JP2005242440A - Radio tag reading apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize an apparatus and facilitate its management by rotating a storage box that stores articles with radio tags attached thereto, and reading data from the tags. <P>SOLUTION: The radio tag reading apparatus comprises a storage box 1 formed in a cylindrical shape in which mails 5 each with the radio tag 4 attached thereto are radially stored, with the radio tags 4 located on the outer peripheries of the mails; a rotating drive mechanism 6 for driving the storage box 1 for rotation; and an RFID interrogator 10 having an antenna 8 placed in a position outside the storage box 1 and proximate to the radio tags 4 for reading IDs and data from the radio tags 4 via the antenna 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless tag reading device provided with a storage box for storing an article attached with a wireless tag.

Conventionally, as this type of RFID tag reader, a carrier case in which a rectangular container is divided by a plurality of partition plates is prepared, and the RFID tag is embedded in a gap partitioned by the partition plate of the carrier case. It stores the registered mail with the delivery tag attached so that the wireless tag is located at the end, and delivers it to the relay station. In the relay station, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) interrogator antenna is contacted or brought into contact with the carrier case, and the ID number is read from the wireless tag attached to all registered mail items. In this case, either the carrier case is moved with the antenna fixed, or the antenna number is moved with the carrier case fixed, or the ID number from the wireless tags of all registered mail items in the carrier case. Is read (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-337827 A

  However, in the case of moving a rectangular carrier case, a space of at least approximately the same length as that of the carrier case is required for the movement, and the apparatus including the mechanism for the movement becomes large. There is. In addition, if the antenna is moved, it is necessary to lengthen the cable connecting the RFID interrogator and the antenna, and the cable may be bent or extended due to the movement of the antenna. Management had to be troublesome.

  Therefore, the present invention can read data from a wireless tag only by rotating without moving a storage box for storing an article attached with a wireless tag, and can reduce the size of the apparatus as a whole and can be easily managed. A tag reader is provided.

  The present invention relates to a storage box for storing articles such as postal items, which are formed in a cylindrical shape or a substantially cylindrical shape, with a wireless tag attached thereto, radially such that the wireless tag is positioned on the outer peripheral side, and the storage box. There is provided a rotational driving means for rotationally driving, and a data reading means for arranging an antenna at a position outside the storage box and close to the wireless tag and reading data from the wireless tag via the antenna.

  According to the present invention, an article attached with a wireless tag is radially stored in a cylindrical or substantially cylindrical storage box with the wireless tag positioned on the outer peripheral side, and the storage box is driven to rotate. However, by reading data from the wireless tag via the antenna, the data can be read from the wireless tag simply by rotating without moving the storage box, and the device can be made compact as a whole and can be easily managed. A tag reader can be provided.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a storage box. The storage box 1 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a plurality of partition plates 2 are arranged radially and at equal intervals. Then, a plurality of articles, for example, a plurality of registered mail items 5 attached with wireless tags 4 in a fan-shaped room 3 sandwiched between the partition plates 2 are radially arranged so that the wireless tags 4 are positioned on the outer peripheral side. Stored.

  The storage box 1 is provided with a rotation shaft 1 a at the center thereof, and the rotation shaft 1 a is connected to the rotation shaft 6 a of the rotation drive mechanism 6. The rotation drive mechanism 6 includes a motor 7, and the rotation of the motor 7 is transmitted to the rotation shaft 6a via a speed reduction mechanism.

  An antenna 8 is disposed outside the outer peripheral wall of the storage box 1 at a position close to the wireless tag 4. An input / output terminal of an RFID interrogator 10 as data reading means is connected to the antenna 8 via a cable 9. The RFID interrogator 10 transmits radio waves to the nearby wireless tag 4 to supply power, and reads the ID and data stored in the wireless tag from the wireless tag 4 that starts operation by the power supply. It has become.

  In such a configuration, a plurality of registered mail items 5 are stored radially in each room 3 of the storage box 1 with the wireless tags 4 positioned on the outer peripheral side. Thus, a large number of registered mail items 5 are stored in the storage box 1 and conveyed. On the side of receiving the storage box 1, the storage box 1 is placed on the rotation drive mechanism 6, and the rotation shaft 1 a of the storage box 1 is connected to the rotation shaft 6 a of the rotation drive mechanism 6.

  In this state, the motor 7 is rotated to drive the storage box 1 in the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure. Then, the reading operation of the RFID interrogator 10 is started. The RFID interrogator 10 reads IDs and data from the wireless tags 4 that are sequentially close to the antenna 8 by the rotation of the storage box 1.

  In this way, the RFID interrogator 10 is attached to all registered mail items 5 stored in the storage box 1 by placing the storage box 1 on the rotation drive mechanism 6 and rotating the RFID tag 4. ID and data can be read from Therefore, no space or mechanism for moving the storage box 1 is required, and the apparatus can be made compact as a whole. Further, since there is no need to move the position of the antenna 8, the cable 9 for connecting the RFID interrogator 10 and the antenna 8 can be fixed. Therefore, it is not necessary to frequently perform maintenance and inspection, and management is easy. .

Note that the RFID tag 4 attached to the registered mail 5 stored in each room 3 may not be able to be reliably read by the RFID interrogator 10 if the distance between the adjacent RFID tags 4 is too small. In such a case, the wireless tag 4 may be provided with a spacer for ensuring the thickness.
In this embodiment, the case where the antenna 8 is arranged outside the outer peripheral wall of the storage box 1 and at a position close to the wireless tag 4 is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a dotted line in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the antenna 8 may be arranged at the upper side of the outer periphery of the storage box 1 or the lower side of the storage box 1 and close to the wireless tag 4.

(Second Embodiment)
This embodiment describes a modified example of the storage box. Other than the storage box, the second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 3, the storage box 11 is divided into fan-shaped rooms 3 sandwiched between the partition plates 2, and a plurality of auxiliary partition plates that divide substantially the outer half of the room 3 at equal intervals. 12 is arranged. In this way, the overlapping density of the registered mail items 5 stored in the room 3 can be relaxed, so that the RFID interrogator 10 can ascertain the ID and data from the wireless tag 4 with respect to the interval between adjacent wireless tags. Can be kept at a readable interval.
Although the auxiliary partition plate 12 is provided at a substantially half position on the outer peripheral side, the auxiliary partition plate 12 may be, for example, approximately a quarter of the outer peripheral side, and is not limited to substantially half.

(Third embodiment)
In this embodiment, an example in which a plurality of antennas are arranged around the storage box 1 will be described. Others are the same as those in the first embodiment described above.
As shown in FIG. 4, four antennas 81, 82, 83, 84 are arranged at equal intervals, that is, at intervals of 90 ° on the outside of the outer peripheral wall of the storage box 1 and in a position close to the wireless tag 4. Yes. Then, four RFID interrogators are provided for each antenna 81, 82, 83, 84 in a one-to-one correspondence. The four antennas 81, 82, 83, and 84 can be controlled by one RFID interrogator. However, in this case, for example, time-division control is performed, and the reading speed is reduced accordingly.

  In such a configuration, the RFID interrogator connected to each of the antennas 81, 82, 83, 84 only needs to read a wireless tag within a range of 90 °, and when reading with one antenna and the interrogator. In comparison with this, IDs and data can be read from the wireless tags of all registered mail items stored in the storage box 1 at a speed four times faster than that of the storage box 1.

As the number of antennas arranged around the storage box, two or three antennas may be considered. However, if the number of antennas is too large, the number of necessary RFID interrogators increases. It is not preferable.
In each of the embodiments described above, a storage box formed in a cylindrical shape is used as the storage box. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a storage box having a substantially cylindrical shape may be used.

The figure containing a partial block at the time of seeing the device concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention from the upper surface. The figure containing the partial block at the time of seeing the apparatus in the embodiment from the side. It is a figure which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, and is a top view which shows the internal structure of a storage box. The top view which shows the 3rd Embodiment of this invention, and shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between a storage box and an antenna.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Storage box, 2 ... Partition plate, 4 ... Wireless tag, 5 ... Registered mail, 6 ... Rotation drive mechanism, 8 ... Antenna, 10 ... RFID interrogator.

Claims (3)

  A storage box that is formed in a cylindrical shape or a substantially cylindrical shape, and stores an article attached with a wireless tag in a radial manner so that the wireless tag is positioned on the outer peripheral side; and a rotation drive unit that rotationally drives the storage box; An RFID tag reader comprising: an antenna disposed outside the storage box and in a position close to the RFID tag; and data reading means for reading data from the RFID tag via the antenna.   The wireless tag reader according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of partition plates are arranged radially at equal intervals in the storage box.   3. The wireless tag reading device according to claim 1, wherein the data reading means has a plurality of antennas arranged at equal intervals outside the storage box.

Images