JP2006277231A - Reader/writer device for rfid paper sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the reader/writer device of an RFID paper sheet capable of improving the probability of the reading/writing of data in a data reading/writing part 5, thereby surely executing data transmission between an RFID antenna 15 and an RFID paper sheet (RFID label 9) and enhancing the processing speed of data transmission between the RFID antenna 15 and the RFID paper sheet 9 and the printing speed of a printer (thermal printer 20). <P>SOLUTION: A metallic plate 22 is disposed oppositely to the RFID antenna 15 of a data reading/writing part 5, and a space for data transmission through a radio wave between the RFID antenna 15 and an RFID paper sheet 9 is shielded and protected by the metallic plate 22 so that the metallic plate 22 can be disposed at a position opposite to the RFID antenna 15, and that the RFID paper sheet 9 can be transferred between the plate 22 and the RFID antenna 15. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a reader / writer device for RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) paper, and more particularly, to a reader / writer device for RFID paper in the form of a label or a tag (a tag) to be mounted on a printer.

A conventional printer (for example, thermal printer 1) equipped with an RFID paper reader / writer will be outlined with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the main part of the thermal printer 1. The thermal printer 1 includes a transfer path 3 of the RFID paper continuous body 2, a paper sensor 4, a data reading / writing unit 5, a printing unit 6, And a control unit 7.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the RFID paper continuous body 2. The RFID paper continuous body 2 includes a strip-shaped mount 8 and a plurality of RFID labels 9 (RFID paper) temporarily attached to the mount 8 at equal intervals. Have.
The RFID label 9 has a label main body 10 that can be temporarily attached to the mount 8, an antenna 11 and an IC chip 12 formed on the label main body 10, and a transfer path together with the mount 8 from a predetermined holding portion (not shown). 3 to transport this.

    The transfer path 3 is provided with a transfer path bracket 13 made of synthetic resin so that the RFID sheet continuous body 2 is properly transferred to the sheet sensor 4, the data reading / writing unit 5, and the printing unit 6.

    The paper sensor 4 detects the gap between the RFID labels 9 and detects the position of the RFID paper continuous body 2. The paper sensor 4 is attached to a sensor holding bracket 14 made of a synthetic resin along the transfer path 3. It is attached.

The data reading / writing unit 5 is located between the paper sensor 4 and the printing unit 6, and reads data from the RFID label 9 of the RFID paper continuous body 2 or writes data to the RFID label 9, that is, non-wireless. It is a contact data transmission, has an RFID antenna 15, and can read and write the data wirelessly in a non-contact and bidirectional manner by a control signal from the control unit 7.
The RFID antenna 15 is attached to an antenna bracket 16 made of synthetic resin and integrated with the transfer path bracket 13.

The printing unit 6 includes a thermal head 17 and a platen roller 18, and prints predetermined information on the surface of the RFID label 9 of the RFID paper continuous body 2 as required by a control signal from the control unit 7.
The platen roller 18 is located at the tip of the transfer path bracket 13.
Further, by providing a peeling part (peeling plate, not shown) for peeling the RFID label 9 from the mount 8 as necessary, only the mount 8 is turned and the RFID label 9 can be peeled from the mount 8. be able to.

    The control unit 7 controls the paper sensor 4, the RFID antenna 15, the thermal head 17, and the platen roller 18 described above. The sensor connection cable 7A, the antenna connection cable 7B, the head connection cable 7C, and the roller connection are respectively connected to the control unit 7. This is connected by the cable 7D and necessary control is performed.

    In the thermal printer 1 having such a configuration, data can be read from the IC chip 12 through the antenna 11 in the RFID label 9 from the RFID antenna 15 in the data read / write unit 5 or necessary data can be written into the IC chip 12. At the same time, predetermined bar code information corresponding to these data can be printed on the surface of the RFID label 9 in the printing unit 6.

However, according to an experiment in which the interval (gap G) between adjacent RFID labels 9 is about 3 mm, the writing success rate is not necessarily 100%, and writing is impossible at a rate of 2-3%. In some cases, the write error reaches 14%. Note that the error rate of the data reading process is lower than that of the writing process.
Furthermore, although it is conceivable to reduce the transfer speed of the RFID paper continuous body 2 in order to ensure the reliability of data transmission, another problem that the printing speed in the thermal printer 1 must be reduced occurs.

    The problem of uncertainties in wireless data transmission as described above is caused by the interaction of various structural members such as the transfer path bracket 13, the sensor holding bracket 14, or the antenna bracket 16 in the thermal printer 1 with radio waves. In addition, it is estimated that there are reflection effects, and various signals flowing through the sensor connection cable 7A, the antenna connection cable 7B, the head connection cable 7C, or the roller connection cable 7D connected to the control unit 7, and the influence from the electromagnetic waves. The

JP 2003-283365 A

    The present invention has been considered in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an RFID paper reader / writer device capable of improving the probability of reading and writing data in a data reading / writing unit.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide a reader / writer device for RFID paper that can more reliably transmit data between the RFID antenna and the RFID paper.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID paper reader / writer device capable of ensuring the reliability of data transmission even when the gap between adjacent RFID papers becomes small.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID paper reader / writer device capable of improving the processing speed of data transmission between the RFID antenna and the RFID paper, and further the printing speed of the printer.

    That is, according to the present invention, a metal plate is disposed opposite to the RFID antenna of the data read / write unit, that is, a space for data transmission via radio waves between the RFID antenna and the RFID paper is formed by the metal plate. An RFID paper reader / writer device that has an RFID antenna, reads predetermined data from RFID paper, or writes predetermined data to the same RFID paper, An RFID paper reader / writer device characterized in that a metal plate is disposed at a position facing the RFID antenna, and the RFID paper can be transferred between the plate and the RFID antenna.

    The plate can be made of aluminum.

    The plate may have an area substantially equal to an area where the RFID antenna extends with respect to the RFID paper.

    The plate can be disposed at a position substantially parallel to the RFID antenna.

    A data transmission space capable of transferring the RFID paper can be formed between the plate and the RFID antenna.

    The metal as the material of the plate can be arbitrarily selected according to the material of the structural member around the data reading / writing unit.

In the RFID paper reader / writer device according to the present invention, the RFID paper is transferred between a metal plate such as aluminum or iron arranged at a position facing the RFID antenna and the RFID antenna. The data transmission space (the space for data transmission between the RFID antenna and the RFID paper) can be protected by the action of reflecting radio waves or by shielding external electromagnetic waves and other disturbances. Certainty and processing speed can be improved.

    The present invention has realized an RFID paper reader / writer device capable of ensuring a reading / writing function and improving the processing speed with a simple configuration in which a plate made of aluminum or the like is simply disposed at a predetermined portion.

Next, an RFID paper reader / writer device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a principal part of a thermal printer 20 having the same basic structure as FIG. 2, and the thermal printer 20 includes a transfer path 3 of the RFID paper continuous body 2, a paper sensor 4, a data reading / writing unit. 5. Along with the printing unit 6 and the control unit 7, a reader / writer device 21 for the RFID paper is provided.
The RFID paper reader / writer device 21 includes a data read / write unit 5, a control unit 7, and a metal plate 22.

    The plate 22 is made of, for example, an aluminum material or an iron material, and has an area substantially equal to the area where the RFID antenna 15 extends with respect to the RFID label 9, and is disposed at a position substantially parallel to the RFID antenna 15. Deploy.

    A data transmission space 23 can be formed in the transfer path 3 between the metal plate 22 and the RFID antenna 15, and the RFID sheet continuous body 2 (RFID label 9) is transferred to the transfer path 3 in the data transmission space 23. Make it possible.

    In the RFID paper reader / writer device 21 configured as described above, data transmission processing (data reading and writing processing) between the RFID antenna 15 and the RFID label 9 of the data reading / writing unit 5 is performed between the RFID antenna 15 and, for example, aluminum. Since it is performed in the data transmission space 23 formed between the plate 22 and the radio wave in the RFID antenna 15 and the RFID label 9, it is not affected by various disturbances due to the shielding action of the plate 22. In addition, the reflection effect on the plate 22 in the data transmission space 23 is added, and the interaction is limited in the data transmission space 23. As a result, the reliability of data transmission can be improved.

In the case of the conventional thermal printer 1 without the plate 22 (FIG. 2), a write error (error rate of about 14%) occurred in 5 out of 36 RFID labels 9, but for example, an aluminum plate 22 In the case of the thermal printer 20 (RFID paper reader / writer device 21) provided with the printer, none of the 36 sheets had a writing error (error rate 0%).
Furthermore, a slight increase was observed in the writing speed.

Thus, the reader / writer device 21 for RFID paper according to the present invention reduces the data transmission error between the RFID labels 9 as much as possible and improves the processing speed, so that the gap G between adjacent RFID labels 9 is increased. Even when the gap G is narrowed, it is possible to execute reliable data reading and writing processing.

It is a principal part schematic side view of the thermal printer 20 provided with the reader-writer apparatus 21 of the RFID paper by the Example of this invention. It is a principal part schematic side view of the conventional thermal printer 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the RFID paper continuous body 2.

Explanation of symbols

1 Thermal printer (Figure 2)
2 RFID paper continuum 3 Transfer path 4 Paper sensor 5 Data reading / writing unit 6 Printing unit 7 Control unit 7A Sensor connection cable of control unit 7B Antenna connection cable of control unit 7C Head connection cable of control unit 7D Control unit 7 Roller connection cable 8 Mount 9 RFID label (RFID paper)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Label main body 11 Antenna 12 IC chip 13 Transfer path bracket 14 Sensor holding bracket 15 RFID antenna 16 Antenna bracket 17 Thermal head 18 Platen roller 20 Thermal printer (FIG. 1)
21 RFID reader / writer device (Example, Fig. 1)
22 Metal plate 23 such as aluminum 23 Data transmission space G between plate 22 and RFID antenna 15 Gap between adjacent RFID labels 9

Claims (5)

Having an RFID antenna,
An RFID paper reader / writer device for reading predetermined data from an RFID paper or writing predetermined data on the RFID paper,
While arranging a metal plate at a position facing the RFID antenna,
A reader / writer device for RFID paper, wherein the RFID paper can be transferred between the plate and the RFID antenna. 2. The RFID paper reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein the plate is made of aluminum. 2. The RFID paper reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein the plate has an area substantially equal to an area in which the RFID antenna extends with respect to the RFID paper. 2. The RFID paper reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein the plate is disposed at a position substantially parallel to the RFID antenna. 2. The RFID paper reader / writer device according to claim 1, wherein a data transmission space capable of transferring the RFID paper can be formed between the plate and the RFID antenna.

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