JP2013163579A - Article management system - Google Patents

Abstract

An article management system capable of easily performing a failure diagnosis without a management tag attached to a managed article.
In an article management system for managing a managed article by a management tag attached to each managed article, an antenna arranged to read the managed tag and a diagnostic tag attached to the vicinity of the antenna. And a tag reader 1 that reads the management tag 5 and the diagnostic tag 3 while sequentially switching the antenna 2. The tag reader 1 also includes a transmission signal generation unit 11 that generates a transmission signal for reading the identification information of the diagnostic tag 3 via the antenna 2, and a diagnostic tag registration unit that registers in advance diagnostic tag information that associates the diagnostic tag 3 with the antenna 2. 13 and the antenna 2 to receive a response signal from the diagnosis tag 3 and compare the received response signal with the diagnosis tag information registered in the diagnosis tag registration unit 13, thereby preventing a system failure. A reception signal determination unit 12 for determination is included.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an article management system that manages articles using an RFID tag.

A non-contact type reader / writer system using an IC card or an IC tag is generally called an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) system and has been put into practical use in a traffic card system, an article management system, or the like.
In a general article management system, a management RFID tag (hereinafter referred to as a management tag) is attached to a managed article, a radio wave read from the antenna is radiated, and a response wave from the management tag received by the antenna is received. By determining, the presence / absence of a managed article is confirmed (see Patent Document 1). Further, in the conventional article management system, the presence / absence of a managed article is confirmed by a response wave from the management tag, and failure diagnosis of an antenna, a cable, and the like is performed.

JP 2011-111247 A

  However, in the conventional article management system, there is a problem that failure diagnosis cannot be performed by the system alone because a response wave from the management tag cannot be received when there is no managed article. Also, if there is only a response wave from the antenna, there is no response because there is no managed article to which the management tag is attached, or a response wave is received due to an antenna failure or a failure or deterioration of the cable connected to the antenna. Cannot determine whether it is not possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an article management system that can easily perform failure diagnosis by a single system even if there is no managed article.

  To achieve the above object, the article management system according to the present invention is arranged to read the management RFID tag in the system for managing the article by a management RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag attached to each article. At least one antenna, a diagnostic RFID tag attached to the vicinity of the antenna, and a tag reader that reads the management RFID tag and the diagnostic RFID tag while sequentially switching the antennas. Further, the tag reader registers in advance registration signal information for associating the diagnostic RFID tag and the antenna with transmission signal generation means for generating a transmission signal for reading the identification information of the diagnostic RFID tag via the antenna. And a response signal from the diagnostic RFID tag for the transmission signal via the antenna, and comparing the received response signal with the diagnostic tag information registered in the registration means. Receiving signal determining means for determining failure.

  According to the article management system of the present invention, it is possible to provide an article management system that can easily perform failure diagnosis with a single system even when there is no managed article.

The figure which shows the structural example of the article | item management system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows the function structure of the article | item management system shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the attachment position of a diagnostic tag. The figure which looked at the antenna shown in FIG. 3 from the perpendicular direction. The flowchart which shows the registration process of a diagnostic tag. The flowchart which shows the failure diagnosis process of a system.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an article management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an IC card reader 10 is disposed on the front door of the article management box 7. When the user holds a personal IC card (not shown) over the door, the IC card reader 10 reads the personal authentication ID embedded in the IC card and transmits it to the host computer 8 via the cable 60. The host computer 8 authenticates the unlocking / locking of the electronic lock 9 based on the personal authentication ID transmitted from the IC card reader 10.

  In the article management box 7, the managed articles 4 to which the management tags 5 are attached are stored. On the back surface of the article management box 7, an antenna 2 capable of reading the management tag 5 attached to the managed article 4 is arranged. Based on the ID of the management tag 5 read by the antenna 2, the host computer 8 manages the rental / return state of the managed article 4 and its time.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the article management system shown in FIG. The article management system includes an RFID reader 1, a plurality of antennas 21 to 2n, diagnostic RFID tags 31 to 3n, cables 61 to 6n, and a host computer 8. Hereinafter, the plurality of antennas 21 to 2n, the diagnostic RFID tags 31 to 3n, and the cables 61 to 6n are referred to as the antenna 2, the diagnostic tag 3, and the cable 6 unless particularly distinguished. The management RFID tag 5 is also simply referred to as the management tag 5.

The RFID reader 1 performs registration of the diagnostic tag 3 and system failure diagnosis according to instructions from the host computer 8. The RFID reader 1 includes a transmission signal generation unit 11, a reception signal determination unit 12, and a diagnostic tag registration unit 13.
The transmission signal generator 11 generates a transmission signal for reading the management tag 5 and the diagnostic tag 3. The transmission signal generated by the transmission signal generation unit 11 is output from the antenna 2.

  The reception signal determination unit 12 receives response signals from the management tag 5 and the diagnostic tag 3 for the transmission signal. The reception signal determination unit 12 determines which of the diagnosis tags 3 affixed in the vicinity of the antenna 2 has received a response, and determines failure of the antenna 2 and the cable 6 based on the response signal. In addition, the reception signal determination unit 12 identifies which antenna 2 and cable 6 the response signal of the diagnosis tag 3 is received through when the article management system is initially introduced, and connects the diagnosis tag 3 to the antenna 2 and the cable 6. The diagnostic tag information to be associated is transmitted to the diagnostic tag registration unit 13.

  The diagnosis tag registration unit 13 registers the diagnosis tag information transmitted from the reception signal determination unit 12 in a memory (not shown). By registering the diagnosis tag information, when the reception signal determination unit 12 receives the response signal from the diagnosis tag 3, it is understood through which antenna 2 and the cable 6 the response signal of the diagnosis tag 3 is transmitted. Can do.

  At least one antenna 2 is arranged in the article management system. The antenna 2 radiates the transmission signal generated by the transmission signal generation unit 11 of the RFID reader 1 as a transmission wave. Response waves (electromagnetic fields) from the management tag 5 and the diagnostic tag 3 that have arrived at the antenna 2 are sent to the reception signal determination unit 12 of the RFID reader 1 as reception signals. Note that a loop antenna or the like is used as the antenna 2.

  The diagnostic tag 3 and the management tag 5 include an IC (integrated circuit) and an antenna (not shown), obtain an induced electromotive force by an electromagnetic wave from the RFID reader 1, and send a response wave including its own ID number and the like to the antenna 2 and the cable 6 To the RFID reader 1. The diagnosis tag 3 is affixed to each of the plurality of antennas 21 to 2n, and the management tag 5 is affixed to the management article 4.

  In particular, the diagnostic tag 3 is attached at a position as shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 3, the diagnostic tag 3 is attached to a position of 5 to 10 mm in the X direction from the antenna 2 to the antenna of the diagnostic tag 3 and the Y direction is attached to the center of the antenna. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the diagnostic tag 3 is not attached in a direction perpendicular to the antenna 2. Thereby, the diagnosis tag 3 becomes a wall of the management tag 5 and prevents the management tag 5 from being unreadable. However, the attachment position of the diagnostic tag 3 shown in this embodiment is shown as an example.

  Further, in order to distinguish between the diagnostic tag 3 and the management tag 5, the RFID tag 1 reads the diagnostic tag 3 when the article management system is initially introduced, and the read information is registered in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13 as diagnostic tag information. By registering the diagnostic tag 3 in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13, it is possible to identify which antenna 2 is attached to the diagnostic tag 3.

The cable 6 exchanges signals between the RFID reader 1 and the antenna 2. Note that a LAN cable or the like is used as the cable 6.
The host computer 8 starts a program for registering the diagnostic tag 3 and a program for diagnosing a system failure, and issues an instruction to the RFID reader 1.

Next, the operation of the article management system configured as described above will be described.
(Diagnostic tag registration process)
First, processing for registering the diagnostic tag 3 attached near the antenna 2 in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13 of the RFID reader 1 before the system operation will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of registering the diagnostic tag 3 before system operation. As an example, a case where the diagnostic tag 31 shown in FIG. 2 is registered in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13 will be described.

  In FIG. 5, the host computer 8 activates a diagnostic tag registration program and issues an instruction to read the diagnostic tag to the RFID reader 1 before system operation (step S11). In response to an instruction from the host computer 8, the RFID reader 1 generates a transmission signal by the transmission signal generation unit 11, and outputs the generated transmission signal to the antenna 21 (step S12). The antenna 21 radiates the transmission signal acquired from the transmission signal generation unit 11 to the diagnostic tag 31 (step S13).

  The antenna 21 receives the response signal from the diagnostic tag 31 for the transmission signal, and transmits the response signal to the reception signal determination unit 12 (step S14). The received signal determination unit 12 registers information obtained from the response signal of the diagnostic tag 31 received by the antenna 21 in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13 as diagnostic tag information (step S15). The diagnostic tag information includes ID number information of the diagnostic tag 31, information on the antenna 21 and the cable 61 used when transmitting a response signal of the diagnostic tag 31, and the like. The diagnostic tag information indicates that the diagnostic tag 31 is affixed near the antenna 21, and the response signal of the diagnostic tag 31 is transmitted to the RFID reader 1 via the antenna 21 and the cable 61. Similarly, the other diagnostic tags 32 to 3n are registered in order.

(Failure diagnosis processing)
Next, failure diagnosis processing of the article management system will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of failure diagnosis of the article management system. As an example, a case where the antenna 21 or the cable 61 shown in FIG.
First, the host computer 8 activates a failure diagnosis program for the article management system and issues an instruction to the RFID reader 1 (step S21). In response to an instruction from the host computer 8, the RFID reader 1 generates a transmission signal by the transmission signal generation unit 11, and outputs the generated transmission signal to the antenna 21 (step S22). The antenna 21 radiates the transmission signal acquired from the transmission signal generation unit 11 to the diagnostic tag 31 (step S23).

  The reception signal determination unit 12 determines whether or not there is a response signal from the diagnostic tag 31 received via the antenna 21 and the cable 61 (step S24). If there is a response signal from the diagnostic tag 31, it is determined that there is no failure location (step S25a). If there is no response signal from the diagnostic tag 31, it is determined that there is a failure location, and the failure location is specified (step S25b, step S26). The failure location is specified by comparing the response signal from the diagnostic tag 31 received by the received signal determination unit 12 with the diagnostic tag information registered in advance in the diagnostic tag registration unit 13. In the case of this example, since there is no response signal from the diagnostic tag 31, it is possible to specify that the failure location is either the antenna 21 or the cable 61. Similarly, the other diagnosis tags 32 to 3n perform failure diagnosis in order.

  In step S25b, when it is determined that there is a failure location, that is, when it is determined that the article management system is not normally activated by the failure diagnosis of the system, the system operation is not shifted. The system failure diagnosis is performed at the time of system start-up, periodic system inspection, and abnormal system operation.

As described above, according to the above embodiment, the diagnosis tag 3 is always affixed in the vicinity of the antenna 2, so that even if there is no management article 5 to which the management tag 4 is affixed, failure diagnosis can be performed by the system alone. Can do.
In addition, since the diagnosis tag information is registered in the diagnosis tag registration unit 13, it is possible to identify the failure location of which antenna 2 or cable 6 has failed, and to isolate the failure factor.

Therefore, it is possible to provide an article management system that can easily perform a failure diagnosis without a management tag attached to the managed article.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... RFID reader, 21-2n ... Antenna, 31-3n ... Diagnostic RFID tag, 4 ... Management article, 5 ... Management RFID tag, 60, 61-6n ... Cable, 7 ... Article management box, 8 ... Host computer, 9 ... Electronic lock, 10 ... IC card reader.

Claims (1)

In an article management system for managing the article by a management RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag attached to each article,
At least one antenna arranged to read the management RFID tag;
A diagnostic RFID tag attached to each of the antennas;
A tag reader that reads the management RFID and the diagnostic RFID tag while sequentially switching the antennas,
The tag reader is
A transmission signal generating means for generating a transmission signal for reading identification information of the diagnostic RFID tag via the antenna;
Registration means for preregistering diagnostic tag information that associates the diagnostic RFID tag with the antenna;
A response signal from the diagnostic RFID tag to the transmission signal is received via the antenna, and a failure of the system is determined by comparing the received response signal with diagnostic tag information registered in the registration unit. And a received signal determination means.

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