JP2007111137A - Shelf tag system with temperature controlling mechanism using battery-free rfid tag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a shelf tag system with a temperature controlling mechanism which can display information on merchandise, advertisement, and temperature and can control the temperature of the merchandise 24 hours a day. <P>SOLUTION: The shelf tag is composed of a battery-free RFID tag for transmitting information by radio-communicating with a reader/writer, an electronic paper for displaying information on the merchandise such as trade name and price that is transmitted from the reader/writer as well as advertisement information on the merchandise and/or the shop, and a battery-free temperature sensor for detecting the temperature around the shelf tag. A shelf tag system which transmits information on the merchandise, advertisement, and temperature and controls the temperature is composed of several readers/writers for transmitting information among several shelf tags within several communication ranges, a LAN and merchandise information controlling server for controlling the merchandise information in connection with the several readers/writers, and a temperature controlling device which controls temperature from the temperature information acquired by the merchandise information controlling server. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a shelf label disposed on a product shelf such as a supermarket or a convenience store, and in particular, displays detailed product information and advertisement information of the product and temperature information, and manages the temperature of the product based on the temperature information. The present invention relates to a shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag.

  Conventionally, each product placed on a product shelf such as a supermarket or a convenience store is provided with a shelf label (also referred to as a price tag or price card) on which the product name, price, etc. of the product are printed. When the price is changed or a special sale for a limited time is performed on the shelf label, it is replaced with a new shelf label on which the changed price or the sale is printed.

  However, since there are so many products handled at supermarkets and convenience stores, etc., prices are often changed and special sales for a limited time are often performed, replacing the shelf label requires a lot of time and effort.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, in the “shelf label system” of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-304673, price and limited sale display is performed on an LCD display, and the price is changed by wireless communication from the headquarters. A system to do it has been proposed. Further, in “System and Method for Changing Display Contents of Shelf Labels” of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-185316, product information such as product name and price, and design information such as character size, typeface, and display position are received from the local network. A system for acquiring the information and displaying the information on electronic paper has been proposed.

JP 2002-304673 A JP 2005-185316 A

  However, since the system in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-304673 uses a segment type LCD display as a display, the display content and display position are determined in advance. For this reason, it is not possible to freely rewrite the display content or perform POP display (Point of Purchase advertising) such as product advertisements, and a sticker on which the product name is printed must be affixed to the display or a printed advertisement must be attached. There was a drawback of having to. In addition, the system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-185316 requires a product display shelf equipped with electronic paper and a product information management computer that manages product information and design information to be connected to a local network. In supermarkets and convenience stores that handle products, there is a drawback that wiring becomes complicated.

  In addition, in the above publication examples, the display contents of shelf labels are mainly related to products such as product names and prices, temperature indications in refrigerators containing products that require refrigeration such as fish and meat, and frozen foods There was no one that could display the temperature in the freezer containing items that required freezing such as ice cream. Furthermore, in order to prevent food damage of the refrigerated foods and frozen foods, it is necessary to carry out fine temperature management over 24 hours for the refrigerator and freezer. Development of a temperature management system using a shelf label system has been demanded.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described drawbacks and demands, and in shelf labels provided on product shelves such as supermarkets and convenience stores, product information such as product names and prices, and It is possible to display advertisement information such as products and stores, and the temperature display inside the box containing refrigerated foods and frozen foods, on shelf labels that can operate without batteries, via wireless communication. It is an object of the present invention to provide a shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag, which can perform precise temperature management for 24 hours in a refrigerator or a freezer.

In order to solve the above problems, in a shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag according to the present invention, a shelf label placed on a product shelf on which each product is placed has a reader / writer and a wireless Displays battery-less RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags for information transmission by communication, product information such as product name and price sent from the reader / writer, and advertisement information for the product and store An electronic paper and a batteryless temperature sensor for detecting the temperature in the vicinity of the shelf label for 24 hours,
In the shelf label system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor, etc., information transmission with a plurality of shelf labels in a plurality of communication ranges A plurality of readers / writers, a LAN for connecting to the plurality of readers / writers and managing product information, a product information management server, and temperature information obtained by the product information management server. And a temperature management device that controls the temperature for 24 hours.

  In addition, in a system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor, etc. at the headquarters, the LAN is connected to the Internet, A merchandise information management server is configured by connecting to the Internet.

  According to the shelf label system with a temperature management function using the battery-less RFID tag of the present invention, in the shelf label disposed on the product shelf such as a supermarket or a convenience store, the product information such as the product name and price is placed on the electronic paper. Since it is possible to display advertisement information for the product or store, there is no need to affix a sticker with the product name printed on the display or attach a printed advertisement, eliminating the need to replace the shelf label. Play. In addition, since the temperature inside the refrigerated food or frozen food can be displayed, it is possible to give consumers a sense of security by informing consumers whether the refrigerated food or frozen food is stored at an appropriate temperature. Play. In addition, since various displays on the electronic paper can be performed by wireless communication between the battery-less RFID tag and the reader / writer, wiring for connecting the shelf label to the LAN becomes unnecessary, and the shelf label is arranged. And has the effect of being easy to relocate. Furthermore, since the temperature information can be finely controlled for 24 hours in the refrigerator or freezer, the food damage of the refrigerated food or the frozen food can be prevented.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an external view of a shelf label used in a shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag according to the present invention, where (a) is a front view and (b) is a side view. As shown in FIG. 2A, a shelf label 1 disposed on a product shelf on which each product is placed includes a batteryless RFID tag 5 for transmitting information by wireless communication with a reader / writer. Electronic paper 4 for displaying product information such as product name and price transmitted from the reader / writer and advertisement information of the product and store, and batteryless for detecting the temperature in the vicinity of the shelf label 1 The mold temperature sensor 17 is configured by being incorporated in the casing 2.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the thickness of the casing 2 is reduced because the batteryless RFID tag 5, the electronic paper 4, and the batteryless temperature sensor 17 are thin. The holder 3 on the back surface of the casing 2 may have any structure or shape depending on the structure of the commodity shelf. Moreover, it does not matter even if it can respond to a some goods shelf by replacement | exchange of an attachment.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a batteryless RFID tag built in the shelf label of FIG. In this figure, an antenna 7 is connected to a tuning circuit 8 composed of a tuning capacitor (not shown) inside the RFID chip 6 or partly outside the RFID chip 6 in order to perform radio communication with a reader / writer by electromagnetic waves. A resonance circuit is configured by tuning to a carrier frequency used in a shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag, for example, a 950 MHz band or 2.45 GHz.

  In the subsequent stage of the tuning circuit 8, the voltage waveform of the induced electromotive force generated when the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the antenna of the reader / writer passes through the antenna 7 of the RFID tag 5 is detected, or the induced electromotive force is halved. A rectifier circuit 9 is connected to extract a DC voltage by wave or full wave rectification.

  Next, in the subsequent stage of the rectifier circuit 9, a clock generation circuit 10 for dividing the detected carrier to generate a system clock and a demodulation operation for extracting a signal from the carrier at the time of signal reception are performed. A modulation / demodulation circuit 11 for performing modulation operation by a switching element (not shown) at the time of transmission, and a power supply circuit for stabilizing the DC voltage and supplying a circuit power supply or supplying a charging voltage to the charging capacitor 13 12 is connected. The charging capacitor 13 is generally a ceramic capacitor. When electric power is required, a large-capacity electric double layer capacitor or the like is suitable, but it is not particularly limited.

  Next, after the modulation / demodulation circuit 11, the control of the modulation / demodulation circuit 11, the unique ID information of the RFID chip 6 with respect to the FRAM (Ferroelectric RAM: registered trademark of Ramtron USA) 15 and the reader / A logic circuit 14 for controlling writing or reading of data such as product information and advertisement information received by wireless communication with the writer and temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor 17 is connected.

  Next, product information and advertisement received by wireless communication between the A / D converter that converts the sensor signal output from the battery-less temperature sensor 17 into an appropriate digital value by A / D conversion, and the reader / writer An interface circuit 16 including a communication port for transmitting information and temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor 17 to the electronic paper 4 is connected to the logic circuit 14 and the FRAM 15.

  The FRAM 15 is a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory, and data such as the unique ID information of the RFID chip 6 is not lost even when the circuit power is turned off. In addition, since the data write voltage does not need to be boosted to a high voltage unlike an EEPROM or a flash memory, the booster circuit is simplified. Further, the writing or reading speed is equivalent to that of DRAM, and is characterized by being much faster than EEPROM and flash memory. As described above, the FRAM 15 is suitable as the nonvolatile memory, but other memories may be used.

  FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of a shelf label system with a temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in the shelf label system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor 17 and the like, a plurality of communication ranges 18 are included. A plurality of readers / writers 20 for transmitting information to and from the plurality of shelf labels 1, a LAN 22 and a product information management server 23 connected to the plurality of readers / writers 20 for managing product information, The temperature management device 24 performs temperature control for 24 hours based on the temperature information obtained by the product information management server 23.

  If the carrier frequency used in the shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID tag is, for example, a 950 MHz band, the communication range 18 is a range of up to about 5 to 9 m, and may be 2.45 GHz. For example, the range is about 2 to 4 m at the longest and can be arbitrarily set depending on the size of the store where the system is introduced and the arrangement of the product shelves.

  Further, in the system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor 17 and the temperature management in the headquarter 26, the LAN 22 is connected to the Internet 25, A merchandise information management server 27 in the head office 26 is connected to the Internet 25 and configured.

  The product information management server 27 includes detailed product information such as the product name and price of each product 19 for all the products 19 in the store, advertisement information about the product 19 and the store, and the shelf label. The temperature information in the vicinity of 1 is accumulated in the database, and the temperature information can be finely managed for 24 hours in the refrigerator or freezer by sequentially analyzing the temperature information.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, as shown in the system configuration diagram in one embodiment of the shelf management system with temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention in FIG. 3, a plurality of products are placed on the product shelves of stores such as supermarkets and convenience stores. 19 is placed. When the product 19 is refrigerated food or frozen food, it is put in a refrigerator or freezer. In addition, a reader / writer 20 is installed for each communication range 18 that can communicate with each product shelf or the product 19 in the refrigerator or freezer. An antenna 21 is connected to the reader / writer 20, and wireless communication can be performed with the antenna 7 of the batteryless RFID tag 5 built in the shelf label 1.

  The reader / writer 20 is connected to a LAN 22, and a product information management server 23 is connected to the LAN 22. The product information management server 23 is connected with a temperature management device 24 for controlling the temperature of the refrigerator or freezer. Further, the product information management server 23 stores detailed product information including the product name and price of each product 19 for all the products 19 in the store, and advertisement information and shelves of the products 19 and stores. The temperature information in the vicinity of the shelf label 1 detected by the battery-less temperature sensor 17 built in the tag 1 is stored in the database.

  In the above state, for example, when changing the shelf label 1 of the product 19 to provide sashimi platter as a refrigerated food for 504 yen as a special sale item of the day, a plurality of reader / Information transmission for changing the display is performed to the writer 20. The contents of the information include unique ID information of the RFID tag 5 built in the shelf label 1 whose display is to be changed and detailed product information.

  FIG. 4 is a product information display example of a shelf label used in a shelf label system with a temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention. In the electronic paper 4 of the shelf label 1 that matches the unique ID information, “Sale of the day” is displayed as the special sale display 28, “Assorted sashimi” is displayed as the product name display 29, “504 yen (tax included)” is displayed as the price display 30, and the production area is displayed as the detailed information display 31 And expiration date and product content can be displayed. Further, the temperature information detected by the batteryless type temperature sensor 17 incorporated in the shelf label 1 can be displayed as “internal temperature: −2 ° C.” as the temperature display 32.

  The electronic paper 4 is a dot-type display element having a large number of pixels in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction, and is displayed by a display controller (not shown) of the electronic paper 4 connected to the interface circuit 16 of the RFID tag 5. Arbitrary characters and designs can be freely displayed at any position, and it consumes less power than an LCD display. Furthermore, once displayed content can be held without power. is there. For this reason, it is possible to display with the electric power obtained by the batteryless RFID tag 5. In addition, when electric power is required depending on the type of electronic paper 4, a solar cell may be used as an auxiliary power source.

  The temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor 17 is read by the reader / writer 20, stored in the database of the product information management server 23 via the LAN 22, and sequentially analyzed and stored. When the temperature deviates from the preset appropriate temperature, the temperature management device 24 outputs a temperature control signal, whereby fine temperature management for 24 hours in the refrigerator or freezer can be performed. In addition, when a special state such as inability to control occurs, an alarm output can be performed. If temperature display or temperature control is not required for the product 19 that is refrigerated food or frozen food, the temperature display can be hidden or the transmission of temperature information can be stopped by a command from the reader / writer 20. It is.

  FIG. 5 is an example of advertising information display of a shelf label used in the shelf management system with temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention. Displaying the display 33 can bring about an advertising effect. The advertisement content may be any content other than the one shown in FIG. 5, such as special sale information or point service information for the entire store.

  In the above embodiment, the product information is managed by the product information management server 23 in the store. However, when the headquarters 26 is used, the product information management server 27 in the headquarter 26 is used. It is also possible to carry out via the Internet 25.

It is an external view of the shelf label used with the shelf label system with a temperature management function using the battery-less type RFID tag of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a batteryless RFID tag built in the shelf label of FIG. 1. It is a system block diagram in one Example of the shelf label system with a temperature management function using the batteryless type RFID tag of this invention. It is a merchandise information display example of the shelf label used in the shelf label system with a temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention. It is an example of one advertisement information display of a shelf label used in a shelf label system with a temperature management function using the batteryless RFID tag of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shelf label 2 Casing 3 Holder 4 Electronic paper 5 Battery-less RFID tag 6 RFID chip 7 Antenna 8 Tuning circuit 9 Rectifier circuit 10 Clock generation circuit 11 Modulation / demodulation circuit 12 Power supply circuit 13 Charging capacitor 14 Logic circuit 15 FRAM
16 Interface circuit 17 Battery-less temperature sensor 18 Communication range 19 Product 20 Reader / writer 21 Antenna 22 LAN
23 Product Information Management Server 24 Temperature Management Device 25 Internet 26 Headquarters 27 Product Information Management Server 28 Special Display 29 Product Name Display 30 Price Display 31 Detailed Information Display 32 Temperature Display 33 Advertising Information Display

Claims (2)

In a shelf label placed on a product shelf on which each product is placed, a batteryless RFID tag for transmitting information by wireless communication with the reader / writer, and sent from the reader / writer Consists of electronic paper for displaying product information such as product name and price and advertisement information of the product and store, and a batteryless temperature sensor for detecting the temperature near the shelf label for 24 hours And
In the shelf label system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor, etc., information transmission with a plurality of shelf labels in a plurality of communication ranges A plurality of readers / writers, a LAN for connecting to the plurality of readers / writers and managing product information, a product information management server, and temperature information obtained by the product information management server. And a shelf management system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID, comprising a temperature management device that controls the temperature for 24 hours.   In a system that performs information transmission and temperature management of the product information, advertisement information, temperature information detected by the batteryless temperature sensor, etc. at the headquarters, the LAN is connected to the Internet, 2. The shelf label system with a temperature management function using a batteryless RFID according to claim 1, wherein a management server is connected to the Internet.

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