JP4943066B2 - Article monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an article monitoring apparatus that detects and notifies the loss of an article provided with a wireless ID tag.

  In recent years, as a tag (tag) capable of writing a barcode and distribution history, a wireless ID tag (also called an IC tag) in which a wireless function, a memory, and a control function are stored in a microchip (technical name is RFID; Radio Frequency IDentification has been developed and its application has been developed. As an application technology of this wireless ID tag, there is a property loss prevention technology (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this method, identification information of the possessed item is recorded in a wireless ID tag added to the user's possessed item, the identification information is acquired from the wireless ID tag by the wireless communication mechanism, and the acquired identification information is registered. Keep it. After that, the identification information is inquired with respect to the wireless ID tag attached to the belongings, the presence / absence of a response to the inquiry is determined, and when it is detected that there is no response, the fact is notified to the user. . In addition, a technique has also been proposed in which a cellular phone is equipped with the above-described wireless communication mechanism to prevent the loss of belongings (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2006-4257 A JP 2004-13789 A

  In the above conventional article monitoring method, a wireless ID tag that records identification information of belongings must be assigned to a managed object, and the user manages which wireless ID tag is assigned to which managed object. There is a need to. For this reason, when the number of objects to be managed increases, there is a problem that the amount of information that must be managed increases and the time required for registration increases. For this problem, a method using identification information pre-assigned to the product is conceivable, but at present, necessary identification information cannot be obtained from all managed objects, and cannot be obtained. The user needs to know about. In addition, in a situation where the user has not fully grasped the correspondence between the management target object and its identification information, when a lost object occurs, it is difficult to quickly identify the lost object.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems. Images including all articles to be managed are acquired in advance, and when a lost item occurs, the image is automatically displayed and lost. It is an object of the present invention to obtain an article monitoring apparatus that can quickly identify an object.

The article monitoring apparatus according to the present invention includes a wireless unit that transmits radio waves and obtains identification information of a wireless ID tag within a communicable range, an image including at least one management object, and a management object included in the image The storage means for storing all the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the object in association with each other and the identification information that matches the identification information stored in the storage means cannot be obtained by the wireless means. An information processing means for selecting an image of a management object associated with the information, and a display means for displaying the image selected by the information processing means. The information processing means manages the management information associated with the identification information that could not be obtained. When selecting an image of an object, if there are multiple images that correspond to the storage means, priority is given to the image with the smallest number of identification information associated with those images. It is intended to be selected.

According to the present invention, when the identification information cannot be obtained, an image including the management target corresponding to the identification information can be automatically displayed, so that the lost object can be identified intuitively from the image. Is possible. In addition, if a wireless ID tag is attached to a management object, registration processing can be performed by associating an image with a wireless ID tag simply by shooting a plurality of objects together, thus simplifying the registration procedure. Can do. Also, if you register in advance an image in which a small number of managed objects are separately captured, then if you have registered multiple managed objects at a time, a small number of managed objects will be generated when lost items occur. Since the image can be displayed with priority, the user can easily grasp the lost item.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an article monitoring apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the article monitoring apparatus includes a wireless unit 11, a storage unit 12, an information processing unit 13, a notification unit 14, a display unit 15, and a photographing unit 16. The wireless unit 11 is means for transmitting radio waves and obtaining identification information of a wireless ID tag within a communicable range (an area that can be transmitted and received with a wireless ID tag). The storage unit 12 is a means for storing all the images including at least one management object and the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the management object included in the image in association with each other. The photographing unit 16 is a means for obtaining an image, and in particular in the case of the present invention, is used for photographing a management object to which a wireless ID tag within a communicable range is attached. If the identification information that matches the identification information stored in the storage unit 12 cannot be obtained by the wireless unit 11, the information processing unit 13 selects a management target image associated with the identification information that could not be obtained. It is. In addition, the information processing unit 13 stores the image of the management target acquired by the imaging unit 16 and the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the management target included in the image acquired by the wireless unit 11 in association with each other. It is also used to perform processing stored in the unit 12 in advance. The display unit 15 is a means for displaying the image selected by the information processing unit 13. The notification unit 14 is a means for notifying the user when identification information that matches the identification information stored in the storage unit 12 cannot be obtained by the wireless unit 11. For example, the notification unit 14 uses vibration, sound, light, screen display, or the like. is there.

First, a management image registration operation performed in advance of the monitoring operation will be described.
For example, before the user goes out, a plurality of management objects 17 and 18 each of which is a wireless ID tag, which is an article to be carried, are put together so as to be easily photographed. In this case, it is good to collect within the communicable range in which transmission / reception with the wireless ID tag is possible. Next, a plurality of collected management objects 17 and 18 are photographed by the photographing unit 16 and their digital images are acquired. Next, a radio wave is transmitted by the wireless unit 11 and a response from the wireless ID tag attached to the management objects 17 and 18 within the communicable range is received. In this case, the transmission of radio waves does not necessarily have to be performed at regular intervals, and may be performed once if a response is possible. When the received response radio wave has an intensity equal to or higher than a specified value, the radio unit 11 demodulates and acquires each piece of identification information determined for each radio ID tag from the radio wave. Note that the image and the identification information may be acquired by one operation when performing the shooting operation by linking the shooting operation and the communication operation. The information processing unit 13 associates all pieces of identification information with the acquired management image and registers them in the storage unit 12. In this example, the photographing unit 16 is integrated with the article monitoring apparatus. However, an image obtained by photographing the management object using another digital camera may be transferred and stored.

Next, the monitoring operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In the wireless unit 11, for example, a radio wave is transmitted at regular intervals, and a response radio wave is received from a radio ID tag of an object within a communicable range. When detecting the identification information, the wireless unit 11 sends the detected identification information to the information processing unit 13 (step ST101). The information processing unit 13 compares the detected identification information with the registered identification information associated with the management target image in the storage unit 12 (step ST102). In this comparison, it is determined whether or not all of the detected identification information is included in the registered identification information (step ST103). If there is a match, the process waits for a certain time (step ST104), and then continues. (Step ST101).
On the other hand, if any detected identification information that matches the registered identification information is insufficient in the determination in step ST103, the information processing unit 13 determines that this is a lost item and controls the notification unit 14 to control the user. Is notified of the loss (step ST105). At the same time, the registration identification information corresponding to the shortage identification information is extracted (step ST106), the management target image is read from the storage unit 12 using the registration identification information (step ST107), and sent to the display unit 15 for display (step ST107). Step ST108). The user can confirm the lost object by looking at the displayed management object image. Next, the management target image that is no longer needed is deleted from the storage unit 12 to prepare for the next image registration (step ST109).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, a management target image including a plurality of management target objects each provided with a wireless ID tag and identification information acquired from each wireless ID tag are associated and registered, Since the management target image is displayed based on the identification information that could not be detected at the time of monitoring, the user can intuitively specify the lost object by looking at the management target image. In addition, if a wireless ID tag is attached to a management object, registration processing that associates an image with a wireless ID tag can be performed simply by photographing a plurality of objects together, thus simplifying the registration procedure. Can do.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
When the number of management objects is not relatively large, the monitoring operation of the first embodiment may be basically used. However, when the number of management objects increases, it is possible to quickly identify a lost object from the current management object image. It will be difficult. In addition to the increase in the number of objects to be managed, if the number of lost items also increases, it may be difficult to identify each item. In the second embodiment, a processing method is provided to cope with this problem.
Here, in addition to the management target image used for the latest monitoring operation, the storage unit 12 includes a management target image used for past monitoring and an image including a management target object acquired in advance and associated with identification information. Etc. are stored. An example of this registered image will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 (1) is a management target image acquired for use in the latest monitoring operation. When the image A is an acquired image, the management target images i, b, and c shown in the image A are given. Wireless ID tag identification information (three) is associated. FIG. 5B shows three registered images acquired in the past. The image B is an image of the management object C and has one piece of identification information associated with it. The image C is an image of the management objects A and B, and there are two pieces of identification information associated with them. The image D is an image showing the management objects a and c, and there are two pieces of identification information associated therewith.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 3, steps ST116 to ST121 are provided instead of steps ST106 to ST109 in FIG. Therefore, the operation of these different steps will be mainly described.
When a plurality of pieces of identification information that are not detected with respect to the registration identification information associated with the management target image are extracted, arbitrary registration identification information that is an object of image display is selected from them (step ST116). Next, a registered image associated with the selected registration identification information is extracted from the storage unit 12. When images registered in the past are stored in the storage unit 12, a plurality of images including a management target image used for the latest monitoring operation are extracted. In the case of the example of FIG. 5, if IDxxxxxxxx is not detected, images A, C, and D associated with the identification information are extracted. If there are a plurality of extracted images, the image with the smallest number of associated identification information is selected (step ST117), sent to the display unit 15 and preferentially displayed (step ST118). In the example of FIG. 5, one of the image C and the image D is displayed first.

If the image has few identification information associated with it, the number of objects in the image is small, so it is easy to understand what is lost. However, when a plurality of pieces of identification information are associated with one image, it may be difficult to identify a lost management object from the displayed image, so another image is displayed as necessary. Is determined (step ST119). This determination is performed by setting or input operation. When displaying another image, the process proceeds to step ST117, and an image to be displayed is selected. However, in this selection, an image with less identification information associated with it is prioritized, but an image that has never been displayed is selected. In the example of FIG. 5, if the image C is displayed first, the image D is selected. On the other hand, if no other image is displayed in step ST119, it is checked whether there is a registered identification information corresponding to the undetected identification information extracted in step ST116 that has not been displayed (step ST120). If there is, the process proceeds to step ST116, and an image associated with the registration identification information is selected and displayed in the same manner as described above. In addition, If not, go back to step ST101 enter the next detection operation.
Na us, necessity determination display another image in step ST119, this could be as an additional function may be omitted in some cases.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, when there are a plurality of images corresponding to the storage unit when selecting an image of the management object associated with the identification information that could not be obtained during the monitoring operation. Since the image having the smallest number of identification information associated with the image is preferentially selected and displayed, it is possible to register in advance an image obtained by separately capturing a small number of management objects. After that, even if multiple managed objects are registered at a time, it is possible to preferentially display the images of a small number of managed objects when a lost object occurs. Can be made easier .

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an article monitoring apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted in principle.
The wireless unit 31 according to the third embodiment has a function of transmitting a directional radio wave in a specific direction and receiving only a response from a wireless ID tag in a specific direction during image registration. ing. Therefore, it becomes possible to acquire only the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the object shown in the captured image at the time of registration.
As a result, even when there are a plurality of management objects to which the wireless ID tag is attached, identification information of only the management object 17 desired to be a subject can be acquired and registered. That is, when there are wireless ID tags that are not to be detected in the vicinity, the range of the registration process can be limited, so that unnecessary registration of identification information can be prevented. Further, since only the registered object is included in the photographed image, the association between the image and the lost object becomes clear, and it becomes easy to grasp the lost object during the monitoring operation.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the article | item monitoring apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the registration image of the memory | storage part which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the degeneration procedure of the registration image list of the memory | storage part which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the article | item monitoring apparatus by Embodiment 3 of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  11 wireless unit, 12 storage unit, 13 information processing unit, 14 notification unit, 15 display unit, 16 imaging unit

Claims (4)

Wireless means for transmitting radio waves to obtain identification information of wireless ID tags within a communicable range;
Storage means for storing all the images including at least one management object and the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the management object included in the image in association with each other;
If identification information that matches the identification information stored in the storage means cannot be obtained by the wireless means, information processing means for selecting an image of the management object associated with the identification information that could not be obtained;
Display means for displaying the image selected by the information processing means ,
When there are a plurality of images corresponding to the storage means when the image of the management object associated with the identification information that could not be obtained is selected, the information processing means is associated among the images. An article monitoring apparatus that preferentially selects an image having the smallest number of identification information . An imaging means for acquiring an image;
The information processing means stores the image of the management object acquired by the imaging means and the identification information of the wireless ID tag attached to the management object included in the image acquired by the wireless means in association with each other and stores them in the storage means. The article monitoring apparatus according to claim 1.   3. The article monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies a user when identification information that matches the identification information stored in the storage unit cannot be obtained by the wireless unit.   The wireless means has a function of transmitting a directional radio wave in a specific direction and receiving only a response from a wireless ID tag in the specific direction during image registration communication. The article monitoring apparatus according to claim 2.

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