JPH11168406A - Remote id tag - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To compose an antenna of a conductor pattern and to thin entire configuration or to attain improvement in production workability even when using a medium wave as a radio wave. SOLUTION: Concerning the configuration of this remote ID tag, pattern coils 14-19 are provided on both the sides of planar parts 11-13 on a flexible printed circuit board 6 and insulating layers are provided on both the sides of the flexible printed circuit board 6 for covering the pattern coils 14-19 so that when the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded, the winding directions of two adjacent pattern coils with the flexible printed circuit board 6 or insulating layer inbetween among the pattern coils 14-19 can be inverted. Then, the respective terminal parts of the pattern coils 14-19 are connected so as to constitute one coil, for which the pattern coils 14-19 are sequentially wounded in the same direction, and the antenna is composed of one coil as mentioned above.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a remote ID tag suitable for use as a price tag tag, an inventory management tag, and the like in a remote ID system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of remote ID tag is provided with an integrated circuit, an antenna and the like. The ID tag oscillates a radio wave carrying data information stored in an integrated circuit from the antenna and transmits the radio wave to a remote ID main unit (management device), and a radio wave transmitted from the remote ID main unit. Has been received by the antenna and the data information included in the received signal is stored in the integrated circuit. Also, a battery (battery) is built in the ID tag, and power required for operation of the ID tag is supplied from the battery. Further, in recent years, there is also an ID tag configured to stop the built-in battery and to obtain electric power required for operation by radio wave power supply.

[0003]

As the antenna of the ID tag, there are an antenna constituted by a conductor pattern formed on a printed circuit board and an antenna constituted by a coil wound with a wire. Was used properly. For example, when a microwave of about 2.45 GHz is used, the length of the antenna is about 5 cm, and when a short wave of about 13 MHz is used, the length of the antenna is about 1 m. For this reason, when microwaves or short waves are used, the antenna can be formed by the conductor pattern of the printed wiring board, so that the overall configuration of the ID tag can be made thinner and the manufacturability can be improved.

[0004] However, when a medium wave of about 100 kHz is used, an antenna length of about 10 m is required. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to form an antenna with a conductor pattern, a required number of turns cannot be obtained. Therefore, conventionally, when a medium wave is used, an antenna is configured by a coil. As described above, when the antenna is configured by the coil, since the coil is a part having a certain thickness dimension,
There is a disadvantage that the configuration of the ID tag cannot be made thin.
In addition, since it is necessary to solder both ends of the coil to the conductor pattern of the printed wiring board on which the integrated circuit is mounted, there is a disadvantage that the number of manufacturing steps increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a remote ID tag which can be formed with a conductor pattern even when a medium wave is used as a radio wave, thereby making it possible to reduce the thickness and improve the workability of manufacturing. Is to provide.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the flexible printed circuit board is folded, the plurality of pattern coils provided on the plurality of flat plate portions of the flexible printed circuit board form the flexible printed circuit board or the insulating layer. The winding directions of two adjacent pattern coils are opposite to each other. By connecting each end of the plurality of pattern coils so that one coil wound in the same direction is formed from the plurality of pattern coils,
An antenna was composed of the one coil. In the case of this configuration, the number of turns of one coil permuted in the same direction can be increased to a desired number by increasing the number of times the flexible printed circuit board is folded. Therefore,
It is easy to extend the length of the antenna to about 10 m, and even when a medium wave is used as a radio wave, the antenna can be configured with a conductor pattern. Since the flexible printed circuit board having a small thickness is simply folded, the overall configuration of the ID tag can be reduced. Also,
Since the antenna is formed of the conductor pattern, the number of components is reduced, and the step of soldering both ends of the coil to the conductor pattern of the printed wiring board is not required, so that manufacturing workability can be improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the ends of the pattern coil are connected by through holes, and the cross-sectional area of the through-hole is substantially the same as the cross-sectional area of the conductor pattern of the pattern coil. . According to this configuration, the impedance of the connection portion at the end of the pattern coil can be set to be substantially the same as the impedance of the conductor pattern portion, and the impedance matching of the connection portion of the pattern coil can be achieved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the ends of the pattern coils are connected by the terminal portions made of the conductor pattern provided on the flexible printed circuit board so as to be in contact with each other when the flexible printed circuit board is folded. And the impedance of the terminal portion is substantially the same as the impedance of the conductor pattern portion of the pattern coil. Thereby, impedance matching of the connection portion of the pattern coil can be achieved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the groove is provided in the flexible printed board at a position along the fold line when the flexible printed board is folded, the flexible printed board can be easily folded. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the insulating layer is made of the same material as the flexible printed circuit board, it is easy to manufacture and the flexible printed circuit board is easily folded.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are diagrams showing the overall configuration of a remote ID tag. These figures 1
As shown in FIG. 2, the remote ID tag 1 includes a tag case 2 and a tag main body 3 housed in the tag case 2. The tag case 2 is made of a resin or paper or the like, and includes a case main part 4 in the shape of a rectangular box having a shallow bottom, and a lid 5 for closing the upper opening of the case main part 4. . The tag case 2
In the case of the present embodiment, the outer dimensions of the (ID tag 1) are, for example, 32 mm × 25 mm.

The tag body 3 includes a flexible printed board 6 folded as described later, a semiconductor chip 7 mounted on the flexible printed board 6, a resonance capacitor 8, a smoothing capacitor 9, and a flexible printed board. An antenna 10 is provided on the substrate 6 as described later. The above semiconductor chip 7
Constitutes an integrated circuit of the ID tag 1.

The flexible printed circuit board 6 is a thin film-shaped printed circuit board made of, for example, polyester (or polyimide) and having a thickness of about 0.01 mm, and can be folded at least once. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the flexible printed circuit board 6 has a horizontally long band shape when not folded, and can be folded twice, for example, along fold lines P1 and P2 indicated by broken lines. It has a configuration (see FIG. 6). In this case, a mountain fold is performed along the fold line P1, and a valley fold is performed along the fold line P2. Further, the flexible printed board 6 has three flat plate portions 11, 12, and 13 which are folded three times to overlap three times.

As shown in FIG. 3, three pattern coils 14, 15, 16 formed by, for example, spirally winding a copper conductor pattern are formed on one surface of the flexible printed circuit board 6, as shown in FIG. The above three flat plate portions 11, 1
2 and 13 are provided. The winding direction of each of the pattern coils 14, 15, 16 is as shown in FIG. In addition, the flat plate part 1 on the left end
A semiconductor chip 7 and capacitors 8 and 9 are provided at a central portion of the surface of the device 1.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, three pattern coils 17, 18, and 19 formed by spirally winding a conductor pattern made of copper, for example, on the back surface, which is the other surface of the flexible printed board 6, as shown in FIG. The above three flat plate portions 11, 1
2 and 13 are provided. That is, in the case of the present embodiment, the pattern coils 14 to 19 are provided on both surfaces of each of the three flat plate portions 11, 12, and 13. And
The winding directions of the pattern coils 17, 18, and 19 on the back surface are respectively as shown in FIG.
In FIG. 4, the fold line P3 is a line along which the valley folds, and the fold line P4 is a line along which the fold folds.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, the front and back surfaces of the flexible printed circuit board 6 are coated with insulating layers 20 and 21 using, for example, polyester (or polyimide). Thereby, the pattern coil 14
19 are covered with insulating layers 20 and 21 and are insulated. When the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the flexible printed circuit board 6 is disposed between the pattern coils 14 to 19. Or insulating layers 20, 2
1 is interposed.

In this embodiment, since the winding directions of the six pattern coils 14 to 19 are set to the directions shown in FIGS.
Are folded, the six pattern coils 14 to 19
Flexible printed circuit board 6 or insulating layer 2
It is configured such that the winding directions of two pattern coils adjacent to each other across 0 and 21 are opposite to each other.

Here, the six pattern coils 14 to 14
The connection relation of the 19 terminals will be described. First, the inner terminal 14a of the pattern coil 14 is
Connected to two terminals. Another terminal of the semiconductor chip 7 is the annular conductor foil 2 on the surface side of the through hole 22 provided so as to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6.
2a. The outer terminal 14b of the pattern coil 14 is connected to the outer terminal 15b of the pattern coil 15 so as to be continuous.

The inner terminal 1 of the pattern coil 15
5a is an annular conductor foil 23 on the surface side of a through hole 23 provided so as to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6.
a. Further, a terminal portion 24 made of, for example, a copper conductive pattern is provided at the lower right end in FIG. 3 of the flat plate portion 12 on which the pattern coil 15 is provided.
The terminal portion 24 is configured so as not to be covered by the insulating layer 20, that is, to be exposed. Further, the terminal portion 24 is connected to an annular conductor foil 25 a on the surface side of a through hole 25 provided so as to penetrate the flexible printed board 6.

At the lower left end in FIG. 3 of the flat plate portion 13 provided with the pattern coil 16, a terminal portion 26 made of, for example, a copper conductive pattern is provided. The terminal portion 26 is configured so as not to be covered by the insulating layer 20, that is, to be exposed. Further, the terminal 26 and the terminal 24 are connected to the flexible printed circuit board 6.
When folded, it is configured to be in contact and connected (see FIG. 7). The contact portion may be configured to be soldered, or may be configured to be bonded with a conductive adhesive.

The outer terminal 1 of the pattern coil 16
6b is connected to the terminal 26. The inner terminal 16a of the pattern coil 16 is connected to the through hole 2 provided to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6.
7 is connected to the annular conductor foil 27a on the front surface side.

The annular conductor foil 27b on the back side of the through hole 27 is connected to the inner terminal 19a of the pattern coil 19, as shown in FIG. The outer terminal 19b of the pattern coil 19 is connected so as to be continuous with the outer terminal 18b of the pattern coil 18. The inner terminal 18a of the pattern coil 18 is connected to an annular conductive foil 23b on the back surface side of the through hole 23 provided to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6. Thus, the inner terminal 18a of the pattern coil 18 and the inner terminal 15a of the pattern coil 15 are connected via the through hole 23.

A terminal 28 made of, for example, a copper conductor pattern is provided at the upper right end in FIG. 4 of the flat plate portion 12 on which the pattern coil 18 is provided. The terminal portion 28 is configured so as not to be covered by the insulating layer 21, that is, to be exposed. Further, the terminal portion 28
Is an annular conductor foil 25 on the back side of the through hole 25 provided so as to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6.
b. Through the through hole 25, the terminal portion 28 and the terminal portion 24 (therefore, the terminal portion 2)
6 and the outer terminal 18b) of the pattern coil 18.

A terminal portion 29 made of, for example, a copper conductor pattern is provided at the upper left end of the flat plate portion 11 provided with the pattern coil 17 in FIG. This terminal portion 29 is not covered with the insulating layer 21,
That is, it is configured to be exposed. Further, the terminal portion 29 and the terminal portion 28 are configured to be brought into contact and connected when the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded (see FIG. 7). The contact portion may be configured to be soldered, or may be configured to be bonded with a conductive adhesive.

Further, the terminal portion 29 is connected to the outer terminal 17b of the pattern coil 17. The inner terminal 17a of the pattern coil 17 is connected to an annular conductor pattern 22b on the back side of the through hole 22 provided to penetrate the flexible printed circuit board 6. By passing through this through hole 22,
The inner terminal 17a of the pattern coil 17 and the terminal of the semiconductor chip 7 are connected.

Since the terminals of the six pattern coils 14 to 19 are connected as described above, one coil wound in the same direction by the six pattern coils 14 to 19 is formed. Has become. Further, the antenna 10 is constituted by the one coil. In this case, the number of turns of the antenna 10 is 6
The number is obtained by adding the number of turns of each of the pattern coils 14 to 19. That is, the length of the antenna 10 is, for example, 5 to 10
It is sufficiently possible to extend the length to about m. In this case, if it is necessary to increase the number of pattern coils, the number can be easily increased by increasing the number of times the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded.

The antenna 10 and the resonance capacitor 8 constitute a resonance circuit. The resonance frequency of the resonance circuit is determined by the self inductance L of the antenna 10 and the capacitance C of the resonance capacitor 8. still,
The smoothing capacitor 9 smoothes the rectified output obtained by rectifying the electric power supplied by radio waves by a rectifier circuit built in the semiconductor chip 7 to generate a stable DC voltage (electric power). Semiconductor chip 7 as a power supply for operation
It is configured to be supplied to.

Further, in the case of the above embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the through holes 22, 23, 25 and 27 of the flexible printed circuit board 6 connecting the ends of the pattern coils 14 to 19 is
The pattern coils 14 to 19 are configured to have substantially the same cross-sectional area as the cross-sectional area of the conductor pattern.
19, and the impedance of the other conductor pattern portions of the pattern coils 14 to 19 are substantially equal. Furthermore, in the case of the above embodiment, the terminal 2 of the flexible printed circuit board 6 for connecting the ends of the pattern coils 14 to 19 is connected.
The impedance of 4, 26, 28, and 29 and the impedance of the conductor pattern portions of the pattern coils 14 to 19 are substantially the same.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the conductor patterns of the pattern coils 14 to 19 are roughly drawn in a spiral shape with thick lines, but this is to make it easy to see the winding direction of the pattern coils 14 to 19. I just went. Actually, the conductor patterns of the pattern coils 14 to 19 are as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.
The portions 1, 12, and 13 are provided so as to form a substantially rectangular frame around the surfaces of the surfaces, and to be aligned and fairly dense.
The number of turns of each of the pattern coils 14 to 19 is, for example, about 10 to 20.

According to the present embodiment having such a configuration, the three flat plate portions 11, 12, 1
3 is provided with six pattern coils 14 to 19 formed by spirally winding a conductor pattern on both surfaces, and insulating layers 20 and 21 are provided on both surfaces of the flexible printed board 6 so as to cover the pattern coils 14 to 19, When the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded twice, the winding directions of the two pattern coils adjacent to each other across the flexible printed circuit board 6 or the insulating layers 20 and 21 among the six pattern coils 14 to 19 are reversed. And the ends of the six pattern coils 14 to 19 are connected so that one coil wound in the same direction from the six pattern coils 14 to 19 is formed. did. Then, in the present embodiment, the antenna 10 is configured by one coil configured as described above.

Thus, in the case of this embodiment, the number of turns of one coil wound in the same direction, ie, the number of turns of the antenna 10, is the number obtained by adding the number of turns of each of the six pattern coils 14 to 19. . Accordingly, it is sufficiently easy to extend the length of the antenna 10 to about 5 to 10 m. Even when a medium wave is used as a radio wave, the antenna 10 is
It can be constituted by a conductor pattern formed on the flexible printed board 6 (printed wiring board).
In the above embodiment, since the flexible printed circuit board 6 having a small thickness is merely folded, the ID tag 1
Can be made thinner. Further, in the above embodiment, since the antenna 10 is formed of the conductor pattern, the number of components can be reduced, and the work of soldering both ends of the antenna coil (conventional configuration) to the conductor pattern of the printed wiring board is unnecessary. It is possible to improve manufacturing workability.

In the above embodiment, the pattern coil 1
4 to 19 are connected to the flexible printed circuit board 6.
And the cross-sectional areas of the through-holes 22, 23, 25, and 27 are substantially the same as the cross-sectional areas of the conductor patterns of the pattern coils 14 to 19. Thus, in the above embodiment, the impedance of the connection portion at the end of the pattern coils 14 to 19 is reduced.
Can be set to be substantially the same as the impedance of the conductor pattern portion, and the impedance matching of the connection portion of the pattern coils 14 to 19 can be achieved.

Further, in the above embodiment, the terminal portion 2 provided on the flexible printed board 6 so that the flexible printed board 6 is brought into contact with and connected to each other when the flexible printed board 6 is folded.
4, 26, 28, 29, the pattern coils 14 to
19 are connected to each other, and the terminal 2
The impedance of the conductor pattern portions of the pattern coils 14 to 19 was configured to be substantially the same as the impedance of the 4, 26, 28, and 29 portions. As a result, impedance matching of the connection portions of the pattern coils 14 to 19 can be achieved. Furthermore, in the case of the above embodiment,
Since the insulating layers 20, 21 are made of the same material (polyester, polyimide, etc.) as the flexible printed circuit board 6,
The manufacturing becomes easy, and the flexible printed circuit board 6 becomes easy to fold.

In the above-described embodiment, it is preferable that the flexible printed circuit board 6 is provided with a groove at a position along the fold lines P2 and P3. With this configuration, the flexible printed board 6 can be easily folded. Further, in this case, the groove is provided at a portion along the fold lines P2 and P3.
2, since the conductor pattern does not exist in the portion along P3, the groove does not interfere with the conductor pattern.

In the above embodiment, the pattern coils 14 to 19 are provided on both sides of the flat portions 11, 12, and 13 of the flexible printed circuit board 6. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and one surface of each flat portion is provided. The pattern coil may be provided on only one of the flat plate portions, or the pattern coil may be provided on only one surface of any one or two of the flat plate portions. The number of times the flexible printed circuit board 6 is folded is not limited to two, but may be one or three or more. In short, the number of times of folding the flexible printed circuit board 6 and the number of pattern coils (and the number of turns of the pattern coil) are appropriately set so that the required antenna length (ie, the self-inductance L of the antenna) can be realized. It may be configured as follows.

In the above embodiment, the tag body 3 is accommodated in the tag case 2. However, instead of this, the tag body 3 is sealed with a resin, for example, to form a card-shaped resin molded body. May be formed. Further, in the above embodiment, when connecting the end portions of the pattern coils 14 to 19, the connection was made by the through holes 22, 23, 25, 27 and the terminal portions 24, 26, 28, 29. You may comprise so that it may connect by a through hole.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an ID tag showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the ID tag with a lid removed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the surface of a flexible printed circuit board;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a back surface of a flexible printed circuit board;

FIG. 5 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of a flexible printed circuit board.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the flexible printed circuit board is being folded;

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a state in which the flexible printed circuit board is folded.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is an ID tag, 2 is a tag case, 3 is a tag body, 6 is a flexible printed circuit board, 7 is a semiconductor chip (integrated circuit), 8 is a resonance capacitor, 9 is a smoothing capacitor,
10 is an antenna, 11, 12, and 13 are flat plate parts, 14, 1
5, 16, 17, 18, and 19 are pattern coils, 20,
21 is an insulating layer, 22 and 23 are through holes, 24 is a terminal part, 25 is a through hole, 26 is a terminal part, 27 is a through hole, 28 is a terminal part, and 29 is a terminal part.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A remote ID tag comprising an integrated circuit and an antenna, comprising: a flexible printed circuit board which can be folded at least once; and one or both of a plurality of flat plate portions which are overlapped by folding the flexible printed circuit board. A plurality of pattern coils formed by spirally winding a conductor pattern; and an insulating layer provided on the flexible printed circuit board so as to cover the plurality of pattern coils, when the flexible printed circuit board is folded. And a configuration in which the winding directions of two pattern coils adjacent to each other across the flexible printed circuit board or the insulating layer among the plurality of pattern coils are opposite to each other, and in the same direction from the plurality of pattern coils. So that one coil wound in a series is formed. Remote ID tag of connecting each end of the pattern coil, characterized by being configured the antenna by the one coil. 2. An end portion of the pattern coil is connected by a through hole, and a sectional area of the through hole is substantially equal to a sectional area of a conductor pattern of the pattern coil. The remote ID tag according to claim 1, wherein 3. An end portion of the pattern coil is connected by a terminal portion made of a conductor pattern provided on the flexible printed circuit board so that the flexible printed circuit board comes into contact with each other when the flexible printed circuit board is folded. 3. The remote ID tag according to claim 1, wherein the impedance of the terminal portion and the impedance of the conductor pattern portion of the pattern coil are substantially the same. 4. The remote ID tag according to claim 1, wherein a groove is provided at a position along a fold line when the flexible printed circuit board is folded. 5. The remote ID tag according to claim 1, wherein said insulating layer is made of the same material as said flexible printed circuit board.