JP2763837B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus capable of comprehensively processing information on individual articles and information on a moving body that is an aggregate of articles in the field of physical distribution, FA, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the background of production and distribution of many kinds and small quantities, automatic recognition technology such as a moving object identification device has been applied in the fields of factory automation (FA), logistics and various social systems. Is being promoted.

[0003] A moving object identification device generally includes an interrogator arranged at a fixed position and a transponder attached to a moving object or the like, and is used for inputting, inspecting, and paying out parts of a production line. It is an effective device to manage information such as specifications, processing and inspection of each product in the process. The mobile object identification device is used for transportation, distribution, and the like in addition to the production line, and is also called a data carrier system.

A transponder of this type of mobile unit identification device is called a data carrier and usually has a large memory capacity, a readable / writable RAM, and a sealed structure in which a communication control unit having an antenna and the like is built. And is attached to the moving body. The moving body is, for example, a pallet conveyed on a roller conveyor, and various articles or parts are stored in the pallet. Information of moving object is RAM
It is written in the etc., and changes in the original information and movement of the process of the moving body
It contains information on items and parts to be added. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when each article corresponds to the moving object A and each set of articles corresponds to the moving object B, an interrogator capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from the transponder is transmitted to the transit location and the moving object A. By installing it at the place where the object B passes, information processing can be performed immediately in response to a change in the information of the moving object, and "integration of an object and information" can be realized. Here, the "integration of goods and information", the information of the moving body composed of the article,
This means that the information can be written in the rewritable information recording means attached to the moving object.

On the other hand, an information processing apparatus using a bar code
A label in which information that does not change is converted into a bar code at a minimum is attached to the moving object, and read by a bar code reader. FIG.
As shown in the figure, since the barcode is a non-writable information source, the original information corresponding to the barcode of each moving object and the information to be added or changed are centralized systems managed by the host computer, and the barcode Is just "integration of the function to associate objects with information." Here, the term "objects and integration of information functions to associate", only the information that does not change in the movement of the information of the moving body composed of an article, the non-rewritable information attached to the moving body Means writing to the recording means.

[0006]

An information processing apparatus using a bar code is used as an information medium for individual articles due to low media cost and large spread, and has established itself as an identification technology for merchandise distribution. However, since barcodes have a small amount of data and are exclusively used for reading, when processing collective information of a group of articles such as pallets and containers, the information must be stored in a host computer, which makes the system complex and flexible. It is lacking, and there is a problem that "integration of things and information" is difficult.

[0007] On the other hand, the mobile object identification device has a high media cost, and is unsuitable for information media for individual articles from the viewpoint of spread.

Accordingly, the present invention uses a solid animateness report lower bar code like non-rewritable recording means the media cost in the recording means of the article, the media cost only in the recording means information of the moving object is high mobile An information processing apparatus capable of reducing the overall media cost by using a rewritable recording device such as an identification device as compared with a conventional technology using a rewritable recording device having a high media cost for each of an article and a moving object. Is provided.

[0009]

According to the present invention, an article is provided.
Read or write information on moving objects to be carried and moved
An information processing apparatus for writing, specific an article information
Records, non-rewritable items attached to the item
Write to unique information recording means and article unique information recording means
Item specific information reading for reading the specific information of
Picking means and unique information about the article carried on the moving body
And recording information of a moving body including information related to movement.
A rewritable mobile information recorder attached to the mobile
And writing the information of the moving body to the moving body information recording means.
Mobile information writing means and mobile information recording means
Moving object information for reading written information of moving object
An information processing apparatus comprising: a reading unit;
When reading the information of the
The mobile unit information reading means
When reading and writing information about the mobile
Article-specific information record attached to the carried article
Read the product-specific information recorded in the means
The moving body is read by the
The moving object information is the unique information of the article to be carried and the information on the movement.
There is provided an information processing apparatus characterized in that writing is performed on moving object information recording means by a writing means .

[0010]

[Action] moving body to be changed, added, or reduction in the movement of the process
Solid animateness report of articles individual article carrying has is recorded by the attached rewritable article-specific information storage recording means to the article, the information is read by the article-specific information reading means, the moving body information The information is written to the rewritable moving body information recording means attached to the moving body by the report writing means. In addition, writing to the mobile information recording means
The information of the moving object inserted is read by the moving object information reading means.
Read.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In a physical distribution or the like, the information of an article is given to the information of each article, and the movement and storage are collected on a pallet, a container, a shelf or the like according to the destination and the purpose of the article. Each time the purpose of the distribution process changes, the contents of the article group change and the information changes, but the information of each article does not change.

As shown in FIG. 1, each article corresponds to a moving object a10 moving in the direction of arrow I, a moving object b11 moving in the direction of arrow II,..., Pallets, containers, shelves containing these articles. The moving object A12 moves in the direction of arrow III, the moving object B13 moves in the direction of arrow IV, and so on. The information processing apparatus includes bar code readers 14 and 15, which are reading means for reading information of each item,
The information of each item of the moving object a is read by the barcode reader 14, and the information of each item of the moving object b is read by the barcode reader.
Read by 15. Information may include, for example, country of manufacture,
Manufacturer name, product code number, date of manufacture, etc. A fixed scanner is used as the barcode reader, and the barcodes 16 and 17 attached to each moving object are automatically read when passing by the side of the barcode reader.
This type of barcode reader is used in a so-called POS system (point-of-sale information management system), and is a device that optically reads a barcode using a He-Ne laser as a light source. Barcode readers 14 and 15
Are provided in accordance with the type of article or the transport path of the article, and are connected to a bar code reader controller 18 for controlling these.

As described above, the moving objects A, B,... Which are an aggregate of the moving objects a, b,. Change. Are moving objects a, b,.
.., The amount of information is large. This information is processed by the moving object identification device that forms a part of the information processing device. This moving object identification device includes moving objects A, B,
The mobile information storage record means attached to., The solid animateness report of articles read by the bar code reader is an article-specific information reading means, writing by the mobile information writing means.

The moving object identification apparatus according to the present embodiment includes transponders 20 and 21, interrogator antennas 22 and 23, and an interrogator controller 24. The transponders 20 and 21 are attached to a pallet, a container, a shelf, or the like of a moving object, and the interrogator antennas 22 and 23 are provided at a place where the purpose of the distribution process changes, that is, at a place where information changes. . In order to control communication between these interrogators and transponders, an interrogator controller 24 capable of controlling several interrogators is provided. A computer 30 is further connected to the interrogator controller 24. The barcode reader controller 18 is also connected to the computer 30. The computer 30, the moving object A, B, to the mobile information of the recording means mounted on ..., the article read by the bar code reader is an article-specific information reading means solid animateness <br/> paper the controls writing by the mobile information writing means.

The transponder 20 has a function of receiving and demodulating a microwave interrogation signal emitted from the interrogator antenna 22, or performing digital modulation on the received unmodulated microwave and transmitting it. It includes a RAM for storing the received data, a microprocessor for controlling the operation of the transponder 20, and the like (not shown).

The interrogator antenna 22 is controlled by the interrogator controller 24 which receives an instruction from the
It has a function of transmitting an interrogation signal and demodulating the microwave received from the transponder 20. The interrogator controller 24 includes a microprocessor or the like for controlling the operation of the interrogators 22 and 23 (not shown).

Information transmission between the interrogator antenna 22 and the transponder 20 is performed as follows.

When information is transmitted from the interrogator antenna 22 to the transponder 20, the interrogator antenna 22 transmits an interrogation signal radio wave to the transponder 20 which is within its effective radio wave range. The transponder 20 responds to this, and the interrogator antenna 22 that has received this response transmits information to the transponder 20,
Write information to AM. This information is, for example, the number of articles a and b stored in the pallet, or their transport destination.

When transmitting information from the transponder 20 to the interrogator antenna 22, the transponder 20 which has entered the effective radio range of the interrogator antenna 22 receives the interrogation signal radio wave from the interrogator antenna 22, and then transmits the interrogator antenna 22. Then, the transponder 20 modulates the unmodulated microwave transmitted from the interrogator antenna 22 based on the information stored in the RAM, and transmits the modulated signal to the interrogator antenna 22. .

The above description of the transponder 20 and the interrogator antenna 22 is described above.
It just applies to.

FIG. 2 shows the flow of information when the information processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to, for example, distribution.

The moving objects a, b, and c are articles a, b, and c, respectively.
, And the unique information of each article is stored in a barcode and read by a barcode reader. These articles a, b, and c are respectively l pieces, m
And n are collected and stored in one pallet, and become a moving object A having information indicated by reference numeral 53. An interrogator is installed at the place where the moving object A is formed,
This interrogator writes information 53 to the transponder attached to the pallet. This information changes in the course of distribution, and changes to information indicated by reference numeral 54 in various processes such as assembly, processing, inspection, and packing. In the present embodiment, the information 54 is added to the information 53 by adding the information that the articles a, b, and c have been processed to form the article X and the transport destination, and is written by the interrogator. Then, the information 54 stored in the transponder is read by an interrogator provided at a place where the moving body is divided according to the transport destination, and this information is read.
By the computer that reads 54, the mobile object
And information 56.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
Since provided with a bar code reader and mobile identification device, integral "product information by linking the mobile information of the mobile is a collection of solid animateness paper and article of article having the article individually easily And the overall media cost can be reduced as compared with the prior art using a mobile object identification device having a high media cost for each of the article and the mobile object.

In the above embodiment, a microwave system is used as a transmission medium, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an electromagnetic coupling system, an electromagnetic induction system, an optical communication system, or the like may be used.

[0027]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, information on a moving body that carries and moves an article is read.
Alternatively, it is an information processing device for writing,
Record unique information that is attached to the article and cannot be rewritten.
Possible article-specific information recording means and article-specific information recording means
To read the unique information of the article written on the
Information reading means and an article carried on the moving body.
Information of the mobile body, which is composed of unique information
Recordable, rewritable mobile attached to mobile
Information recording means, and information of the moving body in the moving body information recording means.
Moving body information writing means for writing, and moving body information
For reading the information of the moving body written in the recording means
An information processing apparatus having mobile object information reading means;
When reading information about a mobile object,
Read the mobile unit information recorded in the means
When the reading means reads and writes the information of the moving body
Is the article attached to the article carried on the moving body
The unique information of the article recorded in the unique information recording means
Read by the product-specific information reading means, and
Information and movement information of the goods carried by the moving object
To the moving body information recording means by the moving body information writing means
A non-rewritable recording means such as a barcode with a low media cost is used as a recording means for writing and article-specific information, and a rewritable recording means such as a moving body identification device having a high media cost is used only as a recording means for moving body information. By using, it is possible to measure "integration of objects and information", and the overall media cost compared to the conventional technology that uses rewritable recording means with high media cost for each of the article and the moving object It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus capable of reducing the power consumption. Also changed / added during the movement process
.Articles that each of the articles carried by the moving object to be reduced has
Unique information can be written to the mobile information recording means.
You.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a flow of information in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a moving object identification device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an information processing apparatus using a barcode reader.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11, 12, 13 Moving object 14, 15 Barcode reader 16, 17 Barcode 18 Controller for barcode reader 20, 21 Transponder 22, 23 Interrogator antenna 24 Interrogator controller 30 Computer

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-3-191489 (JP, A) JP-A-1-305483 (JP, A) JP-A-63-145591 (JP, A) JP-A-3-6685 (JP) JP-A-1-233581 (JP, A) JP-A-3-148367 (JP, A) JP-A-3-14193 (JP, A) JP-A 62-124905 (JP, U) JP-A 57-159185 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06K 7/10

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. Information on a moving body that carries and moves an article is
An information processing apparatus for reading or writing, to record the specific information relating to the article, is taken up in the article
An article-specific information recording means attached and non-rewritable;
The uniqueness of the article written in the article unique information recording means
Article-specific information reading means for reading information;
The unique information and movement of the article carried on the moving body;
Recording the information of the moving object comprising the information relating to
A rewritable moving body information recording means attached to a moving body
And writing the information of the moving body in the moving body information recording means.
Moving body information writing means for reading the moving body information
The information of the moving body written in the recording means is read.
The information processing apparatus, comprising:
A location, when reading the information of the movable body, the mobile body information
The information of the moving object recorded in the recording means is transferred to the moving object.
When the moving body information reading means reads and writes the information of the moving body, the moving body information reading means bears on the moving body.
The article-specific information attached to the article held
The unique information of the article recorded in the recording means
Read by the unique information reading means;
Information related to the article carried by the moving body and the movement
And the moving object information writing means.
An information processing apparatus for writing information to an information recording unit .