KR20040016077A - Postal matters control method using electric stamp - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for managing postal matters using an electronic stamp is provided to improve work efficiency by automatically storing/reading information wirelessly through an RF(Radio Frequency) ID device and to manage the postal matters without supplying power. CONSTITUTION: The electronic stamp comprising an RF tag embedded with a postal code is attached to the postal matter(200). The postal matter information such as a sender, a receiver, and an initial receiving office is inputted through a scanner(210). The postal matter information is stored in the electronic stamp and a serial number of the electronic stamp is read(220). The postal matter information and the serial number are transmitted to a central control server(230). The serial numbers of a postal matter receiving office and the postal matter are stored in the central control server(250). If a request for checking a current position of the postal matter is inputted, the current position is known by inputting the serial number of the postal matter to the central control server(270).

Description

Postal matters control method using electric stamp

The present invention relates to a mail management system that can identify the location of mail, and more specifically, to a mail-related information such as a reception desk and a reception date, as well as an email mail management system using an RF tag device that can grasp the location of the current mail. It is about.

Conventionally, a method of classifying mails using a bar code is used, and these methods generally have a bar code attached to the envelope of the mail, and the bar code contains a receiving country code and a unique number.

Although the position, angle and range of barcodes are standardized to some extent, they may be attached to other locations or incorrectly attached to the back of the envelope due to the mistake of the operator attaching the barcode to the mail.

Conventionally, in order to classify mail items received at the central office for each destination, many workers read barcodes attached to the mail with a hand scanner and sort them by the post office or the distribution system having jurisdiction based on the read contents.

However, in this method, the process of reading the contents of the bar code, the process of storing the contents in combination with each other, and the process of preparing the delivery certificate are all performed by hand. There was a problem requiring personnel.

The present invention is to solve the above problems, by using the RF ID device to automatically store and read the relevant information by wireless to improve the efficiency of the work and can also manage the mail without a separate power supply to the mail It is intended to provide a method and an apparatus.

As a preferred embodiment of the mail management method using an electronic stamp according to the present invention for achieving the above object

It is characterized by using an RF tag device and RF reader, and attaches an electronic postal mail consisting of an RF tag device with a unique number to the mail, and sends mail information such as a sender, a receiver, and an initial receiving address related to the mail to the RF reader. Input and store the input mail information in the electronic postage, read the unique number stored in the electronic postage, and transmits the postal information and the unique number of the electronic postage to the central control office server. Then, after checking whether the mail has been received by the other mailing address, if the mail is not received at the new mailing address, proceed to the next step. If the mail is received, the unique number of the mailing address and the unique number of the mail are sent to the server of the central control center. After storing the information, it is determined whether a request for confirming the current position of the mail item has been entered at the reception desk. If the request for confirming the current position of the mail in the step is entered at the reception desk, checking the unique number of the mail by inputting the initial reception destination information, and identifying the location of the mail by inputting the mail unique number to the central control server. It is made of.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic diagram of a transmitting and receiving device used in the present invention;

2 is a flowchart illustrating the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10 scanner 11 antenna

20: RF modulator 30: RF oscillator

40: transmission and reception data processing unit 50: controller

60: interface 70: central control center server

100: electronic postage stamp 110: tag antenna

120: RF rectifier circuit 130: controller

140: memory device 150: RF modulation and demodulation

160: signal processing unit 170: integrated circuit

180: adhesive paper

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the general communication between a conventional RF tag and a base station and a form of technical development will be described. Conventional RF Tags are known to identify and identify the locations of tagged objects in a stationary or moving state, and to transmit information about the status of those objects. Al since the early 1960s. In US Patent No. 3,098,971 to R. M. Richardson, it is known that electronic devices on a transponder can be powered by RF power transmitted by a base station at a carrier frequency and received by an antenna on a tag. The signal extracted by the tag antenna induces an alternating current that can be rectified by the RF diode to the antenna and the rectified current can be used for the power supply of the electronic device. The tag antenna loading is changed by something to be measured, for example the microphone resistance of the patent. Thus, the oscillating current induced in the tag antenna from the incoming RF energy will change, and this change in the oscillating current causes the RF power radiated from the tag antenna to change. This change in power radiated from the tag antenna can be taken out by the base station antenna so that the microphone can effectively distribute the power without itself having a built-in power supply. In this patent, the antenna current oscillates at the harmonic of the carrier frequency because the diode current contains a frequency component that is doubled, and this frequency can be extracted and picked up from the carrier frequency much more easily than just reflected. have. Since this type of tag does not have its own power source, it is called a passive tag to distinguish it from an active tag containing a battery. The battery supplies energy to spread the information from the tag antenna. The active tag can also change the loading on the tag antenna to send information to the base station.

In the 1970s, it was proposed to use tags with logic and read / write memory. In this way, the tag could be used to measure the animal's temperature, as well as to identify the animal, in several properties, for example in US Pat. No. 4,075,632 to Baldwin et al. Antenna load is varied by transistors. Transistor switch is a. The loading of transponders was also changed in US Patent No. 4,786,907 to A. Koelle.

The combination of a diode rectifier circuit and a balanced modulator that modulates the antenna current at twice the carrier frequency is Gerrit. Proposed in US Pat. No. 4,724,427 to Gary T. Carroll.

Prior art tags utilize electronic logic, memory circuitry, receiving circuitry, and modulation circuitry to receive information from the base station and to transmit information from the tag to the base station.

The continued advances in semiconductor technology for smaller, faster, and lower power have resulted in significant increases in functionality and the price of such tags. Currently available research and development technologies will also enable new functionality and a variety of products in communication technology. The range of communication distances from the base station to the tag is important. This range is determined by the voltage formed by the antenna on the tag and the rectifier circuit. first. In order to power the device on the tag, a stable supply voltage is extracted from the modulated RF field, and then a data signal with well defined zeros and ones for use of the tag digital electronics is recovered from the modulated RF field. In addition, the information receiving section of the RF tag draws power from a main power capacitor supplying power to the tag when no RF power is transmitted from the base station. In addition, the RF tag is divided into an active type that has its own internal power and a passive type that generates power required to drive internal circuits from RF input from an antenna. There is.

This paper intends to use the general communication between the RF base station and the RF tag as described above, the technology using the passive type RF tag in the mail, and the technology of the RF reader in the scanner.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the drawing, which can transmit and receive data to and from each other using a scanner 10 that performs the function of an RF reader and an electronic stamp 100 in which an RF tag device is embedded. It is configured to. The scanner 10 includes a system having a structure similar to that of a general RF reader, and in detail, demodulates a signal received from the microwave coil antenna 11 and the coil antenna 11 to transmit and receive a signal to the controller 50. RF modulation and demodulation unit 20 are connected to each other so as to modulate the signal received from the controller 50 and output it to the coil antenna 11, and make the received RF signal into an IF signal (intermediate frequency signal). The RF oscillator 30 used at the time is connected to the RF modulator 20. In addition, the RF modulation and demodulation block 20 transmits and modulates the information to be transmitted, and receives and receives the demodulated signal to process the data and information related to the mail, that is, charge information, sender, sender address, receiver DB input device 80 consisting of a plurality of switches capable of inputting a DB such as a recipient address, a reception date, a reception destination, and requesting data transmission, and receiving and storing information from each reception destination, and outputting relevant information if necessary. Receives the output of the controller 50 and the controller 50 for transmitting and receiving data from the control station server 70 and the transceiving data processing unit 40 and receiving mail related information from the input device 80 to process and store the data. It consists of an interface 60 for sending and receiving the central control server server 70 and related mail information. The scanner 10 having such a configuration may transmit / receive the information stored in the controller 50 in the transmission / reception data processing unit 40 to send the input mail related information and the unique number confirmation signal to the electronic stamp 100. When the data is processed and transmitted to the RF demodulation unit 20, the RF demodulation unit 20 transmits the broadcast wave through the coil antenna 30 and transmits the signal related information and unique number through the RF tag antenna 110. The integrated circuit 170 receiving the confirmation signal causes the received signal to be input to the RF rectifier circuit 120 and the RF modulator 150. The communication between the scanner 10 and the electronic stamp 100 is preferably performed in a closed chamber that can block external electromagnetic waves. The RF rectifier circuit 120 rectifies and stabilizes the received signal to generate a DC power source. The generated DC power source is connected to various components to activate the controller 130 and other components. The activated RF demodulation unit 150 receives the received signal and outputs the demodulation process to the signal processor 160. The signal processor 160 classifies data from the transmission signal to the controller 130. Send the data. The controller 130 stores the received mail-related information in the storage device 140 and transmits the postal code unique number stored in the storage device 140 to the signal processor 160 to modulate it in the RF demodulator 150. When transmitting to the scanner 10 through the RF tag antenna 110, the scanner 10 amplifies, demodulates and transmits the information received through the coil antenna 11, the transmission and reception data processing unit 40 If the data is classified and output to the interface 60 to transmit the data to the central control center server 70 through the controller 50, the central control server server 70 stores the postal information related to the received address and the postal unique number. To be managed. On the other hand, the interface 60 is preferably used having a serial interface standard such as RS 485/232.

If you want to know the location of the mail, such as the arrival or the current location of the mail sent from the reception desk by the above operation, first, the mail belonging to the original reception desk using the DB input device 80 of the scanner 10 Checking the number and the like transmitted to the central control office server 70 through the interface 60, the central control server 70 outputs all information related to the received unique postal code and transmits to the scanner 10 again the controller Reference numeral 50 is to display the relevant information on the display device (not shown) to determine the location of the mail.

On the other hand, the scanner 10 may be preferably powered by a small battery or a separate power supply so that it can be used as a power source when it is portable (not shown).

In addition, in the present invention, the integrated circuit 170 and the RF tag antenna 110 are separately configured, but in order to reduce the number of parts and improve work efficiency, the RF tag antenna 110 is configured in the integrated circuit 170 to be integrated. It is preferable to set it as.

Hereinafter, the operation of the mail management method using the electronic stamp according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

2 is a flowchart illustrating the present invention. First, an electronic postage stamp 100 having a unique number, such as a postal unique number, is attached to a postal mail using adhesive paper 180 (step 200), and the DB of the scanner 10 is shown. By using the input device 80, information related to the mail, that is, a DB of bill information, a sender, a sender address, a receiver, a recipient address, a reception date, a reception destination, and the like is input to the scanner 10 (step 210).

The scanner 10 is approached a certain distance to the mail to which the electronic postage 100 is attached, the postal identification number of the stored electronic postage 100 is confirmed, and the information entered in step 210 is stored in the electronic postage 100 (step). 220).

In addition, the mail-related information, such as the reception desk, along with the unique postal code is transmitted to the central control center server 70 so that the relevant data can be checked if necessary (step 230). After the above process is completed, if the relevant mail is received at a central office or a mail handling office installed in various places (step 240), the DB input device 80 of the scanner 10 such as a new reception desk and a mail unique number is replaced. When the mail-related information is transmitted to the central control office server 70, the received central control office server 70 stores the new reception destination unique number and related information in the related DB (step 250) and requests to confirm the related information of the mail. If the mail is not received in step 240, the process proceeds to step 260. If you want to know the location of the mail, such as the arrival or the current location of the mail sent from the reception desk, first check the mail unique number, etc. entered at the first reception desk using the DB input device 80 of the scanner 10 When the central control center server 70 transmits the confirmation request 260 through the interface 60, the central control server server 70 outputs all information related to the received postal code and transmits the information to the scanner 10 again. The controller 50 displays related information on a display device (not shown) so as to determine the location of the mail. If there is no confirmation request in step 260 is to end.

While the invention has been described in detail only with respect to the described embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations are possible within the spirit of the invention, and such modifications and variations belong to the appended claims.

As described above, the present invention can automatically manage the mail wirelessly by producing an electronic stamp by using the RF tag device, it is possible to quickly and accurately manage the mail, and without adding a separate power supply to the electronic stamp It can be operated economically because it can be managed automatically at low cost.

Claims (2)

In the mail management system using RF tag device and RF reader, Attaching an electronic postage stamp 100 consisting of an RF tag device with a unique postal code attached to the mail (200) and Inputting mailing information such as a sender and a recipient related to a mail, an initial reception desk, etc. into the scanner 10 (210); Storing the mail information input in step 210 in the electronic stamp 100 and reading a unique number stored in the electronic stamp 100 (220); Step 230 for transmitting the postal information and the postal unique number of the electronic stamp 100 to the central control office server 70; A step 240 of determining whether the mail is received at the other mail reception; In step 240, if the mail is not received at the new reception desk, it is connected to step 260. If it is received, the step 250 stores the unique number of the mail reception desk and the unique number of the mail at the central control center server 70. A step 260 of determining whether a request for confirming a current position of the mail has been input at a reception desk; If the request to confirm the current position of the mail in step 260 has been entered at the reception desk, check the unique number of the mail by inputting the first reception desk information, and input the mail unique number to the central control office server 70 to locate the mail. E-mail management system, characterized in that consisting of a step (270). The electronic mail management system according to claim 1, further comprising inputting a postal unique number by using the scanner (10) in the electronic stamp (100).