JP4437405B2 - Article arrangement direction recognition device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for recognizing the arrangement direction of a regular or irregular article being conveyed by a conveyor or the like, and a connection tag including two IC tags suitable for use in the apparatus.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, an IC tag 3 is attached to an article 2 conveyed by a conveyor 1, and the IC tag 3 is read by a tag reader 4 provided in the middle of the conveyance path, and stored in the IC tag. Acquiring article information or recognizing whether an article has passed the tag reader installation position is performed. There is also known an apparatus having a configuration in which an ID tag is attached to tableware, information on the ID tag of the tableware being conveyed by the conveyor is acquired, the type of the tableware is determined, and sorting is performed (see Patent Document 1).
Utility Model Registration No. 2594959

By the way, for example, in an industrial product production line, (a) while passing an article, recognizing whether the article is in the correct direction or (b) in a state where the article is directed in an appropriate direction. There is a case where it is required to be transported. However, in the above-described recognition method using an IC tag or an ID tag, whether or not an article has passed or information on the article can be recognized, but the posture of the article cannot be recognized. For example, when a convex-shaped article 5 is conveyed by the conveyor 1 as shown in FIG. 6, the IC tag 3 is attached to the article 5 and conveyed, and the IC tag 3 is read by the tag reader 4. 3 can be recognized only by “the article information stored in the tag” and “whether or not the article has passed the reader installation position”, and the article 5 has the arrangement direction shown in FIG. Or the arrangement direction shown in FIG. 6B cannot be determined. That is, even if the arrangement direction shown in FIG. 6A (the direction in which the angle of the center axis C-C of the article 5 with respect to the flow direction is θ ₁ ) is correct, the article 5 is arranged in the arrangement direction shown in FIG. Even if the article 5 passes in the direction in which the angle of the central axis CC of the article 5 with respect to the flow direction is θ ₂ , it cannot be determined that the arrangement of the article is abnormal.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem. When an article passes a predetermined position, not only the information about the article or whether or not the article has passed is recognized, but also the arrangement direction of the article is recognized. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article arrangement direction recognizing device that can be used.

  In order to recognize the arrangement direction when the article passes, the article arrangement direction recognition device of the present invention attaches two IC tags each having a unique ID to the article in a predetermined direction at a predetermined interval. In addition, a tag reader capable of detecting each of the two IC tags is arranged on the article transport path, and a detection signal from the tag reader is input, and arrangement direction recognition means for recognizing the arrangement direction of the article based on the detection signal is provided. This is the structure.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the arrangement direction recognizing means obtains a time Δt for two IC tags to pass from a signal of detecting the passage of the two IC tags from the tag reader, and the time Δt and the time It can be set as the structure which calculates | requires and calculates | requires the arrangement | positioning direction of two IC tags from the moving speed S of the conveyor which conveys articles | goods, and the space | interval L of two IC tags.

  In another embodiment, the tag reader is configured to be able to detect a position in the height direction through which each of the two IC tags passes, and the arrangement direction recognizing means is configured to detect the two IC tags from the tag reader. The distance Δy in the height direction of the two IC tags is obtained from the signal that has detected the height position when passing, and the arrangement of the two IC tags is determined from the distance Δy in the height direction and the interval L between the two IC tags. It can be set as the structure calculated | required by calculating a direction.

To attach two IC tags to an article with a predetermined interval, attach the two IC tags directly to the article so that there is a predetermined gap between the two IC tags. Is good, but that method is not workable. Wherein, two such can improve the workability of the attachment to an article of the IC tag, opened and the plate-like base material having a shape suitable for mounting to an article such as a sheet shape, a predetermined interval on the substrate attached Te, it is preferable to use a connecting tag that each have a two IC tag with a unique ID.

  The article arrangement direction recognizing device of the present invention attaches two IC tags, each having a unique ID, to an article at predetermined intervals in a predetermined direction, and detects the two IC tags. In addition, since the arrangement direction of the two IC tags is recognized, the arrangement direction of the article to which the two IC tags are attached can be recognized, whereby the article is conveyed in a predetermined posture. The result can be used for abnormality detection and downstream logistics control. Further, by detecting the IC tag and reading the information, it is possible to read the article information stored in the IC tag and to detect whether or not the article has passed the tag reader installation position.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an article arrangement direction recognition device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a connection tag used in the embodiment. In FIG. 3, a connecting tag generally indicated by reference numeral 10 includes two ICs each having a unique ID on a base material 11 having a shape suitable for attachment to an article such as a plastic plate, a plastic sheet, or paper. Tags 12a and 12b are attached with a predetermined interval L (mm). Here, as will be described later, the interval L is determined so that the arrangement direction of the two IC tags 12a and 12b can be recognized by detecting the two IC tags 12a and 12b. Therefore, it is preferable to select a smaller size. The connecting tag 10 having this configuration simply attaches the base 11 to an article to which the IC tag is to be attached, or is fixed by screwing or the like, so that the two IC tags 12a and 12b are spaced from the article by a predetermined distance L. The IC tag can be attached very quickly and easily. Here, it is also possible to apply a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to the back surface of the base material 11 in advance and attach a protective release sheet to the front surface. With this structure, it is easier to attach to the article. Can be done.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 denotes an article whose arrangement direction is to be recognized, and is conveyed by the conveyor 1 at a constant speed S (mm / sec) in the arrow direction. A connecting tag 10 is attached to the article 5 at an appropriate position so as to be in a predetermined direction. In this embodiment, the two IC tags 12a and 12b are attached so as to be positioned on the center axis CC of the article 5, and therefore the two IC tags 12a and 12b are attached to the center axis C of the article 5. It is attached with a predetermined interval L on -C. Reference numeral 15 denotes a tag reader that can detect the passage of the two IC tags 12a and 12b. Reference numeral 16 denotes an arrangement direction recognition unit that recognizes the arrangement direction of the two IC tags from the detection signal from the tag reader 15, and recognizes each tag. A tag recognizing device 17 and a storage / arithmetic device 18 for recognizing the arrangement direction of two IC tags by performing the calculation described below are provided.

Next, an operation for recognizing the arrangement direction of the article by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The storage / arithmetic unit 18 includes in advance an appropriate value θ _{0 of} an angle θ formed by the center axis C-C of the article 5 and the flow direction, a conveying speed S (mm / sec) of the conveyor 1, two IC tags 12a, An interval L (mm) of 12b is input and stored. Now, it is assumed that the article 5 is conveyed by the conveyor 1 in the posture shown in FIG. When the article 5 passes through the tag reader 15, the tag reader 15 and the tag recognition device 17 detect the passage of each of the two IC tags 12a and 12b and output a signal indicating the detection. Storage and computing unit 18 from the signal, determine the time Delta] t (sec) from the detection of the first IC tag 12a to the detection of the second IC tag 12b, the following equation ^{θ = cos -1 (SΔt / L} ) · (1)
Thus, an angle θ formed by the arrangement direction of the two IC tags 12a and 12b, that is, the line connecting the two IC tags 12a and 12b and the flow direction of the article 5 is obtained. As described above, since the two IC tags 12a and 12b are attached on the central axis CC of the article 5, the angle θ obtained by the equation (1) is eventually the central axis C- of the article 5. This is the angle between C and the flow direction. Thus, by calculating the expression (1), the arrangement direction of the article 5, that is, the angle θ can be obtained.

Next, the storage / calculation device 18 determines whether or not the article 5 is in an appropriate arrangement direction from the angle θ (actually measured value) obtained in this way. That is, the difference Δθ between the stored appropriate value θ ₀ and the actually measured value θ is obtained, and it is calculated whether or not the difference Δθ is within a preset allowable range. If it deviates from “appropriate arrangement direction” and allowable width, it is determined as “abnormal”. As a result of the determination, for example, (a) if Δθ is larger than the allowable width, it is determined that the conveyance is abnormal. (B) If Δθ is larger than the allowable width, Δθ is set to the downstream article rotating device. This is used for control such as feeding, rotating the article by Δθ and correcting it to a normal state.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing an article arrangement direction recognition device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is suitable when the flow direction speed is unstable and the flow direction speed cannot be used in the calculation for obtaining the arrangement direction of the article 5. Also in this embodiment, the connection tag 10 is attached to the article 5, and the arrangement direction recognition means 16A including the tag reader 15A and the tag recognition device 17A, the storage / arithmetic device 18A, etc. are arranged on the conveyance path of the article 5. I have. The tag reader 15A used here has a plurality of readers Y ₁ , Y ₂ ... Y _{n in the} height direction so that the position in the height direction through which each of the two IC tags 12a, 12b passes can be detected. ₋₁ and Y _n . Then, the storage / calculation device 18A performs the following calculation to measure the arrangement direction of the article 5. That is, when the article 5 passes through the tag reader 15A, two IC tags 12a are detected from signals from readers (for example, reader Y ₂ and reader Y _m ) that detect the two IC tags 12a and 12b, respectively. , 12b in the height direction Δy (mm) (distance between the reader Y ₂ and the reader Y _m ), and the following equation θ = sin ⁻¹ (Δy / L) (2)
Thus, an angle θ formed by the arrangement direction of the two IC tags 12a and 12b, that is, the line connecting the two IC tags 12a and 12b and the flow direction of the article 5 is obtained. Since these two IC tags 12a and 12b are also mounted on the central axis CC of the article 5, the angle θ obtained by the equation (2) is eventually the same as the central axis CC of the article 5 and the flow direction. It is an angle made with. Thus, by calculating equation (2), the arrangement direction of the article 5, that is, the angle θ can be obtained. The angle θ measured in this way is used to determine whether or not the arrangement direction of the article 5 is appropriate and is used for subsequent control, as in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  The article arrangement direction recognizing apparatus described above is installed at one place on the conveyance path of an article and used for recognizing the arrangement direction of an article passing through the position. It is also possible to recognize the rotation of the moving article by arranging it at a plurality of locations along the transport path and recognizing the arrangement direction of the article passing at each position. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of such a case, and shows a state in which the article 20 passes through the positions a, b, c, and d one after another. At the displacement A, the article 20 moves in the same posture. In the displacement B, the article 20 moves while rotating. In order to recognize the rotation during the movement of the article 20, the article 20 is attached with a connecting tag 10 having two IC tags 12a and 12b, and at positions a, b, c and d, as shown in FIG. An article arrangement direction recognition device (not shown in FIG. 4) shown in FIG. 2 is installed to recognize the arrangement direction of the article 20 at each position. Thus, by recognizing the arrangement direction of the article 20 that passes through each of the positions a, b, c, and d, as shown in the displacement A, the article 20 is moving in the same posture, or the displacement B is changed to the displacement B. As shown, it can be recognized whether the article 20 is moving while rotating.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and it is needless to say that the embodiment can be appropriately changed within the scope of the claims.

Schematic side view of an article arrangement direction recognition device according to an embodiment of the present invention Schematic side view of an article arrangement direction recognition device according to another embodiment of the present invention The schematic plan view of the connection tag which concerns on embodiment of this invention Schematic side view for explaining a method of recognizing rotation during movement of an article by applying the present invention Schematic side view showing a conventional example for detecting the passage of an article (A), (b) is a schematic side view explaining the state which cannot detect the arrangement | positioning direction of articles | goods in a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor 5 Goods 10 Connection tag 11 Base material 12a, 12b IC tag 15, 15A Tag reader 16, 16A Arrangement direction recognition means

Claims (2)

Two IC tags attached to a target article whose arrangement direction is to be recognized at a predetermined interval in a predetermined direction, each having a unique ID, and arranged on a conveyance path of the article. A tag reader for detecting the passage of each of the IC tags, and an arrangement direction recognizing means for inputting a detection signal from the tag reader and recognizing the arrangement direction of the article based on the detected signal, and the arrangement direction recognizing means comprises the tag reader The time Δt for passing the two IC tags is obtained from the signal from which the passage of the two IC tags is detected, and the time Δt, the moving speed S of the conveyor for conveying the article, and the interval L between the two IC tags are obtained. An article arrangement direction recognizing device characterized in that the arrangement direction of two IC tags is calculated and obtained . Two IC tags attached to a target article whose arrangement direction is to be recognized at a predetermined interval in a predetermined direction, each having a unique ID, and arranged on a conveyance path of the article. A tag reader for detecting the passage of each of the IC tags, and an arrangement direction recognizing means for inputting a detection signal from the tag reader and recognizing the arrangement direction of the article based on the detection signal. It is configured to be able to detect the position in the height direction through which each passes, and the two IC tags from the signal in which the arrangement direction recognition means detects the height position when the two IC tags pass from the tag reader The article arrangement is characterized in that a distance Δy in the height direction is obtained and the arrangement direction of the two IC tags is calculated from the distance Δy in the height direction and the distance L between the two IC tags. Direction recognition device.

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