JPH02268030A - Polling system for traveling object - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely receive position identification information even when a transponder stands in the shade of clothes or a person by using an infrared ray signal and a radio signal altogether. CONSTITUTION:Plural infrared ray transmitters 15 connect respectively to each of basic area transmission controller 14. A radio wave transmitter 16 connects to a prescribed controller 14 in addition to the transmitter 15. The transmitter 16 is preferably a microwave transmitter. On the other hand, a PIN diode 31 sensing an infrared ray signal and a microstrip antenna 32 receiving a microwave signal are provided in the transponder 30. The signal received either of them or the both is sent to a decode circuit via an amplifier 34.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a polling system for transponders having unit location information and individual identification codes in units of a plurality of limited areas, such as in hospitals and intelligent buildings. It is something.

[Technical background of the invention]

For example, in hospitals, intelligent buildings, etc., there is a strong desire to monitor the condition of patients and the location of workers, and to transmit information about all of them or specific persons. One possible method for this is, for example, a system in which all patients and workers are assigned specific radio frequencies for communication, but this is not only complicated to operate, but also difficult to obtain their location information.

Therefore, the present applicant formed a limited area from a plurality of basic areas having specific addresses, and sent a position identification signal to a large number of transponders each having their own identification code, which moved within the limited area, by infrared rays. In addition to transmitting polling signals, responses from the transponder are transmitted wirelessly (
We previously applied for a polling system for mobile objects using weak radio waves (Japanese Patent Application No. 122487/1987).

That is, this system includes an infrared transmitter that is arranged corresponding to each elemental area of a predetermined area and transmits infrared information to the elemental area, and an infrared transmitter that is provided for each basic area consisting of one or more of the elemental areas, a basic area transmission controller having a specific address that sends a drive signal to the infrared transmitter belonging to the same basic area; a local controller that outputs a control signal including a position identification signal and a polling signal to the basic area transmission controller; a transponder that moves with the basic area, receives infrared information from the infrared transmitter in any of the basic areas, and responds with at least the address of the basic area and its own identification code using weak radio waves; a wireless receiver configured to receive a response signal from the transponder; and a wireless receiver configured to time-divisionally transmit a signal to each of the basic area transmission controllers via the local controller and receive a reception output from the receiver. , and a central management device that performs location confirmation and message transmission for multiple transponders.

According to this system, since the infrared transmitter is used, the boundaries of each area are clear, and the location of the transponder can be accurately confirmed.

Further, the basic area to be monitored can be changed in various ways according to the shape and purpose of the building. Furthermore, since the response from the transponder is wireless, there are advantages such as there is no possibility of interference between transmission and reception.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

A transponder is, for example, in the form of a name tag or card, and is usually carried in a chest pocket of a jacket. However, it is easy to get behind a person or behind clothing, and if this happens, it may become impossible to receive infrared information from an infrared transmitter, even if only for a time.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes an infrared transmitter that is arranged corresponding to each elemental region of a predetermined area and transmits infrared information to the elemental region, and an infrared transmitter that is arranged corresponding to each elemental region of a predetermined area and that transmits infrared information to each elemental region. and a basic area transmission controller having a specific address for sending a drive signal to the infrared transmitter belonging to the same basic area, and outputting a control signal including a position identification signal and a polling signal to this basic area transmission controller. a local controller, moving together with the wearer and receiving infrared information from the infrared transmitter in any of the basic areas;
a transponder that responds with at least the address of the basic area and its own identification code using weak radio waves; a plurality of wireless receivers that are provided in association with the basic area and receive response signals from the I-rance bonder; A central management device that time-divisionally transmits signals to each of the basic area transmission controllers via the local controller, receives the reception output from the wireless receiver, and performs location confirmation and message transmission to multiple transponders. A polling system for a mobile body comprising a radio wave transmitter that is driven synchronously with the infrared transmitter by the basic area transmission controller and transmits a radio signal containing position identification information etc. to a predetermined area, and the transponder The antenna is equipped with an antenna for receiving the microwave signal. In this case, preferably microwave signals are used.

[For production]

According to this configuration, since both infrared rays and radio signals are sent to the transponder, position identification information can be reliably received even if the transponder is hidden behind clothing or a person.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the central management device 10 of this polling system has an information center 11.

It includes a central controller (CC) 12 and a plurality of local controllers (LC) 13□ to 13n. In this case, the information center 11 is provided with a host computer and an input/output device, and is normally operated by an administrator.

In this case, the information center 11 and the central controller 12 are connected by a communication line, for example, R5232C
Serial binary data is transferred by . Central controller 12 and each local controller 131 to 13
n is connected by an optical transmission fiber cable. Each of the local controllers 13□ to 13n is arranged, for example, corresponding to each floor of a building, and each is connected to a predetermined operating power source.

In this embodiment, for example, the first
In association with the local controller 13□, there are a plurality of basic domain transmit controllers (LTX), four in this embodiment.
141 to 144 are provided.

A plurality of infrared transmitters (TX) 15 are connected to each of the basic area transmission controllers 14, respectively. In addition to the infrared transmitter 15, a radio wave transmitter (TXm) 16 is connected to the predetermined basic area transmission controller 14. According to this embodiment, the first basic area transmission controller 14□ includes four infrared transmitters 151 to 154 and one
Two radio wave transmitters 16 are connected. That is, this basic area is formed from four element areas.

The infrared transmitter I5 transmits position identification information and the like to an element area including, for example, an area of 1.61 directly below the infrared transmitter I5 by arranging a plurality of infrared light emitting elements and arranging a reflector.

Radio transmitter 16 preferably comprises a microwave transmitter. This microwave transmitter 16, as illustrated in FIG. an oscillator 19 connected to an operating power source via this switch 18, and a horn antenna 1
9a.

The oscillator 19 is composed of, for example, a dielectric resonator or a Gunn diode, and its oscillation frequency is, for example, 10,525G).
(It is assumed that the oscillator 19 and the horn antenna 19
a may be integrally formed. As shown in FIG. 3, this microwave transmitter 16 includes an infrared transmitter 15.
The receiver is attached to the ceiling or the like, and is preferably arranged in each basic area, but depending on the size of the range that the radio waves can reach, the receiver may have a plurality of basic areas.

A plurality of local radio receivers (LRX) 20 are provided on the ceiling of the room in relation to the basic area defined by the basic area transmission controller 14. Note that this receiver 20 does not necessarily have to be provided in a one-to-one relationship with each basic area. That is, when a plurality of basic areas are arranged close to each other and all radio waves from transponders existing in that area can be received, one transponder may be placed for each of the plurality of basic areas.

FIG. 4 shows an external perspective view of a transponder (TRC) 30 carried by each person in this system. The transponder 30 has a rectangular shape with a thickness of about 5 mm, for example, and is carried like a name tag by being inserted into a breast pocket, for example. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the transponder 30 is provided with a pin diode 31 for detecting infrared signals and a microstrip antenna 32 for receiving microwave signals. 33
is a Gunn diode for detection.

The signal received by one or both of these is sent via the amplifier 34 to a decoding circuit consisting of a CPU (not shown), and a response signal (weak radio wave) is output from a transmitter (not shown) depending on the content. The response signal is received by the wireless receiver 20 and sent to the central controller 12 via the local controller 13.
and sent back to the information center 11.

Note that both the infrared signal and the microwave signal indicate the same information, but when looking at the time components of each signal, although the rising time is the same, the falling time of the microwave signal is longer. Therefore, in consideration of the case where such signals are generated simultaneously, in this embodiment, each received signal is differentiated, and only the differentiated pulse on the rising edge side is used to generate, for example, a monostable multivibrator. By operating the system, the information can be read accurately. Furthermore, when there are multiple transponders 30 within the same basic area, if response signals are emitted from them at the same time, the wireless receiver 20
In this embodiment, a delay time of, for example, 30 m5 is set between each transponder 30 when generating a response signal.

Next, the structure of the signal will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 3(I) shows the contents of data sent from the local controller 13 to the basic area transmission controller 14. This data consists of a position identification signal followed by a polling signal, totaling 120 bits. In this case, the location identification signal includes a preamble (1sbtt), a system address (6 bits) indicating this system, a location address (10 bits) indicating the area, and a time (1 bit) indicating the transmission time.
6 bits) and check (16 bits). This check (16 bit) is a CRC (Cycle) check.
c Redundancy).

The polling signals include polling (16 bits), group signal (8 bits), individual signal (16 bits), and check (1 bit).
6 bits). The group-simultaneous signal is a polling request for all transponders 30, and the individual signal is a polling request for a specific transponder 30.

As shown in FIG. 7, a signal (A) including this position identification signal and a polling signal is transmitted from the local controller 13 to each of the basic area transmission controllers 141 to 14 at a fixed period (for example, 1 second). sent to. That is, this signal (A) is first sent to the first basic area transmission controller 14□. As a result, the same controller 14
1 to the infrared transmitter 1 that belongs to it almost at the same time.
51-15. A drive signal for the microwave transmitter 16 is output, and an infrared signal (B) and a microwave signal (C) are simultaneously sent to that area. Note that each basic area transmission controller 14 is given a position address for identifying the basic area in advance, and the position address is added to the above signal by the controller 141.

The above signal (A) is transmitted to the first basic area transmission controller 1
After being delayed by, for example, 10m5 at 4□, it is sent to the second basic area transmission controller 14□. In this way, the signal (A) is transmitted once at each basic area transmission controller 14.
It is delayed by 0m5 and sent to the next stage controller 4, and in the same way as above, it is sent to each basic area transmission controller 14.
An infrared signal (B) and a microwave signal (C) are simultaneously transmitted to that area from the infrared transmitter 15 and microwave transmitter 16 belonging to □ to 144.

The transponder 30 transmits the infrared transmitter 1 within an arbitrary area.
When receiving an infrared signal from 5 or a microwave signal from microwave transmitter 16, it transmits a response signal shown in FIG. 6(H) as a weak radio wave.

This response signal is a preamble (16 bits), part 1
-Slave station address (16 bits) that identifies the Lance Bonder
, system address (6 bits), position address indicating area (10 bits), time indicating reception time (16 bits)
), arbitrary data (8 bits), check (16 bits)
It consists of a total of 88 bits. The position address (10 bits) indicating the area corresponds to the position address (10 bits) contained in the received infrared information. Further, the arbitrary data (8 bits) includes a message indicating the special status of the person carrying the transponder 30.

In this system, as mentioned above, the timing at which the infrared signal and the microwave signal arrive at adjacent basic areas is shifted (at least 10 m in the above example).
5), the position of the transponder 30 can be detected accurately. Furthermore, since it uses both infrared and microwave signals, it is possible to accurately receive one-position identification information and the like. However, only microwave signals may be used, for example, at the entrance of a building that is easily disturbed by external light or in places where the ceiling is high and it is difficult for infrared rays to reach. In that case, by using a horn antenna, its assigned area can be clearly defined.

In addition to position detection, this system can be used for the following applications, for example. ■Call transponder from information center. These include individual calls, group calls, and general calls. ■Call information center from transponder. ■Transmission of predetermined fixed text from the information center to the transponder.

In addition, specific applications include entry/exit control for specific areas, automatic calling and paging), monitoring of moving people (e.g. security guards), emergency notifications such as when someone collapses due to illness, automatic call forwarding, and cafeterias. Examples include grasping the congestion situation, emergency guidance, automatic turning off of lighting, near conditioner control, and elevator operation control.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, by using an infrared signal and a radio wave (microwave) signal in combination, even if the transponder is hidden behind clothing or a person, location identification information can be reliably transmitted. can be received. Similarly, microwave signals can cover areas where infrared signals are not suitable, such as building entrances or places with high ceilings.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a polling system for a mobile object according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a microwave transmitter, and Fig. 3 is an infrared transmitter and a microwave transmitter. Fig. 4 is an external perspective view showing the transponder used in this system, Fig. 5 is a receiving circuit diagram of the transponder, and Fig. 6 (1) and (U) are the above-mentioned diagrams. A schematic diagram showing the time arrangement of transmitted and received information in the system, FIG. 7 is a position information signal,
5 is a timing chart of an infrared signal and a microwave signal. In the figure, 10 is a central management device, 11 is an information center 12 is a central controller, 13 is a local controller, I4 is a basic area transmission controller, 15 is an infrared transmitter, 16 is a microwave transmitter, 17 is a duty ratio converter, 18 is a switch, 19 is an oscillator, 19a is a horn antenna, 20 is a wireless receiver, 30 is a transponder, 3
1 is a photodiode, and 32 is a microstrip antenna. 2nd Figure 3 Figure Patent Applicant Honda Electronics Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Takuya Ohara Funeral diagram

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) an infrared transmitter that is arranged corresponding to each element region of a predetermined area and transmits infrared information to the element region;
A basic area transmission controller is provided for each basic area consisting of the above-mentioned element areas and has a specific address for sending a drive signal to the infrared transmitter belonging to the same basic area, and a position identification signal is sent to this basic area transmission controller. and a local controller that outputs control signals including polling signals; and a local controller that moves together with the wearer and receives infrared information from the infrared transmitter in any of the basic areas, and includes at least the address of the basic area and its own identification code. A transponder that responds with weak radio waves,
a plurality of wireless receivers provided in association with the basic area and receiving response signals from the transponders;
a central management device that time-divisionally transmits signals to each of the basic area transmission controllers via the local controller, receives the reception output from the wireless receiver, and performs location confirmation and message transmission to multiple transponders; A polling system for a mobile body comprising a radio wave transmitter that is driven synchronously with the infrared transmitter by the basic area transmission controller and transmits a radio signal containing position identification information etc. to a predetermined area, and the transponder A polling system for a mobile object, characterized in that the is equipped with an antenna for receiving the microwave signal. (2) The polling system for mobile bodies according to claim 1, wherein the radio wave transmitter is a microwave transmitter.