KR101060844B1 - Marking processing system of code for article management, code determination system, article management system, marking method of code for article management, code determination method, and information display - Google Patents

Abstract

In the manufacturing unique information database 20, a plurality of types of information about an article are stored in association with each other so that a group of information about the article can be specified. The first code generation unit 43 generates a first code indicating the content unique to the article by using a part of a group of information each of which is specified for the article about each article. The second code generation unit 44 generates a second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group of information for each article. The two-dimensional code generation unit 45 generates an optical information code (two-dimensional code) indicating the first code, and the identification code generation unit 46 performs predetermined conversion processing on the second code so that the character string data ( Identification code). The printing control part 47 performs the process which marks the produced | generated optical information code and character string data on an article or its accessories.

Description

MARKING PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR ARTICLE MANAGEMENT CODE, CODE JUDGING SYSTEM, ARTICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, METHOD FOR MARKING ARTICLE MANAGEMENT CODE, CODE JUDGING METHOD AND INFORMATION DISPLAYING OBJECT}

The present invention relates to a technique for marking a code indicating that an article is a regular article for an article (for example, an industrial product, a brand article, a securities, a credit card, etc.) in which a counterfeit article that mimics a regular article may be released. And a technique for determining whether the marked content is correct.

In addition, "marking" as used in this specification means various processes for fixing the content of information, such as a marking process, relief process, etching process, laser marking, etc. in the state which can be visually seen other than a print process.

In recent years, in view of the increasing number of cases in which elaborate counterfeits that are indistinguishable from regular goods are being released, a technique has been developed that makes it easy to discriminate counterfeits. Among these, there is one in which information individually set for each article is encoded as an optical information code such as a two-dimensional code or a barcode and printed on the article together with a character string corresponding to the contents of the code (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). .

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2003-44257

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-102364

Patent document 1 targets printed matters, such as securities, and describes encrypting a part of character information to be printed and printing a two-dimensional code indicating the encrypted information together with character information (paragraphs 0021 to 0026). ). It is also described that the information read from the two-dimensional code is decoded and displayed, and the operator judges the government by matching the display content with the actual print information. (Paragraphs 0032 to 0034).

Patent document 2 is intended for an electronic component for an organic group, and uses the first identification information (combination of a manufacturing number, lot number, serial number, etc.) whose content differs according to each component. It converts into a code (check code) of another content using a hash function, and prints the two-dimensional code which embedded the 1st identification information and the check code on the surface of a part with the string which shows original various information, and is described. (Paragraphs 0023, 0024, 0028, etc.). In addition, as the authenticity judgment inspection after shipment, the two-dimensional code reading process is performed to decode the first identification information and the check code, and to compare the decoded check code and the decoded check code obtained by converting the decoded first identification information. However, it is described to display each decoded information on a monitor and perform visual contrast with the printed character string (paragraphs 0046 to 0049).

However, in Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the information indicated by the two-dimensional code and the information on which the information is based are printed on the same object, there is a fear that encryption rules and the like are decoded from the relationship between the two information. Also, based on the decrypted encryption rule, when a fake character string or a two-dimensional code is printed, there is a possibility that the forgery cannot be detected.

In view of the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to make it impossible to easily decipher the relationship between an optical information code and a character string, thereby increasing the reliability of each code and accurately determining the government of the marking content.

The invention concerning the marking processing system, code determination system, article management system, marking method, code determination method, and information display object which are demonstrated below was made | formed in order to solve said subject.

(1) The marking processing system is to mark an article or an accessory thereof with an optical information code and a character string for management of the article. The system includes a plurality of pieces of information stored in association with each other so as to be able to specify a group of information about the article for each article; First code generating means for generating, for each article, a first code representing a content unique to the article, using a part of a group of information specified about the article in the storage means, respectively; Second code generating means for generating, for each article, a second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group of information; Optical information code generating means for generating an optical information code representing the first code; Character string data generating means for performing a predetermined conversion process on the second code to generate data of a character string to be marked; Each means of marking means which performs a marking process using the optical information code which shows a 1st code, and the character string data produced | generated from the 2nd code is provided.

In the above, it is preferable that the information group corresponding to each article contains at least two types of information which has a different content for every article. This is because the first code and the second code need to include information that is not common among the codes as information of contents unique to each article. However, the information group may also contain information common to the plurality of articles. Similarly to the first code and the second code, in addition to the unique information described above, information common to other articles may be included.

The storage means may be physically constituted by a plurality of memory devices. When the information included in the first code is stored in individual storage media (for example, RFID tag, IC chip, etc.) for each article, these storage media are also included in the storage means.

According to the above system, since the first code and the second code generated for the same article have a common information group as a source, and each contains information of contents unique to the article, the first code and the second code Means having a uniquely corresponding relationship. For this reason, the combination of the optical information code which shows a 1st code, and the character string produced from a 2nd code can be different for every article. Therefore, when there is a plurality of articles having the same collation of the read data and the character string read from the optical information code, or when there are a plurality of articles having the same optical information code and different character strings, there is only one, even if there is a genuine one among these articles, and all others. You can judge it as a fake.

In addition, since the character string data is generated by converting the second code, the second code cannot be decoded unless the rules of the conversion are known. In addition, since the second code includes information of unique contents for each article not included in the first code, even if the second code is decoded from a character string marked on a certain regular article, the decoded code is used. However, it is not possible to forge a combination of optical information codes and character strings that are considered to be regular articles.

As described above, according to the marking processing system described above, it is not possible to interpret the generation structure of the code or to forge a code regarded as a normal code based on the marked optical information code or character string. Therefore, the cheater can reliably detect the combination of the forged optical information code and the character string.

(2) In one aspect of the marking processing system described above, the storage means is configured to be able to read a group of information corresponding to one article by using information of contents unique to each article as a key. In addition, the first code generating means generates a code including information (hereinafter, referred to as "key information") serving as the key as the first code.

According to the above aspect, when performing the determination of the marking content, the second code is constituted by reading the first code from the optical information code and searching the storage means based on the key information included in the code. Information to say can be specified.

(3) Moreover, in the system of a preferable aspect, the storage means contains the secret information set by the manager of the article about each article. The second code generating means generates, as a second code, a code containing secret information corresponding to the article to be processed, and the character string data generating means converts the second code into a code in which the secret information does not appear. And the character string data is generated from the code obtained by this operation.

According to the above aspect, since the second code contains information that is unknown to the manager of the article, it becomes very difficult for a person other than the manager to acquire the information. Therefore, the safety of the second code can be made stronger.

(4) The code judging system is an optical information code marked by the above-described marking processing system and a predetermined character string, which is determined by determining the government of the marking content, and displays an optical code for displaying a first code, each of which is unique. Information about a plurality of regular articles marked with an information code, which is generated using a part of a group of information about the article, and which is not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group of information. Storage means comprising: a second code, which is converted into a character string marked together with the optical information code by a predetermined conversion process, and stored in association with the first code; Input means for receiving an input of character data representing the contents of character strings and read data obtained by a reading process on an optical information code marked on the article, with respect to any article; Code specifying means for retrieving the storage means using the read data received by the input means as a first code and specifying a second code corresponding to the code; Judging means for judging whether or not the same character string data as received by the input means can be obtained when the character string data to be marked is generated by the conversion process using the second code specified by the code specifying means; Each means of the determination result output means for outputting the determination result by the determination means as information indicating the government of the marking content is included.

The storage means in the code determination system described above may store all of the "group of information" of each article, but is not limited to this, and at least, each piece of information constituting the second code, the second code and the first code. Information relating to one code (parts having different contents for each article in the first code, for example, key information as described above) may be stored.

In the case of judging the marking content of a given article or its appendices by the system of the above configuration, the user performs reading processing on the optical information code, and reads the resulting read data and character string data indicating the contents of the character string. Enter into the system. In this way, the code specifying means is activated to search for the storage means based on the inputted read data to specify the second code. Further, determination processing by the determination means and output processing by the determination result output means are performed.

The judging means executes a conversion process such as that performed by the string data generating means of the marking processing system using the code specified by the code specifying means, for example, and converts the generated string data into the read string data. Compare with Since the first code and the second code have a uniquely corresponding relationship, it is considered that the character string data converted from the specified second code is regular. Therefore, if the input string data matches the normal string data, the marking content is determined to be normal, but if both string data do not match, the marking content is determined to be false.

The processing performed by the determining means is not limited to the above. For example, in the marking processing system, when the second code generated in the past and the string data are stored in correspondence with each other, the code specifying means sends a specific second code to the marking processing system to request transmission of the corresponding string data. The transmitted character string data may be compared with the input character string data.

According to the system described above, it is possible to correctly determine the marking content by comparing the normal string data derived from the first code indicated by the optical information code with the marked character string data.

(5) In a preferred aspect of the code determination system described above, the input means is configured as a means for receiving transmission of read data and character string data from an external device. In addition, the determination result output means is configured as a means for conveying information indicating the government of the marking content to the external apparatus that has transmitted the read data and character string data. This aspect applies to a system of the type which receives access from an external device via a communication network such as the Internet, for example.

(6) Next, the article management system is provided with the function of marking the code by the optical information code and the character string on the article or its accessories for the management of the article, and the function of determining the government of the marking content of each code. Storage means similar to the marking processing system described above, first code generating means, second code generating means, optical information code generating means, character string data generating means, marking means, input means similar to the code determination system, and code specification Means, determination means, and determination result output means.

According to this article management system, since the storage means used for the marking process can be used as a data source for code determination, waste of memory resources can be prevented. In addition, since the marking process and the code judgment process are performed in the same system, the reliability of the judgment can be further increased.

(7) In the marking method, the first code indicating the contents unique to the article is generated for each article using a part of a group of information about the article, and the contents unique to each article in the information group are generated. Generating a second code including information not included in the first code as the information; Generating an optical information code representing the first code, and generating data of a character string to be marked by subjecting the second code to a predetermined conversion process; For each article, each step of the step of marking the optical information code representing the first code and the character string by the character string data generated from the second code on the article or its accessories is performed.

(8) In the code determination method, a plurality of regular articles marked with optical information codes indicating first codes representing unique contents are generated using a group of information about the article, and the group The second code which includes information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each item in the information of the item and which is converted into a character string marked together with the optical information code by a predetermined conversion process corresponds to the first code. Creating and storing in the storage means; For any article, accepting input of read data obtained by a read process on an optical information code marked on the article and character string data representing the content of a character string; Searching for storage means by using the inputted read data as a first code, and specifying a second code corresponding to the code; In the case where the character string data to be marked is generated by the conversion process using the specified second code, firstly determining whether or not the same character string data as that inputted is obtained; Each step of the step of outputting the result of the determination as information indicating the government of the marking content of the code is executed.

(9) The information display is marked with optical information codes and character strings relating to a specific article, and the optical information code is generated using a part of a group of information about the specific article, and the content unique to the article is also displayed. Represents the first code indicated. The character string is obtained by performing a predetermined conversion process on a second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group of information.

It is preferable that said information display object comprises the main body of an actual article, or the accessory of an article. An accessory of an article means the thing distribute | circulated with an article, such as a package which accommodates an article, a wrapping paper, a tag (price list), a description of an article, etc., for example.

According to the above-mentioned marking process, the optical information code and the character string are associated using the second code which is not directly marked, and a combination of a pair is set. Since each article is marked with a pair of combinations of optical information codes and character strings each having unique contents, the reliability of the marking is very high, so that the government of the code can be correctly determined. In addition, it is possible to easily determine that the regular marking is duplicated in a state where the plurality of articles have the same combination of the optical information code and the character string.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an article management system.

2 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing example of a two-dimensional code and an identification code.

3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of data that is the basis of two types of codes;

4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the configuration of data that is the basis of two types of codes;

5 is a functional block diagram relating to print processing.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a process relating to a print process.

7 is a functional block diagram relating to code determination processing.

8 is a flowchart showing a flow of a code determination process.

1 shows an example of the configuration of an article management system 1 according to the present invention.

The article management system 1 is operated by a manufacturer of articles (hereinafter, described as products such as electronic components). The article management system 1 displays a code for management on a product shipped by the manufacturer and the Internet. The access is received from the user who purchased the product via the terminal, and a process of determining whether the marking of the product owned by the user is correct is executed. In addition, a fire wall 6 is provided at the connection port of the system to the Internet.

In the system, a production-specific information management server 2 and a determination server 3 and a plurality of print stations 4 (shown as one for convenience) are provided as one example of an apparatus for marking. The print station 4 includes a terminal device 40 for printing processing mainly composed of a computer, and a printer 41 connected to the terminal device 40. In each of the servers 2 and 3 and the terminal device 40 for print processing, a program for setting various functions shown in FIGS. 5 and 7 described later is assembled in a CPU (not shown).

The printing machine 41 prints the information containing the code for management with respect to the main body of a completed product, or the label attached to the package. Although information may be printed directly on the package, in this embodiment, the printed label is attached to the package. The terminal device 40 for print processing acquires the unique information (same as "manufacturing unique information" mentioned later) which occurred in the manufacture of the product for each product by communication with the manufacturing specific information management server 2, The data to be printed is generated using the information and supplied to the printer 41. The data to be printed includes two types of data representing a management code, in addition to general information such as a company name, a product name, and an article number. One of them constitutes a two-dimensional code, and the other is represented as a character string.

FIG. 2 shows an example of printing on the surface of the main body of the product 100 (micro switch in this example) and the label 101 attached to the package 102 of the product 100. In the following, description will be limited to the two-dimensional code and character string printed.

The two-dimensional code represents information of different contents for each product 100. The character string also uses the information of the content unique to each product 100 as a source. Specifically, the information is generated by a process of encrypting the information and replacing the encrypted information with a number or an alphabet. Since this character string serves as a cover for identifying a regular product together with the two-dimensional code, the character string is hereinafter referred to as "identification code".

In the example of FIG. 2, the identification code ("86Gy9hY2" as an example) is marked (it demonstrates as printing below) just below a two-dimensional code. By printing the identification code in the vicinity of the two-dimensional code in this way, it is possible to prevent the user from misidentifying another character string with the identification code. However, if the printing position of the identification code can be thoroughly known to each user, the identification code may be printed at a place away from the two-dimensional code.

Returning to FIG. 1, the determination server 3 determines the government of the code from the device 7 (hereinafter, referred to as the "user terminal 7") used by the user through the fire wall 6. A request (hereinafter referred to as a "determination request") of the purpose is accepted, and a determination process according to the request is executed.

The determination request includes read data obtained by reading processing on the two-dimensional code printed on the main body surface or the label 101 of the product 100, and character string data indicating the identification code. For this reason, the user terminal 7 needs to have a function of reading a two-dimensional code in addition to the function of connecting to the Internet. For example, a personal computer to which a code reader (not shown) for two-dimensional code is connected, a mobile phone having an imaging function, or the like can be used as the user terminal 7. Regarding the character string data, input may be performed using a keyboard or the like.

The judgment server 3 uses the read data and the identification code included in the determination request from the user terminal 7 to determine whether they are showing the correct code, and determines that the result is the correct code. In the case of a code indicating "0K", and a code indicating "NG" when it is determined to be a fake code, the user terminal 7 is returned. This determination process advances using the information acquired by communication with the manufacturing unique information management server 2.

The manufacturing unique information management server 2 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "management server 2") is provided with a database for storing various information generated on the production of each product. The accumulated information includes, for example, a group of information (information uniquely attached to each product) that can uniquely identify each product, such as an article number, a manufacturing lot number, and a product serial number. Information relating to manufacturing management set in common to a plurality of products, not unique to each product, such as a manufacturing date, an identification number of a factory, an identification number of a manufacturing line, and an identification number of a manufacturing person, is included, and information of each other is stored in association with each other. Then, as a key information, information (eg, a combination of an article number, a manufacturing lot number, and a serial number) that can uniquely specify a product can be extracted or searched from the management server 2 for a series of related information. It is. Therefore, when necessary, a group of information about manufacture or management of each product can be obtained. In addition, the information of the unique content attached to each product is not limited to the combination of an article number, a manufacturing lot number, and a serial number. In another example, the information uniquely attached to each product may be a product serial number or a manufacturing symbol. In addition, when lot management is not carried out, the combination of a part number and a serial number can be used as manufacture specific information.

That is, the database in the management server 2 corresponds to "storage means associated with and stored in the claim 1 so that a plurality of types of information regarding an article can specify a group of information about the article for every article." Hereinafter, a group of information specified for each product is called "manufacturing peculiar information", and the database in the manufacturing peculiar information management server 2 is also called "manufacturing peculiar information database DB" accordingly.

In this embodiment, for each product, a code that is the basis of a two-dimensional code or an identification code is extracted based on the manufacturing unique information corresponding to the product. 3 shows an example of the code extraction.

Fig. 3 schematically shows production-specific information of one product in a small tag form. Among them, the pattern corresponding to the information (hereinafter referred to as "individual information") that is unique about the single product is given a seamlessly painted pattern. In particular, the individual information indicated by the diagonal lines at the head is the above-described key information. This means that one piece of key information is associated with all of the manufacturing unique information of the single product.

In the example of FIG. 3, using the predetermined number of pieces of information including key information in the unique manufacturing information, a code (hereinafter, referred to as a "first code") that is the basis of a two-dimensional code is generated and Using the information not included in the one code, a code (hereinafter referred to as a "second code") that is the basis of the identification code is generated. The first code includes individual information X and preselected common information together with key information. The part of the first code which is not a seamlessly painted pattern may include, for example, information that the manufacturer intends to convey to the outside as information on traceability regarding manufacturing. The second code includes individual information Y and other common information that is preselected. The part of the second code, which is not a seamlessly painted pattern, contains information known only by the manufacturer, such as a manufacturing date, a factory identification number, an identification number of a production line, and an identification number of a manufacturing person. In addition, other information not selected as the object of the first code and the second code includes information generated at the manufacturing stage (processing time in each process, measured values at the time of inspection, inspection results, etc.). Contains confidential information that prohibits leakage.

The first code is converted into a two-dimensional code using a normal encoding technique. On the other hand, a predetermined conversion process is performed on the second code so that the individual information Y does not appear. For example, encryption is performed, and the code after encryption is converted into character string data to be an identification code. It is preferable that the identification code generated here has a smaller number of terms in the data string. For example, a process of encrypting and compressing the data of the second code and converting it into a 62-decimal data string can reduce the number of terms in the data string.

As described above, since the first code and the second code each contain information of contents unique to each product, they all represent contents unique to the product, and each code has a uniquely corresponding relationship. . Therefore, a combination of the identification code generated from the second code and the two-dimensional code generated from the first code is also uniquely determined for each product. In other words, the combination of the two-dimensional code and the identification code attached to each product is applied only to the corresponding product, respectively, and the same combination code is not applied to other products.

According to the structure of the code as described above, the forged code can be specified simply and accurately. For example, when the contents of the two-dimensional code are set to false, the first code read out from the two-dimensional code does not exist in reality, so even if the manufacturing unique information database is searched by the first code, the code is used. No unique manufacturing information corresponding to was found. Therefore, by the process of searching for the manufacturing unique information data gas by the read data of the two-dimensional code, it can be determined that the code is false.

In addition, when the two-dimensional code of a regular product is duplicated and the identification code is changed or broken, manufacturing-specific information corresponding to the first code read out from the two-dimensional code exists, but the product generated from this information The identification code derived from the two codes is not the same as the printed identification code. Therefore, by specifying manufacturing-specific information from the read data of the two-dimensional code, generating a second code from this information, and then determining whether the identification code generated from this second code is the same as the printed identification code, thereby printing. The identified identification code can be determined to be false.

On the other hand, when the regular combination of the two-dimensional code and the identification code is copied as it is, the combination itself is determined to be correct. However, since only one product having this combination exists in the world, it is impossible for a plurality of users to own the same combination of products. Therefore, when a plurality of determination requests are made at the same time with respect to the same code combination, it is conceivable that a counterfeit product on which the code of the combination is printed is released. In addition, in order to avoid duplication of a regular combination of a two-dimensional code and an identification code, a hologram seal indicating genuineness is attached to either the product 100, the package, or the label 101, or a special ink is attached to the label. It is also contemplated to apply other measures, such as printing by using a printing material or using the label 101 as a special material.

Next, in the example of FIG. 3, although the 1st code and the 2nd code are produced | generated by different information, respectively, it is not limited to this, As shown to FIG. Information may be shared. However, it is necessary to set the individual information Y so as to be included only in the second code.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 4 (2), when manufacturing unique information corresponding to one product is physically divided, the information included in the first code and the information included in the second code are different information sources. It may be extracted from. In this case, if each information source is linked as common key information, the second code corresponding to the first code can be easily specified.

FIG. 5 shows a function of printing processing of codes in the article management system 1 of FIG. 1.

In addition to the manufacturing specific information database 20 described above, the management server 2 is provided with a transceiver 21, a manufacturing specific information reading unit 22, a data management unit 23, and the like. The transmission / reception unit 21 is for exchanging information with the terminal device 40 for print processing, and the production-specific information reading unit 22 performs a process of reading specific production-specific information from the production-specific information database 20. Run The data management unit 23 updates the corresponding manufacturing unique information based on the management data received by the transceiver unit 21 from the terminal device 40 for print processing.

In the print processing terminal device 40 (hereinafter abbreviated as "print terminal 40"), the manufacturing specific information acquisition unit 42, the first code generation unit 43, the second code generation unit 44, A two-dimensional code generation unit 45, an identification code generation unit 46, a print control unit 47, a management data transmission unit 48, and the like are provided.

6 shows a flow of processing executed in the print terminal 40 and the management server 2 with respect to the printing of the code. In the figure, the step ST of the process on the print terminal 40 side is indicated by the number of 100, and the step of the process on the management server 2 side is indicated by the number of 10. Moreover, the dotted line arrow shows the relationship of the process between apparatuses.

Hereinafter, the print process performed by the various functions shown in FIG. 5 according to the flow of FIG. 6 is demonstrated.

First, the manufacturing unique information acquisition part 42 of the printing terminal 40 receives the printing instruction from the production control system which is not shown in figure, and requests the management server 2 to transmit manufacturing specific information of the product to be printed. (ST101). This transmission request specifies information to be transmitted, for example, by using key information shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The management server 2 receives the transmission request by the transmission / reception section 21 (ST11), and executes reading of the requested production-specific information by the production-specific information reading section 22 (ST12). In addition, the read manufacturing specific information is conveyed to the printing terminal 40 by the transceiver 21.

The manufacturing specific information acquisition unit 42 of the print terminal 40 receives the manufacturing specific information from the management server 2 (ST102), and this is the first code generation unit 43 and the second code generation unit 44. Supplies). The first code generation unit 43 generates a first code by extracting a predetermined number of pieces of information including the key information and the individual information X from the manufacturing unique information, arranging them in a predetermined order, and the like ( ST103). The second code generation unit 44 also generates a second code by extracting a predetermined number of pieces of information including the individual information Y from the production unique information and arranging them in a predetermined order (ST104).

The first code generated by the first code generator 43 is given to the two-dimensional code generator 45. The two-dimensional code generation unit 45 encodes the first code to generate a two-dimensional code (ST105).

The second code generated by the second code generator 44 is given to the identification code generator 46. The identification code generation unit 46 converts the second code based on a predetermined encryption rule and generates an identification code based on character string data (ST106).

The following ST107 is executed by the print control part 47 and the printer 41 shown in FIG. The print control unit 47 receives the two-dimensional codes and the identification codes generated by ST105 and 106 and supplies them to the printer 41. At this time, the product 100 or the label 101 to be printed is fed into the printer 41, and the respective codes supplied from the print control unit 47 are printed on the printing object.

The first code generated by the first code generator 43 is also given to the management data transmitter 48. The management data transmitter 48 transmits the first code to the management server 2 as management data for specifying the printed product, as the code to be printed on the printer 41 is output (ST108). With this ST108, the processing on the print terminal 40 side for one product is finished.

The transmission and reception unit 21 of the management server 2 receives the management data transmitted from the management data transmission unit 48 (ST13 is YES), and passes the management data to the data management unit 23. The data management unit 23 searches the manufacturing unique information database 20 and specifies manufacturing unique information corresponding to the management data (ST14). In addition, the data management unit 13 processes (e.g., attaches a flag indicating "print processing completed") in association with and stores information indicating that the code is print complete with manufacturing specific information of the specified relevant product. Execute (ST15). As this ST15, the processing on the management server 2 side for one product is also finished.

In addition, the process in the printing terminal 40 is not limited to the above, After performing the printing process of ST107, you may be set as the flowchart which returns ST101, omitting ST108. In this case, the print terminal 40 does not transmit to the management server 2 every time a print process for one product is performed, but the management data transmitter 48 does not transmit a plurality of pieces of management data (the print process is completed). Information) is accumulated, and the accumulated management data is integrated and transmitted to the management server 2 at a predetermined timing. In addition, the management server 2 performs the processing of ST14 and ST15 with respect to the plurality of management data.

7 shows a function relating to the determination of a code in the article management system 1.

The determination server 3 is provided with a determination request accepting unit 31 for accepting the determination request from the user terminal 7 and a determination result transmitting unit 36 for conveying the determination result to the user terminal 7. In addition, a read data transmitter 32, a process result receiver 33, an identification code generator 34, a judgment processor 35, and the like are provided.

The management server 2 is provided with a first code acquisition unit 24, a second code generation unit 25, a processing result transmitter 26, and the like. The data management unit 23 and the manufacturing unique information database 20 involved in the print process are also used for the process of determining the code.

8 shows the flow of processing executed in the server 3 for judgment and the management server 2 with respect to the code processing. In this FIG. 8, 200 steps of the process of the process on the determination server 3 side are shown by 20 number, and the process of the process on the management server 2 side is shown by 20 number. 6, the relationship of the process between apparatuses is shown by the dotted arrow.

Hereinafter, the determination process performed by the various functions shown in FIG. 7 according to the flow of FIG. 8 is demonstrated.

The processing on the determination server 3 side starts from the user terminal 7 upon receiving a determination request including read data of the two-dimensional code and character string data indicating the identification code. Upon receipt of this request, the decision request accepting unit 31 extracts the read data and the identification code, respectively (ST201, 202). In addition, below, the identification code extracted from the determination request is called "identification code (A)" for convenience.

The read data of the two-dimensional code is passed to the read data transmitter 32 and transmitted to the management server 2 (ST203). The 1st code acquisition part 24 of the management server 2 receives this read data as a 1st code, and passes it to the data management part 23 (ST21).

The data management unit 23 recognizes the key information included in the supplied first code, and searches the manufacturing unique information database 20 based on the key information (ST22). When the manufacturing unique information corresponding to the key information can be extracted by this search, the entire structure of the extracted manufacturing unique information and the first code is also compared. As a result, when the corresponding part of the 1st code and the manufacturing unique information correspond completely (when ST23 is "YES"), it is checked whether the information of "print processing completed" is recorded in the extracted manufacturing unique information. (ST24)

If the manufacturing unique information corresponding to the first code was not extracted (when ST23 is "NO") or the corresponding information could be extracted, the information of "print processing completed" was not recorded in the manufacturing unique information. In a case (when ST24 is "NO"), the data management unit 23 contacts the processing result transmission unit 26 to transmit a code indicating "NG" to the determination server 3 (ST27).

On the other hand, when manufacturing-specific information including the same content as the first code is extracted and information of "print processing completed" is recorded in the information (when ST23 and 24 are both "YES"), the data management unit ( 23 supplies this production-specific information to the second code generation unit 25. The second code generation unit 25 generates a second code from the supplied manufacturing unique information based on the same rules as the second code generation unit 44 on the printing terminal 40 side (ST25). This second code is transmitted to the judgment server 3 by the processing result transmitter 26 (ST26).

The processing on the management server 2 side for transmission of read data from the determination server 3 ends as described above with ST26 or ST27. The transmitted data is received by the processing result reception unit 33 of the determination server 3.

When the processing result reception unit 33 receives the transmission of the second code from the management server 2 (when ST204 is "YES"), the second code is given to the identification code generation unit 34. The identification code generation part 34 encrypts a 2nd code based on the same encryption rule as the identification code generation part 46 of the printing terminal 40 side, and produces | generates an identification code (ST205). Hereinafter, the identification code generated using the 2nd code from this management server 2 is called "identification code B."

The determination processing unit 35 receives the identification code A extracted by the determination request accepting unit 31 and the identification code B generated by the identification code generating unit 34 to collate both (ST206). ). By this check, when the two codes match (when ST207 is "YES"), the determination processing unit 35 gives the determination result transmission unit 36 a code of "0K" to the user terminal 7. To transmit (ST208). On the other hand, when the two codes do not match (when ST207 is "NO"), the determination processing unit 35 gives the determination result transmission unit 36 the code of "NG" and transmits it to the user terminal 7. (ST209).

On the other hand, when the processing result acceptance unit 33 receives a code of "NG" instead of a two-dimensional code (when ST204 is "NO"), the code is passed to the determination processing unit 35. In this case, the determination processing unit 35 gives the determination result transmission unit 36 a code of "NG" and transmits it without performing the matching processing (ST209).

When the transmission process of ST208 or ST209 is complete | finished, the determination processing part 35 will not show the transmission result with the various information (read data, identification code (A) (B), etc.) concerning the determination, not shown. Store in memory (ST210). By this processing, the processing for the determination request from the user terminal 7 ends.

In addition, in the example of FIG. 7, 8, although the 2nd code is transmitted from the management server 2 with respect to the transmission of the read data from the determination server 3, the safety protection of the 2nd code should be made perfect. For this purpose, the generation function of the identification code may be set on the management server 2 side, and the identification code B may be returned in response to the transmission of the read data.

According to the series of processes shown in FIG. 8, if the product to be determined is a regular one, an identification code A extracted from the determination request and an identification code B generated by the second code from the management server 2 are used. ) Always match, and a determination result of "0K" is transmitted to the determination request.

On the other hand, when the product to be judged is a counterfeit product, the two-dimensional code is copied from a certain product, and the identification code is incorrectly rewritten, the identification code A and the identification code B do not coincide, and the user terminal ( The determination result of "NG" is transmitted to 7).

In addition, although the two-dimensional code may be forged, in most cases, it is considered that there is no production-specific information corresponding to the forged two-dimensional code. Therefore, with respect to the read data transmitted from the determination server 3, the corresponding information cannot be extracted from the management server 2 side, the code of "NG" is returned, and the "NG" is also sent to the user terminal 7. The determination result is sent. Incidentally, even if the manufacturing unique information corresponding to the forged two-dimensional code exists, the individual information Y included in the second code in the manufacturing unique information is stored in the manufacturing unique management server 2. It is thought that there is little possibility that a third party can acquire this and derive the correct identification code. Therefore, similarly to the case where the identification code is forged, since the identification code A and the identification code B do not coincide, "NG" is also transmitted to the user terminal 7.

In this way, according to the determination processing of the system described above, it is possible to easily and accurately determine the government of the code.

In addition, the above-mentioned article management system 1 is provided with two servers 2 and 3, and the management server 2 processes to print two types of codes, and to determine the government of the printed codes. Although both of them are involved, the servers 2 and 3 may be integrated into one.

In addition, instead of performing the two types of processing in the same system, the system may be separated for each content of the processing. In this case, if the safety of the second code can be ensured, the first and second codes relating to each printed product are transmitted from the system on the print processing side to the system on the determination side, and stored in the system on the determination side. You may also do so. In this case, the system on the judging side is “generated using a group of information about the article about a plurality of regular articles marked with an optical information code indicating a first code representing a unique content, The first code includes information not included in the first code as information of unique contents for each article in the group of information, and is converted into a character string marked together with the optical information code by a predetermined conversion process. Corresponding to the stored storage means ”.

In addition, although the above-mentioned article management system 1 is aimed at an electronic component, the system of the same structure can be constructed also about the goods (brand goods, credit cards, etc.) other than an electronic component. In this case, there are cases in which various individual information does not occur as in the case of electronic components, but contents unique to each article are generated by, for example, generating a plurality of random numbers and matching them. Can be written and used as individual information (Y) of the second code.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, all the manufacturing unique information is managed in the management server 2, but the information constituting the first code may be copied and stored in a place other than the management server 2. . For example, if the object to be printed is large, the information constituting the first code may be stored in a storage medium such as an RFID tag for each article and pasted to the object to be printed, and the first code may be read while being drawn out to the printing machine. good.

Claims (9)

A system for marking a code by an optical information code and a character string on an article or an accessory thereof for the management of the article, Storage means associated with and stored in such a manner that a plurality of types of information relating to an article can be specified for each article so as to specify a group of information about the article; First code generating means for generating a first code representing a content unique to the article by using a part of a group of information specified for the article in the storage means, respectively, for each article; Second code generating means for generating a second code for each article, the second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group; Optical information code generating means for generating an optical information code representing the first code; Character string data generating means for performing a predetermined conversion process on the second code to generate data of a character string to be marked; And a marking means for executing the marking process by using the optical information code representing the first code and the character string data generated from the second code, The storage means includes secret information set by the manager of the article with respect to each article. The second code generating means generates, as the second code, a code including secret information corresponding to an article to be processed, The character string data generating means executes an operation for converting the second code into a code in which the secret information does not appear, and generates the character string data from a code obtained by the operation. Processing system. The method of claim 1, The storage means is configured to be able to read a group of information corresponding to one article by using information of contents unique to each article, and the first code generating means is the first code, which is the key. Marking processing system of the article management code, characterized in that for generating a code comprising a. delete In a system for determining the correctness of the marking content for an optical information code and a predetermined character string marked on an article or an appendage thereof, Contents which are generated using a group of information about the article about a plurality of regular articles on which an optical information code indicative of a first code each indicating a unique content is marked and is unique for each article in the group of information. A storage means including information not included in the first code as information of the second code and converted into a character string marked with the optical information code by a predetermined conversion process; Input means for receiving input of reading data obtained by a reading process on an optical information code marked on the article and character string data representing the contents of the character string, with respect to any article; Code specifying means for retrieving the storage means by using the read data received by the input means as a first code and specifying a second code corresponding to the code; Judging means for judging whether or not the same character string data as received by the input means can be obtained when the character string data to be marked is generated by the conversion process using the second code specified by the code specifying means. and, And a judgment result output means for outputting the judgment result by the judgment means as information indicating the government of the marking contents. The method of claim 4, wherein The input means is configured as a means for accepting transmission of read data and character string data from an external device, and the determination result output means sends a portion of the marking content to an external apparatus that has transmitted the read data and character string data. A code judging system, characterized in that it is configured as a means for conveying information to be displayed. A system having a function of marking a code by an optical information code and a character string on an article or an accessory thereof for the management of the article, and a function of determining the government of the marking contents of each of the codes, Storage means associated with and stored in such a manner that a plurality of types of information relating to an article can be specified for each article so as to specify a group of information about the article; First code generating means for generating a first code representing a content unique to the article by using a part of a group of information specified for the article in the storage means, respectively, for each article; Second code generating means for generating a second code for each article, the second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group; Optical information code generating means for generating an optical information code representing the first code; Character string data generating means for performing a predetermined conversion process on the second code to generate data of a character string to be marked; Marking means for performing the marking process by using the optical information code representing the first code and character string data generated from the second code; Input means for receiving input of read data obtained by a reading process on an optical information code marked on the article and character string data indicating the contents of the character string, with respect to any article; Code specifying means for retrieving the storage means as first code from the read data received by the input means, and specifying a second code corresponding to the code; Judging means for judging whether or not the same string data as received by the input means can be obtained when the string data generating means generates the string data using the second code specified by the code specifying means; , And a judgment result output means for outputting the judgment result by the judgment means as information indicating the government of the marking contents of the code. In the method of marking a code for management on an article or its accessories, For each article, a part of a group of information about the article is used to generate a first code representing content specific to the article, and included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article of the information crowd. Generating a second code containing unrecognized information, Generating an optical information code representing the first code; Performing a predetermined conversion process on the second code to generate data of a character string to be marked; For each of the articles, a step of marking an optical information code representing the first code and a character string by character string data generated from the second code, on the article or its accessories, The step of generating the second code, as the second code, generates a code containing secret information corresponding to the article to be processed, In the step of generating data of the character string, an operation for converting the second code into a code in which the secret information does not appear is performed, and the character string data is generated from a code obtained by the operation. How to mark code. In the method for determining the government of the marking content for an optical information code and a predetermined character string marked on an article or an appendage thereof, Contents which are generated using a group of information about the article about a plurality of regular articles on which an optical information code indicative of a first code each indicating a unique content is marked and is unique for each article in the group of information. Storing the second code corresponding to the first code, the second code including information not included in the first code as information of the first code and converted into a character string marked together with the optical information code by a predetermined conversion process. and, A step of accepting input of read data obtained by a reading process on an optical information code marked on the article and character string data representing the contents of the character string, for an arbitrary article; Searching the storage means with the inputted read data as a first code and specifying a second code corresponding to the code; Determining whether or not the same character string data as the inputted character string can be obtained when the character string data to be marked is generated by the conversion process using the specified second code; A code determination method for article management, characterized in that each step of the step of outputting the determination result as information indicating the government of the marking content is executed. According to the marking method of the article management code according to claim 7, an optical information code and a character string on a specific article are marked. The optical information code is generated by using a part of the group of information about the specific article, and displays a first code indicating the content unique to the article, And the character string is obtained by subjecting a second code including information not included in the first code as information of contents unique to each article in the group to a predetermined conversion process.

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