JP3884030B2 - Non-contact communication medium and non-contact communication device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a non-contact communication medium called a wireless tag, an RFID tag, a non-contact IC tag, and the like, and a non-contact communication apparatus that reads data stored in the non-contact communication medium by non-contact communication.

  In recent years, attention has been focused on non-contact communication media that are used by being affixed or embedded in various articles such as merchandise, cards, envelopes, and containers. This non-contact communication medium is called a wireless tag, an RFID tag, a non-contact IC tag, etc., and is usually a small and lightweight one provided with an antenna and an IC chip on a tag-like substrate. A non-volatile memory and a control circuit that modulates data stored in the memory into a radio wave and transmits the radio wave from the antenna are provided.

  The memory stores a unique ID assigned and set by the manufacturer at the manufacturing stage of the contactless communication medium. Further, a user area where the user can arbitrarily write data is secured. In the user area, various information relating to an article provided with the contactless communication medium is generally written.

  On the other hand, a non-contact communication apparatus that can read data stored in a memory from a non-contact communication medium having such a configuration by non-contact communication includes an antenna that can transmit and receive radio waves. Then, an inquiry signal is repeatedly transmitted by radio waves from the antenna to the non-contact communication medium, and a radio wave transmitted from the non-contact communication medium in response to the inquiry signal is received by the antenna. The memory information of all contactless communication media placed in the communication area is read at once.

As a technology related to this type of non-contact communication medium and non-contact communication device, conventionally, the memory of the non-contact communication medium is a non-rewritable memory, and a value common to a specific application or category is set in this memory. Information comprising a service identifier and service data for setting different values for categorization within this specific application or category is stored. The non-contact communication device receives the radio wave transmitted from the non-contact communication medium with the antenna, reads the information consisting of the service identifier and the service data in the memory, recognizes the service identifier, and There is one that determines the authenticity of an article to which the item is attached (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-78952 A

  However, in the conventional non-contact communication device, after reading all the data stored in the memory of the non-contact communication medium, the authenticity of the non-contact communication medium is determined based on some information in the data, for example. Therefore, if it is determined to be false, reading of other data is useless. As described above, there is a case where reading of data stored in the memory of the non-contact communication medium is wasted and efficiency is lowered.

  The present invention has been made based on such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a non-contact communication apparatus capable of improving efficiency by preventing unnecessary data from being read from the memory of the non-contact communication medium and the non-contact communication apparatus. It is intended to provide a non-contact communication medium used for a contact communication device.

The non-contact communication medium of the present invention includes an antenna for wireless communication with a non-contact communication device, a memory for storing data, a control circuit for modulating the data stored in the memory into a radio wave and transmitting from the antenna. The memory area is divided into a data area and an index area in which the data subdivided into a plurality of items is divided and stored in units of blocks each having a certain number of bits. . Then, in the index area, 1 bit is associated with each of a plurality of items, and the value of the 1 bit is different depending on whether the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area or not. For each item, the usage information for identifying whether the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area, and the number of blocks of the item data for each item for which data is stored in the data area are represented by the number of consecutive bits. In addition, size delimiter information composed of size information bits and delimiter information bits in which delimiters of each item are represented by 1 bit is stored.

When the non-contact communication medium of the present invention is detected by the medium detection means, the medium detection means for detecting the non-contact communication medium of the present invention present in the communication area of the antenna, Index reading means for reading the usage information and size delimiter information stored in the index area of the memory from the non-contact communication medium, and the non-contact communication medium based on the use information and size delimiter information read from the non-contact communication medium by the index reading means. Index analysis means for acquiring the data items stored in the data area of the memory in the contact communication medium and the number of blocks of the item data, and the data stored in the data area based on the information acquired by the index analysis means read, and outputs the divided data read in blocks of the item data for each item It is obtained by a body data reading means.

  According to the present invention in which such measures are taken, the item and size of the data stored in the data area of the memory are recognized from the usage information and the size delimiter information stored in the index area of the memory in the contactless communication medium, Since the data stored in the data area is read based on the recognition result, useless data can be prevented from being read from the data area, and the data reading efficiency can be improved.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, a non-contact communication medium that is attached to a product, for example, a home appliance, from the manufacturing stage and stores various information about the product, and data stored in the memory of the non-contact communication medium are stored. This is a case where the present invention is applied to a non-contact communication apparatus that reads by wireless communication. For convenience of explanation, the non-contact communication medium is referred to as a wireless tag, and the non-contact communication apparatus is referred to as a wireless tag reader.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the wireless tag 10 and the wireless tag reader 20. In the figure, a wireless tag 10 is an independent component in which an antenna 11 and an IC chip 12 are integrally formed on a bill-like substrate (not shown). The antenna 11 is a loop antenna or the like formed in a rectangular shape. The IC chip 12 includes a power generation unit 13 that supplies power to each part of the IC chip 12 by performing rectification and stabilization of the modulated wave from the wireless tag reader 20 received by the antenna 11, and a controller that demodulates the modulated wave. 16, the demodulator 14 for sending to the data 16, the modulator 15 for modulating the data sent from the controller 16, and sending the data demodulated by the demodulator 14 to the antenna 11. A control unit 16 that reads and sends the data to the modulation unit 15, a nonvolatile rewritable memory 17 such as an EEPROM, and the like are included.

  In the memory 17, a unique ID assigned and set by the manufacturer at the manufacturing stage of the wireless tag 10 is stored in advance. Further, a user area 30 where a user can write arbitrary data is secured.

  In general, a wireless tag determines a unit (block) of data amount that can be exchanged at a time depending on software used. In the present embodiment, software that accesses 32 bits as one block is used, and when the wireless tag reader 20 accesses the wireless tag 10, the access is unified in units of blocks (32 bits).

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the wireless tag 10 according to the present embodiment divides the user area 30 into a total of 32 blocks, with the size of the user area 30 being 1024 bits and 32 bits being a unit of one block. Then, the first two blocks are used as an index part 31 and the remaining 30 blocks are used as a data part 32. The data part 32 stores data subdivided into a plurality of items. The index section 31 stores usage information and size delimiter information as format information of data stored in the data section 32. The index unit 31 sets the first 16 bits as the usage information area 311 and the subsequent 47 bits as the size partition information area 312. The last 1 bit is unused.

  The usage information of the area 311 is information for associating one bit with a data item and identifying whether or not the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data part 32. It becomes “1”, and when it is not stored, the bit becomes “0”. That is, in the present embodiment, data segmented into 16 items at maximum can be stored in the data portion 32.

  The size delimiter information of the area 312 is variable-size information that represents the data size of the item for each item for which data is stored in the data section 32 in terms of the number of blocks, and is the number of consecutive bits “0”. And the item delimiter is represented by 1 bit “1”, and the end is represented by 2 bits “11”. Therefore, since the size of the data part 32 is 30 blocks, the size of the index part 31 is 16 bits of usage information corresponding to the maximum number of items of data stored in the data part 32 and 30 corresponding to the number of blocks of the data part 32. The total number of bits, 15 bits corresponding to the maximum number of delimiters of the items, and 2 bits indicating the end point, does not exceed 63 bits.

  It is assumed that the wireless tag 10 having such a configuration is attached to each product from the manufacturing stage of home appliances and manufacturing history is managed. In this case, it is necessary to standardize the data items stored in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10 regardless of the manufacturer. Assume that the home appliance parameters 0 to 15 have been standardized with the contents shown in FIG. Each parameter = 0 to 15 corresponds to the 16th bit from the first bit of the 16-bit usage information on a one-to-one basis.

  That is, the parameter = 0 corresponding to the first bit of the usage information is the data item “JAN code” specified by the data item code “code1”, and its size is 2 blocks (64 bits). The parameter = 1 corresponding to the second bit from the beginning of the usage information is the data item “maker code” specified by the data item code “code2”, and its size is one block (32 bits). Hereinafter, as illustrated, the parameter = 15 corresponding to the 16th bit of the usage information is the data item “production date” specified by the data item code “code16”, and the size thereof is 2 blocks (64 bits). It is.

  When the home appliance parameters are standardized, each home appliance manufacturer specifies the parameters (data items) to be stored in the wireless tag 10 attached to their product for each manufacturer. Assume that the parameter usage statuses of Company A and Company B are as shown in FIG. In this case, the content shown in FIG. 5A is stored in the index unit 31 for the home appliance manufactured by the company A, and the content shown in FIG. 5B is stored in the index unit for the home appliance manufactured by the company B. 31 is stored.

  That is, in the case of Company A, the data portion 32 stores data of 9 items in total of parameters = 0, 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12, and the other parameters = 2, 6, 8 , 10, 13, 14 and 15 are not stored, the usage information of the area 311 indicates that each bit of 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13 is "1" from the top. The other bits become “0”. That is, [11011110101011000].

  In addition, the size of the “JAN code” with parameter = 0, which is the used item, is 2 blocks, the size of “manufacturer code” with parameter = 1 is 1 block, the size of “product number” with parameter = 3 is 2 blocks, parameter = The size of “Order Number” of 4 is 1 block, the size of “Store Code” with parameter = 5 is 1 block, the size of “Factory Code” with parameter = 7 is 1 block, and the size of “Warehouse Code” with parameter = 9 Is 1 block, the size of “arrival date” of parameter = 11 is 2 blocks, and the size of “manufacturing number” of parameter = 12 is 1 block. Therefore, the size delimiter information of area 312 is 22 bits (size information of [001010010101011011111]) 12 bits + separation information bits 8 bits + termination bits 2 bits). In this size delimiter information, the first 2 bits “00” indicate the size (2 blocks) of the “JAN code”, and the next 1 bit “1” indicates the delimiter information bits. The next 1 bit “0” indicates the size (1 block) of the “maker code”, and the next 1 bit “1” indicates a delimiter information bit. Hereinafter, similarly, bit “0” indicates the size (number of blocks) of each data item, and bit “1” indicates a delimiter information bit. The last two bits “11” indicate a termination bit.

  On the other hand, in the case of Company B, the data portion 32 stores data of a total of 12 items of parameters = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, and other data Since the item data of parameters = 6, 7, 9, and 15 is not stored, the usage information of the area 311 is [1111110010111110]. Also, the size delimiter information of the area 312 is 30 bits of [001010100101010010010010101011] (size information bit 17 bits + delimiter information bit 11 bits + termination bit 2 bits).

  Then, it is assumed that the parameters for home appliances are changed as shown in FIG. That is, it is assumed that the size of the item “maker code” with parameter = 1 is changed from one block to two blocks. In such a case, in the company A using the item “manufacturer code”, the contents of the index part 31 of the wireless tag 10 attached to its product are shown in FIG. 7 from the contents shown in FIG. You can respond by simply changing the content.

  That is, since the size of the item “maker code” of the parameter = 1, which is the second item used, has been changed from 1 block to 2 blocks, the bit “ 0 ”is added to change the size partition information to 23 bits of [00100100101010101001011] (size information bit 13 bits + separation information bits 8 bits + termination bits 2 bits).

  In addition, if company B adjusts the parameter usage status to company A along with the change of the parameters for home appliances, the contents of the index part 31 of the wireless tag 10 attached to its product are shown in FIG. This can be dealt with by simply changing the content shown in FIG. 7 to the content shown in FIG.

  As described above, even if the data item stored in the data section 32 of the wireless tag 10 is changed or the data size is changed, only the usage information stored in the index section 31 and the size delimiter information are changed. can do. Therefore, it is possible to provide the wireless tag 10 with high versatility.

  In FIG. 1, a wireless tag reader 20 includes an antenna 21 corresponding to transmission / reception of radio waves such as radio waves and electromagnetic waves, and a tag reader main body 22 formed by connecting the antenna 21. The tag reader main body 22 modulates a data signal to the interface unit 23 with a host device, a control unit 24 mainly composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a rewritable memory 25 such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the wireless tag 10. A modulation unit 26 that amplifies the modulated wave and radiates it from the antenna 21; a reception amplifier 28 that amplifies the radio wave received by the antenna 21; and a demodulation unit 29 that demodulates the amplified radio wave. Yes.

  When the wireless tag reader 20 having such a configuration is used for reading the wireless tag 10 attached to the home appliance in which necessary item data is stored in the user area 30 based on the home appliance parameters standardized with the contents shown in FIG. Is assumed. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the memory 25 stores a parameter table 41 in which data item codes are preset in correspondence with home appliance parameter = 0-15. In addition, as shown in the figure, there is formed a division table 42 that can store data item codes, block size data, and actual data in association with each other.

  Accordingly, the control unit 24 performs the data reading process of the wireless tag 10 according to the procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, the control unit 24 receives a command from the higher-level device connected via the interface unit 23 as ST (step) 1 and confirms that the command is a tag read command as ST2, and stores the partition table 42 as ST3. clear.

  Thereafter, the control unit 24 applies an inquiry data signal to the modulation unit 26 as ST4, periodically transmits an inquiry wave from the antenna 21, and waits for the response wave from the wireless tag 10 to be received by the antenna 21. On the other hand, the wireless tag 10 that has received the inquiry wave by the antenna 11 is activated by the power generation unit 13 operating. Then, the ID stored in the memory 17 is read out by the action of the control unit 16, modulated by the modulation unit 15, and transmitted as a response wave.

  Therefore, when the control unit 24 detects the wireless tag 10 existing in the communication area of the antenna 21 by receiving the response wave (medium detection unit), the control unit 24 acquires the ID of the wireless tag 10 from the response wave as ST5. Next, the control unit 24 wirelessly transmits an index portion data read command to the wireless tag 10 storing the ID as ST6 (index reading means). Thereby, since the 64-bit data of the index unit 31 in the user area 30 of the memory 17 is wirelessly transmitted from the wireless tag 10 storing the ID and received by the wireless tag reader 20, the control unit 24 has received as ST7. 64-bit data analysis processing is executed (index analysis means).

  A specific processing procedure of this analysis processing is shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the control unit 24 sets initial values “0” to the counters A, M, and N. Also, the initial value “16” is set in the counter B. Next, the control unit 24 increments the counter A by “1”. Then, the following processing is executed each time the counter A is counted up until the number of bits of use information “16” stored in the area 311 of the index section 31 is exceeded.

  That is, the control unit 24 sets the A-th bit (A is the value of the counter A) from the top of the 64-bit data of the index unit 31 read from the wireless tag 10 as ST21, that is, the usage information bit corresponding to the parameter = 0. To check. If the use information bit is “1”, the control unit 24 counts up the counter B by “1” as ST22, and then reads 64 bits of the index unit 31 read from the wireless tag 10 as ST23. The Bth bit (B is the value of counter B) of the data, that is, the first bit of the size delimiter information is checked. Here, if the bit is “0”, the bit indicates the size of the item data of parameter = (A−1), and therefore the control unit 24 increments the counter M by “1” as ST24. . Thereafter, returning to ST22, the counter B is further incremented by "1", and the Bth bit from the head of the 64-bit data is checked. If the Bth bit is “0”, the counter M is further incremented by “1”. Then, the counter B is further incremented by “1” and the above processing is repeated.

  On the other hand, when the B-th bit is “1”, since the bit is a delimiter information bit, the control unit 24 confirms that the counter M is larger than “0” in ST25. If the counter M is greater than “0”, the control unit 24 searches the parameter table 41 in ST26 and acquires the data item code corresponding to the parameter (A-1). Further, the value of the counter M is acquired as size information (number of blocks) M. Then, the data item code and the size information M are stored in the division table 42 in association with each other.

  Thereafter, if the value of the counter M is added to the counter N at ST27, the control unit 24 subsequently returns the value of the counter M to the initial value “0” at ST28. Each process of ST21 to ST28 is repeated every time the counter A is incremented by "1". If the counter A exceeds “16”, the control unit 24 further increments the counter B by “1” in ST29. In ST30, the Bth bit from the beginning of the 64-bit data of the index part 31 is checked and if it is confirmed to be “1”, the end is represented by the bit and the B−1th bit “1”. Therefore, the control unit 24 normally ends this analysis process.

  If the counter M is “0” in ST25, or if the Bth bit from the beginning of the 64-bit data of the index part 31 is “0” in ST30, the wireless tag 10 Since the format is not normal, the result of the analysis process is regarded as an error.

  When the analysis process of ST7 is normally completed, the control unit 24 sends a command to read data of N blocks (N is a value of the counter N) from the top of the data unit 32 to the wireless tag 10 storing the ID as ST8. Wireless transmission. As a result, N blocks of data are wirelessly transmitted from the top of the data section 32 in the user area 30 of the memory 17 from the wireless tag 10 storing the ID and received by the wireless tag reader 20, so that the control section 24 performs ST9. The N block data received as is divided from the first block by the number of blocks matching the size information of the data item code in the storage order of the division table 42 and stored in the actual data area. When this division processing is completed, the control unit 24 transfers the data (data item code, size information, actual data) stored in the division table 42 as ST10 to the higher-level device via the interface unit 23 (medium) Data reading means). If an error occurs as a result of the analysis process, the processes of ST8 to ST10 are not executed.

  Thereafter, the control unit 24 determines whether or not the next wireless tag 10 is detected in ST11. And when it has detected, the process after ST2 mentioned above is repeatedly performed. If the next wireless tag 10 is not detected, the current data reading process is terminated.

  In the present embodiment configured as described above, it is assumed that the wireless tag reader 20 detects the wireless tag 10 in which, for example, the content illustrated in FIG. In this case, when the analysis processing of the index part is executed in the wireless tag reader 20, first, when the counter A is updated to “1”, the use information bit corresponding to the counter A, that is, the first bit is “1”. Counter B becomes “17”. At this time, since the 17th bit in the 64-bit data of the index part 31, that is, the first bit of the size delimiter information is “0”, the counter M becomes “1”. Further, the counter B is updated to “18”. At this time, since the second bit from the top of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “0”, the counter M becomes “2”. Also, the counter B is updated to “19”. At this time, since the third bit from the top of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “1”, the data item code “code1” of parameter (A-1) = 0 and the size information are displayed in the first row area of the division table 42. M = 2 is stored. Further, the counter N becomes “2”, and the counter M is initialized to “0”.

  Next, when the counter A is updated to “2”, the usage information bit corresponding to the counter A, that is, the second bit from the head is “1”, so the counter B becomes “20”. At this time, since the fourth bit from the top of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “0”, the counter M becomes “1”. Further, the counter B is updated to “21”. At this time, since the fifth bit from the top of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “1”, the data item code “code2” of parameter (A−1) = 1 and the size are displayed in the second row area of the division table 42. Information M = 1 is stored. Further, the counter N becomes “3” and the counter M is initialized to “0”.

  Next, when the counter A is updated to “3”, the third bit from the beginning of the usage information is “0”, so the counter A is updated to “4”. When the counter A is updated to “4”, the fourth bit from the head of the usage information is “1”, so the counter B becomes “22”. Thereafter, the same processing is performed. Thereby, the data item code “code4” and the size information M = 1 are stored in the third row area of the division table 42, and the data item code “code5” and the size information M = 1 are stored in the fourth row area. The data item code “code6” and size information M = 1 are stored in the fifth line area, and the data item code “code8” and size information M = 1 are stored in the sixth line area. The data item code “code10” and size information M = 1 are stored, and the data item code “code12” and size information M = 2 are stored in the eighth line area.

  When the counter A is updated to “13”, the 13th bit from the beginning of the usage information is “1”, so the counter B becomes “37”. At this time, since the 20th bit from the head of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “0”, the counter M becomes “1”. Further, the counter B is updated to “38”. At this time, since the 21st bit from the head of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “1”, the data item code “code13” of parameter (A−1) = 12 and the size are displayed in the ninth line area of the division table 42. Information M = 1 is stored. Also, the counter N becomes “12” and the counter M is initialized to “0”.

  Next, when the counter A is updated to “14”, the 14th bit from the head of the usage information is “0”, so the counter A is updated to “15”. When the counter A is updated to “15”, the 15th bit from the beginning of the usage information is “0”, so the counter A is updated to “16”. When the counter A is updated to “16”, the 16th bit from the beginning of the usage information is “0”, so the counter A is updated to “17”.

  When the counter A is updated to “17”, the counter B is updated to “39”. At this time, since the 22nd bit from the top of the size delimiter information corresponding to the counter B is “1”, it means that the end bit has been detected, and this analysis processing ends.

  As a result, the number of blocks corresponding to the counter N = 12, that is, data from the head to the twelfth block (32 × 12 = 384 bits) is read from the data portion 32 in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10. Since the size information of the first row area of the division table 42 is “2”, the data of the first block and the second block of the data part 32 are stored in the division table 42 as data corresponding to the data item code “code1”. . Further, since the size information of the second row area of the division table 42 is “1”, the data of the third block of the data part 32 is stored in the division table 42 as data corresponding to the data item code “code2”. Thereafter, the same processing is performed, and the data in the fourth to fifth blocks of the data section 32 are stored in the third row area of the division table 42, and the sixth block of the data section 32 is stored in the fourth row area of the division table 42. The data of the seventh block of the data section 32 is stored in the fifth row area of the division table 42, and the data of the eighth block of the data section 32 is stored in the sixth row area of the division table 42. The data of the ninth block of the data portion 32 is stored in the seventh row area of the division table 42, and the data of the tenth to eleventh blocks of the data portion 32 are stored in the eighth row area of the division table 42. The data of the twelfth block of the data part 32 is stored in the ninth row area of the division table 42. Thereafter, the contents of this division table 42 are transmitted to the host device.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the wireless tag reader 20 only includes data in the area where data is actually stored from the user area 30 of the memory 17 provided in the wireless tag 10 (in the above example, the index unit 31). 2 block data and data from the first to twelfth block of the data section 32) are read and processed, so that data is wasted compared to the conventional case where all data (32 block data) in the user area 30 is read and processed. No reading occurs and the processing efficiency can be improved.

  Further, in the host device, it is not necessary to manage format information such as a memory address and a data size for each item of data stored in the user area 30 by being subdivided into a plurality of items. Conventionally, the wireless tag reader 20 reads all the data in the user area 30 and transfers it to the host device, and the host device performs software processing according to the format information to acquire data for each item. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the data in the user area 30 is divided for each item in the wireless tag reader 20 and then transferred to the host device, so that format information is not required and software processing in the host device is not required. It becomes. As a result, there is an effect that the load on the host device can be reduced.

  The software processing executed by the wireless tag reader 20, that is, the processing shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 9 to 10, the usage information stored in the index section 31 in the user area 30 formed in the memory 17 of the wireless tag 10 and the size delimiter. Even if the information is changed, it is possible to respond. Therefore, even if the data item stored in the data section 32 of the wireless tag 10 is changed or the data size is changed, the software processing is not changed, so that it is not necessary to modify the application program for controlling the software processing. There is an advantage that it is possible to cope with the change of the data item and the change of the data size in a short time and at a low cost.

  In the above embodiment, the wireless tag reader 20 obtains and transfers the data of all items stored in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10 to the host device. For example, in the tag reading command from the host device, By including the information specifying the item, the wireless tag reader 20 may transfer only the data of the specified item from all the item data acquired from the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10 to the host device. Good.

  In this case, the wireless tag reader 20 may read only the data of the designated item from the wireless tag 10 and transfer it to the host device (second embodiment). The main part of the software processing of the wireless tag reader 20 in the second embodiment is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  That is, when receiving a tag read command in which the acquisition item is designated from the higher-level device in the processes of ST31 to 33, the control unit 24 stores the item code of the designated item in the memory 45 as ST34. Next, the control unit 24 applies an inquiry data signal to the modulation unit 26 as ST35, periodically transmits an inquiry wave from the antenna 21, and waits for the response wave from the wireless tag 10 to be received by the antenna 21, When the wireless tag 10 existing in the communication area of the antenna 21 is detected by receiving the response wave (medium detection means), the ID of the wireless tag 10 is acquired from the response wave as ST36.

  Next, the control unit 24 wirelessly transmits an index part data read command to the wireless tag 10 storing the ID as ST37 and reads the data of the index part 31 (index reading means). If the data of the index unit 31 is read, the control unit 24 refers to the parameter table 41 in ST38 and acquires the parameter P corresponding to the item code of the item for which acquisition is specified. In ST39, the (P + 1) th bit k from the head of the usage information, which is the head 16-bit data of the index part 31, is acquired.

  Here, when the bit k is “1” in ST40, the data of the item that has been designated for acquisition is stored in the user area 30 of the memory 17 provided in the wireless tag 10, so that the control is performed. The unit 24 obtains the total number Q of the bits “1” from the first bit of the usage information to the (P + 1) th bit k as ST41. Next, in ST42, the control unit 24 detects the Qth bit “1” counted from the head of the size delimiter information after the 17th bit from the head of the index section 31. Then, as ST43, the total number R of the bits “0” in the size delimiter information on the head side from the bit “1” and the continuous number S of the immediately preceding bits “0” are acquired (index analysis means).

  Thereafter, the control unit 24 wirelessly transmits and reads a data read command from the (R−S + 1) th block to the R block of the data unit 32 with respect to the wireless tag 10 as ST44. Then, the control unit 24 transfers (R-S + 1) to R-th block data read from the wireless tag 10 as ST45 to the host device via the interface unit 23 which is a communication unit (medium data reading unit). .

  If the bit k is “0” in ST40, the data of the item that has been designated for acquisition is not stored in the user area 30 of the memory 17 provided in the wireless tag 10, so ST41 Each process of -ST45 is not performed.

  Thereafter, the control unit 24 determines whether or not the next wireless tag 10 is detected in ST46. If it is detected, the processes after ST36 described above are repeatedly executed. If the next wireless tag 10 is not detected, the current data reading process is terminated.

In the second embodiment configured as described above, it is assumed that the acquisition of the item “JAN code” is designated from, for example, the host device. In this case, for example, if the wireless tag reader 20 detects the wireless tag 10 in which the content shown in FIG. 5A is stored in the index unit 31, the parameter P of the item “JAN code” is “0”. Among the usage information of the index part 31 in the ten user areas 30, the (P + 1) = 1st bit is checked. In this case, since the bit is “1”, each process of ST41 to ST45 is executed. That is, “1” is acquired as the total number Q, and Q = 1st bit “1” is detected from the size delimiter information of the index part 31. This bit is the third bit in the size delimiter information, and the total number R of the previous bits “0” and the consecutive number S of the immediately previous bits “0” are both “2”. Therefore, the data of the first block and the data of the second block, that is, the JAN code are read from the data section 32 in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10 and transferred to the host device.

  Further, for example, when acquisition of the item “store code” is specified from the host device, the parameter P of the item “store code” is “5”, so the usage information of the index unit 31 in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10 is used. The sixth bit is checked. Also in this case, since the bit is “1”, each process of ST41 to ST45 is executed. That is, “5” is acquired as the total number Q, and the fifth bit “1” is detected from the size delimiter information of the index part 31. This bit is the twelfth bit in the size delimiter information, the total number R of the previous bits “0” is “7”, and the consecutive number S of the immediately preceding bit “0” is “1”. Therefore, the data of the seventh block from the data section 32 in the user area 30 of the wireless tag 10, that is, the store code is read and transferred to the host device.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, the wireless tag reader 20 reads only the data of the items actually instructed from the host device from the user area 30 of the memory 17 provided in the wireless tag 10. Since it processes, processing efficiency can be improved further.

  Further, since only the necessary items of data are transferred to the host device, the processing speed of the host device is also increased.

  In the second embodiment, when a plurality of items are designated at the same time, it is easily handled by repeating the processes of ST36 to ST45 for the number of designated items for one wireless tag 10. It goes without saying that it can be done.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a wireless tag and a wireless tag reader according to an embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the user area of the radio | wireless tag in the embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the example of a setting of the parameter for household appliances used in the embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the usage example of the parameter for household appliances used in the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a data structure of an index portion of a wireless tag corresponding to the usage example illustrated in FIG. 4. The schematic diagram which shows the example of a change of the parameter for household appliances used in the embodiment. The schematic diagram which shows the data structure of the index part of the wireless tag corresponding to the example of a change shown in FIG. The schematic diagram which shows the main memory areas formed in the memory of the radio | wireless tag reader in the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the principal part of the main software processing which the control part of the wireless tag reader in the embodiment performs. The flowchart which shows the analysis process of the index part shown in FIG. 9 concretely. The flowchart which shows other embodiment of the software process which the control part of a wireless tag reader performs.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Wireless tag (non-contact communication medium), 11 ... Antenna, 12 ... IC chip, 13 ... Power supply generation part, 16 ... Control part, 17 ... Memory, 20 ... Wireless tag reader (non-contact communication apparatus), 21 ... Antenna, 23 ... Interface unit, 24 ... Control unit, 25 ... Memory, 30 ... User area, 31 ... Index unit, 32 ... Data unit, 311 ... Usage information area, 312 ... Size separation information area, 41 ... Parameter table, 42 ... Division table.

Claims (5)

Non-contact communication medium comprising an antenna for wireless communication with a non-contact communication device, a memory for storing data, and a control circuit for modulating the data stored in the memory into a radio wave and transmitting from the antenna In
The memory area is divided into a data area and an index area for storing data subdivided into a plurality of items divided into blocks each having a certain number of bits ,
In the index area, one bit is associated with each of the plurality of items, and the value of the one bit differs depending on whether the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area or not. The usage information for identifying whether or not the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area for each item , and the number of blocks of the item data for each item in which the data is stored in the data area are consecutive. A non-contact communication medium characterized by storing size division information composed of size information bits represented by the number of bits and division information bits representing division of each item by one bit . One bit corresponding to each item of usage information stored in the index area is set to “1” when the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area, and is set to “0” when the data is not stored. The contactless communication medium according to claim 1 , wherein, for each item, whether or not the data of the corresponding item is stored in the data area is identified .   The contactless communication medium according to claim 1, wherein the memory is a nonvolatile rewritable memory. In the non-contact communication apparatus provided with the antenna for carrying out radio | wireless communication with the non-contact communication medium in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3.
Medium detecting means for detecting the non-contact communication medium present in the communication area of the antenna;
When the non-contact communication medium is detected by the medium detection means, index reading means for reading the usage information and the size delimiter information stored in the index area of the memory from the non-contact communication medium;
Based on the usage information and size division information read from the non-contact communication medium by the index reading means, the data items stored in the data area of the memory in the non-contact communication medium and the number of blocks of the item data are acquired. Index analysis means;
A media data reading means for outputting the data area to read the stored data, by dividing the data read in blocks of the item data for each item based on information obtained by the index analysis means,
A non-contact communication device comprising: In the non-contact communication apparatus provided with the antenna for carrying out radio | wireless communication with the non-contact communication medium in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3.
Means for communicating with a host device for designating an item that needs to be read from data stored in the non-contact communication medium;
Medium detecting means for detecting the non-contact communication medium present in the communication area of the antenna;
When the non-contact communication medium is detected by the medium detection means, index reading means for reading the usage information and the size delimiter information stored in the index area of the memory from the non-contact communication medium;
Index analysis means for recognizing the position and number of blocks in which data of items specified by the host device is stored based on the usage information and size division information read from the non-contact communication medium by the index reading means; ,
Medium data reading means for reading the data of the block corresponding to the position and number recognized by the index analysis means from the data area of the memory unit in the non-contact communication medium, and transmitting the data to the host device;
A non-contact communication device comprising:

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