JP7528629B2 - Information Reading System - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a technology for reading information from an RFID medium when managing items using the RFID medium.

In recent years, with the development of the information society, information is recorded on tags attached to items such as goods, and these tags are used to manage the items. In such item management using tags, RFID media such as RFID tags, which allow information to be written and read by non-contact communication, are rapidly becoming popular due to their excellent convenience. When managing items using RFID media, the RFID media is attached to the item to be managed, and an antenna for reading information from the RFID media is brought into close proximity to the RFID media to read information from the RFID media, and the read information is used to manage the inventory of the items. In such cases, the items to be managed are often stored, for example, lined up vertically and horizontally on a storage shelf, and therefore it becomes necessary to move the antenna for reading information from the RFID media according to the storage position of the items to be managed.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which a digital camera is mounted on a drone, the drone is flown, and images of barcodes printed on items stored vertically and horizontally on a storage shelf are captured, and the captured barcode information is used to manage the items.

As described above, even if RFID media is attached to the items to be managed, by mounting an antenna for reading information from the RFID media on a drone and flying the drone, it is possible to read information from the RFID media and manage the items.

JP 2017-218325 A

However, if an antenna for reading information from RFID media is installed on a drone, there is a risk that the range in which the information can be read will be narrowed due to restrictions on where it can be installed.

One option for expanding the range over which information can be read is to use a plate-shaped antenna; however, if a plate-shaped antenna is mounted on a drone or suspended from it, the antenna can change the wind flow, making it difficult to control the drone properly.

In addition, to read information from an RFID medium via an antenna, a reader that reads information from the RFID medium via an antenna must be used, but there is a problem in that mounting the reader on a drone increases the weight of the drone, which increases the drone's flying power consumption and reduces the flight time.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems associated with the conventional technology as described above, and aims to provide an information reading system that uses an unmanned aerial vehicle to read information from an RFID medium, for example when managing goods using RFID media, and that can read information from an RFID medium without interfering with the reading of the information or the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides
Unmanned aerial vehicles and
A mobile device having a configuration capable of moving on the ground;
a wire-shaped RFID antenna, one end of which is attached to the mobile device and the other end of which is open, for reading information from an RFID medium;
a non-conductive connection member that physically connects the other end of the RFID antenna to the unmanned aerial vehicle;
a reader electrically connected to the one end of the RFID antenna and mounted on the mobile device, the reader reading information from the RFID medium via the RFID antenna ;
The unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped with a communication antenna that receives commands to fly the unmanned aerial vehicle, and flies without being electrically connected to the mobile device by the connection member .

In the present invention configured as described above, when information is read from the RFID media using an unmanned aerial vehicle, the information is read from the RFID media via an antenna. In this case, one end of the antenna is attached to a mobile device that can move on the ground, and the other end is physically connected to the unmanned aerial vehicle via a non-conductive connecting member, so that the reading range is wider than when an antenna is mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle, and because the antenna is wire-shaped, the antenna does not change the wind flow, making it difficult to properly control the unmanned aerial vehicle. In addition, because the reader that reads information from the RFID media via the antenna is connected to one end of the antenna and mounted on the mobile device, it is possible to avoid the weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle increasing, increasing the flight power consumption of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and reducing the flight time.

Furthermore, if the RFID antenna has an internal conductor, a first insulator wrapped around the internal conductor, an external conductor having a through hole and wrapped around the first insulator, and a second insulator wrapped around the external conductor, the strength and frequency of the radio waves used to read information from the RFID medium can be easily adjusted by changing the shape, pitch, angle, etc. of the through holes in the external conductor.

According to the present invention, in an information reading system that uses an unmanned aerial vehicle to read information from an RFID medium when managing goods using the RFID medium, one end of an antenna for reading information from the RFID medium is attached to a mobile device that can move on the ground, and the other end is physically connected to the unmanned aerial vehicle via a non-conductive connecting member, so that the reading range from the RFID medium is expanded and normal control of the unmanned aerial vehicle is not made difficult, and a reader that reads information from the RFID media via an antenna is connected to one end of the antenna and mounted on the mobile device, which prevents the weight of the unmanned aerial vehicle from increasing, thereby increasing the flight power consumption of the unmanned aerial vehicle and reducing the flight time, and thus information can be read from the RFID medium without causing any problems in reading the information or in the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle.

In addition, when the antenna has an internal conductor, a first insulator wrapped around the internal conductor, an external conductor with a through hole wrapped around the first insulator, and a second insulator wrapped around the external conductor, the strength and frequency of the radio waves used to read information from the RFID medium can be easily adjusted by changing the shape, pitch, angle, etc. of the through holes in the external conductor.

1A and 1B are diagrams showing an information reading system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a top view and FIG. 1B is a side view seen from the direction of an arrow A shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the information reading system shown in FIG. 1 . 2A and 2B are diagrams showing detailed configurations of the RFID antenna and the connection cable shown in FIG. 1, in which (a) is a diagram showing the overall configuration, (b) is a diagram showing the layered configuration when the RFID antenna is viewed from the axial direction, and (b) is a diagram showing the layered configuration when the RFID antenna is viewed from the side. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a form in which information is read using the information reading system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. 5 is a diagram for explaining a method for managing items stored in the storage shelf as shown in FIG. 4 using the information reading system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view showing the relationship between the RFID antenna and the article when information is read by the information reading system shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows one embodiment of the information reading system of the present invention, where (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view seen from the direction of the arrow A shown in (a).

As shown in FIG. 1, the information reading system in this embodiment is configured by connecting a drone unit 1 and a base unit 40 via an RFID antenna 20 and a connection cable 50 that serves as a connecting member. The drone unit 1 has a drone 10 and a guard member 30 attached thereto.

Drone 10 is an unmanned aerial vehicle in the present invention. Drone 10 has a body 11 with four legs extending in different directions from the center, and propellers 12a to 12d attached near the tip of each of the four legs. Guard member 30 is attached to drone 10, surrounding the entire drone 10 from four directions, and protects drone 10 from external contact. Guard member 30 is attached, for example, by the tips of the four legs of body 11 of drone 10 and attachment members 13a to 13d.

The base unit 40 is the mobile device in this invention. The base unit 40 has wheels 43 attached to its underside and is configured to be movable on the ground.

The RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 are wire-shaped, with one end of the RFID antenna 20 attached to the base unit 40 and one end of the connection cable 50 attached to the body part 11 of the drone 10, and the other ends of the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 connected to each other. As a result, the RFID antenna 20 has one end attached to the base unit 40 and the other end is physically connected to the drone 10 by the connection cable 50, although it is electrically open. The detailed shapes of the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 will be described later.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the information reading system shown in Figure 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information reading system shown in FIG. 1 has the following functions: a communication antenna 14, a propeller 12, a propeller drive unit 15, an RFID reader 41, an RFID antenna 20, a connection cable 50, and power supply units 17 and 42.

The communication antenna 14, the propeller 12, the propeller drive unit 15, and the power supply unit 17 are mounted on the drone unit 1.

The communication antenna 14 is for receiving commands to fly the drone unit 1.

Propeller 12 corresponds to the four propellers 12a to 12d shown in Figure 1.

The propeller drive unit 15 drives the propellers 12 to rotate in accordance with commands received via the communication antenna 14, causing the drone unit 1 to fly.

The power supply unit 17 supplies power to the propeller drive unit 15.

The RFID reader 41 and the power supply unit 42 are mounted on the base unit 40.

The RFID reader 41 is connected to one end of the RFID antenna 20 and transmits a signal to the RFID antenna 20 to read information from the RFID media, thereby reading information from the RFID media via the RFID antenna 20.

The power supply unit 42 supplies power to the RFID reader 41.

The RFID antenna 20 is used to read information contactlessly from RFID media such as RFID tags.

Figure 3 shows the detailed configuration of the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 shown in Figure 1, where (a) shows the overall configuration, (b) shows the layered configuration of the RFID antenna 20 as viewed from the axial direction, and (b) shows the layered configuration of the RFID antenna 20 as viewed from the side.

As shown in FIG. 3(a), the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 shown in FIG. 1 have connection connectors 61, 62 attached to both ends of the RFID antenna 20, and the RFID antenna 20 is connected to the reader 41 of the base unit 40 via one connection connector 61, and the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50 are connected via the other connection connector 62.

The connection cable 50 is made of a non-conductive material, and the end that is not connected to the RFID antenna 20 via the connection connector 62 is attached to the body portion 11 of the drone 10.

As shown in Figures 3(b) and (c), the RFID antenna 20 can be a coaxial wire cable consisting of an inner conductor 22, an insulator 23, an outer conductor 24, and an insulating coating 25.

The RFID antenna 20 shown in FIG. 3 is configured such that a first insulator 23 is wound around the internal conductor 22 to cover the internal conductor 22, an external conductor 24 is wound around the insulator 23 to cover the insulator 23, and an insulating coating 25, which serves as a second insulator, is wound around the external conductor 24 to cover the external conductor 24, thereby covering the external conductor 24 with the insulating coating 25.

When a current is passed through the internal conductor 22 of the RFID antenna 20 configured in this manner, the radio waves generated by the flowing current are blocked by the external conductor 24 and prevented from being radiated to the outside. However, the external conductor 24 is formed with a slit 24a that serves as a through hole penetrating the external conductor 24 from the front to the back, and as a result, the radio waves generated by the current flowing through the internal conductor 22 are radiated to the outside through this slit 24a.

Using this effect, a signal for reading information from the RFID media is transmitted from the RFID reader 41 to the internal conductor 22, and the signal is radiated as radio waves from the RFID antenna 20 to read the information from the RFID media. At that time, by changing the pitch, length, angle, etc. of the slits 24a, the strength and frequency of the radio waves radiated through the slits 24a can be easily adjusted.

In this way, radio waves for reading information from the RFID media are emitted through the slits 24a formed in the external conductor 24, so radio waves can be emitted stably and the amount of radio wave radiation can be set to any amount.

Below, we will explain a method for reading information from an RFID medium using the information reading system configured as described above.

Figure 4 shows an example of how information is read using the information reading system shown in Figures 1 to 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, one possible form of information reading using the information reading system shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 is to manage items 3 stored in rows and columns on a storage shelf 2. Each item 3 has an RFID tag 4, which serves as RFID media, attached facing the same direction, and the items 3 can be managed by reading information from the RFID tag 4 using the drone unit 1.

Figure 5 is a diagram for explaining a method of managing items 3 stored in storage shelves 2 as shown in Figure 4 using the information reading system shown in Figures 1 to 3, and shows an overall external view when reading information via RFID antenna 20. Figure 6 is a side view of the relationship between RFID antenna 20 and item 3 when reading information using the information reading system shown in Figures 1 to 3 as shown in Figure 5.

When managing the items 3 stored in the storage shelf 2 as shown in FIG. 4 using the information reading system shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the drone unit 1 is flown on the side of the items 3 stored in the storage shelf 2 to which the RFID tag 4 is attached, as shown in FIG. 5. This is realized by transmitting a command to fly the drone unit 1 to the drone unit 1, receiving this command by the propeller drive unit 15 via the communication antenna 14 of the drone unit 1, and rotating the propeller 12 under the control of the propeller drive unit 15. Since the drone unit 1 can fly freely vertically and horizontally, it can be flown so as to face each of the items 3 stored in the storage shelf 2 arranged vertically and horizontally as shown in FIG. 4. At this time, the drone unit 1 and the base unit 40 are connected via the RFID antenna 20 and the connection cable 50, but since the connection cable 50 is made of a non-conductive material, the drone unit 1 flies without being electrically connected to the base unit 40. In addition, the drone 10 is fitted with a guard member 30 that protects the drone 10 from external contact, so even if the drone unit 1 is flown close to each of the items 3 in order to manage the items 3 by reading information from the RFID tags 4 attached to the items 3, the propellers 12a-12d of the drone 10 are prevented from coming into contact with the items 3.

When the drone unit 1 is flying, as described above, a signal for reading information from the RFID tag 4 is transmitted from the RFID reader 41 of the base unit 40 to the RFID antenna 20, and radio waves corresponding to that signal are emitted from the RFID antenna 20, and information is read from the RFID tag 4 that is within the communication distance of the radio waves (e.g., facing the RFID tag 4).

In this case, one end of the RFID antenna 20 is attached to a base unit 40 that can move on the ground, and the other end is physically connected to the drone 10 via a non-conductive connection cable 50. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, many RFID tags 4 face the RFID antenna 20 at once, resulting in a wider reading range than when an RFID antenna is mounted on the drone 10.

In addition, the antenna for reading information from the RFID tag 4 is generally plate-shaped, and its area needs to be increased to increase the readable distance. As a result, the antenna changes the wind flow when the drone 10 flies, making it difficult to control the drone 10 properly. However, by having the RFID antenna 20 in the form of a wire made of a coaxial wire cable, it is possible to avoid the RFID antenna 20 reading information from the RFID tag 4 changing the wind flow when the drone 10 flies, which would make it difficult to control the drone 10 properly.

In this manner, in this embodiment, the RFID antenna 20 for reading information from the RFID tag 4 is attached at one end to a base unit 40 that can move on the ground, and the other end is physically connected to the drone 10 via a non-conductive connection cable 50. This expands the reading range from the RFID tag 4 and prevents the drone 10 from becoming difficult to control normally. As a result, information can be read from the RFID tag 4 without interfering with the reading of information or the flight of the drone 10.

In addition, since the RFID reader 41 that reads information from the RFID tag 4 via the RFID antenna 20 is mounted on the base unit 40 rather than on the drone unit 1, the drone unit 1 can be made lighter, thereby preventing the weight of the drone 10 from increasing, thereby preventing the drone 10's flying power consumption from increasing and the flight time from being reduced.

In addition, since the RFID antenna 20 is connected to the drone 10 via a non-conductive connection cable 50, the drone unit 1 is not electrically connected to the base unit 40, and therefore they are not affected by noise from each other.

In this embodiment, the RFID antenna 20 is described using a coaxial wire cable as shown in FIG. 3, but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be any wire-like object capable of transmitting a signal for reading information from an RFID medium and emitting radio waves in response to the transmitted signal.

In addition, in this embodiment, a drone has been used as an example of an unmanned aerial vehicle, but the unmanned aerial vehicle may also be one that can fly using jet streams, magnetic fields, etc.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 drone unit 2 storage shelf 3 item 4 RFID tag 10 drone 11 body section 12, 12a to 12d propeller 13a to 13d mounting section 14 communication antenna 15 propeller drive section 17, 42 power supply section 20 RFID antenna 22 internal conductor 23 insulator 24 external conductor 24a slit 25 insulating coating 30 guard member 40 base unit 41 RFID reader 43 wheels 50 connection cable 61, 62 connection connector

Claims (2)

Unmanned aerial vehicles and
A mobile device having a configuration capable of moving on the ground;
a wire-shaped RFID antenna, one end of which is attached to the mobile device and the other end of which is open, for reading information from an RFID medium;
a non-conductive connection member that physically connects the other end of the RFID antenna to the unmanned aerial vehicle;
a reader electrically connected to the one end of the RFID antenna and mounted on the mobile device, the reader reading information from the RFID medium via the RFID antenna ;
An information reading system in which the unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped with a communication antenna that receives commands to fly the unmanned aerial vehicle, and flies without being electrically connected to the mobile device by the connecting member . 2. The information reading system according to claim 1,
The RFID antenna includes:
An inner conductor;
a first insulator wrapped around the inner conductor;
an outer conductor having a through hole and wound around the first insulator;
and a second insulator wrapped around the outer conductor.

Images