Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47B—TABLES; DESKS; OFFICE FURNITURE; CABINETS; DRAWERS; GENERAL DETAILS OF FURNITURE
  • A47B97/00—Furniture or accessories for furniture, not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
  • G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
  • G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
  • G06K19/067—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components
  • G06K19/07—Record carriers with conductive marks, printed circuits or semiconductor circuit elements, e.g. credit or identity cards also with resonating or responding marks without active components with integrated circuit chips
  • G06K19/077—Constructional details, e.g. mounting of circuits in the carrier

Definitions

• the present invention is applicable in the field of furniture, including but not limited to office furniture. It relates to the marking and identification of pieces of furniture, for commercial as well as utilitarian purposes.
• the furniture comprises for this purpose an electronic device, for example of the so-called radiofrequency identification label type denominated in English
• Radio Frequency tags or RFID tags.
• the possibility of identification or even authentication of goods using radiofrequency tags is for example mentioned in the document US 2005/0199723.
• reference is made to a method for identifying and facilitating the authentication of articles including the establishment of a code based on an image, and the association with at least one article to be identified from said image and a symbol readable by a machine.
• the electronic devices placed on the pieces of furniture in the context of the present invention must facilitate a large number of operations potentially occurring in the life of the furniture, from manufacture to its implementation / verification / inventory / end of life at the user, through all the possible intermediate operations of transport, delivery, etc. Data on these operations can result from a reading of the information contained in a component integrated into a support and which makes it possible, when a suitable reader is placed nearby, to identify immediately and unequivocally the piece of furniture in progress. treatment / manipulation.
• a locator covering the electronic device and providing a visible indication of the location of said device electronic.
• the furniture object of the invention comprises a transmitting device capable of storing identification information of the furniture, and for example, as a locator, a marking plate making for example appear at least one distinctive sign of the manufacturer, said marking plate being then fixed to the furniture so as to cover the transmitting device.
• the goal is to allow users / operators to have the fastest possible access to the device containing the product identifier information. It is therefore necessary to position the locator and the electronic device with which it is associated in a visible place from the approach of the product, which is also the main function of the locator. In the case of a marking wafer, it no longer only has a communication function related to the mark, but it serves as a reference point for the location of the label or more. generally device containing and likely to issue information on the product. It must be immediately visible.
• the brand of the product can then be highlighted, which is not devoid of benefits for the manufacturer.
• the mark, or distinctive signs of the manufacturer are then always visible.
• the fact of associating the marking plate with the transmitting device also makes it possible, in the mind of the consumer, to associate with the brand and consequently with the manufacturer a reputation for technological innovation which is in line with an improvement of the perception of their image.
• This association can also create new opportunities, in terms of use, for furniture to which a system according to the invention is associated.
• the number of operations, during the life of the product, that the information contained in the transmitting labels can improve, facilitate or simply allow are numerous.
• the electronic device may be a radio frequency identification tag, this technology having a particular attraction if the chosen device is passive, as will be explained in more detail below.
• said device is a simple label to stick to the furniture.
• the component integrated in the tag may be passive, that is to say, transmitting information only when it is subjected to a magnetic field created by an incident radiofrequency wave, in this case for example that of a reader placed a few centimeters from the component.
• the locator may include an indication of the provenance of the piece of furniture, or a decorative element.
• the information contained in the component can be of different natures. According to a preferred possibility, it is simply a serial number, which can after reading be compared to a database which gives many other information about the product, its life, its location, etc. In this case, all informative changes concerning the furniture are made in the corresponding card in the database. There is no need to change the component on the furniture itself.
• the locator may further advantageously be dimensioned and positioned to cover said element.
• the undesirable visible element is constituted by the junction of the ends of the band.
• the locator is positioned to cover said junction.
• the label provided with the radiofrequency component is also glued at the junction of the ends of the strip.
• the additional advantage obtained by this location is aesthetic: the join is no longer apparent.
• the invention applies to all kinds of furniture parts, and in particular to seats, space separating panels, tables, cabinets, whiteboards, etc. used in various fields such as office furniture, education , the health, etc.
• the invention will now be described in more detail, with reference to the appended figures, for which:
• FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a work plane, its peripheral edge, the label or the radiofrequency component and the marking plate;
• FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view corresponding to that of Figure 1, all of the preceding elements are however assembled;
• FIG. 3 shows an operator reading the information for a piece of seat-type furniture; and - Figure 4 shows the same operation for a desk type furniture.
• the work plane (1) is provided on its peripheral edge (2), a protective strip (3).
• an identification tag (6) radio frequency (RFID tag) is pasted.
• This tag (6) supports a component for storing the information characterizing the product, and an antenna able to receive the energy of an incident wave emitted by a reader and to emit the information in question, on the approach of this player.
• the whole is covered with a marking plate (7), which includes a distinctive sign of the manufacturer, for example a mark and / or a logo.
• the reader may for example be connected to a microcomputer (9), in this case of portable type, which displays the card corresponding to the product on which the reading is made, which may include variable and modifiable information, as for example its date of manufacture, its dimensions, its date of delivery, if necessary its implantation inside the premises of its owner, the dates of maintenance operations, etc. Changes in the nature and quantity of the information are made by changes made to the program without affecting the furniture and the component containing the information allowing its identification.
• the component used is preferably a passive component, which has only one code, for example the serial number of the piece of furniture.
• This serial number is sufficient to have access to the card of the microcomputer which gives all the other information necessary and / or useful for the treatment carried out by the operator.
• This configuration allows as said greater flexibility, insofar as any possible modification is software.
• the use of an RFID tag type label allows a simplified and inexpensive implementation of the invention, because the component is integrated with a thin paper, which easily finds its place behind the marking plate. It is of course possible to find variants, for example a component disposed on a self-adhesive tablet, etc. Thanks to the contribution of this electronic component, the brand becomes technological. The idea of this brand is associated with the ease of managing the park and its inventory. It is also easy to create service solutions that make life easier for customers.
• the potentialities opened by the identification are very numerous, since the birth of the product to the factory, where one can solve problems of assembly, until the end of life, for the eventual recycling of the different materials.
• the invention therefore makes it possible to set up a traceability on the entire life of the piece of furniture. Reading can be done by the manufacturer as well as by the delivery person, the end customer or the external operators responsible for recycling the product at the end of its life.
• the memory transmitter device is a passive microcomponent having a memory and having an antenna for receiving and transmitting signals from and to a reader.
• the advantage of a passive component is that it does not contain any source of energy, and that there is therefore no maintenance to be done to possibly replace such sources.
• the radio wave coming from the reader is picked up by the antenna of the label, the magnetic field which is created constitutes the energy source necessary for the retransmission of the serial number included in the memory.
• the invention is obviously not limited to the example given above, but encompasses the mentioned variants of location or structure. It is thus possible to use active components, to implement elsewhere labels / marking plates, etc.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Cash Registers Or Receiving Machines (AREA)
• Control Of Vending Devices And Auxiliary Devices For Vending Devices (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=38926434

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Family Cites Families (12)

• 2007
  • 2007-03-28 FR FR0702237A patent/FR2914435B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2008
  • 2008-03-28 EP EP08787874A patent/EP2126802A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2008-03-28 WO PCT/FR2008/000434 patent/WO2008142244A2/fr active Application Filing
  • 2008-03-28 US US12/593,512 patent/US20100141388A1/en not_active Abandoned

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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