JP2014179697A - Radio terminal and position management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily locate a position of a radio terminal attached to a management target regardless of a state of a battery of the radio terminal.SOLUTION: A radio terminal which can acquire position information, comprises: a generation unit which receives a radio wave emitted from an external device to generate electric power; a detection unit which detects the generated power being equal to or more than a threshold; a first acquisition unit which acquires a state of a built-in battery; and a control unit which, when the detection unit detects the generated power being equal to or more than the threshold, displays the state of the battery on a display unit by using the generated power.

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless terminal and a location management system.

  In recent years, using IEEE802.5.4 / ZigBee (registered trademark) and radio frequency identification (RFID) capable of wireless communication, the location of things and people in offices and factories is managed. It is possible to do. In particular, ZigBee has a communication range of several tens of meters to several hundreds of meters, and the relay base station is also wireless. Therefore, there is an advantage that network wiring work is not required when constructing a system. Also, since ZigBee can manage a plurality of relay base stations (routers) in a unified manner, the position of a wireless terminal can be managed across floors, which is very convenient. Such a wireless terminal is driven by a built-in battery. Therefore, when the remaining battery level is exhausted, wireless communication cannot be performed, and therefore it is necessary to periodically replace or charge the battery.

  Patent Document 1 determines whether or not the identification information of all of the plurality of wireless terminals installed in the communication facility has been read. If there is a wireless terminal that cannot read the identification information, the wireless terminal is determined to be out of battery. In addition, a technique for setting a maintenance inspection date for exchanging wireless terminals is disclosed.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that in a composite wireless communication system including a tag and a tag reader that can wirelessly communicate with two different communication methods, even when the remaining capacity of the tag's built-in battery is insufficient, a response operation is performed on the tag. The technology which enables is disclosed.

  The position of the target to which the wireless terminal is attached may change depending on some factors. Therefore, the administrator of the wireless terminal must identify the actual position of the wireless terminal, check the remaining amount of the built-in battery, and replace or charge the battery as necessary. However, the conventional technology cannot easily identify the position of a wireless terminal that may have moved. In particular, if the battery of the wireless terminal runs out, it becomes impossible to specify the position of the wireless terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object thereof is to facilitate the specification of the position of the wireless terminal regardless of the state of the battery of the wireless terminal attached to the management target. .

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention
A wireless terminal capable of acquiring location information,
A generator that generates electric power by receiving radio waves emitted from an external device;
A detection unit that detects that the generated power is equal to or greater than a threshold;
A first acquisition unit for acquiring the state of the built-in battery;
When the detection unit detects that the power is greater than or equal to a threshold, the control unit displays the state of the battery on the display unit using the power;
Have

The location management system in one embodiment of the present invention is
A position management system having a wireless terminal capable of acquiring position information and a management device that manages position information of the wireless terminal,
The wireless terminal is
A transmission unit that transmits the acquired position information to the management device by wireless communication;
A generator that generates electric power by receiving radio waves from the outside;
A detection unit that detects that the generated power is equal to or greater than a threshold;
A first acquisition unit for acquiring the state of the built-in battery;
When the detection unit detects that the power is greater than or equal to a threshold, the control unit displays the state of the battery on the display unit using the power;
Have
The management device
A receiving unit for receiving the position information;
A storage unit for storing the position information;
Have

  According to the wireless terminal or the position management system device in one embodiment of the present invention, the position of the wireless terminal can be easily specified regardless of the state of the battery of the wireless terminal attached to the management target.

The figure showing the outline | summary of the position management system in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure showing the outline | summary of the position management system in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure showing the hardware structural example of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention. The functional block diagram of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention. The figure showing the example of a display of the display part of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart showing the flow of a process of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention. The functional block diagram of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart showing the flow of a process of the radio | wireless terminal in one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1. 1. System overview 2. Hardware configuration Function 4. Example of operation 5. Application examples

≪ １． Overview ≫
FIG. 1 shows an overview of a location management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The location management system 1 includes a wireless terminal 10 (a plurality of wireless terminals are expressed as wireless terminals 10A,..., 10G) and a management device 40. The location management system 1 may include a distribution device 20 (a plurality of distribution devices 20 are expressed as distribution devices 20A,..., 20D) and gateways 30A and 30B.

  The wireless terminal 10, the distribution device 20, and the gateway 30 configure a PAN (Personal Area Network) based on, for example, ZigBee (registered trademark) and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. In this case, each gateway 30 functions as a ZigBee coordinator and manages the PAN. The distribution device 20 functions as a ZigBee router and relays communication from the wireless terminal 10 that is a ZigBee end device.

  The gateway 30 and the management device 40 are connected by, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) based on Ethernet (registered trademark). The gateway 30 connects the management device 40 and the wireless terminal 10 to each other by converting communication between the LAN and the PAN.

  In addition to the communication relay function, the distribution device 20 described above includes a transmitter that transmits a positioning signal in accordance with a standard that defines a positioning signal for indoor use, such as the IMES (Indoor Messaging System) standard. In general, the distribution apparatus 20 installed on an indoor ceiling or the like transmits a positioning signal representing position information (for example, latitude and longitude) representing the installation position to a certain range with a predetermined output. .

  The wireless terminal 10 is a device such as a tag attached to a person or an object whose position is to be managed in the position management system. The wireless terminal 10 includes a positioning signal receiver, and can acquire position information using the positioning signal received from the distribution device 20. The wireless terminal transmits the position information together with its own identification information (for example, a MAC address or a dynamically allocated address) to the management device 40 via the PAN. Through the processing, the location of the wireless terminal 10 is managed by the management device 40.

  On the other hand, the wireless terminal 10 includes a UHF band passive RFID tag, and can generate electric power by rectifying radio waves generated by the reader / writer device 50 of the RFID tag illustrated in FIG. Communication between the RFID tag and the reader / writer device is performed in accordance with, for example, “EPCTM radio frequency identification protocol” or “Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID 860 MHz-960 MHz frequency communication protocol”.

  The wireless terminal 10 further includes a display device such as an LED, for example, and displays the remaining amount of the battery that drives the wireless terminal. Here, when the power generated by the radio wave from the reader / writer device of the RFID tag is equal to or higher than the threshold, the wireless terminal 10 displays the remaining battery level on the display device using this power. As will be described in detail later, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, when there is no remaining battery power, the LED can be lit in red, and when the remaining battery capacity is sufficient, the LED can be lit in green. .

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the position of the object attached to the wireless terminal 10A shown in FIG. 1 has been moved by someone. When receiving the radio wave transmitted from the administrator who possesses the reader / writer device 50, the wireless terminal 10A can generate power and display the remaining battery level on the display device as described above. Therefore, the administrator can easily find the target attached to the wireless terminal 10A by checking the display on the display device, even when the battery of the wireless terminal 10A is not remaining.

  The management device 40 is a device configured in accordance with a general PC or computer architecture, and manages position information of each wireless terminal under management.

≪ 2. Hardware configuration ≫
FIG. 3 illustrates a hardware configuration example of the wireless terminal 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless terminal 10 includes a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, an RFID tag 14, an IMES receiver 15, a wireless communication device 16, an LED 17, a speaker 18, and a battery 19.

  The CPU 11 executes a program that controls the operation of the wireless terminal 10. The RAM 12 constitutes a work area for the CPU 11. The ROM 13 stores a program executed by the CPU 11 and data necessary for executing the program.

  The RFID tag 14 is a passive RFID tag in the UHF band. For example, according to the “EPCTM radio frequency identification protocol” or the “class-1 generation-2 UHF RFID communication protocol in the 860 MHz-960 MHz frequency band”, the reader / writer device 50 connect.

  The IMES receiver 15 receives a positioning signal transmitted according to the IMES standard. The wireless communication device 16 is a device that communicates with other devices in accordance with a short-range wireless communication method such as ZigBee.

  LED17 is comprised by one or more LED, and it is comprised so that a different color may be emitted according to a battery remaining charge. Similarly to the LED 17, the speaker 18 is a device that emits sound according to the remaining battery level. The battery 19 is a device that supplies power for driving the wireless terminal 10. The bus 21 connects the above-described devices.

  Note that the RFID tag 14 may be replaced with any device that can receive electric waves transmitted from an external device and generate electric power. The IMES receiver 15 may be replaced with an arbitrary device that can receive a positioning signal transmitted from an external device and acquire position information. Further, the LED 17 may be a liquid crystal display capable of displaying more detailed information. Moreover, either LED17 or the speaker 18 may be provided, and both may be provided.

≪ 3. Function ≫
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the wireless terminal 10 and the management device 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  4 includes a position information acquisition unit 101, an identification information storage unit 102, a position information transmission unit 103, a reception unit 104, a power generation unit 105, a detection unit 106, and a battery state acquisition unit 107. The control unit 108 and the display unit 109 are included.

  The position information acquisition unit 101 is realized mainly by the processing of the CPU 11 and the IMES receiver 15, and acquires position information using a positioning signal received from the distribution device 20.

  The identification information storage unit 102 is realized mainly by the ROM 13 and stores identification information for identifying the wireless terminal 10 in the location management system 1. The identification information may be a MAC address assigned to the wireless terminal 10 in advance, or may be an address assigned from the outside after the PAN is configured.

  The location information transmission unit 103 is mainly realized by the wireless communication device 16, and the management device 40 receives the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 101 and the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 102 via the PAN. Send to. Here, as described above, the PAN includes the distribution device 20 and the gateway 30. Accordingly, the location information and the identification information are transmitted to the management device 40 via one or more distribution devices 20 and the gateway 30.

  The receiving unit 104 is realized mainly by the RFID tag 14 and receives radio waves transmitted from the reader / writer device 50.

  The power generation unit 105 is realized mainly by the RFID tag 14, and generates power by using radio waves received by the reception unit 104.

  The detection unit 106 detects that the power generated by the power generation unit 105 (for example, expressed in units of milliwatts [mW]) is greater than or equal to a threshold value. The threshold is set in advance by an administrator or the like. When the generated power becomes equal to or greater than the threshold, the detection unit 106 notifies the display control unit 108 to that effect.

  The battery state acquisition unit 107 is realized mainly by the processing of the CPU 11 and the battery 19, and acquires the state of the battery such as the remaining amount of the battery.

  The control unit 108 is realized mainly by the processing of the CPU 11, and when receiving a notification from the detection unit 106, controls the content displayed on the display unit 109 according to the battery state acquired by the battery state acquisition unit 107. Specifically, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 5, when there is no remaining battery power, the control unit 108 lights the display unit 109 in red (B in FIG. 5). When the remaining battery level is 15% or less, the control unit 108 lights the display unit 109 in orange (C in FIG. 5). When the remaining battery level is 15% or more, the control unit 108 lights the display unit 109 in green (D in FIG. 5). Note that the display color to be lit is an example, and any combination of colors can be used.

  FIG. 5 shows an example in which the display unit 109 is realized by the LED 17, but when the display unit 109 is realized by, for example, a liquid crystal display, the remaining amount of the battery is displayed numerically. Also good. Further, the control unit 108 may cause a voice output unit (not shown) to output a pre-recorded voice instead of causing the display unit 109 to display. The sound may be selected differently depending on the remaining battery level.

  The display unit 109 is mainly realized by the LED 17 and displays the state of the battery in accordance with control from the control unit 108.

  With the above function, the wireless terminal 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention can output a light or sound signal indicating the state of the built-in battery regardless of the state of the built-in battery. As a result, a user searching for a management target to which the wireless terminal 10 is attached can not only easily find the management target, but also check the state of the battery and check whether or not the battery needs to be replaced or charged. be able to.

  The management apparatus 40 in FIG. 4 includes a reception unit 401 and a storage unit 402, and manages the positions of one or more wireless terminals 10 (that is, the management target positions to which the wireless terminals are attached).

  The receiving unit 401 is realized by a communication device such as a NIC (Network Interface Card), and receives position information and identification information transmitted from the wireless terminal 10 via the PAN and the LAN.

  The storage unit 402 is realized by an arbitrary storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores the positional information and identification information received by the receiving unit 401 together with the reception time.

  With the above function, the management device 40 according to the embodiment of the present invention can manage the position of the wireless terminal 10 described above.

<< 4. Example of operation ≫
The processing flow of the wireless terminal 10 in one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The process of FIG. 6 is started when the receiving unit 104 receives a radio wave from the reader / writer device 50.

  In step S101, the power generation unit 105 generates power. The power generation unit 105 continues to generate power while receiving radio waves from the reader / writer device 50 in the processing flow.

  In step S102, the detection unit 106 determines whether the power generated in step S101 is greater than or equal to a threshold. If the power is greater than or equal to the threshold, the process proceeds to step S103. Otherwise, the process ends.

  In step S <b> 103, the battery state acquisition unit 107 acquires the state of the battery 19.

  In step S104, the control unit 108 turns on the LEDs constituting the display unit 109 according to the state of the battery 19 acquired in step S103. Examples of colors to be lit are as shown in FIG.

  In step S105, the detection unit 106 compares whether or not the power generated at the current time is equal to or greater than the threshold. If the power is equal to or greater than the threshold, the detection unit 106 executes step S105 again. Proceed to

  In step S106, the control unit 108 turns off the LED that was turned on in step S104.

  Through the above processing, the wireless terminal 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention can display the battery state using the power generated using the radio wave from the reader / writer device 50.

<< 5. Application example ≫
As described above, in the position management system 1 described above, all the wireless terminals 10 that have received radio waves from the reader / writer device 50 and have generated electric power that is equal to or higher than the threshold value can turn on the LEDs. Here, the position management system 1A that can turn on only the LED of the wireless terminal attached to the management target when the manager of the management target wants to search for only the specific management target will be described below.

  The reader / writer device 50 in the position management system 1A transmits a radio wave generated by modulating a data frame including identification information of the wireless terminal to the RFID tag. The RFID tag can demodulate the data frame and acquire identification information. The wireless terminal 10 displays on the display unit 109 only when the acquired identification information is the same as its own identification information. Hereinafter, a functional block configuration and a processing flow will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

  FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of the wireless terminal 10 and the management device 40 of the location management system 1A. The functional block diagram of FIG. 7 corresponds to the functional block of FIG. Here, functions different from the functional blocks in FIG. 4 will be mainly described.

  7 includes an identification information acquisition unit 110 and a determination unit 111.

  The identification information acquisition unit 110 demodulates the data frame from the radio wave received by the reception unit 104 and acquires the identification information.

  The determination unit 111 determines whether the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition unit 110 matches the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 102.

  Then, when the control unit 108 of the wireless terminal 10 receives the notification from the detection unit 106 and the determination unit 111 determines that the identification information matches, the battery is displayed on the display unit 109 as described above. The status of is displayed.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the wireless terminal 10 of the location management system 1A. The flowchart of FIG. 8 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. The processing in FIG. 8 is started when the receiving unit 104 receives a radio wave from the reader / writer device 50, as in the processing in FIG.

  In step S201, the power generation unit 105 generates power. The power generation unit 105 continues to generate power while receiving radio waves from the reader / writer device 50 in the processing flow.

  In step S202, the detection unit 106 determines whether the power generated in step S201 is equal to or greater than a threshold value. If the power is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the process proceeds to step S203. Otherwise, the process ends.

  In step S203, the identification information acquisition unit 110 demodulates the data frame from the radio wave received by the reception unit 104, and acquires identification information.

  In step S204, the determination unit 111 determines whether the identification information acquired in step S203 matches the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 102. If they match, the process proceeds to step S205. Otherwise, the process ends.

  In step S <b> 205, the battery state acquisition unit 107 acquires the state of the battery 19.

  In step S206, the control unit 108 turns on the LEDs constituting the display unit 109 according to the state of the battery 19 acquired in step S205. Examples of colors to be lit are as shown in FIG.

  In step S207, the detection unit 106 compares whether or not the power generated at the present time is equal to or greater than the threshold value. If the power is equal to or greater than the threshold value, the detection unit 106 executes step S207 again. Proceed to

  In step S208, the control unit 108 turns off the LED that was turned on in step S206.

  Through the above processing, the wireless terminal 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention uses the generated power to generate a battery only when the identification information acquired through the radio wave from the reader / writer device 50 matches the identification information of the wireless terminal 10. The status can be displayed. As a result, the administrator can check only the wireless terminals attached to the desired management target, and the efficiency of searching for the management target is increased.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display system 10 Wireless terminal 20 Distribution apparatus 30 Gateway 40 Management apparatus 50 Reader / writer apparatus 101 Position information acquisition part 102 Identification information storage part 103 Position information transmission part 104 Reception part 105 Power generation part 106 Detection part 107 Battery state acquisition part 108 Control Unit 109 display unit 110 identification information acquisition unit 111 determination unit 401 reception unit 402 storage unit

JP2011-141594A JP 2009-218713 A

Claims (10)

A wireless terminal capable of acquiring location information,
A generator that generates electric power by receiving radio waves emitted from an external device;
A detection unit that detects that the generated power is equal to or greater than a threshold;
A first acquisition unit for acquiring the state of the built-in battery;
When the detection unit detects that the power is greater than or equal to a threshold, the control unit displays the state of the battery on the display unit using the power;
A wireless terminal. The state of the battery is represented by a color,
The wireless terminal according to claim 1. The display unit is configured using LEDs.
The wireless terminal according to claim 1 or 2. A storage unit for storing identification information;
A second acquisition unit that acquires identification information from the received radio wave;
A determination unit for determining whether the stored identification information matches the identification information acquired from the radio wave;
Have
The control unit causes the display unit to display a state of the battery according to a determination result by the determination unit.
The radio | wireless terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3. The wireless terminal is a tag attached to a person or an object whose position is to be managed.
The radio | wireless terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 4. The external device is an RFID tag reader.
The radio | wireless terminal as described in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 5. The wireless terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the acquired position information to a management device that manages a position of the wireless terminal by wireless communication. The location information is transmitted to the management device via a delivery device that delivers the location information.
The wireless terminal according to claim 7. The location information is distributed from the distribution device by IMES.
The wireless terminal according to claim 8. A position management system having a wireless terminal capable of acquiring position information and a management device that manages position information of the wireless terminal,
The wireless terminal is
A transmission unit that transmits the acquired position information to the management device by wireless communication;
A generator that generates electric power by receiving radio waves from the outside;
A detection unit that detects that the generated power is equal to or greater than a threshold;
A first acquisition unit for acquiring the state of the built-in battery;
When the detection unit detects that the power is greater than or equal to a threshold, the control unit displays the state of the battery on the display unit using the power;
Have
The management device
A receiving unit for receiving the position information;
A storage unit for storing the position information;
Having a location management system.

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