JP2013092972A - Rfid tag for a flexible material product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product which can be directly attached to various kinds of cloth products such as clothing and laundry supplies or soft synthetic resin products and leather products, and other flexible material products, has durability against stress of folding/bending and twisting during cleaning, rarely causes breakage of an RFID antenna, has a property quite close to flexible materials, and is excellent in durability and flexibility in design nature of the RFID antenna.SOLUTION: The RFID tag for a flexible material product comprises: a tag base material 12 that can be attached to flexible material products; and an RFID inlay 15 capable of performing wireless data communication, and is formed by focusing on producing the tag base material 12 itself with a flexible material such as cloth, and composing the antenna itself with a conductive thread. The tag base material 12 is formed with a flexible material, and an RFID antenna 11A includes a base antenna 13 composed by integrating conductive threads 14 with the tag base material 12.

Description

    The present invention relates to an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag for a flexible material product, and more particularly to an RFID tag for a flexible material product that can be attached to various fabric products such as clothes or laundry products and other flexible material products. It is.

    Conventionally, an RFID tag having an IC chip and an RFID antenna and capable of wirelessly writing and reading data is attached to various articles, and various data on these articles are read and written, and various necessary data management, etc. It is used in the field of

    FIG. 8 shows a RFID tag 1 for laundry (RFID for flexible material products) that is used by attaching a conventional RFID tag to various laundry products (flexible material products) that are used after washing in a hotel or company, for example. The RFID tag 1 for laundry has a tag main body 2 and an RFID inlay 3 provided inside the tag main body 2.

    The tag main body 2 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape from a material having necessary flexibility and rigidity, such as isoprene rubber material, and the RFID inlay 3 is molded therein.

The RFID inlay 3 includes an inlay base material 4 made of, for example, polyethylene terephthalate or a laminated film thereof, an IC chip 5 and an RFID antenna 6.
The RFID inlay 3 is, for example, UHF band (300 MHz to 3 GHz (preferably 860 to 960 MHz, more specifically 433 MHz, 900 MHz, 915 to 930 MHz, 950 to 956 MHz) or microwave (1 to 30 GHz, specifically 2 .45 GHz), HF band (3 MHz to 30 MHz (preferably 13.56 MHz)), 135 kHz or lower, and other necessary radio waves in a predetermined frequency band and electromagnetic action, etc. are required for the IC chip 5 via the RFID antenna 6. Read and write data (data communication) wirelessly.
However, the specific configurations of the IC chip 5 and the RFID antenna 6 are appropriate according to the radio waves used.
In particular, in the case of using a radio wave having a wavelength in the UHF band (for example, 860 to 960 MHz), the communication distance is usually about 5 to 10 m, and applications in various fields are expected.

    FIG. 9 is a partially omitted plan view showing a state in which the laundry RFID tag 1 is attached to a laundry product (for example, a sheet 7) to be used repeatedly, and as shown in a partially enlarged sectional view, as shown in FIG. The laundry RFID tag 1 is stored and mounted in a mounting pocket 8 provided at one corner.

    Since the RFID tag 1 for laundry has a finish like a so-called rubber plate, it is impossible to deny a foreign object feeling when worn on work clothes, uniforms, or other clothes in addition to the sheets 7. The RFID tag 1 for laundry attached to the pocket 8 for use is not only used when the sheet 7 is used, but also in the collection, washing and ironing process, damage is easily accumulated in the peripheral part of the RFID tag 1 for laundry or the pocket 8 for installation, and gradually. In addition, there is a problem that the RFID tag 1 for laundry is exposed.

Further, the RFID antenna 6 in the laundry RFID tag 1 is made of an extremely thin metal foil made of copper, aluminum, or the like, or by etching or the like, and has a problem that it is easily disconnected. The tag main body 2 is formed thick with a system material, and the configuration of protecting the RFID antenna 6 has been adopted.
Therefore, the laundry RFID tag 1 cannot be directly sewed on clothes or laundry items (sheets 7) or the like, and a cloth (not shown) is applied to the sheets 7 or placed in the mounting pocket 8 or the like. There is a problem that secondary parts such as sewing and secondary processing are necessary.

On the other hand, if the tag body 2 is not formed thick, the thin RFID antenna 6 is likely to be disconnected due to stress such as bending or twisting during washing, which causes a failure of the laundry RFID tag 1 itself. There is.
Furthermore, when secondary processing such as applying the above-mentioned cloth to the sheet 7 or sewing in the mounting pocket 8 or the like is performed, the entire laundry RFID tag 1 (tag body 2) is cloth or the like. Therefore, there is a problem that a visible identification notation necessary for backup of information stored in the IC chip 5 cannot be attached to the laundry RFID tag 1 (tag body 2).

    In addition, in order to give the original design of the RFID antenna 6 to each user of the laundry RFID tag 1 according to the request, it requires a high initial cost and the frequency performance of the laundry RFID tag 1 is improved. Has a problem that it is difficult to meet the above demand.

Japanese Patent No. 4548074

    The present invention has been considered in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is for a flexible material product that can be directly attached to various fabric products such as clothes and laundry products, or a soft synthetic resin material, leather product and other flexible material products. It is an object to provide an RFID tag.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that can be easily attached to the flexible material product.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that is resistant to stress such as bending or twisting during washing.

    It is another object of the present invention to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that does not easily break the RFID antenna and does not hinder data communication even if the RFID antenna is broken.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that is very close to the flexible material and has excellent durability.

    It is another object of the present invention to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that can realize a reduction in material cost, an improvement in workability, and an improvement in mass productivity.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide an RFID tag for a flexible material product that can be easily identified and displayed for information backup and has a high degree of freedom in design of an RFID antenna.

    That is, the present invention focuses on making the RFID antenna itself a flexible material such as a cloth material, specifically, making the tag base material itself a cloth material or other flexible material, and configuring the antenna itself with a conductive yarn. RFID tag for flexible material product comprising a tag base material that can be attached to a flexible material product, and an RFID inlay equipped with the tag base material and having an IC chip and an RFID antenna and capable of wireless data communication A tag, wherein the tag base is made of a flexible material, and the RFID antenna has a base antenna portion formed by integrating a conductive yarn into the tag base. RFID tag for flexible material products.

    The RFID inlay may include the IC chip, an inlay antenna unit connected to the IC chip, and a protective material that protects the inlay antenna unit and the IC chip.

    The said protective material can comprise this from a glass epoxy resin.

    The RFID antenna may be capable of electromagnetically cooperating with a front inlay antenna unit included in the RFID inlay.

    The base antenna portion and the inlay antenna portion can be electromagnetically coupled to each other.

    The flexible material can be a cloth material.

    The conductive yarn can be integrated with the tag base material by textile processing or sewing processing.

    The RFID inlay can be secured to the tag base material with an adhesive.

    The RFID inlay can be attached to an attachment pocket formed on the tag base material.

    The RFID inlay can be sewn to the tag base material.

    In the RFID tag for a flexible material product according to the present invention, the tag base is made of a cloth material or other flexible material, and the conductive yarn is used as a tag base by using a general processing such as a textile processing or a sewing processing. Since the RFID antenna is configured by integrating it with the non-contact data communication, there is no sense of incongruity even when it is attached to a flexible material product such as clothes, and stress is unlikely to occur, so the RFID antenna itself may be damaged. And having the same durability as a flexible material product.

It is a perspective view of RFID antenna continuum 11 for constituting RFID tag 10 for flexible material products by the example of the present invention. 2 is a plan view of the RFID tag 10 for flexible material product. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the RFID tag 10 for flexible material products same as the above. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the conductive yarn 14. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing another configuration example (reinforced conductive yarn 22) of the conductive yarn 14; FIG. 6 is a partially omitted plan view showing a configuration in which the RFID inlay 15 is attached to an attachment pocket 26 formed in the RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) attached to the sheet 7. 3 is a partially omitted plan view showing a configuration in which an RFID inlay 15 is sewn together with an RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) attached to the sheet 7. FIG. An example of an RFID tag 1 for laundry (RFID tag for flexible material products) that is used by attaching a conventional RFID tag to various laundry products (flexible material products) that are used after washing and reused in a hotel or company, for example FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially omitted plan view showing a state in which a laundry RFID tag 1 is attached to a laundry product (for example, a sheet 7) that is repeatedly used.

    In the present invention, since the RFID antenna is constituted by the tag base material made of a flexible material and the conductive thread integrated with the tag base material, the RFID antenna itself is made of cloth, and is directly sewn on clothes or other flexible material products. An RFID tag for a flexible material product suitable for mounting and performing data communication by the above processing was realized.

Next, an RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. However, the same parts as those in FIGS. 8 and 9 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a RFID antenna continuous body 11 for configuring an RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product capable of wireless data communication, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product, and FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product.
The RFID antenna continuum 11 includes a strip-shaped tag base 12 and a plurality of base antenna portions 13 having a necessary antenna pattern.

The tag base 12 is made of a flexible material such as a belt-shaped cloth material or a soft synthetic resin material or leather material, and is made of a cloth product such as clothes or a sheet 7 or a soft synthetic resin material or leather product or other flexible material. It can be attached to material products by sewing, bonding or other methods.
The tag base 12 is made of the same material as the flexible material product in any thickness (generally relatively thin) depending on the usage status or usage form of the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product. It may be a different material.

The base antenna portion 13 is formed by integrating the conductive thread 14 with the tag base 12 by woven or sewing, and has a plurality of antenna patterns that are necessary and have an arbitrary design. Repeat and configure.
For example, when the conductive thread 14 is sewn on the tag base material 12 by embroidery like an embroidery, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. Although the thread 14A is positioned, the plurality of base antenna portions 13 can be easily formed continuously by a general sewing process.
In addition, the sewing density of the conductive threads 14, that is, the degree of close contact between the adjacent conductive threads 14 can be arbitrarily set and sewn, and even if some of the conductive threads 14 are disconnected, By closely sewing, it is possible to maintain the contact state with each other, and it is possible to avoid troubles in data communication.

    According to the RFID antenna continuous body 11 having such a configuration, for example, the connecting portion thread 14A is formed so as to separate the portions of the base antenna portions 13 after the base antenna portions 13 are integrated with the tag base 12. The tag base material 12 can be cut into a predetermined length (that is, a length necessary for the RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product) at the portion, and the conductive yarn 14 is integrated with the tag base material 12. It is possible to easily create the RFID antenna 11A having a unit length.

    In particular, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product includes the RFID antenna 11 </ b> A including the tag base 12 and the base antenna portion 13, and the RFID inlay 15. In FIG. 3, the conductive thread 14 is shown in a cross section along the sewing path.

    The RFID inlay 15 is mounted on the tag base 12 (that is, the RFID antenna 11A) and functions as a core RFID tag material or near-field inlay material. The IC chip 5 and the inlay antenna portion connected to the IC chip 5 16 and a protective material 17 that protects the inlay antenna portion 16 and the IC chip 5, and wireless data communication is possible.

The inlay antenna portion 16 is formed of, for example, copper or aluminum, and the base antenna portion 13 made of the conductive yarn 14 and the inlay antenna portion 16 are particularly used for radio waves such as the UHF band. In this case, electromagnetic coupling (radio wave coupling) can be performed with each other, and the RFID tag 10 for flexible material product as a whole can perform non-contact data communication.
That is, the inlay antenna section 16 included in the RFID inlay 15 functions as an internal antenna section, and the base antenna section 13 included in the tag base 12 (RFID antenna 11A) functions as an external antenna section. The RFID antenna unit 18 as a whole of the tag 10 includes an inlay antenna unit 16 and a base material antenna unit 13, and the RFID antenna 11 A (base material antenna unit 13) electromagnetically cooperates with the inlay antenna unit 16 included in the RFID inlay 15. It is possible to work.

    The protective material 17 is made of an arbitrary hard material such as glass epoxy resin, and in the example shown in FIG. 2 (FIG. 2), it is formed in a circular coin shape, and the IC is formed from various external forces applied to the RFID inlay 15 and the entire RFID antenna 11A. The chip 5 and the inlay antenna unit 16 can be protected.

    In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, the RFID inlay 15 is fixed to the tag base material 12 (RFID antenna 11 </ b> A) with an adhesive 19, for example, to obtain the RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product.

    4 is an enlarged perspective view of the conductive yarn 14. The conductive yarn 14 is formed by applying a metal 21 such as copper or nickel to a fiber yarn 20 made of polyester, acrylic, or the like by a method such as plating, baking, or winding. As described above, the tag base 12 can be integrated with a predetermined antenna pattern by weaving, sewing, or the like.

    FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing another example of the conductive yarn 14 (reinforcing conductive yarn 22). For example, a polyester yarn 23 is spirally wound around the peripheral surface of the conductive yarn 14 as necessary. Therefore, it is possible to withstand tension in textile processing and sewing processing.

    In particular, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, as a backup information of various data stored in the IC chip 5, for example, on the tag base 12, a bar code or other codes or symbols, and further visible. It is also possible to display the first identification display 24 using characters or symbols, or to display the same second identification display 25 on the protective material 17 of the RFID inlay 15.

In the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product and the RFID antenna continuum 11 having such a configuration, the conductive yarn 14 is integrated with the tag base 12 to form the base antenna portion 13 (RFID antenna 11A). Since the configuration can be realized by simple fabric processing or sewing, the RFID antenna continuum 11 and the RFID antenna 11A can be created very easily.
Moreover, the RFID inlay 15 and the RFID antenna 11A (base material antenna portion 13) are arranged close to the RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) so that the RFID tag 10 for flexible material products can be used. A non-contact data communication function can be exhibited.

Furthermore, since the tag base 12 itself is made of the same or similar flexible material as the cloth material such as the sheet 7 or other flexible material product, the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product is attached to the sheet 7 or the like. , It can be integrated with the fabric and can retain the same durability as the fabric against bending and other stresses.
Since the RFID inlay 15 is protected by the protective material 17, damage or disconnection of the internal IC chip 5 and the inlay antenna unit 16 can be avoided.
If the protective material 17 is made of a soft and rigid material other than glass epoxy resin, it can exhibit a more flexible protection function and can be applied as an RFID tag 10 for a flexible material product. The range can be expanded.

Thus, as described above, the base antenna portion 13 (conductive thread 14) of the RFID antenna 11A is difficult to be disconnected. In the case of a high frequency wave such as UHF band, electromagnetic coupling (coupling of radio waves) can be maintained, and the RFID tag 10 for flexible material product as a whole has no problem in non-contact data communication.
However, since the base antenna portion 13 is an embroidery in which the conductive yarns 14 are intertwined, even if some of the conductive yarns 14 are cut off, the conductive yarns 14 in other portions across the cut portion may be in contact with each other. In this case, the continuity is maintained, and it is rare that the continuity of the base antenna portion 13 as a whole is impaired.
Furthermore, even if the substrate antenna unit 13 is disconnected, the RFID inlay 15 itself has the IC chip 5 and the inlay antenna unit 16, so that the non-contact data communication function itself can be achieved even if the gain itself is reduced. There is no risk of losing.

    In addition, the RFID tag 10 for flexible material products can be attached not only to cloth materials such as sheets 7 or clothes, but also to products made of various flexible synthetic resin materials, leather materials, and other materials. The use target as the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product can be arbitrarily selected.

    Furthermore, as a formation pattern of the base antenna portion 13 (RFID antenna 11A) by the conductive yarn 14, any dipole antenna pattern or other coiled pattern may be used depending on the use mode, depending on the frequency of the radio wave used. The antenna pattern can be arbitrarily designed according to the user's request. For this purpose, the above-described fabric processing and sewing processing may be performed, and an antenna pattern having excellent flexibility and processability and mass productivity can be obtained.

Next, an arbitrary configuration can be adopted as a configuration for attaching the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product to the flexible material product such as the sheet 7.
For example, FIG. 6 is a partially omitted plan view showing a configuration in which the RFID inlay 15 is attached to the attachment pocket 26 formed in the RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) attached to the sheet 7.
In particular, as shown in a partially enlarged sectional view, the tag base material 12 of the RFID tag 10 for flexible material product is sewn to the sheet 7 with the sewing thread 27, and the above attachment to the RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) is performed with the sewing thread 27. If the pocket 26 is formed, and the RFID inlay 15 is accommodated and fixed in the mounting pocket 26 so as to be close to the base antenna portion 13 of the RFID antenna 11A, the data communication function as the RFID tag 10 for the flexible material product is used as it is. Can be demonstrated.
According to this mounting configuration, the simple operation of accommodating the RFID inlay 15 in the RFID antenna 11A (mounting pocket 26) is performed without using the adhesive 19 or the like (FIG. 3) for integration with the RFID antenna 11A. Just do it.

FIG. 7 is a partially omitted plan view showing a configuration in which the RFID inlay 15 is sewn together with the RFID antenna 11A (tag base material 12) attached to the sheet 7. FIG.
In particular, as shown in a partially enlarged sectional view, a sewing hole 28 such as a button hole is formed in the protective member 17 of the RFID inlay 15, and the RFID inlay 15 is attached to the tag base material 12 together with the RFID antenna 11 </ b> A by a sewing thread 27. Can be sewn.
According to this attachment configuration, in the process of sewing the RFID antenna 11A to the sheet 7, the RFID antenna 11A and the RFID inlay 15 can be attached to the sheet 7 at the same time, and attachment work can be performed very efficiently.

1 RFID tag for laundry (conventional, Fig. 8)
2 Tag body 3 RFID inlay 4 Inlay base material 5 IC chip 6 RFID antenna 7 Sheet (laundry product, flexible material product, Fig. 9)
8 Mounting pocket 10 RFID tag for flexible material product (Example, FIG. 2, FIG. 3)
11 RFID antenna continuum (Figure 1)
11A RFID antenna 12 of unit length separated from RFID antenna continuum 11 Tag base material 13 Base antenna part 14 Conductive thread 14A Connecting thread of conductive thread 14 (FIG. 1)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 RFID inlay 16 Inlay antenna part 17 Protective material 18 RFID antenna part 19 Adhesive 20 Fiber yarn 21 by polyester, acrylic, etc. Metal 22 such as copper and nickel Reinforcing conductive yarn (conductive yarn)
23 Polyester yarn 24 First identification display 25 Second identification display 26 Mounting pocket (FIG. 6)
27 Sewing thread 28 Sewing hole (Fig. 7)

Claims (10)

Tag base material that can be attached to flexible material products,
An RFID tag for a flexible material product equipped with this tag base material and having an IC chip and an RFID antenna and an RFID inlay capable of wireless data communication,
The tag base material is composed of a flexible material,
The RFID antenna for a flexible material product, wherein the RFID antenna has a base antenna portion configured by integrating a conductive yarn with the tag base. The RFID inlay is
The IC chip;
An inlay antenna portion connected to the IC chip;
The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to claim 1, further comprising a protective material for protecting the inlay antenna portion and the IC chip.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to claim 2, wherein the protective material is made of glass epoxy resin.     4. The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to claim 2, wherein the RFID antenna can electromagnetically cooperate with a front inlay antenna portion of the RFID inlay.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the base antenna portion and the inlay antenna portion can be electromagnetically coupled to each other.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to claim 1, wherein the flexible material is a cloth material.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the conductive thread is integrated with the tag base material by a textile process or a sewing process.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to claim 1, wherein the RFID inlay can be fixed to the tag base material with an adhesive.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the RFID inlay can be attached to an attachment pocket formed on the tag base material.     The RFID tag for a flexible material product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the RFID inlay can be sewn to the tag base material.

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