JP2002319812A - Data carrier adhesion method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for surely and easily adhering an antenna of a data carrier to a proper position of an extended antenna area provided on an article transport medium. SOLUTION: In the method of adhering the data carrier capable of wireless communication by electrostatic coupling and having an IC chip and a couple of antennas to an article provided with a couple of extended antenna areas, a data carrier composite member where a couple of conductive connection areas are provided on a base sheet separately and a couple of the conductive connection areas are adhered to a couple of the antennas in an electrically conduction way is adhered to an article in a way that a couple of the conductive antenna areas and a couple of the conductive connection areas are electrically conducted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for attaching a data carrier having an IC chip and an antenna capable of wireless communication by electrostatic coupling onto an article. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of attaching an antenna of a data carrier to an extended antenna area formed on an article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A medium used for distribution of articles including fruits and vegetables, foods, cans, bottles, electric appliances, daily necessities, etc., packaging containers such as cardboard boxes, cardboard boxes, plastic containers, bags, and pallets. Plays an important role in protecting cargo during the transportation of goods.

[0003] As a means for displaying the identification information of the packaged goods (contents) and the distribution information required in the distribution process, a sign or a bar code is printed on the transportation medium, or a label is attached thereto. Has been put to practical use. However, such information is only read unilaterally, and cannot be changed. Further, the barcode is inconvenient in that a specific reading head performs a scanning operation in a specific direction.

In recent years, commuter passes and telephone cards have been integrated into ICs,
A method of attaching a data carrier, an IC card, or the like to a transport medium in order to exchange various information even in the distribution process of a packaged article or the like has been proposed.
250730, JP-A-11-278446, JP-A-11-321873, JP-A-2000-136022
No., etc. in each gazette. In each of these, a technology for reading and writing information from and to an IC in a non-contact manner is exemplified.

[0005] As a method of reading and writing data carrier information in a non-contact manner, a microwave method, an electromagnetic induction method, and an electrostatic coupling method are known. Of these, the microwave method requires a battery for the data carrier itself, and thus has a problem in application to a paper packaging box such as a cardboard box. The electromagnetic induction method can be used as a packaged thin card or label by embedding an IC and a metal coil (antenna) in plastics, and is suitable for a transportation card, a delivery slip, an identification tag, and the like.

However, in the electromagnetic induction system, a metal coil (antenna) is connected to the IC, the coil may be damaged by folding, the size and shape of the data carrier are limited, and the manufacturing process is complicated. It is not possible to use it as an application that attaches it one by one to a package such as a cardboard box.
Further, there is no document that discloses the technique.

Another method for reading and writing information such as data carriers in a non-contact manner is an electrostatic coupling method developed by Motorola and disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,018,299.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6091332 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 11-513518. A reader / writer device for reading and writing to and from a data carrier by an electrostatic coupling method is already commercially available from Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., and disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-153170. Further, in principle, JP-A-59-6078
No. 3 discloses an "IC card for exchanging information by an electrostatic coupling method".

On the other hand, an IC label to which a method of accessing a data carrier by an electrostatic coupling method can be applied is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-39060.

[0009]

A data carrier capable of wireless communication by electrostatic coupling comprises an IC chip and a pair of antennas. The size including the IC chip and the antenna is at most 2 cm square. Since the antenna section is smaller, when using data carriers, it is necessary to form an extended antenna area that can be coupled to the antenna section in order to improve reception sensitivity. This method is considered to be advantageous in that, for example, when the data carrier is mounted on an article such as a cardboard box or a pallet, the extended antenna area can be freely printed in any size or formed by coating.

However, it is not easy to electrically connect an extended antenna area formed on a large object such as a cardboard box or a pallet to a very small data carrier. The reason is that the structure of the device or the machine at the data reading position is various, the mounting position and posture of the antenna cannot be unified, and the mounting position and posture of the antenna and the like are limited. Moreover, objects are not always conveyed regularly and orderly by the conveyor. Therefore, it is difficult to control the position of attaching a small and precise electronic component such as a data carrier at an accurate position. In view of such problems of the prior art, the present invention provides
An object of the present invention is to propose a method of securely attaching an antenna of a data carrier to an extended antenna area provided on an article such as an article transport medium, easily and appropriately.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following constitution. That is, a first aspect of the present invention is to attach a data carrier having an IC chip and a pair of antennas and capable of wireless communication by electrostatic coupling to an article provided with a pair of extended antenna areas (A, B). In the method, a pair of conductive connection regions are provided so as to be separated on a base sheet, and the pair of conductive connection regions are joined so as to be electrically connected to the pair of antennas, respectively. Preparing a data carrier composite member, and then attaching the data carrier composite member to an article such that the pair of conductive antenna regions and the pair of conductive connection regions are electrically connected. This is a method for attaching a data carrier.

A second aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first aspect,
A method for attaching a data carrier, wherein the conductive connection region is formed of a conductive adhesive.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect,
The pair of conductive connection areas are non-adhesive areas, and the bonding between the pair of conductive connection areas and the pair of extended antenna areas is performed via a conductive adhesive. It is.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is directed to packaging containers such as cardboard boxes, cardboard boxes, plastic boxes and the like, and packages containing objects to be packaged in these containers. A cardboard box, which is one of the packaging containers, will be described as an example.

[0015] Corrugated sheet is a corrugator (lamination machine)
And a corrugated core between two liner base papers. That is,
In the single facer section of the corrugator, the corrugated cardboard sheet is formed into corrugated core paper by a corrugated roll, an adhesive is applied to the top of the corrugated paper, and laminated on the liner raw paper to produce a single-sided corrugated cardboard. In the facer portion, an adhesive is applied to the step top of the center of the single-sided cardboard, and the other liner base paper is bonded to the center. This corrugated cardboard sheet is cut into a predetermined shape and size, and a ruled line can be formed at this time.

A corrugated cardboard box is cut into a required size from a corrugated cardboard sheet, and cuts (slits) and folds (ruled lines) are formed to define a body and a flap. It is manufactured by gluing or joining the body with a flat metal wire using a stitcher. Until it is assembled and used, it is transported in a folded state. The folded state is also referred to as a “cardboard box” for convenience in the present invention.

In recent years, cardboard printing has been advanced in color, and the number of cardboards in which patterns are printed in color has been increasing. Printing of corrugated cardboard is most commonly performed by cutting or punching a corrugated corrugated cardboard sheet into a predetermined size and then flexographic printing on the sheet corrugated sheet. Also called pre-print,
There is also a method of pre-printing on the liner base paper before bonding, and in this method, a printing method can be used arbitrarily, but gravure printing or flexographic printing is common .

The cardboard box to which the present invention is directed is a box made of the above-mentioned commonly used cardboard sheet, and is various cardboard boxes such as so-called A-type boxes, wrap round boxes, and bliss boxes. Also, in addition to various types of cardboard such as A-stage, B-stage, C-stage, E-stage, and micro-flute classified according to the height of the stage, a cardboard box constituted by a triple-wall cardboard, a double-sided cardboard, and the like is also an object.

According to the present invention, a data carrier (FIG. 1) having an IC chip 2 and a pair of antennas 2 (a, b) and capable of wireless communication by an electrostatic coupling system is provided in an electrically separated manner. When affixing to the article 20 having the pair of extended antenna regions 4 (A, B), a pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are provided on the base sheet. A data carrier composite member 10 in which a pair of conductive connection regions are respectively electrically connected to the pair of antennas is prepared in advance, and then the pair of extended antenna regions and the pair of conductive connection regions are provided. The data carrier composite member 10 is connected to an article 20 such as a cardboard box so that
It is characterized in that it is adhered to. Extended antenna area 4
(A, B) is combined with the antenna 3 attached to the data carrier 1 to expand the antenna area, expand the communication distance, and further expand the degree of freedom of the positional relationship between the reader / writer and the cardboard box. Things.

The extended antenna area needs to be electrically conductive, so that the extended antenna area is formed by printing or applying a conductive paint or by separately applying a conductive sheet. As the conductive paint, a metal powder, a carbon powder, a conductive fiber, a conductive whisker, or the like dissolved or dispersed in a solvent together with a binder can be used.

As the solvent, water, alcohol, ketone,
Examples thereof include esters, aliphatic hydrocarbons, and aromatic hydrocarbons. As the binder, various synthetic resins that are usually used for paper and film coatings can be used. Examples of synthetic resins include styrene-butadiene copolymer,
Examples include an ethylene / vinyl acetate copolymer, a polyacrylate, an acrylate copolymer, and polyvinyl alcohol.

The extended antenna area 4 is formed as a pair by printing or coating a conductive paint on cardboard base paper (core base paper or liner base paper) or separately attaching a conductive sheet. Therefore, when forming the extended antenna area 4,
As shown in FIG. 9, for example, one cardboard box is provided at two places so as to be electrically separated, and the extended antenna area is provided at a position where it can be coupled to a pair of antennas of the data carrier. It is necessary.
Extended antenna area 4A away from data carrier
And 4B, the pair of antennas of the data carrier and the pair of extended antenna regions on the corrugated cardboard sheet may be electrically connected by another conductive member (for example, a conductive tape or the like).

When the extended antenna area is formed by printing, it can be printed by a known printing method such as flexographic printing, gravure printing, or offset printing using conductive ink. In the case of coating, gravure coater,
Coating can be performed by a known coating device such as a die coater, a roll coater, and a bar coater. In the case of sticking, the conductive sheet may be bonded using an adhesive. In this case, the conductive sheet may be in the form of an adhesive label.

Regardless of the method of sticking, printing, or coating, it is possible to stick, print, or coat the cardboard base paper before sticking. A method of printing on corrugated cardboard in advance is called a preprint method. In the case of preprint printing, the degree of freedom in selecting a printing method and printing pattern is high, and it is possible to print at an arbitrary position and an arbitrary shape on the cut cardboard sheet. In the case of coating with a coater, it is desirable to form an extended antenna region by forming two stripe-shaped coating regions in the flow direction of the cardboard base paper. This extended antenna area may itself be an achromatic or chromatic pattern.

When an extended antenna area is formed by printing on a cut cardboard sheet or cardboard base paper,
It is also possible to adopt an inkjet method using a conductive ink. The ink jet method is suitable for printing on a corrugated cardboard sheet after cutting from a cardboard base paper. In addition, a method such as a thermal transfer method or a hot melt method can be employed for printing the extended antenna area.

The extended antenna area may be provided on the center of the cardboard or on the surface of the double-sided cardboard liner that is to be bonded to the core. In any case, however, a special method of electrically connecting the extended antenna area and the antenna attached to the data carrier is required. Therefore, it is preferable to provide the extended antenna area on the liner that becomes the surface of the double-faced cardboard. Hereinafter, a mode in which the extended antenna area is provided on the liner side which is the surface of the double-faced cardboard will be described.

Although the layer thickness of the extended antenna region is not particularly limited, it is preferable that the extended antenna region has a thickness that does not impair the conductivity even if it is bent or rubbed, for example, 0.05 μm to 20 μm. The degree is preferred. In consideration of safety and economy, 1 μm to 10 μm is most preferable.
The electric resistance in the extended antenna area is JIS K-6911
The surface resistivity was measured in accordance with (1979) 10 ¹ -
It is 10 ⁸ Ω, and more preferably 10 ² to 10 ⁷ Ω. Similarly, the surface resistance of the other corrugated cardboard surface is 10 ⁹
Ω or more, particularly 10 ¹⁰ to 10 ¹⁴
Ω is preferred.

Considering the use of corrugated cardboard as waste paper, it is preferable to make the extended antenna area layer as thin as possible. Even if it is thin, in order to keep the surface resistance within the above range, the surface of the liner forming the extended antenna area is required. Is preferably at least 10 seconds by Beck's method, and more preferably 20 to 50 seconds. For the same reason, it is preferable to form the extended antenna region on the undercoat layer. The undercoat layer is formed by applying a water-based paint to the liner base paper. Examples of the paint include an aqueous solution or dispersion of a natural or synthetic polymer substance. For example, a starch aqueous solution, a polyvinyl alcohol aqueous solution, a synthetic resin aqueous emulsion, or the like is used. Further, a pigment may be mixed in the paint. When forming the liner base paper for forming the undercoat layer, size press coating or gate roll coating can be performed.

The protective layer provided for protecting the extended antenna area is formed by applying a paint after forming the extended antenna area. As the overcoat paint, the same one as the undercoat layer described above can be used, and so-called overprint varnish (hereinafter, referred to as OP varnish) can be used. Examples of the OP varnish include a penetration drying type varnish, an evaporation drying type varnish, an oxidation polymerization type varnish, a hot melt type varnish, an ionizing radiation type (ultraviolet ray, electron beam) curing type varnish, and the like.
Known ones can be used arbitrarily depending on the situation, and among them, an ionizing radiation type, in which the varnish layer dries quickly and the film strength is strong, and an ultraviolet curable type varnish is particularly preferable.

Before or after the formation of the extended antenna area, it is possible to perform normal pattern printing on the surface of the liner, but the pattern printing is preferably performed after the formation of the extended antenna area. It is more preferable to perform pattern printing so as to cover the pattern. But,
Since the extended antenna area needs to be electrically coupled with the conductive connection area of the data carrier composite member, it is necessary to avoid applying a protective layer to that part. Alternatively, it is also possible to form a protective layer over the entire surface after joining the extended antenna area and the data carrier antenna.

The data carrier used in the present invention and the data carrier composite member will now be described with reference to the drawings. First, the data carrier will be described. One data carrier can be schematically represented by reference numeral 1 in FIG. This device has an IC chip 2 for storing data in the center. As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of antennas 3 for inputting / outputting signals to / from the IC chip 2 and reading / writing data are formed on both sides so as to sandwich the IC chip 1. The data carrier 1 is configured to read and write data by inputting and outputting signals to and from the IC chip 2 via a reader / writer (not shown) by an electrostatic coupling method. This data carrier 1 is usually supplied in the form of a medium carrying the data carrier 1 on a roll of paper or plastic film called a carrier tape in industrial use. In the present invention, a medium having a data carrier and a conductive region on a base sheet is used instead of directly attaching the supplied data carrier to an article. In the present specification, this medium is hereinafter referred to as a data carrier composite member 10. Such a data carrier composite member may be a continuous tape as shown in FIG. 2 or a single-sheet label as shown in FIG. A specific configuration of the data carrier composite member will be described. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the data carrier composite member 10 is provided with a pair of electrically conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) that are electrically separated on the base sheet 11 or 12. Data carrier 1
Of the pair of antennas 3 (a, b) and the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are respectively joined with a conductive adhesive or a conductive adhesive.

The size of the conductive connection areas 13 (α, β) is determined by the extended antenna areas 4 A and 4 A provided on the article 20.
It is sufficient that the distance between the non-conductive portions 13γ is made slightly smaller than that of the data carrier 1. In this way, when the data carrier composite member 10 is adhered to the article, even if the position is slightly shifted, the data carrier composite member 10 may be surely electrically connected. For example, if the distance between the extended antenna areas 4A and 4B is 2 cm, the width of the conductive connection area of the data carrier composite member is 4 cm, and also 13α and 13β.
May be set to about 5 mm. Conductive connection area 13
(Α, β) can be formed by printing or applying a conductive paint or the like. Specifically, a method similar to the above-described method of forming the extended antenna area can be applied. This will be described later.

A specific mode of use of the data carrier composite member will be described. (1) A pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) is formed by printing or applying a conductive adhesive on the base sheet 11, and a portion between the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) is formed. , And a release paper 15 is pasted thereon. When used, the release paper is peeled off and adhered to the article. (FIG. 4) (2) In the above (1), the surface of the base sheet 11 on which the conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is not formed is set as the peelable layer 16,
In the form of a linerless adhesive label. (Fig. 5)

(3) A pair of conductive connection areas 13 (α, β) are formed by printing or applying a non-adhesive conductive paint on the base sheet 11, and the pair of conductive connection areas 1
3 (α, β), the data carrier is bonded with a conductive adhesive, and a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 17 is formed on at least a part of the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β). The release paper 15 is pasted, and when used, the release paper is peeled off and adhered to the article. (FIG. 6) (4) In the above (3), the surface of the base sheet 11 on which the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) is not formed is made peelable, and the form of the linerless adhesive label is changed. I do.
(FIG. 7)

(5) A pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are formed by printing or coating a conductive heat-sealing resin on the base sheet, and the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α) are formed. , Β), the data carrier is bonded and attached to the article by heat sealing in use. (6) A pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are formed by printing or coating a conductive paint on the base sheet, and the data carriers are formed on the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β). Are bonded by a conductive adhesive, and when used, are adhered to an article by a conductive hot melt agent.

In any case, after the data carrier composite member is attached to the article, the data carrier 1 is protected by the base sheet 11, which is an advantage of the method of the present invention. (See FIG. 9.) Therefore, it is preferable that the surface of the base sheet exposed on the surface is colored or printed, and is printed so that the presence of the data carrier can be recognized. Note that a non-conductive sheet such as paper or a plastic film is used as the base sheet.

If the article transport medium is made of a corrugated cardboard sheet, the data carrier can be rubbed during transportation by pressing the portion to which the data carrier is attached so that the vicinity including the data carrier is inserted into the corrugated cardboard sheet. Or
This is preferable because the risk of peeling is reduced.
Further, the pressing may be performed so that the entire area where the data carrier composite member is attached is dented.

[0038]

EXAMPLES <Example 1> (1) Preparation of conductive paint First, a conductive paint having the following formulation was obtained. [Conductive coating composition] Acrylic resin 100.0 parts by weight Conductive carbon black 21.0 parts by weight Dispersant 9.5 parts by weight Silicone defoamer 0.5 parts by weight Toluene 215.0 parts by weight Ethyl acetate 93. 0 parts by weight (2) Preparation by printing of the extended antenna area (A, B) Next, a liner base paper of 280 g / m ² (Oji NRK liner, surface Beck smoothness 20 seconds, surface resistivity 1 × 10
¹³ Ω: manufactured by Oji Paper Co., Ltd.), the above conductive paint was adjusted to a viscosity of 25 seconds / 25 ° C. (Ransha Zahn Cup No. 3) with an organic solvent, and then extended antenna area by gravure printing (175 mesh). 4 (A, B) was printed so that the dry coating amount was 10 g / m ^2, and the interval between AB was 2
cm. The surface resistivity of the extended antenna region is 1 × 10 ²
Ω. (3) Formation of corrugated cardboard box The above-mentioned liner base paper on which the conductive antenna area was formed was used as a liner on one side, and the core base paper (SAM: 125 g / m ²⁾ was used.
Using the same liner base paper as above without forming a printed antenna area as the other liner,
A corrugator was attached by a conventional method to obtain a cardboard sheet having one extended antenna area 4 (A, B). Further, the sheet was punched into a predetermined shape by a box making machine to obtain a blank sheet of the cardboard box 20. See FIG. 8 for the print pattern.

(4) Formation of Data Carrier Composite Member Next, on a band-shaped kraft paper having a width of 6 cm, as shown in FIG. A conductive adhesive containing 23% by weight of carbon particles is applied and dried to form a conductive connection region 13 (α,
A conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive tape having β) was prepared. The center of the band-shaped kraft paper is an uncoated area 13γ having a width of 8 mm. In this central part, a 1.5 cm-wide electrostatically-coupled data carrier 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is arranged, and a pair of antennas 3 (a, 3a) of the data carrier 1 are disposed in the conductive connection regions 13 (α, β). The data carrier composite member 10 was prepared in such a manner that b) was joined. (5) Adhesion of data carrier composite member The data carrier composite member 10 obtained in the above (4) is
It is cut by the number of sheets and attached so that the extended antenna area 4 (A, B) provided on the corrugated cardboard sheet 20 manufactured in the above (1) to (3) and the conductive connection area 13 (α, β) are conducted. did.

The present invention is intended mainly for packaging containers such as cardboard boxes, cardboard boxes, and plastic boxes, as well as for transport media including packages or pallets for transporting articles in these containers. , And can be applied to other articles.

[0041]

The data carrier to which the present invention is directed, that is, a data carrier having an IC chip and a pair of antennas 3 (a, b) and supplied with information and power from radio waves by an electrostatic coupling method, Generally 1.5cm in size
Angle, thickness about 0.2mm or smaller,
The antenna has an area of, for example, less than 30 mm ² .
It is extremely difficult to accurately couple such a position to an antenna area printed on a cardboard or the like. By using the data carrier composite member of the present invention, the present invention enables the data carrier antenna to be easily and reliably attached to an extended antenna area provided on an article such as an article transport medium at an appropriate position. Therefore, it is extremely useful industrially.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration of a data carrier.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of forming a wound data carrier composite member.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of forming a single-wafer label type data carrier composite member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a data carrier composite member.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a data carrier composite member.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a data carrier composite member.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a data carrier composite member.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a cardboard on which a pair of extended antenna areas are printed.

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view in which a data carrier composite member is attached to a cardboard on which an extended antenna area is printed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Data carrier 2 IC chip 3 Antenna 4 Extended antenna area 10 Data carrier composite member 11, 12 Base material sheet 20 Cardboard box (article)

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06K 19/077 H01Q 9/16 H01P 11/00 B65G 61/00 526 H01Q 9/16 G06K 19/00 H // B65G 61 / 00 526 K (72) Inventor Yasutake Fujiki 27, Hirade Industrial Park, Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Pref., Oji Paper Co., Ltd. LA09 NA20 5B035 BB09 CA23 5J046 AA07 AA09 AA10 AB07 PA07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An IC chip 2 and a pair of antennas 3 (a,
b), wherein the data carrier 1 capable of wireless communication by electrostatic coupling is attached to an article provided with a pair of extended antenna areas 4 (A, B). A data carrier composite in which the conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are provided so as to be separated from each other, and the pair of conductive connection regions are joined so as to be electrically connected to the pair of antennas. A member is prepared. Then, the data carrier composite member is formed into an article such that the pair of extended antenna regions 4 (A, B) and the pair of conductive connection regions 13 (α, β) are electrically connected to each other. A method for attaching a data carrier, which comprises attaching. 2. The data carrier sticking method according to claim 1, wherein the conductive connection region is formed of a conductive adhesive. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the pair of conductive connection regions is a non-adhesive region, and the bonding between the pair of conductive connection regions and the conductive antenna region is performed via a conductive adhesive. The described data carrier attachment method.