JP5284068B2 - Reader / writer system with reading range investigation function - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a reading range investigation system, and more particularly to a technique for investigating a reading range by displaying in an easy-to-understand manner where an RFID tag conveyed at a predetermined speed can be read around an antenna.

In order to set an appropriate radio wave output value in an RFID tag using radio waves, it is necessary to investigate the reading range in advance. When verifying by actual operation, the maximum received intensity of RFID tags, the number of communications, etc. can be used as judgment materials, but it is not intuitive and the null point (position where reading and writing cannot be performed even at a communicable distance) It was difficult to evaluate the presence and the influence of the directivity of the RFID tag.
Patent Document 1 discloses an RFID tag and a display system for reversing the display of a compatible RFID tag in order to make it easy to identify a compatible RFID tag and a non-compliant RFID tag.
JP 2006-85413 A

However, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that it is necessary to add a display element and its peripheral circuit to the RFID tag, which increases the cost of the RFID tag.
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and continuously records a reading result of information from an RFID tag that is moved by a moving unit (whether or not reading is successful) to acquire position information of the RFID tag. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reading range investigation system that facilitates performance evaluation in an actual environment by relatively displaying a plurality of RFID tags in a matrix using the comparison as a reference.

In order to solve such a problem, the present invention obtains the position of a non-contact information recording medium using radio waves and uses the position as a reference for comparison, thereby determining the reading range of the non-contact information recording medium. A reading range investigation system to investigate, a reader / writer for reading and writing information from / to a non-contact information recording medium using radio waves, and a moving means for moving the non-contact information recording medium in a fixed direction at a predetermined speed And the information related to the non-contact information recording medium moved by the moving means is received by the reader / writer, the state of whether or not the information can be received is recorded in time series, and the recorded state of reception or not is communicated. A display control device that displays the results in time series, and the display control device displays the communication results in time series or arranged in a matrix on the basis of position.
In the present invention, ID information from a non-contact information recording medium attached to a load on a belt conveyor moving at a constant speed is received by a reader / writer. The display control apparatus stores, for example, “1” and “0” when the ID information received by the reader / writer can be received correctly and when the ID information cannot be received. Then, after the reading in the predetermined range is completed, the communication results for each ID information of the non-contact information recording medium are displayed in time series or arranged in a matrix with reference to the position. Thereby, since the communication result can be displayed two-dimensionally, the performance evaluation in the actual environment becomes easy, and the installation and maintenance of the system can be improved.

Claim 2, wherein the display control device, attempted the contactless information storage medium ID information specifying the judges communication result whether or not read correctly judging section, a communication result of the communication result determination unit non A communication result storage unit that associates and stores ID information of a contact information recording medium; a position calculation unit that calculates a position of the non-contact information recording medium when communicating with the non-contact information recording medium; A conversion unit that expands the communication result stored in the communication result storage unit into a matrix and converts it into display data; and a display control unit that converts the display data converted by the conversion unit into a display unit format. It is characterized by being.
The ID information received by the reader / writer causes an error if the radio wave intensity is too weak, and the ID information cannot be read correctly. In addition to the radio wave intensity, multipath may occur depending on the surrounding environment and the ID information may not be read correctly. Therefore, the display control device communicates with a communication result determination unit that determines whether or not the ID information has been read correctly, a communication result storage unit that stores the determination result in association with the ID information, and communication with the non-contact information recording medium. The position calculation means for calculating the position of the non-contact information recording medium and the communication result stored therein are expanded in a matrix in time series (for example, per unit time or every predetermined distance). A conversion unit; and a display control unit that converts data from the conversion unit into a display unit format. Thereby, the display control apparatus can expand and display information from the reader / writer into two-dimensional data by a simple operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the display control device sets ID information for identifying the non-contact information recording medium on a time axis with reference to a time when the non-contact information recording medium passes through the vicinity of the antenna connected to the reader / writer. It is characterized by being displayed in time series together with the communication result.
As one of the display methods, there is a method of displaying with the time axis aligned with respect to the antenna. In other words, the position of the antenna can be expressed as time “0”, the time when the non-contact information recording medium approaches the antenna can be expressed as a negative time, and the time when it moves away from the antenna can be expressed as a positive time. And the communication result for every ID information in each time is displayed in matrix form. Thereby, it can be determined at a glance which time zone with respect to the antenna the communication result is good.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the moving means moves at a constant speed, the display control apparatus converts speed information of the moving means into position information of the non-contact information recording medium and displays the information. To do.
When the speed of the moving means is constant, the speed information can be converted into the position of the non-contact information recording medium. When the antenna is used as a reference, the position in the direction approaching the antenna can be expressed as minus, and the position away from the antenna can be expressed as plus. And the communication result for every ID information in each position is displayed in matrix form. Thereby, it is possible to determine at a glance which position with respect to the antenna has a good communication result.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the display control device displays the communication result related to the position information as a communication success rate.
When the time axis of each non-contact information recording medium is aligned, the communication result in each time zone or each position can be analyzed as a success rate. Thereby, the reliability of the information in each time slot | zone or each position can be grasped | ascertained quantitatively.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the display control device obtains a communication result obtained by communication with one non-contact information recording medium, and a communication result obtained when simultaneously communicating with a plurality of non-contact information recording media. Are sorted and displayed in order of maximum reception intensity or communication success rate derived from the communication result .
By obtaining the maximum reception strength or communication success rate as data for each non-contact information recording medium, the order can be rearranged based on the data. Thereby, it can be grasped by comparing which characteristic of each non-contact information recording medium is superior or inferior.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the display control device displays information for each of the non-contact information recording media according to numbers, symbols, or colors based on the maximum reception intensity.
The acquired information for each contactless information recording medium may be digitized, used with symbols, or identified by color in order to make the results easy to see and understand. Thereby, information can be easily compared, organized, and sorted.

According to the present invention, the communication results for each ID of the non-contact information recording medium are arranged and displayed in a matrix in time series after reading within a predetermined range, so that the communication results can be displayed two-dimensionally. This makes it easy to evaluate the performance in a real environment and improve the installation and maintenance of the system.
In addition, the display control device includes a communication result determination unit that determines whether or not known ID information has been correctly read in advance, a communication result storage unit that stores the determination result in association with the ID information, and a non-contact information recording medium A position calculation means for calculating the position of the non-contact information recording medium, a conversion unit for expanding the communication results stored therein in a matrix in time series, and data from the conversion unit. And a display control unit for converting to a display unit format, information from the reader / writer can be expanded and displayed as two-dimensional data by a simple operation.
Also, as one of the display methods, the time axis is aligned with respect to the antenna, and the communication results for each ID at each time are displayed in a matrix, so which time zone is better for the antenna than the communication result Can be determined at a glance.

In addition, when the speed of the moving means is constant, the speed information is converted into the position of the non-contact information recording medium, and the communication result for each ID at each position is displayed in a matrix form. However, it can be determined at a glance whether the communication result is good.
In addition, when the time axis of each non-contact information recording medium is aligned, the communication result in each time zone or each position can be analyzed as a success rate, so the reliability of information in each time zone or each position can be analyzed. Sex can be grasped quantitatively.
Also, by obtaining the maximum received intensity or the number of successful trials as data for each non-contact information recording medium, the order can be rearranged based on that data, so which characteristics of each non-contact information recording medium are excellent. It can be grasped by comparing whether it is inferior or inferior.
In addition, the information for each acquired non-contact information recording medium is digitized, symbolized, or identified by color in order to make the results easy to see and understand. Can be easily performed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the components, types, combinations, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like described in this embodiment are merely illustrative examples and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only unless otherwise specified. .
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a reading range survey system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This reading range survey system 100 uses a radio wave to read and write information related to the IC tag (non-contact information recording medium) 2 and a reader / writer (R / W) 4 and the IC tag 2 in a certain direction at a predetermined speed. The reader / writer 4 receives information related to the belt conveyor (moving means) 1 to be moved to and the IC tag 2 moved by the belt conveyor 1, and the communication result relating to the communication between the reader / writer 4 and the IC tag 2 is A display control device 5 for displaying in series, and the display control device 5 displays the communication results for each ID information of the IC tag 2 on the display unit 6 in time series or arranged in a matrix with reference to the position. . Note that the antenna 3 of the reader / writer 4 is disposed substantially at the center of the belt conveyor 1. In FIG. 1, the information of the IC tag 2 attached to the luggage 7 placed on the belt conveyor 1 actually in operation is read from the antenna 3.
In the present invention, the reader / writer 4 receives ID information from the IC tag 2 attached to the load 7 on the belt conveyor 1 moving at a constant speed. The display control device 5 stores, for example, “1” and “0” when the ID information received by the reader / writer 4 is correctly received and when the ID information is not received. Then, after the reading in the predetermined range is completed, the communication results for each ID information of the IC tag 2 are displayed in time series or arranged in a matrix with reference to the position. Thereby, since the communication result can be displayed two-dimensionally, the performance evaluation in the actual environment becomes easy, and the installation and maintenance of the system can be improved.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram for explaining the functions of the display control apparatus. The display control device 5 includes a communication unit 10 that exchanges information with the reader / writer 4, a communication result determination unit 11 that determines a communication result related to communication between the reader / writer 4 and the IC tag 2, and a communication result determination unit 11. The communication result storage unit 15 that stores the determination result and the ID information related to the attempted IC tag 2 in association with each other, and the tag position calculation unit 16 that calculates the position of the IC tag 2 when communicating with the IC tag 2. A conversion unit 14 that expands the communication result stored in the communication result storage unit 15 into a matrix and converts it into display data; and a display control unit 13 that converts the display data converted by the conversion unit 14 into a display unit format. And a control unit 12 for controlling the whole. Further, the display control unit 13 displays the communication results for each ID information of the IC tag 2 on the display unit 6 in a time-series matrix.
That is, if the ID information received by the reader / writer 4 is too weak, an error occurs and the ID information cannot be read correctly. In addition to the radio wave intensity, multipath may occur depending on the surrounding environment and the ID information may not be read correctly. Therefore, the display control device 5 includes a communication result determination unit 11 that determines whether or not known ID information has been correctly read in advance, a communication result storage unit 15 that stores the determination result in association with the ID information, and an IC tag. The tag position calculation means 16 for calculating the position of the IC tag 2 when communicating with 2 and the communication results stored therein in a time series (for example, per unit time or every predetermined distance) And a display control unit 13 for converting data from the conversion unit 14 into a display unit format. Thereby, the display control device 5 can develop and display information from the reader / writer 4 into two-dimensional data by a simple operation. This eliminates the need for positioning of the IC tag, which has the effect of facilitating investigation in actual operation.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the reading range inspection system of FIG. The operation of FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when one IC tag is placed on the belt conveyor 1. First, the display controller 5 sets T = −N (N is a positive integer) and the number of unit times N = n (S1). For example, when N = 5 and n = 10 are set, when the IC tag 2 is placed on the left end of the belt conveyor 1 in FIG. 1, the belt conveyor 1 is driven and the IC tag 2 reaches the front of the antenna 3. This is a case where the time to perform is about 5 seconds and the unit time is 10 times. Therefore, if the communication result is stored in units of 1 second, the communication result is stored in the time zone of T = −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 It will be.

  Next, the belt conveyor 1 is driven, and the information of the IC tag 2 at T = −5 seconds is received from the reader / writer 4 (S2). The display control unit 5 receives the information via the communication unit 10, and the communication result determination unit 11 determines whether the received information is correct information (S3). Here, as a determination method, the ID information of the IC tag is stored in advance and can be determined by comparing with the received information. If the reception fails as a result of the determination (NO in S3), the failure pattern is stored in the communication result storage unit 15 in correspondence with T = -5 (S11). If the reception is successful in step S3 (YES in S3), the success pattern is stored in the communication result storage unit 15 in correspondence with T = -5 (S4). Next, it is determined whether the unit time (1 second) has elapsed (S5), and if it has not elapsed (NO in S5), the process returns to step S2 and is repeated. In general, the time from step S2 to step S5 is so fast that it can be tried several times per second. Here, when the unit time has elapsed in step S5 (YES in S5), the time axis is incremented to T = -4 (S6). Next, it is determined whether N = n (n is 10). If N = n is not satisfied (NO in S7), the process returns to step S2 and is repeated. When n = 10 in step S7 (YES in S7), the communication result pattern stored in the communication result storage unit 15 is read (S8). The communication result storage unit 15 stores patterns for each time of the IC tag 2 in association with each other. Therefore, these data are developed in a matrix form by the conversion unit 14 and converted into display data (S9). A pattern can be displayed on the display unit 6 by passing the developed data to the display control unit 13 (details will be described later) (S10). Since the communication result of one IC tag can be displayed in a pattern as described above, another IC tag is placed at a different position (a different position in the width direction) of the belt conveyor 1 and the above series of operations is performed. repeat.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the reading range inspection system of FIG. The operation of FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation when a plurality of IC tags are placed on the belt conveyor 1. First, the display controller 5 sets T = −N (N is a positive integer) and the number of unit times N = n (S20). For example, when N = 5 and n = 10 are set, when the IC tag 2 is placed on the left end of the belt conveyor 1 in FIG. 1, the belt conveyor 1 is driven and the IC tag 2 reaches the front of the antenna 3. This is a case where the time to perform is about 5 seconds and the unit time is 10 times. Therefore, if the communication result is stored in units of 1 second, the communication result is stored in the time zone of T = −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 It will be.

  Next, the belt conveyor 1 is driven, and information on the plurality of IC tags 2 at T = −5 seconds is sequentially received from the reader / writer 4 (S21). The display control unit 5 receives the information via the communication unit 10, and the communication result determination unit 11 determines whether the received information is correct information (S22). Here, as a determination method, the ID information of the IC tag is stored in advance and can be determined by comparing with the received information. If the reception fails as a result of the determination (NO in S22), the failure pattern is stored in the communication result storage unit 15 in correspondence with T = -5 (S31). If reception is successful in step S22 (YES in S22), a success pattern is stored in the communication result storage unit 15 in correspondence with T = -5 (S23). Next, it is determined whether reception of all IC tags has been completed (S24). If reception of all IC tags has not been completed (NO in S24), the process returns to step S21 and is repeated. When reception with all IC tags is completed in step S24 (YES in 24), it is determined whether the unit time (1 second) has elapsed (S25). If not (NO in S25), the process returns to step S21. And repeat. In general, the time from step S21 to step S25 is very fast, so it can be tried several times per second. Here, when the unit time has elapsed in step S25 (YES in S25), the time axis is incremented to T = -4 (S26). Next, it is determined whether N = n (n is 10). If N = n is not satisfied (NO in S27), the process returns to step S21 and is repeated. When n = 10 in step S27 (YES in S27), the communication result pattern stored in the communication result storage unit 15 is read (S28). The communication result storage unit 15 stores patterns for each time of the IC tag 2 in association with each other. Therefore, the data is developed in a matrix form by the conversion unit 14 and converted into display data (S29). A pattern can be displayed on the display unit 6 by passing the developed data to the display control unit 13 (details will be described later) (S30).

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a communication result pattern displayed on the display unit 6. FIG. 5A shows the data for each IC tag with the time axis aligned on the basis of the time passing in front of the antenna 3, and the communication results between the reader / writer 4 and the IC tag 2 are displayed in time series. The vertical axis represents IC tag ID information, and the horizontal axis represents time “−3 s, −2 s, −1 s, 0, +1 s, +2 s”. A large black circle 20 indicates a case where the communication result is successful, and a small black circle 21 indicates a case where the communication result fails. It is assumed that seven trials are performed on each time axis.
For example, the ID information “000034001201” has succeeded once in the fifth trial in −3s, succeeded all the way up to the fifth in −2s, failed in the sixth, and succeeded in the seventh. doing. Moreover, in -1s and 0, all have succeeded until the 7th time. Furthermore, in + 1s, the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh times succeed, and the second, third, and fourth times fail. Similarly, success and failure are displayed for each number of trials.
As one of the display methods, there is a method in which the time axis is aligned with the antenna 3 as a reference. That is, the position of the antenna 3 can be expressed as time “0”, the time when the IC tag 2 approaches the antenna 3 can be expressed as negative time, and the time when the IC tag 2 moves away from the antenna 3 can be expressed as positive time. And the communication result for every ID in each time is displayed in matrix form. Thereby, it can be determined at a glance which time zone with respect to the antenna 3 the communication result is good.

  In FIG. 5B, when the moving speed of the IC tag 2 is constant, the speed information can be obtained and converted into a position on the belt conveyor of the IC tag 2 and displayed. FIG. 5B is a diagram when the moving speed of the belt conveyor 1 is 50 cm / s. That is, each time of FIG. 5A can be represented as distances “−150 cm, −100 cm, −50 cm, 0, +50 cm, +100 cm” from the antenna 3 on the horizontal axis. That is, when the speed of the belt conveyor 1 is constant, the speed information can be converted into the position of the IC tag 2. When the antenna 3 is used as a reference, the position in the direction approaching the antenna 3 can be represented as minus, and the position away from the antenna can be represented as plus. And the communication result for every ID information in each position is displayed in matrix form. Thereby, it can be determined at a glance which position with respect to the antenna 3 has a good communication result.

FIG. 5C is a diagram showing the reading success rate from the result of communication with each IC tag, using the fact that the time axes of the IC tags are aligned. For example, the success rate is calculated from the number of successful black circles 20 in a frame at one position. For example, at a position of −150 cm, 13 out of 42 trials have been successful, so the success rate is 31%. In the same manner, the success rate is determined for each frame. That is, when the time axis of each IC tag 2 is aligned, the communication result in each time zone or each position can be analyzed as a success rate. Thereby, the reliability of the information in each time slot | zone or each position can be grasped | ascertained quantitatively.
FIG. 5D is a diagram in which data for each IC tag is sorted and displayed in order to easily grasp the reading status of the IC tag. For example, sorting in order of reading success rate results in FIG. That is, it can be seen that the ID information “00004001206” has the highest success rate and the ID information “000003001204” has the lowest success rate. By obtaining the maximum reception intensity or the number of successful trials as data for each IC tag, the order can be rearranged based on the data. Thereby, it can be grasped by comparing which characteristic of each IC tag is superior or inferior. In addition, it is conceivable that the acquired information for each IC tag is digitized, used with symbols, or identified by color in order to make the results easy to see and understand. Thereby, information can be easily compared, organized, and sorted.

It is a schematic block diagram of the reading range investigation system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram for demonstrating the function of a display control apparatus. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the reading range investigation system of FIG. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the reading range investigation system of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the communication result pattern displayed on the display part.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Belt conveyor, 2 IC tag, 3 Antenna, 4 Reader / writer, 5 Display control apparatus, 6 Display part, 10 Communication part, 11 Communication result determination part, 12 Control part, 13 Display control part, 14 Conversion part, 15 Communication result Storage unit, 100 reading range survey system

Claims (7)

A reading range investigation system that obtains the position of a non-contact information recording medium using radio waves and investigates the reading range of the non-contact information recording medium by using the position as a comparison reference,
A reader / writer for reading and writing information from / to a non-contact information recording medium using radio waves, a moving means for moving the non-contact information recording medium in a fixed direction at a predetermined speed, and the moving means moved by the moving means A display control device that receives information related to a non-contact information recording medium by the reader / writer , records the status of whether or not the information can be received in time series, and displays the recorded status of whether or not the information can be received as a communication result in time series And comprising
The reader / writer system having a reading range investigation function, wherein the display control device displays the communication results in a time series or arranged in a matrix with reference to a position . The display control device, the non-contact information recording ID information for specifying the medium determines the communication result whether or not read correctly determining unit, the non-contact information recording medium that attempted communication result of the communication result determination unit A communication result storage unit that associates and stores ID information , a position calculation unit that calculates a position of the non-contact information recording medium when communicating with the non-contact information recording medium, and a communication result storage unit. A conversion unit that expands a stored communication result into a matrix and converts it into display data, and a display control unit that converts the display data converted by the conversion unit into a display unit format. A reader / writer system having a reading range investigation function according to claim 1 . The display control device uses the time when the non-contact information recording medium passes through the vicinity of the antenna connected to the reader / writer as a reference, and sets the ID information for identifying the non-contact information recording medium on the time axis as the communication result. The reader / writer system having a reading range investigation function according to claim 1, wherein the reader / writer system displays the information in time series . 2. The display control device according to claim 1, wherein when the moving means moves at a constant speed, the speed information of the moving means is converted into position information of the non-contact information recording medium and displayed. A reader / writer system having the reading range inspection function according to 2 . The reader / writer system according to claim 4 , wherein the display control device displays a communication result related to the position information as a communication success rate . The display control device has a maximum reception intensity of a communication result obtained by communication with one non-contact information recording medium and a communication result obtained when simultaneously communicating with a plurality of non-contact information recording media, 3. The reader / writer system having a reading range checking function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reader / writer system sorts and displays in order of communication success rate derived from the communication result . 7. The reader having a reading range investigation function according to claim 6, wherein the display control device displays information for each of the non-contact information recording media according to numbers, symbols, or colors based on the maximum reception intensity. Writer system.

Images