Reading device and information providing system

Abstract

A reading device and an information providing system are provided that ensure convenience during reading while reducing the influence of radio waves. [Solution] A reader 20 reads information from an RF tag 12 attached to a product P. The reader 20 has an opening 30 formed therein, and is provided with a shield part 44 that accommodates the product P through the opening 30, and an antenna 60 that emits radio waves to communicate with the RF tag 12 attached to the accommodated product P. The reader 20 reads information from the RF tag 12 with the shield part 44 open.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a reader that reads information from an RF tag, and an information providing system that provides information on an item to which the RF tag is attached. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, an accounting system 100 shown in Fig. 6 has been proposed to facilitate smooth accounting in stores. This accounting system 100 is composed of an RF tag 102 attached to each product P, a reader / writer 104 that reads information from the RF tag 102, and a cash register 106 that is communicatively connected to the reader / writer 104. The reader / writer 104 is installed on the back of a checkout counter T and reads information from the RF tags 102 of the products P in a shopping basket on the checkout counter T all at once and transmits the read information to the cash register 106. The cash register 106 performs accounting processing based on the product information (product name and price) corresponding to the received information.

[0003] According to the checkout system 100, checkout can be completed with the simple action of placing a shopping basket on checkout counter T. Furthermore, because the checkout can be completed with the shopping basket still on checkout counter T, the contents of the shopping basket can be seen and the customer can double-check the product P to be purchased while the checkout is in progress. On the other hand, because the communication area of ​​reader / writer 104 is continuous with the space in which the customer exists, there is a possibility that radio waves emitted from the antenna of reader / writer 104 may affect other devices, or that radio waves emitted from other devices may interfere with the communication radio waves of reader / writer 104.

[0004] The reader in Patent Document 1 includes a housing that contains products through an opening and a lid that opens and closes the opening, and the housing and lid are made of materials that reflect or absorb radio waves. This reader reads RF tags when the opening of the housing is closed with the lid, i.e., when the items contained in the housing are sealed with a shield, so it is possible to prevent the above-mentioned problems related to radio waves. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-207110 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, the reading device of Patent Document 1 requires the customer to put the product in the housing, close the lid, complete the checkout process, and then open the lid to remove the product, which is a cumbersome process. In addition, since the shopping basket contained in the housing cannot be seen, the customer cannot check the product again during the checkout process. In other words, the customer's convenience is reduced.

[0007] Thus, it has been difficult to ensure customer convenience while reducing the impact of radio waves at the same time. This problem can occur not only with reading devices used in accounting, but also with stationary devices that read RF tags attached to items.

[0008] In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a reading device and an information providing system that reduce the influence of radio waves while ensuring convenience during reading. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is a reading device that reads information from an RF tag attached to an article, comprising an antenna that emits radio waves for communicating with the RF tag, and a shield section that houses the antenna and has an opening that is wider than the article, and is characterized in that information is read from the RF tag with the shield section open.

[0010] The portable electronic device is also characterized by comprising a placement portion on which the article is placed, the placement portion being disposed closer to the opening than the antenna.

[0011] The shield portion is characterized by comprising a radio wave absorbing layer that absorbs the radio waves, and a radio wave reflecting layer that is formed on the outside of the radio wave absorbing layer and reflects the radio waves.

[0012] The present invention also includes the above-mentioned reading device and an information providing device capable of communicating with the reading device, wherein the information providing device includes a memory unit that stores item information regarding the item in correspondence with information on the RF tag, an acquisition unit that acquires the information on the RF tag from the reading device, an information generating unit that extracts the item information corresponding to the acquired information on the RF tag from the memory unit and generates information to be provided, and an output unit that outputs the generated information to be provided. Effect of the Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, since the antenna is housed within the shielding portion, it is possible to suppress the spread of radio waves emitted from the antenna and reduce the influence of radio waves on other devices. Furthermore, since the shielding portion has an opening wider than the article, it is possible to read the RF tag by placing the article within the shielding portion or on the opening. In this case, since reading is performed with the shielding portion open, there is no need for the troublesome operation of closing the opening as in the past. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the influence of radio waves while ensuring convenience during reading. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a reading device, and FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating a manner in which information is provided by a mobile terminal. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an RF tag, a reader, and a mobile terminal that constitute the information provision system. [Diagram 3] 3A and 3B are a cross-sectional view and a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of the reading device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the mobile terminal. [Diagram 5]FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of a reading device according to a modified example of the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional accounting system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a reading device and an information providing system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0016] As shown in Fig. 1(a), an information provision system 10 according to this embodiment is used in a store that sells products P such as clothing. In the store, an RF tag 12 is attached to each product P together with a price tag. As shown in Fig. 2, the RF tag 12 is composed of an antenna 14 and an IC chip 18 that has a built-in communication circuit (not shown) that communicates with a reader / writer 16 via the antenna 14. The IC chip 18 has a built-in CPU (not shown) and memory (not shown), and unique information (hereinafter referred to as "tag information") that is determined so as to uniquely identify the RF tag 12 is stored in the memory.

[0017] Returning to Fig. 1, products P with the RF tags 12 attached are displayed on shelves or tables in a store, and customers select products P they like and place them in shopping basket B. While continuing shopping, there is a need to know the total price of the multiple products P in shopping basket B. Therefore, in the information provision system 10 according to this embodiment, a reader 20 that reads the tag information of the RF tags 12 is used to display the total price of the products P placed in shopping basket B on the mobile terminal 22 of the store clerk S. The reader 20 and the mobile terminal 22 will now be described in more detail.

[0018] The reading device 20 is a stationary device that communicates with the RF tags 12 attached to the products P in the shopping basket B to read the tag information, and is equipped with a housing 24 as shown in FIG. 3. The housing 24 has a rectangular bottom plate 26 that is wider than the outer shape of the edge of the shopping basket B. Four wall plates 28 (FIG. 1) that are vertically erected relative to the bottom plate 26 are joined to each edge of the bottom plate 26. Each wall plate 28 extends vertically to about waist height of an adult, and the vertical edges are joined to each other. The four wall plates 28 (FIG. 1) and the bottom plate 26 define an openable area on one side that faces upwards. A housing 24 having a shape is formed.

[0019] Two horizontal plates 32, 50 are provided on the inside of the housing 24, one above the other. The upper horizontal plate 32 is detachably supported by a shelf support 34. The horizontal plate 32 is a square plate on which a shopping basket (FIG. 1) containing a product P (FIG. 1) is placed, and its height is adjusted so that the placed shopping basket B fits within the enclosure formed by the wall plates 28. In other words, the horizontal plate 32 functions as a placement section on which the shopping basket B is placed. The lower horizontal plate 50 is bonded to the inner wall surface of each wall plate 28. An antenna 60 of the reader / writer 16 is disposed on the horizontal plate 50. The horizontal plates 32, 50, each wall plate 28, and the bottom plate 26 are made of wood.

[0020] Here, in each wall panel 28, a radio wave reflection sheet 38 is attached to the inner wall surface 42 extending above the horizontal plate 50. The radio wave reflection sheet 38 is a sheet made of metal such as aluminum, and functions as a radio wave reflection layer that reflects radio waves on its surface. A radio wave absorbing sheet 40 is attached to the entire inner surface of the radio wave reflection sheet 38. The radio wave absorbing sheet 40 is a sheet made of a rubber material mixed with magnetic metal powder, and functions as a radio wave absorbing layer that absorbs radio waves inside. Similarly, the radio wave reflection sheet 38 is attached to the upper surface of the horizontal plate 50, and further, a radio wave absorbing sheet 40 is attached on the radio wave reflection sheet 38. In this way, the radio wave reflection sheet 38 and the radio wave absorbing sheet 40 provided on each wall panel 28 and the horizontal plate 50 form a shield section 44 that houses the antenna 60 and has an opening 30 facing upward.

[0021] A space for accommodating the shopping basket B is formed by the shield portion 44 and the horizontal plate 32. That is, the shield portion 44 and the horizontal plate 32 function as an accommodating portion 36 for accommodating the shopping basket B.

[0022] The internal space formed below the horizontal plate 50 is a space in which a main body 48 of the reader / writer 16 is installed, and the lower parts of the four wall plates 28 forming this space and the bottom plate 26 function as a base 46. The horizontal plate 50 and the radio wave reflecting sheet 38 and radio wave absorbing sheet 40 attached to the horizontal plate 50 have through holes 52 penetrating from the front to the back, and wiring 54 passed through the through holes 52 electrically connects the antenna 60 and the main body 48 installed on the bottom plate 26 to each other.

[0023] 2, the main body 48 of the reader / writer 16 includes a CPU 56, a memory 58, a communication circuit 62 (transmitter / receiver circuit, oscillator circuit, modulation / demodulation circuit) for communicating with the RF tag 12 via an antenna 60, and a wifi module 64. The CPU 56 executes a program in the memory 58 to acquire tag information from the RF tag 12 via the communication circuit 62 and the antenna 60 either collectively or individually, and transmits the tag information to the mobile terminal 22 using the wifi module 64.

[0024] The mobile terminal 22 is a smart device such as a tablet terminal or smartphone owned by a store clerk S (Figure 1(b)), and is realized by a computer mainly including a CPU 66, a memory 68, a Wi-Fi module 70, an LCD display 72, and a touch sensor 74, as shown in Figure 2.

[0025] The memory 68 stores an information provision program 76. The information provision program 76 has a product table 78 defined in advance. The product table 78 is a table in which product information such as the name, size, and price of each product P (FIG. 1) is associated with each tag information for all products P in the store. Thus, the computer having the memory 68 functions as a storage unit 80 (FIG. 4) that stores product information in association with tag information.

[0026] The information provision program 76 further defines a process for providing information on the product P to the customer, and the process is executed by the CPU 66. Specifically, the CPU 66 executes an acquisition step, an information generation step, and an output step in this order. (1) The acquisition step is a step of acquiring tag information, in which a connection is made to a network via the wifi module 70, a reader / writer 16 existing on the connected network is identified by an IP address, a request is made to the identified reader / writer 16 to transmit tag information, and the tag information read from the reader / writer 16 is received. In this way, the wifi module 70 and the CPU 66 function as an acquisition unit 82 (FIG. 4) that acquires tag information. (2) The information generating step is a step of generating information to be provided to a customer based on the received tag information, in which product information corresponding to the received tag information is extracted from the product table 78, and the extracted product information is, for example, listed, and the prices included in the product information are added up. In this way, the CPU 66 functions as an information generating unit 84 (FIG. 4) that generates information to be provided. (3) The output step is a step of outputting the generated provided information, and as shown in Fig. 1(b), displays a list of products P in the shopping basket B and the total amount on the liquid crystal display 72. In this way, the CPU 66 and the liquid crystal display 72 function as an output unit 86 (Fig. 4) that outputs the provided information.

[0027] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, when a shopping basket B is set in the storage section 36 of the reading device 20, the tag information of each product P is read by the reading device 20 with the storage section 36 open, and the provided information (list and total price) is displayed by the mobile terminal 22.

[0028] According to the reading device 20 of the present embodiment, preparation for reading the RF tag 12 is completed by a simple action of placing the shopping basket B in the storage section 36 through the opening 30. In addition, when reading (communicating), the product P in the shopping basket B can be viewed through the opening 30 and the product P can be reconfirmed.

[0029] The shielding part 44 constituting the housing part 36 prevents radio waves emitted from the antenna 60 of the reader / writer 16 from spreading around the reading device 20, thereby reducing the effect of the radio waves on other devices. In addition, radio waves from other devices around the reading device 20 are prevented from entering the housing part 36, reducing the deterioration of reading accuracy caused by radio wave interference.

[0030] 3, the shielding portion 44 is formed on the outside of the radio wave absorbing sheet 40 so that the radio wave reflecting sheet 38 surrounds the radio wave absorbing sheet 40. Therefore, weak radio waves leaking from the radio wave absorbing sheet 40 are reflected by the radio wave reflecting sheet 38 and absorbed inside the radio wave absorbing sheet 40, resulting in excellent radio wave shielding performance. As a result, the communication area with the RF tag 12 is limited to the containing portion 36 and the area above it, and the problem of erroneous reading of tag information of the RF tag 12 of the product P around the reader 20 does not occur.

[0031] The above describes the reading device and information providing system according to the present invention based on an embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and may be embodied in the following form, for example.

[0032] <Modification> (1) In the above embodiment, the antenna 60 of the reader / writer 16 is attached to the horizontal plate 50, but the antenna 60 may be attached to the lower surface side of the horizontal plate 32. In this case, the horizontal plate 50 may be omitted to simplify the structure. The antenna 60 may be attached to the upper surface side of the horizontal plate 32. In this case, the influence of radio waves can be further reduced by providing a radio wave reflection sheet 38 on the upper surface or lower surface of the horizontal plate 32. Alternatively, the antenna 60 may be attached to the inner wall surface side of the wall plate 28. In short, the antenna 60 may be attached anywhere inside the shield part 44 as long as it is away from the opening 30.

[0033] (2) In the above embodiment, the radio wave reflective sheet 38 and the radio wave absorbing sheet 40 provided on the inner wall surface of each wall panel 28 may extend downward to an extent that wireless communication between the main body 48 of the reader / writer 16 and the mobile terminal 22 is not impeded.

[0034] (3) Moreover, the radio wave absorbing sheet 40 provided on the horizontal plate 50 may be omitted.

[0035] (4) The radio wave reflecting layer and the radio wave absorbing layer are not limited to being made of a sheet material, and may be made of a plate material. In this case, the upper portions of the wall plates 28 that form the peripheral wall around the shield portion 44 may be omitted.

[0036] (5) In the above embodiment, the horizontal plate 32 is disposed at a position (depth) such that the shopping basket B can be accommodated therein. However, it may be disposed at a position (depth) such that a portion of the shopping basket B is exposed.

[0037] (6) Furthermore, the horizontal plate 32 is not limited to being disposed inside the shield portion 44. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the horizontal plate 90 may be provided so as to cover the opening 30 of the shield portion 44. In this case, it is preferable to display a mark indicating the location (area) where the shopping basket B is placed on the upper surface of the horizontal plate 90. Even in this modified embodiment, the reading device 20 communicates within the communication area shown in FIG. 3, so the influence of radio waves on other devices can be reduced. Also, it is easy because the customer only has to place the shopping basket B on the horizontal plate 90.

[0038] (7) In the above embodiment, a rectangular enclosure is formed by four wall panels 28, and a shield portion 44 is formed along the inner wall surface thereof, but the shape of the enclosure may be another polygonal or circular shape, and the shield portion 44 may similarly be polygonal or circular.

[0039] (8) The shielding portion may have an opening formed sideways. That is, the housing may include a bottom plate 26, four wall plates 28, a top plate provided at the upper end of each wall plate 28, and horizontal plates 32, 50, and an opening for putting in and taking out an item may be formed at the top of one of the wall plates 28. In this embodiment, it is preferable that a radio wave reflecting sheet 38 is attached to the entire lower surface of the top plate, and a radio wave absorbing sheet 40 is attached to the entire lower surface of the radio wave reflecting sheet 38.

[0040] (9) Furthermore, the opening 30 of the shield portion 44 needs to be formed in at least one direction, and may be formed in two directions, for example, upward and sideways.

[0041] (10) In the above embodiment, the reader / writer 16 and the mobile terminal 22 communicate over a network using their respective Wi-Fi modules 64, 70. However, the communication interface is not limited to this and any known wireless communication interface, such as a Bluetooth (registered trademark) module, may be used.

[0042] (11) In the above embodiment, a mobile terminal 22 is used as an information providing device that provides information to customers, but this is not limited to this and may be a device used as a higher-level device of the reader / writer 16, such as a server that can communicate with the reader / writer 16 via a network.

[0043] (12) In the above embodiment, clothing was used as an example, but the invention may be applied to a variety of products, such as food, home appliances, books, and DVDs.

[0044] (13) In the above embodiment, a product has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to a product and may be applied to various items such as sample items, cards or documents describing the details of a service, etc. In this case, the memory 68 (storage unit 80) of the mobile terminal 22 (information providing terminal) stores an item table in which item information and tag information related to the item are associated with each other.

[0045] The present invention can be implemented in various forms that include improvements, modifications, or variations based on the knowledge of a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In addition, the present invention can be implemented in a form in which any of the invention-specific features are replaced with other technologies within the scope of the same action or effect. [Explanation of symbols]

[0046] 10. Information provision system 12 … RF tag 16 ... Reader / writer 20 ... Reading device 22 … Mobile terminal (information providing device) 36 … Storage area 38... Radio wave reflective sheet (radio wave reflective layer) 40...Radio wave absorbing sheet (electromagnetic wave absorbing layer) 44 ... Shield section 48 … Reader / writer body 60 … Antenna 80 … Storage section 82 … Acquisition Department 84 … Information generation section 86 … Output section P … Goods (items)

Claims

1. A stationary reader that reads information from an RF tag attached to an item, an antenna that emits radio waves for communicating with the RF tag; a shield portion provided within a housing and housing the antenna; Equipped with A reading device characterized in that the shield portion opens upward and opens laterally in only one direction, and reads information from the RF tag of the item placed within the shield portion.

2. The shielding portion is disposed above a horizontal plate provided in the housing.

2. A reading device according to claim 1.

3. 3. The reading device according to claim 1, wherein the shielding portion is provided on an upper portion of the housing.

4. the item is a commodity in a store, The shield portion is capable of accommodating a shopping basket containing the product. The reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The shield portion is a radio wave absorbing layer that absorbs the radio waves; a radio wave reflection layer formed on the outer side of the radio wave absorption layer and reflecting the radio waves; The reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

6. 6. The reading device according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmitting unit configured to transmit the read information.

7. A reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, an information providing device capable of communicating with the reading device; Equipped with The information providing device includes: a storage unit that stores item information related to the item in association with information on the RF tag; an acquisition unit that acquires information about the RF tag from the reader; a generating unit that extracts the item information corresponding to the acquired RF tag information from the storage unit and generates information to be provided; an output unit that outputs the generated information to be provided; An information provision system comprising:

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