WO2021140986A1 - Article management system and article management method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is an article management system that manages one or more articles present in an area, and comprises: a wireless tag which is attached to the article in the area, stores unique tag identification information, operates by obtaining energy from surrounding radio waves, and detects the movement of the article; a user terminal capable of wirelessly communicating with the wireless tag; and an information processing device having a storage unit which stores article information for identifying the article in association with tag identification information on the wireless tag attached to the article. When there is an article that has made a predetermined movement among the one or more articles, the information processing device associates the article that has made a predetermined movement with the user terminal, on the basis of the tag identification information on the wireless tag acquired from the user terminal.

Description

Goods management system and goods management method

The present invention relates to an article management system and an article management method.

Many EC (Electronic commerce) sites have been set up on the Internet. Companies have the advantage of being able to reduce the labor costs required to sell products by mail-ordering products using the EC site, while users who use the EC site can sell products without going to the actual store. There is an advantage that you can purchase. Therefore, a mechanism intended for further sales promotion effect using the EC site has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-091268).

By the way, in recent years, there has been a method of purchasing a product, such as checking the product at an actual store and then purchasing the same product using an EC site at home or the like. For example, the number of showroom-type stores that specialize in product confirmation and fitting services without having product inventory and encourage the use of EC sites for actual purchases is increasing. In such a showroom-type store, the user scans product information such as a bar code on a label attached to a product of interest at the store with a user terminal for later purchase on an EC site or the like. is required. However, such a scanning operation is complicated for the user, and as a result, the store side also loses the sales opportunity.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable a user to acquire article information of an article in an area without performing complicated operations.

One aspect of the present invention is an article management system that manages one or more articles existing in an area, which is attached to the articles in the area, stores unique tag identification information, and outputs energy from ambient radio waves. The tag identification information of the wireless tag attached to the article is provided with a wireless tag that operates and detects the movement of the article, a user terminal capable of wirelessly communicating with the wireless tag, and article information that identifies the article. The information processing device includes an information processing device having a storage unit that stores the information in association with the above, and the information processing device acquires the information from the user terminal when an article having a predetermined movement is present among the one or more articles. This is an article management system that associates article information that identifies the article that has made a predetermined movement with the user terminal based on the tag identification information of the wireless tag.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the user can acquire the article information of the article in the area without performing complicated operations.

It is a figure which shows schematic system structure of the product management system of 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of each apparatus of the product management system of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the advertising packet transmitted from the IoT tag. It is a figure which shows the data structure example of a product database. It is a figure which shows the data structure example of a user database. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation of the product management system of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the screen example of the user terminal in the product management system of 1st Embodiment. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation of the product management system of 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows schematic system structure of the product management system of 3rd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of each apparatus of the product management system of 3rd Embodiment. It is a sequence chart which shows the operation of the product management system of 3rd Embodiment.

The present invention relates to the patent application of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-3261 filed with the Japan Patent Office on January 10, 2020, and the entire contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference.

Hereinafter, the product management system, which is an embodiment of the article management system, will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the present disclosure, the "article" means, for example, a tangible object such as a product, a semi-finished product (an intermediate stage product in the middle of manufacturing), or a product. In the following embodiments, a product is taken as an example of an article.
In the present disclosure, associating the identification information (article information) for identifying the article with the user terminal may be associated with the article information with the unique terminal identification number, individual identification number, contractor unique ID, etc. of the user terminal. A user who uses a user terminal may be associated with a user ID specified in a specific application, for example.
The communication distance of the IoT tag in the present disclosure is only an example and is not limited. The communication distance of the IoT tag can be appropriately changed or adjusted according to the use of the IoT tag.

(1) First Embodiment (1-1) System Configuration of Product Management System First, the system configuration of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a system configuration of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment.
The store shown in FIG. 1 is, for example, a showroom-type store that specializes in product confirmation and fitting services without having product inventory and encourages the use of EC sites for actual purchases, but this is not the case. The store shown in FIG. 1 may be an ordinary store where products can be purchased on the spot.
In the product management system 1 of the present embodiment, when a store visitor CS is interested in a product in the store and picks it up, the information of the product is associated with the store visitor CS (user) to the application server 5. It is recorded and configured to assist the visitor CS with later purchases on the EC site. The application server 5 can be operated for a plurality of stores, but FIG. 1 shows only one store.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the product management system 1, for example, a wireless device 2 is provided in the store, and the visitor CS possesses the user terminal 4. The user terminal 4 can communicate with the application server 5 via a wireless communication network or an in-store LAN (Local Area Network) (not shown) and a network NW.

An IoT tag T (an example of a wireless tag) is attached to each product in the store.
The wireless device 2 provided in the store can provide a wireless environment for, for example, the IoT tag T of each product. The wireless device 2 may be, for example, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) device, an access point, or the like.
As will be described in detail later, the IoT tag T is an energy harvesting type device that generates electricity based on radio waves in the surrounding environment, and does not have a battery. The number of wireless devices 2 is not limited, but it is preferable to be able to provide a wireless environment in which all IoT tags T in the store can generate electricity.

In the product management system 1 of the present embodiment, the wireless device 2 is not an indispensable component, and the wireless device 2 is not necessary if sufficient environmental power generation is possible in the store without the wireless device 2. For example, even if there is no wireless device 2, the wireless device 2 is not necessary if the IoT tag T can generate energy by the wireless signal radiated by the visitor terminal. In addition, the IoT tag T can also use radio waves transmitted from a device other than the visitor terminal and the wireless device 2 (for example, a mobile terminal of a clerk) for energy harvesting. In other words, when the radio waves provided by the visitor terminal or other device other than the visitor terminal are not sufficient for energy harvesting, the IoT tag T uses the radio waves radiated from the wireless device 2 for energy harvesting. Can be used for.

The communication distance of the IoT tag T is, for example, in the range of 1 to 3 meters. Therefore, for example, when the visitor CS who owns the user terminal 4 patrols the store and the visitor CS approaches the product in the store, the IoT tag T attached to the product and the user terminal 4 communicate with each other. It will be possible.

The IoT tag T is configured to perform low power consumption wireless communication, and examples of communication protocols include Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark) (hereinafter, BLE), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and Zigbee (registered trademark). ) Etc. can be mentioned. In the following, a case of performing communication by BLE will be described as an example.
When the IoT tag T complies with the BLE standard, the IoT tag T broadcasts an advertising packet (described later) to surrounding BLE terminals.

The IoT tag T attached to each product in the store has a sensor that detects motion. In the product management system 1, when a visitor CS is interested in a product in the store and picks up the product, the sensor of the IoT tag T attached to the product detects and detects the movement. By monitoring the data (sensor data described later), it can be determined that the visitor CS has picked up the product.

The user terminal 4 possessed by the visitor CS has an application program related to the store's products installed. By executing an application program (hereinafter, simply referred to as "product application"), the visitor CS can view and purchase detailed information of various products handled in the store, or the visitor CS cares. Products, etc. can be registered.

Further, the user terminal 4 functions as a BLE terminal. That is, the user terminal 4 receives the advertising packet broadcast by the IoT tag T. The advertising packet includes encrypted tag ID (an example of tag identification information) and sensor data as unique identification information of the IoT tag T. The user terminal 4 transmits the information received from the IoT tag T to the application server 5 via the wireless communication network (not shown), the in-store LAN, and the network NW.
The packet transmitted from the IoT tag T includes data (referred to as “sensor data”) by a sensor that detects motion.

The application server 5 (an example of an information processing device) provides a web service related to a product in the store to the user by communicating with the product application of the user terminal 4 and returning a response in response to a request from the product application. Is a network server.
As will be described later, when the application server 5 determines that the IoT tag in the store has been moved, the application server 5 associates the product corresponding to the IoT tag with the user (visitor CS).

(1-2) Configuration of Each Device of Product Management System Next, the configuration of each device of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of each device of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an advertising packet transmitted from the IoT tag T. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of data structure of the product database. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of data configuration of a user database.

Referring to FIG. 2, the IoT tag T includes a control unit 11, an antenna 12, a harvesting unit 13, a voltage control unit 14, an RF transceiver 15, and a sensor 16.
Although the overall form of the IoT tag T is not shown, for example, it is in the form of a thin film in which a conductive metal foil having a predetermined pattern on which the antenna 12 and the sensor 16 are formed and an IC chip connected to the metal foil are connected. It is a member. A control unit 11, a harvesting unit 13, a voltage control unit 14, and an RF transceiver 15 are mounted in the IC chip.

The control unit 11 has a microprocessor and a memory 111, and controls the entire IoT tag T. The memory 111 is a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a ROM (Read Only Memory), and is a program executed by a microprocessor, a tag ID which is identification information unique to the IoT tag T, and sensor data output by the sensor 16. Remember.

The harvesting unit 13 generates energy harvesting based on radio waves in the surrounding environment (for example, radio waves from surrounding wireless communication), and stores the power obtained by the power generation in the internal energy storage 131. In the present embodiment, the harvesting unit 13 converts, for example, the radio signal received by the antenna 12 into a DC voltage and stores it in the energy storage 131. The energy storage 131 is, for example, a capacitor. In the case of a capacitor, it may be one configured on a semiconductor chip (that is, an on-die type capacitor).

The radio waves used by the harvesting unit 13 for energy harvesting are radio waves of a plurality of different frequency bands in a wide frequency band. For example, radio waves by wireless communication in the frequency band used in mobile communication systems such as so-called 3G to 5G, and frequency bands used in communication standards such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and Wi-Fi (registered trademark). Radio waves by wireless communication, radio waves by wireless communication in the 2.4 GHz band represented by communication protocols such as ZigBee (registered trademark) and Thread, frequency bands used in RFID (for example, 900 MHz band, 13.56 MHz band) Radio waves and the like by wireless communication can be mentioned.
Radio waves such as those illustrated here are generally applicable in almost every store. Then, the IoT tag T attached to the product in the store operates with the electric power obtained by the energy harvesting by the harvesting unit 13 based on the radio wave of the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is not necessary to mount the battery on the IoT tag T, and the system cost can be suppressed. Further, since it is not necessary to mount the battery, it is not necessary to replace the battery, so that there is no problem that the tag ID cannot be acquired even though the tag exists.

The voltage control unit 14 supplies the operating voltage to the control unit 11 and the RF transceiver 15, and monitors the voltage of the energy storage 131, and switches the power mode according to the monitoring result. When the voltage of the energy storage 131 is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, the power mode is set to the first mode in which only the minimum circuit is operated. At this time, the control unit 11 and the RF transceiver 15 generate packets and wirelessly described later. No signal is transmitted. When the voltage of the energy storage 131 is charged to a predetermined threshold value or more, the power mode is set to the second mode in which the normal processing routine is executed. At this time, the control unit 11 and the RF transceiver 15 generate packets and transmit radio signals. Various processes including transmission are performed.
Note that the control unit 11 detects the sensor data detected by the sensor 16 when the voltage of the energy storage 131 is charged to a predetermined threshold value or higher even when the power mode is, for example, the first mode. It may be stored in the memory 111 together with the data of. In that case, even if the control unit 11 generates and transmits a packet containing the sensor data and the detection time data stored in the memory 111 when the power mode is switched from the first mode to the second mode. Good. Thereby, it is possible to provide the wireless device 2 with information regarding the presence or absence of movement of the tag during the period when the charging voltage of the energy storage 131 is relatively low.

The sensor 16 detects, for example, the movement of the IoT tag T itself. The detected data (sensor data) is temporarily stored in the memory 111 for inclusion in a packet described later. The sensor data is configured so that it can be determined, for example, whether or not the tag has been moved. The sensor data may be a value indicating the degree of movement of the IoT tag T, or may be a binary value indicating whether or not the IoT tag T has moved.
The sensor 16 may detect the weight and pressure related to the IoT tag T. The sensor 16 may detect the temperature when the temperature sensor is built in the IC chip.

The control unit 11 generates an advertising packet according to the BLE protocol when the power mode is the second mode.
The advertising packet is a packet transmitted using the advertising channel in order to realize broadcast communication in BLE, and has the packet configuration shown in FIG. Advertising packets are, as appropriate, simply referred to as "packets" below.

In FIG. 3, the preamble and the address access have predetermined fixed values, respectively. CRC is a cyclic check code, which is check data calculated by using a predetermined generation polynomial for a packet payload (that is, an advertising channel PDU (protocol data unit)).
The advertising channel PDU (hereinafter, simply referred to as "PDU") consists of a header and a payload, and the payload consists of an ADV address and ADV data. The ADV address is the address of the advertiser (that is, the IoT tag T that is the subject of notification), but it may be a random value set for each transmission so as not to specify the source. The ADV data is advertiser data (broadcast data), and in the present embodiment, the tag ID and the sensor data output by the sensor 16 are included.

The control unit 11 preferably encrypts the PDU. The encryption method is not limited, but for example, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) with a key length of 128 bits can be used.

The RF transceiver 15 performs predetermined digital modulation (for example, GFSK (Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying)) on the transmitted packet (baseband signal) and then performs orthogonal modulation to perform a high frequency signal (2.4 GHz in the case of BLE). (Frequency band signal) is sent to the antenna 12.

The antenna 12 includes a transmitting antenna and a power generation antenna. The transmitting antenna transmits a high frequency radio signal (packet) transmitted by the RF transceiver 15. On the other hand, the power generation antenna receives, for example, radio waves in the surrounding environment or a radio signal transmitted from the wireless device 2, and functions as a rectenna in cooperation with the harvesting unit 13.

As shown in FIG. 2, the wireless device 2 includes a control unit 21, an antenna 22, and an RF transmitter 25. The control unit 21 includes a microcontroller that controls the RF transmitter 25, and for example, generates a baseband signal, determines a transmission timing, and the like.
In order to transmit the beacon signal from the antenna 22, the RF transmitter 25, for example, quadraturely modulates a baseband signal having a predetermined pattern and transmits it to the antenna 22.
The wireless device 2 may include an RF transceiver instead of the RF transmitter, and the antenna 22 may include a receiving antenna. In that case, the control described below is possible.
As described above, the IoT tag T generates energy based on the radio waves of the surrounding environment, but when the radio waves of the surrounding environment are low, normal operations such as packet generation and radio signal transmission are not performed. (For example, when the power mode is the first mode). Therefore, the control unit 21 of the wireless device 2 starts wireless transmission by the antenna 22 or starts wireless transmission by the antenna 22 when the state in which communication with the IoT tag T cannot be performed (for example, the state in which the advertising packet cannot be received) continues for a predetermined time or longer. It is preferable to control the RF transmitter 25 so as to increase the transmission power of the antenna 22. As a result, electric power can be stored because the radio waves in the surrounding environment of the IoT tag T increase, and wireless communication with the wireless device 2 can be started or restarted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user terminal 4 includes a control unit 41, a storage 42, an operation input unit 43, a display unit 44, a first communication unit 45, and a second communication unit 46.

The control unit 41 is mainly composed of a microprocessor and controls the entire user terminal 4. For example, the control unit 41 decodes the PDU of the packet received from the IoT tag T, detects an error from the CRC using the same generation polynomial as the IoT tag T side, and then extracts broadcast data from the PDU. The control unit 41 transmits a product registration request including the user ID of the user terminal 4 and the extracted broadcast data to the application server 5 via the second communication unit 46.

Various programs including the above-mentioned product application and web browser are installed in the user terminal 4.
The product application is, for example, a web application and operates on a web browser. The product application performs HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication (or more secure HTTPS communication) with the application server 5 via the second communication unit 46, acquires product data related to the product, and displays it on the display unit 44. To do. The product data includes, for example, a product code, a product image corresponding to the product code, and the like.
The product application may request the application server 5 to register the product code of the product selected by the user in response to a predetermined operation by the user. That is, the product code may be recorded in the user database of the application server 5 in association with the user ID in response to a voluntary request from the user.
The product application displays the product code recorded in the user database of the application server 5 in association with the user ID on the display unit 44 so as to be selectable, and responds to the selection operation of any product code of the product code. It may be configured to redirect to an EC site (not shown) for purchasing the product.

In the product management system 1 of the present embodiment, the application server 5 acquires the tag ID of the IoT tag attached to the product picked up by the user at the store, so that the product code corresponding to the tag ID is stored in the user database. , Recorded in association with the user. That is, the product code is automatically recorded in the user database of the application server 5 in association with the user ID without a voluntary request from the user.

The storage 42 is a storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive), and stores various programs (for example, a product application, a web browser) executed by the control unit 41. The storage 42 may temporarily hold the broadcast data obtained from each IoT tag T in the store.

The operation input unit 43 is an input interface that receives operation input from a visitor in order to execute various programs, and may be a touch panel input unit provided on the display panel of the display unit 44.
The display unit 44 includes a display panel such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Panel) and a drive circuit of the display panel, and displays the execution result of the program by the control unit 41.
The first communication unit 45 performs wireless communication with an object in a communication range narrower than that of the second communication unit 46, for example, and receives, for example, a packet transmitted from each IoT tag T according to the BLE protocol.
The second communication unit 46 is a communication interface for communicating with the application server 5 via the wireless communication network or the in-store LAN and the network NW.

As shown in FIG. 2, the application server 5 includes a control unit 51, a storage 52, and a communication unit 53.

The control unit 51 is mainly composed of a microprocessor and controls the entire application server 5.
The storage 52 (an example of a storage unit) includes, for example, a large-scale storage device of an HDD, and stores a product database (product DB) and a user database (user DB).
The communication unit 53 functions as a communication interface for communicating with the user terminal 4.

The product database of FIG. 4 has values in the fields of "tag ID", "product code", "color", "size", and "product image" for one record, and is attached to the product in the store. It is a database that manages the tag ID of the IoT tag, the product code of the product, the size and color of the product, the image of the product, and the like. The product code (an example of article information) is information that identifies a product such as a JAN code. Here, in each of the "color" and "size" fields, values indicating the color and size of the product corresponding to the product code are stored. By counting the number of records corresponding to the same product code in the product database, the number of the same product can be grasped.
Note that each field shown in FIG. 4 is only an example, and fields related to other data related to the product (for example, product type, product category, distinction between regular product / limited product, etc.) may be provided.
The product database of FIG. 4 is only an example, and information about the product may be added as appropriate. For example, price information of a product or another product related to the product (for example, another product having a different color or size from the target product, or another product that is preferable to be used in combination with the target product). Information may be included.

The product database is created based on the arrival information of products for the store. For example, when a new product arrives at a store, an IoT tag with a known tag ID is attached to the product, and the code information of the label attached to the product at the time of arrival (for example, a barcode, a two-dimensional code, etc.) is attached. Read with a scanner (not shown). The tag ID of the IoT tag attached to the product and the product code read by the scanner are recorded in the product database. Such processing can be executed, for example, by communicating with the store terminal (not shown) of the store connected to the scanner and the application server 5. The corresponding product image may be appropriately recorded by using an image provided by the manufacturer of the product or an image included in an existing site.

The user database of FIG. 5 has, for example, the values of the "user ID", "user name", "email address", and "product code" fields for one record, and the user is interested in, for example, or This is a database for registering products that you are interested in. In the user database of FIG. 5, each field of "user ID", "user name", and "email address" is merely an example of a field for storing user registration information, and additional fields related to user information are provided. It may be provided.
In the user database, the value in the "Product Code" field is the product code of the product that the user is interested in or is interested in, and automatically responds to the user's behavior in the store (for example, the action of picking up the product). Is configured to record the corresponding product code. As described above, the product code may be recorded in the user database in response to a voluntary request from the user.

The microprocessor of the control unit 51 performs at least the following processing by executing a predetermined program.
(I) Based on the information from the store terminal (not shown), the tag ID of the IoT tag attached to the product and the product code of the product are recorded in the product database.
For example, when a new product arrives at a store, a new record is added to the product database based on the information from the store terminal.

(Ii) The tag ID is extracted from the broadcast data included in the product registration request received from the user terminal 4, and the extracted tag ID is authenticated.
Note that the authentication may be performed, for example, by making an inquiry to an authentication server (not shown) connected to the network NW and acquiring the authentication result from the authentication server. In this case, the authentication server is, for example, a server managed by the manufacturer of the IoT tag T, has a database that stores the tag IDs of all the manufactured IoT tags T, and refers to the database to be an application server. Authenticate the tag ID inquired from 5.

(Iii) Based on the sensor data included in the product registration request received from the user terminal 4, it is determined (or detected) whether or not the IoT tag of the tag ID included in the product registration request has been moved. For example, when the IoT tag continuously detects the movement of a product for a predetermined time or longer based on the sensor data, it may be determined that the product has made a predetermined movement.
(Iv) With reference to the product database, the product code corresponding to the tag ID included in the product registration request received from the user terminal 4 is specified, and the product code is associated with the user ID included in the product registration request. Record in the user database.
By performing the above processing, the control unit 51 determines, based on the tag ID of the wireless tag acquired from the user terminal 4, when there is a product having a predetermined movement among one or more products in the store. The product code that identifies the product that has moved is associated with the user ID corresponding to the user terminal 4.

It is preferable that the control unit 51 records the product code corresponding to the tag ID in the user database when the tag ID is successfully authenticated. That is, it is preferable that the control unit 51 authenticates the tag ID received from the user terminal 4 and associates the product code of the product that has performed a predetermined movement with the user ID corresponding to the user terminal 4 when the authentication is successful. Since it is possible to confirm whether or not the tag ID is genuine by authenticating the tag ID, it is not necessary to record an inappropriate product code in the user database.

(1-3) Operation of Product Management System Next, the operation of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a sequence chart showing the operation of the product management system 1 of the present embodiment.
The processing of the sequence chart of FIG. 6 is repeated every time the user terminal 4 receives a packet from each IoT tag (tags T1, T2, ...) In the store.

The wireless device 2 can provide a wireless environment in which the tags T1, T2, ... Attached to each product in the store can generate electricity by radiating, for example, a beacon signal (step S2). .. Each tag performs energy harvesting based on the radio waves of the surrounding environment, and stores the electric power obtained by the power generation in an internal energy storage (for example, a capacitor) to operate. Then, the tags T1, T2, ... Generate a packet including the encrypted tag ID and the sensor data as broadcast data (step S4), and broadcast the generated packet (step S6).

For example, when a visitor patrols the store and the visitor's user terminal 4 approaches the tag of a specific product, the communication distance between the user terminal 4 and the tag is within the range of BLE communication. The user terminal 4 can receive the packet transmitted from the tag. The user terminal 4 decodes the PDU of the received packet and extracts broadcast data from the PDU of the packet. Next, the user terminal 4 transmits a product registration request including the user ID and the extracted broadcast data to the application server 5 (step S8).

The broadcast data includes a tag ID and sensor data.
The application server 5 extracts the tag ID from the broadcast data included in the product registration request and authenticates the tag ID (step S10). The tag ID authentication can be based on, for example, an authentication result obtained by making an inquiry to an external authentication server.

When the tag ID authentication is successful, the application server 5 determines whether or not the tag has been moved based on the sensor data included in the product registration request (step S12). The application server 5 determines, for example, whether or not the tag indicated by the sensor data has been moved. Next, the application server 5 determines whether or not the product corresponding to the tag ID to be processed has made a predetermined movement (step S13). The process of step S13 corresponds to a process of determining whether or not there is a product having a predetermined movement among one or more products in the store.
Judgment as to whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement is made based on, for example, whether or not the visitor is moving the product to another place in the store. Here, the movement of moving the product to another place is, for example, the movement of the visitor picking up the product on the shelf or the visitor picking up the product on the shelf in front of the mirror (not shown) in the store. It is a movement corresponding to the movement of carrying to. When a product makes such a predetermined movement, it is considered that the visitor is interested in the product, and therefore it is preferable to associate the product with the visitor.
It is preferable not to judge that the product has made a predetermined movement only when the visitor or the clerk touches the product a little. The reason why the product is associated with the visitor by touching the product a little is that there is a possibility that the information about the product that the visitor is not particularly interested in is associated with the visitor.
From such a viewpoint, in step S13, it is determined whether or not the product corresponding to the tag ID has made a predetermined movement.

Here, since the series of processes of steps S2 to S12 of FIG. 6 are continuously performed, the determination of step S13 is performed based on the time when the product registration requests including the same tag ID are continuously received. be able to. In other words, when a visitor picks up a product or moves the product inside the store, sensor data indicating that the tag has been moved is generated from the tag attached to the product. Obtained continuously. Therefore, when the time during which the tag continuously detects the movement of the product is equal to or longer than a predetermined time, it can be determined that the product has made a predetermined movement.

When the application server 5 determines that the product has made a predetermined movement, the application server 5 proceeds to step S14. In step S14, the application server 5 refers to the product database and identifies the product code corresponding to the tag ID authenticated in step S10 (step S14).

The application server 5 preferably returns the product data corresponding to the product code specified in step S14 to the product application of the user terminal 4 (step S16). Here, the product data includes, for example, a product code and a product image corresponding to the product code. Next, the application server 5 records the product code specified in step S14 in the user database in association with the user ID included in the product registration request received in step S8 (step S18). As a result, by operating the product application of the user terminal 4, the user can browse and check the product recorded in association with himself / herself in the user database at any time, or purchase the product from the EC site. Can be done.

If the store is crowded, it is assumed that there are multiple visitors near the product that is judged to have made the prescribed movement. In that case, it is conceivable that the user terminals 4 of a plurality of visitors receive packets from the same tag and each send a product registration request to the application server 5. In consideration of such a situation, it is preferable that the user terminal 4 includes the information of the received signal strength (RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) value) when the user terminal 4 receives the packet in the product registration request. When the application server 5 receives the product registration request including the same tag ID from the plurality of user terminals 4 at the same time or within a predetermined time, the application server 5 identifies the product registration request including the largest RSSI value and makes the specified product registration request. The product code specified in step S14 is recorded in the user database in association with the included user ID. When the RSSI value of the packet received by the user terminal 4 is the largest, it is considered that the user terminal 4 is the closest to the product to which the tag that is the source of the packet is attached. It is possible to identify the user who took it with high accuracy.

It is preferable that the product application of the user terminal 4 is controlled so that the product code and the product image are displayed on the display unit 44 of the user terminal 4 based on the product data received in step S16 (step S20). It is preferable that the application server 5 transmits the product code and the product image corresponding to the tag ID to the user terminal 4, and the user terminal 4 displays the product code and the product image received from the application server 5. As a result, the visitor CS can check the contents of the product of interest on the spot, or can access the EC site on the spot and purchase the product. Further, if the product data includes the price information of the product and the information of another product related to the product, for example, it is possible to encourage the user to purchase another product on the EC site.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a screen displayed on the user terminal 4 of a visitor who picks up a product in the store, for example.
The screen G1 of the user terminal 4 illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a product image IMG of a product picked up by a visitor, a corresponding product code, and a text Tx1 indicating supplementary information about the product. Examples of supplementary information indicated by the text Tx1 are product size, color, and store information (eg, shop name, web page, etc.). The screen G1 of FIG. 7 is only an example. For example, the screen G1 may include ancillary information about the store such as store campaign information and new product information.

The screen G1 of FIG. 7 may include a button b1 for the visitor to register the target product as a favorite. Here, the favorite registration is, for example, recording the product code displayed on the screen G1 as the product code corresponding to the user ID of the visitor in the user database (see FIG. 5). In step S18 of FIG. 6, a case where the product code is automatically recorded in the user database (that is, automatically registered as a favorite) has been shown, but this is not the case. The application server 5 may record the target product code in the user database in response to the operation of the button b1 on the user terminal 4. This is because the products picked up by the visitor are not necessarily the products that the visitor likes.

The screen G1 of FIG. 7 may include a button b2 for the visitor to immediately purchase the target product. In the case where the store of the present embodiment is a showroom type store that does not have product inventory, if a visitor picks up the product and likes the product, he / she can purchase the product immediately by operating the button b2. Desirable for both the person and the store operator. Although not shown, when the button b2 is operated, the customer is guided to the EC site of the target product so that the visitor can purchase the product on the spot or outside the store from the EC site. You may.

As described above, in the product management system 1 of the present embodiment, an IoT tag including a motion sensor is attached to each product in the store. Then, based on the sensor data included in the packet transmitted from each tag to the user terminal 4 of the store visitor, the store visitor picks up the product or performs a predetermined movement among one or more products in the store. It is determined whether or not the product exists. That is, in the product management system 1 of the present embodiment, since the user terminal 4 receives the packet from the tag, the predetermined movement of the product is performed by the visitor who possesses the user terminal 4 based on the sensor data included in the packet. It can be judged that it was done.
When a product having a predetermined movement exists, the application server 5 records the product code corresponding to the product in the user database in association with the user ID. Therefore, the user can acquire the product code (an example of the product information) of the product placed in the actual store without performing complicated operations. For example, by executing a predetermined operation in the product application of the user terminal 4, the product data recorded in association with the user ID can be browsed and the product can be purchased.
Further, the store side can also recognize the user ID of the visitor who picked up a specific product, for example, based on the user database. Therefore, it is possible to obtain useful information on product marketing such as the taste of the product of the visitor.

(2) Second Embodiment Next, the second embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.
In the product management system of the present embodiment, the tag management server authenticates the tag ID and determines whether or not the tag has been moved. The tag management server is a server for managing tags attached to products distributed in stores and the like.
The sequence chart shown in FIG. 8 differs from that of FIG. 6 in the following points. That is, when the user terminal 4 receives the packet from the tag operated by the energy harvesting, the user terminal 4 transmits the PDU included in the packet to the tag management server (step S8b). The tag management server decodes the received PDU and authenticates the tag ID included in the broadcast data extracted from the PDU (step S10). Further, the tag management server determines whether or not the tag has been moved (step S12), and transmits a tag motion notification to the application server 5 according to the determination result (step S13a). The tag motion notification includes the tag ID of the tag determined to have been moved.
The application server 5 determines whether or not the corresponding product has made a predetermined movement by targeting the tag ID included in the tag motion notification (step S13b). The process of step S13b is the same as that of step S13 of FIG. The operation after step S14 is the same as that in FIG.

(3) Third Embodiment Next, the product management system 1A of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11.
In the product management system 1A of the present embodiment, the position of the product that has made a predetermined movement is specified, and the user terminal 4 close to the position of the product among one or a plurality of user terminals 4 in the store is specified and specified. The product data is transmitted to the user terminal 4 which has been created. It is assumed that the position of the shelf on which each product is displayed in the store is known.
In order to specify the position of the user terminal 4 in the store, the product management system 1A of the present embodiment includes the position specifying system. The locating system includes a receiver 6 and a locating device 7. The receiver 6 and the position specifying device 7 are communicably connected to each other.
As shown in FIG. 9, the receiver 6 (locator) is installed on the ceiling of a store, for example, receives radio waves (beacon signals) emitted by a user terminal 4 moving in the store, and measures the incident angle of the radio waves. To do. The beacon signal emitted by the user terminal 4 may include user ID information. The position specifying device 7 (not shown in FIG. 9) is an AOA (Angle of Arrival) method that specifies the position (position on a plane) of the user terminal 4 in the store based on the incident angle measured by the receiver 6. Positions the user terminal 4 according to.

The position of the user terminal 4 can be estimated by one receiver 6, but it depends on the magnitude of the received signal strength (RSSI) of the beacon signal transmitted from the user terminal 4, the store area, and the radio wave environment of the store. It is preferable to provide many receivers 6. The positioning method of the user terminal 4 is not limited to the AOA method, and other methods such as the TOA (Time of Arrival) method may be used.

As shown in FIG. 10, the receiver 6 includes a radio wave receiving unit 61, an incident angle measuring unit 36, and a communication unit 63.
The radio wave receiving unit 61 includes an antenna that receives a beacon signal (radio wave) transmitted from the user terminal 4.
The incident angle measuring unit 62 measures the incident angle of the radio wave from the user terminal 4 received by the radio wave receiving unit 61.
The communication unit 63 is an interface for communicating with the user terminal 4 and the position specifying device 7. For example, the communication unit 63 demodulates the received signal from the user terminal 4. Further, the communication unit 63 functions as a communication interface between the receiver 6 and the position identification device 7, and transmits information on the incident angle measured by the incident angle measurement unit 62 to the position identification device 7. The communication between the receiver 6 and the position specifying device 7 may be wired or wireless.

As shown in FIG. 10, the position specifying device 7 includes a control unit 71, a storage 72, and a communication unit 73.
The control unit 71 is mainly composed of a microprocessor and controls the entire position specifying device 7. For example, the microprocessor of the control unit 71 executes the position identification engine (software) and identifies the position of the user terminal 4 based on the information of the incident angle received from the receiver 6. More specifically, when the AOA method is used, as described above, the known position of the receiver 6 in the store (the position of the three-dimensional coordinates based on the predetermined position of the store) and the receiver 6 Based on the information on the incident angle (arrival direction of radio waves) of the user terminal 4 sequentially acquired from, the position in the store area of the user terminal 4 (the position of the XY coordinates of the store floor) according to the passage of time is calculated. (Positioning).
The control unit 71 sequentially transmits the calculated position information (position information) to the application server 5 via the communication unit 73. When a plurality of user terminals 4 are provided in the store, the control unit 71 calculates a position for each user ID corresponding to the user terminal 4 and transmits the position to the application server 5.
The positioning interval of the user terminal 4 may be set arbitrarily, but it is set to a time (for example, several hundred ms or less) necessary for accurately grasping the position of the user terminal 4.

The storage 72 is, for example, a large-scale storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and may store the position-specific engine and the execution result of the position-specific engine.
The communication unit 73 is a communication interface for communicating with the receiver 6 and communicating with the application server 5 via the network NW.

FIG. 11 is a sequence chart showing the operation of the product management system 1A of the present embodiment. In FIG. 11, the receiver 6 and the position identification device 7 are collectively referred to as a “position identification system”. The sequence chart of FIG. 11 will be described below, paying attention to the difference from the sequence chart of FIG.
Each user terminal 4 in the store transmits a beacon signal at predetermined intervals, for example (step S3). The position identification system executes the position identification process based on the beacon signal received from the user terminal 4 in the store (step S7), and transmits the position information of the user terminal 4 obtained by the position identification process to the application server 5. (Step S9). The position information includes, for example, the terminal ID of the user terminal 4 and the information of the value of the XY coordinates of the store floor of the user terminal 4. The application server 5 sequentially records the position information together with the time for each user ID, for example.
In the sequence chart of FIG. 11, unlike FIG. 8, the wireless device 2 receives a packet from each tag in the store (step S6) and transmits the PDU included in the packet to the tag management server 9 (step S8b). The series of processes up to step S14 after the tag management server 9 receives the PDU is the same as in FIG. The difference from FIG. 8 is that among the user terminals 4 positioned by the position specifying system, the user terminal 4 located closest to the product position of the product specified in step S14 is specified. For example, between the XY coordinates (known) of the shelf on which the product specified in step S14 is displayed and the respective positions (XY coordinates) of the plurality of user terminals 4 in the store obtained by the position identification system. By measuring each distance, the user terminal 4 closest to the product is specified.

According to the product management system 1A of the present embodiment, since the user terminal 4 in the store is positioned by the position identification system, there is an advantage that the accuracy when associating the user ID with the product is high.
The description has been made on the premise that the position of each product in the store is known, but this is not the case. For example, the product position (XY coordinates) in the store can be accurately determined based on the RSSI value when each of the plurality of wireless devices 2 arranged at a predetermined position in the store receives a packet from the tag attached to the product. Can be identified. That is, using the radio wave attenuation characteristics according to the distance, the distance between the tag and each wireless device 2 whose position in the store is known is estimated based on the RSSI value in each wireless device 2, and the triangulation method is used. The position of the tag, that is, the position of the product can be determined.

When a plurality of wireless devices 2 are arranged in a store, each wireless device 2 receives a packet from a tag in the store, and the user terminal 4 is positioned in the store by the same principle as that of positioning by the positioning system. The position of the tag can be determined. In that case, the predetermined movement of the product may be a movement in which the product existing on the shelf (an example of the predetermined place) in the store area moves to a place separated from the shelf by a predetermined distance or more. Based on the position information of each tag sequentially acquired from the position identification system, the application server 5 determines that the product corresponding to the tag has made a predetermined movement when the tag moves by a predetermined distance or more. Thereby, for example, the movement when the visitor moves the product to the front of the mirror in the store can be determined as a predetermined movement.

(4) Modification Example Hereinafter, a modification of the embodiment will be described.

(4-1) Modification 1
In step S13 of FIG. 6 and step S13b of FIGS. 8 and 11, the application server 5 determines whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement, and a modified example of this determination method will be described.
In this modification, it is determined whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement by using, for example, an imaging device arranged in a store. The image pickup device is, for example, a digital video camera, but may be a digital still camera. The image pickup device can communicate with the application server 5 via the network NW, and sequentially transmits the images captured in the store to the application server 5. The application server 5 analyzes the image received from the image pickup device and determines whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement. In image analysis, for example, if the product is clothes, the visitor picks up the product from the hanger, checks the price tag of the product, or fits the product in front of the mirror in the store. It is determined whether or not any of the predetermined operation patterns is applicable. In this determination, for example, artificial intelligence may be used.

The application server 5 registers the product when it receives a product registration request or a tag motion notification at the timing when the image pickup device notifies that the product has determined that the product has made a predetermined movement, or within a predetermined period before and after the timing. It is determined that the product corresponding to the tag ID included in the request or tag motion notification has made a predetermined movement. That is, in the analysis of the image obtained by the image pickup device, it can be determined that some product has made a predetermined movement, but the product cannot be specified. Therefore, the application server 5 identifies a product that has made a predetermined movement based on the timing of receiving the image and the timing of receiving the product registration request or the tag motion notification.
As in this modification, by using image analysis when determining whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement.

(4-2) Modification 2
For example, in step S13 of FIG. 6, an example in which it is determined that the product has made a predetermined movement when the time (detection time) for detecting that the tag has been moved is equal to or longer than a predetermined time has been described. The threshold value for time may be set to a different value depending on the position of the tag. For example, if a product that has made a predetermined movement is located at a cash register in a store, it is considered that the product is being moved for the checkout procedure at the cash register. In that case, since the product is already scheduled to be purchased or has already been purchased, it is not always necessary to record the product code in the user database corresponding to the user ID of the visitor. Therefore, when the product is located at the cash register in the store, it is not necessary to record the product code in the user database corresponding to the user ID of the visitor even when the product makes a predetermined movement.
From the above viewpoint, the application server 5 may change the predetermined time according to the position of the tag in the store area. For example, when a product is located in a predetermined range such as a cash register, the above-mentioned predetermined time used for determining whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement is longer than when the product is located in another range. May be longer. In addition, in order to specify the position of the product, as described above, a plurality of wireless devices 2 are arranged in the store, and the RSSI value when each wireless device 2 receives a packet from the tag attached to the product is used. Based on this, the position of the product in the store can be determined.

(4-3) Modification 3
When the user terminal 4 of the visitor has a built-in motion sensor such as an acceleration sensor, the sensor built in the user terminal 4 acquires information about whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement. May be good. For example, when the user terminal 4 of the visitor receives the packet from the tag, the user terminal 4 determines whether or not the product to which the tag is attached has made a predetermined movement based on the detection value of the built-in sensor. Next, the user terminal 4 transmits the tag ID included in the packet and the determination result of whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement to the application server 5. In this way, by utilizing the sensor built in the user terminal 4, it is possible to improve the accuracy of determining whether or not the product has made a predetermined movement.

Although the embodiments and modifications of the article management system and the article management method have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and modifications. For example, the above-described embodiment can be improved or modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the IoT tag can generate electricity based on radio waves radiated from at least one of the wireless device 2, the user terminal 4, and the clerk terminal.

The product management systems 1 and 1A of the above-described embodiment use the IoT tag T, and the advantages thereof are as follows.
Generally, as RFID tags, an active tag having a battery inside and a passive tag having no battery inside are known. Although the active tag has a relatively wide communication range, it is expensive and requires battery replacement, so it is not realistic to attach it to each of a large number of products handled in stores.
In the conventional article management system, it is assumed that a passive tag having no battery is attached to the product, and the communicable range thereof is as short as about 3 to 8 m in the UHF band (for example, 900 MHz band). Therefore, in order to read all the products in the store, a large number of antennas are arranged in the store at short intervals, and a large number of reader / writers accommodating a large number of antennas are arranged in the store. On the other hand, unlike the passive tag, the disclosed IoT tag T operates by being fed by radio waves existing in the surrounding environment, so that it is not necessary to always arrange a reader / writer in the vicinity for feeding.
In a conventional article management system using a passive tag as an RFID tag, a reader / writer is provided on each of a plurality of product shelves at a product display location, and the position of each reader / writer is known, so that each reader / writer receives the information. There is a possibility that the position of each tag, that is, the position of each product can be estimated based on the signal of the RFID tag. However, even if such position estimation is possible, as described above, a large number of reader / writers must be placed in the store due to the short communication range of the passive tag, and the system There is a disadvantage that the overall installation cost increases.
Further, NFC (Near field communication) such as FeliCa (registered trademark) is known as a short-range wireless communication method different from RFID, but the communication distance is as short as 50 cm or less and it is expensive, so it is not suitable for inventory management. Is.
In view of the above viewpoint, the product management systems 1 and 1A of the embodiment use the IoT tag, which is an energy harvesting type tag that generates electricity based on the radio waves of the surrounding environment and does not have a battery. This has the advantage that it is not necessary to arrange a large number of reader / writers in the store, for example, because the power is generated and operated by the omnidirectional radio waves radiated from the wireless device in the store.

In the above-described embodiment, the wireless device 2 and the user terminal 4 may be able to receive only packets from the IoT tag T having access authority. In the store, a mobile terminal or wireless tag unrelated to this system transmits data using the same protocol as the wireless communication protocol used between the wireless device 2 and the IoT tag T, such as the BLE protocol. There is a possibility that the wireless device 2 or the user terminal 4 receives the data. Therefore, in order to distinguish between packets that should be received by the wireless device 2 and the user terminal 4 and data that do not need to be received, the packets transmitted from the IoT tag T include data indicating access authority (access authority data). It is preferable to include. In this case, in the above-described embodiment, each time the wireless device 2 or the user terminal 4 receives a packet, it confirms the access authority data included in the received packet and discards the packet for which it does not have the access authority.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the product management system and the product management method are applied to the apparel field has been described, but it can also be applied to the field dealing with other products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The information and formats contained in the product database may vary depending on the field of application. For example, each record in a product database in the food sector may contain an expiration date value corresponding to a product code. Each record in the product database of the pharmaceutical field may contain an expiration value corresponding to the product code. Further, in the pharmaceutical field, when the IoT tag is attached to one package containing a predetermined number of drugs, each record of the product database may include a value of the quantity of the drug in the package.
When managing products whose expiration date is managed by the expiration date or expiration date, the application server periodically monitors the expiration date or expiration date, and the user can check the product code, quantity, product position, etc. of the product whose expiration date is approaching. It is preferable to reflect it in the product data transmitted to the terminal 4.

Claims (7)

1. An article management system that manages one or more articles existing in an area.
   A wireless tag that is attached to an article in the area, operates by obtaining energy from surrounding radio waves, detects the movement of the article, and stores unique tag machine identification information.
   A user terminal capable of wireless communication with the wireless tag,
   An information processing device having a storage unit that stores article information for identifying the article in association with tag identification information of a wireless tag attached to the article.
   Including
   The information processing device
   When an article having a predetermined movement is present among the one or more articles, the article information for identifying the article having the predetermined movement is obtained based on the tag identification information of the wireless tag acquired from the user terminal. Corresponds to the user terminal,
   Goods management system.
2. The predetermined movement is a movement in which an article existing in a predetermined place in the area moves to a place separated from the predetermined place by a predetermined distance or more.
   The article management system according to claim 1.
3. The information processing device determines that the article has made the predetermined movement when the wireless tag continuously detects the movement of the article for a predetermined time or longer.
   The article management system according to claim 2.
4. The information processing device changes the predetermined time according to the position of the wireless tag in the area.
   The article management system according to claim 3.
5. The information processing device transmits article information corresponding to the tag identification information of the wireless tag to the user terminal.
   The user terminal displays the article information received from the information processing device.
   The article management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
6. The information processing device authenticates the tag identification information received from the user terminal, and when the authentication is successful, associates the article information identifying the article with the predetermined movement with the user terminal.
   The article management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
7. An article management method that manages one or more articles existing in an area.
   A wireless tag attached to an article in the area stores unique tag identification information, obtains energy from surrounding radio waves to operate, and detects the movement of the article.
   A user terminal capable of wireless communication with the wireless tag acquires the information of the wireless tag and obtains the information of the wireless tag.
   An information processing device having a storage unit that stores the article information that identifies the article in association with the tag identification information of the wireless tag attached to the article acquires the tag identification information of the wireless tag from the user terminal.
   When the information processing device has one or more articles that have made a predetermined movement, the article that has made the predetermined movement based on the tag identification information of the wireless tag acquired from the user terminal. The article information that identifies is associated with the user terminal,
   Goods management method.

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