RF tags

Abstract

To provide a RF tag having a suitability for printing while possessing flexibility.SOLUTION: A RF tag includes a soft resin sheet 3a having a printing area 20 and an inlay 10 that are bonded together by an adhesion layer 4 in order to suppress a deformation due to pressure or heating in a printing process. In actual printing, the soft resin sheet 3a, particularly a printing area 20 thereof, even if undergoes pressure or heating, is suppressed from deforming or contracting owing to a support of the adhesion layer 4 and inlay 10 on the back thereof. Thus, the printing area 20 is stabilized in shape to allow accurate printing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an RF tag, and particularly to a flexible RF tag intended to be used by being wound around a columnar body or the like. [Background Art]

[0002] RFID has become widespread as a non-contact means for object identification, and in this case, the medium used to cause an object to hold identification information is called an RF tag. An RF tag is configured by attaching an inlay, which is used to transmit identification information held therein to the outside via wireless communication, to a protective base material such as a backing sheet or resin. Note that since the identification information held by the inlay cannot be directly read by humans, if necessary, characters or the like corresponding to the identification information may be configured to be printable on the surface of the protective base material.

[0003] When attempting to attach an RF tag to a curved surface such as a columnar (rod-shaped) object, there is a risk that the RF tag will peel off if it is attached to the curved surface with glue or the like. Therefore, in order to wind the RF tag around an object, a flexible soft material such as polyurethane is formed as a band-shaped protective base material, and the inlay is covered with this protective base material to form an RF tag in some cases. [Prior Art Literature] [Patent Literature]

[0004] [Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-283992 [Summary of the Invention] [Problem to be Solved by the Invention]

[0005] As described above, RF tags have various configurations depending on the application. However, when attempting to display identification information or the like on an RF tag using a flexible soft material as a protective base material, the conventional configuration has the problem that during the printing process, the protective base material undergoes deformation due to pressure and shrinkage due to heating, making it difficult to print characters and figures with high accuracy.

[0006] The present invention (hereinafter referred to as "the present invention") was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to ensure printability in a flexible RF tag. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the RF tag of the present invention comprises an inlay and a sheet-like and flexible covering material that covers the inlay, wherein the inlay is ,one surface only The inlay is adhered to the covering material, and the covering material is characterized in that the portion of the exposed surface to which the inlay is adhered is the back surface and the portion of the exposed surface to which the inlay is adhered is the printing area. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] In the RF tag of the present invention, the exposed surface portion of the area where the covering material and the inlay are bonded together is designated as the printing area. In other words, the portion corresponding to the printing area is supported on the back side by the inlay through adhesion. Therefore, in the RF tag of the present invention, even in an RF tag made of a flexible covering material, the printing area is supported by the inlay, thereby suppressing deformation during the printing process and enabling accurate printing. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] (a) is a schematic diagram of the flexible RF tag 1. (b) is a schematic diagram of the inlay 10 enclosed within the flexible RF tag 1. [Figure 2] This is an embodiment in which a flexible RF tag 1 is wrapped around a columnar member 30. [Figure 3] This is a cross-sectional view showing the layered structure of the flexible RF tag 1. [Figure 4] This is a cross-sectional view showing another form of the layered structure of the flexible RF tag 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] As an embodiment for carrying out the present invention, the flexible RF tag 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. As will be described in detail later, the flexible RF tag 1 is intended to be used by wrapping it around a columnar member 30, and is constructed by enclosing the inlay 10 with easily deformable flexible resin sheet materials 3a and 3b (see Figure 3). The flexible resin sheet materials 3a and 3b are made of polyurethane formed into strips, and their flexibility, which allows them to deform under external force, makes it possible to wrap the entire flexible RF tag 1 around the columnar member 30. In Figure 1(a), the flexible RF tag 1 is shown as viewed from one side, so the flexible resin sheet material 3a is shown and the flexible resin sheet material 3b is omitted.

[0011] As shown in Figure 1(a), the flexible RF tag 1 has holes 2 at both ends for fastening and wrapping, and a printing area 20 (the area in the figure where the letters "1234 / ABCD" are displayed) approximately in the center of these holes. Note that the printing area 20 is simply defined as a part of the surface area of ​​the flexible resin sheet 3a for printing purposes, and does not have any special processing that differentiates it from other areas.

[0012] The flexible RF tag 1 contains the inlay 10 shown in Figure 1(b) in the area indicated by the dashed line in Figure 1(a). The inlay 10 consists of an IC chip 12 and an antenna 13 placed on a film 11 made of resin. Since the inlay 10 is a standard type used in RF tags, a detailed explanation of it will be omitted.

[0013] Figure 2 shows how the flexible RF tag 1 of this embodiment is used. As shown in Figure 2(a), the flexible RF tag 1 of this embodiment is intended to be used by wrapping it around a columnar member 30. The flexibility of the soft resin sheets 3a and 3b is utilized to wrap it along the curved surface of the columnar member 30. Figure 2(b) shows a view of the columnar member 30 and the flexible RF tag 1 from the direction of arrow B in Figure 2(a). The holes 2 (see Figure 1) provided at both ends of the flexible RF tag 1 are overlapped, and the flexible tag 1 can be fixed to the columnar member 30 by fasteners 9 inserted through them.

[0014] At this time, the printing area 20 is exposed, allowing identification information to be acquired electromagnetically by the inlay 10, as well as enabling humans to recognize the information visually.

[0015] Figure 3 shows the layered structure of the flexible RF tag 1. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the flexible RF tag 1 at the position indicated by arrow A in Figure 1(a). Note that in Figure 3, the end portion of the flexible RF tag 1 (the part where hole 2 is located) is omitted.

[0016] As shown in Figure 3, the flexible RF tag 1 encloses the inlay 10 with a flexible resin sheet 3a and a flexible resin sheet 3b. The areas where the flexible resin sheet 3a and the flexible resin sheet 3b are in direct contact are joined by heat-pressure bonding.

[0017] The inlay 10 enclosed within the flexible RF tag 1 is bonded to the flexible resin sheet 3a by an adhesive layer 4, and the printing area 20 on the flexible resin sheet 3a corresponds to the part shown by the thick solid line in the figure. As clearly shown in Figure 3, the part of the flexible resin sheet 3a corresponding to the back side of the printing area 20 is the adhesive layer 4.

[0018] Therefore, when attempting to print characters or figures onto the print area 20 using a printer or the like, the rigidity of the adhesive layer 4 and the inlay 10 suppresses deformation and shrinkage of the print area 20, resulting in a stable shape for the print area 20 and enabling high-precision printing.

[0019] The present invention has been described above with reference to the working examples. However, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described aspects, and it is naturally possible to appropriately modify the configuration and the like without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0020] For example, FIG. 4 shows a cross-section of the flexible RF tag 1 similarly to FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, it goes without saying that the effect of the present invention can still be obtained even if the inlay 10 is turned upside down inside the flexible RF tag 1. In this case, since the IC chip 12 is located on the surface of the inlay 10 opposite to the print area 20 side, damage to the IC chip 12 caused by impact or the like during printing on the print area 20 can be prevented. Description of Reference Numerals

[0021] 1 Flexible RF tag (RF tag) 3a, 3b Flexible resin sheet (covering material) 4 Adhesive layer 10 Inlay 20 Printing area

Claims

[Claim 1] Inlay and The inlay comprises a sheet-like and flexible covering material that covers the inlay, The inlay is bonded to the covering material on only one side. The RF tag is characterized in that the covering material has a back surface portion where the inlay is attached and the exposed surface portion has a printing area.

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