JP2007233556A - Device and method for managing traceability system configuration - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique which facilitates uniform management of information in a system environment including a plurality of RFID readers differed in specifications. <P>SOLUTION: Interfaces for information to be provided by RFID readers and a reader control terminal managing the RFID readers are unified by compensating insufficient information. When a change or addition of configuration information occurs, a change point is detected by use of the unified information and presented to a manager. The configuration information is effectively changed in response to an instruction from the manager. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a system that realizes traceability using an electronic tag, and more particularly to a configuration management technique for devices in the system when a plurality of types of readers are used.

  There is a system using an electronic tag called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) that reads and writes information stored in a non-contact manner via radio waves and identifies an object. RFID has advantages of being able to read multiple data, having durability, and being able to read data even when there is a shield. In addition, since an object to which the electronic tag is attached can be identified, an RFID reader can be arranged at a predetermined location and the movement of the object can be followed by reading RFID information.

  For example, in a store, there is a system in which an RFID is incorporated in a name tag of each store clerk and read by an RFID reader arranged in the store to manage a store clerk's business (for example, patent literature) 1).

  Further, if RFID is assigned to each product instead of a barcode, a traceability system used as a product identification / management technique replacing the barcode can be realized. When managing products for individual products in stores and warehouses using RFID, shelves where products are always displayed, entrances and exits of stores and warehouses, and clerk to check product information by individual product Traces are realized by installing RFID readers at hand and recording the movement of individual products.

JP 2003-36479 A

  In the traceability system using RFID, it is necessary to install RFID readers according to a plurality of specifications in a plurality of forms in a plurality of places as described above. However, since RFID readers provide information with different interfaces for different manufacturers, it is necessary to make various settings for each type of RFID reader. The setting procedure is complicated, and this setting is a burden on the administrator in an environment where the device configuration of the RFID reader is frequently changed as the layout is changed as in a store or a warehouse.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a technique for facilitating unified management of information in a system environment in which a plurality of RFID readers having different specifications are mixed.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention unifies the interface of information provided by the RFID reader and the reader control terminal that manages the RFID reader by supplementing the lacking information.

  More specifically, the reader control device that manages the reader that reads the information of the electronic tag in the traceability system using the electronic tag unifies the format of the specific information that identifies the reader managed by itself, and virtually identifies it. A virtual specific information generating method for generating information, comprising: a reader type determining step for determining a type of the reader managed by itself; a specific information collecting step for collecting the reader specific information; and a reader type determining step. Depending on the type of the determined reader, the collected specific information is supplemented with supplementary information held in advance to complement the format of the reader specific information for each type of the reader. A method for generating virtual specific information, comprising: a specific information complementing step for generating specific information To provide.

  The present invention facilitates unified management of information in a system environment in which a plurality of RFID readers having different specifications coexist.

  Embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  In the present embodiment, the configuration management of a system using RFID in an information management system using an electronic tag will be described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration management, and can be generally applied to terminal configuration management of a system including a device having some information reading function.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the information management system of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the information management system of this embodiment includes a configuration server 10, a reader control terminal 20, an RFID reader 21 connected to the reader control terminal 20, and a communication connecting the configuration server 10 and the reader control terminal. A net 30. The number of reader control terminals 20 connected to the network 30 does not matter. The number of RFID readers 21 connected to the reader control terminal 20 is not limited.

  The configuration server 10 is configured by a reader control terminal 20 and each RFID reader 21 (hereinafter referred to as a terminal when there is no need to distinguish between them) provided by the reader control terminal 20 existing in the information management system. Configuration information management unit 12 that manages information, and configuration information utilization unit that uses configuration information of each terminal managed by the configuration information management unit 12, such as changing configuration information and providing configuration information to an application 11 and a configuration information management database (DB) 13 that stores configuration information and information necessary for generating the configuration information.

  FIG. 10 shows a hardware configuration diagram of the configuration server 10. As shown in the figure, the configuration server 10 of this embodiment reads data from a CPU 1001, a memory 1002, an external storage device 1003 such as an HDD, and a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and IC card. A reading device 1004, an input device 1006 such as a keyboard and a mouse, an output device 1007 such as a monitor and a printer, a communication device 1008 for connecting to the network 30, and a bus 1009 for connecting these devices are provided. In the general information processing apparatus, the CPU 1001 is realized by executing a program loaded on the memory 1002. This program may be downloaded from a storage medium via the reading device 1004 or downloaded from the network 30 to the external storage device 1003 via the communication device 1008 and executed by the CPU 1001 loaded on the memory 1302. Good. It may be configured such that it is directly loaded on the memory 1002 without being passed through the external storage device 1003 and executed by the CPU 1001. The configuration information management DB 13 is constructed on a storage medium mounted on the memory 1002, the external storage device 1003, and the reading device 1004.

  The configuration information management DB 13 manages virtual terminal information 132, which is information necessary for providing various services to the reader control terminal 20 and the RFID reader 21 that constitute the information management system. The virtual terminal information 132 includes three databases of virtual terminal basic information 310, virtual terminal connection information 320, and virtual terminal detailed information 330.

  An example of the virtual terminal information 132 is shown in FIG. Here, description will be given by taking as an example information registered as virtual terminal information 132 when two types of RFID readers 21 are connected to a personal computer (reader control terminal 20) that manages a warehouse shelf installed in a warehouse.

  The virtual terminal basic information 310 stores minimum information necessary for specifying a terminal. Specifically, the virtual terminal basic information 310 includes a terminal ID 311 for uniquely identifying each terminal, access information 312 indicating a device type necessary for accessing each terminal, and the current operating state of each terminal. Status information 313 to be shown and setting information ID 314 are stored. The setting information ID 314 is information serving as a key for accessing the virtual terminal connection information 320, and is registered when the target terminal is the reader control terminal 20 and the RFID reader 21 is connected.

  The virtual terminal connection information 320 is information registered when the target terminal is the reader control terminal 20, and the terminal ID 322 of the RFID reader 21 connected to the reader control terminal 20 is registered. The virtual terminal basic information 310 is associated with the setting information ID 321.

  The virtual terminal detailed information 330 stores information necessary for accessing each terminal. The virtual terminal detailed information 330 includes a terminal ID 331 identifying each terminal, a version 332 of each terminal, a connection form 333 of each terminal, and a port 334 of the reader control terminal 20 to be connected when the terminal is the RFID reader 21. When the terminal is the reader control terminal 20, an address 335 for connecting the configuration server 10 is registered.

  The reader control terminal 20 acquires information on the RFID reader (hereinafter referred to as RFID reader information) from the RFID reader 21 managed (connected to) the reader control terminal 20 and creates an interface that can be centrally managed by the configuration server 10. Unify and send to the configuration server 10. Hereinafter, the standard virtual information (which is a standard format defined by the system and has configuration interface management) that has an interface that allows the configuration server 10 to centrally manage the RFID reader information acquired from the RFID reader 21 managed by the reader control terminal 20 itself. The process of mapping to the virtual terminal information 132 of the DB 13 and compensating for the missing information is called virtualization.

  The reader control terminal 20 includes a reading control unit 22 that reads RFID information from the RFID reader 21, and a database 23 that includes device type information 210 and standard virtual information complementing rules 220 that are used to virtualize the read RFID reader information. Prepare.

  The read control unit 22 acquires RFID reader information from each RFID reader 21 using the device type information 210, and the RFID reader information acquired using the standard virtual information supplement rule 220 is stored in the configuration information management DB 13 Is transmitted to the configuration server 10.

  The device type information 210 is a database in which information necessary for acquiring RFID reader information, which differs depending on the device type of the RFID reader 21, is registered. An example of the device type information 210 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the device type information 210 includes access information 210a that is information for identifying each RFID reader 21, a connection form 210b, and a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) name 210c. The reader control terminal 20 acquires information from the RFID reader 21 by a different method for each device type, for example, a dedicated interface such as DLL or by reading a setting file.

  The standard virtual information supplement rule 220 stores information (rule) for supplementing information that is insufficient when the RFID reader information collected from each RFID reader 21 is virtualized. FIG. 4 shows an example of the standard virtual information supplement rule 220 of this embodiment. As shown in this figure, in the standard virtual information supplementation rule 220 of this embodiment, as access information that is information for identifying each RFID reader 21, information for complementation includes a connection form 220a, a port 220b, and others. As the operation items, a reading interval 220c and presence / absence of congestion control 220d are stored.

  For example, when a device whose connection type 333, port 334, and address 335 are not yet determined, such as a device having a plurality of interfaces, is connected to the standard virtual information supplement rule 220. The virtual terminal detailed information 330 is completed using the registered information. For example, in the case of the 2.45 GHz reader manufactured by Company A in FIG. 4, serial connection is registered in the connection form 333 and COM1 is registered in the port 334. Then, the virtual interface is controlled according to the operation information stored in the operation items 220c and 220d.

  The reader control terminal 20 is also basically realized by an information processing device including a CPU, a memory, an external storage device and the like, similar to the configuration server 10. The reading control unit 22 is realized by loading a program stored in the storage device into the memory and executing it by the CPU. Further, the database 23 including the device type information 210 and the standard virtual information supplement rule 220 is constructed in a storage device. Further, the reading control unit 22 of the reader control terminal 20 may be realized by hardware such as a dedicated IC or LSI.

  The communication network 30 may be the Internet or another communication line.

  Next, a virtualization process for virtualizing RFID reader information acquired from the RFID reader 21 by the reader control terminal 20 of the present embodiment when the RFID reader 21 is newly added will be described. FIG. 5 is a processing flow of virtualization processing.

  When the reading control unit 22 detects that the newly connected RFID reader 21 is connected, the reading control unit 22 acquires device type information from the RFID reader 21 (step S110). Information that can be acquired from the RFID reader 21 includes hardware information of the RFID reader 21 and a reader identifier (terminal ID) that uniquely identifies the RFID reader 21 in addition to the device type information.

  Next, the reading control unit 22 determines whether or not the device type information acquired in step S110 is known (whether or not the RFID reader 21 having the device type information can be processed) (step S120). The reading control unit 22 refers to the device type information 210 and determines whether or not the device information of the RFID reader 21 is held as the access information 210a. If not held, the newly connected RFID reader 21 ends the processing assuming that it cannot be processed by the reader control terminal 21.

  On the other hand, if held, the reading control unit 22 reads information (here, the connection form 210b, the DLL name 210c) managed in association with the access information 210a in the device type information 210, and the information Accordingly, the newly connected RFID reader 21 is accessed again, and RFID reader information other than that acquired in step S110 is acquired. Here, the connection is made through an interface according to the connection form 210b, and the connection is acquired according to a dedicated interface such as a DLL held in the DLL name 210c (step S130).

  Next, the reading control unit 22 maps the acquired RFID reader information to standard virtual information defined in the system (step S140).

  Then, the reading control unit 22 completes the standard virtual information by detecting from the standard virtual information complementing rule 220 information that is insufficient when mapped to the standard virtual information, and complementing the information (step S150).

  When the standard virtual information is generated, the reading control unit 22 transmits it as RFID reader information together with its own terminal ID to the configuration server 10 (step S160), and ends the process.

  When removing the RFID reader 21 from the reader control terminal 20, a removal process is performed immediately before. In the removal process, the reading control unit 22 acquires the reader identifier (terminal ID) of the RFID reader 21 to be removed. Then, the terminal ID of the RFID reader 21 to be removed is transmitted to the configuration server 10 together with its own terminal ID.

  When receiving the RFID information from the reader control terminal 20, the configuration information utilization unit 11 of the configuration server 10 newly registers it in the virtual terminal information 132. On the other hand, when only the terminal ID is received, the data related to the terminal ID is deleted from the virtual terminal connection information 320 of the virtual terminal information 132. When the connection of the RFID reader 21 is changed from one reader control terminal 20 to another reader control terminal 20, the reader control terminal 20 previously connected performs a deletion process and is newly connected. In addition, the reader control terminal 20 performs additional processing, and transmits each to the configuration server 10.

  The reader control terminal 20 holds a reader identifier (terminal ID) that uniquely identifies the RFID reader 21 connected to the reader control terminal 20, and the reading control unit 22 is connected to the RFID connected to itself at a predetermined time interval. The reader identifier of the reader 21 may be acquired, and the virtualization process and the removal process may be performed according to the change.

  The reader control terminal 20 may be configured to reconstruct the standard virtual information in units of the reader control terminal 20 and transmit it to the configuration server 10 when the configuration of the RFID reader 21 managed by the reader control terminal 20 is changed. .

  Through the above process, the RFID reader information transmitted from the reader control terminal 20 to the configuration server 10 is virtualized and has a unified format regardless of the device type of the RFID reader. Therefore, it becomes easy to use it for various services on the received configuration server 10 side.

  For various services, it is conceivable to set individual authentication and authority for each RFID reader 21 or to construct configuration information of terminals constituting the system using RFID reader information. For example, when constructing a system, it is necessary to combine the feasible business such as inventory, inspection and automatic arrival with the RFID reader 21. At this time, in order to be able to determine whether or not it can be used in response to a request from the RFID reader 21, it is necessary to individually authenticate the RFID reader 21 and set an authority.

  Hereinafter, the configuration information construction process for constructing the configuration information in the system from the virtual terminal information 132 held in the configuration information management DB 13 shown in FIG. 2 in the configuration server 10 will be described as an example of a service.

  FIG. 6 is a processing flow of configuration information construction processing. The configuration information construction process is performed by the configuration information utilization unit 11 of the configuration server 10. The configuration information construction process may be configured to start in response to an instruction from an administrator or the like, or when the configuration is changed, that is, receiving virtualized RFID reader information transmitted from the reader control terminal 20. It may be configured to start as a trigger, or may be configured to start periodically. The generated configuration information is temporarily stored in the storage device or the like of the configuration server 10 as the configuration information list 131.

  An example of the configuration information list 131 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the configuration information list 131 includes a terminal having the reader control terminal 20 as a parent, that is, the reader control terminal for each terminal ID 311 of the terminal (reader control terminal 20) having the configuration server 10 as a parent. The terminal ID 311 of the RFID reader managed by 20 is held. A reader control terminal ID holding column 131a and an RFID reader ID holding column 131b are provided. The configuration information list 131 includes configuration information when the reader control terminal 20 or the RFID reader 21 has a configuration change (addition, removal, connection change, etc.), when an instruction is received from an administrator, or periodically. It is generated by the utilization unit 11. The configuration information list 131 is provided to the configuration information management unit 12 and is used for changing or browsing the configuration information.

  The configuration information utilization unit 11 refers to the virtual terminal basic information 310 and searches for and extracts the terminal ID of the terminal (the terminal connected to the configuration server 10) that is the parent of the configuration server 10 (step S410). Here, the terminal ID 311 that has the setting information 314 or does not have the setting information and is not registered as the connection terminal ID 322 of the virtual terminal connection information 320 is extracted. This process is performed because there is a possibility that the timing for referring to the virtual terminal basic information 310 and the timing for creating the configuration information may be shifted.

  The configuration information utilization unit 11 adds the extracted terminal ID 311 to the reader control terminal ID holding column 131a of the configuration information list 131 (step 420).

  Next, the configuration information utilization unit 11 extracts the terminal IDs 311 of the terminals having the terminal ID 311 as a parent (terminals directly connected to the added terminal ID 311) for all the added terminal IDs 311, and the configuration information list The process of storing in the RFID reader ID holding column 131b of the configuration information list 131 in association with each terminal ID registered in the reader control terminal ID holding column 131a of 131 is repeated (steps S430 to S460). Here, for each added terminal ID 311, the virtual terminal basic information 310 is accessed, the presence / absence of registration of the setting information ID 31 is confirmed, and if the setting information ID 314 is registered, the virtual terminal connection information 320 is accessed, The terminal ID registered in the connection terminal ID 322 is extracted. On the other hand, if the setting information ID 314 is not registered, it is determined that there is no terminal ID 311 having the terminal ID 311 as a parent. This process is for obtaining the latest virtual terminal information 320.

  The process for constructing the configuration information using the RFID reader information (virtual terminal information 132) whose format is unified has been described above.

  In the RFID traceability system using a store or a warehouse shelf, the reader control terminal 20 and the RFID reader 21 which are constituent elements are frequently moved and rearranged. In such a system, an unauthorized terminal or an unexpected terminal may be connected. Therefore, the configuration information generated in advance may be configured to obtain approval from the administrator before being changed to the configuration information newly generated by the configuration information using unit 11. Hereinafter, configuration information prior confirmation processing by the configuration information management unit 12 according to the present embodiment will be described. The configuration information prior confirmation process is performed by the configuration information management unit 12 of the configuration server 10.

  FIG. 8 is a processing flow of configuration information prior confirmation processing. When the configuration information prior confirmation process is performed, the configuration information list 131 generated by the configuration information utilization unit 11 is temporarily registered as a temporary configuration information list 131 ′ in a memory or a storage device. Then, the configuration information utilization unit 11 notifies the configuration information management unit 12 that the temporary configuration information list 131 ′ has been generated.

  Upon receiving the notification, the configuration information management unit 12 uses the temporary configuration information list 131 ′ generated by the configuration information utilization unit 11 to provide the administrator with information for determining whether the current configuration information should be changed.

  The configuration information management unit 12 receives a notification that the temporary configuration information list 131 ′ has been generated from the configuration information utilization unit 11, and detects a change in the configuration information (step S510).

  The configuration information management unit 12 receives an instruction as to whether or not the current configuration information 131 should be updated to the configuration information based on the temporary configuration information list 131 ′ generated by the configuration information using unit 11 (step 520). Here, screen data to be displayed on the display unit of the configuration server 10 is generated from the configuration information list 131 and the temporary configuration information list 131 ′ already held, and displayed on the display unit. FIG. 9 shows a screen example of the configuration information screen 610 generated and displayed by the configuration information management unit 12.

  As shown in the figure, the configuration information screen 610 includes an existing configuration information display area 610a that displays a configuration according to the configuration information list 131, and a new configuration information display area that displays a configuration according to the temporary configuration information list 131 ′. 610b and an operation button unit 620 for displaying operation buttons.

  The operation button unit 620 includes a configuration information update button 621 that receives an instruction to update configuration information, a detailed information confirmation button 622 that displays detailed information of each terminal displayed in the operation target display area, and update of detailed information. A detailed information update button 623 for accepting the instruction, and a move button 624 for moving the operation target display area. The administrator can operate these buttons, check the detailed information of each terminal, determine whether the configuration information and detailed information can be updated, and give an instruction.

  When an update instruction is received from the administrator (step S530), the configuration information list 131 is replaced with the temporary configuration information list 131 '(step S540), and the process ends. On the other hand, if an instruction to update for a predetermined period is not accepted in step S530, the process is terminated as it is.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the format of each RFID reader information can be unified in a system environment in which RFID readers having different specifications are mixed. Therefore, the RFID reader information can be managed centrally and the handling thereof becomes easy. Therefore, configuration information for easily grasping the configuration of a system or the like in which the configuration of the device is frequently changed can be constructed. In addition, it is easy to authenticate each RFID reader and grant authority.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an information management system according to an embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the virtual terminal information in embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the device classification information in embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the standard virtual information complementation rule in embodiment. It is a processing flow of the virtualization processing in the embodiment. It is a processing flow of the configuration information construction process in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure information list in embodiment. It is a processing flow of the configuration information prior confirmation process in the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen of the structure information screen in embodiment. It is a hardware block diagram of the configuration server in the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

10: Configuration server, 11: Configuration information utilization unit, 12: Configuration information management unit, 13: Configuration information management DB, 20: Reader control terminal, 21: RFID reader, 22: Reading control unit, 30: Network

Claims (5)

A reader that unifies the format of the specific information that identifies the reader managed by the reader control device that manages the reader that reads the information of the electronic tag in the traceability system using the electronic tag and generates virtual specific information An information virtualization method,
A reader type determining step for determining the type of the reader managed by the reader;
Specific information collecting step for collecting specific information of the reader;
In accordance with the type of the reader determined in the reader type determination step, the collected specific information is supplemental information held in advance to complement the format of the reader specific information for each type of the reader. A specific information supplementing step that complements and generates virtual specific information;
A reader information virtualization method comprising: A configuration information generation method for generating configuration information indicating a configuration of the reader and the reader control device in the traceability system in a traceability system including a reader that reads information of an electronic tag and a reader control device that manages the reader. ,
A configuration change detection step for detecting a change in the connection state of the reader;
When the change is detected, a virtual specific information generation step in which the reader control device generates the virtual specific information by the reader information virtualization method according to claim 1;
A virtual specific information collecting step for collecting virtual specific information generated by the reader control device;
A configuration information generation method comprising: a configuration information generation step of generating configuration information indicating the configuration of the reader and the reader control device that configures the traceability system from the collected virtual specific information. The configuration information generation method according to claim 2,
A comparison data presentation step for presenting the configuration information generated in the configuration information generation step and the configuration information generated and registered in advance to the user;
A configuration in which the configuration information generated in the configuration information generation step is replaced with the previously generated configuration information and registered when the update permission is received from the user after being presented to the user in the comparison data presentation step An information registration step, further comprising a configuration information generation method. A reader control device that manages a reader that reads information of the electronic tag in a traceability system using an electronic tag,
Reader type determination means for determining the type of the reader managed by the reader,
Specific information collecting means for collecting specific information for identifying the reader from the reader managed by the device;
For each type of reader, complementary information holding means for holding complementary information to be complemented to unify the format of the specific information;
A reader control device comprising: a specified information complementing unit that complements the collected specified information with the complemented information and generates virtual specified information. A traceability system comprising a reader for reading information of an electronic tag, a reader control device that manages the reader, and a configuration management server that manages the configuration of the reader and the reader control device,
The reader control device
Reader type determination means for determining the type of the reader managed by the reader,
Specific information collecting means for collecting specific information for identifying the reader from the reader managed by the device;
For each type of reader, complementary information holding means for holding complementary information to be complemented to unify the format of the specific information;
Specific information complementing means for complementing the collected specific information with the complementary information and generating as virtual specific information;
Transmission means for transmitting the generated virtual specific information to the configuration server, the configuration management server,
Specific information storage means for storing the virtual specific information received from the reader control device;
When the new virtual specific information is received from the reader control device, the virtual specific information stored in the specific information storage unit is updated, and the traceability system is updated from the updated virtual specific information. And a configuration information generating means for generating configuration information indicating the configuration of the reader and the reader control device.

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