JP2016219019A - In-store location information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an in-store location information management system in which the in-store position of in-store persons such as customers holding the shopping bags disposed of transmitters and employees holding the transmitters can easily be grasped in a short time, and electric power consumption is adjusted to be reduced in the entire.SOLUTION: An in-store location information management system has transmitters each having a function as a slave in the BLE communication and a reader having the function as a master. Respective transmitters are held by in-store persons, respectively, or are disposed in the shopping bags held by the in-store persons. The reader is disposed in a commodity showcase, etc., and acquires the unique information and the information of a distance between the reader and a first transmitter about a first transmitter corresponding to a broadcast signal received, respectively. A decision is made that a first in-store person with the first transmitter or a second in-store person with a commodity storage container disposed of the first transmitter is located in a predetermined area.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for grasping the position and behavior of a customer or employee located in a store in the distribution business or the like (hereinafter may be collectively referred to as “store resident”), and in particular, using wireless communication. The present invention relates to a technology effective when applied to an in-store location information management system using an automatic recognition technology.

  For example, in inventory management of furniture, fixtures, products, etc., inventory management in warehouses, entry / exit management, document management of documents, etc. In order to actually grasp, conventionally, the target article is confirmed by visual inspection and collated with a list of articles. However, there are cases where the target article is placed in a cabinet or in a place behind the storage shelf, and the load of manual inspection is very high. Moreover, the work load at the time of collating the articles | goods grasped | ascertained by eye check with a list | wrist is high.

  In order to reduce these workloads, in recent years, for example, an article using an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifier) tag, an IC tag (hereinafter, sometimes collectively referred to as “RFID tag”), a barcode, or the like is used. Automatic recognition technology has been used.

  For example, in Japanese Patent No. 3643111 (Patent Document 1), a location IC tag provided in each management area and storing each management area information, and provided in each asset, each asset specific information and asset location information An asset management system including an asset IC tag that stores information, an asset database device in which asset specific information and asset location information are registered for each asset, and a mobile communication terminal is described. As a result, the mobile communication terminal reads and displays various stored information from the location IC tag and the asset IC tag in a non-contact state according to the operation instruction, and acquires the registration information of the target asset from the asset database device via wireless communication. Can be displayed.

  Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-60042 (Patent Document 2) discloses an RFID in which an output value of a transmission parameter of an RFID reader is set outside the area when information of an RFID tag outside the area is read by the RFID reader. An asset management system comprising a parameter adjustment unit that is set to be intermediate between a first output value at which information from a tag cannot be read and a second output value at which information from an RFID tag arranged in the area cannot be read. Have been described. As a result, it is said that the RFID reader transmission parameters can be automatically adjusted when information on RFID tags outside the area that is not originally required to be read is read.

Japanese Patent No. 3643111 JP 2011-60042 A

  For example, by using a technique such as that described in Patent Document 1, information on the target article can be acquired by reading an RFID tag, and the load of eye check can be reduced. Moreover, it can collate with the registration information of a database automatically based on the acquired information, and can reduce the collation work load. However, in order to read the RFID tag attached to the target article, etc., it is necessary to actually go to the location of the target article and hold the reader device, and the work load required for searching for the article and recognizing unique information Is not much different from manual inspection.

  On the other hand, in order to be able to read all the RFID tags existing in a predetermined area at once, it is necessary to take measures such as increasing the radio wave output of the reader device. As a result, in order to read RFID tags in a nearby place However, power consumption is wasted, such as using high output radio waves. On the other hand, for example, in the technique described in Patent Document 2, the reading error is reduced by adjusting the radio wave output of the reader device so that only the target RFID tag existing in the area can be read. In addition, the power consumption can be improved. However, there are various places and situations for the articles to which the RFID tags are attached, and optimization is limited only by adjusting the radio wave output on the reader device side.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to easily and quickly grasp the location of a customer who holds a shopping basket or the like in which a transmitting device that performs wireless communication is arranged, or a store occupant such as an employee who holds the transmitting device in a store. An object of the present invention is to provide an in-store location information management system that can be performed in time and can be adjusted to reduce overall power consumption.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in this application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  An in-store location information management system according to a representative embodiment of the present invention uses BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) communication to grasp the locations of customers and employees in a store. The in-store location information management system includes one or more transmission devices having a function as a slave in BLE communication, and a reader device having a function as a master in BLE communication. Respectively held by the store resident or placed in a product storage container held by the store resident, the reader device is placed in a fixture for displaying the product and corresponds to the received one or more broadcast signals Each of the first transmission device that performs the broadcast and the unique information and the information on the distance between the reader device and the first transmission device. The first store resident who acquires the information which specifies the 1st transmission device based on the specific information, acquires the information specifying the first transmission device, and holds the first transmission device, or the first transmission device It is determined that the second store resident holding the product storage container in which the is placed is located in a predetermined area.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  That is, according to a typical embodiment of the present invention, a customer who holds a shopping basket or the like in which a transmitting device that performs wireless communication is arranged, a store of an occupant such as an employee who holds the transmitting device, etc. As a result, it is possible to easily grasp the position in the short time, and to adjust so as to reduce the overall power consumption.

It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the structural example of the article | item management system which is one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example which changes the operation content of the BLE communication part in one embodiment of this invention dynamically. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example at the time of incorporating a transmission device in the storage container in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example in the case of performing goods storage / exit management and loss monitoring in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example in the case of performing loss monitoring of the articles | goods which an individual owns in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example in the case of specifying the location of the portable terminal in one embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

  The article management system according to an embodiment of the present invention requires, for example, inspection of the location of an article in a communicable range by using wireless communication technology in article management work such as inventory management of goods and loss management. It is a system that enables automatic recognition without any problems. In this embodiment, as will be described later, a transmission device attached to each article using BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy), which is a short-range wireless communication technology with extremely low power consumption that has been spreading in recent years. The reader device (master) receives a signal that is always broadcast by the (slave) and communicates to recognize the unique information of the transmitting device and identify the corresponding article.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of an article management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The article management system 1 includes, for example, a transmission device 10 attached to one or more articles 30 to be managed in an article management task such as inventory, and a portable terminal 20 as a reader device.

  The transmission device 10 is a device that becomes a slave in communication in BLE, and includes, for example, each unit such as a sensor 11 that includes a hardware module designed by an integrated circuit, a microcomputer, and the like, a control unit 12, and a BLE communication unit 13. . Further, the data of the setting information 14 is held in a nonvolatile memory or the like. It is assumed that a battery (not shown) for operating each of the above parts is also incorporated. Battery replacement may be unnecessary by using a solar battery module instead of the built-in battery. For example, the transmitting device 10 is configured as a small device that is large enough to be placed on a palm formed of resin or the like so as to incorporate the above-described components.

  The sensor 11 acquires external information and environmental information that can characterize the location of the article 30 to which the transmitting device 10 is attached, such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor, an optical sensor, an acceleration sensor, and a temperature sensor. One or more sensor modules.

  The control unit 12 is a module having a function of controlling the operation of the transmission device 10. For example, the control unit 12 controls the sensor 11 to acquire information, and the acquired information and the conditions and setting contents set in the setting information 14. Based on the above, the operation content is controlled by inputting a command to the BLE communication unit 13 described later.

  The BLE communication unit 13 is a module that performs wireless communication according to the BLE standard, and can dynamically change the operation content by command input from the control unit 12 or the like, command input through wireless communication, or the like. The operation content includes, for example, those that affect power consumption, such as the intensity of wireless communication signal output (communication possible distance), the number of broadcast signal transmissions, and the transmission interval. Note that BLE is a standard for extremely low power consumption, and the module can operate for several years even with a button-type small battery. However, considering the power consumption in the sensor 11 and the control unit 12, the BLE is also considered. It is desirable that the power consumption by the communication unit 13 is as small as possible.

  The portable terminal 20 is a reader device serving as a master in BLE communication, and may be configured as a portable dedicated device. In this embodiment, for example, a general-purpose device such as a tablet terminal having a touch panel is used. A portable information processing device is used. In recent years, there are also portable terminals equipped with a communication function based on the BLE standard as a standard, and the cost of the master reader device can be reduced by using these.

  The mobile terminal 20 includes software that operates on middleware such as an BLE communication unit 21 including a hardware module designed by an integrated circuit or the like, and an OS (Operating System) executed by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown). Each part such as the article management unit 22 is mounted.

  The BLE communication unit 21 is a module that performs wireless communication according to the BLE standard. The BLE communication unit 21 operates under control via an OS (not shown) or the like, and receives a signal that is constantly broadcast by the transmission device 10 to perform communication. Recognize unique information for each transmitting device 10 such as (Universally Unique IDentifier) and major / minor values. Note that the mobile terminal 20 (master) can simultaneously communicate with a plurality of transmitting devices 10 (slave).

  The article management unit 22 has a function of performing article management work such as inventory, for example, acquires the unique information of the transmission device 10 recognized by the BLE communication unit 21 and connects to the portable terminal 20 or via a network. Information on the article 30 corresponding to the unique information is acquired with reference to a database or the like that holds in advance a correspondence information between the unique information and the information specifying the article held on a server (not shown). The inventory information can be automatically and instantaneously collected by collating the acquired information of the article 30 with, for example, a list of inventory assets, and the result is immediately displayed on the mobile terminal 20 as XX or the like as illustrated. Can be displayed in a list.

  In BLE communication, information on the distance between the master and the slave, that is, the distance between the transmitting device 10 (article 30) and the portable terminal 20, can be acquired, and the location of the article 30 whose location has been confirmed can be obtained. A list of distance information may be displayed together. Thereby, even when actually inspecting the article 30, the location can be easily specified. Further, for the article 30 whose location is unknown as a result of the inventory, for example, it is individually specified and searched by moving until communication with the transmitting device 10 attached to the article 30 becomes possible. It is also possible to specify the actual location while checking in real time. In this case, the portable terminal 20 only needs to communicate with the designated article 30.

  As described above, the transmission device 10 can dynamically change the operation content related to BLE communication in the BLE communication unit 13 by a command or the like. In the present embodiment, in order to reduce the power consumption of the transmission device 10 as much as possible, the BLE communication unit 13 is automatically given according to an instruction from the user or according to the external environment where the transmission device 10 and the article 30 are located. The operation contents of can be changed dynamically.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overview of an example in which the operation content of the BLE communication unit 13 is dynamically changed. The upper diagram shows a state in which the transmission device 10 is performing BLE communication according to the operation content of the initial setting. In the middle diagram, when the mobile terminal 20 performs communication by BLE to the transmission device 10, a command is issued based on an instruction by a user operation on the mobile terminal 20, and the transmission device 10 according to BLE communication is issued. This shows a state where the operation content of is changed. In the example shown in the figure, the communication output is increased. For example, when the article 30 is stored in a large factory or warehouse, the communication output is increased to widen the communicable range in this way, and when the article 30 is stored in a narrow room, the communication output is decreased. To narrow the communication range.

  The lower diagram further shows a state in which the operation content is changed according to the external environment of the transmitting device 10 (and the article 30 to which the transmitting device 10 is attached). For example, when the transmitter 10 has an optical sensor as the sensor 11, information on the amount and intensity of light is acquired, and when the transmitter 10 is bright, the article 30 is exposed and not shielded. The communication output is assumed to be normal as shown in the figure. On the other hand, when the object is dark, the radio wave emitted from the transmitting device 10 is blocked by the article 30 being in a cabinet or a storage container, or other articles being placed on or around the article 30. Estimate that the situation is declining and increase the communication output.

  With the control as described above, according to the storage status of each article 30 located in the target range and the characteristics of the external environment, it is possible to reliably communicate with the transmission device 10 while suppressing wasteful power consumption. The operation content of BLE communication can be set appropriately. In the above example, the characteristic of the location of the article 30 is grasped by the optical sensor. However, instead of or in addition to this, the characteristic is determined based on information acquired by another type of sensor 11. May be.

  Further, in the example of FIG. 1, the case where the transmission device 10 is directly attached to the article 30 to be managed is described as an example, but for example, for a storage container such as a cardboard box or a case that stores a plurality of articles. The transmitting device 10 may be assigned to manage the location in units of a plurality of articles. As an example of assigning the transmitting device 10 to the storage container, it is conceivable to attach the transmitting device 10 to an upper portion or a side surface of the storage container, or to put the transmitting device 10 together with an article in the storage container. Since it is desirable that the transmission device 10 be reusable, the transmission device 10 is configured such that it can be peeled off when attached to the storage container.

  Moreover, you may comprise the transmitter 10 incorporated in storage container itself. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of an example in which a transmitting device is incorporated in a storage container. In the example shown in the figure, the transmitting device 10 is fixedly attached to the outer side surface of the storage container 31, but the mounting location is not limited to this, and the inside or upper surface of the storage container 31, the back side of the lid, etc. It may be. Further, not only the surface of the storage container 31 but, for example, when the storage container 31 is formed of a resin or the like, it may be integrated into the inside of a plate-shaped resin member that forms the side surface or the like. . When the transmitter 10 is incorporated in the storage container 31, the storage container 31 itself is reused.

  In the description so far, taking a stocktaking operation or the like as an example, a description has been given of a configuration for searching for and specifying an article 30 that is statically located in a management area such as a warehouse using the mobile terminal 20, but as another configuration, For example, it is possible to adopt a usage form such as storage management or loss monitoring for managing the movement of the article 30 from the management area.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an overview of an example in the case of performing entry / exit management and loss monitoring of the article 30. In the figure, a view of a management area 40 such as a warehouse as viewed from above is shown, and a state in which a plurality of articles 30 to which the transmitting device 10 is attached is stored in the management area 40 is shown. Here, the management portable terminal 20 is fixedly installed in the management area 40. The mobile terminal 20 can be installed at an appropriate position such as a ceiling near the center of the management area 40, for example.

  In this state, for example, when the article 30a is taken out of the management area 40 from the entrance / exit 41, as shown in the figure, the portable terminal is placed in the communicable range 15a that is the output range of the radio wave of the transmitting device 10a attached to the article 30a. It is determined that the article 30a has been taken out of the management area 40 at the time when 20 is no longer included, that is, when communication via the BLE between the transmitting device 10a and the portable terminal 20 is interrupted. On the contrary, when the mobile terminal 20 is included in the communicable range 15a, that is, when communication by BLE between the transmission device 10a and the mobile terminal 20 is established, the article 30a is newly added to the management area 40. Judged to be stored in.

  In addition to the management of the article 30 as described above, for example, by attaching the transmitting device 10 to the article 30 owned by an individual, it is possible to monitor personal loss. In this case, for example, by making the monitoring condition variable according to conditions such as a time zone and a location, efficient monitoring can be performed while suppressing wasteful power consumption.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outline of an example in the case of performing loss monitoring of an article 30 owned by an individual. Here, depending on whether or not communication by BLE is possible with the mobile terminal 20 held by the user, with the transmitting device 10 inserted in the article 30 such as a bag owned by the individual user to prevent loss, The example which always grasps | ascertains that the articles | goods 30 exist in the periphery of the portable terminal 20 is shown.

  In the figure, the passage of time of one day is shown from the left side to the right side, and an example is shown in which the operation content related to BLE communication at the time of monitoring is changed for each time zone. For example, during the time period before 8:00 am, since the user is at home and there is almost no possibility of losing articles 30 such as bags, the transmitting device 10 (and the mobile terminal 20) turns off BLE communication. That is, the loss monitoring function is turned off.

  From 8:00 am to 9:00 am after that, while losing monitoring function by BLE communication is turned on, and goods 30 such as bags are basically carried directly by the user, The transmission device 10 reduces the communication output so that the communicable range becomes as narrow as about 1 to 2 m, for example, so as to determine that the article 30 is lost even if the article 30 is slightly separated from the user. In addition, since it is working from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm thereafter, and the loss monitoring can be slightly relaxed, so as not to determine that the article 30 is lost even if the article 30 is slightly away from the user. The transmission device 10 increases the communication output so that the communicable range becomes as wide as about 10 to 20 m, for example.

  The transmission device 10 acquires the time information by the control unit 12 and inputs the command to the BLE communication unit 13 according to the content of the condition associated with the time preset in the setting information 14, for example, as described above. Can be performed automatically. The time information can be acquired from, for example, the sensor 11 such as a GPS sensor, or can be acquired by a command from the mobile terminal 20 via BLE communication. It is possible to set conditions based not only on time information but also on position information by a GPS sensor, movement information by an acceleration sensor, or the like. In addition to automatic control based on information acquired from the sensor 11, for example, when an exceptional behavior pattern such as a business trip occurs, a user sets a condition in an ad hoc mode by a manual command instruction via the mobile terminal 20. Is also possible.

  In the description so far, the case where the location of the article 30 to which the transmitting device 10 is attached is grasped as an example by using the mobile terminal 20 depending on whether or not communication with the mobile terminal 20 is possible. The transmitting device 10 may be fixedly installed, and the location on the mobile terminal 20 side may be specified depending on whether or not communication with the transmitting device 10 is possible. In this case, the portable terminal 20 that is a master in BLE communication is handled as an “article” and its location is managed.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of an example in which the location of the mobile terminal 20 is specified. In the figure, four transmitting devices 10A to 10D of “A” to “D” are fixedly arranged in each room, for example, and the portable terminal 20 is located inside the communicable range 15C therein. It shows the state. In this case, the portable terminal 20 can grasp that the partner with whom communication in BLE has been established is the transmitting device 10C, that is, is located inside the communicable range 15C, and is located in a location / area corresponding to this. I can grasp that.

  Moreover, as shown in the figure, when the transmitting devices 10A to 10D are arranged so that the respective communicable ranges 15A to 15D overlap with each other, adjacent to each other, a plurality of transmitting devices 10A to 10D are connected by BLE. There may be cases where communication is established. In this case, the range can be narrowed down assuming that the portable terminal 20 is located in a common area where the communicable ranges 15A to 15D corresponding to the transmitting devices A to D with which communication has been established overlap. Furthermore, for example, by acquiring distance information between the mobile terminal 20 and the transmitting devices 10A to 10D with which communication has been established, it is possible to calculate more detailed position information than generally available GPS. .

  As described above, the location of the mobile terminal 20 can be managed by grasping and managing the location of the mobile terminal 20 after the transmission device 10 is fixedly arranged. For example, In addition, the location of the care recipient in nursing care can be determined with high accuracy.

  As described above, according to the article management system 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention, in article management work such as inventory management of goods and loss management, wireless communication according to the BLE standard is used for each article. The reader device (master) receives and communicates a signal that is always broadcast by the attached transmission device (slave), thereby recognizing the unique information of the transmission device and identifying the corresponding article. As a result, it is possible to automatically recognize the location of the article in the communicable range without requiring a visual inspection. Further, since the distance information between the transmitting device and the reader device can be grasped in real time, it is possible to easily and quickly search for the actual location of the article to which the transmitting device is attached.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to the one having all the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

  For example, in the article management system 1 of the above embodiment, the management target is the “article” itself to which the transmission device 10 is attached. However, the “article” itself is not limited to the direct management target. By managing the “article”, the “person”, “animal”, or the like that holds or is associated with it may be indirectly managed. For example, by incorporating the sending device 10 into an “article” such as an employee ID card or batch and holding it as an indirect management object such as “person” or “animal”, personnel call or search during a disaster, bus tour, etc. It can be used for a call on a phone, a call on a field trip, hiking, etc.

  In this case, since it is possible to grasp the availability of BLE communication with the transmitting device 10 and the distance information with the portable terminal 20 when the communication is established, the communication on the portable terminal 20 side is performed as communication. The information of the transmitting device 10 (such as “person” whose location is unknown) that is not established is displayed, and the distance from the portable terminal 20 is determined for the transmitting device 10 (such as “person” whose location has been confirmed) whose communication has been established. It is possible to take measures such as displaying in the order of distance.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for an in-store location information management system that uses an automatic recognition technique using wireless communication.

1 ... Goods management system,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10a ... Transmission apparatus, 10A-D ... Transmission apparatus AD, 11 ... Sensor, 12 ... Control part, 13 ... BLE communication part, 14 ... Setting information, 15a ... Communication possible range, 15A-D ... Communication possible range A to D,
20 ... mobile terminal, 21 ... BLE communication unit, 22 ... article management unit,
30, 30a ... goods, 31 ... storage container,
40 ... management area, 41 ... doorway

Claims (9)

An in-store location information management system that uses BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) communication to grasp the locations of customers and employees in the store,
One or more transmission devices that function as slaves in BLE communication and that transmit broadcast signals;
A reader device having a function as a master in BLE communication,
Each of the transmitting devices is held in the store clerk, or arranged in a product storage container held by the store resident,
The reader device is arranged in a fixture displaying goods, and the first transmitter device corresponding to the received one or more broadcast signals, respectively, the unique information and the reader device and the first transmitter device, respectively. Information on the distance between the broadcast signal, the information for identifying the first transmission device based on the specific information, and the first in-store holding the first transmission device The in-store location information management system determines that the person or the second store resident holding the product storage container in which the first transmission device is located is in a predetermined area. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
The in-store location information management system, wherein the transmission device includes one or more types of sensors and changes setting contents related to the broadcast signal based on information acquired by the sensors. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 2,
The sensor is an optical sensor;
The in-store location information management system, wherein the transmitting device adjusts a radio wave output in the broadcast signal according to a light amount level acquired by the optical sensor. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
The in-store location information management system in which the transmission device acquires time information and changes the setting content related to the broadcast signal in accordance with a preset setting condition for each time zone. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 4,
The in-store location information management system, wherein the transmitting device acquires the time information based on a command received from the reader device by BLE communication. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
The in-store location information management system, wherein the transmitting device changes the setting content related to the broadcast signal based on a command received from the reader device by BLE communication. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
When the reader device detects that the broadcast signal from the first transmitting device cannot be received, the first resident or the second resident from the predetermined area In-store location information management system that judges that it has come out. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
When the reader device detects that it has newly received the broadcast signal from the first transmitter device in a situation where it has not received the broadcast signal from the first transmitter device, The in-store location information management system determines that the store resident of the store or the second store resident has entered the predetermined area. In the in-store location information management system according to claim 1,
Three or more reader devices are each fixedly arranged in the predetermined fixture,
Each of the reader devices acquires information relating to the coordinate position of each of the reader devices based on the respective unique information of the first transmitting device corresponding to the received broadcast signal, and each of the acquired reader devices On the basis of the information relating to the coordinate position and the information on the distance between each of the reader devices and the first transmitting device acquired from the broadcast signal, An in-store location information management system that calculates information on the coordinate positions of shoppers.