JPH03235432A - Information storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily increase an information storage medium and change its installing place while keeping its beautiful appearance not impaired by installing a main body on the back side of a plane forming member for forming a decorative surface by arranging plural pieces of these members, and assembling each antenna in the above-mentioned plane forming member. CONSTITUTION:A receiving antenna 2, a transmitting antenna 3, and a power supplying antenna 4 are assembled in the inside of a floor tile 1 nearly square in a plan view as the plane forming member for forming the decorative surface by arranging plural pieces of these tiles so that these antennas are arranged concentrically in the above order from an inner circumferential direction toward an outer circumferential direction, and a recessed part 6 for storing the main body part 5 of the information storage medium A is formed at the central part of the back of the floor tile. The floor tile 1 and the main body part 5 are laid as a substitute for a usual floor tile 1A on a floor surface to be the traveling passage of a mobile vehicle B provided with information input/output antennas and a power supplying antenna for the storage medium A.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a pair of receiving antennas and a transmitting antenna for inputting and outputting information by electromagnetic induction, and a pair of receiving antennas and transmitting antennas for inputting and outputting information by electromagnetic induction. The present invention relates to an information storage medium including a power supply antenna for storing information and a main body for storing information and controlling transmission and reception.

[Conventional technology]

This type of information storage medium is used, for example, to store address information on the travel route, information about branching points and junction points of the travel route, etc., in order to cause the mobile vehicle to automatically travel along a predetermined travel route. It is used for car guidance equipment, etc.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, this type of information storage medium is configured to use an antenna for information input/output and power supply, so it is necessary to improve the antenna gain in order to extend the distance over which information can be input/output. It is hoped that

In order to improve the antenna gain, the antenna used can be made thicker, but making the antenna thicker has the disadvantage of increasing the size of the entire information storage medium.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to improve the antenna gain without increasing the size of the information storage medium.

[Means to solve the problem]

An information storage medium according to the present invention includes: a pair of receiving antennas and a transmitting antenna for inputting and outputting information by electromagnetic induction; a power supply antenna for supplying operating power from the outside by electromagnetic induction; and a main body that executes storage and transmission/reception control, and its characteristic configuration is as follows.

That is, the main body portion is provided on the back side of a surface forming material for forming a decorative surface by arranging a plurality of antennas, and each of the antennas is incorporated in the surface forming material.

[For production]

Focusing on the installation form of information storage media, for example, indoors, surface forming materials such as tiles are laid on floors, ceilings, etc. for forming a decorative surface by arranging a plurality of media.

Therefore, by using this surface-forming material, providing a main body on the back side, and incorporating each antenna into the surface-forming material, the surface-forming material can be used both as a cover for the information storage medium and as a cover for the antenna. At the same time, the antenna can be made larger than in the case where the antenna is built into the main body. Furthermore, since the entire information storage medium can be prevented from being exposed to the outside, the aesthetic appearance of the installation surface is also improved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Therefore, by effectively utilizing the surface forming material for forming a decorative surface by arranging a plurality of antennas, it is possible to increase the size of the antenna and improve the antenna gain. Expansion and installation location changes can be easily performed.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to guidance equipment for moving vehicles will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a receiving antenna (2) is installed inside a floor tile (1) that is approximately square in plan view and serves as a surface forming material for forming a decorative surface by arranging a plurality of tiles. , transmission antenna (3), and power supply antenna (4)
are assembled in a state in which they are arranged concentrically in that order from the inner circumferential direction toward the outer circumferential direction.

At the center of the back surface of the floor tile (1) is a main body (5) of the information storage medium (A) on which connection terminals for each of the antennas (2), (3), and (4) are formed. A storage recess (6) is formed for storage.

Although not described in detail, the main body (5) includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory for storing information, an information input/output control circuit for the memory, and each of the antennas (2), (3), (
The transmitting/receiving circuit etc. for 4) will be housed.

As shown in FIG. 4, a floor surface on the traveling route of a mobile vehicle (B) equipped with an antenna for inputting and outputting information to and from the storage medium (A) having the above-mentioned configuration, an antenna for supplying power, etc. , the floor tile (1) having the above-mentioned configuration and the main body (
5) will be laid in place of the normal floor tie/l, (lA).

To explain the travel route of the mobile vehicle (B), the fifth
As shown in the figure, a plurality of storage media (A) having the above-mentioned configuration are attached along the travel route of the mobile vehicle (B), and a work station (S) is provided on the side of the travel route. is provided. By causing the mobile vehicle (B) to read the storage information of each of the storage media (A), the mobile vehicle (B) is caused to autonomously travel along the travel route, and the mobile vehicle (B) is automatically driven at the station (S). It is now possible to stop and automatically perform various tasks such as loading and unloading.

The storage medium (A) is made to store the distance to the next adjacent storage medium, the direction in which the next storage medium is located, the traveling speed, and work information at the station (S). .

To explain the mobile vehicle (B), FIGS. 6 and 7
As shown in the figure, four running wheels (8) each of which can change direction independently and are individually driven to rotate by an electric motor (7) for propulsion are provided on each of the front, rear, left and right sides of the vehicle body.
Approximately at the lower center of the vehicle body, there is a reader (9) serving as a reading means for reading the stored information of the storage medium (A) buried on the ground side, and a distance traveled based on the number of rotations of the traveling wheels (8). An encoder (lO) for detection is provided.

To explain the reader (9), as shown in FIG. A power supply antenna (4b) for detecting changes in magnetic field strength caused by magnetic coupling between the power supply antenna (4) on the storage medium side and the power supply antenna (4b) on the reader side. Five pickup coils (PI), (P2), (P3), (P
4), (PC).

In addition, the five pickup coils (Pi), (P2
).

One (PC) of (P3), (P4), (PC)
) is the power supply antenna (4b) in plan view.
and the other four (Pi), (P2),
(P3) and (P4) are arranged at the center of each of the four sides of the edge of the power supply antenna (4b), with two of them being located on opposite sides.

To explain, the power supply antenna (4) on the storage medium side and the power supply antenna (4b) on the reader side exchange power with each other through electromagnetic induction. The electromagnetic coupling is maximum when the distance is the shortest, and as a result, each of the pickup coils (Pi), (P2), (P3), (P4),
The voltage induced in (PC) is minimized. Therefore, four pickup coils (Pi
), (P2), (P3).

(P4) located on two opposing sides, the center of the power supply antenna (4b), that is, the storage medium (A ), a signal having a value corresponding to the relative positional deviation amount (d) with respect to directly above is obtained. However, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the signal level generated in each pickup coil depends on the distance fluctuation not only in the horizontal direction but also in the vertical direction with respect to the power supply antenna (4) on the storage medium side. Therefore, the difference in detection signal levels between those located on two opposing sides is calculated from the sum of the detection signal levels in the initial state without the storage medium (A) (indicated by the broken line in the figure) to the storage medium (A). Normalization is performed by dividing by the value obtained by subtracting the sum of the detected signal levels (indicated by a solid line in the figure) in the state where A) exists. However, if the antennas located on the two opposing sides are far apart, as shown in FIG. 9, the power supply antenna (4b
) is reduced near the center, so the sum of the detection signal levels is corrected using the detection signal of the pickup coil (PC) at the center. In addition, in FIG. 1, (11) indicates each of the above-mentioned pickup coils (PI).
.

A rectifier circuit detects the detection signal level of (P2>, (P3), (P4), and (PC), (12) is a subtracter that calculates a difference, and (13) is an adder that calculates a sum.

Therefore, the difference (
P2-PI) as the sum of them and the central one (P
The value divided by 1+P2+PC) is the storage medium (A)
and the moving vehicle (B) relative position in the left-right direction (x) (
d), and can be used as information corresponding to
) are the sum of them and the one located in the center (P3+P4+
The value divided by the storage medium (A) and the moving vehicle (
This can be used as information corresponding to the relative position (d) in the longitudinal direction (y) with respect to B). In other words,
The five pickup coils (Pi), (P2),
(P3).

(P4) and (PC) correspond to the position detection means (P) that detects the relative position with respect to the storage medium (A).

Although not described in detail, the information on the relative position (d) in the front-rear direction (y) by the position detecting means CP) may include identification information of the reading position of the reader (9) with respect to the storage medium (A). , and will be used as control information for the stop position, etc., and the information on the relative position (d) in the left and right direction is the front and rear information in the left and right direction for each of the two storage media (A) adjacent to each other in the running direction. Based on the information on the relative positions (d) and the distance therebetween, the information is used as steering control information for correcting the traveling direction of the mobile vehicle (B).

Next, a control configuration for autonomously driving the mobile vehicle (B) based on the information in the storage medium (A) will be described.

As shown in FIG. 7, operation of a propulsion electric motor (7) that rotationally drives the traveling wheels (8) based on information read by the reader (9) and information from the encoder (10); A control device (15) is provided as a travel control means for controlling the operation of a steering electric motor (14) for changing the direction and steering the traveling wheels (8).

Next, the operation of the control device (15) will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

When a travel start command is given to the control device (15),
Based on the information read by the reader (9), the presence or absence of the storage medium (A) is determined, and if the storage medium (A) is present, the read storage information, that is, the distance and distance to the next storage medium, is determined. Corresponding processing will be performed based on the direction, traveling speed, and work information.

To explain further, the storage medium (A) located at the installation location of the station (S) includes, for example, the distance and direction to the next storage medium, the travel speed is zero, and work information. By storing , the moving vehicle (
B) automatically stops at the station (S) and automatically performs the instructed work. On the other hand, by storing the distance and direction to the next storage medium, the traveling speed, and the fact that there is no work information in the storage medium (A) on the travel route other than the station (S), the above-mentioned The mobile vehicle (B) is caused to autonomously travel along a desired travel route and at a desired travel speed.

However, although not described in detail, the command to start traveling to the moving vehicle (B) may be given artificially by providing a manually operated switch, etc., or by using a communication device, etc. for communicating with the station (S). This will automatically issue a command to start driving.

In other words, by simply instructing the moving vehicle (B) to start traveling, it can then run autonomously based only on the information read from each of the storage media (A). . Furthermore, even if the arrangement or number of storage media (A) on the ground side is changed, the storage information of the storage medium (A) to be added or added can be changed and the moving vehicle (B)
), it is not necessary to change the travel control configuration of the system, so equipment changes can be made easily. For example, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 5, even if the travel route is changed midway, it can be handled simply by rewriting only the information stored in the storage medium (A) that corresponds to the changed location.

[Another example]

In the above embodiment, the storage medium (A) is configured to store the distance and direction to the next storage medium, the traveling speed, and the work information, but it is also configured to store various other information. Alternatively, only the direction in which the next storage medium is located may be stored, and other information may be indicated by other means, and the specific content of the storage information on the storage medium can be changed in various ways.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case is illustrated in which a recess (6) for storing the main body (5) of an information storage medium is formed on the back surface of the floor tile (1), but for example, if the main body (5) If the main body (5) is to be enlarged due to its large storage capacity, the main body (5) may be buried in the floor and covered with the floor tiles (1), as shown in Fig. 12. You may also do so.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the floor tile (1) is used as the surface forming material.
Although the information storage medium may be installed on a ceiling surface, a wall surface, etc., the specific configuration of each part can be changed in various ways.

Incidentally, although reference numerals are written in the claims section for convenient comparison with the drawings, the present invention is not limited to the structure shown in the accompanying drawings.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] The drawings show an embodiment of the information storage medium according to the present invention.
The figure is a cutaway plan view of the surface forming material, FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof, FIG. 3 is a back view, FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of the floor surface, and FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing the layout of the running route. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of the moving vehicle, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the control configuration, FIG. 8 is a flowchart of control operation, and FIGS. 9 to 11 are illustrations of relative position detection. FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the installation state of the information storage medium. (1)...... Surface forming material, (2)...... Receiving antenna, (3)...... Transmitting antenna, (4
)...Power supply antenna, (5)...
・Body part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A pair of receiving antennas (2) and transmitting antennas (3) for inputting and outputting information by electromagnetic induction, and a power supply antenna (4) for supplying operating power from the outside by electromagnetic induction. An information storage medium comprising a main body (5) for storing information and controlling transmission and reception,
Surface forming material (1) for forming a decorative surface by arranging multiple pieces
An information storage medium, wherein the main body (5) is provided on the back side of the information storage medium, and each of the antennas (2), (3), and (4) are incorporated in the surface forming material (1).