JP2000285170A - Data carrier and article life cycle management method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data carrier with which not only the respective stages of physical distribution but also waste after use or recycle of an article are cared while effectively utilizing the merit of the data carrier such as wireless tag to a maximum and to provide an article life cycle management method using the same. SOLUTION: Concerning this article life cycle management method, the data carrier capable of writing/reading data is attached to an article GD, data required for managing the article on respective plural stages to the production, logistics, selling, using, waste and recycle of this article GD are stored in the data carrier and read out of that data carrier so that the life cycle management of the article is performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data carrier and a product life cycle management method using the data carrier, and more particularly, to wirelessly transmitting management information required at each stage throughout the entire life cycle from product production to disposal. The present invention relates to a system and method for managing data using a data carrier such as a tag.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as one of data carrier media, "RF-ID (Radi-ID)", which can be identified by being attached to a person or an article by wireless radio waves from outside without contact.
o Frequency Identificatio
n: wireless radio wave identification) function is known. This wireless tag has excellent features such as a large amount of information to be held because it has a memory, as compared with a barcode, for example, and data writing is possible. For this reason, data such as ID information, incidental information, and history information are stored in a memory so that they can be stored and updated, and the information is read as necessary, thereby being expected to be applied to various automation systems such as management and control. Have been.
For example, as an example of application to a distribution system, an automatic sorting system for each item in a factory or a warehouse, a distribution sorting system for each destination, a storage management system, and the like can be given as examples.

On the other hand, in recent years, household electrical appliances discharged from ordinary households and the like are collected by retailers and municipalities, and approximately half of them are directly buried in landfills, and the rest are crushed. At present, most of the metal is discarded, although metal may be collected. It is difficult to secure landfill sites for such wastes, and there are also problems such as illegal dumping and environmental problems. For this reason, it is becoming an important issue to reduce the amount of waste and to re-use useful parts and materials.

[0004] Regarding the above-mentioned measures for preventing illegal dumping of waste, there is a system of a so-called special management industrial waste management slip (also referred to as a "manifest slip"). According to this system, the manifestation slip of six copies is operated between the discharging company, the collection / transportation company, and the disposal company to clarify the route of discharge, transportation, and treatment of industrial waste, and to prevent illegal dumping. Inappropriate processing is prevented.

At present, paper manifests are used for this manifest slip, but in order to prevent tampering such as falsification of the information, a technique using a card-shaped storage medium such as an IC card has recently been proposed. (See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-277020).

[0006]

The card-shaped storage medium replacing the manifest slip described above is a portable storage medium that can be handed between concerned parties along the flow of waste. Therefore, even if illegal dumping is performed, it is difficult to identify the manifest slip without the card-shaped storage medium even if the user wants to check the information on the manifest slip later. Further, this card-shaped storage medium is not conscious of re-commercialization of useful parts and materials.

[0007] On the other hand, the above-mentioned wireless tag has already been applied to some distribution systems, but these manage and control a certain stage of the flow of the product itself. At present, it is not conscious of the stage until its reuse, and is used only for the purpose of sorting and for the purpose of storage in the case of sorting.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and makes the most of the advantages of a data carrier such as a wireless tag, while disposing not only individual stages of physical distribution but also disposal after use. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data carrier conscious of reusing components and components thereof, and a product life cycle management method using the same.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a data carrier which prevents illegal dumping of articles such as home electric appliances and is conscious of reusing parts thereof, and a product life cycle management method using the same. I do.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a product life cycle management method comprising: attaching a data carrier capable of writing and reading data to a product; Over each of a plurality of stages up to disposal, storing data required for product management in each stage in the data carrier and reading from the data carrier, thereby performing life cycle management of the product. It is characterized by.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the data required in the merchandise management at the disposal stage of the plurality of stages is information to be recorded in a predetermined waste management slip. It is characterized by including.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, when a part constituting the product is reused, a data carrier for managing the part is prepared, and the data carrier is provided in the data carrier. The method further includes a step of transferring at least a part of the data in the data carrier provided for the product, which is useful for subsequent maintenance management of the component.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the plurality of stages include a product completion stage, a logistics stage, a sales stage, a use stage, and a disposal stage. Data required for management is production information in the case of the product completion stage, inventory information and transport information in the case of the logistics stage, sales information in the case of the sales stage, maintenance history information in the case of the use stage, And the discarding step includes discarding history information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, the production information includes a manufacturer name, a product name, a model, a production date, a production lot number, a part of inspection data,
And at least one piece of information on a factory shipment date, wherein the stock information and the transportation information include a storage warehouse name, a warehouse entry date, a warehouse storage location, a warehouse shipment date, a shipping slip number, a destination, and a transportation company name. Wherein the sales information includes at least one information of a store name, an arrival date, a sales cost, a selling price, a discount rate, and a sales date, and the maintenance history information includes: The information includes at least one of a purchaser name, a purchaser address, a telephone number, and a breakdown / repair history, and the disposal history information includes a disposal name, a disposal date, a payment amount, a collection store name, and a telephone number. , Waste transporter name, transport vehicle number, date and time of transport, receiving location, unloading location, name of disassembly / recycler, receiving date, receiving location, disassembly date, and data carrier collection Wherein the to date are those containing at least one information.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the first to fifth aspects are provided.
The invention according to any one of the above, wherein the data carrier is a wireless tag.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data carrier which stores, in a readable manner, data relating to merchandise management necessary for each of a plurality of stages from completion of a product to disposal. A main body for storing a memory and attached to the product.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the seventh aspect of the present invention, the data required for product management in the disposal stage of the plurality of stages is information to be recorded in a predetermined waste management slip. It is characterized by including.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the seventh aspect of the present invention, the memory identifies data required for the product management when a password is required for reading the data and when the password is not required. It is characterized by being stored as possible.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the seventh aspect, the memory specifies data required for the merchandise management by a page division at each of a plurality of stages from completion of the merchandise to disposal. It is characterized in that it is stored in a place.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, a product life cycle management system includes the data carrier according to any one of the seventh to tenth aspects.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a merchandise cycle management system and method using a data carrier according to the present invention and a data carrier according to the present invention are shown in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

The merchandise cycle management system shown in FIG. 1 is a system to which a data carrier system using a wireless tag is applied. For example, a merchandise GD such as a home electric appliance is installed, and is installed at the time of shipment from a factory and thereafter disposed and recycled. A wireless tag 10 forming a data carrier commonly used in each stage, and a reader / writer system 20 for bidirectionally transmitting data related to merchandise management between the wireless tag 10 and the wireless tag 10 via wireless radio waves. Have.

The reader / writer system 20 employs, for example, an existing antenna, a reader (interrogator) or a system composed of a reader / writer, a computer, or the like (or a handy type reader having these integrated). 21, a transmission / reception unit 22, a control unit 23, a display unit 24, an input unit 25, and the like.

With this configuration, at the time of data reading, a signal relating to necessary data reading control from the control unit 23 is transmitted as a radio wave of a predetermined frequency from the antenna 21 to the wireless tag 10 via a modulation circuit or the like in the transmitting / receiving unit 22.
The data from the wireless tag 10 is displayed on the display unit 24 from the antenna 21 via a demodulation circuit (not shown) in the transmission / reception unit 22 or the like. Also, at the time of data writing, the data designated by the operator to the input unit 25 together with the data writing control signal from the control unit 23 are transmitted from the antenna via a modulation circuit (not shown) in the transmitting / receiving unit 22 to a radio wave of a predetermined frequency. To the wireless tag 10.

The wireless tag 10 includes a main body 11 formed into a desired shape such as a card shape, a button shape, and a cylindrical shape in accordance with the type of the target product GD, its exterior, and the like.
1, an antenna 12, a transmission / reception unit 13, and a memory 14
including. In this configuration, the antenna 12 receives a radio wave from the reader / writer 20 and generates induced power. With this power, at the time of data writing, the designated data in the radio signal is demodulated in the transmission / reception unit 13 (not shown).
When data is written into the memory 14 and data is read out, the designated data in the memory 14 is transmitted to the antenna 1 via a modulation circuit (not shown) in the transmission / reception unit 13.
At 2, the radio wave is transmitted to the reader / writer 20 as a radio wave.

The memory 14 stores, in a readable manner, data relating to merchandise management necessary for each of the plurality of stages from completion of the product to disposal thereof. The written data is written to a specific location in, for example, a page section, and at that time, it is possible to store the password in a case where a password is required and a case where the password is not required when reading the data.

As shown in FIG. 2, the memory 14 functionally includes a holding unit 15 for holding the product completion stage data DA1,
Holder 1 for holding logistics stage data DA2
6, a holding unit 17 for holding the sales stage data DA3, a holding unit 18 for holding the use stage data DA4, and a holding unit 19 for holding the disposal stage data DA5.

As shown in FIG. 3, the product completion stage data holding unit 15 stores, for example, “manufacturer name”, “product name”, “model”, “production date”,
The information according to each item such as “manufacturing lot number”, “part of inspection data”, and “factory shipping date” is held. this house,
An item requiring a password at the time of data reading is, for example, "part of inspection data" PY (hereinafter, an item requiring a password is denoted by a symbol PY for convenience to distinguish it from an item that does not require a password).

The logistics stage data holding unit 16
As shown in FIG. 4, “storage warehouse name”, “warehouse entry date”, “warehouse storage location”, “warehouse exit date”, “shipping slip number”, “delivery destination”, and “transportation company” as logistics stage data DA2. The information along each item such as "name" is stored.

As shown in FIG. 5, the sales stage data holding unit 17 stores “sales store name”, “arrival date”, “sales cost” PY, “sales price” PY, and “discount rate” as sales stage data DA3.
It holds information along each item such as PY and “sales date”.

As shown in FIG. 6, the use stage data holding unit 18 stores “purchase name”, “purchaser address”, “telephone number”, and “failure / repair history (failure date, repair date) as the use stage data DA4. Contents, replacement parts) ", and information along each item such as PY.

Discard / recycle stage data holding unit 19
Holds the data including information to be described in the conventional manifest slip as the disposal stage data DA5. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the "destructor name", "destruction date", "payment date""Amount","collection store name", "phone number", "industrial waste transporter", "transportation vehicle number",
"Transportation date / time", "shipping location", "unloading location"
It stores information along each item such as "Disassembly / recycling company name", "Receiving date", "Receiving place", "Disassembly date", and "Data carrier removal date".

The above-mentioned data DA1 to DA5 are read by the reader / writer system 2 at the time of reading the data at the respective stages.
0 is displayed on the display unit 24 via the control unit 23 within 0.
The output can be performed by an output device such as a printer (not shown). Further, each of these data DA1-D
A5 is a functional management unit in the control unit 23, that is, a production information management unit 30, a stock information management unit 3
1. The transportation information management unit 32, the sales information management unit 33, the maintenance history information management unit 34, and the disposal / recycling history information management unit 35 perform processing in accordance with a predetermined product management algorithm.

For example, the production information management unit 30 is required for production information relating to product liability data and data for grasping the production amount, and the inventory information management unit 31 is required for planning the inventory amount data and the production plan / sales plan. The transportation information management unit 32 stores the inventory information such as various data, etc., and the transportation information necessary for improving the loading rate and shortening the delivery time.
Reference numeral 3 denotes sales information such as sales amount data and various data required for drafting a development plan / production plan. The maintenance history information management unit 34 discards and stores maintenance history information such as failure / part replacement records and quality records. The recycle history information management unit 35 can create discard / recycle history information such as data on fee payment and manifest slips. The method of creating these data is not particularly limited, and a method based on various algorithms such as statistics, analysis, and prediction for obtaining target information can be applied.

Here, a product life cycle management method using the above-described wireless tag 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in the “completion stage” of the product life cycle, a product GD such as a home electric appliance is manufactured, and the wireless tag 10 is attached to the product GD when it is shipped from a manufacturer warehouse. The above-described product completion stage data DA1 from the reader / writer system 20 is input to the wireless tag 10 by an operation of an operator. Therefore, by reading the data DA1 in the wireless tag 10 on the reader / writer system 20 side, it can be subsequently used as product liability data as production information of the product GD or the production amount can be grasped.

Next, in the "logistics stage" from transporting the goods GD shipped from the factory to the distribution warehouse and delivering the goods GD to each store or the like, the reader / writer system 20 transfers the goods GD from the reader / writer system 20 to the wireless tag 10 by the operation of the operator. The above-mentioned logistics stage data DA2 is input and stored in addition to the above-mentioned data DA1. Therefore, by reading these data on the reader / writer system 20 side, the inventory amount can be grasped as inventory information of the product GD, utilized for a production plan or a sales plan, or the product G can be used.
As the transport information of D, the loading rate can be improved and the delivery time can be shortened.

Next, in the "sales stage" in which the delivered goods GD are sold, the above-mentioned sales stage data DA3 is input into the wireless tag 10 from the reader / writer system 20 by the operation of the operator, and the sales stage data DA3 is transmitted to the above-mentioned data DA1.
And DA2. Therefore, by reading these data on the reader / writer system 20 side, the sales amount can be grasped as sales information of the product GD, and a development plan and a production plan can be drafted.

Next, in the "use stage" by the consumer who has purchased the product GD, the use stage data DA4 described above is input into the wireless tag 10 from the reader / writer system 20 by the operation of the operator, and this is used as the data DA1 described above.
It is accumulated in addition to ~ DA3. Therefore, by reading these data on the reader / writer system 20 side,
It is possible to record a failure / part replacement or maintenance quality as maintenance history information of the product GD.

Next, in the “disposal / recycling stage” of the used product GD, the above-mentioned discard / recycle is transferred from the reader / writer system 20 to the wireless tag 10 by the operation of the operator.
The recycle stage data DA5 is input, and is stored in addition to the data DA1 to DA4 described above. Therefore,
By reading these data on the reader / writer system 20 side, it is possible to grasp the fee payment status as the disposal / recycling history information of the product GD, and to help prevent illegal dumping of waste as a manifest record. In addition, for parts that constitute a product to be discarded, a component management data carrier (such as a wireless tag) is prepared as a child tag for a parent product for a component to be reused,
It is also possible to transfer a part of the data DA1 to DA5 of the parent product to the child tag. With this child tag,
There is also an advantage that it can be used for maintenance management of parts thereafter.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, a data carrier such as a wireless tag is attached at the time of factory shipment of all products to be manufactured, and is required at each stage throughout the entire life cycle from disposal to disposal. Since data is written or read, and the life cycle management of the product is performed by this, it is possible to provide a system and method for operating the entire life cycle from product production to disposal / recycling using a single data carrier, and to provide data. It can greatly expand the range of career utilization options.

In particular, with respect to home electric appliances which are required to be recycled at the disposal stage, the data carrier can be provided with an electronic manifest function, whereby illegal dumping can be effectively prevented. For parts reused from a product to be discarded, the history of the product era is copied to a child tag, and this is pasted on the component and managed, so that it can be used for subsequent maintenance management.

In this embodiment, the wireless tag is used as the data carrier, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, any configuration (IC card, etc.) having a transmitting / receiving unit (sensing unit) capable of writing and reading data in a non-contact or contact manner by radio waves and a memory capable of storing and recording the data is applicable. It is. Even in this case, the memory reading is controlled so that data that can be read with a specific password and data that can be read with a general method are distinguished from each other, and data recorded at each stage of the entire life cycle of a product is classified into memory page divisions. It is desirable to control the writing of the memory so as to record at a specific location.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, a data carrier on which data can be written and read is attached to a product, and each of the plurality of processes from production to disposal of the product is performed at each stage. The data required for product management is stored in the data carrier and read from the data carrier, thereby performing the life cycle management of the product, thereby maximizing the advantages of the data carrier such as a wireless tag. It is possible to provide a data carrier and a product life cycle management method using the data carrier, which are conscious of not only individual steps of physical distribution but also disposal after use and reuse of parts thereof, while utilizing the data carrier.

In particular, by including information to be recorded in a predetermined waste management slip in data required for product management in the disposal stage of each stage of the entire life cycle, illegal use of articles such as home electric appliances can be achieved. It is possible to provide a data carrier that prevents discarding more effectively and is conscious of reusing the component, and a product life cycle management method using the same.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing an entire configuration of a data carrier according to the present invention and a system applied to an embodiment of a product life cycle management method using the same.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of each functional unit in a memory.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of each item of product completion stage data.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of each item of logistics stage data.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of each item of sales stage data.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of each item of use stage data.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of each item of discard stage data.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram for explaining a functional configuration of a control unit in the reader / writer system.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a product life cycle management method using a wireless tag.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 wireless tag (data carrier) 11 main body 12 antenna (for wireless tag) 13 wireless tag transmitting / receiving unit 14 memory 15 product completion stage data holding unit 16 logistics stage data holding unit 17 sales stage data holding unit 18 use stage data holding unit 19 disposal -Recycling stage holding unit 20 Reader / writer system 21 Antenna (for reader / writer system) 22 Reader / writer transmission / reception unit 23 Control unit 24 Display unit 25 Input unit 30 Production information management unit 31 Inventory information management unit 32 Transportation information management unit 33 Sales information management Section 34 Maintenance history information management section 35 Disposal / recycling history information management section

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroto Kokubo 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Toshiba Corporation Head Office (72) Inventor Yukinori Yoshida 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Mitsuo Kimura 1-19-12 Ekoda, Nakano-ku, Tokyo F-term (reference) 4D004 AA22 DA16 DA17 5B049 CC00 DD00 DD04 5B058 CA15 YA01

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A data carrier on which data can be written and read is attached to a product, and data required for product management in each of the plurality of stages from production to disposal of the product is stored in the data carrier. A product life cycle management method, wherein the product is stored in a carrier and read from the data carrier, thereby performing the life cycle management of the product. 2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the data required in the merchandise management in the disposal stage of the plurality of stages includes information to be recorded in a predetermined waste management slip. Product life cycle management method. 3. In the invention according to claim 2, when a component constituting the product is reused, a data carrier for managing the component is prepared, and the data carrier is provided to the product in the data carrier. A method for managing a product life cycle, further comprising the step of transferring at least a portion of data in a data carrier, thereby helping subsequent maintenance of the component. 4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of stages include a product completion stage, a logistics stage, a sales stage, a use stage, and a disposal stage, and are required in the product management in the plurality of stages. Data is production information in the case of the product completion stage, inventory information and transport information in the case of the logistics stage, sales information in the case of the sales stage, maintenance history information in the case of the use stage, and in the case of the disposal stage. Product life cycle management method, wherein the product life cycle management information is included. 5. The invention according to claim 4, wherein the production information includes at least one of a manufacturer name, a product name, a model, a production date, a production lot number, a part of inspection data, and a factory shipment date. Wherein the stock information and the transport information include at least one of a storage warehouse name, a warehouse entry date, a warehouse storage location, a warehouse shipping date, a shipping slip number, a destination, and a transport company name. The sales information includes a store name, an arrival date, a selling cost, a selling price,
The maintenance history information includes at least one of a purchaser name, a purchaser address, a telephone number, and a breakdown / repair history, The disposal history information includes the name of the discarder, the date of disposal, the payment amount, the name of the collection store, the telephone number, the name of the waste transporter, the number of the transport vehicle, the transport date and time, the receiving location, the unloading location, the name of the disassembly recycler, A product life cycle management method comprising at least one information of a date, a receiving place, a disassembly date, and a data carrier removal date. 6. The product life cycle management method according to claim 1, wherein the data carrier is a wireless tag. 7. A memory for readingably storing data relating to merchandise management necessary for each of a plurality of stages from completion of a product to disposal thereof, and accommodating the memory and being attached to the product. A data carrier comprising a main body. 8. The invention according to claim 7, wherein the data required in the merchandise management in the disposal stage of the plurality of stages includes information to be recorded in a predetermined waste management slip. Data carrier to do. 9. The memory according to claim 7, wherein the memory stores data required for the product management so that it can be distinguished between a case where a password is required when reading the product and a case where the password is not required. A data carrier characterized by the following. 10. The invention according to claim 7, wherein the memory stores data required for the product management in a specific location in a page division for each of a plurality of stages from completion to disposal of the product. A data carrier characterized by the following. 11. A product life cycle management system comprising the data carrier according to claim 7. Description: