JPH10224278A - Noncontact data communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To conduct data communication, without imparting an intrinsic identification number of each data carrier in a noncontact data communication system where communication for lots of data carriers is conducted. SOLUTION: When a data carrier 1 arrives a communication region of a read-write head 32, an increment command of a count value is transmitted from an ID controller 31 to the data carrier via the read-write head 32. The data carrier changes the count value of a counter by the command. Then only the data carrier, being as a prescribed count value, executes the data communication and the ID controller.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-contact data communication system for performing data communication with each data carrier when articles or the like to which the data carriers are attached are continuously transported.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, non-contact communication systems have been used in assembly lines and article management systems. The non-contact communication system includes a data carrier attached to each article and a write / read control unit including a read / write head. Then, necessary information is written in the data carrier, and the data is read as needed. In such a contactless communication system, a plurality of data carriers may enter the communication area of the read / write head. In such a case, it is necessary to identify each data carrier and perform data communication with a specific data carrier. For this reason, if there is a possibility that a plurality of data carriers may enter the communication area, conventionally, a unique identification number is assigned to each data carrier, and the data carrier is identified by the identification number and the necessary data carrier is identified. Communication was only possible between the two.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional non-contact communication system, when a large number of data carriers are used, unique numbers are assigned to all data carriers so that identification numbers do not overlap. Need to be managed. For example, it is assumed that articles are conveyed at regular intervals on a line such as a belt conveyor, and data carriers are attached to each article. It is necessary to assign unique numbers. In such an application, the same data is often written in the same area of the data carrier of the conveyed article, or the data in the same area is read from the data carrier, and it is not particularly necessary to identify the data carrier. Often. In such a case, the identification number is conventionally assigned to each data carrier, so that the management of the number becomes complicated, and the processing of the hardware and software on the controller side becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem. Even when a large number of data carriers enter a communication area, a unique identification number is not given to each data carrier. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform communication with a data carrier without interference.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data carrier, a write / read control unit for writing or reading data to or from the data carrier, and a transport for transporting the data carrier at a constant speed. And a device, wherein the data carrier performs data communication with a counter and a write / read control unit, and the write / read is performed when a count value of the counter reaches a predetermined value. Data communication means for responding to a write command or a read command of the control unit, a memory for holding data, and count value changing means for changing the count value of the counter according to a counter value change command. , The write / read control unit is configured to control the data of the data carrier, wherein the counter has a predetermined value. Data communication means for performing data communication with the Yaria, is characterized in that it has a count value change instruction means for changing a count value of said counter.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the data carrier clears the count value of the counter when entering the communication area.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the count value change instructing means of the write / read control unit sends a count value change command in response to the data carrier having been transported by a predetermined amount by the transport means. It is characterized by the following.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of a contactless data communication system according to the present invention. In the present embodiment, a data carrier 1 is a data communication means 2 for performing data communication with a read / write head, a memory 3,
And a counter 4 and a count value changing means 5 for identifying the data carrier. The data communication means 2 outputs a count value change command to the counter value change means 5 and, when the count value of the counter 4 reaches a predetermined value, writes or writes data to the memory 3 by a command obtained by data communication. Is read.
The count value changing means 5 changes the count value of the counter 4 so as to be incremented by one, for example, based on the count value change command obtained by the data communication means 2.

It is assumed that the data carrier is attached to an article carried by the carrier 10. The transport device 10 sequentially transports the articles with the data carriers attached thereto at regular intervals.

On the other hand, a write / read control unit 21 is a data communication means 22 for performing data communication with a data carrier.
And a count value change instructing means 23 for changing the count value in the data carrier as described later. The count value change instructing means 23 sends out a change command for changing the count value in the data carrier when a new data carrier arrives in the communication area of the data communication means 22. Here, it is assumed that the transport device 10 transports an object on a line at regular intervals. Data communication means 2
, So that data communication is possible when the count value of the data carrier counter 4 reaches almost the center of the communication area,
It is assumed that a predetermined value is set.

FIG. 2 shows a transport system. As shown in FIG. 1, a transport device 10 transports articles 12 at a substantially constant interval on a line 11, and the data carrier 1 is attached to each article. Then, a write / read control unit 21 for writing or reading data on the data carrier is provided. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the write / read control unit 21 includes an ID controller 31 and a read / write head (RW head) 32 provided on the side of the line 11 of the transfer device 10. In FIG. 2, the area where the read / write head 32 can communicate with the data carrier is indicated by a dashed line curve A.
The photoelectric sensor 33 for detecting that a new data carrier has entered this communication area is provided.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 shows the transport route of the line 11 in the horizontal direction and the time in the vertical axis, and the data carriers 1-1 to 1-n attached to the articles by the transport device 10 are continuously constant from time t1 to time t5. This shows a state where the sheets are conveyed at intervals. An area indicated by hatching in the figure is a communication area. In FIG. 3, the numerical value in the data carrier 1 in the communication area indicates the count value set in the counter 4 of the data carrier. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data carrier 1 and the ID controller 31, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing a command from the ID controller 31 and a response thereto.

If the data carrier 1-1 arrives at the communication area of the read / write head 32 at time t1 in FIG. 3, power is obtained because the data carrier 1-1 has entered the communication area within the data carrier. The counter value of the counter 4 is cleared to 0 (step 51 in FIG. 4A). Next, when the photoelectric sensor 33 detects that the article has entered the communication area, the ID controller 31
The signal is transmitted to the side. The ID controller 31 is shown in FIG.
When this signal is obtained in step 61 of (b),
Proceeding to step 62, an instruction for incrementing the counter value is output to the data carrier 1. FIG. 5A shows a counter increment command output from the ID controller 31 to the data carrier 1 via the read / write head 32. On the other hand, data carrier 1-1 has ID
If there is a command to increment the counter value from the controller 31, the counter value is incremented (steps 52 and 53).

The ID controller 31 outputs a read command and a write command to a data carrier having a predetermined count value, and performs communication with the data carrier. In step 54, the data carrier determines whether the counter value has reached the communication permission count value. If they do not coincide with this count value, FIGS. 5B and 6B
No response is made even if the read command or the write command shown in FIG. Therefore, after the time t1 in FIG. 3, the counter of only the data carrier 1-1 is cleared and then incremented, and the count value of the counter 4 becomes "1".
Therefore, no data communication is performed.

Next, as shown at time t2 in FIG. 3, when the data carrier 1-2 following the data communication area arrives, the counter value is cleared when the power of the data carrier 1-2 is similarly turned on. Next, an increment command is sent from the ID controller 31. Therefore, all data carriers 1-1,1-
Each counter of 2 increments the count value. At this time, the count value of the data carrier 1-1 which first enters the communication area becomes “2” by the increment command. In this way, every time a new data carrier arrives in the communication area, the count value of the counter of all data carriers in the communication area is counted up.

Assuming that the count value when the data carrier arrives at substantially the center of the communication area is "3", this value is used as the count value of the communication permission. Each data carrier determines in step 54 whether or not this count value has been reached, and only the data carrier having this value proceeds to step 55 to perform data communication with the ID controller 31 and write data to the memory 2 or write data to the memory 2. 2 to perform data read processing. On the other hand, after transmitting the increment command in step 62, the ID controller proceeds to step 63 and changes the data carrier to be communicated. Then, the process proceeds to step 64 to transmit a read command or a write command. FIG. 5B shows an example of a read command, and FIG. 6A shows an example of a write command. In FIG. 3, only the data carrier 1-1 whose count value has reached "3" at time t4 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), data communication with the read / write head is performed, and data writing or reading processing is performed on the memory 2. Since the count value of the other data carriers is not “3”, no response is returned even if a read command or a write command is given as shown in FIG. 5C or FIG. Wait for the next increment command.

Next, when a new data carrier arrives at time t5, the data carriers in all communication areas increment the counter value, so that communication with the next data carrier 1-2 can be performed. Therefore, even when data carriers are sequentially transported, data communication can be performed with all data carriers without identifying each data carrier. Since the power of the data carrier out of the communication area is lost, the counter value is in an indefinite state. Since the communication is cleared again, normal communication can be performed when the communication possible count value is reached in the area.

Here, the write / read control unit achieves the function of the count value change instructing means for sending out a count value change command when a new data carrier is conveyed to the communication area in steps 61 and 62. Data communication means 2 for performing data communication with a data carrier having a predetermined count value in steps 63 to 64
2 functions are achieved.

In this embodiment, when it is detected that the data carrier has reached the communication area using the photoelectric sensor 33, it is assumed that the data carrier has been transported by the transport device by a certain amount. Alternatively, an increment command for increasing the counter may be issued in response to the transport device transporting a fixed amount of the article to which the data carrier is attached. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, if data communication is enabled by the count value “3” of the counter 4, about 1/6 of the communication area can be communicated at the center of the communication area. It is assumed that an increment command is issued in response to the transport of the distance data carrier. In this way, even when only one data carrier enters the communication area, data communication becomes possible when the data carrier reaches almost the center of the communication area. This is effective when the data carrier is transported intermittently.

Further, in this embodiment, the counter value is cleared when entering the communication area, and is incremented sequentially. However, the counter value is set to a predetermined value when entering the communication area, and each time the data carrier advances, the counter value is set. It goes without saying that the communication may be performed when the value is incremented and reaches a certain value.

[0021]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to set a unique identification code for each data carrier, and it is necessary to manage the identification codes and to determine whether the identification codes match. No processing is required, and hardware and software processing can be simplified. This is extremely effective in a line that transports and manufactures a large number of articles by a transport line, particularly when a large number of data carriers are used. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the counter value change command is output when the predetermined distance conveying device conveys the data carrier. Is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a contactless data communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a use state of the contactless data communication system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in a count value of a counter when a data carrier is transported along a transport path in the contactless data communication system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing operations of the data carrier and the ID controller according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a read command from the ID controller and a response to the read command according to the embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a write command from the ID controller and a response to the write command according to the embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1-1 to 1-n Data carrier 2 Data communication means 3 Memory 4 Counter 5 Count value change means 10 Transport device 11 Line 12 Article 21 Write / read control unit 22 Data communication means 23 Count value change instruction means 31 ID Controller 32 read / write head

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A non-contact data communication system comprising: a data carrier; a write / read control unit that writes or reads data to or from the data carrier; and a transport device that transports the data carrier at a constant speed. The data carrier performs data communication between the counter and the write / read control unit, and responds to the write / read command of the write / read control unit when the count value of the counter reaches a predetermined value. Communication means, a memory for holding data, and count value changing means for changing the count value of the counter in response to a counter value change command, wherein the write / read control unit comprises: Out of which data communication is performed with a data carrier whose counter has a predetermined value. And data communication means, non-contact data communication system, characterized in that the count value change instruction means for changing a count value of said counter, and has a. 2. The non-contact data communication system according to claim 1, wherein said data carrier clears a count value of said counter when entering a communication area. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the count value change instruction means of the write / read control unit sends a count value change command in response to the data carrier having been conveyed by a predetermined amount by the transfer device. The non-contact data communication system according to claim 1.