JP2008090420A - Wireless tag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact and rod-shaped wireless tag allowing data communication in a UHF band. <P>SOLUTION: In this wireless tag, an inlet 5 comprises: a sheet base material 2; an IC chip 3 equipped on the sheet base material 2; and a single dipole antenna 4 connected to the IC chip 3. In the wireless tag, the inlet 5 is wound at least once in a roll state in a direction crossing a shaft 6 of the single dipole antenna 4 such that a face equipped with the IC chip 3 becomes the inner side, and the winding end of the inlet 5 is joined and fixed to the peripheral face of a roll main body with an appropriate adhesive. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wireless tag, and more particularly to a wireless tag capable of data communication in the UHF band.

  In recent years, wireless tags that can read and write data in a non-contact manner are becoming widespread in the field of physical distribution management and the like as those that can replace conventional barcodes. A wireless tag is usually one in which an inlet provided with an IC chip and an antenna circuit connected to the IC chip is covered with a plastic resin on a sheet base material, or an inlet is incorporated into a label. In general, it has a planar shape and is used by sticking a wireless tag on the surface of an article.

  By the way, for example, when a wireless tag is directly attached to the surface of an article, such as when a wireless tag is attached to a cardboard box for storing products, the wireless tag may be easily damaged during the movement or transportation of the article. is there. In order to avoid this, for example, it has been proposed to insert an IC tag into a stick shape so as to be detachable (see Patent Document 1). However, in this prior art, no specific method has been proposed for making an inlet having a relatively large antenna pattern such as a dipole antenna usable in the UHF band into a compact stick shape.

JP 2006-151402 A

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a compact rod-like wireless tag capable of data communication in the UHF band.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an inlet comprising a sheet base material, an IC chip provided on the sheet base material, and a single dipole antenna connected to the IC chip. The wireless tag is configured to be wound one or more times in a roll shape in a direction crossing the axis.
In this case, an arbitrary direction other than a direction parallel to the axis of the single dipole antenna can be selected as the direction in which the inlet is wound. This is based on the antenna pattern of the single dipole antenna. Is preferably selected to be an optimum value (maximum value).

In the above configuration, the wireless tag preferably has a core material formed of a dielectric at the center of the inlet roll, and the core material is preferably formed in a tubular shape. The core material can be formed from any known dielectric material, but is more preferably formed from a plastic material.

The inlet is preferably wound such that the surface on which the IC chip is provided is on the inside.
Preferably, the slit portion of the single dipole antenna in the inlet roll is set to be longer than the optimum length of the slit portion of the single dipole antenna when the inlet is planar.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention constitutes a method for using a wireless tag, characterized in that the above-mentioned wireless tag is used by being inserted into a flute portion of a cardboard.

  According to the present invention, a wireless tag is formed by winding an inlet at least once in a roll shape in a direction crossing the axis of a single dipole antenna, and the direction in which the inlet is wound is adjusted in accordance with the difference in antenna pattern. Thus, a compact rod-shaped wireless tag that maximizes the data communication distance with respect to the inlet can be manufactured very easily.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1A is a perspective view of a wireless tag according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a plan view of an inlet constituting the wireless tag of FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless tag 1 according to the present invention includes an inlet comprising a sheet base 2, an IC chip 3 provided on the sheet base 2, and a single dipole antenna 4 connected to the IC chip 3. 5 is wound one or more times in a roll shape in a direction crossing the axis 6 of the single dipole antenna 4 so that the surface on which the IC chip 3 is provided is on the inner side, and the winding end end of the inlet 5 is a suitable adhesive. The adhesive body is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the roll body.

  In FIG. 1B, reference numeral 7 denotes a slit portion of the single dipole antenna 4, and the impedance can be adjusted by adjusting the length d of the slit portion 7.

  In this case, the structure of the inlet 5 is not particularly limited, but the sheet base material 2 forming the inlet 5 has a certain flexibility (flexibility) suitable for winding into a roll, It is necessary that the single dipole antenna 4 provided on the sheet base material 2 is not cracked or peeled off from the sheet base material 2 when wound in a roll shape. In this regard, an etching antenna, a printed antenna, or the like is used as the single dipole antenna 4. Among these, an etching antenna such as aluminum or copper is suitable for use because it has sufficient mechanical strength.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a manufacturing process of a wireless tag according to another embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of FIG. 2 differs from the embodiment of FIG. 1 in that the inlet roll is provided with a core material at the center thereof. Therefore, in FIG. 2, the same components as those of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
Referring to FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the wireless tag 1 ′ is provided with the IC chip 3 in a direction in which the inlet 5 crosses the axis 6 of the single dipole antenna 4 with respect to the core material 8 made of a dielectric. It is made up of a fixed one that is wound around in a roll shape with its surface facing inward.

  In this embodiment, the type of the dielectric that forms the core material 8 is not particularly limited, but it is preferably formed from a plastic material. Further, the core material 8 may be formed in a rod shape filled with the contents, but it is more preferable that the core material 8 is formed in a flexible tubular shape because it can cope with stress exerted from the outside.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the inlet 5 is wound around the core material 8, an appropriate adhesive layer 9 is provided on the inner surface of the inlet 5, and the inlet 5 is wound around the core material 8. Is made by

According to the present invention, the winding direction of the inlet 5 (angle of the winding direction with respect to the axis 6 of the single dipole antenna 4) according to the pattern of the single dipole antenna 4 provided in the inlet 5 regardless of the presence or absence of the core material 8. Is appropriately selected, and the length (slit length) of the slit portion 7 of the single dipole antenna 4 is adjusted so that the communicable distance of the manufactured wireless tag is maximized. The
About this slit length, it is preferable to set so that the slit length when it is set as the roll of the inlet 5 becomes longer than the optimum slit length when it is flat before the inlet is wound.

Thus, according to the present invention, a stick-shaped wireless tag capable of data communication in the UHF band can be provided easily and at low cost.
And, for example, when a wireless tag is attached to the surface of an article, such as when a wireless tag is attached to a cardboard box that stores, stores, or carries goods, the wireless tag is damaged. For example, if the stick-shaped wireless tag is inserted into the flute portion of a cardboard box and used, such inconvenience can be solved.

Next, a wireless tag according to the present invention was actually manufactured, and it was confirmed that the wireless tag had a practical level of communication performance.
(Example 1)
In this embodiment, first, an aluminum etching base material (transparent PET layer 55 μm, aluminum layer 5 μm) is used, unnecessary portions of the aluminum layer are removed by etching, and a single material similar to that shown in FIG. A dipole antenna pattern was formed, and an IC chip was mounted on a predetermined portion to produce an inlet having a size of 93 mm × 23 mm.
Furthermore, this inlet is wound around the core of a polypropylene tube with an outer diameter of 3 mm, with the IC chip mounting surface on the inside, and an appropriate adhesive is applied to the inner surface, and is wound in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the dipole antenna. (In this case, it is almost wound twice), and the wireless tag was manufactured by fixing.

  Then, the communicable distance when the inlet before winding around the core is flat and the communicable distance when the inlet is wrapped around the core to form a wireless tag change the slit length of the single dipole antenna of the inlet, respectively. The measurement was performed using a reader / writer (XR480-JP, manufactured by Symbol Technology). As shown in FIG. 3, the measurement is performed when the line connecting the center of the transmitting antenna 12 and the receiving antenna 11 of the reader / writer 10 is parallel to the axial direction of the dipole antenna of the inlet, This was done in two arrangements. Table 1 shows the measurement results when the inlet is flat, and Table 2 shows the measurement results when the inlet is wound around the core to form a wireless tag.

表１および表２中の測定値は、この測定での通信可能距離の最大値（平面状のインレットが垂直な配置となるときの通信可能距離）１５９ｃｍを１００としたときの相対距離で示してある。これは、以下の表３においても同様である。

The measured values in Table 1 and Table 2 are relative distances when the maximum value of communicable distance in this measurement (communicable distance when the planar inlet is arranged vertically) is 159 cm. is there. The same applies to Table 3 below.

  From Tables 1 and 2, when the inlet is flat, when the slit length is 12 mm, a parallel communication arrangement of 75% can be obtained, and a vertical arrangement of 100% can be obtained. On the other hand, when a stick-shaped wireless tag is used, when the slit length is 14 mm, a communication distance of 69% is obtained in a parallel arrangement, and a communication distance of 95% is obtained in a vertical arrangement. It was found that the maximum communicable distance can be obtained by making the slit length of the dipole antenna slightly longer than the optimum slit length when the inlet is flat.

(Example 2)
In this example, the end (winding end) is wound by rolling the inlet (slit length 12 mm) produced in Example 1 in a roll shape in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the dipole antenna so that the IC chip mounting surface is on the inside. Was bonded to the roll body to produce a stick-shaped wireless tag, which was designated as Sample 2. Moreover, the inlet (slit length 12 mm) produced in Example 1 was wound around the core material of the polypropylene tube once to produce a stick-shaped wireless tag, and Sample 5 was obtained. For samples 2 and 5, the communicable distance was measured in the same manner as in Example 1.
Further, the planar inlet (slit length 12 mm) prepared in Example 1 is sample 1, and the stick-shaped wireless tags having the slit length 12 mm and slit length 14 mm prepared in Example 1 are sample 3 and sample 4, respectively. The respective measured values were compared. The results are shown in Table 3.

  From Table 3, by adjusting the slit length (14 mm) longer than the optimum slit length (12 mm) in the planar state of the inlet, even if the inlet is wound around the core material to form a stick-like wireless tag, the parallel When arranged, a communicable distance of 92% in a planar state is obtained, and when composing vertically, a communicable distance of 95% in a planar state is obtained. Therefore, the wireless tag of the present invention is practically used. It was found that a communicable distance was realized.

(A) is a perspective view of the wireless tag by one Example of this invention, (B) is a top view of the inlet which comprises the wireless tag of (A). It is the figure explaining the manufacturing process of the wireless tag by another Example of this invention. It is the figure which showed the arrangement | positioning state of the wireless tag with respect to the reader / writer at the time of measuring the communicable distance of the wireless tag by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wireless tag 2 Sheet base material 3 IC chip 4 Single dipole antenna 5 Inlet 6 Single dipole antenna shaft 7 Slit part 8 Core material 9 Adhesive layer

Claims (6)

An inlet comprising a sheet base material, an IC chip provided on the sheet base material, and a single dipole antenna connected to the IC chip is rolled once or more in a direction transverse to the axis of the single dipole antenna A wireless tag characterized by being wound. The wireless tag according to claim 1, further comprising a core member formed of a dielectric at the center of the roll of the inlet.   The wireless tag according to claim 1, wherein the core member is formed in a tubular shape. The wireless tag according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the inlet is wound such that a surface on which the IC chip is provided is on an inner side. The slit portion of the single dipole antenna in the roll of the inlet is set to be longer than the optimum length of the slit portion of the single dipole antenna when the inlet has a planar shape. The wireless tag according to any one of claims 1 to 4. A method of using a wireless tag, comprising using the wireless tag according to any one of claims 1 to 5 by inserting it into a flute portion of a cardboard.

Images