JP2006504592A - Bottle stoppers and bottle openers - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic transponder circuit (6, 8) in a stopper (1) of a bottle stopper in order to prevent tampering and identify the contents of the bottle, and this transponder circuit responds to an incoming interrogation signal. Thus, the ID stored in the transponder circuit (6, 8) is output and forcibly destroyed when the bottle is opened.

Description

  The present invention relates to a bottle stopper having a stopper, which can be hermetically introduced into the bottle neck for closing the bottle and can be removed from the bottle neck for opening the bottle.

  Such bottle stoppers are widely used especially for closing bottles for alcoholic beverages such as wine and champagne. Especially when used for wine bottles, stoppers are usually manufactured from cork, although plastics are increasingly considered.

  For various reasons, there is a desire to secure identification information for bottle contents. This includes, for example, the national viewpoint, and in some countries, this has been taken into account by providing the bottle with a tax-paid stamp that is pasted over the mouth closed by the bottleneck cork. ing. Another example is a genuine guarantee of fine wine or champagne. However, printed tax stamps and bottle labels can be imitated relatively easily and therefore do not provide satisfactory protection against counterfeiting and fraud.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a bottle stopper of the kind pointed out at the beginning, which can at the same time ensure authenticity with sufficient tampering prevention.

According to the present invention, the problem is that the plug is provided with an electronic transponder circuit, and the transponder circuit outputs an ID stored in the transponder circuit in response to an incoming interrogation signal and when the bottle is opened. It is solved by forced destruction.

  The manufacture of such transponder circuits is possible only by highly developed semiconductor manufacturing methods that are not available to ordinary counterfeiters and fraudsters. As is known, each transponder circuit is provided with a distinct and unchangeable identification number at the time of manufacture. Thereby, the sales channel of each transponder can be completely controlled, and in particular, it is excluded that the bottle stopper provided with the transponder circuit can be used by an unqualified person according to the present invention. Since the bottles are forcibly destroyed when the bottles are opened, reuse of the bottle stoppers that have been distributed is eliminated. This compulsory breakage is an automatic process of opening the plug because the plug is compressed in the bottleneck and expands excessively beyond its neutral state when opening, thus exerting a force on the transponder circuit to destroy it. It is a consequence. In particular, the electrical connection between the antenna circuit, which serves to detect the incoming interrogation signal in the transponder circuit and radiate the ID, and the rest of the electronic device is interrupted, so that the function of the transponder circuit becomes unrepairable. To be paralysed. As long as the bottle is opened with a bottle opener that bites into the plug body with a screwing motion, this usually already irreparably damages the transponder circuit. Incidentally, the structure and mode of operation of such a transponder circuit are well known from the published literature to those skilled in the art. Regarding application of such a transponder circuit for security purposes, it is instructed to refer supplementarily to the published patent publications DE 19833746 A1 and WO 00/07151 of the present inventor.

  Within the scope of the present invention, in particular, the transponder circuit has a chip constructed on a semiconductor wafer and an antenna structure constructed on a polymer film and connected to the chip. In this case, the antenna structure can be configured in the form of a dipole having two dipole branches extending from the chip or in the form of a loop having one or more turns and connected to the dipole. The antenna structure can be formed by a corresponding conductive coating of a nonconductive polymer film, and the chip is arranged in a nonconductive region and connected to the conductive coating. The polymer film embedded in the plug body is abruptly strained by excessive elastic decompression of the plug body when the plug is opened, so that the conductive connection between the antenna structure and the chip is cut off.

  The bottle stopper according to the present invention can be designed so that the stopper body is composed of granules bound by a binder, and the transponder circuit is embedded in the granules. It is known in the state of the art to produce bottle cork from cork granules that are solidified by a binder to form a plug. In this known production system, the transponder circuit is embedded in the granules and fixed in the plug by solidifying the binder.

  Another embodiment consists in configuring the plug body from a uniform material having a recess therein for receiving a transponder circuit. Such a bottle stopper is also referred to as “sculpture cork”. In this case, the recess in the plug body whose shape is fixed allows the transponder circuit to be received. For example, a groove can be provided in the plug and a transponder circuit can be inserted therein.

  One desirable configuration is that the transponder circuit is configured to be substantially planar and the direction of the surface normal extends substantially across the bottleneck. This arrangement provides the maximum embedding surface for the transponder circuit within the plug. This is because its radial extension across the bottleneck is usually shorter than its axial extension in the bottleneck direction.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a bottle opener for a bottle stopper constructed according to the present invention is also planned. The bottle opener sends an interrogation signal and outputs an identification signal output from a transponder. It is characterized in that a transmitter / receiver for receiving and a display for information content of an identification signal are integrated in a bottle opener. In so doing, the bottle opener thus configured simultaneously serves as a transponder reader. Therefore, the user can directly understand that the contents of the bottle are authentic based on the information displayed on the display when the bottle is opened.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of example with reference to a single figure (FIG. 1).

  This embodiment is a champagne cork schematically shown in a longitudinal sectional view in the drawing (FIG. 1). This has a substantially cylindrical plug body 1 and the longitudinal section shown in the drawing is at the central axis of the plug body. The plug 1 is completely introduced into the bottleneck of the bottle to be closed, while being compressed radially. The plug body 1 has a thick radial head 2 at one axial end, which protrudes from the cylindrical side surface 4 of the plug 1 to form a radial shoulder 3, and this radial shoulder 3 It is placed on the free edge of the bottleneck. Unlike this normal shape of a champagne cork, such a head 2 is not provided in a bottle stopper for a wine bottle. Rather, in that case, the axial end of the stopper 1 is terminated in the same plane as the upper edge of the bottleneck.

  For example, a rectangular polymer film 5 is embedded in the cork material of the plug 1 in the longitudinal sectional plane shown in the drawing, and this polymer film is shown relatively large for the sake of easy understanding in the drawing. Actually, it can be made much smaller than the total length of the longitudinal section of the plug 1. In the illustrated embodiment, a meandering antenna structure 6 is formed on the insulating polymer film 5 by a conductive coating, and this antenna structure extends between the two free ends 7, 7 'in the form of a loop antenna. Has been.

  Between both free ends 7, 7 ', a microchip 8 is arranged on the polymer membrane 5 so as to be electrically connected to the ends 7, 7' to form a transponder circuit.

  As is well known to those skilled in the art from conventional transponder technology, an electromagnetic signal is incident on such a transponder circuit using an external reader in a non-contact manner. Useful for energy supply and on the other hand as a question signal. In response, the transponder circuit outputs a stored response signal that is received and decoded by the reader in a contactless manner. This response signal provides a clear identification of the bottle with the bottle stopper and can therefore be used in particular as a genuine guarantee for the bottle contents.

  Unlike champagne corks, which are opened by helping the internal pressure in the bottle by grasping the head 2 by hand, a wine bottle whose bottle stopper does not have such a head 2 is plugged in the axial direction. It is opened by pulling the bottle opener screwed into 1 in the axial direction. In this case, it may be highly desirable to integrate the transponder reader into the bottle stopper. In this way, the identification signal can be interrogated from the transponder circuit before the bottle is opened, so that the consumer can be directly convinced that the contents are authentic.

  When the bottle 1 is removed from the bottleneck at the time of opening the bottle, the radial compression is canceled and a sudden radial expansion occurs, and this expansion irreversibly destroys the transponder circuit as shown in the experiment. . In particular, the electrical connection between the ends 7, 7 ′ of the antenna structure 6 and the microchip 8 is interrupted, in particular. Thus, the transponder characteristics of the bottle stopper are completely lost and fraudulent reuse can be immediately detected by the reader.

It is a schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the champagne cork which is an illustration of a bottle stopper.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Plug body 2 Head 3 Radial direction shoulder 4 Side 5 Polymer film 6 Antenna structure 7, 7 'terminal 8 Microchip

Claims (6)

In a bottle stopper having a stopper, the stopper can be hermetically introduced into the bottleneck for closing the bottle and can be removed from the bottleneck for opening the bottle. Is provided with an electronic transponder circuit (6, 8), which responds to the incoming interrogation signal and outputs the ID stored in the transponder circuit (6, 8) and is forced when the bottle is opened. Bottle stopper characterized by being destroyed. The transponder circuit has a chip (8) configured on a semiconductor wafer and an antenna structure (6) configured on a polymer film (5) and connected to the chip (8). The bottle stopper according to claim 1. The bottle stopper according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the plug (1) is made of granules bound by a binder, and the transponder circuit (6, 8) is embedded in the granules. 3. A bottle stopper according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the stopper (1) is made of a uniform material having a recess for receiving the transponder circuit (6, 8) inside. Bottle stopper according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transponder circuit (6, 8) is substantially planar and the direction of the surface normal extends substantially across the bottleneck. . A bottle opener for a bottle stopper according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a transmitter / receiver for sending an interrogation signal and receiving an identification signal output from a transponder (6, 8) and an identification signal A bottle opener characterized in that an information content indicator is integrated with the bottle opener.

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