WO2006137633A1

WO2006137633A1 - System for searching or registering rfid and controlling method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2006137633A1
Application number: PCT/KR2005/004529
Authority: WO
Inventors: Weon Kim; Jung-Jung Na; Seung-Jai Yi; Hyoun-Deock Yim; Hyun-Bong Go
Original assignee: National Internet Development Agency Of Korea
Priority date: 2005-06-23
Filing date: 2005-12-26
Publication date: 2006-12-28
Also published as: KR100537329B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for searching for or registering RFID, which includes an object directory server, an object traceability server, an object information server, a middleware system, an application system, a reader and an RFID tag, so as to detect the location of servers that store information corresponding to an RFID code, acquire data related to the object, and register data related to the RFID tag in an object information server and in an object traceability server, and to a control method thereof. The present invention is advantageous in that it provides information related to RFID tags to a plurality of organizations, thus providing information service to the networks of the organizations, improving the universality of an RFID network system, easily searching for information utilized in various fields, and searching for or registering object information related to RFID codes in real time.

Description

[DESCRIPTION]

[invention Title]

SYSTEM FOR SEARCHING OR REGISTERING RFID AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates, in general, to a system for searching for or registering a radio frequency identification (hereinafter referred to as an "RFID") and a control method thereof and, more particularly, to a system for searching for or registering an RFID, which detects the location of servers that store information corresponding to an RFID code, attached to an object and contained in an RFID tag, acquires data related to the object, and registers data related to the RFID tag both in an object information server and in an object traceability server, and to a control method thereof.

[Background Art]

Generally, RFID technology, which is a technology of reading RFID code information contained in RFID tags through a reader in a non-contact manner, allows RFID tags to be attached to all objects, such as commodities, materials or securities, animals or plants, and can be applied to various fields, such as production, distribution, logistics, national defense, security, traffic or the environment.

RFID technology, first appeared as a result of research on radar in the U.S., was used to mutually identify approaching flying objects during World War II, and was researched in earnest to monitor dangerous substances, such as nuclear materials. Thereafter, an RFID chip inserted into a military glass fiber-reinforced epoxy card has been developed. The development of RFID related technology, which was conducted based on military purposes, has been extended to public sectors. In particular, an RFID device which allows an RFID tag to be inserted into an animal and manages the animal has been developed. The importance of such research is recognized, so that RFID technology has been standardized by the international organization for standardization. Since the mid-1980s, research on RFID technology has been concentrated on the realization of low power consumption, long distance, low cost and small size for tags. As RFID circuits can be inserted into a single card, RFID technology has attracted attention as a management and security tool to prevent access by unauthorized persons or objects.

In current RFID technology standards, organizations, such as EPCglobal, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) /International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) , or uID Center of Japan, have individually developed RFID code policies related to RFID code structures. However, since these policies differ according to organization, they are obstacles to the construction of a global RFID environment. Therefore, there may occur a plurality of problems in that RFID technology cannot be organically combined with an Internet infrastructure, and an RFID directory service system must be constructed separately from the Internet infrastructure. From medium- and long-term perspectives, there is a need to unify RFID standards to solve the above problems, but a task of unifying RFID standards requires a lot of time, so that an integrated environment enabling all codes to be read, and related information to be searched, is required before RFID standards can be unified. As a representative of RFID code standards, there are the Electronic Product Code (EPC) of EPCglobal, the ISO/IEC defined code, the ucode of Ubiquitous ID Center, etc. According to circumstances, an additional RFID codes can also appear in the future. When RFID network systems has evolved into a universal network such as the Internet, there may occur a problem that a specific RFID code cannot be recognized due to the existence of a plurality of RFID codes . This problem deteriorates the reliability of an entire RFID network and causes economic loss.

[Disclosure] [Technical Problem]

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system and a controlling method that searches for the locations of servers storing information corresponding to codes contained in RFID tags regardless of the type of RFID code standard being used, and registers object information related to the RFID code contained in the RFID tag and object history information in the server, or searches for the object information and the object history information.

[Technical Solution]

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention to accomplish the above object, there is provided a system for searching for or registering a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) , which reads information contained in an RFID tag in a non-contact manner, comprising at least one reader for collecting an RFID code and related information from the RFID tag and transmitting the collected information to at least one middleware system, the middleware system for filtering the RFID code and the related information collected by the reader, converting the RFID code and related information into data to be updated in at least one object information server, and transmitting the data to an application system, at least one object directory server and the object information server, the application system for directly receiving the RFID code and the related information, transmitted from the reader, from the middleware system, representing the directly received RFID code and related information, receiving an RFID code and related information, which is updated by the object directory server, the object information server and at least one object traceability server, and representing the updated RFID code and related information, the object information server for storing object information contained in the RFID tag and history information generated when the RFID tag moves, the object traceability server for storing history information added by a plurality of object information servers, at least one local object directory server for providing a Uniform Resource Identifier (hereinafter referred to as a "URI") of an object traceability server or an object information server corresponding to the RFID code in response to a query about the RFID code received from the application system, and a national object directory server for transmitting an Internet Protocol Address (hereinafter referred to as an "IP address") of another local object directory server existing in another network area to the object directory server. Preferably, in the RFID search or registration system, any one of the application system, the middleware system and the local object directory server may include a multi-code decoding module.

Preferably, in the RFID search or registration system, the local object directory server may comprise a main processor for searching the RFID code the RFID code in cache and internal zone files and responding to the query, a pre-processor including an input/output processing module for determining queried Fully Qualified Domain Names (hereinafter referred to as an "FQDN") codes and branching the codes into respective modules, a multi-code processing module for recognizing multiple codes and transmitting the recognized multiple codes to a pre-resolver module, the pre-resolver module for converting the recognized codes into domain names stored in the zone file to query the main processor, and a query packet creation module for converting the domain names into Domain Name System

(hereinafter referred to as "DNS") query packets and performing queries, a management tool for registering, revising, deleting or searching the zone file according to class of users, and the zone file for storing therein information data about location of the object information server or the object traceability server, which stores object information related to the RFID tag.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention to accomplish the above object, there is provided a method of controlling search or registration of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in a method of searching for or registering an RFID, which receives an RFID code of an RFID tag from a reader or an application and searches for object information, comprising the steps of an application system creating a query packet using the RFID code in FQDN format, and querying a first local object directory server, the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a Naming Authority Pointer (hereinafter referred to as "NAPTR") Resource Record (hereinafter referred to as "RR") -format message, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to a national object directory server, the national object directory server transmitting an IP address of a second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message, the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object information server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message, the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the first or second object information server about object information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server, and the first or second object information server transmitting object information corresponding to the RFID tag queried by the application system to the application system, thus searching for the object information.

Preferably, the RFID search or registration control method may further comprise the step of registering object history information, which comprises the steps of the first middleware system creating a query packet using an RFID code acquired by the reader in FQDN format, and querying the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server, the national object directory server transmitting an IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message, the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message, the first middleware system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and transmitting actually stored history information data and the URI of the object traceability server to the first object information server, the first object information server storing the history information data of the object and requesting the object traceability server to register a URI of the stored data, and the object traceability server registering the URI of the history information data and notifying the first object information server that the URI of the history information data has been registered, and the first object information server notifying the first middleware system that the history information data has been updated in the first object information server and the URI of the history information data has been added to the object traceability server.

Preferably, the RFID search or registration control method may further comprise the step of searching for object history information, which comprises the steps of the application system creating a query packet using an RFID code in FQDN format, and querying the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server, the national object directory server transmitting an IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message, the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message, the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the object traceability server about the URI of the object information server, the object traceability server transmitting a URI of the first or second object information server, which stores history information corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system, and the application system querying the first or second object information server about history information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server, and the first or second object information server transmitting the history information of the object to the application system.

[Advantageous Effects] As described above, the present invention is advantageous in that it can flexibly accommodate RFID codes to be newly added and stably and universally recognize multiple RFID codes. Further, the present invention is advantageous in that it can provide a service of searching for information about an object to which an RFID tag is attached and registering, updating or searching object history information, so that the universality of an RFID network system is improved, and information utilized in various fields using RFID technology can be easily searched for in places all over the world, without being limited to restrictive locations. Further, the present invention is advantageous in that it can search for or register object information related to an RFID code in real time, and is very useful for the RFID industry from the standpoint of application fields . [Description of Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of a system for searching for or registering RFID according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the construction of a local object directory server in the RFID search or registration system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a query procedure performed by the national object directory server and the local object directory servers of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an object information search process according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an object history information registration process according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an object history information search process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Best Mode]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings .

First, for convenience of understanding of the present invention, the concept of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) network is briefly described through comparison of a Domain Name System (DNS) in Web service with an RFID directory system. Both systems are based on a DNS system. In the case of Web service, an Internet Protocol (IP) address is acquired by querying a DNS about the domain name of a Web server, whereas, in the case of an RFID service, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is acquired by querying an object directory server about an RFID code.

In order for a user to access a desired homepage in the Web service, the user enters an easily memorizable domain name, instead of an IP address, in the address window of a Web browser. In this case, the domain name is converted into an IP address through the DNS, so that the user can access the desired homepage. In contrast, the RFID service is implemented so that, when a user desires to know information about a certain product, an RFID code is read from an RFID tag attached to the product using an RFID reader, and the URI of an object information server in which object information is registered is acquired, thus allowing the user to acquire information about the RFID code.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the construction of a system for searching for or registering RFID according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a national object directory server 100, a first local object directory server 110, a first object information server 120, a first middleware system 130, a first reader 140, a first RFID tag 150, an application system 160, and an object traceability server 170, which construct a single local network. A plurality of local networks is constructed, so that information about an object to which an RFID tag is attached and which exists in the network is continuously served. The components of the RFID directory system according to an embodiment of the present invention are described in detail below.

The national object directory server 100 is an object directory server which performs a function similar to a highest DNS in an RFID network and is managed in a national level. The national object directory server 100 stores the location information (URI) of the local object directory servers 110 and 111, placed in a plurality of network areas, in zone files, and provides the IP addresses of the local object directory servers 110 and 111 in response to an RFID code query.

The first local object directory server 110 functions as a local DNS, stores the URIs of the object traceability server 170, the first object information server 120 and the second object information server 121 in zone files, and provides the URI of the object traceability server 170, the first object information server 120 or the second object information server 121 corresponding to an RFID code, in response to an RFID code query.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, the first local object directory server 110 includes a main processor 10, a pre-processor 20, a management tool 30 and zone files 40. In detail, the main processor 10 searches a queried RFID code in a cache and internal zone files and makes a response. When information related to the RFID code does not exist, the first local object directory server 110 takes charge of a query to and a response from the higher national object directory server 100 and a query to and a response from the second local object directory server 111 in another network area, and provides service similar to an existing DNS.

Next, the pre-processor 20 includes an input/output processing module 21, a multi-code processing module 22, a pre-resolver module 23, and a query packet creation module 24. The input/output processing module 21 determines queried Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) codes in response to queries received from the application system 160 and the middleware systems 130 and 131, and branches the codes into respective modules. The multi-code processing module 22 recognizes multiple RFID codes and transmits the recognized codes to the pre-resolver module 23. The pre-resolver module 23 converts the recognized codes into domain names stored in the zone file to query the higher main processor 10, and the query packet creation module 24 converts the domain names into DNS query packets and performs queries . The management tool 30 manages users' access depending on the class of users according to the present invention, registers, revises, deletes and searches the zone file, and manages dynamic update.

The zone files 40 is constructed using a plurality of zone files, stores therein the URIs of a plurality of object traceability servers and object information servers that store information related to RFID tags, and responds to RFID codes queried by the main processor 10 using the URIs of the object traceability servers 170 and the object information servers 120 and 121.

As described above, both the national object directory server 100 and the first local object directory server 110 denote an object directory system. The object directory system is constructed so that the national object directory server 100 is placed in a higher location, similar to the structure of a hierarchical model of a DNS, and a query is provided to the national object directory server 100, which is a higher system, to trace information when desired information cannot be acquired from the first local object directory server 110. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a search is conducted to determine whether the value of Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR) Resource Record

(RR) , corresponding to an RFID code, exists in the zone file of the first local object directory server 110 in an organization A network area. If a corresponding NAPTR RR value does not exist, the IP address of the second local object directory server 111 in another organization network area (organization B network area shown in the drawing) , to which the RFID code is assigned, is detected by querying the higher national object directory server 100, and the URIs of the object traceability server 170 and the second object information server 121 are acquired by querying the second local object directory server 111.

Moreover, the national object directory server 100 provides the IP addresses of the first local object directory server 110 and the second local object directory server 111. The first local object directory server 110 provides URIs of the object traceability servers 170 of respective organizations, the first object information server 120 and the second object information server 121. The organizations personally register and manage RFID tags.

Further, the first object information server 120 stores static information and dynamic information

(instances, and historical information) of an object in various formats (text, images, HyperText Transfer Protocol [HTTP] data, Extensible Markup Language [XML] format data, etc.) and serves the stored data. In order to access various types of stored data, the application system 160 and the first middleware system 130 are each provided with an interface for accessing the first object information server 120. The first middleware system 130 receives a large amount of data generated in an RFID environment, that is, data collected from RFID tags through a reader, filters the received data to execute data processing, data representation, data exchange, information naming service, etc., converts the received data into data to be updated in the first object information server 120, and transmits the converted data to the first local object directory server 110, the first object information server 120 and the application system 160. The first reader 140 collects an RFID code and related information from the first RFID tag in an RF manner, and transmits the RFID code and related information to the first middleware system 130.

The first RFID tag 150 includes therein a superminiature IC chip and an antenna, required to identify an object in an RF manner, to store RFID tag information. As the code standard of the RFID tag, there are the Electronic Product Code (EPC) of EPCglobal, the ISO/IEC definition code and the ucode of Ubiquitous ID Center. The code standards of a tag to be developed in the future according to circumstances can be combined with the present invention and operated thereby.

The application system 160 directly receives RFID tag information from the first middleware system 130 and represents the RFID tag information and, additionally, receives RFID tag information, updated by the object traceability server 170, the object information servers 120 and 121 and the object directory servers 110 and 111, and represents the updated RFID tag information.

As the RFID tag moves with the movement of an object, data stored in the plurality of object information servers 120 and 121, and tag information updated from the data (the URI of data stored in the object information servers) are stored in and served by the object traceability server 170. Such an object traceability server 170 is managed according to country, public institution (logistics, distribution, national defense, etc.) or organization, based on each organization or the purpose of stored data.

The second local object directory server 111, the second object information server 121, the second middleware system 131, the second reader 141 and the second RFID tag 151 in the organization B network area, shown in FIG. 1, are the same as those of the above-described organization A network area, so that a detailed description thereof is omitted. Meanwhile, each of the local object directory servers 110 and 111, the application system 160, and the middleware system 130, is provided therein with a Multi-code Decoding Module (hereinafter referred to as an "MDM") . Currently, most distribution networks are limited in that, since they are managed by management tools thereof through a database over a closed internal network in an organization, it is impossible to respond to an external query. The MDM requires an RFID directory system for connecting RFID networks to each other to solve this limitation. In particular, there is a problem that an RFID directory system implemented when RFID codes are not universally unified, consequently may become an incomplete system that enables a directory service to be available only in an individual code system due to different codes. In order to solve this problem, an RFID directory system provided with an MDM capable of accommodating various RFID codes is constructed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an object information search process according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can be achieved by the following process comprising, the step SlO of the application system creating a query packet using an RFID code in FQDN format and querying a first local object directory server; the step SIl of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of an object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists; the step S12 of, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S13 of, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server; the step S14 of the national object directory server transmitting an IP address of a second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the step S15 of the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S16 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object information server to the application system as a NAPTR RR- format message; the step S17 of the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the first or second object information server about object information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server; and the step S18 of the first or second object information server transmitting the object information corresponding to the RFID tag queried by the application system to the application system. Accordingly, the user who desires to know the object information of the tag receives a code value from the reader or the application system and searches for the object information.

A detailed operating process by the object information search method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below.

The step SlO of the application system creating a query packet using the RFID code in FQDN format and querying the first local object directory server is performed so that the application system 160 creates the FQDN-format query packet using an RFID code received from the middleware system 130 or a desired RFID code to be searched by the application system 160, and queries the first local object directory server 110. In this case, the application system 160 separates FQDN formats according to field (for example: in case of EPC code, 3.1.gid. id.onsepc. com. , in case of ucode, 3.1.classA.23.id.ucode.ods.or.kr. , and in case of ISO 15459 code, 456.123. iac.id.iso.ods .or . kr . ) to perform a query. Further, in case of an RFID code whose type cannot be confirmed, the application system 160 attaches "unknown . ods . or . kr ." to the entire code value (for example: 45634203045904.unknown. ods .or . kr. ) to perform a query. The step SIl of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists is performed so that, after searching a zone file or cache included in the first local object directory server 110, the first local object directory server 110 determines whether the URI of the object information server 120 corresponding to the RFID code exists.

The step S12 of, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server, corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code queried by the application system 160 exists in the first local object directory server 110, the first local object directory server 110 searches the zone files or cache thereof and returns corresponding data, that is, the URI of the first or second object information server 120 or 121, to the application system 160 as a NAPTR RR-format message.

The step S13 of, if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 does not have the URI of the object information server corresponding to the query packet, the first local object directory server 110 queries the national object directory server 100. If the FQDN format of the received query packet is unknown . ods . or . kr ., the MDM searches for a corresponding code, converts the code into FQDN format suitable for the field length of each code, searches the zone files or cache, and then queries the national object directory server 100.

The step S14 of the national object directory server transmitting the IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server is performed so that the national object directory server 100 extracts a result value of the search of the IP address of the second local object directory server 111, in which the URI of the object information server related to the RFID tag is registered, in response to the query received from the first local object directory server 110, and transmits the IP address search result value to the first local object directory server 110.

The step S15 of the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 transmits the query packet to the second local object directory server 111 using the IP address of the second local object directory server 111 searched by the national object directory server 100, the second local object directory server 111 searches the zone files thereof in response to the queried RFID code so as to acquire the URI of the second object information server 121, which is a result value of the query, and transmits extracted data, that is, the URI of the object information server, to the first local object directory server 110 as a message configured in NAPTR RR format.

The step S16 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object information server to the application system as a NAPTR RR- format message is performed so that the first local object directory server 110 transmits the NAPTR RR-format message, which is the result value received from the second local object directory server 111, to the application system 160, so that the application system 160 acquires the URI of the object information server existing in another network area.

The step S17 of the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the first or second object information server about object information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server is performed so that the application system parses the URI from the result value NAPTR RR and queries the first or second object information server 120 or 121 about object information corresponding to the RFID tag.

The step S18 of the first or second object information server transmitting object information corresponding to the RFID tag, queried by the application system, to the application system is performed so that the first or second object information server 120 or 121 transmits object information corresponding to the RFID tag queried by the application system 160 to the application system 160.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an object history information registration process according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can be achieved by the following process comprising, the step S20 of a first middleware system creating a query packet using an RFID code acquired by a reader in FQDN format, and querying a first local object directory server; the step S21 of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists; the step S22 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S23 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server; the step S24 of the national object directory server transmitting an IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the step S25 of the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S26 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S27 of the first middleware system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message, received from the first local object directory server, and transmitting actually stored history information data and the URI of the object traceability server to the first object information server; the step S28 of the first object information server storing the history information data of the object and requesting the object traceability server to register the URI of stored data; and the step S29 of the object traceability server registering the URI of the history information data and notifying the first object information server that the URI of the history information data has been registered, and first object information server notifying the first middleware system that the history information data has been updated in the first object information server and the URI of the history information data has been added to the object traceability server. Therefore, history information, indicating that the object corresponding to the RFID tag moves to a new network area from another network area, is left and stored in the object traceability server.

A detailed operating process by the object history information registration method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below.

The step S20 of the first middleware system creating a query packet using the RFID code acquired by the reader in FQDN format and querying the first local object directory server is performed so that, if the first reader 140 reads RFID code information of the RFID tag, moving between network areas, and transmits the code information to the first middleware system 130, the first middleware system 130 creates the query packet using the RFID code in FQDN format and transmits the query packet to the first local object directory server 110.

The step S21 of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists is performed so that the first local object directory server 110 searches the zone files thereof for the URI of the object traceability server 170 corresponding to the RFID code received from the first middleware system 130 to determine whether the URI exists in the zone files.

The step S22 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code queried by the first middleware system 130 exists in the first local object directory server 110, the first local object directory server 110 searches the zone files or cache thereof and then returns corresponding data, that is, the URI of the object traceability server 170, to the first middleware system 130, as a NAPTR RR-format message. The step S23 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 does not have the URI of the object traceability server 170 corresponding to the query packet, the first local object directory server queries the national object directory server 100. If the FQDN format of the received query packet is unknown. ods .or . kr. , the MDM searches for a corresponding code, converts the code into FQDN format suitable for the field length of each code, searches the zone file or cache, and then queries the national object directory server 100.

The step S24 of the national object directory server transmitting the IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server is performed so that the national object directory server 100 extracts a result value of the search of the IP address of the second local object directory server 111, in which the URI of the object traceability server 170 related to the RFID tag is registered, in response to the query received from the first local object directory server 110, and transmits the extracted search result value to the first local object directory server 110.

The step S25 of the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the IP address of the second local object directory server, and the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 transmits a query packet to the second local object directory server 111 using the IP address of the second local object directory server 111 searched by the national object directory server 100, the second local object directory server 111 searches the zone files thereof in response to the queried RFID code so as to acquire the URI of the object traceability server 170, which is a result value of the query, and transmits extracted data, that is, the URI of the object traceability server 170, to the first local object directory server 110 as a message configured in NAPTR RR format.

The step S26 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that the first local object directory server 110 transmits the result value, that is, the NAPTR RR-format message received from the second local object directory 111, to the first middleware system 130, thus allowing the first middleware system 130 to acquire the URI of the object traceability server 170.

The step S27 of the first middleware system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and transmitting actually stored history information data and the URI of the object traceability server to the first object information server is performed so that the first middleware system 130 filters the RFID code value and history information, requests the first object information server 120 to store the actually stored history information data, parses the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first object directory server 110, and provides the URI information of the object traceability server 170 to the first object information server 120.

The step S28 of the first object information server storing the history information data of the object and requesting the object traceability server to register the URI of the stored data is performed so that the first object information server 120 stores history information, such as a reader ID or time stamp, and then requests the object traceability server 170 to register the URI of the stored data.

The step S29 of the object traceability server registering the URI of the history information data and notifying the first object information server that the URI of the history information data has been registered, and the first object information server notifying the first middleware system that the history information data has been updated in the first object information data has been added to the object traceability server, is performed so that, after the object traceability server 170 has added the URI of the history information data of the first object information server 120 to a field assigned at the time of creating the RFID tag, the object traceability server 170 notifies the first object information server 120 that the URI of the history information data has been registered, and the first information server 120 notifying the first middleware system 130 that the history information data has been updated in the first object information server 120 and the URI of the history information data has been added to the object traceability server 170.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an object history information search process according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can be achieved by the following process comprising, the step S30 of an application system creating a query packet using an RFID code in FQDN format and querying a first local object directory server; the step S31 of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists; the step S32 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S33 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server; the step S34 of the national object directory server transmitting the IP address of a second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the step S35 of the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S36 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the step S37 of the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the object traceability server about the URI of the object information server; the step S38 of the object traceability server transmitting the URI of the first or second object information server, which stores history information corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system; and the step S39 of the application system querying the first or second object information server about history information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server, and the first or second object information server transmitting the history information of the object to the application system. Accordingly, a process of allowing the user who desires to know the object history information of the tag to receive a code value from the reader or the application system and searching for the object history information is executed.

A detailed operating process by the object history information search method according to the embodiment of the present invention is described below.

The step S30 of the application system creating a query packet using the RFID code in FQDN format and querying the first local object directory server is performed so that the application system 160 creates the

FQDN-format query packet using an RFID code, received from the first middleware system 130, or a desired RFID code to be searched by the application system 160, and queries the first local object directory server 110.

The step S31 of the first local object directory server determining whether the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists is performed so that the first local object directory server 110 searches the zone files or cache thereof and then determines whether the URI of the object traceability server 170 corresponding to the RFID code exists.

The step S32 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the URI of the object traceability server 170 corresponding to the RFID code queried by the application system 160 exists in the first local object directory server 110, the first local object directory server 110 searches the zone files or cache thereof, and returns corresponding data, that is, the URI of the object traceability server 170, to the application system 160 as the NAPTR RR-format message. The step S33 of, if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 does not have the URI of the object traceability server 170 corresponding to the query packet, the first local object directory server 110 queries the national object directory server 100. If the FQDN format of the received query packet is unknown . ods . or . kr ., the MDM searches for a corresponding code, converts the code into FQDN format suitable for the field length of each code, searches the zone files or cache, and then queries the national object directory server 100.

The step S34 of the national object directory server transmitting the IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server is performed so that the national object directory server 100 extracts a result value of the search of the IP address of the second local object directory server 111, in which the URI of the object traceability server 170 related to the RFID tag is registered, in response to the query received from the first local object directory server 110, and transmits the extracted search result value to the first local object directory server 110. The step S35 of the first local object directory server transmitting the query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that, if the first local object directory server 110 transmits the query packet to the second local object directory server 111 using the IP address of the second local object directory server 111 searched by the national object directory server 100, the second local object directory server 111 searches the zone files thereof in response to the queried RFID code so as to acquire the URI of the object traceability server 170, which is a result value of the query from the second local object directory server 111, and transmits extracted data, that is, the URI of the object traceability server 170, to the first local object directory server 110 as a message configured in NAPTR RR format.

The step S36 of the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message is performed so that the first local object directory server 110 transmits the result value, that is, the NAPTR RR-format message, received from the second local object directory server 111, to the application system 160, thus allowing the application system 160 to acquire the URI of the object traceability server 170.

The step S37 of the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the object traceability server about the URI of the object information server is performed so that the application system 160 parses the URI from the result value, that is, the NAPTR RR-format message, and queries the object traceability server 170 about the URI of the object information server 120 or 121, which store the history information related to the RFID tag.

The step S38 of the object traceability server transmitting the URI of the first or second object information server, which stores history information corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system is performed so that the object traceability server 170 transmits the URI of the first or second object information server 120 or 121, which stores the history information corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system 160 in response to the query received from the application system 160.

The step S39 of the application system querying the first or second object information server about history information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server, and the first or second object information server transmitting the history information of the object to the application system is performed so that the application system 160 queries the first or second object information server 120 or 121 about the object history information corresponding to the RFID tag, using the received URI of the object information server 120 or 121 received from the object traceability server 170, and the first or second object information server 120 or 121 transmits the object history information corresponding to the RFID tag to the application system 160 as a response. Hereinbefore, preferred embodiments have been disclosed in the drawings and the specification. The specific terms used in the present specification are used only to describe the present invention, without limiting the meaning of the present invention or the scope of the present invention described in the accompanying claims. Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and other embodiments equivalent thereto are possible from the above preferred embodiments of the invention. The technical scope of the present invention should be defined by the technical spirit of the accompanying drawings . [Mode for Invention]

[industrial Applicability]

[Sequence List Text]

Claims

[CLAIMS] [Claim l]

A system for searching for or registering a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) , which reads information contained in an RFID tag in a non-contact manner, comprising: at least one reader for collecting an RFID code and related information from the RFID tag and transmitting the collected information to at least one middleware system; the middleware system for filtering the RFID code and the related information collected by the reader, converting the RFID code and related information into data to be updated in at least one object information server, and transmitting the data to an application system, at least one object directory server and the object information server; the application system for directly receiving the

RFID code and the related information, transmitted from the reader, from the middleware system, representing the directly received RFID code and related information, receiving an RFID code and related information, which is updated by the object directory server, the object information server and at least one object traceability server, and representing the updated RFID code and related information; the object information server for storing object information contained in the RFID tag and history information generated when the RFID tag moves; the object traceability server for storing history information added by a plurality of object information servers; at least one local object directory server for providing a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of an object traceability server or an object information server corresponding to the RFID code in response to a query about the RFID code received from the application system; and a national object directory server for transmitting an Internet Protocol (IP) address of another local object directory server existing in another network area to the object directory server.

[Claim 2]

The RFID search or registration system according to claim 1, wherein any one of the application system, the middleware system and the local object directory server includes a multi-code decoding module.

[Claim 3]

The RFID search or registration system according to claim 1, wherein the local object directory server comprises: a main processor for searching the RFID code in a cache and internal zone files for the RFID code and responding to the query; a pre-processor including an input/output processing module for determining queried Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) codes and branching the codes into respective modules, a multi-code processing module for recognizing multiple codes and transmitting the recognized multiple codes to a pre-resolver module, the pre-resolver module for converting the recognized codes into domain names stored in the zone file to query the main processor, and a query packet creation module for converting the domain names into Domain Name System (DNS) query packets and performing queries; a management tool for registering, revising, deleting or searching the zone file according to class of users; and the zone file for storing therein information data about location of the object information server or the object traceability server, which stores object information related to the RFID tag.

[Claim 4]

A method of controlling search or registration of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in a method of searching for or registering an RFID, which receives an RFID code of an RFID tag from a reader or an application and searches for object information, comprising the steps of : an application system creating a query packet using the RFID code in FQDN format, and querying a first local object directory server; the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists; if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR) Resource

Record (RR) -format message; if the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to a national object directory server; the national object directory server transmitting an

IP address of a second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object information server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object information server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the first or second object information server about object information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server; and the first or second object information server transmitting object information corresponding to the RFID tag queried by the application system to the application system, thus searching for the object information.

[Claim 5]

The RFID search or registration control method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of registering object history information, which comprises the steps of: the first middleware system creating a query packet using an RFID code acquired by the reader in FQDN format, and querying the first local object directory server; the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists; if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message; if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server; the national object directory server transmitting an

IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the first middleware system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the first middleware system parsing the NAPTR RR- format message received from the first local object directory server and transmitting actually stored history information data and the URI of the object traceability server to the first object information server; the first object information server storing the history information data of the object and requesting the object traceability server to register a URI of the stored data; and the object traceability server registering the URI of the history information data and notifying the first object information server that the URI of the history information data has been registered, and the first object information server notifying the first middleware system that the history information data has been updated in the first object information server and the URI of the history information data has been added to the object traceability server.

[Claim 6] The RFID search or registration control method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of searching for object history information, which comprises the steps of: the application system creating a query packet using an RFID code in FQDN format, and querying the first local object directory server; the first local object directory server determining whether a URI of an object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists; if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code exists in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; if the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code does not exist in the first local object directory server, the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet to the national object directory server; the national object directory server transmitting an

IP address of the second local object directory server, which stores the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code, to the first local object directory server; the first local object directory server transmitting a query packet related to the RFID code to the second local object directory server using the received IP address of the second local object directory server, and then the second local object directory server transmitting the URI of the object traceability server corresponding to the RFID code to the first local object directory server as a NAPTR RR-format message; the first local object directory server transmitting the received URI of the object traceability server to the application system as a NAPTR RR-format message; the application system parsing the NAPTR RR-format message received from the first local object directory server and querying the object traceability server about the URI of the object information server; the object traceability server transmitting a URI of the first or second object information server, which stores history information corresponding to the RFID code, to the application system; and the application system querying the first or second object information server about history information corresponding to the RFID code, using the URI of the first or second object information server, and the first or second object information server transmitting the history information of the object to the application system.