JP4410538B2 - Tagged article storage container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article storage container with a tag for storing a tag-like article, for example, a postal item, a slip, an envelope, a certificate, a document, a card, or the like, to which a wireless tag to be read by a wireless tag reader is contactlessly attached. .

  In recent years, a data carrier having a unique ID (RFID) and a memory area where information can be rewritten, and capable of reading IDs and writing and reading arbitrary information without contact using radio, so-called radio Tags are attracting attention.

  For example, in the past, a wireless tag was affixed to each envelope used for recorded mail such as registered mail and parcel mail, and the tracking management code set for the envelope with the tag attached to this wireless tag was written. In addition, the RFID tag readers are installed at each site from the underwriting to delivery of the mail, and the tracking management code is read from the RFID tag attached to the envelope at each site and notified to the information center. By doing so, a system has been proposed that enables unified record management and rapid tracking of postal items handled by records (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  The wireless tag reader includes a communication antenna with the wireless tag, and reads stored data from all the wireless tags within the communication area (sensitivity range) of the antenna. However, if the position of the wireless tag is shifted or tilted with respect to the communication antenna and a plurality of wireless tags overlap each other, radio waves transmitted from each other interfere with each other and the reading rate decreases. Sometimes.

Therefore, conventionally, a plurality of partition members are arranged opposite to each other with a certain interval inside the container, and a plurality of pieces of mail attached with wireless tags are stood one by one in each room surrounded by the partition members. A storage container has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-175621 JP 2002-337827 A

  However, this type of conventional storage container can only store articles of a predetermined size, and when articles of different widths are mixed, it is necessary to prepare a storage container according to each. was there. For example, if an article with a small width is stored in a container for an article with a large width, the article may be displaced or inclined in the width direction, changing the angle or distance from the communication antenna, and the reading rate may be reduced. For this reason, the container has to be changed in accordance with the width of the article to which the wireless tag to be read is attached, which is inconvenient and wasteful.

  The present invention has been made based on such circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to collectively collect the data of the wireless tags provided in the respective articles even if the articles having different widths are mixed and stored. An object of the present invention is to provide a tagged article storage container that can be read and can improve the efficiency of the RFID tag reading operation.

The present invention is a tag-containing article storage container for storing a tag-like article to which a wireless tag to be read is attached, wherein the container main body is an article storage area surrounded by a rectangular bottom plate and its four side plates A box shape having And while providing a basic partition plate in the middle of the article storage area from one side plate of this container main body to the other side plate opposite to each other, both side surfaces of this basic partition plate are opposed to the both side surfaces, respectively. spaced one side plate and the flat line of the container body to the article storage area between the side plates of the container body provided with a plurality of fixed partition plates. Here, each of the pair of fixed partition plates provided on both sides of the main partition plate at a position farthest from the one side plate of the container body in the vertical direction is a surface facing the other side plate of the container body. It is made to correspond to the front end face of the main partition plate. Further, an extendable partition plate is provided to be extendable from the front end surface of the main partition plate toward the other side plate, and the end surface of the extendable partition plate is parallel to the other side plate and both end surfaces are both sides of the extendable partition plate. A movable partition plate is provided so as to be in contact with both side surfaces of the container body facing the surfaces.

  According to the present invention in which such means are taken, even when articles with different widths are mixed and stored, the data of the RFID tags provided for each article can be read collectively, and the RFID tag reading operation can be performed. A tagged article storage container capable of increasing efficiency can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an article storage container with a tag that stores a plurality of postal mail items such as registered mail and parcel mail as a tag-like article to which a wireless tag to be read is attached. Is the case.

First, a description will be given of a wireless tag reader that collectively reads the wireless tags attached to the recorded mail items stored in the tagged article storage container according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 are schematic views showing a wireless tag reader according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an article storage container with a tag (hereinafter abbreviated as storage container 1), and 2 denotes a roller conveyor as a transport path for transporting the storage container 1 in one direction by sliding its bottom surface. is there. In the storage container 1, a plurality of recorded postal items 3 (hereinafter abbreviated as postal items 3) are stored in the longitudinal direction of the storage container 1. Each postal item 3 is provided with a wireless tag 4 at a predetermined location. In the memory unit of each wireless tag 4, an ID or the like for identifying the mail piece 3 to which the tag is attached is stored.

  The roller conveyor 2 includes an antenna unit 21 provided with an antenna 51 of a wireless tag reader 5 that reads memory data stored in the wireless tag 4 by wireless, and a carry-in unit 22 and a carry-out unit 23 that are respectively extended before and after the antenna unit 21. It consists of.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of wheels 32a and 32b made of metal, plastic resin, hard rubber and the like are attached to the antenna portion 21 via torque limiters 33a and 33b, respectively, at both ends of the shaft 31. The first rollers 34 are provided at regular intervals. As shown in FIG. 1, an E-shaped antenna mounting plate 24 is fitted on the inner surfaces of the wheels 32 a and 32 b facing each of the first rollers 34. An antenna 51 of the wireless tag reader 5 is embedded in the antenna mounting plate 24 so that an upper space substantially in the entire plate width direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the storage container 1 serves as a communication area with the wireless tag 4.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each of the carry-in portion 12 and the carry-out portion 13 has a cylindrical body made of metal, plastic resin, hard rubber, or the like over substantially the entire length of the shaft 35 having the same length as the shaft 31 of the first roller 34. A plurality of second rollers 37 to which 36 is integrally attached are rotatably provided at regular intervals.

  In addition, a pair of guide plates 25a and 25b, which are bent so that both end portions expand outward, face each other on the outer surface side of the wheels 32a and 32b facing each of the first rollers 34 in the antenna unit 21. Is attached.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 3, when the length in the longitudinal direction of the storage container 1 is D and the length in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is W, the length W is a pair of guide plates 25a, It is shorter than the minimum inner surface distance A of 25 b and longer than the distance B between the inner surfaces of the wheels 32 a and 32 b facing the first roller 34. The length D is longer than the minimum distance A between the inner surfaces of the pair of guide plates 25a and 25b.

  Therefore, when the storage container 1 is placed on the carry-in part 22 so that the longitudinal direction thereof substantially coincides with the transport direction of the roller conveyor 2, the storage container 1 is carried into the antenna part 21 by sliding on the roller conveyor 2. Further, it can be carried out to the carry-out unit 23. On the other hand, when the storage container 1 is placed on the carry-in portion 22 so that the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction thereof substantially coincides with the transport direction of the roller conveyor 2, the storage container 1 can be slid on the roller conveyor 2. Will hit the pair of guide plates 25a, 25b and cannot be carried into the antenna portion 21.

  Here, the wireless tag reader according to the present embodiment includes a transport path (roller conveyor 2) for transporting the storage container 1 storing a plurality of postal items 3 in one direction by sliding the bottom surface thereof, and the transport path. The antenna 5A that communicates with each wireless tag attached to the postal matter 3 stored in the storage container 1 that passes through the upper portion of the wireless tag 4 and the wireless tag 4 that demodulates the radio wave received by the antenna 5A. And tag reading means (wireless tag reader 5) for reading the stored data, respectively, and attached to each postal matter 3 stored in the storage container 1 in a state of being aligned in the transport direction of the transport path. The stored data of the wireless tag 4 is collectively read when the wireless tag 4 passes over the antenna 5A.

Next, the storage container 1 of this Embodiment is demonstrated using FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the storage container 1, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the storage container 1. The storage container 1 is surrounded by a rectangular bottom plate 41 and four side plates 42, 43, 44, 45 thereof, and has an article storage area 46 (46 a to 46 k) with the opposite side of the bottom surface as a storage port for the postal matter 3. It has a box-shaped container main body 40 as a main component. Then, a basic partition plate 47 is provided halfway in the article storage area 46 from the substantially center of one side plate 42 provided in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the container body 40 toward the other side plate 44 opposed thereto. .

  In addition, a pair of left and right fixed partitions is provided with a space between the side plates 47a and 47b of the main partition plate 47 and the side plates 43 and 45 of the container body 40 facing the both side plates 47a and 47b, substantially parallel to the side plate 42. Plural pairs (four pairs in the figure) of the plates 48a to 48h are provided, and plural (this embodiment) is provided by the three side plates 42, 43, and 45 of the container body 40, the main partition plate 47, and the fixed partition plates 48a to 48h. In this embodiment, 8) fixed article storage areas 46a to 46h for small mail bundles are formed. In the small mail bundle fixed article storage areas 46a to 46h, for example, mail articles 3a in which a predetermined number of small-width envelopes sorted by delivery destination are bundled are stored. One wireless tag 4 is attached to the lower end of one postal item 3a.

  Of each of the fixed partition plates 48a to 48h, the pair of fixed partition plates 48g and 48h respectively interposed on both sides of the main partition plate 47 at the position farthest from the side plate 42 of the container body 40 in the vertical direction are both containers. The surface of the main body 40 facing the side plate 44 is made to coincide with the front end surface 47 c of the main partition plate 47.

  In the main partition plate 47, a slit 49 is formed from the front end surface 47c toward the rear end surface. The telescopic partition plate 50 is attached so as to slide back and forth manually along the slit 49. A movable partition plate 51 is attached to the distal end face of the telescopic partition plate 50 so as to be substantially parallel to the opposing side plates 42 and 44 of the container body 40. The movable partition plate 51 has a lower surface in contact with the bottom plate 41 of the container body 40 and both end surfaces in contact with the opposing side plates 43 and 45, and the longitudinal direction of the container body 40 in accordance with the expansion and contraction of the expansion / contraction partition plate 50, that is, the container. It slides in the vertical direction with respect to the side plate 42 of the main body 40. There may be slight gaps between the lower surface of the movable partition plate 51 and the bottom plate 41 of the container body 40 and between both end surfaces of the movable partition plate 51 and the side plates 43 and 45 of the container body 40.

  Thus, the movable partition plate 51, the pair of fixed partition plates 48g and 48h, and the telescopic partition plate 50 form two small postal variable article storage areas 46i and 46j. In the small postal variable article storage areas 46i and 46j, there are stored rose postal items (one or more, less than the number of bundles) 3b that are insufficient for a predetermined number of postal items 3a. One postal tag 3b has one wireless tag 4 attached to its lower end.

  Also, the variable article storage area 46k for large mail is formed by the movable partition plate 51 and the three side plates 43, 44, 45 of the container body 40. In this large postal variable article storage area 46k, postal items 3c having a width wider than that of a small envelope are stored. One postal tag 3c has one wireless tag 4 attached to its lower end.

  The container main body 40 has each side plate 42, 43, 44 so that the area of the bottom surface formed by the bottom plate 41 is smaller than the area of the opening surrounded by the four side plates 42, 43, 44, 45 thereabove. , 45 have recesses 52 formed therein. Moreover, the height from the bottom face of the main partition plate 47, each fixed partition plate 48a-48h, and the movable partition plate 51 is made lower than the four side plates. Specifically, the height of the recessed portion of each side plate 42, 43, 44, 45 is set to h1, and from the upper surface of each partition plate 47, 48a to 48h, 51 to the upper surface of each side plate 42, 43, 44, 45. If the height is h2, the relationship of h1 ≦ h2 is established. Therefore, when the storage container 1 is in an unused state in which the postal matter 3 is not stored, a plurality of storage containers 1 can be stably stacked and stored as shown in FIG.

  Using the storage container 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the wireless tag 4 provided on each of the postal items 3a in which a predetermined number of envelopes having a small width are bundled and the postal items 3c having a large width are read. The postal matter 3a is stored in one of the small postal bundle fixed article storage areas 46a to 46h with the wireless tag 4 facing downward, and the postal item 3c is stored wirelessly in the large postal item variable article storage area 46k. The tag 4 is stored with the tag 4 facing downward. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5A, the telescopic partition plate 50 is pulled out and the movable partition plate 51 is slid in the direction of the side plate 44, so that the variable article storage area 46k for large postal items is narrowed. Prevent the object 3c from tilting.

  Then, the storage container 1 is placed on the roller conveyor 2 and is conveyed by hand to pass over the antenna 51. Then, the wireless tag 4 attached to the postal matter 3a stored in the storage container 1 and the wireless tag 4 attached to the postal matter 3c are both at a fixed position (angle, Therefore, the tag storage data can be read with high accuracy by the wireless tag reader 5.

  Also, for example, when a predetermined number of small envelopes are bundled, but some remaining pieces, the predetermined number of pieces of mail 3a are placed with the wireless tag 4 facing downward in any one of the small mail bundle fixed article storage areas 46a to 46h. The remaining postal matter 3b is stored in a small postal variable article storage area 46i, 46j with the wireless tag 4 facing downward. At this time, as shown in FIG. 5 (B), the telescopic partition plate 50 is pushed in and the movable partition plate 51 is slid in the direction of the pair of fixed partition plates 48g and 48h, whereby the small article variable article storage area 46i. 46j is narrowed so that the mail piece 3b does not tilt.

  Then, the storage container 1 is placed on the roller conveyor 2 and is conveyed by hand to pass over the antenna 51. Then, the wireless tag 4 attached to the postal matter 3a stored in the storage container 1 and the wireless tag 4 attached to the postal matter 3b are both at a fixed position (angle, Therefore, the tag storage data can be read with high accuracy by the wireless tag reader 5.

  In the above-described embodiment, the side plate 42, 43, 44, 45 of the container body 40 is provided with the recessed portion 52 so that the area of the bottom surface of the container body is smaller than the area of the opening on the opposite side. A plurality of storage containers 1 may be stacked by making the slopes 42, 43, 44, and 45 narrow from the opening side to the bottom surface side.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the information on the wireless tag 4 in the storage container 1 is collectively read by passing over the antenna 51 is shown. However, the direction of the articles stored in the storage container 1 is upside down. By doing so, it is possible to collectively read the information of the wireless tag 4 in the storage container 1 by passing under the antenna 51.

Further, it goes without saying that the storage container 1 can be configured by appropriately changing the number of the fixed partition plates 48a to 48h according to the user's request.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the postal matter storage container 1, but is similarly applied to a tagged article storage container that stores tag-like tagged articles such as slips, envelopes, certificates, documents, and cards. it can.

The schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of one embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which shows the principal part of the roller conveyor in the embodiment. The schematic diagram used for size description with respect to the roller conveyor of the storage container in the embodiment. The external appearance perspective view of the goods storage container with a tag in the embodiment. The top view of the goods storage container with the tag. The state figure which accumulated the goods storage container with the tag.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Storage container, 2 ... Roller conveyor, 3 ... Mail, 4 ... Wireless tag, 5 ... Wireless tag reader, 40 ... Container main body, 41 ... Bottom plate, 42, 43, 44, 45 ... Side plate, 46a-46k ... Article storage Area, 47 ... backbone partition plate, 48a to 48h ... fixed partition plate, 49 ... slit, 50 ... telescopic partition plate, 51 ... movable partition plate, 52 ... dent.

Claims (3)

In an article storage container with a tag for storing a tag-like article to which a wireless tag to be read is attached,
A box-shaped container body having an article storage area surrounded by a rectangular bottom plate and its four side plates;
A main partition plate provided halfway in the article storage area from one side plate of the container body toward the other side plate facing the other;
And a plurality of fixed partition plate provided with a gap on the one side plate and the flat line of the container body between the both side surfaces and the side plates of each opposing the container body the both sides of the backbone partition plate Equipped,
The pair of fixed partition plates respectively provided on both sides of the main partition plate at the position farthest from the one side plate of the container body in the vertical direction are both surfaces facing the other side plate of the container body. In accordance with the front end surface of the main partition plate , and
An extendable partition plate provided to be extendable from the front end surface of the basic partition plate toward the other side plate;
A movable partition plate provided on the front end surface of the telescopic partition plate in parallel with the other side plate and having both end surfaces in contact with both side surfaces of the container body respectively opposed to both side surfaces of the telescopic partition plate; , tagged article storage container, characterized by comprising a. A slit formed in a vertical direction with respect to the one side plate of the container body from the front end surface to the rear end surface of the main partition plate ,
2. The tagged article storage container according to claim 1 , wherein the telescopic partition plate slides along the slit . The area of the bottom surface of the container body is made smaller than the area of the opening on the opposite side, and the height from the bottom surface of the main partition plate , the fixed partition plate, the extendable partition plate and the movable partition plate is set to the container body. The tagged article storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the container is lower than the four side plates.

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