JP3052599B2 - Information storage medium and its issuing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information storage medium and an issuing machine thereof, and more particularly, to an information storage medium such as an electronic tag for automatically sorting packages by transmitting and receiving radio waves in a delivery system such as a home delivery service. , And an issuing machine that issues the information storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a home delivery service delivery system, attempts have been made to automate sorting of collected packages by computer management. An electronic tag has been proposed as a device for achieving such automation (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-203021).

A conventional electronic tag is attached to a package separately from a handwritten delivery slip. Identification information such as a delivery address of the package is written in a memory in advance, and identification is performed by receiving an inquiry signal from an interrogator. It has a configuration in which a response circuit that transmits information as a response signal is housed in a package. The response circuit works with a built-in battery. When the luggage to which the electronic tag is attached is conveyed on a sorting line conveyor, interrogators installed at various points on the line receive the identification information from the electronic tag and the destination of the luggage is identified without contact. This enables automatic sorting.

[0004] However, if the electronic tag is used in the same manner as a normal tag or a delivery slip, it is conceivable that the electronic tag will be used several months to one year or more after production. In such a case, the electromotive force of the battery built in the electronic tag has already disappeared, and there is a possibility that the electronic tag cannot be used.

In order to solve this problem, the applicant of the present application has various means for connecting an electrode of a battery and an electrode of a response circuit at the time of use. When a predetermined conductive member is cut, power is supplied from the battery. And the one using photovoltaic power were proposed.

[0006]

However, these electronic tags require manual operations such as cutting out a part of a slip, folding the slip, and removing a light-shielding seal, and thus necessarily meet the demand for labor saving. There was no problem.

Further, it is conceivable that an issuing machine for issuing an electronic slip is provided with a mechanism for punching a punch hole for cutting a predetermined conductive member of the electronic slip. There is a problem in that a mechanism for positioning with high accuracy is required, and the cost is high and the service life of the mechanism is short.

According to the present invention, the electromotive force of the battery of the response circuit which responds to the interrogator is sufficiently ensured when used, and the electromotive force of the battery is supplied to the response circuit without requiring any artificial operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information storage medium for which supply is started and an inexpensive and long-lasting issuing machine for issuing such an information storage medium which can be stored for a long time.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to the first aspect has a battery for supplying power and has identification information stored in advance in response to an interrogation radio wave from an interrogator. A response circuit that returns a response radio wave as a response radio wave, the response circuit includes a switching unit that conducts or shuts off a power supply path from the battery to the response circuit, and an issuer that issues the information storage medium. The electromagnetic coupling means capable of electromagnetic coupling, and until the electromagnetic coupling means is electromagnetically coupled with the issuing machine, the switching means is switched to a blocking side, and when the electromagnetic coupling means is electromagnetically coupled with the issuing machine, A gist of the present invention is an information storage medium including: a switching control unit for switching a switching unit to a conduction side.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a battery for supplying power and a power supply path from the battery are shut off until the battery is electromagnetically coupled to the outside, and the power supply path is electromagnetically coupled to the outside when the battery is electromagnetically coupled to the outside. An issuer for issuing an information storage medium having a response circuit that is conductive and capable of writing identification information, comprising: an electromagnetic coupling unit capable of electromagnetic coupling with the response circuit of the information storage medium; and the electromagnetic coupling unit. And a writing means for writing the identification information into the response circuit when power is supplied from the battery to the response circuit by electromagnetic coupling according to the present invention.

[0011]

In the information storage medium according to the first aspect of the present invention, the switching control means switches on or off the power supply path from the battery to the response circuit until it is electromagnetically coupled to the issuing device by the electromagnetic coupling means. To the shut-off side, and when the electromagnetic coupling means is electromagnetically coupled to the issuing machine, the switching control means
The switching means is switched to the conduction side.

In the issuing device according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the power supply from the battery to the response circuit is enabled by the electromagnetic coupling with the information storage medium by the electromagnetic coupling means, the writing means includes:
The identification information is written to the response circuit that receives power supply from the battery.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of an information storage medium according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram thereof. In FIG. 1, a courier slip 1, which is an information storage medium (electronic tag), is composed of a plurality of various slips, and includes a conventional delivery slip function and an electronic tag function in one slip. . This courier slip 1
It mainly comprises a handwritten entry field 2, a response circuit 3, and a code display section 4.

[0014] In the handwritten entry field 2, information such as the destination and the sender is entered by handwriting by the user (client), and the arrival code (sorting code), fee, etc. are entered by handwriting at the courier service agency. Part. The response circuit 3 includes, as a basic configuration, an antenna 31 for exchanging data,
An IC 32 for controlling a circuit and storing delivery data;
In addition to a battery (power supply) 35 that supplies power to the IC 32, a coil 34 that generates power by electromagnetic coupling with a starting coil 51 of the issuing machine, and a power-on state by the power of the coil 34, A switching element 33 for maintaining an ON state. Switching element 33
Is composed of, for example, a flip-flop 37 and a transistor 38 as shown in FIG. The transistor 38 corresponds to switching means, and the flip-flop 37 corresponds to switching control means.

In FIG. 2, before the slip is issued, the response circuit 3 is sufficiently separated from the starting coil 51, the coil 34 does not generate electric power, and the S terminal of the flip-flop 37 becomes low level. I have. Further, the R terminal temporarily goes to a high level when the battery 35 is connected, but immediately goes to a low level since it is grounded. Therefore, the inverted output of the flip-flop 37 is at a high level. Since this inverted output is output to the base of the transistor 38, the emitter and the collector of the transistor 38 become non-conductive, and the power from the battery 35 is not supplied to the IC 32.

Next, when the response circuit 3 is used, the starting coil 51 and the coil 34 provided in the issuing machine, which will be described later, are in a position close enough to cause electromagnetic induction, and power is generated in the coil 34. At that time, the S terminal of the flip-flop 37 becomes high level. On the other hand, since the R terminal remains at the low level, the inverted output of the flip-flop 37 is at the low level. As a result, conduction between the emitter and the collector of the transistor 38 is established, and power is supplied from the battery 35 to the IC 32. This state is maintained without change even if the generation of the slip is completed and the coil 34 is sufficiently separated from the starting coil 51 to generate no electric power.

FIG. 3 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the electrical configuration of the home delivery slip 1. In FIG. 3, an IC 32 includes a modulator 32.
a, detector 32b, level comparator 32c, and CPU 32d
And a clock generator 32e and a memory 32f. The battery 35 is connected to the IC 32 by the switching element 33.
When the power from the power supply is supplied, the voltage of the output signal of the detector 32b is compared with the reference voltage by the operational amplifier 321 of the level comparator 32c. It is configured to be connected to the device 32e. The memory 32f includes the CPU 3
The received data is stored in addition to the program executed by 2d.

As the substrate material of the response circuit 3, for example, a substrate made of a flexible material such as polyester, polyimide, or paper may be used in addition to a hard substrate. The coil 34 is formed by a print pattern or screen printing. Next, the configuration of the issuing machine according to the second aspect of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of the issuing machine of the home delivery slip 1. In FIG. 4, the issuing machine 5
Is a setting slit 57 for inserting the courier slip 1,
A start-up coil 51 for electromagnetically coupling and supplying power to the coil 34 of the response circuit 3 provided on the courier slip 1, and a bar for reading a bar code 43 corresponding to the slip number, which is previously written on the courier slip 1. A code reader 52, a keyboard 53 for inputting luggage information, a writer (corresponding to a writer) 54 for writing necessary information to the response circuit 3, a display 55 for displaying the write information, It comprises a controlling computer 56 and a printer 58 for printing necessary information at a predetermined position on the courier slip 1.

The writer 54, as shown in FIG.
CPU 54a that controls each unit, and clock oscillator 54g that generates a clock signal for driving CPU 54a
A carrier oscillation circuit 54c for oscillating a carrier, a modulation circuit 54b for modulating the carrier of the carrier oscillation circuit 54c, an antenna 54e for transmitting the interrogation radio S1 and receiving the response radio S2, and an interrogation S1. It comprises a circulator 54d for separating the response radio wave S2 and a demodulation circuit 54f for demodulating the data carried on the received response radio wave S2.

Next, a slip issuing process in the home delivery service delivery system will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When a request for delivery of a package is sent from a client to a courier agent, the client first fills in a handwritten entry field 2 of the courier slip 1 with required items such as a delivery address of the package and a telephone number. Subsequently, a courier agent confirms the entry, and then uses the keyboard 53 of the issuing machine 5 to input luggage information such as a destination telephone number, a delivery fee, and a luggage type. When the computer 56 detects the input of the telephone number (step 100), the computer 56 searches for the destination sorting code from the input telephone number (step 110). After the input is completed, the clerk sets the courier slip 1 in the setting slit 57 of the issuing machine 5 so that the front side (the side where the handwritten entry column 2 is provided) is in front.

When the CPU 56 detects that the home delivery slip 1 has been set in the setting slit 57 (step 1).
20), a read instruction signal is output to the barcode reader 52, and the information content of the barcode 43 printed on the code display section 4 of the courier slip 1 is read (step 13).
0), the ID number of the courier slip 1 is detected. At this time, if courier slip 1 is not set correctly,
Since the bar code 43 cannot be read normally, the reading state of the bar code 43 is determined (step 140). If the bar code 43 is not normal, a display instruction signal is output to the display 55 to display an error (step 150). ), Prompting the courier slip 1 to be reset.

If it is determined that the barcode 43 has been read normally, the CPU 56 outputs a start instruction signal to the start coil 51 and supplies electric power to the coil 34 of the response circuit 3 by electromagnetic coupling ( Step 160), followed by
The write instruction signal is output to the writer 54. CPU that inputs a write instruction signal output from computer 56
54a modulates the carrier wave from the carrier oscillation circuit 54c by the modulation circuit 54b according to the sent luggage information. The modulated signal is transmitted as an interrogation radio wave S1 (writing radio wave) from the antenna 54e via the circulator 54d to the response circuit 3 of the courier slip 1, and the response circuit 3 receives the interrogation radio wave S1 and receives the package information. Is stored in the memory 32f, and after the storage process is completed, a confirmation signal (response radio wave S2) for confirming the stored contents is transmitted to the writer 54.

The confirmation signal transmitted from the response circuit 3 is demodulated by the demodulator 54f via the antenna 54e and the circulator 54d, and output to the CPU 54a. C
The PU 54a detects the demodulated confirmation signal, outputs the detection result to the computer 56, and
Ends the write operation for.

In this way, the luggage information such as the ID number, sorting code, delivery fee, and luggage type of the courier slip 1 is written in the response circuit 3 (step 170). further,
A print instruction signal is output to the printer 58 to print necessary items (step 180). Then, when a series of data input is completed, the home delivery slip 1 is attached to the luggage requested by the client, a slip copy is given to the requester, necessary slip pieces are extracted and stored at the home delivery agency. In this case, instead of storing the slips,
The data at the time of issuance may be stored in the internal or external memory of the issuing machine 5. In addition, by connecting the issuing machine 5 to the computer of the distribution center online, the input data can be transmitted immediately to the distribution center, and centralized management of home delivery information becomes possible.

The delivery system having the courier slip 1 and the issuing machine 5 configured as described above is generally shown in FIG.
The system is shown below. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the requester sends a package delivery request to a courier service agent, the requester first enters the required information such as the address of the package and the telephone number in the handwritten entry field 2 of the courier service slip 1. Filled in,
Subsequently, the courier service slip 1 is started, the package information is written on the courier service slip 1 and printed by the issuing machine 5, and the courier service slip 1 is attached to the package 6 requested to be delivered.

Baggage 6 on which this courier slip 1 is pasted
Is transported to the distribution center H by the delivery company, and the sorting operation is automatically performed. That is, at the delivery center H, the package 6 is placed on the belt conveyor 40 and the belt conveyor 40
By transmitting an interrogation signal from the interrogator 30 (the basic circuit configuration is the same as the above-described writer 54) provided in the vicinity, the response circuit 3 operates as follows.

For example, when an interrogation signal transmitted from an interrogator 30 installed on an automatic sorting line is received by the antenna 31, the detector 32b extracts the interrogation signal from the electromagnetic wave received by the antenna 31. The interrogation signal is output to both the level comparator 32c and the CPU 32d. Level comparator 32c
Then, the voltage level of the output signal of the detector 32b is compared with a reference voltage. When the voltage of the output signal of the detector 32b is higher than the reference voltage, the battery 35 is connected to the CPU 32d and the clock generator 32e. Thus, the CPU 32d and the clock generator 32e are activated. When started, the CPU 32d executes a program stored in the memory 32f based on the clock signal. And the detector 32b
If the received data output from is required to be stored, the received data is stored in the memory 32f. In the case of calling the data in which the received data is stored, the CPU 32d
Executes a program stored in the memory 32f in advance, reads data stored in the memory 32f, and outputs a signal corresponding to the data to the modulator 32a. Modulator 32a
The conduction / non-conduction of the diode 32g changes according to a signal output from the CPU 32d. As described above, by changing the impedance, the electromagnetic wave from the interrogator 30 is modulated and the data is transmitted from the antenna 31.

In this way, a response radio wave having parcel information such as a sorting code is returned from the courier slip 1 stuck on the parcel 6 and the parcel information of the parcel 6 is transmitted to the computer 50 by receiving the response radio wave. Output to The computer 50 controls the operation of the automatic sorter 60 based on the read luggage information to distinguish the luggage 6 for each destination area. The distinguished package 6 is sent to the distribution base in each district, from where it is delivered to the destination. In the process of delivering the package 6, necessary slip pieces are cut out. Since each slip piece has a bar code 43 or the like written thereon, the bar code 43 or the like is used to perform such a process as is usually performed. Slip processing becomes possible. Instead of cutting out the slip pieces, it is also possible to read the baggage information with an interrogator (same configuration as the interrogator 30) and apply it to the slip processing.

As described above, the courier slip 1 in the present embodiment supplies power by electromagnetic coupling to the coil 34 of the response circuit 3 by the starting coil 51 provided in the issuing machine 5 for the first time. Since the battery operates, the power consumption of the built-in battery 35 can be minimized in the storage state, and long-term storage can be performed.

In the issuing machine 5 described above, a printer 58 for printing necessary information at a predetermined position on the courier slip 1 is provided.
May be displayed by handwriting by a courier service representative, and the printer 58 may be omitted.

Examples of the information storage medium other than the above-described home delivery slip include a lift ticket in a ticket system for a ski lift and a ticket (coupon) in a ticket system for a vehicle. The present invention can be applied as long as it has a response circuit of the above type and the power consumption in the storage state poses a problem.

[0032]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the information storage medium can reduce the power consumption of the battery before the power is supplied by the electromagnetic coupling means of the response circuit. Because of this, there is an excellent effect that the power consumption of the battery at the time of non-issuance, that is, the storage state is reduced, and the storage is possible for a long time.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the information storage medium approaches a range in which electromagnetic induction occurs, power is supplied from the battery to the response circuit. Can be roughened, and an expensive alignment mechanism can be eliminated.
The cost of the issuing machine can be reduced and the service life can be extended.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a home delivery slip of an embodiment of an information storage medium according to the first aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a schematic electrical configuration of a home delivery slip.

FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a detailed electrical configuration of a home delivery slip.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of a home delivery slip issuing machine.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a specific electrical configuration of a writer provided in the issuing machine.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of a computer provided in the issuing machine.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an overall flow of the delivery system in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Courier slip 3. Response circuit 5. Issuing machine 3.
0: Interrogator 31: Antenna 33: Switching element 34:
Coil 35 ... Battery 37 ... Flip-flop 38 ... Transistor 51 ... Start-up coil 54 ... Writer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65G 47/49 G06K 19/00 B07C 3/18

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An information storage medium having a battery for supplying power and a response circuit for returning pre-stored identification information as a response radio wave in response to an interrogation radio wave from an interrogator, wherein the response circuit comprises: Switching means for conducting or interrupting a power supply path from the battery to the response circuit; electromagnetic coupling means capable of electromagnetic coupling with an issuer for issuing the information storage medium; and electromagnetic coupling means for electromagnetic coupling with the issuer The switching means is switched to a blocking side, and the switching means is switched to a conducting side when the electromagnetic coupling means is electromagnetically coupled to the issuing machine. Information storage medium. 2. A power supply path from a battery for supplying power to the battery is cut off until the battery is electromagnetically coupled to the outside.
An issuer for issuing an information storage medium having a response circuit capable of writing the identification information by conducting the power supply path when electromagnetically coupled to the outside, comprising: Electromagnetic coupling means capable of coupling; and writing means for writing the identification information in the response circuit when power is supplied from the battery to the response circuit by electromagnetic coupling by the electromagnetic coupling means. Is an information storage medium issuing machine.