JP2006350488A - Sensor device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sensor device for easily grasping how long the measurement object of a sensor device has been placed in the state of a measurement value which is abnormal for the measurement object, and for efficiently checking information which is necessary for quality management in a short period of time. <P>SOLUTION: This sensor device is provided with a sensor for measuring a measurement object, and for detecting a measurement value, a memory with safety value information stored by predetermining a safety range for the measurement value, a measuring part for measuring a measurement time by the sensor, a measurement value/measurement time information writing part for making the memory store the measurement value information measured by the sensor and the measurement time measured by the measuring part by associating them with each other, a measurement value decision part for deciding whether or not the measurement value of the measurement value information stored in the memory is within the safety range in the safety value information and an information beyond safety range writing part for, when it is decided that the decision result of the measurement value deciding part is beyond the safety range, writing the information when it is decided that the decision result is beyond the safety range in the memory. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sensor device having a sensor for measuring a measurement object such as food and detecting a measurement value, and in particular, how long the measurement object has been placed in an environment outside a predetermined safe range. The present invention relates to a sensor device that can be stored in a memory and checked.

Conventionally, various sensor devices capable of measuring temperature, humidity, illuminance, pressure, impact force and the like have been used for quality control of foods and products in the physical distribution and distribution fields.
In addition, by providing a sensor device to a data carrier that has been used in recent years, measurement value information obtained by measurement by the sensor device is stored together with distribution history information of each article so that the measurement value of the sensor can be confirmed. A method for quality control has also been developed.
One of the purposes of use of these sensor devices is, for example, to collect quality information and perform quality control on what kind of environment or state a measurement object such as food is placed.

These sensor devices include a sensor that measures a measurement object and detects measurement value information, and a time measurement unit that measures the time measured by the sensor, thereby measuring the measurement value information measured by the sensor. Is stored in the memory together with the time information measured in step (b), and quality control can be performed based on the measured value information. (For example, see Patent Document 1)
JP 2000-302111 A

In particular, when the object to be measured is frozen food, the storage temperature conditions and temperature range required for maintaining the quality are determined for each food. For example, frozen food that is required to be refrigerated In this case, it is necessary to always store in a refrigerator having a predetermined freezing capacity so as to be in an environment that satisfies the storage conditions for frozen food.
In addition, when performing quality control, it is necessary to check whether the inside of the refrigerator is definitely maintained at a predetermined temperature. Therefore, a sensor device is provided in the refrigerator, or a small sensor device is attached to each food. For example, the temperature can be measured to check the storage status.
However, even if the measurement value information is stored in the memory of the sensor device, it can be said that the measurement object is stored in a temperature state within the safe range for the measurement object, or an abnormal environment outside the safe range. There is a problem that it is not easy to determine whether it has been stored in the state, and it is troublesome for the person in charge of quality control to frequently check the measured temperature.

For example, if the refrigerator's freezing function is insufficient, or the user frequently opens and closes the refrigerator door, the temperature in the refrigerator temporarily rises, and the safety range necessary for storing frozen foods is exceeded. The frozen food may be stored at a temperature higher than the temperature.
Even in such a case, there is a problem that it is not possible to easily grasp how long the food stored in the refrigerator has been stored in an abnormal temperature environment, and accurate quality control cannot be performed.

  According to the present invention, in a sensor device having a sensor that measures a measurement object and detects a measurement value, the measurement object measured by the sensor has been placed in a state that shows an abnormal measurement value for the measurement object for how long. It is possible to provide a sensor device that can easily grasp information required for quality control in a short time.

  The sensor device of the present invention includes a sensor that measures a measurement object and detects a measurement value, a memory that stores safety value information in which a safe range for the measurement value is previously determined, and a time measurement that measures the measurement time of the sensor. A measurement value measurement time information writing unit that associates the measurement value information measured by the sensor with the measurement time measured by the time measurement unit and stores the measurement value information in the memory, and the measurement value information stored in the memory. A measurement value determination unit that determines whether or not a measurement value is within the safety range in the safety value information, and a determination result in the measurement value determination unit that is determined to be out of the safety range And an out-of-safe-range-information writing unit that writes information when it is determined to be in the memory.

  In the sensor device of the present invention, when the determination result in the measurement value determination unit is determined to be out of the safe range continuously in time series, the first and last determined in the memory as out of the safe range Based on the measurement time information stored in association with the measurement value information, a time interval calculation unit that calculates the first and last time intervals, and the interval time information calculated by the time interval calculation unit are stored in the memory. A time interval information writing unit for writing.

  In the sensor device of the present invention, when the time interval information writing unit writes new time interval information in the memory, the new time interval information is already stored in the memory. Is added to write the accumulated time information.

  In the sensor device of the present invention, when the measured value in the memory becomes an abnormal value outside the safe range, the information when the abnormal value is measured can be stored in the specific area of the memory in the memory of the sensor device. There is an effect that information necessary for quality control can be efficiently examined in a short time only by confirming information stored in the specific area.

  The sensor device according to the present invention indicates how long the measured value in the memory is in an abnormal value out of the safe range continuously in time series, and how long it has been in the abnormal value state. Since it is stored as time information in the memory, it is possible to ascertain the time during which the abnormal state has continued by simply checking the information stored in the memory of the sensor device. This has the effect of efficiently examining information necessary for a short time.

  In the sensor device of the present invention, the accumulated time in the state where the abnormal value is out of the safe range is stored in the memory, so it is necessary for quality control by checking the accumulated time information stored in the memory of the sensor device. There is an effect that information can be examined efficiently in a short time.

Hereinafter, a sensor device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining an example of a usage state using the sensor device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a system block diagram of the sensor device and an external device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a temperature change measured by the sensor device. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a change in a measured value when the temperature change illustrated in FIG. 3 is measured by the sensor device according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the range of the accumulated time when a measurement value outside the safe range is measured by temperature measurement using the sensor device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram of the sensor device 1 of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram related to the memory 12 and FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a processing procedure using the sensor device of the present invention.

First, FIG. 1 shows a frozen food 2 as a measurement object to which a sensor device 1 is attached and a refrigerator 4 provided with an external device 3.
As the measurement object, for example, there are various objects to be measured such as food products. In the description of this embodiment, the frozen food 2 is described as an example of the measurement object.
The sensor device 1 has a configuration in which a sensor unit and an IC tag are integrated, and is attached to a predetermined portion of the frozen food 2 to measure the temperature environment in which the food is stored and quality control. Can be done.
The internal temperature of the refrigerator 4 can be changed by changing the temperature setting. However, the individual frozen foods 2 stored in the refrigerator are not necessarily all at the same environmental temperature, and are stored in the refrigerator. There is a temperature difference depending on the position.
Therefore, in order to check the temperature of each food, the sensor device 1 is attached to each food so that the accurate temperature related to each food can be checked.

As shown in FIG. 2, the sensor device 1 includes a transmission / reception unit 5, a timing unit 6, a battery unit 7, a remaining battery level measurement unit 8, a sensor measurement interruption unit 9, an out-of-safety-range information writing unit 10, and a control unit 11. , A memory 12, a sensor 13, a measurement value determination unit 14, a measurement value measurement time information writing unit 15, a time interval calculation unit 16, a time interval information writing unit 17, and the like.
The transmission / reception unit 5 transmits / receives information to / from the transmission / reception unit of the external device 3.
The time measuring unit 6 has a function of measuring the time when measured by the sensor 13, and in particular, the time measuring unit 6 measures what time the measured value information of the temperature measured by the sensor 13 is measured. The measured time can be confirmed by writing it in the temperature history management area of the memory 12.

The battery remaining amount measuring unit 8 has a function of measuring the remaining amount of the battery unit 7.
The sensor measurement interruption unit 9 has a function of interrupting the measurement by the sensor 13 when the battery remaining amount in the battery unit 7 reaches a predetermined remaining amount.
This is because if there is no remaining battery level during measurement by the sensor 13, there is a risk that accurate measurement cannot be performed or trouble may occur, so the sensor 13 is in a stage before the remaining battery level is completely exhausted. Measurement is stopped, and only accurate measurement value information is written in the memory 12.

  Further, the measured value measurement time information writing unit 15 is the time when the measured value information of the temperature measured by the sensor 13 is measured from the measured value information measured by the sensor 13 and the measured time by the time measuring unit 6. The measurement value information and the measurement time are related to each other so as to be written and stored in the memory 12.

As shown in FIG. 6, the memory 12 stores a storage area in which safe value information in which a safe range for the measurement value is set in advance is stored, and a temperature history in which the measured temperature measurement value and the measurement time are stored. A management area 26, a temperature management area 27 for storing information when the measured value falls outside the safe range, and the like are provided.
The safety value information sets whether or not the measured value by the sensor 13 is within a predetermined safe range by setting a safe range for each measurement target to be measured by the sensor device 1 and storing it in the memory 12. It is possible to make such a determination.
The measurement value determination unit 14 compares the measurement value obtained by the sensor 13 with the safe value information stored in advance in the memory 12 and determines whether the measurement value obtained by the sensor 13 is within the safe range. The determination result by the measurement value determination unit 14 is also written and stored in the memory 12.
The determination process by the measurement value determination unit 14 is performed for each measurement value information stored in the memory 12 in one measurement, and it is determined whether or not the measurement value is within the safe range, and the determination result is stored in the memory 12. Written.

  Further, the information outside the safe range information writing unit 10 includes, for example, the presence / absence of data outside the safe range, the time when the measured value outside the safe range is first out of the safe range, It has a function of writing information such as the time when it is out of the safe range and the minimum value and the maximum value of the measured values out of the safe range into the temperature management area 27 of the memory.

Further, the time interval calculation unit 16 first determines that the determination result of the measurement value determination unit 14 is out of the safe range in the memory 12 when it is determined that the determination result is outside the safe range in time series. And the function of calculating the first and last time intervals based on the measurement time information stored in association with the last measurement value information.
Further, the time interval information writing unit 17 has a function of writing and storing the interval time information calculated by the time interval calculation unit 16 in the memory 12.
Thus, it is possible to confirm how long the frozen food to be measured has been kept in a state other than the temperature defined as the storage condition for the frozen food.

Next, the external device 3 includes a transmission / reception unit 18, a display unit 19, an input unit 20, a control unit 21, a memory 22, a time measuring unit 23, and the like.
The external device 3 transmits a measurement start signal for instructing the sensor device 1 to start measurement for causing the sensor to perform measurement at regular time intervals. The sensor device 1 receives this signal, thereby The temperature is measured at 13 at a constant time interval.
Also, the external device 3 can store the information stored in the memory 12 of the external device 3 by reading the information stored in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1 with the transmission / reception unit 18.

FIG. 3 shows, as an example, a temperature change line graph 24 related to a temperature change measured by the sensor device of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining changes in measured values when the sensor device measures the environment having the temperature changes shown in FIG.
When temperature measurement is performed at regular intervals using the sensor device 1 with respect to the temperature change shown in FIG. 3, the measurement values at the time of measurement with the sensor in the sensor device 1 as shown in FIG. 4 are connected. A line graph composed of straight lines becomes a measurement value change line graph 25 by the sensor device 1.
That is, the graph 25 of the measurement values measured by the sensor device is based on the measurement values at predetermined time intervals set in advance, so that when the actual temperature change is severe, the measurement time interval is shortened. It is preferable to increase the accuracy of the measured value by setting it.

For example, when the safe range of the storage temperature of this frozen food is set to 0 ° C. to −10 ° C., in the case shown in FIG. In some cases, abnormal values outside the safe range are measured several times.
In addition, when abnormal values outside the safe range are continuously measured in time series, there is a problem that the quality of frozen food may be hindered.
Therefore, it is necessary to be able to easily check the accumulated time such as how long the abnormal value outside the safe range has continued.
In the temperature change graph shown in FIG. 5, a case where the measured value is continuously out of the safe range at the time of a plurality of measurements and a case where the measurement is performed twice is shown. In this case, the memory of the sensor device 1 is shown. 12 are stored as separate records.

In the sensor device 1 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6, the measured value at the sensor 13, the measurement time at the timekeeping unit 6, the determination result by the measured value determination unit 14, and out of the safe range are stored in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1. Information such as the accumulated time when abnormal values are continuously measured is written and stored as needed.
In the case shown in FIG. 4, there are three cases where an abnormal value is out of the safe range during multiple measurements.

Next, a description will be given according to the flowchart of FIG. 7 based on the processing procedure of the sensor device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
First, a signal instructing to temporarily delete the information in the storage area for writing in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1 is transmitted from the external device 3 to the sensor device 1. (Step 1)
Next, a measurement start signal is transmitted from the external device 3 to the sensor device 1 instructing to start measurement by the sensor 13 at a constant time interval that is a sampling cycle. (Step 2)
The signal transmitted from the external device 3 to the sensor device 1 may be various signals depending on the purpose. For example, the signal from the measurement start time at the sensor is transmitted to the end time, or the measurement from the sensor is started. It is possible to select freely by transmitting only the time or the elapsed time measured by the sensor.

Next, the sensor device 1 performs measurement at regular time intervals by the sensor 13 based on the measurement start signal from the external device 3. (Step 3)
Then, the measurement value information of the sensor 13 and the measurement time information measured by the timekeeping unit 6 in the sensor device 1 are related to each other and sequentially written and stored in the memory 12 in the sensor device 1. (Step 4)
Next, it is determined whether or not the measured value information stored in the memory 12 is within the safe range in the safe value information registered in the memory 12 in advance. (Step 5)
The determination result information of this determination process is written and stored in the memory 12. (Step 6)

Then, when the determination result of the determination result information written and stored in the memory 12 is continuously determined as an abnormal value outside the safe range, the measurement value determined as an abnormal value by the time interval calculation unit 16 At the measurement time when the is measured, the time interval between the first measurement time and the last measurement time is calculated. (Step 7)
The time interval information calculated by the time interval calculation unit 16 is written and stored in the memory 12. (Step 8)
The time interval information is written to the memory 12 when the time interval information is already stored in the memory 12 and is added and stored as accumulated time information by adding new time interval information.

  Through the above processing, the accumulated time information when the measurement value measured by the sensor 13 becomes an abnormal value outside the safe range is written in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1, and is stored in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1. By simply looking at the accumulated time records, it is possible to easily check how much time the frozen foods to be measured were stored in a temperature environment outside the safe range. It can be used for quality control.

Further, when examining the record of the accumulated time stored in the memory 12 of the sensor device 1, an instruction signal is transmitted from the external device 3 to the sensor device 1, and the accumulated time information is transmitted from the sensor device 1 to the external device 3. By being transmitted, it can be confirmed by displaying the accumulated time information on the display unit 19 of the external device 3.
As a result, when a measurement object such as frozen food is stored in an environment with a temperature higher than a predetermined temperature, appropriate quality control can be performed, such as taking measures such as selling or stopping shipment. It is.

  In the above embodiment, the case of the sensor device 1 provided with the temperature sensor has been described. However, the sensor device of the present invention can measure, for example, humidity, illuminance, pressure, impact force, etc. other than the temperature sensor. Even if a sensor device is equipped with various types of sensors that can be used, it is safe for the measured value of the sensor by storing in advance the safe value information that can specify the safe range for the measured value in the memory of the sensor device. For quality control by performing determination processing on whether or not there is, and writing and storing the determination result information in the memory, and further writing and storing time information when the abnormal values continue in time series in the memory. Necessary information can be examined efficiently in a short time.

It is a perspective view explaining an example of the utilization state using the sensor apparatus of this invention. 1 is a system block diagram of a sensor device and an external device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the temperature change measured with the sensor apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the change of the measured value at the time of measuring the temperature change shown in FIG. 3 with the sensor apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the range of the total time at the time of measuring the measured value outside a safe range by the temperature measurement using the sensor apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing regarding the memory 12 of the sensor apparatus 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the process sequence using the sensor apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Sensor device
2 Frozen food
3 External devices
4 Refrigerator
5,18 Transceiver
6 Timekeeping Department
7 Battery part
8 Battery level measuring part
9 Sensor measurement interruption part
10 Abnormal value information writing part
11, 21 Control unit
12,22 memory
13 Sensor
14 Measurement value judgment part
15 Measurement value measurement time information writing unit
16 time interval calculator
17 Time interval information writing part
19 Display
20 Input section
24 Temperature change line graph
25 Measurement value change line graph
26 Temperature history management area
27 Temperature control area

Claims (3)

A sensor for measuring a measurement object and detecting a measurement value;
A memory in which safe value information that predetermines a safe range for the measured value is stored;
A time measuring unit for measuring the measurement time by the sensor;
A measurement value measurement time information writing unit that associates the measurement value information measured by the sensor and the measurement time measured by the timekeeping unit and stores them in a memory;
A measurement value determination unit that determines whether or not the measurement value of the measurement value information stored in the memory is within a safe range in the safety value information;
An out-of-safety-range information writing unit that writes information in the memory when the determination result in the measurement value determining unit is out of the safe range, when the determination result is out of the safe range. Sensor device. When the determination result in the measurement value determination unit is determined to be out of the safe range continuously in time series, it is related to the first and last measurement value information determined to be out of the safe range in the memory. A time interval calculation unit for calculating the first and last time intervals based on the stored measurement time information,
The sensor device according to claim 1, further comprising: a time interval information writing unit that writes the interval time information calculated by the time interval calculation unit into the memory. When the time interval information writing unit writes new time interval information in the memory, if the time interval information is already stored in the memory, the new time interval information is added and accumulated time information is added. The sensor device according to claim 2, wherein the sensor device has a writing function.

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