JP4941931B2 - Moving path storage device and mechanical device incorporating the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving path storage device used for specifying a path along which an article has been moved and carried, and a mechanical apparatus incorporating the moving path storage apparatus.

  In recent years, theft of expensive information devices such as personal computers and illegal dumping of household electrical appliances such as TVs and refrigerators has increased, which has become a major social problem. In the case of illegal dumping, the actual product is present at the dump site, but it is not known who brought it from where it was dumped. Even if camera monitoring is added to the dumping location, you can tell what kind of car you are carrying and when and how many people dumped it, but you can't tell where the car came from.

  As for the stolen goods, even if it is determined that the seized goods are stolen goods, it is not possible to know the route by which the stolen goods were carried, so the information of the person who was stolen cannot be known.

  Many tracking systems, such as vehicles, using a cellular phone network have been proposed (Patent Document 1). In the system of Patent Document 1, the position of the mobile terminal device is specified by position measurement using a GPS receiver or the like on the mobile terminal device side provided in an article to be tracked or position estimation using a mobile phone network. Further, the position information is sent to the central device side of the tracking system using the mobile phone network, thereby performing online article tracking.

  Regarding theft and illegal dumping, if the mobile phone network can be used, the movement path of the article can be stored on the central device side of the mobile phone network. However, when a mobile phone network is used, since a large current consumption is required for wireless communication, a large capacity battery is required. In Patent Document 1, there is no problem because a large-capacity battery mounted on a vehicle can be used as a power source for vehicles and the like, but in the case of information equipment and household appliances targeted by the present application, Large capacity batteries cannot be used. In addition, the tracking system can be easily disabled by removing the large-capacity battery, so that it is not suitable for monitoring the movement route of theft or illegal dumping.

  Further, it has been proposed to store a route from production to disposal of an article (Patent Document 2). In Patent Document 2, since the batteryless IC tag is used, the route of the article can be stored permanently. However, in Patent Document 2, since the details are only written when a regular work is performed, it cannot be monitored after it has been passed to the user, and therefore it cannot cope with theft or illegal dumping.

In addition, a system for tracking a criminal or the like by attaching an IC tag without a battery has been proposed (Patent Document 3). However, since the system of Patent Document 3 uses a general IC tag, it is easy for a criminal to find and discard the tag, and it is easy for a criminal to rewrite the information on the IC tag with fake information. In addition, it is necessary to deploy an environment that can receive information from this IC tag in public roads and crime prevention equipment installed on public roads, public facilities, stores, transportation vehicle facilities, etc., and the capital investment for that is enormous There are drawbacks.
JP 2004-86554 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-307055 JP 2006-119955 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, uses electromagnetic waves from public transportation facilities such as radio wave beacons and optical beacons, and is battery-less (no power source) or an extremely small capacity battery (battery) power source. In what path has stolen goods and illegally dumped goods have been transported, enabling location storage over a long period of time and making it difficult for others to know the existence of the moving path storage device? It is an object of the present invention to provide a moving path storage device for specifying and a mechanical device incorporating the same.

The moving path storage device according to claim 1, a non-volatile memory that writes and stores sequentially supplied position information in a readable manner;
A power supply for writing is formed in the power supply unit for writing by means of electromagnetic waves for traffic control transmitted from public transportation equipment, and the position information contained in the electromagnetic waves for traffic control is demodulated using the power supply for writing operations And a receiving unit for writing for writing the position information obtained by the demodulation to the nonvolatile memory,
A read operation power supply is formed in the read power supply unit by the read electromagnetic waves from the read device, and the position information stored in the nonvolatile memory is sequentially based on the read electromagnetic waves using the read operation power supply. A reading and transmitting / receiving unit that reads and transmits the data to the reading device;
It is characterized by providing.

  The movement path storage device of the present invention is preferably configured as an IC tag or an IC card. The movement path storage device configured as an IC tag or IC card is externally provided in an external housing (for example, formed of an insulator) of a mechanical device such as an information device or a home appliance. Embedded or placed in an invisible state. Therefore, the present invention may be expressed as a mechanical device in which the movement path storage device is incorporated in the external housing.

  The obtained position information is determined by a writing determiner with respect to a change in distance from the previous position information already stored in the non-volatile memory, and only when the distance change is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, the non-volatile It is good also as making it memorize | store as new positional information in a property memory.

  When the time information is included in the traffic control electromagnetic wave together with the position information, the obtained position information is obtained from the time of the previous position information already stored in the nonvolatile memory using the time information. Only when the elapsed period of time is equal to or longer than a predetermined period (for example, one day), it may be stored as new position information in the nonvolatile memory.

  In addition, an RTC (real time clock) is provided inside or outside the write receiver, and the obtained position information is stored in the non-volatile memory using the time information of the RTC. Only when the elapsed period from the time of the position information is a predetermined period (for example, one day) or more, it may be stored in the nonvolatile memory as new position information.

  In addition, as electromagnetic waves for traffic control from the public transportation facilities, electromagnetic waves of radio wave beacons, electromagnetic waves of optical beacons, and electromagnetic waves of DRSC (dedicated narrow area communication) are used alone or in combination thereof. As the combination, a combination of a radio beacon and an optical beacon, a combination of a radio beacon and DRSC, a combination of an optical beacon and DRSC, and a combination of a radio beacon, an optical beacon and DRSC are possible.

  Moreover, police radio waves or special radio waves modulated by a specific modulation signal are used as read electromagnetic waves from the reading device.

The movement path storage device according to claim 2, a nonvolatile memory that stores and sequentially reads position information that is sequentially supplied,
An RTC (real-time clock) that is driven by a clocking battery and outputs time information;
A power source for writing is formed by a power source for writing by means of electromagnetic waves for traffic control transmitted from public transportation facilities, and the electromagnetic waves for traffic control are used by using the power source for writing operations or the power source of the clocking battery. A receiving unit for writing for demodulating the position information included in the non-volatile memory, and writing the position information obtained by the demodulation and the external position information supplied from the outside to the nonvolatile memory;
The time information from the RTC and the position information obtained by the demodulation are input, driven at least by the time measuring battery, and intermittently based on the elapsed time from the time when the position information obtained by the demodulation is input. An intermittent operation controller that outputs an operation signal;
A satellite navigation receiver that is driven by at least the timing battery and supplies positioning position information obtained by intermittent positioning based on the intermittent operation signal to the writing receiver as the external position information; ,
A read operation power supply is formed in the read power supply unit by the read electromagnetic waves from the read device, and the position information stored in the nonvolatile memory is sequentially based on the read electromagnetic waves using the read operation power supply. A reading and transmitting / receiving unit that reads and transmits the data to the reading device;
It is characterized by providing.

  Further, an auxiliary small battery may be provided in parallel with the timing battery. Further, the auxiliary small battery and / or the timekeeping battery may be replaced with a solar cell or a photovoltaic cell.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mechanical device in which the movement path storage device according to the first or second aspect is incorporated.

  According to the moving path storage device of the present invention and the mechanical device incorporating the same, the electromagnetic wave from the existing public transportation equipment (radio wave beacon, optical beacon, DSRC) is used, and the batteryless (no power supply) or extremely small capacity is used. Of goods (mechanical devices) such as stolen goods and illegally dumped goods, which can be stored for a long period of time with a battery power source, making it difficult for others to know the existence of the moving path storage device. It is possible to specify the route that has been carried.

  Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, an embodiment of a movement path storage device of the present invention and a mechanical device incorporating the same will be described.

  In FIG. 1, the moving path storage device includes a write receiver 10, a read transceiver 20, and a data memory (nonvolatile memory) 30, and is configured as one IC tag or IC card. It is good. The movement path storage device configured in an IC tag or the like is embedded or arranged in an externally invisible state in an external housing of a mechanical device such as an information device or a home appliance. For example, even when it must be arranged on the same plane as the surface of the external housing, it is difficult to distinguish by painting with the same color as the housing. Alternatively, it is placed under a thin dielectric (insulator) to make it difficult to find from the surface.

  The reader unit 40 is a reading device and reads position information stored in the data memory 30 using a reading electromagnetic wave.

  The writing receiving unit 10 receives an electromagnetic wave for traffic control transmitted from a radio beacon installed on a public road by an antenna 11 having a resonance circuit that resonates with the electromagnetic wave. A reception signal of the antenna 11 is supplied to the power supply unit 12, and is rectified and smoothed by a smoothing rectifier circuit using, for example, a diode or a capacitor to generate the first operating voltage V1. The first operating voltage V1 is supplied to the demodulating unit 13, the writing control unit 14, the writing determining unit 15, and the data memory 30, and serves as an operating power source thereof.

  The reception signal of the antenna 11 is also supplied to the demodulator 13, and the demodulator 13 obtains position information Pw, time information, and the like included in the electromagnetic waves for traffic control. The position information Pw is input to the write control unit 14 and is sequentially stored as the position information pm to be stored in the data memory 30 as it is or upon receiving a write determination by the write determination unit 15. . The data memory 30 is preferably a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM.

  In FIG. 1, the traffic control electromagnetic wave is transmitted from a radio beacon, but there are other optical beacons, DSRC (dedicated narrow area communication), and the like. FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the power supply unit and the demodulation unit when such traffic control electromagnetic waves are transmitted from radio wave beacons, optical beacons, and DSRCs.

  In FIG. 2, an electromotive force is generated by a solar cell or a photovoltaic cell (indicated by SC in the drawing) built in the first power supply unit 12-1 by external light including electromagnetic waves from an optical beacon. 1 Outputs the voltage from the power supply unit 12-1. In addition, the position included in the electromagnetic wave for traffic control after being converted into an electric signal by a photodiode (indicated by PD in the figure) built in the first demodulator 13-1 by the electromagnetic wave from the optical beacon. Information Pw, time information, and the like are obtained and output to the writing control unit 14.

  The 2nd power supply part 12-2 and the 2nd demodulation part 13-2 by a radio wave beacon are the same as that of the power supply part 12 and the demodulation part 13 of FIG. The third power supply unit 12-3 and the third demodulation unit 13-3 by DSRC are the same as the second power supply unit 12-2 and the second demodulation unit 12-2. The outputs of the first to third power supply units 12-1 to 12-3 are connected in parallel to become the first operating voltage V1.

  These optical beacons, radio beacons, and DSRCs can be used alone or in combination of any two in place of the radio beacons in FIG. I can do it.

  When carrying mechanical devices, they usually run on public roads on automobiles, but public roads already have many public transportation facilities such as light beacons, radio beacons and DSRC, and electromagnetic waves (light, radio waves) from these are It is transmitted so that it can be received by cars on public roads. The movement path storage device embedded in the machine device in an invisible state is irradiated with electromagnetic waves for traffic control when passing through these public transportation facilities, and the first operating voltage V1 is automatically generated by the power supply unit 12. The position information Pw is obtained and stored in the data memory 30 sequentially.

  When the storage capacity of the data memory 30 becomes full, the oldest position data may be replaced with the latest position data and stored. However, simply storing the obtained location information sequentially has the advantage of knowing all travel routes in detail, but theft of machinery is difficult when traveling through urban areas where many public transportation facilities are installed. There is a high possibility that the location information of the location and the location where the departure was made will be overwritten and deleted.

  Therefore, the writing determination unit 15 is provided in the writing control unit 14 of FIG. 1 to monitor a change in the distance between the position information Pm obtained last time and stored in the data memory 30 and the position information Pw obtained this time, You may make it memorize | store as the positional information Pm in the data memory 30 only when the distance change is more than predetermined.

  Note that the position information that is initially stored in the movement path storage device depends on the packaging state of the mechanical device on which it is installed (materials such as wood, cardboard, and plastic, and their thickness, etc.) and the type of electromagnetic waves for traffic control. Although different, for example, it is close to the shipping location of the machine or the home where it is used.

  Further, when time information is included in the traffic control electromagnetic wave together with the position information, the position information Pw obtained using the time information is used as the previous position information already stored in the data memory (nonvolatile memory) 30. Only when the elapsed period from the time of Pm is equal to or longer than a predetermined period (for example, one day), it may be stored in the nonvolatile memory 30 as new position information Pm.

  In FIG. 3, an RTC (real time clock) 16 is provided in the writing receiver 10. The RTC 16 may be provided outside the writing receiver 10 as long as it is inside the movement path storage device. The RTC 16 is usually a timekeeping IC chip mounted on a motherboard, and is supplied with power from a dedicated battery (built-in or externally arranged) even when the power from the other is turned off. It is working. When the external power supply is on, it is supplied from the external power supply.

  Using the time information from the RTC 16, the newly obtained position information Pw is equal to or longer than a predetermined period (for example, one day) from the time of the previous position information Pm already stored in the nonvolatile memory 30. Only when it is stored in the nonvolatile memory 30 as new position information.

  Since the RTC 16 consumes very little current at the μA level, it can be driven semi-permanently (for example, more than ten years) if there is a small battery such as a button battery.

  The acquisition and writing of the position information Pw is limited to electromagnetic waves from public transportation facilities (optical beacons, radio beacons, DSRC, etc.), making it difficult to falsify the position information.

  When a dedicated battery for the RTC 16 or other batteries are provided, a power supply unit that rectifies and smoothes the received power at the antenna like the power supply unit 12 of FIG. 1 from a traffic control electromagnetic wave from an optical beacon is configured. And you may comprise so that the switch for performing the electric power supply from a battery to each component with the voltage by it may be turned ON. In this case, since it is sufficient that only the switch can be turned on, the power obtained from the optical beacon may be very weak.

  The reading transmission / reception unit 20 is driven when reading a movement path of a stolen or illegally dumped mechanical device from the data memory 30. When reading the movement path from the data memory 30, the reader unit 40 is embedded in the external housing in a state in which the movement path storage device is invisible from the outside, or is brought close to the arranged mechanical device so that the reader unit The read electromagnetic wave from 40 is transmitted. As the reading electromagnetic wave, a police radio wave or a special radio wave modulated by a specific modulation signal is preferably used.

  An operation when reading the position information Pm stored from the data memory 30 will be described. The reading electromagnetic wave from the reader unit 40 is received by the antenna 21 having a resonance circuit that resonates with it. The received signal of the antenna 21 is supplied to the power supply unit 22 and rectified and smoothed to generate the second operating voltage V2. The second power supply voltage V2 is supplied to the demodulator 23, the read controller 24, the data memory 30, and the modulator 25 as an operating power supply.

  The read electromagnetic wave from the reader unit 40 is demodulated by the power supply unit 22 and sequentially reads the position information Pm stored in the data memory 30 via the read control unit 24. The position information Pm read by the read control unit 24 undergoes predetermined modulation by the modulation unit 25 and is transmitted from the antenna 21 to the reader unit 40 by radio waves. The reader unit 40 confirms the movement path of the mechanical device based on the position information Pm obtained sequentially.

  Regarding the reading of the position information, it can be read out only by a police radio wave or a special radio wave modulated by a specific modulation signal. As a result, the moving path storage device (IC tag or the like) of the mechanical device cannot be accessed by other radio waves. Further, the movement path storage device is embedded in the external housing of the machine device in an invisible state from the outside. Therefore, there is no means for checking the existence of the movement path storage device, and the secrecy is excellent.

  FIG. 4 is a movement path storage device in which position information acquisition means by a satellite navigation receiver such as the GPS receiver 51 is added to FIG.

  In FIG. 4, the intermittent operation controller 52 receives time information from the RTC 16 and position information Pw obtained by demodulation, is driven by a time-measurement battery, and receives time information Pw obtained by demodulation. The intermittent operation signal is output on the basis of a predetermined elapsed time (for example, one day).

  The GPS receiver 51, which is a satellite navigation receiver, is driven by a time measuring battery and intermittently performs a positioning operation based on an intermittent operation signal from the intermittent operation controller 52 to obtain positioning position information Pg. This positioning position information Pg is supplied to the writing receiver 10 as external position information. Other configurations are the same as those in FIGS. Note that, if necessary, another battery 53 may be provided and used as the third operating voltage V3 in parallel with the battery of the RTC 16.

  In the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, since the first location information can only be obtained from the location of the first public transportation facility that is moving, the location of the starting point, the location of the home used, and the location of the mobile relay point are considerably wide. There is a possibility that it can only be limited to. In the moving path storage device of FIG. 4, a high-sensitivity GPS receiver that can determine the position even in the room is added. Since the GPS receiver normally requires a current consumption of several tens of mA during operation, the button battery cannot be operated at all times, but high position accuracy can be obtained.

  In order to effectively use the GPS receiver 51 for travel route storage, it is determined that the mechanical device provided with the travel route storage device has not been moved, for example, when a day has elapsed after reception of the traffic control electromagnetic wave. At that time, the GPS receiver 51 is operated only once to obtain position information Pg, and the position information is written in the data memory 30.

  This makes it possible to specify a home (owner) and a relay point with a considerably high accuracy.

  Even in the case of high-sensitivity GPS receivers, the indoor positioning accuracy is often insufficient. For example, after reception of traffic control electromagnetic waves, for example, every day or every hour after the passage of one day. The positioning accuracy may be further improved by repeatedly starting the GPS receiver 51 and stopping the GPS receiver 51 after positioning and using the average position of the obtained positioning positions Pg.

  Further, in the case of a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, there is a possibility that the correct position cannot be measured in the moving state. Therefore, the GPS receiver 51 is used only when it is determined that the G sensor (acceleration sensor) is not moving together with the G sensor (acceleration sensor). The driving time may be limited.

  In addition, when carrying waste or stolen goods, it may be moved in a different installation situation from when the machine is in operation. Therefore, the movement path storage device (IC tag or the like) of the present invention is used for the machine. It is better to install on multiple surfaces.

  Further, instead of a battery such as a button battery, a solar battery that cannot be easily recognized from the outside may be used, or may be used in combination. In order to hide the appearance (for example, painting), the conversion efficiency is deteriorated. However, in the present invention, since it can be driven with a very small electric power, it can be driven by a solar cell.

1 is a configuration diagram of a movement path storage device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Configuration diagram of power supply unit and demodulation unit for radio wave beacon, optical beacon, DSRC The block diagram of the movement path | route storage apparatus based on 2nd Example of this invention. The block diagram of the movement path | route storage apparatus based on 3rd Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10 .. Receiving unit for writing, 11 .... Antenna, 12 .... Power supply unit, 13 .... Demodulating unit,
14 .. Write control unit, 15 .. Write determination unit, 16 .. RTC,
20 ··· Reading transmission / reception unit, 21 ·· antenna, 22 ·· power supply unit, 23 ·· demodulation unit 24 ·· reading control unit, 25 ·· modulation unit, 30 ·· data memory (non-volatile memory),
40 ... Reader unit 51 ... GPS receiver 52 ... Intermittent operation controller
53. Other batteries

Claims (3)

A non-volatile memory for sequentially writing and storing position information supplied sequentially;
A power supply for writing is formed in the power supply unit for writing by means of electromagnetic waves for traffic control transmitted from public transportation equipment, and the position information contained in the electromagnetic waves for traffic control is demodulated using the power supply for writing operations And a receiving unit for writing for writing the position information obtained by the demodulation to the nonvolatile memory,
A read operation power supply is formed in the read power supply unit by the read electromagnetic waves from the read device, and the position information stored in the nonvolatile memory is sequentially based on the read electromagnetic waves using the read operation power supply. A reading and transmitting / receiving unit that reads and transmits the data to the reading device;
A moving path storage device comprising: A non-volatile memory for sequentially writing and storing position information supplied sequentially;
An RTC (real-time clock) that is driven by a clocking battery and outputs time information;
A power source for writing is formed by a power source for writing by means of electromagnetic waves for traffic control transmitted from public transportation facilities, and the electromagnetic waves for traffic control are used by using the power source for writing operations or the power source of the clocking battery. A receiving unit for writing for demodulating the position information included in the non-volatile memory, and writing the position information obtained by the demodulation and the external position information supplied from the outside to the nonvolatile memory;
The time information from the RTC and the position information obtained by the demodulation are input, driven at least by the time measuring battery, and intermittently based on the elapsed time from the time when the position information obtained by the demodulation is input. An intermittent operation controller that outputs an operation signal;
A satellite navigation receiver that is driven by at least the timing battery and supplies positioning position information obtained by intermittent positioning based on the intermittent operation signal to the writing receiver as the external position information; ,
A read operation power supply is formed in the read power supply unit by the read electromagnetic waves from the read device, and the position information stored in the nonvolatile memory is sequentially based on the read electromagnetic waves using the read operation power supply. A reading and transmitting / receiving unit that reads and transmits the data to the reading device;
A moving path storage device comprising:   3. A machine device in which the movement path storage device according to claim 1 is incorporated.

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