JP2010160683A - Optical variable device having ic tag inlet - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical variable device having an IC tag inlet, capable of satisfactorily communicating with an IC tag reader, without giving a large restriction to the design of the optical variable device having an electrically conductive pattern. <P>SOLUTION: The optical variable device having a conductive pattern like a hologram is provided on an insulating substrate plane. On the plane or a plane on the back side of the plane, the IC tag inlet is arranged with a planar distance away from the optical variable device. An antenna shape configuring the IC tag inlet is curved on the plane to fit to the outer shape of the hologram. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optically variable device with an IC tag inlet that performs distribution management of articles and the like, enhances designability, and contributes to prevention of counterfeiting and unauthorized distribution.

  Conventionally, an IC tag based on an IC tag inlet provided with an IC chip and an antenna has been used as means for managing distribution of articles and the like. The IC tag used as described above is generally called an RFID tag, and can exchange information with an IC tag reader by short-range wireless communication using individual electromagnetic waves including individual identification information.

  On the other hand, an optical variable device (OVD) including a hologram that not only enhances design properties of articles and the like to give an excellent decoration effect but also has an effect of preventing counterfeiting has recently been used in many articles and the like. Has been used. OVD is a generic name for devices that exhibit a special optical effect in which the color changes or the image changes depending on the viewing angle. For example, a hologram or diffraction grating that can express a stereoscopic image or a special decoration image using light interference, or a multilayer thin film that changes color depending on the viewing angle by stacking thin films with different optical characteristics corresponds to the OVD.

  Having both the function of the IC tag and the function of the OVD is to improve both individual identification and designability of articles etc. at the same time, and at the same time, it has a great effect of preventing unauthorized distribution and counterfeiting. Is being developed as a means of effective distribution management. In particular, when the IC tag inlet and the OVD are integrally formed, the combined function can be quickly and reliably attached to an article or the like. In addition, it is more advantageous for the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet to further improve the design and quality of articles and prevent counterfeiting when they are distributed as products. In other words, it is possible to determine the authenticity of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet from both sides of reading with an IC tag reader (or IC tag reader / writer) and visual confirmation.

  When the IC tag inlet and the OVD are integrally formed to form an optically variable device with an IC tag inlet, if the OVD has conductivity, the influence on the communication function of the IC tag inlet is expected. If the antenna of the IC tag inlet is placed away from the OVD, the entire optical variable device with the IC tag inlet is generally large, and a small and free design can be given. It was thought to be difficult. Therefore, a proposal has been made to use the conductor provided in the optical variable device as a part of the antenna (see Patent Document 1).

However, in order to use the conductor provided in the optically variable device as a part of the antenna, the restrictions on the conductive pattern made of the conductor are remarkably increased. In other words, the portion determined from the shape and structure of the OVD designed with emphasis on the design of articles etc. is used as a conductive pattern, and even if a general antenna function is expected, matching with the internal impedance of the IC chip is usually Is difficult to remove. For this reason, the electromagnetic waves that contribute to the communication between the optically variable device with an IC tag inlet and the IC tag reader are extremely weak, making it difficult to ensure a practically sufficient communication distance. In order to optimally design the OVD antenna function so as to match the internal impedance of the IC chip, the conductive pattern is greatly restricted, and the design improvement function of articles and the like by OVD may be impaired. Many.
International Publication WO 2008/038672 Pamphlet

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the problem is that communication with an IC tag reader can be satisfactorily performed without greatly restricting the design of an optical variable device having a conductive pattern. An optically variable device with an IC tag inlet is provided.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, an optical variable device having a conductive pattern is provided on a plane of an insulating substrate, and a plane distance is spaced from the optical variable device on the plane or on a plane behind the plane. The IC tag inlet is an optically variable device with an IC tag inlet.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the optical variable device with IC tag inlet according to claim 1, wherein the optical variable device is a hologram.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the optical variable device with IC tag inlet according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical variable device has optical information that can be optically read by a machine. .

  The invention according to claim 4 is the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the shape of the antenna constituting the IC tag inlet is curved on a plane. is there.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a communication frequency between the IC tag inlet and the IC tag reader is 2.45 GHz. .

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical variable device with an IC tag inlet that can satisfactorily communicate with an IC tag reader without greatly restricting the design of the optical variable device having a conductive pattern. it can.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a hologram that can be used as an optical variable device most suitable for an optical variable device with an IC tag inlet is used, the degree of freedom in designing the shape of the hologram is increased, and a high degree of design is achieved. It is particularly easy to demonstrate.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, since the OVD has optical information that can be optically read, the information in the IC chip in the IC tag inlet and the optical information in the OVD are mechanically read. Can be related to each other. Therefore, even when either one of the OVD and the IC chip is forged, it is possible to easily perform the authenticity determination, and the function of preventing forgery is enhanced.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the outer shape of the optically variable device and the accompanying conductive pattern is formed into a curved shape, the shape of the antenna constituting the IC tag inlet is adapted to the conductive pattern. An optical variable device with an IC tag inlet that can satisfactorily communicate with an IC tag reader while suppressing the overall shape of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet as compactly as possible can be provided.

According to the invention according to claim 5, a small antenna can be adopted by setting the communication frequency between the IC tag inlet and the IC tag reader to 2.45 GHz, which is commonly used in radio wave electromagnetic wave transmission methods. The communication distance when used for distribution management can be made highly practical.

  Embodiments of the configuration of an optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan perspective view for explaining an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a plane obtained by cutting FIG. 1 along the XYZ refracted one-dot chain line, and shows three examples in which the arrangement of the components in the cross-sectional direction is changed. In the following description, a representative hologram is used as an example among optical variable devices (OVD), but the same applies to other OVDs having a conductive pattern.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (a), the first example of the configuration of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet is provided with a hologram 2 on the plane of the insulating substrate 1 and shield printing on the back plane. The IC tag inlet 5 is arranged through the layer 7. The IC tag inlet 5 is disposed at a plane distance from the hologram 2 and includes the IC chip 3 and the antenna 4 on a plane so as to be integrated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2B, the second example of the configuration of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet is provided with the hologram 2 on the plane of the insulating substrate 1 via the shielding printing layer 7. The IC tag inlet 5 is disposed on the back plane. The IC tag inlet 5 is disposed at a plane distance from the hologram 2 and includes the IC chip 3 and the antenna 4 on a plane so as to be integrated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (c), the third example of the configuration of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet is provided with a hologram 2 on the plane of the insulating substrate 1 with a shielding printing layer 7 interposed therebetween. The IC tag inlet 5 is arranged on the same plane with a plane distance from the hologram 2. The IC tag inlet 5 includes the IC chip 3 and the antenna 4 on a plane and is integrated.

  The insulating substrate 1 usually uses a resin film such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate), but is not limited thereto. The hologram 2 is a good example of a relief type hologram in which a metal thin film such as aluminum is formed in accordance with the entire shape of the hologram 2 to give a light reflection function and provide an excellent display effect. . In the case where a conductive pattern typified by a metal thin film such as aluminum is provided, since the electrical influence on the IC tag function is generally not negligible, it is worth applying the present invention. The hologram 2 is often supplied in the form of a label having an adhesive layer, and can be attached and fixed to the insulating substrate 1.

  As the antenna 4 constituting the IC tag inlet 5, a small dipole antenna can be used. In this case, an impedance matching circuit is formed by having a cut-in slot, and the IC chip 3 is electrically connected. Connecting. It is particularly preferable for the IC tag inlet used for distribution management of articles and the like that the IC chip 3 is small and uses an individual identification number assigned as a nonvolatile memory at the time of manufacture.

The shielding printing layer 7 decorates the periphery of the optically variable device such as the hologram 2 and provides necessary information such as characters and patterns, and shields the back side of the insulating base material 1 so that unnecessary information is externally provided. In general, the design property of the entire optically variable device with an IC tag inlet is improved, but it is omitted depending on the use situation. In the first example and the second example of the configuration of the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet, the IC tag inlet 5 is also shielded from the outside by the shielding printing layer 7, but the configuration of the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet is the first. In the third example, the IC tag inlet 5 can be visually confirmed from the outside without shielding. Further, the shielding printing layer 7 is printed on any surface of the insulating base material 1 by a normal method with ink having a large shielding property such as black or red, but the printing region is arbitrarily determined in consideration of design properties. I can decide.

  Furthermore, the optical variable device represented by the hologram 2 not only provides an excellent display effect, but can be used for authenticity determination by visual confirmation, but by forming optically readable optical information in advance, It can also be read mechanically. Information from the optically variable device is obtained by an optical reader that optimally arranges a light source, a sensor, and a pattern processing mechanism that have selected the optimum performance, in the same manner as the optical mark reader and optical character reader that are widely used. Can be obtained mechanically. The information from the IC tag inlet of the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet of the present invention is read by an IC tag reader described later, and the information from the optical variable device is read by an optical reader completely independently of the information. By comparing and associating, it is possible to easily determine whether the OVD or the IC chip is counterfeited.

  In each of the above examples of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet, when it is installed on an article or the like and used for distribution management means or the like, the attachment method to the article or the like is not particularly limited, but the IC tag inlet It is easy to label and attach the entire attached optical variable device. In the first example (FIG. 2A) and the second example (FIG. 2B), the IC chip 3 and the antenna constituting the IC tag inlet 5 on the back side of the plane to which the hologram 2 is attached. 4 is covered with another layer (not shown), an adhesive layer is added, and it can be attached to an article or the like. In the third example (FIG. 2 (c)), an adhesive layer can be added to the back side of the insulating substrate 1 on the side where the hologram 2 is affixed, and can be affixed to an article or the like.

  In addition, the outer shape of the hologram 2 and the accompanying conductive pattern is often configured with a curve in consideration of design. On the other hand, the shape of the IC tag inlet is usually a rectangular strip. When the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to the present invention is integrally formed, simply gathering elements having a general shape as described above may not be preferable in the overall configuration. That is, since the IC tag inlet 5 of the present invention needs to be arranged at a plane distance from the hologram 2 that is the optical variable device, a large amount of wasted space is required in the gathering of the inconsistent shapes. This is because the optical variable device with IC tag inlet becomes larger than necessary. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, it is useful to form the outer shape of the IC tag inlet 5 with a curved line in accordance with the outer shape of the hologram 2 with excellent design and the conductive pattern associated therewith. Constructing the outer shape of the IC tag inlet 5 with a curve is nothing other than curving so that the shape of the antenna occupying most of the area follows the outer shape of the hologram 2 on a plane.

  Next, it will be described that the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to the present invention can communicate with an IC tag reader satisfactorily.

In the present invention, the optically variable device with an IC tag inlet can communicate with an IC tag reader in a good sense because an optically variable device with an IC tag inlet is used by using a circular polarization type IC tag reader with an output level of 10 mW / MHz. It is defined that normal reading is possible with an IC tag reader set at a position 50 mm or more away from the IC tag inlet in a direction perpendicular to the plane formed by the device. In order to ensure normal communication between the IC tag inlet and the IC tag reader when the optical device with the IC tag inlet attached to the article or the like placed on the conveyor passes in the vicinity of the IC tag reader, the distance is at least 50 mm. This is because it is desirable in practice to enable communication.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for reading and evaluating an optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to the present invention using the IC tag reader. FIG. 3A illustrates a planar arrangement state of the optical variable device with an IC tag inlet. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the positional relationship for reading evaluation by the IC tag reader from the side. In the planar arrangement state of the optically variable device with an IC tag inlet, elements that greatly affect the reading by the IC tag reader are the length a in the antenna installation direction of the IC tag inlet 51 (long side direction of the rectangle in FIG. 3A), And a length b in a direction substantially parallel to the IC tag inlet 51 of the hologram 21 having a conductive pattern and a plane distance represented by a gap s between the IC tag inlet 51 and the hologram 21. In the figure, the case where the gap s is constant and the IC tag inlet 51 and the hologram 21 are both rectangular is displayed, but this is for the sake of simplicity and is not limited to this. When the gap s changes depending on the location, the minimum value has the most influence on the result.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the position of the IC tag reader 8 of the output and the type is changed in the direction perpendicular to the plane formed by the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet, and the IC tag reader 8 is moved from the center of the IC tag inlet 51. When the distance d to the center is changed, it is possible to evaluate how much a normal reading result can be obtained. As a result of investigation, it has been found that it is effective to reduce the length b of the hologram 21 and increase the gap s as an element that increases the maximum value of d that can be normally read. It has been clarified that the length a in the antenna installation direction 51 should be designed to a length that facilitates optimization of impedance matching in accordance with the communication frequency. In a general case where 2.45 GHz is adopted as a communication frequency between the IC tag inlet 51 and the IC tag reader 8, the length a is 53 mm.

  When the communication frequency of 2.45 GHz is adopted, the length b of the hologram 21 is 40 mm, and the gap s is 0.1 mm, the distance d from the center of the IC tag inlet 51 to the center of the IC tag reader 8 is 50 mm. When the gap s was 1 mm under the same conditions, the distance d could be read normally up to 55 mm.

  On the other hand, unlike the example of the present invention, when the hologram 21 having a conductive pattern and the IC tag inlet 51 overlap each other on the plane formed by the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet, other conditions are the same. However, optimization of impedance matching could not be sufficiently achieved, and a normal readable distance was only about 20 mm.

  Further, according to the same reading evaluation as described above with respect to a simple IC tag in which the hologram 21 having a conductive pattern does not exist in the vicinity of the IC tag inlet 51, the normal readable distance extends only to a maximum of 70 mm. That is, even if the gap s between the IC tag inlet 51 and the hologram 21 is increased as much as possible, the normal readable distance is merely increased by 20 mm compared to the case where the gap s is 0.1 mm. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid the planar overlap between the hologram 21 having the conductive pattern and the IC tag inlet 51 and to arrange them at a plane distance so as to ensure good communication with the IC tag reader. It turns out to be important for the hologram.

It is a plane perspective schematic diagram for demonstrating embodiment of this invention. FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic cross-sectional views showing a plane cut along the XYZ-refracted one-dot chain line in FIGS. 1A and 1B, and FIGS. Three examples are shown. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a conceptual diagram explaining the reading evaluation method by the IC tag reader of the optical variable device with the IC tag inlet of the present invention, (A) is a diagram for explaining the planar arrangement state of the optical variable device with IC tag inlet, (B) It is a figure explaining the positional relationship for reading evaluation by an IC tag reader.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Insulating base material 2 ... Hologram 3 ... IC chip 4 ... Antenna 5 ... IC tag inlet 7 ... Shield printing layer 8 ... IC tag reader 21 ... Hologram 51 ...・ IC tag inlet

Claims (5)

  An optical variable device having a conductive pattern is provided on a plane of an insulating substrate, and an IC tag inlet is disposed on the plane or a plane on the back side of the plane with a plane distance from the optical variable device. A variable optical device with an IC tag inlet.   2. The optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to claim 1, wherein the optical variable device is a hologram.   3. The optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to claim 1, wherein the optical variable device has optical information that can be optically read by a machine.   The optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the shape of the antenna constituting the IC tag inlet is curved on a plane.   The optical variable device with an IC tag inlet according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a communication frequency between the IC tag inlet and the IC tag reader is 2.45 GHz.

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