JP2003011973A - Cargo work pallet having positional information transmitting function and monitoring system therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cargo work pallet having a positional information transmitting function and a monitoring system for the cargo work pallet in which the cargo work pallet is not lost or prevented from being used in another application. SOLUTION: Either PHS terminal or a positional information transmitting or receiving terminal 1 is installed at a cargo work pallet 2. Base stations 11, 12 and 13 where the positional information transmitting or receiving terminal 1 receives an electromagnetic wave are specified to calculate a distance between the terminal and each of the base stations, and to enable a present position of the cargo work pellet 2 to be confirmed. Data concerning latitude and longitude attained from the positional information transmitting and receiving terminal 1 are processed by a server 20 for a communication enterprise, and a location of the cargo work pallet 2 can be displayed on a map or its address can be displayed on PC terminals 31 and 32 for each of the users through a communication network.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cargo pallet and a cargo pallet management system having a position information transmitting function for preventing loss or diversion of cargo pallets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the physical distribution industry, pallets for cargo handling are usually carried in and out together with goods or products to be distributed for the purpose of facilitating transportation by a forklift. In such a case, the pallet is not the subject of the transaction, and thus the pallet must be returned to the delivery side from the receiving side of the distribution target. Normally, handling of pallets between the delivery side and the receiving side is to notify the delivery side of pick-up when the receiving side has a certain amount of empty pallets. It has been managed by the slip processing by.

[0003]

However, in the complicated logistics industry, the cargo handling pallet is not only used reciprocally between the delivery side and the receiving side, but in some cases, the delivery side is May be the receiving side in relation to other vendors, and the receiving side may be the delivery side in relation to other vendors.In addition, there are many cases where pallets are diverted without permission, and pallets are widely used. Distributed in a complicated manner. Moreover, the pallets for cargo handling owned by the company are often handled by other companies with the consciousness that they are the objects of distribution or accessories of products, and the fact that management consciousness is weak has caused a considerable loss throughout the year. And
The loss caused by the compensation is a common problem throughout the industry.

However, with the conventional slip processing alone,
Only formal information about the number of pallets involved in loading and unloading could be obtained, and the location of each pallet, movement route, etc. could not be directly grasped. Therefore, the cause of the loss is beyond speculation, and no essential solution has been achieved so far.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and fundamentally solves the pallet loss problem in the industry by making it possible to reliably grasp the location and movement route of cargo pallets. An object of the present invention is to provide a cargo pallet and a cargo pallet management system having a position information transmitting function that can be performed.

[0006]

When the structure of the present invention for achieving the above object is described in detail, the invention according to claim 1 is
A PHS terminal or location information transmission / reception terminal is mounted on a cargo pallet, the base station from which the PHS terminal or location information transmission / reception terminal receives radio waves is specified, the distance from the base station is calculated, and three-point surveying is performed. It is a pallet for cargo handling having a position information transmitting function, which is characterized in that the present position of the pallet can be confirmed by applying the above principle.

In order to prevent the cargo pallets from being lost or diverted, the PHS is applied to each cargo pallet.
A terminal or location information transmission / reception terminal is attached, data regarding latitude and longitude obtained from the PHS terminal or location information transmission / reception terminal is processed by the server for the communication carrier, and the location of the cargo handling pallet is on each user's PC terminal through the network. It is a management system for a pallet for cargo handling, characterized by being able to display a map or an address.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the user is prompted to input the warehouse position information, and the inputted data concerning the latitude and longitude of the warehouse and the latitude of each PHS terminal or position information transmitting / receiving terminal registered in the database are stored. The cargo pallet management system according to claim 2, wherein a PHS terminal or a position information transmission / reception terminal existing in a specific warehouse can be displayed as a list by comparing data regarding longitude. is there.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 urges the user to select a PHS terminal or position information transmitting / receiving terminal to be searched and a period, and is used for cargo handling in which the selected PHS terminal or position information transmitting / receiving terminal is mounted. Pallet latitude,
3. The cargo pallet management system according to claim 2, wherein the warehouse movement history in a selected period can be displayed in a list by comparing the longitude data with the warehouse latitude and longitude data. is there.

It is needless to say that the PHS terminals or the position information transmission / reception terminals may be mounted on all the pallets owned by a certain operator when the PHS terminals or the position information transmission / reception terminals are mounted on the pallets for cargo handling. In the case of extremely large numbers, it is possible to pursue the cause of loss or spillage by mounting the pallet only on some pallets sampled at a statistically appropriate ratio. In addition, the term "warehouse" used in this specification means not only a warehouse in the narrow sense of a building for storing cargo and the like, but also all stock points in the distribution process of cargo and the like.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A specific configuration of a cargo handling pallet having a position information transmitting function and a cargo handling pallet management system according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the mechanism of a position search function of a PHS terminal or a position information transmitting / receiving terminal, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a PC terminal, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing steps of a program in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

First, referring to FIG. 1, a mechanism of position search by a PHS terminal or a position information transmitting / receiving terminal (hereinafter, simply referred to as position information transmitting / receiving terminal) will be described.
Reference numerals 12 and 13 are base stations installed by a communication carrier, and the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 is always about three base stations 11, 12,
The radio wave transmitted from 13 is received.

Therefore, the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 specifies the base station receiving the radio wave, and calculates the distance from each base station by measuring the electric field strength of the radio wave and the arrival time. The present position of the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 can be specified by applying the. The position accuracy depends on the density of base stations in each region, but in the case of PHS, for example, the radius is usually 50 m to 2
It is about 00m. The position information is relayed from the terminal to the base station and transmitted to the server of the communication carrier. Each user can obtain location information by accessing a server of a communication carrier via a network such as a telephone network.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 denotes a cargo handling pallet, preferably the location information transmission / reception terminal 1 which is not easily visible from the outside of the cargo handling pallet 2 and which is not easily damaged during transportation by a forklift. Is attached (it is attached to the side of the pallet for convenience in the drawing). The position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 is a base station 11,1.
The current position is specified from the positional relationship with the second and the like, and the position information is transmitted to the communication provider server 20.

The position information of each pallet 2 stored in the telecommunications carrier server 20 can be accessed by the PC terminals 31 and 32 owned by the pallet manager who is the user through the network such as a telephone network. It can be obtained by. Each of the PC terminals 31 and 32 has a display unit such as a CRT or LCD, as well as an input unit such as a keyboard or a mouse.

Next, in FIG. 3 showing the configuration of the PC terminal, reference numeral 41 indicates control of each section, data transfer, various calculations,
CPU as control means for temporarily storing data
Reference numeral 42 denotes an input control unit that controls data supplied from the communication carrier server 20 via a network such as a telephone network. An output control unit 43 controls data to be transmitted to the communication carrier server 20. 44-4
Reference numeral 7 denotes a storage means, which stores and stores the following files.

First, the storage means 44 stores a main program. The main program is used in the control means 41, and is composed of, for example, a program for displaying a main screen on a monitor, a program for displaying a map, and the like. Next, the storage means 45 stores map data. By combining this map data and the latitude and longitude data of the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1, the position of the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1, that is, the cargo pallet 2 can be visually confirmed. Position information is stored in the storage means 46.
The data sent from the telecommunications carrier's server 20 is composed of a telephone number, time, latitude, and longitude. The control means 41 receives these various data, sorts them out, and stores them in the storage means 46. The storage means 47 stores warehouse information, pallet information, position information transmission / reception terminal information, etc., which each user previously inputs using a keyboard or the like.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. In step S1 (main menu screen) of FIG. 4, the user is instructed to perform "map display or address display" and "warehouse" processing according to the present embodiment. Prompt to select a desired process from "internal terminal list display" and "warehouse movement history display". On the main menu screen, when the mouse cursor is moved to a predetermined position and clicked, the processing shown in the display area is performed.

If the terminal operator selects "display map or display address" with the mouse cursor, then the process proceeds to step S4 (selection screen) in FIG. 4, where "terminal number" and "date" are displayed. The input screen is displayed. On this selection screen, for example, the telephone number of the location information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 for which the location of the cargo pallet is to be displayed on the map or the address is selected. Then select what year, month and day location data is needed. After selecting, you can go to step S7 (terminal position data) in Fig. 4 by clicking "Next", such as "Pallet type", "Product name", "Product lot number", etc. Information related to the palette is shown.

By checking the check box on the left side, the position information of the position information transmitting / receiving terminal 1 whose position is to be confirmed can be selected at a certain time. When "Display map" in step S8 is clicked, the position of the PHS terminal selected in the check box is displayed on the map, and when "Display address" in step S9 is clicked, the check box is selected. The location of the selected location information transmitting / receiving terminal is indicated by the address.

Next, if the terminal operator selects "display terminal list in warehouse" in step S1 in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S2 (selection screen) in FIG. 4, where "warehouse name" and The “Date” screen appears. On this selection screen, select the warehouse in which you want to check the internal terminals and the date. Then, by clicking "Next" after completing the selection, the process proceeds to step S5 (terminal list display) of FIG. 4, and a list of position information transmitting / receiving terminals actually existing in the selected specific warehouse is displayed. .

Further, if the terminal operator selects "display warehouse movement history" in step S1 in FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S3 (selection screen) in FIG. 4, where "terminal number" and "period" are displayed. The input screen of "" is displayed. On this selection screen, the number of the location information transmitting / receiving terminal to be investigated and the period are selected. Then, by clicking "Next" after completing the selection, step S6 in FIG.
Proceeding to (Warehouse movement history), a list of warehouse movement history within the selected period of the selected position information transmitting / receiving terminal is displayed.

On the screen of step S6, it is confirmed that there is a pallet that has not been brought into the designated warehouse even if the carry-in date that has been input in advance is exceeded, or that the pallet is located in a region far from the designated warehouse. In this case, for example, the portion of the record of the attached position information transmission / reception terminal number is displayed in red so as to stand out. In other words, the position information transmitting / receiving terminal which is not moving according to the regulation can be recognized at a glance.

A check box is provided on the left side of the display screen in step S6 so that the checked items can be displayed in a map or an address. After checking the items to be displayed and selecting and displaying "map display, address display", the process proceeds to step S4 in FIG. After that, a screen similar to the one described above appears, but since the terminal number is already selected, only the necessary date is required to be input.

As described above, basically, the pallet for cargo handling which tends to be lost is specified from the acquired data by the terminal list display in the warehouse and the warehouse movement history display, and finally the map display or the address display is performed. The lost route can be grasped.

[0026]

As described above, according to the cargo handling pallet and the management system for the cargo handling pallet having the position information transmitting function of the present invention, it is possible to surely grasp the location and movement route of the cargo handling pallet in real time. It is possible to fundamentally solve the problem of pallet loss or outflow that the industry had.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a mechanism of a position search function by a position information transmitting / receiving terminal.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a PC terminal.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing steps of a program in the embodiment shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Location information transmission / reception terminal 2: Cargo pallet 11: Base station 12: Base station 13: Base station 20: Server 31: PC terminal 32: PC terminal

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Itao             No. 5-25-16 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo             For-profit corporation wearable environment information net             Inside the propulsion mechanism (72) Inventor Ryota Egashira             No. 5-25-16 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo             For-profit corporation wearable environment information net             Inside the propulsion mechanism (72) Inventor Kenji Sakata             6-9-4 Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo Rental             Within Leasing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Saito             1-4-1, Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Ki Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3E063 FF20

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A PHS terminal or a position information transmission / reception terminal is mounted on a cargo pallet, and the PHS terminal or the position information transmission / reception terminal specifies a base station receiving radio waves,
A cargo handling pallet having a position information transmission function, characterized in that the current position of the pallet can be confirmed by calculating the distance from the base station and applying the principle of three-point surveying. 2. In order to prevent the cargo pallet from being lost or diverted, a PHS terminal or position information transmission / reception terminal is attached to each cargo pallet, and data relating to latitude and longitude obtained from the PHS terminal or position information transmission / reception terminal is communicated. A cargo pallet management system characterized in that the location of the cargo pallet is processed by a business server and can be displayed on a map of each user's PC terminal via a network. 3. The user is prompted to input warehouse location information, and the entered data regarding latitude and longitude of the warehouse is compared with the data regarding latitude and longitude of each PHS terminal or location information transmitting / receiving terminal registered in the database. The cargo handling pallet management system according to claim 2, wherein a list of PHS terminals or position information transmission / reception terminals existing in a specific warehouse can be displayed at a certain time. 4. A data concerning latitude and longitude of a cargo pallet to which a user is prompted to select a PHS terminal or position information transmitting / receiving terminal to be searched and a period, and the selected PHS terminal or position information transmitting / receiving terminal is mounted. The cargo handling pallet management system according to claim 2, wherein a list of warehouse movement histories in a selected period can be displayed by comparing data relating to the latitude and longitude of the warehouse.