JP2008077306A - Electric wave radiation control apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electric wave radiation control apparatus of a wireless tag reader for effectively reading a wireless tag, which is safe for a human body. <P>SOLUTION: An optical sensor for a human body is provided at an antenna unit of a gate type wireless tag reader, and a material detecting sensor and a human detecting sensor are provided on a floor between a pair of antenna units. While the wireless tag reader unit is radiating an electric wave from an antenna, when the human detecting sensor detects a human or when the optical sensor for human detects a shielding object, a control unit makes radiation of the electric wave interrupted while information of a wireless tag already read into the wireless tag reader unit is stored in a memory or a storage unit, and makes reading of the wireless tag interrupted. The material detecting sensor detects material after radiation of the electric wave of the wireless tag reader unit is interrupted. When the human sensor does not detect a human, the control unit makes the wireless tag reader unit radiate the electric wave and makes reading of the wireless tag to be continued. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio wave irradiation control device for radio waves emitted when a wireless tag reader reads a wireless tag.

  In recent years, an apparatus for reading a large number of wireless tags at a time has been developed. For example, these devices are of a gate type, and a large amount of articles with wireless tags attached thereto are placed on a cart, and an operator inserts the cart into the gate.

  These devices irradiate high-power radio waves in order to read a large number of radio tags at a time, and this radio waves may adversely affect the operator's body. Therefore, in these conventional apparatuses, when a human body is detected, the system is stopped when the irradiation of radio waves is stopped. For this reason, there has been a problem that the data of the already read wireless tag is lost from the memory.

  In this regard, in Patent Document 1, when an object that shields radio waves such as a human body exists between two two-way radios and the reception level falls below a threshold value, radio waves are transmitted at intervals. A technique is disclosed in which a radio wave is continuously transmitted when the reception level is greater than or equal to a threshold value when interrupted.

Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for reducing radio wave irradiation from an antenna on a human body side when a human body detector detects a human body in a wireless information terminal such as a digital camera that contacts the human body.
JP-A-8-316871 JP 2005-286627 A

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, there is a problem that radio waves are radiated on the human body. In the technique described in Patent Document 2, the human body is considerably different from the human body detector. The human body cannot be detected without approaching, and there is a problem that it is difficult to apply to a gate type wireless tag reader.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a radio wave reader control apparatus for radio tag reader that reads a radio tag efficiently and is safe for the human body even when irradiated with high-power radio waves. With the goal.

  In order to achieve this object, the invention of claim 1 includes an article detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of an article; a human sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a person; a wireless tag reader unit for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from a wireless tag; When the article detection sensor detects an article and the human sensor does not detect a person, the control section causes the radio tag reader unit to radiate radio waves to read the radio tag, and the radio tag reader unit When the human sensor detects a person while irradiating the wireless tag, the controller interrupts the radio wave irradiation while holding the wireless tag information already read by the wireless tag reader unit, and stops reading the wireless tag. After the wireless tag reader unit interrupts the radio wave irradiation, when the article detection sensor detects the article and the human sensor does not detect the person, the control unit Providing a radio wave irradiation control device characterized by comprising a; by irradiating a radio wave to the reader unit, a wireless tag reader to continue reading the wireless tag.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of an article; a human optical sensor for detecting a person; a wireless tag reader unit for transmitting / receiving radio waves to / from a wireless tag; When the sensor detects an article and the human optical sensor does not detect a shield, the control unit causes the wireless tag reader unit to emit radio waves, reads the wireless tag, and the wireless tag reader unit emits radio waves. When the human light sensor detects an obstruction, the control unit suspends radio wave irradiation while holding the wireless tag information already read in the wireless tag reader unit, interrupts the wireless tag reading, and the wireless tag reader unit When the article detection sensor detects the article after the radio wave irradiation is interrupted and the human optical sensor does not detect the shielding object, the control unit Providing a radio wave irradiation control device characterized by comprising a; radio waves by irradiating the unit, a wireless tag reader to continue reading the wireless tag.

  According to the present invention, when the human body is detected and the irradiation of the radio wave is temporarily stopped, the information of the already read wireless tag is retained, so that the already read wireless tag needs to be read again when the radio wave is re-irradiated. The wireless tag can be read efficiently.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present invention, the wireless tag reader is a device that reads information from the wireless tag, but may include a device that writes information to the wireless tag.

  The wireless tag means a storage medium capable of wireless communication, and usually includes an antenna and an IC chip. The wireless tag may further have a calculation function, and is desirably a portable size, but may be a minute one. The wireless tag is sometimes referred to as RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the radio wave irradiation control apparatus of this embodiment. The radio wave irradiation control device according to the present embodiment includes a wireless tag reader, two article detection sensors 14 that are disposed on a floor positioned between a pair of antennas of the wireless tag reader, and detect weight, and the two weight sensors. And a human sensor 15 that detects the weight. The wireless tag reader generates a radio wave to be transmitted to the wireless tag, converts the radio wave received from the wireless tag into digital data, an antenna 16 for transmitting / receiving radio waves to / from the wireless tag, and a height for detecting a standing person. And the antenna unit 11 including the article optical sensor 12 and the article optical sensor 13 disposed at a height lower than the human optical sensor 12 and detecting a large container.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the wireless tag 110 and the wireless tag reader 140 of this embodiment. The wireless tag 110 includes a memory 111, a wireless tag control unit 112 that reads and writes data from and to the memory 111, a power generation unit 115 that supplies power by rectifying and stabilizing the received modulated radio wave, and a control unit A modulation unit 113 that modulates the transmitted data and transmits the modulated data to the RFID tag antenna 116 and a demodulation unit 114 that demodulates the received modulated radio wave and transmits it to the RFID tag control unit 112 are provided.

  The wireless tag reader 140 includes an antenna 121 and a wireless tag reader unit 120. The wireless tag reader unit 120 includes a CPU 127 that controls communication with a wireless tag and hardware to be connected, a reader control unit 126 that includes a ROM 128 and a RAM 129 for storing data, and a modulation unit that modulates data transmitted from the reader control unit 126. 122, a transmission amplifier 123 that amplifies the modulated signal and sends it to the antenna 121, a reception amplifier 124 that amplifies the received modulated radio wave, a demodulation unit 125 that demodulates the received modulation signal, and a host such as a personal computer And an interface 130 that is connected to the apparatus and exchanges data.

  FIG. 3 is a side view of the wireless tag reader according to the present embodiment. The operator 17 puts a container 18 containing a large number of articles to which a wireless tag is attached between the pair of antenna units 11 of the gate type wireless tag reader on the carriage. In the radio wave irradiation control device of the present embodiment, the carriage may be configured to pass between the pair of antenna units 11 or may be configured to stop when the carriage is inserted.

  The human optical sensor 12 is provided in the antenna unit 11 at a position higher than the container 18 placed on the carriage and in the vicinity of the entrance in the insertion direction of the carriage. The article optical sensor 13 is provided at a height at which the antenna unit 11 can detect a large container placed on a carriage.

  FIG. 4 is a view of the radio wave irradiation control apparatus of this embodiment as viewed from above. The two article detection sensors 14 are arranged in parallel to the antenna unit 11 on the floor located between the pair of antenna units 11 of the gate type wireless tag reader. The human sensor 15 is arranged in parallel with the antenna unit 11 on the floor located between the two article detection sensors 14 of the gate type wireless tag reader.

  The article detection sensor 14 may be provided with only one of the two machines and the other may be omitted. The article detection sensor 14 is a sensor that detects the presence of an article when the article comes into contact or when the article is placed on the article detection sensor 14. The human sensor 15 is a sensor that detects the presence of a person when the person touches or when the person is placed on the human sensor 15.

  The carriage 19 is inserted between the antenna units 11. The wheel 20 of the carriage 19 moves on the article detection sensor 14. At this time, the article detection sensor 14 detects the cart 19 and the container 18 including the article. The worker 17 who moves the carriage 19 moves on the human sensor 15. At this time, the human sensor 15 detects the worker 17.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the radio wave irradiation control device of this embodiment. The wireless tag radio wave irradiation control device 500 includes a wireless tag reader unit 503, an article detection sensor 504, a human sensor 505, a human optical sensor 506, an article optical sensor 507, and a control unit 502 that controls these. Prepare. The control unit 502 is connected to a host device 501 such as a personal computer.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the radio wave irradiation control process of the present embodiment. In step S601, the control unit 502 initializes the system. The initialization of the system includes a step of initializing the memory and confirming the operation of each sensor.

  In step S602, the control unit 502 loops and monitors whether the article detection sensor 504 has detected an article. If not detected, the process returns to step S601. If detected, the process proceeds to step S603.

  In step S603, the control unit 502 determines whether the human sensor 505 has detected a person. If detected, the process proceeds to step S610. If not detected, the process proceeds to step S604.

  In step S604, the control unit 502 determines whether the human optical sensor has detected a shield. If detected, the process proceeds to step S610. If not detected, the process proceeds to step S605.

  In step S605, the control unit 502 causes the wireless tag reader unit 503 to emit radio waves. Next, in step S606, the control unit 502 determines whether or not the information of the already read wireless tag is stored in the memory or the storage device. If the information is stored, the wireless tag in which the information of the newly read wireless tag is stored is determined. And the RFID tag reader unit 503 continues reading. If not stored, the control unit 502 causes the wireless tag reader unit 503 to start reading.

  In step S607, the control unit 502 determines whether the article optical sensor 507 has detected a shield. If not detected, if the radio wave has already been irradiated with high output, the output is restored, and if the radio wave has not been irradiated with high output, the output is maintained and the process proceeds to step S609. If detected, in step S608, the radio wave is emitted at a higher output than the normal output, and the process proceeds to step S609.

  In step S609, the control unit 502 determines whether the article detection sensor 504 has detected an article. If detected, the process returns to step S603. If not detected, the process proceeds to step S610.

  In step S610, the control unit 502 stores the read wireless tag information in a storage device such as a memory or a hard disk, stops radio wave irradiation, and returns to step S603.

  The above processing is summarized as follows. When the article detection sensor 504 detects an article, the human sensor 505 does not detect a person, and the human optical sensor 506 does not detect a shield, the control unit 502 irradiates the wireless tag reader unit 503 with radio waves, and the wireless tag Is loaded.

  When the wireless tag reader unit 503 emits radio waves, when the human sensor 505 detects a person or when the human optical sensor 506 detects a shield, the control unit 502 has already read the wireless tag reader unit 503. The radio wave irradiation is interrupted while the wireless tag information is stored in the memory or the storage device, and the reading of the wireless tag is interrupted.

  After the wireless tag reader unit 503 interrupts the irradiation of radio waves, the article detection sensor 504 detects an article, the human sensor 505 does not detect a person, and the human optical sensor 506 does not detect a shielding object. Determines whether the RFID tag information that has already been read is stored in the memory or the storage device, and if so, combines the newly read RFID tag information with the stored RFID tag information, The unit 503 is caused to continue reading.

  The article optical sensor 507 detects a shield, that is, a large container containing a large quantity of articles, the article detection sensor 504 detects an article, the human sensor 505 does not detect a person, and the human optical sensor 505 shields the article. When the object is not detected, the control unit 502 causes the wireless tag reader unit 503 to emit a radio wave having an output higher than the output when the article optical sensor 507 does not detect the shielding object, and causes the wireless tag to be read.

  When the wireless tag reader unit 503 emits a high-output radio wave, the article optical sensor 507 does not detect the shielding object, the article detection sensor 504 detects the article, and the human sensor 505 does not detect the person. When the human optical sensor 506 does not detect the shielding object, the control unit 502 causes the wireless tag reader unit 503 to radiate radio waves with an output lower than the output when the article optical sensor 507 detects the shielding object, Read the wireless tag.

  As described above, since the control unit 502 controls the irradiation of radio waves based on information from each sensor, the radio wave irradiation may be stopped when a human body enters between the antenna units of the gate type wireless tag reader. At the same time, even when the irradiation of radio waves is stopped, since the information of the already read RFID tag is held in the memory or the storage device, it is not necessary to read it again from the beginning. In addition, since the article light sensor 507 emits a high-output radio wave only when a large container containing a large quantity of articles is detected, the wireless tag can be read safely and efficiently.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

It is a perspective view of a radio wave irradiation control device. It is the schematic which shows the structure of a wireless tag and a wireless tag reader unit. It is the figure which looked at the wireless tag reader from the side. It is the figure which looked at the radio wave irradiation control apparatus from the top. It is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a radio wave irradiation control apparatus. It is a flowchart of a radio wave irradiation control process.

Explanation of symbols

10: Wireless tag reader unit,
11: Antenna unit,
12: Human optical sensor,
13: Optical sensor for articles,
14: article detection sensor,
15: Human sensor,
16: Antenna.

Claims (6)

An article detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the article;
A human sensor that detects the presence or absence of a person,
A wireless tag reader unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the wireless tag, and a control unit that controls the wireless tag reader unit, and when the article detection sensor detects an article and the human sensor does not detect a person, the control unit controls the wireless tag reader unit. A radio tag is read by irradiating a radio wave, and when the human sensor detects a person while the radio tag reader unit is radiating a radio wave, the control unit has already read the radio tag reader unit. The irradiation of radio waves is interrupted while retaining the tag information, reading of the radio tag is interrupted, and after the radio tag reader unit interrupts the irradiation of radio waves, the article detection sensor detects the article, and the human sensor When the controller does not detect a person, the control unit causes the wireless tag reader unit to emit radio waves and continue reading the wireless tag. And wireless tag reader,
A radio wave irradiation control device comprising:   The wireless tag reader further includes an article optical sensor for detecting an article, the article optical sensor detects an obstruction, the article detection sensor detects an article, and the human sensor does not detect a person, The radio wave according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes the radio tag reader unit to read the radio tag by irradiating the radio tag reader unit with a radio wave having an output higher than an output when the article optical sensor does not detect a shielding object. Irradiation control device.   When the wireless tag reader unit emits a high-output radio wave, the article optical sensor does not detect a shield, the article detection sensor detects an article, and the human sensor does not detect a person 3. The control unit causes the wireless tag reader unit to read a wireless tag by irradiating the wireless tag reader unit with a radio wave having an output lower than an output when the article optical sensor detects a shielding object. The radio wave irradiation control device according to 1. An article detection sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the article;
A human optical sensor that detects a person, a wireless tag reader unit that transmits and receives radio waves to and from the wireless tag, and a control unit that controls them, the article detection sensor detects an article, and the human optical sensor does not detect a shield When the control unit irradiates the radio tag reader unit with radio waves, reads the radio tag, and when the radio tag reader unit is radiating radio waves, when the human optical sensor detects a shield, The controller interrupts radio wave irradiation while holding the information of the radio tag already read into the radio tag reader unit, interrupts reading of the radio tag, and after the radio tag reader unit interrupts radio wave irradiation, When the article detection sensor detects an article and the human optical sensor does not detect a shield, the control unit controls the wireless tag reader unit. By irradiation waves, the wireless tag reader to continue to read the RFID tag,
A radio wave irradiation control device comprising:   When the wireless tag reader further includes an article optical sensor for detecting an article, the article optical sensor detects an obstruction, the article detection sensor detects an article, and the human optical sensor does not detect an obstruction. 5. The wireless tag is read by causing the wireless tag reader unit to irradiate the wireless tag reader unit with a radio wave having an output higher than an output when the article optical sensor does not detect a shielding object. Radio wave irradiation control device.   When the wireless tag reader unit emits a high-output radio wave, the article optical sensor does not detect an obstruction, the article detection sensor detects an article, and the human optical sensor detects an obstruction. When not, the control unit causes the wireless tag reader unit to irradiate radio waves with an output lower than the output when the article optical sensor detects a shield, and causes the wireless tag to be read. Item 6. The radio wave irradiation control device according to Item 5.

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