JP4985259B2 - container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a foldable container to which an IC tag is attached.

  IC tags can record and hold information and communicate with external devices in a non-contact manner to exchange information. Therefore, as an identification medium for transportation and logistics, or as an identification medium for product quality control, inventory management, etc. It is becoming widely used for various purposes. As shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below, the IC tag is attached to a side surface of a container that stores products.

JP 2007-55666 A JP 2007-55667 A

  Incidentally, the container disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a foldable container. For example, a foldable container is compactly folded when a product is taken out and finishes its role, and is stored in a warehouse or the like until it is used again.

  However, there is a case where data is read from an IC tag attached to the container even when the container is not used, that is, in a folded state, and the suppression is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a container capable of suppressing reading of data from an IC tag when not in use.

  In one aspect of the present invention, a container includes a container body configured to be foldable, an IC chip, and an antenna that transmits and receives data stored in the IC chip to and from an external device. An IC tag attached to the container body, and a restraining device that restrains transmission and reception by the antenna when the container body is folded.

  The container is a foldable container to which an IC tag is attached, and includes a container body, an IC tag, and a suppression device. The container body is configured to be foldable. The IC tag has an IC chip and an antenna for transmitting / receiving data stored in the IC chip to / from an external device, and is attached to the container body. The deterrence device is attached to the container main body, and inhibits transmission and reception by the antenna when the container main body is folded. The external device is, for example, a reading / writing device that exchanges data by transmitting / receiving radio waves to / from an IC tag. By doing so, it is possible to prevent data from being read from the IC tag when the container is not used.

  In another aspect of the container, the restraining device is attached at a position where the resonance frequency of the antenna is shifted when the container body is folded. By doing so, when the container body is folded, the IC tag cannot transmit / receive radio waves in a predetermined frequency band used for exchange with an external device.

  In a preferred embodiment of the container described above, the restraining device is made of metal, magnetic material or dielectric material.

  In another aspect of the container, the restraining device is attached at a position where radio waves transmitted and received by the antenna are shielded when the container body is folded. This also prevents the IC tag from transmitting / receiving radio waves to / from an external device. Moreover, it is preferable that the suppression device is made of metal.

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

[Configuration of IC tag]
First, the configuration of an IC tag according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1A is a plan view of an IC tag 10 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 1B shows a cross-sectional view of the IC tag 10 taken along the cutting line AA ′ of FIG.

  The IC tag 10 includes an IC chip 14, an antenna 13, a base substrate 11, adhesive layers 12 and 15, a cover sheet 16, and a sheet 18. The base substrate 11 is a film formed of a plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

  The IC chip 14 and the antenna 13 are mounted on one surface of the base substrate 11. The IC chip 14 stores necessary data. The antenna 13 is patterned on the surface of the base substrate 11 with a metal such as conductive aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu), and is electrically connected to the IC chip 14. For example, in the IC tag 10 according to the present embodiment, the antenna 13 is patterned in a coil shape on one surface of the base substrate 11 as shown in FIG. The antenna 13 transmits / receives data stored in the IC chip 14 to / from an external device, for example, an IC tag reading / writing device (not shown). Specifically, the resonance frequency is set so that the antenna 13 transmits and receives only radio waves in a predetermined frequency band, and the IC tag 10 transmits or receives radio waves in the predetermined frequency band to externally Exchange data with the device.

  The sheet 18 is bonded to one surface of the base substrate 11, that is, the surface of the base substrate 11 on the side where the IC chip 14 and the antenna 13 are mounted via the adhesive layer 12. The cover sheet 16 is bonded to the other surface of the base substrate 11 through the adhesive layer 15. The sheet 18 and the cover 16 are formed of paper such as thermal paper, for example. When the IC tag 10 is attached to the container, the sheet 18 is peeled off from the base substrate 11. And the IC tag 10 is attached to a container by pressing and sticking the surface in which the adhesion layer 12 of the IC tag 10 is formed on a container.

[Container configuration]
2 to 4 are perspective views of the container 20 according to the present embodiment. The container 20 is a foldable container to which the IC tag 10 is attached. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows a state when the container 20 according to the present embodiment is assembled into a box shape, and FIG. 3 shows a state during the process of folding the container 20 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a state when the container 20 according to the present embodiment is completely folded.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the container 20 includes a container main body 24, the IC tag 10, and a suppression device 30. The container body 24 is, for example, a box-type container, and includes a bottom portion 21, two long side walls 22, and two short side walls 23. Specifically, the long side wall 22 is hinge-connected to the long side of the bottom portion 21 via an appropriate hinge member. The short side wall 23 is hinge-connected to the short side of the bottom portion 21 via an appropriate hinge member. Accordingly, the long side wall 22 is configured to be rotatable with respect to the long side of the bottom portion 21, and the short side wall 23 is configured to be rotatable with respect to the short side of the bottom portion 21. The IC tag 10 is attached on the surface of the long side wall 22 in the container main body 24.

  The container body 24 is folded when not in use. In order to completely fold the container main body 24 from the state assembled in the box shape shown in FIG. 2, first, as shown by the broken line arrow SA in FIG. It is rotated in the direction and overlapped with the bottom 21 to obtain the state shown in FIG. Next, as shown by a broken line arrow LA in FIG. 3, the two long side walls 22 in a substantially vertical state are rotated in a direction toward the bottom portion 21 and overlapped with the bottom portion 21. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, the container main body 24 is completely folded. On the other hand, in order to assemble the container main body 24 into the box shape from the completely folded state shown in FIG. 4, the two long side walls 22 in the substantially horizontal state are rotated to stand substantially vertically to the state shown in FIG. After that, the short side wall 23 is rotated to stand substantially vertically. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 2, the container main body 24 is assembled in a box shape.

  Conventionally, in a foldable container to which an IC tag is attached, even when the container is not in use, that is, when the container body is folded, the IC tag itself can transmit and receive data via an antenna. It was possible. For this reason, there is a problem that data is read from an IC tag attached to the container even when the container is not in use.

  In order to solve this problem, the container 20 of the present invention includes a deterring device 30 as shown in FIG. The suppression device 30 suppresses transmission / reception by the antenna 13 when the container body 24 is folded. This prevents data from being read from the IC tag 10 when the container 20 is not used. The details will be described below.

  The suppression device 30 according to the present embodiment is configured of any one of metal, magnetic material, and dielectric material, or a combination thereof. For example, the suppression device 30 is a plate-like body formed using any one of a metal, a magnetic body, a dielectric, or a combination thereof as a material. An antenna has a property of shifting its resonance frequency when it is close to any one of a metal, a magnetic material, and a dielectric. Therefore, when the IC tag 10 is brought close to the suppression device 30, the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 of the IC tag 10 is shifted under the influence of the suppression device 30. As a result, the IC tag 10 cannot transmit / receive radio waves in a predetermined frequency band used for exchange with an external device, that is, cannot transmit / receive data.

  In the container 20 according to the present embodiment, the suppression device 30 is attached to the container body 24. The attachment position of the suppression device 30 is a position to shift the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 when the container main body 24 is folded.

  For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the suppression device 30 is attached to the bottom 21 of the container body 24. Since the IC tag 10 is mounted on the surface of the long side wall 22, the IC tag 10 is relatively separated from the suppression device 30 when the container main body 24 is assembled in a box shape. In other words, when the container body 24 is assembled in a box shape, the positional relationship between the IC tag 10 and the suppression device 30 is such that the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 of the IC tag 10 is not affected by the suppression device 30. They are only separated from each other. Therefore, when the container body 24 is assembled in a box shape, the IC tag 10 can transmit and receive radio waves in a predetermined frequency band used for exchange with an external device, and data in the IC chip 14 can be transmitted. Can be sent and received.

  On the other hand, when the container main body 24 is folded, as shown in FIG. 3, the long side wall 22 rotates to bring the IC tag 10 closer to the bottom portion 21. As shown in FIG. 4, when the long side wall 22 is overlapped with the bottom portion 21, the IC tag 10 and the suppression device 30 are close to each other. In other words, when the container body 24 is folded, the positional relationship between the IC tag 10 and the suppression device 30 is such that the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 is close to each other to the extent that the resonance frequency shifts due to the influence of the suppression device. Become. Therefore, when the container body 24 is folded, the IC tag 10 cannot transmit / receive radio waves in a predetermined frequency band used for exchange with an external device. This prevents data from being read from the IC tag 10 when the container 20 is not used.

  As shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that the attachment position of the restraining device 30 on the bottom 21 is a position corresponding to the position of the IC tag 10 when the container main body 24 is folded. In other words, it is desirable that the attachment position of the suppression device 30 in the container main body 24 is a position that is substantially parallel to the IC tag 10 and corresponds to the position of the IC tag 10 when the container main body 24 is folded. This is because by attaching the suppression device 30 to this position, the influence of the suppression device 30 on the antenna 13 can be maximized, and the shift amount of the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 can be maximized. By doing in this way, when the container main body 24 is folded, it can suppress more reliably that IC tag 10 transmits / receives an electromagnetic wave with an external apparatus. Thereby, when the container 20 is not used, data can be reliably prevented from being read from the IC tag 10.

  As can be seen from the above description, the container 20 of the present invention includes a deterring device 30 made of metal, a magnetic material, a dielectric, or a combination thereof. Attached to the container body 24. The attachment position of the suppression device 30 is a position to shift the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 when the container main body 24 is folded. By doing so, when the container body 24 is folded, the IC tag 10 cannot transmit / receive radio waves in a predetermined frequency band used for exchange with an external device. This prevents data from being read from the IC tag 10 when the container 20 is not used.

  Needless to say, the mounting positions of the IC tag 10 and the restraining device 30 in the container main body 24 are not limited to the positions described above. In short, when the container main body 24 is assembled, the positional relationship between the IC tag 10 and the deterring device 30 is a positional relationship that is separated from each other by a distance that the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 is not affected by the deterring device 30. When the main body 24 is folded, the same effect as described above can be obtained as long as the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 is close enough to be shifted by the influence of the suppression device.

[Modification]
Next, a modified example of the container 20 according to the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a container 20a according to a modification. Specifically, FIG. 5A shows a state when the container 20a according to the modified example is assembled into a box shape, and FIG. 5B shows the middle of the process of folding the container 20a according to the modified example. FIG. 5C shows a state when the container 20a according to the modification is completely folded. Similarly to the container 20, the container 20a is a foldable container to which an IC tag is attached. In FIG. 5, the same components as those in FIG.

  The container 20a according to the modified example includes a suppression device 30a instead of the suppression device 30. The deterrence device 30 a is also attached to the container body 24 in the same manner as the deterrence device 30. The suppression device 30a is made of metal, for example, a plate-like body made of metal. The attachment position of the suppression device 30a is a position that shields radio waves transmitted and received by the antenna 13 when the container main body 24 is folded.

  For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the suppression device 30 a is attached on the surface of the long side wall 22. This is because the IC tag 10 is mounted on the surface of the short side wall 23, so that when the container body 24 is folded, the long side wall 22 overlaps the short side wall 23, so that the IC tag 10 is covered by the long side wall 22. is there. Here, the attachment position of the restraining device 30a on the long side wall 22 is a position corresponding to the position of the IC tag 10 when the container body 24 is folded.

  When the container body 24 is assembled in a box shape, as shown in FIG. 5A, the IC tag 10 is attached on the surface of the short side wall 23, and the restraining device 30a is on the surface of the long side wall 22. Since it is attached, the IC tag 10 is relatively distant from the restraining device 30a. That is, when the container main body 24 is assembled in a box shape, the positional relationship between the IC tag 10 and the suppression device 30a is hardly affected by the resonance frequency of the antenna 13, and the antenna 13 is transmitted and received. The relationship is that the radio waves are separated from each other by a distance that is not shielded.

  On the other hand, when the container body 24 is folded, the short side wall 23 is rotated and overlapped with the bottom portion 21 as indicated by a broken line arrow SA in FIG. Next, as shown by the broken line arrow LA in FIG. 5B, the long side wall 22 rotates, so that the suppression device 30 a approaches the IC tag 10 attached on the surface of the short side wall 23. Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, when the long side wall 22 is overlapped with the bottom portion 21, the suppression device 30 covers the entire surface of the IC tag 10. More specifically, the suppression device 30 covers the antenna 13 of the IC tag 10 so as to block the direction in which the antenna 13 transmits and receives radio waves. By doing in this way, when the container main body 24 is folded, the electromagnetic wave transmitted / received by the antenna 13 is shielded by the suppression device 30a. Even in this case, when the container main body 24 is folded, the IC tag 10 can be prevented from transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from an external device. Here, in the example shown in FIG. 5, when the container body 24 is folded, the IC tag 10 and the antenna 13 are also in a positional relationship close to each other. That is, in this example, radio waves transmitted and received by the antenna 13 are shielded by the suppression device 30a, and the resonance frequency of the antenna 13 is also shifted by the influence of the suppression device 30a. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to more reliably prevent data from being read from the IC tag 10 when the container 20 is not used.

  Needless to say, the mounting position of the IC tag 10 and the restraining device 30a in the container body 24 is not limited to the above-described position. In short, if the positional relationship between the IC tag 10 and the suppression device 30a is such that when the container body 24 is folded, radio waves transmitted and received by the antenna 13 of the IC tag 10 are shielded by the suppression device 30. The same effects as described above can be obtained.

  In the embodiment described above, the container body 24 is not limited to the above-described structure, and the present invention can be applied even if the container body 24 has various shapes and various folding structures. Needless to say.

It is the top view and sectional drawing of an IC tag. It is a perspective view of a container concerning this embodiment. It is a perspective view of a container concerning this embodiment. It is a perspective view of a container concerning this embodiment. It is a perspective view of the container which concerns on a modification.

Explanation of symbols

  10 IC tag, 11 base substrate, 12 adhesive layer, 13 antenna, 14 IC chip, 15 adhesive layer, 16 cover, 18 sheet, 20 container, 24 container body, 30 deterrence device

Claims (5)

A container body configured to be foldable;
An IC tag having an IC chip and an antenna for transmitting / receiving data stored in the IC chip to / from an external device, and attached to the container body;
A container that is attached to the container main body, and that suppresses transmission and reception by the antenna when the container main body is folded.   The container according to claim 1, wherein the restraining device is attached at a position where the resonance frequency of the antenna is shifted when the container body is folded.   The container according to claim 2, wherein the suppression device is made of metal, magnetic material, or dielectric material.   The container according to claim 1, wherein the restraining device is attached at a position that shields radio waves transmitted and received by the antenna when the container body is folded.   The container according to claim 4, wherein the restraining device is made of metal.

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