JP2002329177A - Tag reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tag reader capable of more improving the gain of a transmitting/receiving antenna and effectively reading out both the information of an optical information recording tag and an RFID tag. SOLUTION: In the tag reader 21 capable of reading out information from a bar code or the like by using a lens unit and provided with a transmitting/ receiving antenna coil 24 for transmitting a power signal and receiving a signal from an RFID tag, the coil 24 is arranged in a shock resisting cover 23 to be attached to the aperture part 22a of a body case 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a tag reader having a reading function for an optical information recording tag and an RFID tag.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, merchandise sales and inventory management are performed by reading a bar code or a two-dimensional code printed on a label attached to a merchandise with a code reader.

On the other hand, in recent years, RF (Radio Frequ
ency) Attaching an ID tag to a product and reading information stored in the RFID tag with a tag reader using a radio signal (electromagnetic signal) to manage the sale and inventory of the product are becoming practical. In this case, since the amount of information that can be stored in the RFID tag is larger than that of a barcode or the like, it is possible to manage the product more finely. There is a system that wears one.

In such a system in which both tags are used together, a tag reader capable of reading information stored in either tag has been devised. FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a tag reader disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 12-348133.
In FIG. 3, the hand-held reader 1 includes an operation unit 2 also serving as a grip unit, for example, a display unit 3 made of liquid crystal. The operation unit 2 is provided with, for example, a plurality of key switches 4, and these key switches 4 are used to instruct operation contents. The operation unit 2 is provided with a switch 5 for mainly instructing the start of reading in addition to the key switch 4 described above.

[0005] A printed wiring board 7 is fixed in a case 6 forming a housing of the hand-held reader 1, and the key switches 4 are mounted in a matrix on one surface of the printed wiring board 7. A two-dimensional CCD (corresponding to optical reading means) 8 is mounted upright on the other surface of the printed wiring board 7.

An optical system unit 9 is disposed in an opening 6 a formed at the front end of the case 6, and a mirror 10 is provided in the case 6 at a position on the optical axis of the optical system unit 9.
And a two-dimensional CCD 8 is located on the optical axis bent by the mirror 10. Therefore, the object to be detected is transmitted via the optical system unit 9 and the mirror 10 to the object 2
An image is formed on the dimensional CCD 8.

A hole 12 is formed at the center of a printed wiring board 11 constituting the optical system unit 9.
A plurality of illumination LEDs 13 are mounted around the device 2.
A bobbin 14 is mounted on the printed wiring board 11 so as to correspond to a peripheral portion thereof, and a transmission antenna coil 15 is wound around the bobbin 14.

[0008] Hole 13 formed in printed wiring board 11
Is equipped with a lens unit 16. This lens unit 16 is formed integrally with a condenser lens 16a for condensing light reflected from a detection target and a light projection lens 16b for projecting light from the illumination LED 13 to the front. . On the other hand, a bobbin 17 is mounted on the back surface of the printed wiring board 11, and a receiving antenna coil 18 is wound around the bobbin 17.

That is, the optical axis of the optical system for reading the data of the optical information recording tag and the central axes of the transmitting antenna coil 15 and the receiving antenna coil 18 for executing communication with the RFID tag are made to coincide. , The directional characteristics thereof are in the same direction, and the operating environment of the handheld reader 1 for reading information from the optical information recording tag and the RFID tag can be the same. It can be used in the environment.

[0010]

In such a configuration, the optical system unit 9 is arranged substantially at the center of the opening 6a to secure an optical path, and the antenna coils 15 and 18 are arranged around the optical path. System optical axis and antenna coils 15 and 1
8 is aligned with the central axis. On the other hand, in order to transmit the power to the RFID tag and read the recorded information satisfactorily, it is preferable to increase the area (opening area) formed by the loops of the antenna coils 15 and 18 as much as possible to increase the antenna gain. However, in the above configuration, there is a limit in securing a larger opening area due to structural restrictions.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to further increase the gain of a transmitting / receiving antenna and to read information from an RFID tag together with an optical information recording tag. It is to provide a tag reader that can do it.

[0012]

According to the tag reader of the present invention, the transmitting / receiving antenna coil is disposed inside the impact-resistant cover attached to the opening of the main body case. That is, the shock-resistant cover is configured to cover the outer peripheral portion of the case opening with a flexible material in order to absorb a shock when the reader is dropped by mistake. Therefore, it is possible to secure a larger opening area as compared with the case where the antenna coil is arranged inside the case as in the related art, and it is possible to sufficiently secure the gain of the transmission / reception antenna. Transmission and reading of information can be performed more reliably.

According to the tag reader of the present invention, the transmitting and receiving antenna coils are arranged on the main loop coil and on both sides of the main loop coil, and are opposite to the direction of the magnetic field generated by the main loop coil. And a sub-loop coil arranged to generate a magnetic field. For example, when another electronic device approaches the tag reader and the distance between the device and the transmitting / receiving antenna coil is shortened, the magnetic field generated by the transmitting / receiving antenna coil tends to affect the operation of the approaching device. Therefore, the operation may be hindered.

Therefore, if the sub-loop coil is configured as described above with respect to the main loop coil of the transmitting and receiving antenna coil, the magnetic field generated by the main loop coil is generated by the sub-loop coil outside the main loop coil. Since the magnetic field acts so as to cancel out, even when another electronic device is used in the proximity state, it is possible to prevent the operation from being adversely affected.

[0015]

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 (a)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a hand-held tag reader 21. Note that the same parts as those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. An impact-resistant cover 23 is attached to an opening 22a located at the front end of the case 22 (having substantially the same shape as the case 6) of the tag reader 21.

The shock-resistant cover 23 is formed of a flexible material such as rubber so as to cover the outer peripheral portion of the opening 22a, and absorbs the shock when the user drops the reader 21 by mistake. The opening 22a is damaged,
It is provided to prevent adverse effects on internal electronic circuits. The opening 22a has a cover 2 for impact resistance.
3 is provided with a step portion 22b for attaching the
The impact-resistant cover 23 is attached to the step 22b by bonding or the like.

FIG. 1B shows a rear surface of the impact-resistant cover 23. A transmission / reception antenna coil 24 (shown by a broken line) is embedded in the impact-resistant cover 23 when the cover 23 is formed. That is, the transmission / reception antenna coil 24 is in a state where it is arranged in a loop shape and molded with rubber at a portion that comes into contact with the end face of the step portion 22b when the shock-resistant cover 23 is attached, and both are integrally formed. Then, both terminals 24 a and 24 b of the transmission / reception antenna coil 24 are exposed outside the shock-resistant cover 23.

Although not specifically shown, a connection hole is provided on the side of the step portion 22b, and when the impact-resistant cover 23 is attached to the opening 22a, both terminals 24a of the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 24 are provided. , 24b are inserted into the connection holes, so that the transmission / reception antenna coil 24 is connected to a circuit disposed inside the case 22. When the impact-resistant cover 23 is attached, the optical axis of the condenser lens 16a and the central axis of the transmission / reception antenna coil 24 substantially coincide with each other, similarly to the conventional tag reader 1. The rest of the configuration is the same as that shown in FIG. 3, and the basic reading operation and the like are the same as those of the tag reader disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 12-348133.

That is, the coil loop size of the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 24 disposed inside the shock-resistant cover 23 is substantially the same as the outer size of the opening 22a. , 18 can be formed larger than the case where the coil loops are arranged.

According to the present embodiment configured as described above, information is read from a bar code or the like using the lens unit 16, and a transmission / reception for transmitting a power signal and receiving a signal from the RFID tag is performed. In the tag reader 21 provided with the antenna coil 24, the transmission / reception antenna coil 24 is arranged inside the impact-resistant cover 23 attached to the opening 22 a of the main body case 22.

Therefore, a larger coil loop size, that is, an opening area can be ensured as compared with the case where the antenna coils 15 and 18 are arranged inside the case 6 as in the conventional case, and the gain of the transmitting / receiving antenna 24 is increased. It is possible to do. Then, the power signal can be reliably transmitted to the RFID tag, and the information stored in the RFID tag can be read well.

Further, the step of assembling the transmitting and receiving antennas is omitted, and the assembling can be performed more easily. In addition, the shape of the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 24 is
Since the shape of the impact-resistant cover 23 in the portion related to the opening 22a is substantially the same and is stabilized in that state, the shape of the transmitting and receiving antenna coil 24 can be prevented from being deformed during the assembling work, and the communication performance with the RFID tag Can be stabilized.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 25 disposed inside the shock-resistant cover 23 is composed of a main loop coil 25M and the main loop coil 2M.
Two sub-loop coils 25S arranged on both sides of 5M
a, 25Sb.

In this case, the two sub-loop coils 25S
a, 25Sb is wound in the main loop coil 25M
In a state opposite to the winding direction. Therefore, the currents Isa, ISb flowing through the sub-loop coils 25Sa, 25Sb are directed in the direction of the current IM flowing through the main loop coil 25M.
Since the direction of (substantially equal to the current IM) is opposite, the direction of the magnetic field generated by the sub-loop coils 25Sa and 25Sb is also opposite to the direction of the magnetic field generated by the main loop coil 25M.

With the above configuration, the magnetic field generated by the main loop coil 25M is generated outside the loop (in the horizontal direction in FIG. 2) by the sub-loop coils 25Sa and 25S.
Since b is canceled out by the magnetic field generated in the opposite direction, the magnetic field strength in an area other than the vicinity area necessary for the tag reader 21 to transmit power to the RFID tag is weakened.

That is, when another electronic device (for example, another tag reader, etc.) approaches the tag reader 21, the distance between the device and the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 24 is shortened, so that the magnetic field generated by the transmitting / receiving antenna coil is reduced. It is likely to affect the operation of the approaching device. Therefore, by forming the transmitting and receiving antenna coil 25 by a combination of the main loop coil 25M and the sub loop coils 25Sa and 25Sb, the intensity of the magnetic field component in the region other than the neighboring region is reduced as much as possible.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the transmitting / receiving antenna coil 2 disposed inside the shock-resistant cover 23
5 is composed of the main loop coil 25M and the two sub-loop coils 25Sa and 25Sb, so that the transmission / reception antenna coil 25 is generated even when another electronic device is used in the vicinity of the tag reader 21. It is possible to prevent a magnetic field component in a region other than the neighboring region from adversely affecting the operation of another device.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and the following modifications or extensions are possible. The material of the impact-resistant cover is not limited to rubber, but may be resin or the like as long as it has a certain degree of flexibility. Tag readers have a function of writing data to RFID tags (reader / writer)
But it is good.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B show a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an appearance of a tag reader, and FIG.

FIG. 2 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1B showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the configuration of a conventional tag reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 is a tag reader, 22 is a case, 22a is an opening, 2
3 is an impact-resistant cover, 24 and 25 are transmitting and receiving antenna coils, 25M is a main loop coil, 25Sa and 25Sb.
Indicates a sub-loop coil.

Claims (2)

[Claims] An optical reading means for reading information from an optical information recording tag based on an image formed by a condenser lens;
A power signal is transmitted to the FID tag and the RFID
A tag reader comprising: a transmitting / receiving antenna coil for receiving a signal from a tag, wherein the optical axis of the condenser lens and the central axis of the transmitting / receiving antenna coil are substantially coincident with each other. A tag reader, wherein the tag reader is disposed inside an impact-resistant cover attached to an opening of the tag reader. 2. The transmission / reception antenna coil is arranged on a main loop coil and on both sides of the main loop coil so as to generate a magnetic field in a direction opposite to a direction of a magnetic field generated by the main loop coil. 2. A sub-loop coil according to claim 1, wherein
Tag reader as described.