to a stenographic encoding algorithm. Further, it is desirable that the sheet itself has the same color as the wall to be attached so that it cannot be recognized at first glance that it is stretched. Then, each child carrying the mobile phone terminal 50 is caused to search for the position where the sheet is attached by using each mobile phone terminal 50.

  Children carrying the mobile phone terminal 50 and wandering around the venue bring their mobile phone terminal 50 closer to the spot where the sheet with the invisible watermark is affixed. Press the shutter key. When the shutter key is pressed (S100), the CPU 56 causes the camera 54 to image the subject (S110). Then, image data obtained as a result of the imaging is stored in the RAM 57.

  When the image data is stored in the RAM 57, the CPU 56 analyzes the image data to determine whether or not an invisible watermark is included (S120). The CPU 56 that has determined that the invisible watermark is not included in step S120 returns to step S100 and waits for the shutter key to be pressed again. On the other hand, the CPU 56 that has determined that the invisible watermark is included in step S120 displays a message indicating that the invisible watermark is included on the liquid crystal display 51 (S130), and then returns to step S100.

  In the present embodiment described above, when an arbitrary place in the extracurricular class site is imaged by the mobile phone terminal 50, the image data obtained by the imaging is analyzed to determine whether or not an invisible watermark is included. . If it is determined that an invisible watermark is included, a message to that effect is displayed on the liquid crystal display 51. Therefore, it is possible to provide learning opportunities that attract more interest to children participating in extracurricular learning.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can be modified in various ways.

  In the first embodiment, the present invention is introduced in a store provided with displayed products and a product purchase counter. On the other hand, you may introduce this invention in the store which provides various services, such as a restaurant. For example, a payment counter at a family restaurant is generally provided with a menu in which a picture of each food to be provided and a code for specifying management information of each of the dishes is provided. At the time of payment, the subtotal amount of the price is calculated by sequentially reading the codes of the food and drinks eaten by the customer with a barcode reader. On the other hand, when the present invention is introduced, a menu in which the code of each product is written as an invisible watermark is prepared instead so as to overlap the photograph of each product. In this way, it is not necessary to secure a space for writing a code on the menu, and a wider space for placing a photograph of the product can be secured.

  In the first embodiment, when the CPU 24 of the POS terminal device 20 extracts an invisible watermark from image data such as a product, management information corresponding to the JAN code indicated by the invisible watermark is acquired from the database 32 of the ROM 22, and A subtotal amount of the retail price included in the management information is displayed on the liquid crystal display 26. On the other hand, the JAN code itself indicated by the extracted invisible watermark may be displayed on the liquid crystal display 26 together. Further, the management information corresponding to the extracted JAN code and the retail price included in the management information may be displayed on the liquid crystal display 26. Also, UPC (Universal Product Code) code, EAN (Europian Article Number) code, GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) code, ITF (Interleaved Two of Five) code, standard logistics code (JIS-X-0502), CODE39, NW Other codes such as -7 code, CODE128, and EAN-128 code may be affixed to products as invisible watermarks. In addition to the product code, information such as a business partner code, a GLN (Global Location Number) code, company information, product information, producer information, and product distribution information may be written as an invisible watermark.

  In the second embodiment, when the mobile phone terminal 50 determines that an invisible watermark is included in the image data obtained by imaging, a message indicating that is displayed on the liquid crystal display 51. . On the other hand, a character string such as “Congratulations. One treasure was found” is recorded on the sheet as an invisible watermark, and when the sheet is imaged by the mobile phone terminal 50, it is extracted from the image data. The character string itself indicated by the invisible watermark may be displayed on the liquid crystal display 51. Moreover, you may stick an invisible watermark not to a sheet | seat but to specific goods like 1st Embodiment. In addition, a game may be provided in which the contents of the invisible watermark are provided to the child as a problem and the next stage cannot be advanced unless the correct answer to the problem is input via the input key 52. In this game, it is better to compete for a total result of how many invisible watermarks can be searched and how many correct answers to the problem obtained from the invisible watermark. Moreover, such a game does not need to be aimed at children, and can be applied to a game for adults such as orienteering who carries a map and searches for a target object.

  In the first embodiment, the JAN code is written on the product as an invisible watermark, but the invisible watermark may be written on a metal portion of the product. Recording of an invisible watermark on metal can be performed using UV (ultra violet ray) printing, laser marking, or the like. UV printing is a recording technique using UV ink that has the property of being cured and dried when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Laser marking is a recording technique in which a metal is irradiated with a YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) laser or CO2 laser to cut the surface. According to the inventors, it has been confirmed that invisible watermarks recorded on metal by laser marking have better sensitivity for reading with a mobile phone camera than invisible watermarks recorded on metal by UV printing. ing. In addition, it has been confirmed that a mark having a check digit such as a QR code is extremely vulnerable to dirt (cannot be read if it is dirty), but an invisible watermark is extremely resistant to dirt. Further, the metal for recording the invisible watermark may reflect light irradiated on the surface thereof. Since the metal with a mirror-finished surface reflects light, the QR code written on the surface is often unreadable, but when an invisible watermark is recorded on such a mirror-finished metal surface The inventors have confirmed that the sensitivity of reading by a mobile phone camera is still good.

  If the product is manufactured through a process such as mold forming using a press machine, the product with the invisible watermark engraved on the press machine is pressed into a metal. The recording of the invisible watermark on the surface may be performed simultaneously. When the object to be recorded is not a metal but a resin material, the molding of the product and the recording of the invisible watermark can be performed simultaneously by injecting the resin material into the mold in which the invisible watermark is formed. . When performing press processing on metal materials, the press machine inserts a metal plate between two dies and applies pressure in a direction to bring both dies closer together, thereby processing the outer edge of the metal into the desired shape. To do. Therefore, if an invisible watermark is engraved on one or both surfaces of these molds, the invisible watermark is transferred as irregularities on the surface of the metal plate when pressure is applied. When conceptually showing the method of manufacturing a managed article according to this modification, "by putting a metal material or a resin material in a mold in which an invisible watermark indicating information is engraved, applying pressure or solidifying by cooling, And a process for obtaining an article having an invisible watermark indicating the above-mentioned information on the surface and having a shape corresponding to the internal shape of the mold. According to the inventors, even when an invisible watermark indicating management information related to the mold is written on the mold used for mold molding, it has been confirmed that the sensitivity of reading by the mobile phone camera is still good. . The inventors have made a cellular phone for both the invisible watermark of the management information relating to the mold that has been photo-printed on the surface of the mold itself and the transparent film on which the invisible watermark has been recorded attached to the surface of the mold. I tried reading with a camera. In both cases, it was confirmed that the reading sensitivity was extremely good.

  A symbol mark may be written on the surface of the product or its packaging, and information such as a management number may be written as an invisible watermark on the symbol mark. For example, a symbol mark having a content that promotes prevention of drinking by minors may be written on the surface of packaging of alcoholic beverages such as beer, and an invisible watermark such as a JAN code may be written thereon. The content of this modification is conceptually described as follows: “A mark of a color different from the color of the surface is marked on the surface of the packaging material covering itself or on itself, and information about itself is displayed on the mark as an invisible watermark. The article to be managed is characterized by being described. Further, the invisible watermark written on the symbol mark does not need to indicate information related to the product itself.

1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a POS system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a hardware block diagram of the mobile telephone terminal concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the characteristic operation | movement of 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Barcode reader, 11 ... Scanner (equivalent to imaging means), 12, 21 ... RS232C interface, 12, 22, 41 ... ROM, 14, 23, 42, 57 ... RAM, 15, 24, 43, 56 ... CPU (Corresponding to analysis means), 16 ... scanner control program, 20 ... POS terminal device, 25 ... touch key, 26 ... liquid crystal display (corresponding to display means), 27 ... receipt printer, 28 ... drawer, 29, 44, 55 ... I / O port, 30 ... analysis program, 31 ... device control program, 32 ... database, 40 ... POS management server device, 45 ... hard disk, 46 ... total program, 50 ... cell phone terminal (corresponding to terminal device), 52 ... Input key 53 ... Wireless communication unit 54 ... Camera 59 ... Communication control program 60 ... Display control Program, 61 ... camera control program, 62 ... analysis program,

Claims (6)

Information about itself is marked as an invisible watermark on the surface of the packaging material covering itself or itself,
Managed article characterized by the above. The information is a code string representing its own management information, and the invisible watermark of a plurality of the code strings is written continuously to the surface,
The managed article according to claim 1. The code string is
The management information
A code string expressed according to the code system of JAN (Japanese Article Number) code.
The managed article according to claim 2, wherein: Affixing a sheet with an invisible watermark to real estate such as a house or movable property such as a car, and then deciphering the invisible watermark to establish a predetermined game.
A game system characterized by that. Imaging means for imaging a subject and acquiring the image data;
Analysis means for analyzing the acquired image data and determining whether or not the image data includes an invisible watermark;
When the analysis means determines that the image data includes an invisible watermark, a display means for displaying a character string obtained from the invisible watermark or a message indicating that the invisible watermark is included;
A terminal device comprising: In a control unit of a computer device having an imaging unit that captures an image of a subject and acquires image data and a display unit that displays information,
An analysis function for analyzing the acquired image data and determining whether or not the image data includes an invisible watermark;
When the analysis function determines that the image data includes an invisible watermark, a character string obtained from the invisible watermark or a message indicating that the invisible watermark is included is displayed on the display means. Display control function to display,
A program that realizes

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