JP2001005937A - Non-contact information medium, housing container and ic element - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make preventable a microbial risk when a managing object is food and drink by allowing a measuring part to automatically measure a environmental parameter and a real time clock to automatically measure real time and allowing a memory to automatically record the results to measure the environment as the managing object while keeping its environment safely. SOLUTION: A non-contact information medium 100 automatically measures the prescribed environmental parameters of the retaining environment (selected from among temperature, humidity, pressure, light quantity, sound volume, velocity, etc.), of managing objects (food and drink, animal and plant, jewel, fuel, etc.), housed in a container or another housing container, automatically measures a real time, correlates the prescribed parameters and the real time to automatically store them, and communicates with a reader/writer(R/W) 200 being an external device by radio wave. The medium 100 has an antenna coil 12, a non-contact interface part 20, 3.6 V battery 30, a crystal oscillator 38 and an IC part 40 in a case 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates generally to data record carriers, and more particularly to non-contact information media. The “non-contact information medium” generally includes a combination of an information recording medium such as an IC chip and a coil or an antenna which is a non-contact communication means between the information recording medium and an external device. A medium that communicates with a contact. Therefore, as long as it is non-contact, the wavelength of the radio wave does not matter, and the length of the communication distance does not matter. The non-contact information medium may be any communication means in a broad sense, but in the present application, it is assumed that the non-contact information medium communicates via electric (magnetic) waves.

[0002] A typical non-contact information medium having a built-in IC chip is, for example, a non-contact IC card which communicates with a reader / writer using microwaves. In the present application, the “IC card” includes a smart card, an intelligent card, a chip-in card, a microcircuit (microcomputer) card, a memory card, a super card, a multi-function card, a combination card, and the like.

[0003] The shape of the non-contact information medium is not limited to a card. Therefore, it is the so-called I
Also includes C tag. Here, the “IC tag” has the same function as the IC card, but includes all information recording media having a stamp size, a micro size smaller than that, a coin shape, and the like.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, information to be managed on foods in order to identify and prevent the cause of food poisoning is not limited to information such as mere production place and date of manufacture, but extends from producers to final consumers. It has been claimed that the food product has experienced environmental information at all stages, including transportation, storage, and the like. For example, the food hygiene management method HACCP (Ha
zard Analysis Critical Con
control point) is urgently needed. HA
CCP is HA (Hazard Analysis) and CCP (Critical Control Point Monitoring)
Are integrated. Hazard management refers to the processing of raw materials (meat, vegetables, fruits, seafood) of processed foods from the stage of growth, production, fishing, harvesting, preservation, preparation, production, processing,
The purpose is to judge and confirm the cause of microbial harm that can occur at each stage from cooking, storage and distribution of the product to the final consumer, and evaluate its importance. Critical control point monitoring refers to methods and processes for monitoring the methods and locations that define food safety tolerances from the production of food to the distribution stage, and eliminating harm (danger).

Here, taking chicken eggs and salmonella food poisoning as an example, it is important to control the temperature during the distribution of chicken eggs and determine the expiration date for the prevention of salmonella food poisoning. Salmonella (SE) bacteria are generally the most common cause of food poisoning infecting meat, chicken eggs, etc., with 2,300 species. It is known that SE bacteria are vulnerable to heating, die at 60 ° C. for 3 minutes or more, and can suppress the growth at 8 ° C. or less.
Normally, several 10,000 eggs contain SE bacteria. SE bacteria are present in egg white and cannot normally contact the yolk covered by the yolk membrane. The SE bacterium grows using the iron content of the yolk as a nutrient source, and grows explosively when the egg shell and the yolk membrane are damaged during long-term storage. The shelf life of a hen's egg is defined as the period during which normal storage will not interfere with the raw food even if contaminated with SE bacteria. FIG. 12 shows the general relationship between the period D and the storage temperature T until the SE bacterium multiplies in the eggs. It is understood that the higher the temperature of SE bacteria, the shorter the period until growth. In addition, from the graph shown in FIG.
It will be appreciated that there is a relationship of -4.1T + 0.048T2, and T where D = 0 is about 39.3 ° C.

As can be understood from FIG. 12, in order to prevent salmonella poisoning of eggs, it is important to control the storage temperature and the storage period experienced by the eggs over time at each stage from the producer to the consumer. It is understood that there is. For example, if the temperature becomes 39.3 ° C. during the transportation of the eggs, it is useless to manage the low temperature, such as 10 ° C., by the retail stores thereafter. In addition, it is difficult to identify where the cause of salmonella food poisoning actually occurs if there is no time-dependent management of the environment that the chicken eggs have experienced.

[0007]

Although the United States and the EU have already obliged the implementation of the HACCP system for marine products and meat products, they have not yet been adopted in Japan. Further, a specific method for realizing the HACCP scheme is not effective even in the United States and the EU, and the reliability of management data is not always sufficient due to the risk of human error and tampering. As a result, it becomes difficult to effectively prevent microbial harm and to identify the cause when microbial harm occurs.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an exemplary general object of the present invention to provide a new and useful non-contact information medium, a container and an IC element which solve such a conventional problem.

More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact information medium, a container, and an IC element which reliably retain information on a change with time of an environment experienced by a managed object. I do.

[0010] In order to achieve the above object, a non-contact information medium as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention measures a predetermined environmental parameter of an environment in which a management target is arranged, and measures real time. A real-time clock, a memory that stores the environmental parameters measured by the measuring unit and the real time measured by the real-time clock, and a communication unit that enables the memory to communicate with an external device without contact And According to such a non-contact information medium, the environmental parameter is automatically measured by the measuring unit, the real time is automatically measured by the real time clock, and the result is automatically stored in the memory, and each step is performed by these. The reliability of the data is improved because it is impossible to do it artificially. In addition, since communication with the external device is performed in a non-contact manner, the non-contact information medium does not need to have a terminal that contacts the external device. Therefore, there is no possibility that the environment is destroyed or contaminated from the non-contact information medium via the terminal, and there is no possibility that the terminal is destroyed or contaminated from the environment.

[0011] A storage container according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a housing capable of storing an object to be managed, a measuring unit for measuring predetermined environmental parameters of the housing, and a real-time clock for measuring real time. A memory that is connected to the measuring unit and the real-time clock, and stores the environmental parameter measured by the measuring unit and the real time measured by the real-time clock;
A communication unit that enables the memory to communicate with an external device. Such a storage container has the same effect as the above-mentioned non-contact information medium.

[0012] An IC element as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a measuring unit for measuring predetermined environmental parameters of an environment in which a management target is arranged, a real-time clock for measuring real time,
A memory for storing the environmental parameters measured by the measuring unit and the real time measured by the real time clock. Such an IC element is applicable to the non-contact information medium and the storage device.

Other objects and further features of the present invention will be made clear by the embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a non-contact information medium 100 as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the drawings, members denoted by the same reference numerals represent the same members, and redundant description will be omitted.

First, the contactless information medium 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the non-contact information medium 100. FIG.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged block diagram of an IC unit 40 of the non-contact information medium 100 shown in FIG.

The non-contact information medium 100 is provided in a storage environment (temperature, humidity, pressure, light quantity, sound volume, speed, etc.) of a storage target (food, food, animals, plants, jewelry, fuel, etc.) stored in a container or other storage container. (Predetermined) environmental parameters are automatically measured, real time is automatically measured, predetermined environmental parameters and real time are correlated and automatically stored, and further, an external device. Reader / writer (R /
W) Communicate with 200 using electromagnetic (magnetic) waves. Therefore,
The reliability of the data is better than the artificial measurement and recording of environmental parameters and real time.

A non-contact information medium 100 includes an antenna coil 12, a non-contact interface section 20, a 3.6V battery 30, a crystal oscillator 38,
C section 40. Non-contact interface 2
0 and the IC unit may be configured as separate IC chips, or may be configured as a one-chip IC. Such an IC has high industrial applicability as a temperature data log IC.

The case 10 is made of, for example, a plastic base material, and has a sealed and waterproof card shape. However, the case 10 can have any shape (for example, a pendant shape, a coin shape, a key shape, a card shape, a tag shape, or the like) that matches the shape of a container or another container described later. Alternatively, the case 10 may include various switches such as a display, a keyboard, and a power supply (not shown) to realize further multifunctionality. Case 10 has embossed, sign panel,
Holograms, stamps, hot stamps, image prints, photographs, etc. may be formed.

Since the non-contact information medium 100 communicates with an external device in a non-contact manner using the antenna coil 12, it does not have a terminal, a connector, or the like connected to the external device. Have been. As a result, the non-contact information medium 100 has no risk of destructing or contaminating the storage environment of the management target via such terminals and the like,
In addition, there is no possibility that the storage environment may cause an effect such as destruction or contamination via the terminal or the like. In addition, since the case 10 is waterproofed, it can be washed together with the container and the like, so that the case 10 is convenient to handle.

The antenna coil 12 has a reader / writer 200
And is electromagnetically coupled to the reader / writer 200 by a radio wave W having a carrier frequency fc (for example, 13.56 MHz) in an arbitrary frequency band. The antenna coil 12 may use a subcarrier frequency if necessary. FIG. 1 conceptually shows the antenna coil 12. In the actual non-contact information medium 100, the antenna coil 12 is formed so as to surround the non-contact interface unit 20, for example, as shown in FIG. I have. When viewed from above, the shape of the antenna coil 14 can have a desired shape such as a circle, a square, and an ellipse. The antenna coil 12 is a non-contact interface unit 2
0 connection terminal 21 by wire bonding method or TAB
(Tape Automated Bonding) method or the like. The communication distance between the antenna coil 12 and the reader / writer 200 is, for example, several c
m to several tens of cm. The antenna coil 12 can be formed by any method known in the art, such as etching using copper, aluminum, or the like, printing by a printed wiring method, or formation using a wire. The antenna coil 12 has a desired size, shape, self-inductance, and mutual inductance according to a mounting area and other conditions. In the present invention, instead of the antenna coil 12,
It does not prevent application of antennas known in the art, such as a dipole antenna, a monopole antenna, a loop antenna, a slot antenna, and a microstrip antenna.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 showing details of the non-contact interface unit 20, the non-contact interface unit 20 includes a power supply circuit 22, a reset signal generation circuit 23, a transmission / reception circuit 24, a logic control Circuit 26
And a timing circuit (TIM) 28. The non-contact interface unit 20 communicates with the reader / writer 200 to read out memories 48 and 58 described later, set condition parameters, and input basic data.

A reset signal generation circuit 23 is connected to the power supply circuit (PS), and the reset signal generation circuit 23 is connected to a reset terminal (RST) of the logic control circuit 26. The non-contact interface unit 20 receives the radio wave W (carrier frequency f) received from the reader / writer 200.
From (c), the operating voltage Vcc (for example, 5 V) of the communication system is supplied to the logic control circuit 26 and the IC unit 40 by electromagnetic induction. When the operation power Vcc is generated, the reset signal generation circuit 23 resets the logic control circuit 26 to prepare for a new operation.

The transmission / reception circuit 24 includes a detector (DET) 24
a, modulator (MOD) 24b, demodulator (DEM) 24c
And an encoder (ENC) 24d. Demodulator 24
c and the encoder 24d are connected to the data terminals DI and DO of the logic control circuit 26, respectively. If necessary, a decoder composed of a D / A converter or the like may be arranged as an independent member at a stage subsequent to the demodulator 24c. Such a decoder may form one codec circuit together with the encoder 24d. The timing circuit 23 is used to generate various timing signals, and is connected to a clock terminal (CLK) of the logic control circuit 26.

The receiving section of the transmitting / receiving circuit 24 includes a detector 24a
And a demodulator 24c. The received radio wave W is detected by the detector 24a, and the demodulator 24c restores the baseband signal to obtain data from the detected signal. The restored baseband signal (the signal decoded thereafter if necessary) is sent to the logic control circuit 26 as a data signal DI.

The transmitting section of the transmitting / receiving circuit 24 includes a modulator 24b
And an encoder 24d. Modulator 24b
Any configuration known in the art can be used for the encoder 24d. In order to transmit the data, the carrier is changed according to the transmission data and transmitted to the coil 12.
As the modulation method, for example, ASK for changing the amplitude of the carrier (carrier) frequency, PSK for changing the phase, and the like can be used, but load modulation can also be used. Load modulation refers to a method of modulating medium power (load) according to a transmission signal. The encoder 24d converts the data DO to be transmitted to a predetermined code (for example, Manchester encoding or P
SK encoding etc.) (bit encoding)
Then, it transmits to the antenna coil 12.

The transmission / reception circuit 24 is controlled by the logic control circuit 26 and operates in synchronization with a timing signal (clock) generated by the timing circuit 28.
Although the logic control circuit 26 can be realized by a CPU, the control unit 52 shown in FIG. 2 may selectively function as the logic control circuit 26 and omit the logic control circuit 26. The contactless interface unit 20 can have a memory if necessary. Further, the non-contact interface unit 20 may cause the timing circuit 50 shown in FIG. 2 to function as the timing circuit 28. Further, some or all of the components of the non-contact interface unit 20 described above may be provided in the IC unit 40 described in detail below. The non-contact interface unit 20 may have a matching circuit connected to the antenna coil 12 and including a resistor and a capacitor.

The battery 30 is connected to the IC section 40,
The operating power of a measurement system such as a sensor 44 described later is supplied.
The battery 30 is preferably thin and replaceable.

Next, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG.
Will be described. The IC unit 40 includes an input / output interface 4
2, sensor 44, A / D converter 46, memory 48
, A timing circuit 50, a control unit 52, and a memory 54.
, A real time clock (real time clock) 56 and a memory 58. The real-time clock 56 is connected to the crystal oscillator 38.

The input / output interface 42 is connected to the non-contact interface unit 20 by a cable or the like, and can communicate with the non-contact interface unit 20. The sensor 44 measures predetermined environmental parameters (selected from temperature, humidity, pressure, light amount, volume, speed, vibration, impact, and the like) of a storage environment of a management target (food, animal, plant, jewelry, fuel, and the like). And output it as an analog signal. Therefore, the sensor 44 includes a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor,
It consists of a pressure sensor and the like. In the present embodiment, any sensor known in the art can be used as the sensor 44. For example, in the case of a temperature sensor, the temperature sensor is integrated with another circuit in an IC using a band gap circuit. You. The A / D converter 46 converts an analog signal representing the environmental parameter measured by the sensor into a digital signal. The sensor 44 and the A / D converter 46 may be integrated.

The memory 48 is, for example, a ROM or an EEPROM.
It is composed of a non-volatile memory such as an OM, and allows the reader / writer 200 to read the stored environmental parameters and the real time described later, but prevents them from being changed. Alternatively, the memory 48 may be configured as a rewritable memory, and the control unit 52 may perform processing so that only reading from the reader / writer 200 is permitted by software. The timing circuit 50 generates a clock signal used for the operation of each unit. The control unit 52 includes, for example,
It can be realized by an MPU, a CPU, or the like.

In this embodiment, the control unit 52 also functions as a processing unit, but the control unit and the processing unit may be provided separately. In this case, the processing unit can perform creation of a histogram described later with reference to FIG. Alternatively, the control unit 52 (or a processing unit separated from the control unit) can determine whether the egg has deteriorated based on the storage temperature and the storage time of the egg stored in the memory 48. Such a determination can be made by storing the graph shown in FIG. In this case, it is preferable that the non-contact information medium 100 further include a warning means (buzzer, lamp, etc.) for notifying that the egg has been degraded. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, if a chicken egg is placed in an environment having a temperature of 39.3 ° C. or higher, S
It is highly probable that bacteria E have proliferated. Therefore, responsible person A
If a warning is given that the egg has deteriorated, it is possible to avoid damages due to food poisoning or business suspension, etc. by handing over the damage to the egg without handing it over to Chief B. it can. Further, such a warning means is useful for recognizing intentional, negligence and / or serious negligence of the responsible person A when the responsible person A hands over the egg to the responsible person B ignoring the warning by the warning means.

The memory 54 stores management data (ID information of a management target, I
D information, etc.). Therefore, the memory 54 allows reading of the management data but prevents its change. Real time clock 5
6 is a crystal oscillator 38 (oscillation frequency 32, 768 kHz)
Is connected to and measures real time. The real time is transmitted to the control unit 52, and the control unit 52 transmits the real time to the memory 48 (and 5
Sent to 4). The real time clock 56 may be temperature compensated if necessary.

Next, a management system 700 as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of the management system 700. The management system 700 includes desired environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, pressure, light amount, sound volume, speed, speed, etc.) of the storage environment of the storage container 400 such as a container in which the management target O (food and drink, animals and plants, jewelry, fuel, etc.) is arranged. Vibration, shock, etc.)
Is measured and recorded in real time.

[0034] The management system 700 is particularly useful for managing microbial hazards of foodstuffs. Unlike animals and plants whose deterioration (withering, discoloration, etc.) is generally distinguishable in appearance unless they are under the prescribed storage conditions, in the case of microbial harm, it is difficult to determine the degree of harm from the appearance of foodstuffs It is. In general, if there is degradation of animals and plants, it can be inferred that the environment immediately before was inappropriate, but it is difficult to immediately identify which environment caused food poisoning in food products. It is. Management system 7
00 assists in determining which environment has caused harm by measuring and recording environmental parameters important for preservation of each environment in a plurality of distribution processes. Further, the management system 700 is configured so that data falsification is difficult, and data reliability is improved. Further, the management system 700 can restrict access to data, and can easily maintain data confidentiality.

In this embodiment, the management object O is a chicken egg,
The management system 700 is assumed to be a health and safety management system for managing eggs based on the HACCP system. FIG.
, The management system 700 includes the contactless information medium 100, the terminal devices 300A and 300B, the container 400, the IC cards 500A and 500B, the host interface 610, and the host database 620.
And

Each of the terminal devices 300A and 300B (hereinafter, generally referred to as "300") comprises a personal computer or the like, and as shown in FIG.
And a main body 250. The reader / writer 200 may be integrated with the main body 250 or a PC of the main body 250.
It may be connected to an I bus or the like via a predetermined interface. Alternatively, the reader / writer 200 and the main body 250
May be connected by general communication means, for example, PHS, IrDA or other connection means.

The reader / writer 200 communicates with the non-contact information medium 100 in a non-contact manner, reads out information from the memory 48, transmits the information to the main body 250, and transmits the information to the IC card 500.
A and 500B (hereinafter collectively referred to as "500")
Alternatively, it is used for receiving information input to the main body 250 from other input means and writing the information into the memory 58. In the present embodiment, the non-contact information medium 100 is
00, the contactless information medium 100 is fixed to the container 400 in a non-removable manner (for example, by embedding).
00 may be held near the container 400 to ensure communication between the reader / writer 200 and the non-contact information medium 100. In this case, a unique ID (serial number) is assigned to the non-contact information medium 100 (for example, including a non-contact IC tag having a ROM, a power supply circuit, and a read circuit).
(In the above-mentioned ROM), and each container 40
0 is identifiable. The measurement data is recorded together with the ID, so that the measurement data can correspond to the container 400.

Further alternatively, the IC card 500 may be configured as a non-contact IC card, and communication between the non-contact information medium 100 and the reader / writer 200 may be performed using the IC card 500 as a medium.

As shown in FIG. 7, the reader / writer 200 has a control interface section 210 and an antenna section 220, both of which are connected by a cable 230. Here, FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the reader / writer 200. The reader / writer 200 transmits a radio wave W having a predetermined carrier frequency fc to the non-contact information medium 100.
And communicates with the non-contact information medium 100 using wireless communication. Note that, as described above, the radio wave W has a carrier frequency fc in an arbitrary frequency band (for example, 13.
56 MHz). If necessary, a subcarrier frequency may be used together. Reader / writer 20
0 is the main unit 250 via the control interface unit 210
It is connected to the. Other external devices such as a processing device, a control device, a personal computer, and a display may be interposed between the control interface 210 and the main body 250.

The control interface unit 210 includes a transmission circuit (modulation circuit) 212 and a reception circuit (demodulation circuit) 214
And a controller 216. Transmission circuit 2
12, by changing the data from the main body 250, for example, by changing the amplitude of the carrier frequency (ASK modulation method),
The signal is converted into a transmission signal and transmitted to the antenna unit 220. The receiving circuit 214 converts a signal received from the non-contact information medium 100 through the antenna unit 220 into a baseband signal, obtains data, and transmits the data to the main unit 250. Transmission circuit 21
8 and the receiving circuit 214 are connected to a plurality of driving circuits 218 and 219 in an actual circuit, as shown in FIG. 8, and are driven by these driving circuits. Here, FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective plan view of the reader / writer 200. Note that a person skilled in the art can easily understand and realize the operations and configurations of the transmission circuit 212, the reception circuit 214, and the driving circuits 218 and 219, and thus a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The antenna section 220 has, for example, an antenna coil 222 and a matching circuit 224 as shown in FIG. FIG. 8 shows a specific configuration in which the matching circuit 224 includes a resistor and a capacitor.

The main body 250 is connected to a host interface 610 via an interface (not shown), and can communicate with a host database 620 of a host computer connected to the host interface 610. The main body 250 can be connected to a host computer via a LAN, the Internet, a dedicated commercial line, or the like.

The IC card 500 may be a contact type, a non-contact type, or a combination type. The combination type refers to an IC card having two functions of a contact type and a non-contact type. Therefore, if the non-contact type is used for the IC card 500, the terminal device 300 can use the reader / writer 200 for communication between both the non-contact information medium 100 and the IC card 500. Further, if a contact type is used for the IC card 500, the terminal device 300 may have a separate contact type reader / writer. However, the management system 700 is an IC
This includes a case where the managers A and B directly input predetermined information using input means such as a keyboard and a mouse (not shown) of the terminal device 300 without using the card 500. Further, instead of the IC card 500, an IC tag may be used.

In the present embodiment, the responsible person A is a person who is responsible for storing and transporting 200 chicken eggs in the container 400. The container 400 may be owned by the responsible person A or may be borrowed from the manager of the management system 700. Person A will receive the eggs from the egg producer or another transporter, importer or other intermediary.

The IC card 500A has the ID information of the person in charge A (company name, address, telephone number, facsimile number, system name, person in charge, company ID number, etc.), start time (end time if necessary), management conditions (Sampling cycle, etc.)
For example, all or part of the information is stored. The start time is, for example, a time at which the chicken egg is delivered to the responsible person A. If the responsible person A receives the eggs from the producer, the producer's ID information (for example, producer, production place, address, telephone number, etc.), information of the management target O (for example, the type of the target (that is,
Chicken eggs), size, number (for example, 200), color, production date, production information (such as chicken type, sexual or asexual),
The ID information of the non-contact information medium 100 (lot number, manufacturing date, manufacturer name, manufacturer address, telephone number, etc.), ID information of the container 400, and the like are provided to the main body 250 from an IC card or the like owned by the producer. Alternatively, the main body 250 may obtain all or a part of the information via the host interface 610 and the host database 620.

The information stored in the memory 58 of the contactless information medium 100 by the person in charge A using the IC card 500A or other means via the terminal device 300A is also stored in the host database 620. Therefore, after that, even if the responsible person A attempts to escape the responsibility by rewriting the contents of the memory 58 of the non-contact information medium 100, the person A discovers the falsification due to a mismatch between the contents of the memory 58 and the information stored in the host database 620. Can be. Therefore, it is preferable that a person who attempts to access the non-contact information medium 100 accesses the host database 620 and is authenticated.

In order to access the host database 620, a predetermined ID and authentication are required. If the encryption is used for communication between the terminal device 300 and the host database 620, the host database 620 can be accessed.
The confidentiality of the information stored in is maintained. Further, by applying a seal to the sealed non-contact information medium 100,
When attempting to access the memory 48 and / or 58 in the non-contact information medium 100, it may be possible to detect that a change has been made illegally due to breakage of the seal. As a result, the confidentiality of the data stored in the memories 48 and 58 is also improved. If you need more,
A biometric identification device such as a fingerprint reader, a voice recognition device, and a retinal scanner may be used with the terminal device 300 to further enhance data confidentiality.

The container 400 has a housing capable of storing the management target O and a mounting portion for the non-contact information medium 100, and has an environment maintaining means (for example, an environment maintaining means for maintaining the inside of the housing in an environment suitable for storing the management target O). In this embodiment, a temperature adjusting means) is provided. Therefore, the non-contact information medium 100 measures the temperature inside the housing. Alternatively, the container 400 may have the function of the contactless information medium 100. In this case, the components shown in FIG. 2 are provided in the housing.

When the container 400 has the components shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 52 (or the processing unit separated from the control unit) deteriorates the eggs based on the storage temperature and the storage time of the eggs stored in the memory 48. Can be determined. Such a determination can be made by storing the graph shown in FIG. In this case, it is preferable that the non-contact information medium 100 further include a warning means (buzzer, lamp, etc.) for notifying that the egg has been degraded. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, if the temperature control means of the container 400 does not operate properly and the temperature inside the housing becomes 39.3 ° C. or higher, there is a high possibility that SE bacteria are growing in the chicken eggs. For this reason, the responsible person A can avoid damages due to food poisoning and suspension of operations, etc. by compensating only for the damage to the eggs without handing over to the responsible person B. Further, such a warning means is useful for recognizing intentional, negligence and / or serious negligence of the responsible person A when the responsible person A hands over the egg to the responsible person B ignoring the warning by the warning means.

As can be understood from FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the container 400 containing the eggs is transported by the responsible person A and delivered to the responsible person B. Non-contact information medium 10
0 measures and records the temperature of the environment where the eggs are located during the transport period.

The operation of the management system 700 will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing the relationship between various operations in the management system 700 and real time. FIG. 10 is an example of the measurement result stored in the memory 48. FIG.
9 is another example of a measurement result stored in the storage device.

Referring to FIG. 9, at T0, the real time clock 56 is set, and the clocking of the real time clock 56 starts. tD is a start delay time, which means that measurement start starts tD after T0. T1 is the time when the eggs were stored in the container 400. For example, T1 may be automatically detected by providing an article detection sensor in the container 400, may be input by the person in charge A or another person, or may be set by the host database 620. Good.

T2 is a measurement start time. Although T2 is a time automatically set from T0 and tD as described above, the present invention does not prevent T2 from being manually input. T3 is the time when the eggs were taken out of the container 400. T3 may also be automatically detected by an article detection sensor or the like, may be input by the responsible person B or another person, or may be set by the host database 620.

T4 is a measurement end time. The sampling period τ is set, for example, in units of one minute. If τ is set to 5 minutes, when n = 2,000, measurement for T5 = 7 days becomes possible. n · τ is the measurement recording time. As understood from FIG. 9, the temperature during the sampling period (measurement time) of the temperature continuously measured by the sensor 44 is stored in the memory 48.

In this embodiment, only the sensor 44 can write to the memory 48, and the reader / writer 200 cannot write or change data. Therefore, the reliability of the data stored in the memory 48 is maintained. The memory 48 may store the temperature measured by the sensor 44 for each sampling number as shown in FIG.
May be stored as a histogram as shown in FIG. The histogram is effective for the management target O in which the product of the storage temperature and the storage time is particularly important, such as a chicken egg, and also helps to save the capacity of the memory 48. In the case of a histogram,
The output and frequency of the sensor 44 may be calculated by the control unit 52 or a processing unit separated from the control unit 52 and written into the memory 48. In this case, the writing to the memory 48 is performed by the control unit 52 or the like, but the reader / writer 200 cannot write or change the data in the memory 48 anyway. The temperature in the histogram has a width of, for example, 2 ° C., and the frequency can be counted up to 65,000 using a 16-bit counter.

When the person in charge A transfers the container 400 to the person in charge B, the person in charge B takes out the egg from the container 400 and receives the information (reception fact, receipt number, etc.) from the person in charge of the person B by ID information (company name, address). , A telephone number, a facsimile number, a system name, a person in charge, a company ID number, etc.) via the IC card 500B and the terminal device 300B in the memory 58 and / or the host database 620 of the contactless information medium 100. The responsible person B may then transfer the eggs to another container (not shown) and further transport them. If the responsible person B is a processor or a retail store, the eggs may be processed or arranged in stores. Alternatively, the responsible person B can use the same container 400 in different environments. Responsible person B is host database 62
If the receipt and ID information are stored in the contactless information medium 100 and not stored in the non-contact information medium 100, the responsible person A stores the information in the memories 48 and 58 in the database 620 or the management system 70.
The person in charge 0 collects the non-contact information medium 100 and performs the same operation. As a result, the host database 620 can know the temperature environment of the egg from the producer to the final obtainer.

For example, the host database 620 stores the contents of the memory 48 in FIG. 12 in order to specify the responsible person at which stage the cause is when Salmonella food poisoning occurs.
Can be inspected together with the graph shown in FIG.

As described above, the database 620 is stored in the memory 4
Instead of using the information of FIG. 8 afterward, the host database 620 immediately obtains the recorded contents of the memory 48, performs a test, and places the data in a predetermined temperature environment in order to prevent Salmonella food poisoning. The end user of the egg that was not removed and the person responsible for placing the egg in an inappropriate environment can be identified. The management system 700 can then provide the information to a private or public agency (Ministry of Health, public health, etc.) to request that such end-users not sell or consume the egg in question.

The person responsible for placing the eggs in an inappropriate environment is also identified, so that public authorities or those who suffer damage may take appropriate measures including suspension of work and compensation for damages. it can. In that case, it may be preferable to precede the inspection of the egg before the pursuit of the responsibility of the responsible person, because the judgment of the database 620 that the egg has deteriorated may be due to the real-time clock 56 or an input error. . In addition, the database 620 can identify the container (and the transporter) that has caused deterioration when a plurality of transporters use different containers by inspecting the environmental parameters. It will be appreciated that the carrier that caused the degradation of the same container when used in different environments can also be identified.

Thereafter, the container 400 used for transportation by the responsible person A is washed for recycling, and the memories 48 and 58 of the non-contact information medium 100 are cleared. At that time, in order to prevent the memories 48 and 58 from being cleared due to the annihilation of the evidence, the control unit 52 authenticates the ID information of the person sending the clear signal or the person authenticated by the host database 620. It is preferable that the clear signal be accepted only when the notification of the completion is received. As the authentication method, any method known in the art can be applied, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted. Since the non-contact information medium 100 is sealed and waterproofed, it can be washed together with the container 400.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the description has been made mainly on the transportation of the management target O. However, the management system 700 manages the sales environment and the processing environment of the retail store or the processor as the final acquirer after the production of the management target O and before the transportation and before the final acquisition. It goes without saying that you can do it. As a result, it is possible to record environmental data in all processes from the production of the management target O to the consumption thereof.

[0062]

According to the non-contact information medium and the container as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the measurement and recording of the environmental parameters and the real time are performed automatically, so that these are not performed artificially. Data reliability is improved. In addition, since communication with the external device is performed in a non-contact manner, the non-contact information medium does not need to have a terminal that contacts the external device. Therefore,
There is no danger of the environment being destroyed or contaminated from the non-contact information medium via the terminal, and there is no danger of the terminal being destroyed or contaminated from the environment. For this reason, it is possible to measure the environment to be managed while maintaining the environment safely, and the non-contact information medium and the storage container are effective in preventing microbial harm when the management target is food and drink. An IC element according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is useful for realizing the non-contact information medium and the storage device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of a non-contact information medium as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged block diagram of an IC unit of the non-contact information medium shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a specific configuration of an antenna coil of the non-contact information medium shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing details of a non-contact interface unit of the non-contact information medium shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a management system as an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal device of the management system shown in FIG.

7 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of a reader / writer of the terminal device shown in FIG.

8 is a schematic block diagram showing a specific configuration of the reader / writer shown in FIG.

9 is a timing chart showing a relationship between various operations and real time in the management system shown in FIG.

10 is an example of information stored in a memory of the non-contact information medium shown in FIG. 2 in the management system shown in FIG.

11 is another example of information stored in the memory of the contactless information medium shown in FIG. 2 in the management system shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing a general relationship between a period D until a SE bacterium multiplies in a chicken egg and a storage temperature T.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Case 12 Antenna coil 20 Non-contact interface part 30 Battery 38 Crystal oscillator 40 IC part 44 Sensor 46 A / D converter 48 Memory 52 Control part 54 Memory 56 Real time clock 58 Memory 100 Non-contact information medium 200 Reader / writer 300 Terminal Apparatus 400 Container 500 IC card 700 Management system

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A measuring unit for measuring a predetermined environmental parameter of an environment in which a management target is arranged, a real-time clock for measuring real time, and the environmental parameter and the real-time clock measured by the measuring unit are measured. A non-contact information medium comprising: a memory that stores the actual time; and a communication unit that enables the memory to communicate with an external device in a non-contact manner. 2. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores a histogram including the environmental parameters and the real time. 3. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, further comprising a memory different from the memory for storing ID information of a person in charge of the environment. 4. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, wherein the memory is a nonvolatile memory. 5. The non-contact information according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that, when authenticating an ID transmitted from the external device, receives a clear signal transmitted to clear the memory from the external device. Medium. 6. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, further comprising a case that houses the measurement unit, the real-time clock, the memory, and the communication unit and is sealed. 7. A judging means for judging whether or not the management target has deteriorated based on the environmental parameters stored in the memory and the real time, and a notice that the judgment has determined that the management target has deteriorated. 2. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, further comprising a warning unit for notifying the user. 8. The non-contact information medium includes: an authentication unit configured to authenticate access information input from the external device; and the memory is configured to store the external device when the access information is authenticated by the circuit unit. 2. The non-contact information medium according to claim 1, further comprising access control means for permitting communication with the information processing apparatus. 9. A housing capable of storing a management target, a measuring unit for measuring a predetermined environmental parameter of the housing, a real-time clock for measuring real time, and the environmental parameters measured by the measuring unit. A storage container comprising: a memory that stores the real time measured by the real time clock; and a communication unit that enables the memory to communicate with an external device in a non-contact manner. 10. A judging means for judging whether or not the management target has deteriorated based on the environmental parameters stored in the memory and the real time, and a statement that the judgment means has judged that the management target has deteriorated. 10. The storage container according to claim 9, further comprising a warning unit for notifying the user. 11. A measuring unit for measuring predetermined environmental parameters of an environment in which a management target is arranged, a real-time clock for measuring real time, and measuring the environmental parameters and the real-time clock measured by the measuring unit. And a memory for storing the actual time.