JP2016071462A - Rfid tag, pre-delivery management system, and pre-delivery management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To extremely reduce power consumption before delivery with the smallest number of additional components in an RFID with a battery mounted thereon.SOLUTION: A MOSFET 13 and the like are provided between an antenna 11 or the like and an MCU 16. The antenna 11 or the like receives a modulation signal wirelessly outputted from an HF terminal 1 during operation and from a testing HF terminal 3 before operation (before delivery). The level of the reception signal is the level for ON/OFF operation of the MOSFET 13 only in the case of the testing HF terminal 3. Therefore, even though the reception signal is inputted to an S1 terminal of an MCU 16 during operation, the reception signal is inputted to an S2 terminal of the MCU 16 during testing before delivery, ID setting or the like. The MCU 16 is set in a mode for starting, operating and the like according to an input signal of the S2 terminal before delivery.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an RFID system that exchanges data without contact.

  Conventionally, an RFID system that exchanges data between an RFID tag (RFID transponder) and a terminal (RFID reader / writer, etc.) in a non-contact manner is known. The RFID terminal (RFID reader / writer, etc.) may be a reader (reception only), a writer (transmission only), or a device that can transmit and receive.

  The frequency (carrier frequency; carrier frequency) used in the RFID system is LF band (Low Frequency; long wave (30 kHz to 300 kHz); particularly 135 kHz band), HF band (High Frequency; short wave (3 MHz to 30 MHz); especially 13.56 MHz band. ), UHF band (Ultra High Frequency; 300 MHz to 3 GHz), etc. Basically, the UHF band has a longer communicable distance than other frequency bands (for example, 13.56 MHz and 135 kHz). .

Here, an RFID system that exchanges data without contact using a frequency of 13.56 MHz (HF band) will be described as an example.
In the following description, the RFID tag is basically simply referred to as RFID. The frequency means a carrier frequency. In addition, a terminal (such as an RFID reader / writer) that exchanges data without contact with an RFID tag performs a notation corresponding to a use frequency (for example, a terminal having a use frequency of HF band (13.56 MHz)). , HF terminal, etc. Similarly, if it is the LF band, it is called LF terminal, etc.).

  As is well known, the RFID tag has various shapes such as a card type, a label type, a stick type, a coin type, and a hard processing shape (for example, glass encapsulation or shell encapsulation). The frequency used in the UHF band is 952 to 954 Hz in Japan, but the frequency used in the UHF band of RFID differs depending on the country.

  A non-contact type IC card is also included in the RFID in a broad sense. As is well known, the current non-contact type IC card has a main frequency of 13.56 MHz. Moreover, the technology of a non-contact type IC card is used for RFID in a narrow sense. For example, the HF terminal performs non-contact short-range wireless communication with an RFID in accordance with, for example, ISO 15693 standard.

  The 13.56 MHz RFID is, for example, a so-called “passive type” RFID, and is used for electronic tickets, licenses, employee ID cards, resident cards, and the like. Since the “passive type” RFID is supplied with power for operating itself by electromagnetic induction from the HF terminal, the communication area is limited.

  On the other hand, an attempt has been made to use this characteristic to specify the location of an object to which an RFID is attached. For example, in logistics, by attaching an RFID to a package, pallet, container, etc., it can be detected that these packages have passed through a gate having an HF terminal. As a result, a system for tracking where the target package is located has been put into practical use.

  As is well known, in addition to the “passive type” RFID, there is also a so-called “active type” RFID equipped with a battery. Further, there is a hybrid type in which both are mixed (for example, disclosed in Patent Document 2 described later).

Further, as described above, it may be considered that the RFID includes a non-contact type IC card, but as will be described later, the present technique relates to a battery-mounted RFID.
Hereinafter, a passive type RFID may be referred to as a “passive tag”, and an active type RFID may be referred to as an “active tag”.

  In recent years, various systems using RFID have been proposed / constructed. Among them, for example, an asset management system is known as a system that requires a long detection distance. In the case of an asset management system, RFIDs that periodically generate radio waves are attached to assets such as personal computers, furniture, and measuring instruments for asset take-out management and location management. There is also known a so-called “child watching system” that can attach an RFID to a bag of a child such as an elementary school student, and can check school attendance and manage fixed point passing.

  It is also considered to use RFID for an entrance / exit management system such as a construction site. In this case, for example, each worker has an RFID and installs a terminal near the entrance / exit of the construction site to check entry / exit. However, the worker may come to the construction site by car or the like. Not a few. In this case, there is a demand for entry / exit detection / management while riding in a car (including the car itself and a worker in the car) because of the necessity of alleviating traffic congestion on the road. For this reason, a long detection distance is required.

Here, FIG. 9 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an RFID system that realizes a conventional general location detection function.
First, the beacon transmitter 110 is installed at a place (measurement point) where it is desired to detect that the RFID 100 has passed. The beacon transmitter 110 transmits any beacon such as light, electromagnetic wave, or ultrasonic wave at regular intervals.

  The RFID 100 has a sensor / antenna 101 for receiving a beacon transmitted by the beacon transmitter 110. The RFID 100 further includes an MCU (microcontroller unit) 102, an RF circuit 103, an RF antenna 104, and the like. When the RFID 100 is an active tag, a battery for supplying power to the MCU 102, the RF circuit 103, etc. is also provided, although not shown. This battery is a primary battery (such as a small coin battery).

  Each RFID 100 holds a unique identification number (hereinafter referred to as a tag ID). That is, the MCU 102 has a built-in memory, and a unique tag ID is stored in this memory.

  The beacon transmitter 110 uses, for example, data indicating the location where the beacon transmitter 110 is installed (hereinafter referred to as a location ID) or the like using light, electromagnetic induction, electromagnetic waves, ultrasonic waves, or the like. Radiate periodically / randomly or continuously to the periphery.

  The RFID 100 is configured to be able to receive the light, electromagnetic wave, or ultrasonic wave transmitted periodically / randomly or continuously from the beacon transmitter 110 installed at the passing point at all times or intermittently.

  The sensor / antenna 101 is configured to receive the light, electromagnetic waves, or ultrasonic waves (light receiving sensor, ultrasonic receiving sensor, antenna, or the like). When the RFID 100 detects a beacon according to a certain rule (receives the location ID or the like), the RFID 100 transmits the location ID or the tag ID of the RFID 100 itself using another communication means. Another communication means is the RF circuit 103 and the RF antenna 104. For example, the RF circuit 103 and the RF antenna 104 are communication units that transmit radio waves in the UHF band.

  Other examples of RFID systems that are currently in practical use include, for example, RFID systems for investigating human movements using ultrasound. Alternatively, an example of an RFID system for detecting a location using a low frequency (LF; long wave) of about 125 kHz has been put into practical use.

  In an example of an RFID system that uses light, for example, a beacon transmitter 110 (referred to as an infrared transmitter 110) that transmits a location ID or the like using infrared rays that are frequently used in a remote controller or the like is installed. On the other hand, a sensor capable of receiving infrared rays is provided on the RFID 100 side as the sensor / antenna 101 so that a location ID transmitted by infrared rays can be received. This configuration is almost the same as that of a general infrared remote controller.

  In the infrared communication, since modulation is performed at about 40 kHz in order to avoid the influence of natural light, an amplifier circuit (not shown) for demodulating the received modulation signal consumes a current of about 0.5 mA. Therefore, when the RFID 100 is operated with a small coin battery as described above, there is a problem of battery life.

  As a method for reducing current consumption in the RFID 100, for example, there is a method of intermittently operating an infrared reception / demodulation circuit (not shown; for example, present in the MCU 102) in the RFID 100. In this method, if the intermittent period is made long (ON / OFF duty ratio is made small), the average current consumption is reduced, but the speed of passing through the place to be detected is limited. In other words, if the passing speed is high, there is a possibility that the terminal passes through the location of the infrared transmitter 110 during the OFF in the intermittent ON / OFF operation, such as passing through the place of the infrared transmitter 110. Therefore, it is desirable that the consumption current for beacon detection is as small as possible on the RFID 100 side, and it is desirable to be able to cope with the passing speed (it is desirable that the detection circuit rises as early as possible).

  Next, an example using ultrasonic waves will be described. If the transmission power is increased, the communication distance of the ultrasonic wave can be increased. However, since the speaker and amplifier on the transmitter 110 side are very large, the communication distance is usually about several meters (meters). When using ultrasonic waves, increasing the frequency used increases the power consumption on both the transmitting side (transmitter 110) and the receiving side (RFID100), so it is usually around 40kHz, which is used in automobile back sonar. Use one. The problem when using ultrasonic waves is that they malfunction due to ambient noise and that the power consumption for detecting ultrasonic waves on the RFID 100 side is large.

  Since an ultrasonic wave is an inaudible sound wave, it is always included as a harmonic when an object emits sound (although the level is different). The effect is particularly significant when a metallic object is impacted. Further, when compressed air is ejected from a nozzle, ultrasonic waves having a random pattern are generated, and a very large influence is generated over a wide range.

  As another example of a configuration using ultrasonic waves, a configuration in which a tone decoder is used to demodulate an ultrasonic modulation signal is known. In such a configuration, a current of about 500 μA is required even without an amplifier. When a configuration is adopted in which a weak received signal is amplified and detected using an OP amplifier or the like, a current consumption of at least about 1 mA is generated in order to obtain a practical level.

  In circuits that handle frequencies of about 40 kHz, the capacitance value of the coupling capacitor that connects the amplifier stages is large in order to cut the DC component, and if the amplifier power supply is turned ON / OFF for intermittent operation, The problem of inrush current occurs. Or the settling time of an amplifier becomes long, the waiting time until it amplifies normally becomes long, and the problem that intermittent operation time cannot be shortened as a result will arise.

  In the case of ultrasonic waves, it is difficult to use if there are obstacles. That is, when the ultrasonic wave propagation path is interrupted, it does not propagate at all. Alternatively, when there is reflection, the signal may be received through an unexpected route, or a location where detection is not possible due to interference of sound waves may occur. For this reason, when the transmission output is large, it becomes difficult to limit the desired area.

As another example, a configuration using a low frequency of about 125 kHz (hereinafter referred to as LF) is also realized.
In this configuration, the LF terminal always transmits the location ID at a low frequency of, for example, about 125 kHz. In the case of using LF, if the output is very weak, location detection can be performed within the restricted range of the Radio Law. The problems when using LF are that the detection distance cannot be increased unless the transmission antenna size is increased to some extent, and that the frequency is low, so that it is very susceptible to environmental noise and malfunctions. The noise of about 125 kHz is very large when, for example, an inverter control device is used, and it is difficult to apply the LF method in a place where such noise exists.

  The conventional technology using ultrasonic waves and LF has the above-mentioned problems, and recently, in order to solve such problems, it is used in an RFID system using a frequency of 13.56 MHz (hereinafter referred to as HF). By using the same format as it is, an RFID capable of fairly ideal long-distance communication has been realized.

  Such an HF-type RFID usually has a primary battery mounted therein and an MCU (Micro Controller Unit) mounted due to its usage. Then, the MCU wakes up intermittently by an internal clock and checks whether or not a 13.56 MHz radio wave is emitted, and if there is a radio wave, operates to demodulate the command.

  An HF RFID (non-contact IC card or the like) used for an electronic ticket or the like usually operates by receiving power from an HF terminal. For this reason, 10% ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying), 30% ASK, or 100% ASK is used as an output signal from the HF terminal so that power supply and signal transmission can be performed simultaneously. As a data modulation method, negative logic PPM (Pulse position Modulation) modulation or the like is used. This modulation method and data format are defined by ISO and are being standardized worldwide. Such RFID (non-contact type IC card, etc.) does not have a battery and operates by supplying power from the terminal. Therefore, for the convenience of this power supply, the communication distance is from several centimeters (centimeters) to a long distance specification. However, it is about several tens of centimeters.

  If you want to extend the communication distance using such a contactless IC card, add an amplifier with a relatively low gain to the part that receives the output signal from the HF terminal on the RFID side. It is conceivable to amplify the signal. With such a configuration, the communication distance (downlink communication distance) from the HF terminal to the RFID can be extended from several meters (meters) to several tens of meters.

  The strength of radio waves used in HF terminals is “47.5 mV / m or less at a distance of 10 m”, which is common throughout the world. When operating at the maximum output within this standard, RFID is used as described above. By amplifying the received signal on the side, a communication distance of several tens of meters can be realized.

  The advantage of the HF system is that the receiving antenna (for example, the sensor / antenna 101) can be composed of a coil of several turns on the printed circuit board, and no special antenna is required. Furthermore, since the frequency is high to some extent, the value of the capacitor inserted between the stages of the amplifier becomes small, so that the operation settling time of the amplifier when changing from the inactive state (amplifier power supply off) to the active state is short. This is also an advantage of the HF method. Therefore, there is no current consumption in the standby state, and an amplifier (an amplifier having a necessary gain) can be operated immediately during carrier sensing.

  Here, on the RFID side, in addition to the above-described HF communication circuit, a second communication circuit is further added, and uplink communication (data from the RFID to the terminal or the like is performed using this second communication circuit). By transmitting (for example, transmitting own ID), bi-directional RFID of several meters to several tens of meters can be realized. This technique is a known technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 and the like. For example, the RF circuit 103 and the RF antenna 104 correspond to a second communication circuit. The second communication circuit is, for example, a communication circuit that uses a frequency in the UHF band, but is not limited to this example.

  The long-range detection technology described above can be freely adjusted by changing the RFID detection range by changing the transmission output and antenna gain of the HF terminal, or by changing the antenna gain and amplifier gain of the RFID. The range is extremely wide. As an example in which long distance detection is necessary, for example, location management in a container unit for physical distribution can be considered. In this case, the RFID detection range needs to be more than ten meters. In the case of a pallet used in logistics, several meters are required.

  If you want to simply extend the communication distance with passive tags, for example, RFID that can perform bidirectional (transmission and reception) communication using UHF band radio waves such as 950 MHz as the communication path has already been put into practical use, When there is no failure, communication (RFID detection) is possible within a range of about 10 m.

  Regarding long-distance communication, a bi-directional active tag equipped with a battery that uses UHF radio waves in both upstream and downstream communication has been put into practical use for a long time. However, such existing technologies have problems such as battery life, and because of the use of electromagnetic waves, the detection distance is unexpectedly shortened depending on the application environment.

  Or, conversely, if the output of radio waves is increased in order to extend the detection distance, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to narrow down the RFID detection area and it is difficult to operate a similar system in the vicinity.

  In addition, as an example disclosed in Patent Document 2, a passive tag and an active tag are combined to perform passive operation when the distance is short, and automatically operate when passive communication becomes difficult. There is also an example in which long distance detection is realized by switching to an active operation.

Since such an RFID capable of long-distance detection has a wide application range, there are many cases where the usage environment is severe, and complete waterproofing may be required particularly in industrial applications.
The ISO 15693 standard is also referred to as a near-field IC card standard, and the carrier frequency is 13.56 MHz, which is an inductive coupling (electromagnetic coupling) system. For example, the standard regarding the communication of the reader-> tag is roughly as follows.

-Modulation degree: ASK 100%, etc.-Data encoding method: Pulse position modulation (PPM)
Data transmission speed: 26.48 kbps, etc. Command: For example, command code = '01 'is "request command", command code = '26' is "reset ready", etc.

JP-A-10-136435 JP 2007-174130 A

  In logistics or article management using RFID, for example, in the case of management of building materials and heavy machinery, it is assumed that the product is used in a place where it rains. Or in the case of goods management, such as a personal computer, a drink may be applied to RFID accidentally. As an example of asset management, there is an example in which RFID is attached to a power pole / telephone pole for management. In order to cope with such a use environment, the RFID may need to be completely waterproof as described above.

  As a method for waterproofing, for example, a method of applying packing between an RFID case and a lid, a method of molding the entire RFID, a method of adhering the lid portion with an adhesive or the like can be considered.

  In addition, the above-mentioned RFID for long distance detection is usually operated with a primary battery attached, but the RFID is attached to a moving object for use. Especially in logistics applications, vibration and impact are frequently applied. The For this reason, when a battery is mounted on a RFID using a socket, there is a high possibility of contact failure due to vibration during movement, etc., and the tab is soldered to the printed circuit board after being attached to the battery by welding. Is usually used.

  Since waterproof equipment requires tests in the final form, including waterproof performance, the necessity of testing without contact inevitably arises. If it is simply a test for reading / writing data in the RFID, it is sufficient to perform a read / write test with a distance from the terminal as necessary (checking the communicable distance, etc.). However, in the case of an RFID having a function of spontaneously transmitting radio waves as described above, not only the communicable distance but also the output of radio waves to be transmitted, and in some cases, measurement of receiver reception sensitivity, and the MCU itself Various tests such as function and operation check of the added vibration sensor are required.

Since the non-contact operation itself is a basic function of RFID, it can be implemented by adding an extended command for testing to a normal command, but has the following problems.
The first problem here is that, since a battery is used, the intermittent operation is performed when the battery is operated in the normal mode, so that the battery is consumed before actual use. Especially when used in large quantities, a manufacturing period is required. Therefore, if it is made in advance, the battery life is affected, and it is necessary to attach the battery immediately before shipment.

  However, even if it is possible to manufacture a large number of substrates on which components other than the battery are mounted, it is difficult to produce and ship a large amount in a short period of time because the battery attachment and the subsequent operation check work become a bottleneck. Or, in order to produce and ship a large amount in a short period of time, it is obvious that a large amount of manufacturing and testing equipment that is not used for most of the period is necessary.

  For this reason, for example, the battery may be attached and stored together during RFID manufacturing, and the RFID operation confirmation test may be performed and stored at any later time (even if not immediately before shipment). Therefore, it is desired that there is almost no battery consumption. If this can be realized, even when a large number of RFIDs are shipped, it is possible to perform RFID manufacturing (including battery mounting) and operation check tests over a certain amount of time.

  When the RFID has two communication means (for example, HF communication means and UHF communication means) as described above, it is possible to switch the operation mode to the standby state using normal communication means (for example, HF communication means). There are the following problems.

  That is, it is a problem of battery consumption. For example, if an attempt is made to receive a command using the HF communication means, it is necessary to operate intermittently as in the normal operation, resulting in battery consumption. In order to solve this problem, measures such as reducing the battery consumption by making the intermittent period extremely long before shipment can be considered. However, if such a countermeasure is taken, when a test command is given during a test, the time until the RFID receives the command becomes extremely long, so the test time per RFID becomes very long. On the other hand, it is conceivable to shorten the test time as a whole by increasing the number of test facilities, but this is not an essential solution. In addition, a great cost is required.

  On the other hand, when trying to communicate with another high-frequency circuit (for example, UHF communication means), power consumption is incomparably higher than that of the HF communication means. For example, when a general UHF receiver is operated at 3V, a current of about 10 mA is consumed for several tens of milliseconds, and even if the duty is 1/100, the average current is about 0.1 mA, which is a small size of several hundred mAH. If it is a battery, it will be calculated in less than a month.

  On the other hand, if the intermittent operation is made longer as described above, the current consumption can be reduced, but the time for the test becomes longer. For example, if it is attempted to reduce the standby current to about 1 μA, the operation is performed at intervals of several tens of mSx (10 mA ÷ 1 μA) = several hundred seconds. Therefore, it takes several hundred seconds to detect one command, which is an unrealistic value. In addition, if the number of RFIDs to be tested is large, the total time required for the confirmation work becomes very long. To avoid this, the test equipment must be increased.

  In a typical example of a recent MCU, a low-frequency oscillation circuit using a 32.768 kHz crystal resonator that is frequently used in watches and the like consumes a current of about several μA or less during standby, If the time is long, battery consumption that cannot be ignored occurs.

  On the other hand, when the clock operation is stopped and waiting, it is possible to easily reduce the current to about 0.1μA or less even when the battery is connected. In the case of a lithium coin battery, etc., when it is not used, it consumes less than 1% per year when stored at 25 ° C. This is called self-discharge. For example, in the case of a 200 mAH battery, 2 mAH or equivalent is consumed annually. In other words, when the battery is mounted with the battery mounted, the influence appears unless the battery is kept below the self-discharge of the battery.

However, if the operation is continued in the normal mode even during standby before shipment, the intermittent operation is performed, so that the clock operation cannot be stopped.
Note that the ISO standard RFID has a part that can be freely defined by the user as part of the normal command. However, as described above, the command cannot be received unless it is operated in the normal operation mode. Therefore, the battery is consumed before shipment, and it is extremely difficult for the user to freely define a part of the normal command for the shipment test.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the problem can be solved by further installing another communication means (referred to as third communication means) capable of communication from the outside without contact. For example, in a pressure sensor that is used by being mounted in a car tire, functions such as setting an ID using LF such as 125 kHz and temporarily stopping the function for import / export are implemented. Yes. In TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitor Systems), since such a function is actually necessary, it is indispensable although the frequency of use is low. On the other hand, in the case of the RFID described above, the added part (third communication means) is used only in the manufacturing (testing) process, so it is a useless part, which increases costs and is extremely inconvenient.

  For example, when configuring another circuit for sending a command using LF of about 125 kHz, an additional circuit as shown in FIG. 10 is generally required. FIG. 10 shows a configuration that is further added to the configuration of FIG. 9, but only the MCU 102 is the MCU 102 shown in FIG.

  The additional circuit shown in FIG. 10 includes an LF coil 111, a resonance capacitor 112, and an LF demodulation circuit 113, and the output of the LF demodulation circuit 113 is input to the MCU 102. In the case of the HF communication means, the sensor / antenna 101 may be considered to have substantially the same configuration as the additional circuit. That is, although not particularly illustrated, the sensor / antenna 101 may be composed of an HF coil, a resonance capacitor, an HF demodulation circuit, and the like, and the output of the HF demodulation circuit is input to the MCU 102. The LF demodulation circuit 113 and the HF demodulation circuit may be incorporated in the MCU 102.

  As described above, the additional circuit shown in FIG. 10 may be considered to have substantially the same circuit configuration as that of the HF communication unit, but naturally, the resonance frequency of the resonance capacitor is different from that of HF. When the frequency is lowered, the antenna coil constituting the resonance circuit needs to have a value on the order of mH. For this reason, in order to make it small, it is difficult to realize the LF coil 111 unless a core having a high magnetic permeability is wound a considerable number of times. For this reason, there is a problem that the price of the LF coil 111 (LF antenna) increases.

  On the other hand, since an antenna of about 1 μH is sufficient for the antenna of the HF communication means, it can usually be realized with a spiral pattern several times on the printed circuit board. Can be configured. For this reason, the price can be very low, whereas in the case of LF, a dedicated LF antenna is required.

  Furthermore, since the power that can be received by the LF is very small, an amplifier and a “dedicated chip for decoding the LF signal” are usually mounted. The dedicated chip performs an intermittent operation and performs a decoding operation when LF is detected. However, a current consumption of about several μA is generated as an average current, which is about a clock operation current in the normal use mode of RFID. Therefore, even if it is manufactured in large quantities and placed on standby with ultra-low current consumption, the problem is not solved. A further problem is not the original function of RFID, but a function that is completely unnecessary except during manufacture.

  As described above, regarding the RFID having the HF communication means and the higher frequency communication means (here, the UHF communication means), the provision of the third communication means provides an extra configuration that is not used at all in normal times. That is a problem. It is desirable to realize the above-mentioned demand without increasing the configuration as much as possible (with a minimum of additional parts). The above-mentioned demand is that RFID can be stored with almost no power consumption before shipment.

  It is an object of the present invention to reduce power consumption before shipment with a minimum of additional components in a battery-mounted RFID, and thus, for example, can be stored for a long period after RFID manufacturing (including battery mounting) or after an operation check test. Even so, it is to provide an RFID, a pre-shipment management system, a pre-shipment management method, and the like that can be stored without draining the battery, and can deal with mass shipment of RFIDs without increasing facilities.

  The RFID tag of the present invention has a wireless communication unit including at least an antenna that receives a modulation signal from a terminal, and a control unit that inputs and demodulates the modulation signal received by the wireless communication unit from a first input terminal. Suppose that it has a battery.

  In the RFID tag of the present invention, first, the control unit has a second input terminal, and the first mode in which the CPU is in the off state but the clock is in the on state in the standby state, and both the CPU and the clock are in the standby state. And a second mode that is in an off state.

  In the RFID tag of the present invention, a semiconductor switch unit is provided between the wireless communication unit and the control unit. When the level of the modulation signal received by the wireless communication unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the semiconductor switch unit is turned on / off according to the modulation signal. Accordingly, only when a modulated signal having a predetermined level or higher is received, the modulated signal is input from the second input terminal to the control unit.

  In the second mode, the control unit is activated when the modulation signal is input to the second input terminal in the standby state, and is in an operation state, and according to a command indicated by the modulation signal. Pre-shipment control means for executing the processes described above.

  For example, the second mode is set before shipment. For example, by changing to the first mode immediately before shipment, the RFID tag is in the first mode during operation.

  According to the RFID, the pre-shipment management system, the pre-shipment management method, and the like of the present invention, the power consumption before the shipment can be extremely reduced with the minimum number of additional components in the battery-mounted RFID. Even after storage (including battery mounting) or after an operation check test, it can be stored for a long time without draining the battery, so that it is possible to deal with mass shipment of RFID without increasing equipment.

1 is a configuration diagram of an RFID according to Embodiment 1. FIG. (A) is an antenna output signal, (b) is an enlarged view, and (c) is a diagram showing a schematic operation. It is a figure which shows the state in each process of RFID of this example. It is a process flowchart figure of MCU in the mode before shipment. (A), (b) shows the sampling operation | movement in each mode, (c) is a figure which shows a corresponding relationship with power consumption. 6 is a configuration diagram of an RFID according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a block diagram from another side of RFID of Example 1,2. It is a functional block diagram of the RFID system of this example. It is a schematic block diagram of the RFID system which implement | achieves the conventional location detection function. It is a figure which shows the structure further added with respect to the structure of FIG.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an RFID according to the first embodiment.
The illustrated RFID 10 includes an antenna 11, a resonant capacitor 12, a MOSFET 13, a resistor 14, a capacitor 15, an MCU 16, an RFIC 17, and an RF antenna 18.

  Here, as an example, the configuration shown in FIG. 1 may be considered to be obtained by adding a MOSFET 13 (and a resistor 14 and a capacitor 15) to the conventional configuration shown in FIG. However, the processing operation of the MCU 16 is different from the conventional one. As will be described in detail later, the MCU 16 has two modes of a normal mode and a pre-shipment mode, and the operation in the normal mode may be the same as the conventional mode, but the operation in the pre-shipment mode is different from the conventional mode ( Prior to that, there is no conventional mode corresponding to the pre-shipment mode).

  The MCU 16 is an example of a control unit, and is not limited to this example, and may be any processor or the like. The MOSFET 13 is an example of a semiconductor switch, and is not limited to this example. The semiconductor switch is provided between a first wireless communication unit, which will be described later, and the control unit. When the level of the modulation signal received by the first wireless communication unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the semiconductor switch is turned on / off according to the modulation signal. By turning it off, the modulation signal is input to a second input terminal (to be described later) of the control unit (MCU 16).

  In addition, the RFID 10 in FIG. 1 performs non-contact short-range wireless communication with the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 during operation. Further, at the time of the test, at least the test terminal 3 performs non-contact short-range wireless communication (in addition, a terminal substantially similar to the terminal 2 is further installed during the test and communicates with a second wireless communication unit to be described later. You may do it). The configuration including the antenna 11 and the resonant capacitor 12 (referred to as the first wireless communication unit) is a configuration for communication with the normal (operation) terminal 1 and the test terminal 3, and the RFIC 17 and the RF The configuration including the antenna 18 (referred to as the second wireless communication unit) may be considered as a configuration for communication with the terminal 2.

  As will be described later, the terminal 1 may be called the HF terminal 1, the terminal 2 may be called the UHF terminal 2, the terminal 3 may be called the test HF terminal 3, etc., according to an example of the frequency used. In this example, the first wireless communication unit corresponds to the frequency of the HF band (13.56 MHz), and the second wireless communication unit corresponds to the frequency of the UHF band.

  For example, the terminal 1 may correspond to the sign post described in Patent Document 1 and the terminal 2 may correspond to an access point. In this case, according to the example of Patent Document 1, the first wireless communication unit may be considered for reception, and the second wireless communication unit may be for transmission, and the communication area with the terminal 1 is narrow and the communication area with the terminal 2 May be considered broad. In other words, it may be considered that the communication distance by the first wireless communication unit is relatively short and the communication distance by the second wireless communication unit is relatively long.

  In the case of this example, basically, the power consumption is large when the second wireless communication unit is operated as described above. Even when the first wireless communication unit is operated intermittently, for example, when it is stored in a warehouse for a long time, the total power consumption becomes large.

  Further, the RFID of the present invention is not limited to the example having the second wireless communication unit (configuration including the RFIC 17 and the RF antenna 18) as in the example of FIG. 1 or the later-described FIG. For example, the structure which has a display part etc. instead of a 2nd radio | wireless communication part may be sufficient. For example, arbitrary data transmitted from the terminal 1 is displayed on the display unit. Alternatively, for example, the execution result (success or failure) of the test command transmitted from the test terminal 3 is displayed on the display unit.

  In addition, as a conventional technique using the HF scheme, a configuration in which an amplifier having a relatively low gain is added to a portion that receives an output signal from the HF terminal or the like on the RFID side to amplify the received signal has already been introduced. . As described above, the conventional technology has been introduced in which the communication distance from the HF terminal or the like to the RFID (downward communication distance; reception distance) is increased from several meters (meters) to several tens of meters.

  Although not shown, in the case where the reception distance is extended in the HF method by such a conventional technique, an amplifier (not shown) is further provided between the antenna 11 and the MCU 16 (in front of the S1 terminal of the MCU 16) in the RFID 10. May be provided. In this case, in the normal mode (operation mode), the MCU 16 also needs to perform control for supplying power to an amplifier (not shown) during operation in the intermittent operation. Accordingly, when the HF terminal 1 is at a distance of, for example, about several meters (meters) from the RFID 10, the output signal is received by the antenna 11 and amplified by an amplifier (not shown) so that the MCU 16 It becomes possible to receive.

  The antenna 11 and the resonance capacitor 12 correspond to the antenna and the resonance capacitor in the conventional HF communication means described above. Therefore, the operating frequency (resonant frequency) is 13.56 MHz. The coil used in the 13.56 MHz antenna 11 has a frequency of several μH or less, and is used in parallel resonance with the resonance capacitor 12 connected in parallel.

  A modulated signal wirelessly transmitted by HF from the terminal 1 or the like is received by the first wireless communication unit including the antenna 11 or the like and input to the S1 terminal which is one of the input terminals of the MCU 16. Here, although it may be considered that the S1 terminal is substantially the same as the conventional one, the MCU 16 of this example further has an S2 terminal shown in FIG. 1 as an input terminal. This will be described later.

  Further, the MCU 16 performs command processing in communication via the first wireless communication unit in accordance with the above-described commands of the ISO15693 command system. However, this applies the ISO15693 command system to the signal input to the S1 terminal shown in the normal mode, and does not apply in the pre-shipment mode. In the pre-shipment mode, the MCU 16 applies a unique command system to the signal input to the illustrated S2 terminal. The unique command system may be arbitrarily determined, for example, by the RFID manufacturer or the like (thus, no specific example is shown). Naturally, it is necessary for the manufacturer to create a program that allows the MCU 16 to interpret and execute each command of its own command system and store it in the memory within the MCU 16.

  Further, the RFIC 17 and the RF antenna 18 may be considered as a configuration corresponding to the RF circuit 103 and the RF antenna 104, for example. Therefore, as described above, the RFIC 17 and the RF antenna 18 are high-frequency communication circuits, for example, and a communication circuit using the UHF band as an example. In this example, the antenna 11 and the resonant capacitor 12 may be used for reception, and the RFIC 17 and the RF antenna 18 may be used for transmission (or transmission / reception). However, the present invention is not limited to this example.

  In addition, although not specifically illustrated in the present example, the HF terminal 1 and the UHF terminal 2 exist in the detection target portion at the time of operation. Further, at the time of the test, at least the HF terminal 3 exists in the test site. The HF terminal 3 at the test site is slightly different from the HF terminal 1 at the time of operation. For the sake of distinction, the HF terminal 3 at the time of operation is referred to as a normal HF terminal 1, and the HF terminal 3 at the time of test is referred to as a test HF terminal 3. Shall. In addition, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the two, it is simply referred to as “HF terminal”.

The “HF terminal” may be a terminal dedicated to transmission, but is not limited to this example.
The normal HF terminal 1 transmits, for example, position information of a place where the terminal is installed to the RFID 10. When the RFID 10 receives the position information and the like via the first wireless communication unit, the RFID 10 transmits the position information and its own ID and the like to the UHF terminal 2 via the second wireless communication unit. Become.

  Alternatively, the test HF terminal 3 transmits, for example, an arbitrary test command, an ID setting command, or the like to the RFID 10. When the RFID 10 receives any command or the like via the first wireless communication unit, the RFID 10 executes processing according to the command. The processing execution result may or may not be transmitted to the UHF terminal 2 installed at the test site via the second wireless communication unit.

  Here, as will be described in detail later, in the communication with the test HF terminal 3, the reception signal level of the first wireless communication unit is much higher than the reception signal level in the communication with the normal HF terminal 1. To be. That is, at the time of communication with the test HF terminal 3, the MOSFET 13 is set to a level at which it is activated by the received signal. There may be various implementation methods. For example, a method of making the output of the test HF terminal 3 larger than the output of the normal HF terminal 1 is conceivable. Alternatively, a method is also conceivable in which the distance between the test HF terminal 3 and the RFID 10 during communication is shorter than the distance between the normal HF terminal 1 and the RFID 10 during operation. As described above, if the communication distance between the normal HF terminal 1 and the RFID 10 at the time of operation is about several meters, for example, by setting it to about several tens of centimeters (or by adhering), for example, The reception signal level of the first wireless communication unit is increased so that the MOSFET 13 is turned on / off.

  As will be described in detail later, the MCU 16 inputs a reception signal of data (position information, etc.) normally transmitted from the HF terminal 1 through the first wireless communication unit at the S1 terminal during operation. Become. Further, during the test, the MCU 16 inputs a reception signal of data (command, ID setting value, etc.) transmitted from the test HF terminal 3 via the first wireless communication unit and the MOSFET 13 or the like at the S2 terminal. become.

  Further, at least during operation, the MCU 16 wirelessly transmits arbitrary data (such as its own ID) to the UHF terminal 2 or the like via the second wireless communication unit (RFIC 17, RF antenna 18, etc.).

  Further, the RFID 10 of this example is not necessarily the active tag, but a battery is always mounted (thus, for example, a battery-mounted RFID tag may be called). Therefore, although not shown, a primary battery (for example, a lithium coin battery) is also provided. The power supply to the components (MCU 16 and the like) of the RFID 10 is basically performed from this battery (not shown). However, power may be further supplied from the HF terminals 1 and 3 by an electromagnetic induction method.

  In the RFID of this example, the power consumption before shipment can be made extremely small with the minimum number of additional components (by simply adding the MOSFET 13 (and the resistor 14 and the capacitor 15)), and thus, for example, manufacturing RFID (battery) Even after storage (including mounting) or after an operation check test, the battery can be stored without draining the battery, and can be used for mass shipment of RFIDs without increasing the equipment.

  Note that in the RFID of passive operation, the antenna needs a certain opening area because the chip power is supplied from the antenna coil. On the other hand, the RFID 10 of this example is an active tag, for example, and when only a weak HF signal is demodulated, the opening area of the antenna may be small, and for example, even a size of about 30 mm square functions sufficiently. A MOSFET is a voltage driving element and has a very high input impedance, which is advantageous in that a large voltage can be generated even if a small coil resonates.

  For example, when the inductance of the antenna coil is 1 μH at a frequency of 13, 56 MHz, the value of the resonant capacitor connected in parallel is about 140 pF. On the other hand, the gate input capacitance of the MOSFET can be selected from several pF to 10 pF or less, and will be 10% or less of the total capacitance. Therefore, if measures such as addition of series capacitance are taken, even if variations are included There is no problem with normal operation. The MOSFET has only a drain leakage current while the gate voltage is low, and can be suppressed to the nA order if stored at a somewhat low temperature. Therefore, even if it is stored in a warehouse after manufacturing, it is possible to suppress the current consumption to such an extent that it hardly causes a problem.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of FIG. 1 will be described in more detail.
First, the MCU 16 is configured by a sequence circuit, a microprocessor, or the like, and performs overall control of the RFID 10. The functions and operations of the MCU 16 may be realized by hardware such as wired logic, or function control may be realized by a program. The operation of the MCU 16 will be described later with reference to a flowchart for an example realized by a program.

  The antenna 11 is, for example, an HF antenna (an antenna that receives a signal having a carrier frequency = 13.56 MHz), and is usually configured by a coil of several turns. As before, numerical values such as capacitance are determined so that the 13.56 MHz signal received by the antenna 11 is in parallel resonance with the resonant capacitor 12.

  The resonance output S from the antenna 11 and the resonance capacitor 12 is input to the S1 terminal of the MCU 16 and also to the gate of the MOSFET 13 as shown. The drain of the MOSFET 13 is connected to the S2 terminal of the MCU 16.

  The signal transmitted from the normal HF terminal 1 or the test HF terminal 3 is a general signal in which a signal having a carrier frequency of 13.56 MHz is modulated by ASK or PPM. For example, in the case of the normal HF terminal 1, this signal is a signal in accordance with the above-mentioned ISO15693 standard. For example, in the case of PPM modulation, the signal is turned on at an arbitrary timing during 75 μs, and the on time is about 9.5 μs. It has become.

  In the case of a transmission signal from the normal HF terminal 1, the MOSFET 13 is not turned ON / OFF by the H / L (in this description, High may be abbreviated as H and Low may be abbreviated as L). Therefore, the transmission signal from the normal HF terminal 1 is input to the S1 terminal but not input to the S2 terminal. On the other hand, the MOSFET 13 is turned ON / OFF by H / L of a transmission signal from the test HF terminal 3. As described above, this makes the signal level of the resonance output S during the test larger than the signal level of the resonance output S during operation. In other words, the signal level of the resonance output S during the test is set to a level (voltage) for operating the MOSFET 13.

  In order to increase the signal level of the resonance output S as described above, for example, the transmission output of the test HF terminal 3 is made larger than the transmission output of the normal HF terminal 1 as described above. Alternatively, as already described, the distance between the test HF terminal 3 and the RFID 10 during the test is made shorter than the distance between the normal HF terminal 1 and the RFID 10 during the operation. However, it is not restricted to these methods. In any case, data (test command or the like) transmitted from the test HF terminal 3 is input to the S2 terminal by turning on / off the MOSFET 13.

  The inductance L of the antenna 11 and the resonance capacitor 12 resonate in parallel, and a voltage multiplied by the Q value of the LC circuit is generated at both ends of the resonance capacitor 12. Since the transmission signals from the HF terminals 1 and 3 are modulated with respect to the 13.56 MHz base signal, if the Q value is too high, the modulation signal does not pass. Therefore, the Q value cannot be increased so much and generally has a value of about '20'. That is, when a 1 mV voltage is generated in the antenna 11, a 20 mV voltage is generated at both ends of the resonance capacitor 12.

  That is, in this example, the signal level of the resonance output S is about 20 mV. If this is to be the signal level at the time of operation, that is, if it is to be the signal level at the time of communication with the normal HF terminal 1, the MOSFET 13 having a gate ON voltage of about 1 V may be used. As a result, the MOSFET 13 does not operate with the resonant output S during operation. On the other hand, the signal level of the resonance output S corresponding to the communication with the test HF terminal 3 is set to exceed 1V (for example, about 2V, 3V) by any method described above, whereby the MOSFET 13 is generated by the resonance output S during the test. Operates, and data (command or the like) is input to the S2 terminal.

  In the following description, the distance between the test HF terminal 3 and the RFID 10 will be described using an example in which the signal level of the resonance output S is increased by shortening the distance from the operation, but as already described, It is not limited to this example.

  Here, the resonance output S is also input to the gate of the MOSFET 13 as described above. Normally, a MOSFET has a gate input capacitance of about several pF to several tens of pF, and therefore the capacitance C of the resonant capacitor 12 for parallel resonance may be determined including the input capacitance of the MOSFET 13. In addition, since the output voltage decreases when the resonance frequency changes due to the stray capacitance, the value of the inductance L of the antenna coil (antenna 11) is usually set to about 1 to 2 μH. For example, when L = 1 μH, C = 138 pF. Here, since the input capacitance of the MOSFET 13 is determined by the area of the chip conductor, the thickness of the insulating layer, and the dielectric constant thereof, the fluctuation of the input capacitance of the MOSFET 13 manufactured using a precise semiconductor process can be ignored in practice. Small. Therefore, the resonance is not greatly shifted by adding the MOSFET 13.

  The drain of the MOSFET 13 is connected to the S2 terminal of the MCU 16 as described above, and is further connected to the control output P of the MCU 16 via the resistor 14. Here, the control output P of the MCU 16 is a power supply voltage. That is, the power supply voltage is applied to the drain of the MOSFET 13 through the resistor 14. As described above, the power source is a small battery (not shown) (such as a lithium coin battery), and power is supplied from the small battery to each component such as the MCU 16. As shown in the figure, a capacitor 15 is connected between the drain of the MOSFET 13 and the ground.

  The RFIC 17 and the RF antenna 18 are as described above and will be described briefly. The RFIC 17 is an RF circuit that is connected to the MCU 16 and constitutes a second communication circuit (the second wireless communication unit) that uses an arbitrary frequency in the UHF band of, for example, about several hundreds of MHz under the control thereof. Naturally, the RF antenna 18 is an antenna corresponding to this use frequency band (in this example, the UHF band is not limited to this example). As already described, the UHF band is an example, and the frequency band used by the second communication circuit may be another frequency band.

  When the RFID 10 having the above-described configuration receives a signal transmitted from the HF terminal, when the distance is about several meters (meters), that is, in the case of normal use, the antenna output (resonance capacitor 12 An output of about several tens of μV is generated at both ends. On the other hand, when the distance between the RFID 10 and the HF terminal is shorter than that in normal use, a voltage of about several volts (volts) is generated at the antenna output. A specific example of the distance between the RFID 10 and the HF terminal is not particularly shown, but any distance may be used as long as the antenna output is a voltage of about several volts (volts). , May be close (touch)).

  The MCU 16 amplifies a minute signal (for example, the output of about several tens of μV described above) input to the S1 terminal in the case of normal use with, for example, a built-in amplifier (not shown), and uses wired logic or built-in software to The input signal is demodulated, the command is reconfigured, and the operation according to the command is performed. As described above, the command in this case is a command based on, for example, the ISO15693 command system.

  The RFID 10 of this example assumes a usage method in which the distance from the normal HF terminal 1 during operation is at least several meters or more. Therefore, in normal use, the voltage generated at both ends of the resonance capacitor 12 is about several tens of μV. And at most mV. Accordingly, the MOSFET 13 of this example uses a gate ON voltage of about 1V, for example. Thus, during operation, even when a transmission signal is normally received from the HF terminal 1, no signal is generated at the drain output of the MOSFET 13.

  Thus, when the distance between the HF terminal and the RFID 10 is long, the resonance output S of the antenna 11 is at a level of about several mV, so the MOSFET 13 is not in an active state. Only during the test, for example, by shortening the distance between the HF terminal and the RFID 10 extremely (or by using a terminal having a higher output than the normal HF terminal 1 as the test HF terminal 3), the resonant output of the antenna 11 is obtained. Increase the S level. As a result, the MOSFET 13 becomes active, and is turned on / off according to the transmission signal from the test HF terminal 3.

  Here, with respect to the resistor 14 and the capacitor 15 connected to the drain of the MOSFET 13, a resistance value and a capacitor capacity are selected as appropriate so as to have a large time constant with respect to 13.56 MHz. For example, the resistance value of the resistor 14 is 100 kΩ, and the capacitance of the capacitor 15 is 500 pF (the resistance value is large and the capacitance is small). In this case, the CR time constant is 50 μS, and even if the output of the antenna 11 is 13.56 MHz, that is, a signal based on a base signal that repeatedly turns on and off at 37 nS, the output (drain voltage) of the MOSFET 13 when the data is “H”. Will maintain a state close to 0V.

  For example, when the transmission signal from the HF transmitter is 100% ASK and the data is “0” (L) and “1” (H) that are alternately repeated, the output signal of the antenna 11 ( In other words, the input signal to the gate of the MOSFET 13 is as shown in FIG. When the output signal of the antenna 11 is about several volts, the MOSFET 13 is turned on / off in accordance with this output signal, whereby the output (drain voltage) on the drain side of the MOSFET 13 becomes Low / High (low when ON, High when OFF). When the output signal (resonance output S) of the antenna 11 is high, the MOSFET 13 is in an ON state, so that the drain voltage is around 0 V (≈0 V). When the output signal of the antenna 11 is low, the MOSFET 13 is in an OFF state, so that the drain voltage is near the power supply voltage (High).

  Here, an enlarged view when the output signal (resonance output S) of the antenna 11 is High in FIG. 2A is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, even when the level is high in accordance with the data value due to the modulation, it is not always high, but is a signal that alternately repeats high and low every 37 nS according to the base signal of 13.56 MHz. For this reason, the MOSFET 13 repeats ON of 37 nS and OFF of 37 nS alternately. However, it is not desirable that this is reflected in the drain voltage as it is (as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 2B). In this case, the drain voltage is always around 0V (≈0V). It is necessary to become.

  For this reason, in this example, as described above, the resistor 14 and the capacitor 15 are connected to the drain of the MOSFET 13 and have a large time constant (eg, about 50 μS) with respect to 13.56 MHz. By doing so, as shown in FIG. 2B, the drain voltage (indicated by the dotted line) gradually decreases to around 0 V (≈0 V) with respect to an input signal that repeats High and Low every 37 nS. Will keep around 0V.

  In FIG. 2B, the input signal that repeats High and Low every 37 nS is omitted from the middle (indicated by...). In the OFF state, the drain voltage (shown by the dotted line) rapidly rises and returns to the vicinity of the power supply voltage as shown.

  The schematic operation of the configuration including the MOSFET 13, the resistor 14 and the capacitor 15 is as shown in FIG. That is, when the MOSFET 13 is in the ON state, the capacitor 15 is discharged through the MOSFET 13. On the other hand, when the MOSFET 13 is in the OFF state, the capacitor 15 is charged via the resistor 14. If such a charging / discharging mechanism is configured to have a large time constant with respect to 13.56 MHz as described above, the discharging amount becomes larger than the charging amount, and the drain voltage gradually decreases. It will be.

In FIG. 2C, the MOSFET 13 is shown as a switch, and the resistor 14 is shown as a circle.
As described above, when a 13.56 MHz signal having a relatively large amplitude (for example, about several volts) is input and the data value is “1” (H), the MOSFET 13 is turned on in a cycle of 73 nS. The operation of turning off / off (turning on for about 37 nS) is repeated, but the drain voltage is close to 0V. Although the ON resistance of the MOSFET depends on the gate voltage, the ON resistance is usually several Ω or less in a small MOSFET used for such a purpose. Therefore, as soon as a 13.56 MHz signal is received near the antenna of the HF terminal, the drain voltage of the MOSFET 13 becomes close to 0V.

  When the MOSFET 13 is turned OFF during a 13.56 MHz half cycle (about 37 nS), the capacitor 15 is charged for 37 nS. However, since the capacitor 15 is charged from the power source through a high resistance value of 100 kΩ, the amount of charge is small as described above. Therefore, the drain voltage held by the capacitor 15 generates a very small ripple, but is almost in the vicinity of 0 V until the output signal S becomes low. Only when there is such a large amplitude of 13.56 MHz, the drain side of the MOSFET 13 has a voltage close to 0V.

  As described above, only when there is an input signal S having a relatively large amplitude (for example, about several volts), the drain voltage of the MOSFET 13 can be close to 0V. On the other hand, during operation, since the input signal has a relatively small amplitude (for example, about several mV), the MOSFET 13 is not turned on, and therefore the drain voltage does not become around 0V. During operation, the drain voltage is always near the power supply voltage, and the drain voltage may drop to around 0 V only during the test. The drain voltage is a voltage of an input signal to the S2 terminal of the MCU 16. Accordingly, the MCU 16 performs the function described below using such an input signal to the S2 terminal.

  First, as described above, the MCU 16 has two modes, a normal mode (operation mode) and a pre-shipment mode. In the normal mode, the operation is substantially the same as the conventional mode. In the pre-shipment mode, the operation unique to this method is performed. I do. This will be described with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the state in each process of RFID10 of this example is shown. That is, each state after manufacture, before shipment, and after shipment is shown. This indicates the state of the CPU, clock, I / O, etc. in the standby state, and of course the CPU, I / O, etc. will be in the ON state when activated from the standby state and become the operating state.

  First of all, naturally, the RFID 10 is manufactured. In this manufacturing, predetermined various parts (such as various parts shown in FIG. 1) are assembled. In this method, a battery (a primary battery or the like) is already attached at this stage. Further, waterproofing is performed by molding the entire RFID. In the initial state immediately after manufacture, the MCU 16 is in a pre-shipment mode.

  In a subsequent stage before shipment, the manufactured RFID 10 is stored in a warehouse or the like, and various tests are performed at any time. Further, the ID of the RFID 10 may be set at any time. The ID setting may be performed, for example, when all the tests are passed, or may be performed immediately before shipment.

  Also, it is assumed that the mode is changed by a predetermined command (referred to as a mode change command) determined immediately before shipment. This mode change is a change from the pre-shipment mode to the normal mode.

  In the pre-shipment mode state, the MCU 16 monitors (samples) only the input signal at the S2 terminal and ignores the input signal at the S1 terminal. Therefore, command input for various tests, command input for mode change, ID setting, and the like can be performed only by an input signal of the S2 terminal.

  As described above, in this method, the RFID 10 can be stored in the pre-shipment mode until immediately before shipment, and consumes a little power during the test and ID setting, etc. Therefore, the stage before shipment can be made long.

  As a result, even when a large number of RFIDs 10 are shipped, manufacturing, testing, ID setting, etc. can be performed and stored in a warehouse over a long period of time. Since the mode is changed just before shipment, the work is completed in a short time. Therefore, it is possible to cope with shipment of a large number of RFIDs 10 without increasing facilities for manufacturing and testing.

  Note that the RFID 10 performs wireless communication with the test HF terminal 3 and the like before shipment. As a result, the test, ID setting, and mode change are performed. The RFID 10 performs wireless communication with the normal HF terminal 1 and the UHF terminal 2 after shipment.

Here, with reference to FIG. 3, each of the above modes will be further described.
As described above, the RFID 10 after shipment is in the normal mode, and the post-shipment column in FIG. 3 shows the state of the RFID 10 in the normal mode as shown. As illustrated, in the normal mode, the RFID 10 is “clock; ON, CPU; OFF, I / O; ON”. In particular, the watch is turned on because it needs to be operated at a fixed cycle as described above. As already mentioned, the watch itself consumes very little power, but it becomes a problem when stored for a long period of time. Furthermore, power consumption during the operation at a fixed period is also a problem.

  On the other hand, as shown in the pre-shipment column of FIG. 3, the RFID 10 is “clock; OFF, CPU; OFF, I / O; OFF” in the pre-shipment mode. That is, the clock, CPU, and I / O are all OFF. Therefore, in this state, the power consumption is extremely small (almost almost “0”). It may be considered that CPU≈MCU16, or “CPU + clock” ≈MCU16.

  Conventionally (normal mode), the CPU is periodically woken up by a fixed-cycle output signal from a clock (including an associated counter, for example). In contrast, in the pre-shipment mode, the CPU (≈MCU 16) is awakened at any time by the input signal of the S2 terminal. Specifically, the CPU is started by using a falling edge (High → Low) of the input signal at the S2 terminal as a trigger. This falling (High → Low) corresponds to the change in the drain voltage (change from the power supply voltage to around 0 V).

  In this way, the operation state of the MCU 16 changes due to the change of the drain output of the MOSFET 13 to the 0V side, and when configured with a program, an interrupt signal is generated, and the MCU 16 is in a program operation state from a standby state with little current consumption. It is configured to switch to

The MCU 16 switched to the program operation state as described above executes, for example, the processing of the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, the data (command / setting value, etc.) transmitted from the test HF terminal 3 side is recognized by sampling the input signal to the S2 terminal at a predetermined low-speed sampling cycle (step S11). Here, the low-speed sampling cycle means a sampling cycle longer than the sampling cycle in the normal mode. In the MCU 16 of the RFID 10 of this example, for example, in the normal mode (conventional operation), for example, the sampling cycle is 5 μs as shown in FIG. As shown, sampling period = 500 μs or the like.

  In other words, in the pre-shipment mode, the sampling speed is much slower than in the normal mode. Therefore, the test HF terminal 3 has a slower data transfer rate (bps) than the normal HF terminal 1. That is, the data transfer rate of the test HF terminal 3 is, for example, about 1 ms per 1 bit as shown in FIG. On the other hand, the data transfer rate of the normal HF terminal 1 is, for example, about 10 μs per bit as shown in FIG. Thus, as described above, the RFID 10 normally requires a relatively high sampling period (such as 5 μs) when communicating with the HF terminal 1, but compared with when communicating with the test HF terminal 3. A slow sampling period (such as 500 μs) is sufficient.

As described above, in this description, the data transfer rate (data transmission rate) is shown in the form of time per bit, not speed.
Of course, when sending the same amount of data (commands, etc.) from the above, it takes more time in the pre-shipment mode than in the normal mode, but if the sampling cycle is about 500 μs as described above, There is no particular problem.

  Here, FIG. 5C shows the correspondence between the sampling rate and current consumption I in the MCU. As shown in the figure, in the MCU, the current consumption I increases as the sampling speed increases (increases). Of course, the same applies to any processor, not just the MCU. Therefore, in the pre-shipment mode, the current consumption related to the sampling operation of the input signal can be reduced. In this way, the current consumption can be reduced not only in the standby state but also in the operating state as compared with the conventional (normal mode).

  The reason why the sampling rate can be reduced in the pre-shipment mode as described above is that the communication partner is the test HF terminal 3. As described above, the test HF terminal 3 is slightly different from the normal HF terminal 1, and as an example, the data transmission rate is different. In the case of the normal HF terminal 1, as shown in FIG. 5A, the data transmission rate (time) is about 10 μs per bit. This is in accordance with, for example, the ISO standard. On the other hand, in the case of the test HF terminal 3, as shown in FIG. 5B, the data transmission rate is about 1 ms per 1 bit. As a result, even if the sampling period = 500 μs or the like, sampling can be performed without any problem.

  Here, the modulation method of the HF terminal is assumed to be 100% ASK (= OOK: On Off Keying). The data transmission rate of the signal of carrier frequency = 13.56 MHz transmitted from the HF terminal is reduced by about two digits from the data transmission rate used in the ISO standard. In other words, the data transmission speed in the pre-shipment mode is a slow pulse of about 1 ms per bit, for example. With this configuration, it is possible to slow down the operation speed of the MCU 16 that demodulates the signal, and when demodulating with software, the current consumption of the microprocessor can be reduced by several orders of magnitude compared to the normal state. become. When the primary battery is mounted, the influence on the battery capacity is very small. Since it is ideal that the current consumption of the battery for the RFID test / ID setting, etc. is as low as possible, this configuration is a great merit.

The MCU 16 samples only the input signal at the S2 terminal in the pre-shipment mode, and samples only the input signal at the S1 terminal in the normal mode.
Note that, as described above, the data (commands, etc.) input to the S2 terminal does not need to comply with the ISO standard, and for example, the RFID 10 manufacturer may determine an arbitrary command system. Similarly, the data transmission rate may be arbitrarily determined. Note that it is considered easy to realize the test HF terminal 3 by modifying the data transmission rate based on the normal HF terminal 1.

Returning to the description of FIG.
When the MCU 16 recognizes the data content (command / setting value, etc.) transmitted from the test HF terminal 3 side in step S11, the MCU 16 executes processing according to this command (steps S12 to S18). As described above, this command does not need to follow the ISO command system, and may be a command based on a unique command system.

  If the received command is a command for various tests (step S12, YES), a predetermined test process corresponding to the command is performed (step S13). This will not be specifically described.

  If the received command is an ID setting command (YES in step S14), the accompanying ID is stored as its own ID in a built-in memory (not shown) (flash memory or the like) (step S15).

  If the received command is a mode change command (step S16, YES), the own mode is changed from the pre-shipment mode to the normal mode (step S17). In this case, a process for changing the control output P may be further performed (step S18). That is, as described above, the control output P of the MCU 16 is the power supply voltage in the pre-shipment mode, but the control output P may be ‘0’V in the normal mode.

  That is, the MCU 16 samples only the input signal to the S1 terminal in the normal mode as described above, and the MOSFET 13 operates (for example, when the RFID 10 is brought close to the normal HF terminal 1) for some reason ( (ON / OFF), since the input signal to the S2 terminal is ignored, no malfunction occurs. However, power consumption due to the operation (ON / OFF) of the MOSFET 13 occurs. In order to avoid such a situation, the drain voltage of the MOSFET 13 is fixed to Low by setting the control output P to 0 V as described above.

  If the received command does not correspond to any of the above (step S16, NO), no processing is executed. Alternatively, an error may be notified to the outside via the second wireless communication unit or the like.

When the execution of the process according to the received command is completed (even when the command is not executed), finally, a process of returning to the standby state is executed (step S19).
The process of step S19 is the above-described “clock; OFF, CPU; OFF, I / O; OFF” when the current mode is the pre-shipment mode, and the “clock” when the current mode is the normal mode. ON, CPU; OFF, I / O; ON ”.

  In the normal mode, the CPU is then woken up at a constant cycle by the clock function to execute a predetermined process. Since this process is an existing process, a flowchart or the like is not particularly shown here.

  In a normal 13.56 MHz passive type RFID, the pulse modulation method is ASK or PPM modulation is used, and the signal pulse time of the modulation signal is 10 μS or less. For this reason, when a complicated circuit is required at a certain high speed, or when the signal demodulation is configured by software, a considerably high speed clock is required for the MCU portion, and current consumption increases.

  On the other hand, in the RFID 10 of this example, while using the normal 13.56 MHz passive type RFID technology, the operation clock of the MCU 16 for demodulating the command is a low-speed operation before the shipment. Good (slow sampling is sufficient). Therefore, current consumption can be reduced.

  For example, in the case of the ISO15693 1 out of 4 PPM (pulse position modulation) command, it is necessary to accurately determine the position of the pulse of 9.5 μS. Therefore, in order to realize it with software, it operates with a clock of about 8 MHz. A microcomputer is required, and a current of about 3 mA is required even if a low current consumption is used.

  On the other hand, the current consumption of the MCU for demodulating the 1 mS NRZ signal is 0.1 mA or less, which has a great merit for energy saving. For example, even if the pulse width of the signal is about 1 mS, the number of bits of the command specifying the test operation is about several bits at most, so the start-up time for the test is about several mS, which does not cause a problem in manufacturing. .

  Since an RFID is usually composed of a plurality of parts, it is necessary to test whether the parts are correct and operate properly. Even in such a case, it is only necessary to give meaning to the HF signal pattern and perform a test operation according to the pattern.

  Also, if the shipment quantity for one delivery is very large (for example, due to a long shipment interval of products), it will be possible to make preparations over time, so capital investment for manufacturing and testing will be small. . Note that “preparation” in this case means that not only manufacturing (with a battery) but also testing has been performed.

  When mounting components on a printed circuit board that constitutes an RFID, an automatic component mounting machine is used. However, if the number of components to be manufactured at one time is small, setup time for component replacement and mounting is added to the product unit price. Therefore, the unit price becomes high. In the case of the RFID 10 of this method, a large amount can be manufactured at a time, so that the setup time for parts can be reduced and it is easy to realize a low price.

As another embodiment (embodiment 2), an example in which a switch is connected to the resonance output side of the antenna as shown in FIG. 6 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of the RFID 20 according to the second embodiment. In the figure, components substantially the same as those of the RFID 10 shown in FIG.

  The RFID 20 has all of the configurations of the RFID 10 shown in the figure, and further includes a switch 21 and a high resistance 22. The MCU 23 has basically the same function as the MCU 16, but is slightly different in that a function for controlling the switch 21 is added.

  The switch 21 is a 1-input 2-output switch, the input side is connected to the antenna 11, and the output side is connected to the gate of the MOSFET 13 and the S1 terminal of the MCU 23. The output side of the switch 21 is connected to either the gate of the MOSFET 13 or the S1 terminal of the MCU 23 by the switching control by the MCU 23. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the output side of the switch 21 is connected to the S1 terminal of the MCU 23.

  A high resistance 22 is connected between the gate of the MOSFET 13 and the ground. In the state where the gate of the MOSFET 13 is cut off as in the state shown in FIG. 6, the gate has an unstable potential, and the MOSFET 13 may malfunction. Therefore, the high resistance 22 is provided in order to prevent the gate from becoming an unstable potential. The high resistance 22 is a resistor having a high resistance value.

  The MCU 23 controls the switch 21 so that the output side of the switch 21 is connected to the gate of the MOSFET 13 in the pre-shipment mode. Thus, no signal is input to the S1 terminal of the MCU 23 during the period from manufacture to shipment. In the first embodiment, even if a signal is input to the S1 terminal in the pre-shipment mode, the MCU 16 ignores this signal. However, by preventing the signal input itself from occurring, the possibility of malfunction can be eliminated. .

  Further, in the normal mode, the MCU 23 controls the switch 21 so that the output side of the switch 21 is connected to the S1 terminal of the MCU 23. With this configuration, the MCU 23 can eliminate the possibility that the test function operates (malfunctions) in the normal mode. That is, the same function as that in the first embodiment is configured so that no signal is input to the S2 terminal of the MCU 16 in the normal mode.

Note that the switch 21 is, for example, a CMOS switch capable of high-frequency switching, and uses a switch that hardly flows standby current.
Further, the configuration as shown in FIG. 6 makes it possible to adjust the resonance of the antenna 11 in the normal mode without considering the input capacitance of the gate of the MOSFET 13, so that the communication distance is not affected at all. A circuit can be realized.

  Further, since the circuit of the MOSFET 13 is assumed to be used only when the distance to the HF terminal is extremely close, for example, when the gate of the MOSFET 13 is disconnected from the antenna 11 by the switch 21, the gate is unstable. Even if the high resistance 8 for preventing the potential from being added is provided in parallel, there is no influence on the circuit for which normal sensitivity is desired to be improved.

  Finally, in FIG. 7, the block diagram of RFID10,20 of the said Examples 1 and 2 is shown. Although the battery is not shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, FIG. 7 shows the battery 30 and the power supply destination from the battery 30.

  In FIG. 7, the MOSFET 13 is illustrated as a simple switch, and the configuration related to the MOSFET 13 (resistor 14, capacitor 15, switch 21, high resistance 22, etc.) is omitted. Therefore, these configurations are merely not shown in FIG. 7 and actually exist.

  In FIG. 7, the illustrated battery 30 is a primary battery (small battery; lithium coin battery, etc.) not shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, and as described above, each component ( MCU 16 etc.). A detailed example is as shown in FIG. 7, and power is supplied to the RFIC 17 and the amplifier 31 in addition to the MCU 16 (23). As described above, power is also supplied to the MOSFET 13 (resistor 14 side) via the MCU 16 (23).

  Here, the illustrated amplifier 31 is an amplifier for amplifying the reception signal (resonance output S) received by radio transmission from the HF terminal described above, and is the amplifier already described. As described above, such an amplifier may be built in the MCU 16 (23).

  The amplifier 31 is supplied with power from the battery 30 via the illustrated switch SW1. The RFIC 17 is supplied with power from the battery 30 via the illustrated switch SW2. The MCU 16 (23) performs ON / OFF control of the switches SW1 and SW2 when the MCU 16 (23) is in an operating state (not in a standby state). In particular, during operation (in the operation mode), in the operation state in the intermittent operation for confirming whether or not the transmission signal from the HF terminal is received, the amplifier 31 is controlled by turning on the switch SW1. To supply power. As a result, the resonance output S is amplified by the amplifier 31 and input to the S1 terminal.

  Alternatively, for example, in the case of an RFID that performs an operation of periodically transmitting data (such as its own ID) to the outside via the second wireless communication unit during operation (in the operation mode), By controlling the switch SW2 to be ON, power is supplied to the RFIC 17.

In any case, power will be consumed, and if such an operation is performed for a long time before shipment, the battery 30 will be consumed heavily.
On the other hand, in the RFIDs 10 and 20 of this example, before shipment (pre-shipment mode), the MCU 16 (23 through the first wireless communication unit only when necessary (during test or ID setting or mode change)). Only works. That is, before shipment, the switches SW1 and SW2 are not ON-controlled, and the amplifier 31 and the RFIC 17 are not supplied with power. Further, it is not necessary for the MCU 16 (23) to periodically start one by one for the ON control of the switches SW1 and SW2. Therefore, in the standby state, not only the CPU but also the clock function can be turned off. As described above, before shipping, power can be saved from various points, and long-term storage after manufacturing / testing can be performed.

  In Patent Document 2, a hybrid tag as described in paragraph 0032 is used. The RFID 10 or the like of this example may be basically considered as a hybrid type tag as in this case, but is slightly different as shown in FIG. That is, since there is the amplifier 31 shown in the figure, the MCU 16 and the like must be periodically activated to control the SW1 to be ON. If it is a normal passive tag, such an operation is not necessary, and if it is close to the HF terminal 1, power is supplied from the HF terminal 1 and a signal is input to S1, but in this example, if SW1 is not ON, S1 No signal is input to. For this reason, if it is stored in the warehouse in the normal mode, the power consumption becomes large. However, in this example, such a problem can be solved by storing in the pre-shipment mode.

Although not shown in FIG. 7, the RFID tag 10 or the like may include a rectifier circuit, and power supply from the HF terminal 1 may be obtained by the rectifier circuit.
FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of the RFID system of this example.

In the figure, components that are substantially the same as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals.
The RFID 10 and the RFID 20 include a radio communication unit 41 (for example, the antenna 11 and the resonance capacitor 12) including an antenna that receives a modulation signal from a terminal (terminals 1, 3, etc.), and the modulation signal received by the radio communication unit. The RFID tag includes a control unit 42 (for example, MCU 16, 23) that receives and demodulates from one input terminal (S 1 terminal) and includes a battery 30.

  A semiconductor switch unit 43 (for example, the MOSFET 13) is provided between the wireless communication unit 41 and the control unit. When the level of the modulation signal (for example, the resonance output S) received by the wireless communication unit 41 is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, the semiconductor switch unit 43 is turned on / off according to the modulation signal to thereby turn on the second input terminal (S2 The modulation signal is input to a terminal or the like.

  The control unit 42 includes the second input terminal, a first mode in which the CPU is in an off state in a standby state but a clock is in an on state, and a second mode in which both the CPU and the clock are in an off state in a standby state. have.

  The control unit 42 includes a pre-shipment control unit 44. In the second mode, the pre-shipment control unit 44 is activated when the modulation signal is input to the second input terminal in the standby state and enters an operation state, and executes processing according to the command indicated by the modulation signal. To do.

  In addition, the control unit 42 includes an operation time control unit 45. The operation-time control unit 45 intermittently enters the operation state in the first operation mode, and samples the signal input to the first input terminal at the first sampling period in the operation state. Is input, the modulated signal is acquired and demodulated.

  In addition, the pre-shipment control unit 44 samples the modulation signal input to the second input terminal at a second sampling period longer than the first sampling period, so that the modulation signal is Get the indicated command.

  Here, each of the terminal 1 and the terminal 3 includes an output unit 51 and an output unit 61 that wirelessly transmit the modulated signal to the RFID 10 and the RFID 20. The functions of these output units 51 and 61 differ in the following points.

  That is, the output unit 51 of the normal terminal 1 outputs at a data transmission rate corresponding to the first sampling period, whereas the output unit 61 of the test terminal 31 outputs the second sampling. The data is output at a data transmission rate according to the cycle. That is, the data output speed of the test output unit 61 is slower than that of the normal output unit 51.

  Further, for example, the test output unit 61 makes the wireless transmission output of the modulated signal larger than that of the normal output unit 51. Thus, the level of the modulation signal from the test terminal 3 received by the wireless communication unit is set to the predetermined level or higher, and the level of the modulation signal from the normal terminal 1 received by the wireless communication unit is set to the predetermined level. Less than.

  However, not limited to this example, the wireless transmission output of the test output unit 61 may be substantially the same as the normal output unit 51. In this case, however, the distance between the test terminal 3 and the RFID tag is made shorter than the distance between the normal terminal 1 and the RFID tag during operation, thereby receiving the test terminal 3 received by the wireless communication unit. And the level of the modulation signal from the normal terminal 1 received by the wireless communication unit is less than the predetermined level.

  Further, the normal terminal 1 (its output unit 51) uses commands of the ISO15693 command system and applies a data transmission rate conforming to ISO15693. On the other hand, the test terminal 3 (its output unit 61) can use a command of a unique command system different from the ISO15693 command system, and the data transmission speed is an arbitrary data transmission speed.

  Accordingly, for example, when the operation control unit 45 is in the operation state in the first mode, the modulation signal input from the first input terminal is sampled at the first sampling period in accordance with ISO15693, thereby Get command system commands.

  On the other hand, when the pre-shipment control unit 44 is in the operating state in the second mode, it samples the modulated signal input from the second input terminal at the second sampling period, thereby providing a command of a unique command system. To get. Of course, this command can be interpreted and executed. For example, when this command is a mode change command, the mode is changed from the second mode to the first mode. For example, when this command is an ID setting command, an arbitrary ID received together with the command is stored as its own ID. If this command is an arbitrary test command, a test operation corresponding to the command is performed.

Further, for example, the control unit 42 supplies power to the semiconductor switch unit 43 in the second mode, and stops the power supply after switching to the first mode.
According to the present invention, since the antenna 11 used in the original RFID is shared for manufacturing tests, no special parts are required, and only a few yen of the MOSFET 13, the resistor 14, the capacitor 15, etc. are connected. The RFIDs 10 and 20 having the above various characteristics and merits can be realized.

  When another circuit is added, the operating current of the additional circuit itself is usually required. However, in the present invention, the standby current is almost zero, so even if it is made in the final form with the battery connected. There is no effect. In this way, when there is a shipment request, it is possible to immediately ship by simply switching to the normal use state (normal mode) with HF.

  Further, the RFID needs to have a unique identification number (ID), and requires ID setting work. Conventionally, for example, the ID is stored when the RFID is manufactured. On the other hand, in the RFIDs 10 and 20 of this example, for example, after the test is completed (check OK), it is possible to perform ID setting work before shipment, etc., so that ID management at the time of chip manufacture becomes unnecessary. It is a merit. Furthermore, even when an RFID having the same ID as that of an RFID that can no longer be used due to battery life or the like becomes necessary, the ID can be freely set, so that it can be easily handled.

  Normally, when manufacturing a large number of RFIDs, IDs are written at the time of MCU chip manufacturing. Naturally, it is necessary to set all different IDs, and management of MCU chips to which IDs are written is managed. Need to occur. An RFID in an unfinished form (however, an MCU chip has been manufactured and an ID has been set) is completed by combining other parts. If there is a problem with the other parts combined, Even if the MCU itself is normal, the operation of the RFID becomes defective, and the set ID becomes a missing number.

  On the other hand, for example, when an RFID ID delivered by a customer or the like is said to be a continuous ID, is it necessary to remove only the malfunctioning RFID MCU from the printed circuit board and remount it on a new circuit board? Of course, it is necessary to remanufacture the MCU chip itself in the past, and it is natural that such special measures are not preferable because they generate different costs. Removing and remounting the chip is not desirable because it increases the stress on the MCU chip.

  According to this method, since the unique ID can be set for each RFID after the test is completed with the completed RFID (after the hardware operation is confirmed), the above problem does not occur. Further, since it is only necessary to execute ID issuance management at the same time as writing the ID into the RFID on the manufacturing record, management can be performed very easily both in terms of product management and provision of serial numbers.

  Also, on the drain side of the added MOSFET 13, by applying the power supply voltage / OFF (0V) corresponding to the RFID operation mode, no current flows during operation, and a signal change occurs in the MCU. Therefore, it is excellent in that there is no need to give unnecessary consideration to hardware or built-in programs during normal use.

  It should be noted that a normal RFID that operates by receiving power supply from the HF reader needs to perform signal transmission simultaneously with power supply in the case of downlink communication from the reader to the RFID direction. 10% to 30% of ASK is used so that is fully supplied. In the case of 100% ASK of the ISO15693 standard, the time for which the 13.56 MHz signal is cut off is about 9.5 μS between 75 μS. Therefore, while the HF transmitter and the RFID are at a short distance, a slight whisker-like output is generated at the drain of the MOSFET, but the drain voltage of the MOSFET takes a value close to 0V. It should be possible to set the output according to the modulation method by selecting the numerical value.

1 Normal terminal 2 UHF terminal 3 Test terminal 10 RFID
11 Antenna 12 Resonant Capacitor 13 MOSFET
14 Resistor 15 Capacitor 16 MCU
17 RFIC
18 RF antenna 21 Switch 22 High resistance 23 MCU
30 battery 31 amplifier SW1 switch SW2 switch 41 wireless communication unit 42 control unit 43 semiconductor switch unit 44 pre-shipment control unit 45 operation control unit 51 output unit 61 output unit

Claims (13)

An RFID tag having a battery, which includes a wireless communication unit including an antenna that receives a modulation signal from a terminal, and a control unit that inputs and demodulates the modulation signal received by the wireless communication unit from a first input terminal. And
The second input terminal is provided between the wireless communication unit and the control unit and is turned on / off according to the modulation signal when the level of the modulation signal received by the wireless communication unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined level. A semiconductor switch unit for inputting the modulation signal;
The control unit includes the second input terminal, a first mode in which the CPU is off in the standby state but the clock is on, and a second mode in which both the CPU and the clock are off in the standby state. Have
In the second mode, the control unit is activated when the modulation signal is input to the second input terminal in the standby state and enters an operation state, and processing according to a command indicated by the modulation signal An RFID tag comprising pre-shipment control means for executing The control unit intermittently enters an operation state in the first mode, and samples the signal input to the first input terminal at a first sampling period in the operation state, whereby the modulation signal is It further has operation control means for acquiring the modulation signal and performing the demodulation when it is input,
The pre-shipment control means, when in the operating state, samples the modulation signal input to the second input terminal at a second sampling period longer than the first sampling period. The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein a command to be obtained is acquired. Signal amplifying means for amplifying a signal input to the first input terminal;
3. The operation control unit according to claim 1, wherein the signal amplification unit is operable by supplying power from the battery to the signal amplification unit in the intermittent operation state. RFID tag.   3. The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein the pre-shipment control means changes the mode from the second mode to the first mode when the command is a mode change command.   3. The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein, when the command is an ID setting command, the pre-shipment control means stores an arbitrary ID received together with the command as its own ID.   3. The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein when the command is an arbitrary test command, the pre-shipment control unit performs a test operation according to the command.   2. The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein the command acquired by the pre-shipment control means is a command having a unique command system different from the ISO15693 command system.   The operation control means of the control unit samples the modulation signal input from the first input terminal at the first sampling period according to ISO15693 when in the operation state in the first mode, thereby obtaining ISO15693. 3. The RFID tag according to claim 2, further comprising normal control means for acquiring commands of the command system. In addition to the wireless communication unit corresponding to the HF frequency band, a second wireless communication unit corresponding to a frequency band higher than the HF frequency band is provided,
The RFID tag according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication unit is for reception and data transmission is performed by the second wireless communication unit.   5. The RFID tag according to claim 4, wherein the control unit supplies power to the semiconductor switch unit in the second mode and stops the power supply after switching to the first mode. An RFID tag pre-shipment management method according to claim 1,
Before shipment of an RFID tag, the RFID tag is subjected to ID setting by an ID setting command after completion of testing by all test commands, and mode change is performed by a mode change command immediately before shipment. Management method. A radio communication unit including an antenna that receives a modulation signal from a terminal, and a control unit that inputs and demodulates the modulation signal received by the radio communication unit from a first input terminal. A system for managing before shipping,
The RFID tag is
The second input terminal is provided between the wireless communication unit and the control unit, and is turned on / off according to the modulation signal when the level of the modulation signal received by the wireless communication unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined level. A semiconductor switch part for inputting the modulation signal to
The control unit has a first mode in which the CPU is off in the standby state but the clock is on, and a second mode in which both the CPU and the clock are off in the standby state.
In the second mode, the control unit is activated when the modulation signal is input to the second input terminal in the standby state and enters an operation state, and processing according to a command indicated by the modulation signal Having pre-shipment control means for performing
A test terminal is provided as the terminal,
The RFID tag pre-shipment management system, wherein a level of a modulation signal received from the test terminal received by the wireless communication unit is equal to or higher than the predetermined level. The wireless transmission output of the modulation signal of the test terminal is made larger than the wireless transmission output of the modulation signal of the normal terminal used during operation, or the distance between the test terminal and the RFID tag is increased The level of the modulation signal from the test terminal received by the wireless communication unit is set to be equal to or higher than the predetermined level by making it shorter than the distance between the normal terminal and the RFID tag during the operation. 13. The RFID tag pre-shipment management system according to claim 12, wherein a level of a modulation signal received from a normal terminal received by a wireless communication unit is less than the predetermined level.

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