JP2008207887A - Transport system and control method of transport system - Google Patents

Abstract

A conveyance system capable of improving the management capability of an article is provided.
A transport system according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores identification information of a transporter that transports an article, and a signal detected by a front antenna disposed in front of a reading antenna that detects the identification information of the article. Detected by the front determination unit 14 for determining whether or not the identification information of the carrier extracted from the information coincides with the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit 11, and the end antenna disposed behind the reading antenna The end determination unit 17 for determining whether or not the identification information of the carrier extracted from the received signal matches the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna, and the front determination unit 14 identifies the carrier. An antenna control unit 12 for controlling the reading antenna to be valid until the identification information of the carrier is detected by the end antenna after confirming the coincidence of the information; To.
[Selection] Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a transport system that manages the distribution of packaging boxes provided with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags.

  In sorting work such as home delivery cargo, a method using an RFID system is used to distinguish a plurality of home delivery cargo (packaging boxes). The RFID system is composed of an RFID tag, a reader / writer, and the like, and uses radio waves as a communication medium. That is, this is a system in which data is recorded or read on a card-like or tag-like RFID tag using radio waves or the like, and communication is performed via an antenna. For example, there is a merchandise handling system in which an operator who sorts an article wears an RFID reader that reads an RFID tag to identify the article (for example, see Patent Document 1). Furthermore, there is a physical distribution management system that publishes information read by an RFID tag on the web or the like (for example, see Patent Document 2).

  Patent Document 3 describes a management system that allows an article provided with an RFID tag to pass through a gate having a reader / writer equipped with a transmission / reception antenna. FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of the configuration of the management system of Patent Document 3. As shown in FIG. 8, the management system 90 includes a gate 91 in which a reader / writer 91a having a transmission / reception antenna 91b and the like is arranged, and a management device 92 connected to the reader / writer 91a and having a display device 92a. A cart 94 loaded with a plurality of articles 93 provided with RFID tags 93a passes through the gate 91. Individual information for each article 93 is stored in the RFID tag 93 a attached to each article 93. The management system 90 performs wireless communication between the reader / writer 91a and the RFID tag 93a, and reads and writes information stored in the RFID tag 93a. The management device 92 determines entry / exit of the article 93 based on information read from the RFID tag 93a via the transmission / reception antenna 91b of the reader / writer 91a. The determination result is displayed on the display device 92a.

  In addition, one entrance side of the gate 91 is a storage area 95 and the other entrance side of the gate 91 is a delivery area 96. Then, the transmission / reception antenna 91b of the reader / writer 91a transmits / receives a signal only to the RFID tag 93a existing in one of the entry area 95 and the exit area 96. Here, only the RFID tag 93a in the warehousing area 95 transmits and receives signals. Further, the phase change of the distance between the reader / writer 91a and the RFID tag 93a is measured. Thereby, the reading area of the RFID tag 93a is limited, the information of the RFID tag 93a in the reading area is read, and the entry / exit of the article 93 is determined. That is, when the article 93 reaches an area where signals can be transmitted / received to / from the reader / writer 91a, the reader / writer 91a detects the RFID tag 93a attached to the article 93 (timing detection). Then, the distance between the reader / writer 91a and the RFID tag 93a is measured. When it is confirmed that the displacement of the distance between the RFID tag 93a, the reader / writer, and 91a is monotonously decreasing and the data is interrupted in the middle, the article 93 has moved from the entry area 95 to the exit area 96. Recognize. On the other hand, when the displacement of the distance between the RFID tag 93a and the reader / writer 91a is monotonically increasing, it can be seen that the cart 94 has moved from the exit area 96 to the entrance area 95.

Here, another example of a method for reading the RFID tag 93a will be described. For example, FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a management system 100 that detects the reading timing of the RFID tag 93a by an objective sensor using a limit switch or a photoelectric tube that is a switch for detecting the moving position of the machine. As shown in FIG. 9, the management system 100 includes a gate having a reading antenna 101a and an objective sensor 102 that is installed on either the entry area side or the exit area side of the gate 101 and emits light. The objective sensor 102 is a photoelectric tube or the like including a light emitter 102a that emits light and a light receiver 102b that receives light emitted from the light emitter 102a. Here, the objective sensor 102 is installed on the warehousing area side. In this management system 100, for example, an article 93 to which an RFID tag 93a is attached is conveyed by a lift 103, for example. For example, a lift 103 loaded with an article 93 passes in front of the objective sensor 102. At this time, the light of the objective sensor 102 is blocked by the article 93. When the light is blocked, the objective sensor 102 determines that the article 93 has passed and reads the RFID tag 93a for a certain period. As another example, there is a method (not shown) for limiting an area for reading the RFID tag by blocking the antenna and the RFID tag from the outside with a shielding plate or the like.
JP 2006-273492 A JP 2005-234628 A JP 2006-260062 A

  However, in the management system 90 described in Patent Document 3, when a plurality of articles 93 are passed through the gate 91 at a time and a plurality of RFID tags 93a are read at once, RFID tags 93a other than the RFID tag 93a to be originally read are used. It may be read. For example, the reader / writer 91a analyzes the tag response signal received from the article tag and measures the distance between the reader / writer 91a and the RFID tag 93a, but there is an obstacle between the RFID tag 93a and the transmission / reception antenna 91b. In some cases, RFID tags 93a other than the RFID tag 93a that should be read may be read due to the reflection characteristics of radio waves. In addition, when there is a metal body or the like in the vicinity of the RFID tag 93a, the radio wave reflection environment changes, and the RFID tag 93a other than the one to be read may be read.

  Further, in the management system 100 that detects the timing of reading the RFID tag 93a attached to the article 93 by the objective sensor 102 using a photoelectric tube or the like arranged on either the storage area side or the exit area side of the gate, If the objective sensor 102 is simply disposed on either one, the possibility of erroneously reading the RFID tag 93a of the article 93 placed in the loading area near the gate 101 increases. Further, when the antenna and the RFID tag 93a are shielded from the outside by using a shielding plate or the like, the work for shielding the antenna and the RFID tag 93a from the outside by the shielding plate or the like increases, and the number of steps for transporting the article 93 increases.

  Further, in the case of batch reading, as a method of determining whether or not the number of articles 93 to be conveyed is correct, the transport operator visually counts the number of articles currently being conveyed and reads the number of articles read by the reading antenna 101a. A method for determining whether or not they match is conceivable. In this case, the accuracy of correctness is lacking, and the number of transport work steps increases. Furthermore, even if the total number of articles 93 to be conveyed can be known from the conveyance requester in advance, the number of articles 93 for each sorting unit when sorting using the lift 103 or the like is not known. An operator needs to count the number of articles 93.

  As described above, if the RFID tag 93a other than the RFID tag 93a that should be read is read due to the reflection characteristics of radio waves, the information of the article read by mistake is stored in the management information of the article to be conveyed. It becomes. As a result, the article 93 is not transported to the correct transport destination, and the wrong number is transported to the wrong transport destination, which causes a problem that the management capability of the article 93 is reduced.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport system capable of improving the article management capability.

  The conveyance system according to the first aspect of the present invention is detected by a storage unit that stores identification information of a conveyance body that conveys an article, and a front antenna that is arranged in front of a reading antenna that detects the identification information of the article. A front determination unit for determining whether or not the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal matches the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit; and disposed behind the reading antenna. An end determination unit that determines whether or not the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the end antenna matches the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna; After the front determination unit confirms the coincidence of the identification information of the carrier, until the end antenna detects the identification information of the carrier. Those having an antenna control unit that controls to enable preparative antenna.

  In the present invention, the reading antenna is detected by enabling the reading antenna from the time when the front determination unit confirms the coincidence of the identification information of the carrier until the end antenna detects the identification information of the carrier. It is possible to improve the accuracy of specifying an article to be performed.

  In the transport system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the number of the articles to be transported is stored in the storage unit in advance, and the identification of the articles extracted from the signal detected by the reading antenna is performed. A calculation unit that calculates the number of articles detected by the reading antenna based on information, and the number of articles calculated by the calculation unit when the end determination unit confirms the match of the identification information; And an article number determination unit for determining whether or not the number of articles stored in advance in the storage unit matches. Thereby, it can prevent conveying with the number of conveyance misrecognized.

  In the transport system according to the third aspect of the present invention, when the front determination unit does not confirm the match of the identification information of the transport body, or the end determination unit matches the match of the identification information of the transport body. If the number of articles is not confirmed, or if the number of articles calculated by the calculation section and the number of articles stored in advance in the storage section are not confirmed, an alarm is activated. Thereby, an operator can perform re-reading etc. and can prevent that the number of articles etc. to convey are conveyed with misrecognition.

  The conveyance system according to a fourth aspect of the present invention provides an identification of the article that is given to the article detected by the reading antenna when the identification information of the carrier is not extracted from a signal detected by the front antenna. The article tag storing information is registered in the storage unit as an exclusion tag indicating that the article is not the article loaded on the carrier. Thereby, since an article tag that can be erroneously detected by the reading antenna can be specified, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of specifying an article to be detected by the reading antenna.

  A control method for a transport system according to a fifth aspect of the present invention includes a front antenna disposed in front of a reading antenna that stores identification information of a transport body that transports an article in a storage unit and detects the identification information of the article. It is determined whether or not the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected in step 4 matches the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit, and is arranged behind the reading antenna. The carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna by determining whether or not the identification information of the carrier detected by the end antenna matches the identification information of the carrier detected by the front antenna The identification information of the carrier is confirmed by the end antenna after a match between the identification information of the carrier and the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit is confirmed. Until it is known, it is intended to control so as to enable the reading antenna.

  In the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of specifying an article to be detected by the reading antenna.

  According to the transport system according to the present invention, the article management capability can be improved.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an RFID system (hereinafter referred to as a transport system) that manages a transported article (hereinafter referred to as an article) using an RFID tag. First, an RFID tag attached to an article will be described.

  The RFID tag is an integrated circuit with a memory that stores information such as an article to which the RFID tag is attached, and is a tag that transmits and receives data stored using a non-contact communication medium such as wireless communication. . In the transport system according to the present embodiment, an RFID tag attached to each article to be transported is referred to as an article tag, and an RFID tag attached to a transport body described later is referred to as a transport body tag. Hereinafter, the conveyance system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a transport system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the transport system according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the transport system 1 includes a gate 3 having a plurality of reading antennas 2, a front antenna 4 disposed in front of the gate 3, and an end antenna 5 disposed behind the gate 3.

  In the transport system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, the transport body 6 transports the article 7. The carrier 6 has a carrier tag 6a. A carrier ID, which is unique identification information of the carrier 6, is stored in the carrier tag 6a. The carrier ID is, for example, the type of the carrier 6 and indicates a lift, a carriage, or the like. The carrier 6 moves from the front antenna 4 through the gate 3 in front of the end antenna 5 in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

  An article tag 7a is attached to each article 7 conveyed by the carrier 6. In this article tag 7a, an article ID which is unique identification information of the article 7 is stored. This article ID is, for example, an article number and stores a, b, c. Here, the article number is stored as the article ID, but each destination of the article 7 may be stored.

  The front antenna 4 is an antenna that transmits radio waves to the carrier tag 6a of the carrier 6 that passes in front of the front antenna 4 and receives radio waves transmitted from the carrier tag 6a. Further, the reading antenna 2 transmits radio waves to the article tag 7a attached to the plurality of articles 7 loaded with the carrier 6 passing through the gate 3, and receives radio waves transmitted from the article tag 7a. It is an antenna. Further, the end antenna 5 is an antenna that transmits radio waves to the carrier tag 6a of the carrier 6 that passes in front of the end antenna 5, and receives radio waves transmitted from the carrier tag 6a.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the transport system 1 has an R / W 8 connected to the reading antenna 2, the front antenna 4, and the end antenna 5. Further, the R / W 8 is connected to the host system 9. The R / W 8 receives a signal for switching an antenna to be activated from the host system 9 and transmits it to each antenna. Further, the radio wave received from each antenna is converted into an electric signal and transmitted to the host system 9.

  Here, the configuration of the host system 9 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the host system 9 includes a storage unit 11, an antenna control unit 12, a transmission / reception unit 13, a front determination unit 14, and an end determination unit 17. Furthermore, the host system 9 according to the present embodiment includes a display unit 15, a calculation unit 16, and an article number determination unit 18.

  In the host system 9 according to the present embodiment, the operator is calculated based on the carrier information corresponding to the article 7 to be transported, the work mode information, and the carrier information and the work mode information before the transport work. The number-of-conveyance information that is the number of articles that the body 6 can convey at one time is stored. The transport body information, work mode information, and transport number information are stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9.

  Here, the carrier information is, for example, a carrier ID indicating the type of the carrier 6. As described above, the carrier ID indicates, for example, a lift or a carriage. The work mode information is, for example, an article type such as the size of the article 7 to be conveyed (for example, indicated by A, B, etc.) and an ID indicating whether it is loaded (shipped) or empty (returned). The number of articles that can be conveyed at one time (number-of-conveyance information) is defined in advance for the carrier 6 according to the type of the carrier 6. The number of articles that can be conveyed by the conveyance body 6 at a time varies depending on whether the article 7 is loaded or empty. For example, when the article 7 is empty, since the article 7 is folded, more articles 7 can be transported than when the article 7 is loaded. Even when the sizes of the articles 7 are different, the number of articles that can be conveyed at one time is also different. For this reason, the number of articles that can be conveyed by the conveyance body 6 at one time (conveyance number information) is the conveyance body information that is the conveyance body ID indicating the type of the conveyance body 6, and the article type such as the size of the article , And work mode information indicating whether the article 7 is loaded or empty. The transport number information is calculated by a calculation unit (not shown) of the storage unit 11 and stored in the storage unit 11.

  When the conveyance number information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11 in advance before the conveyance operation, the antenna control unit 12 receives a signal from the storage unit 11 that the conveyance number information or the like has been stored. Then, the antenna control unit 12 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the front antenna 4 to the transmission / reception unit 13.

  The transmission / reception unit 13 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the front antenna 4 via the R / W 8. When the reading effective signal of the front antenna 4 is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 13, the front antenna 4 receives the signal from the carrier tag 6a. Then, the signal received by the front antenna 4 is transmitted to the front determination unit 14 via the transmission / reception unit 13.

  The front determination unit 14 extracts the carrier ID from the signal received from the transmission / reception unit 13. When the carrier ID is extracted, the carrier ID is read from the storage unit 11 from the carrier information stored in advance before the carrying work. Then, it is determined whether or not the carrier ID extracted from the signal received from the transmission / reception unit 13 matches the carrier ID read from the storage unit 11. If they do not match, a signal for operating an alarm is transmitted to an alarm device (not shown) via the transmission / reception unit 13 to notify the operator that the carrier 6 is not to be transported. On the other hand, if they match, a signal that the carrier IDs match is transmitted to the storage unit 11, and the carrier ID is stored in the storage unit 11. Then, the work mode information and the transport number information corresponding to the transport body ID may be read from the storage unit 11 and displayed on the display unit 15. In addition, the storage unit 11 receives a signal that the carrier IDs match and transmits this carrier ID match signal to the antenna control unit 12.

  When receiving the carrier ID coincidence signal from the storage unit 11, the antenna control unit 12 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the reading antenna 2 to the transmission / reception unit 13. When the reading effective signal of the reading antenna 2 is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 13, the reading antenna 2 receives the signal from the article tag 7a. Then, the signal received by the reading antenna 2 is transmitted to the calculation unit 16 via the transmission / reception unit 13.

  The calculation unit 16 analyzes the received signal and extracts an article ID. Then, the total number of articles that have passed through the gate 3 is calculated from the extracted article ID, and the total number of articles is stored in the storage unit 11 together with the article ID. When the transmission / reception unit 13 receives a signal received from the reading antenna 2, a signal that the signal has been received from the reading antenna 2 is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 13 to the antenna control unit 12. Upon receiving this signal, the antenna control unit 12 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the end antenna 5 to the transmission / reception unit 13. When the reading effective signal of the end antenna 5 is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 13, the end antenna 5 receives the signal from the carrier tag 6a. A signal received by the end antenna 5 is transmitted to the end determination unit 17 via the transmission / reception unit 13.

  The end determination unit 17 analyzes the signal received by the end antenna 5 and extracts the carrier ID. Here, when the end antenna 5 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6a, the reading of the reading antenna 2 is terminated. That is, the reading antenna 2 can check the coincidence between the carrier information stored in the storage unit 1 in advance by the front determination unit 14 and the carrier ID extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna 4. Reading is enabled until a signal is received from the carrier tag 6a. Thereby, the reading antenna 2 can improve the accuracy of specifying the article tag 7a to be detected. When the carrier ID is extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5, the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 is read from the storage unit 11. Then, it is determined whether the carrier ID extracted from the signal received from the end antenna 5 matches the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 and read from the storage unit 11. If they do not match, a signal for operating an alarm is transmitted to an alarm device (not shown) via the transmitter / receiver 13 to notify the operator that the carrier 6 is not scheduled. On the other hand, in the case of coincidence, the total number of articles calculated by the calculation unit 16 based on the article ID extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2 matches the conveyance number information stored in the storage unit 11 in advance before the conveyance operation. Judge whether to do.

  That is, when the end determination unit 17 confirms the match between the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5 and the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 and read from the storage unit 11. The article number determination unit 18 reads the total number of articles calculated by the calculation unit 16 from the storage unit 11 and the conveyance number information stored in the storage unit 11 in advance before the transfer operation. Then, it is determined whether or not the total number of articles and the transport number information match. If they do not match, a signal for activating an alarm is sent to an alarm device (not shown) via the transmission / reception unit 13 to notify the operator that the total number of articles and the transport number information do not match. On the other hand, if they match, the information of the article 7 to be conveyed to the storage unit 11 may be registered.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the transport system according to the first embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the reading operation of the article tag 7a of the transport system 1 shown in FIG.

  First, the worker stores the transport body information and work mode information (M101) of the transport body 6 to be transported in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9 in advance. At this time, conveyance number information, which is the number of articles scheduled to be conveyed, is calculated based on the conveyance body information and the work mode information by a calculation unit (not shown) of the storage unit 11 and stored in the storage unit 11. As a result, the host system 9 enters the work mode (step S101). Here, for example, the case where the carrier 6 is a lift and the article 7 to be conveyed is an article type = A and is loaded (shipped) (for example, work mode information = i) will be described. When the transport body 6 is a lift and the work mode is i, the number of articles that the transport body 6 can transport at one time is defined as 4. That is, a calculation unit (not shown) of the storage unit 11 calculates transport number information = 4. Further, the four articles 7 conveyed by the conveyance body 6 are, for example, articles 7 having article IDs a, b, c, and d.

  Next, when carrier information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11, the antenna control unit 12 of the host system 9 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the front antenna 4 via the R / W 8. (Step S102). Then, the carrier 6 passes through the front antenna 4. At this time, the front antenna 4 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6 a attached to the carrier 6. Then, the received signal is transmitted to the front determination unit 14 via the transmission / reception unit 13. The front determination unit 14 extracts the carrier ID from the received signal (step S103). At this time, if the carrier ID is not extracted, after a predetermined time elapses, the process returns to step S102 again to try to extract the carrier ID from the signal received by the front antenna 4.

  On the other hand, when the carrier ID is extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4, the front determination unit 14 reads the carrier ID from the carrier information stored in advance before the carrying work from the storage unit 11. Then, whether or not the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 in the front determination unit 14 matches the carrier ID of the carrier 6 scheduled to be transferred stored in the storage unit 11 in step 101. Is determined (step S104). If the carrier IDs do not match, for example, an alarm is activated to sound an alarm (step S115). On the other hand, when the carrier IDs match, a signal that the carrier IDs match (hereinafter referred to as a carrier ID match signal) is transmitted to the storage unit 11. Then, the storage unit 11 transmits the carrier information corresponding to the extracted carrier ID, the work mode information, and the transport number information calculated based on the carrier information and the work mode information to the display unit 15 of the host system 9. And display (step S105, M102).

  Here, the reading mode of the host system 9 is started (step S106). Thereby, reading of the reading antenna 2 of the gate 3 becomes effective. That is, in step 104, when the carrier IDs match and the storage unit 11 receives the carrier ID match signal, the carrier ID match signal is transmitted to the antenna control unit 12. When the antenna control unit 12 receives the carrier ID match signal, the antenna control unit 12 transmits an antenna switching control signal to the R / W 8 via the transmission / reception unit 13. Thereby, 1 to n reading antennas 2 arranged in the gate 3 are enabled to be read (step S107). The reading antenna 2 receives a signal from the article tag 7 a of the article 7 loaded on the carrier 6. A signal received by the reading antenna 2 is transmitted to the calculation unit 16 via the transmission / reception unit 13. The calculation unit 16 analyzes the received signal and extracts the article ID (step S108). Then, the total number of articles is calculated based on the extracted article ID, and the calculated total number of articles is stored in the storage unit 11. Here, the total number of articles = 4 is calculated based on the article IDs = a, b, c, d (M103). In addition, after step S107, when the transmission / reception unit 13 receives a signal from the reading antenna 2, a signal that the signal has been received from the reading antenna 2 is transmitted to the antenna control unit 12. When receiving the signal from the transmission / reception unit 13, the antenna control unit 12 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the end antenna 5 via the transmission / reception unit 13 (step S109).

  Next, the carrier 6 passes through the end antenna 5 after passing through the gate 3. At this time, the end antenna 5 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6a. Then, the signal received by the end antenna 5 is transmitted to the end determination unit 17 via the transmission / reception unit 13. The end determination part 17 extracts carrier ID from the signal received with the end antenna 5 (step S110). When the carrier ID is extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5, the end determination unit 17 reads the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 from the storage unit 11. Then, it is determined whether or not the carrier ID read from the storage unit 11 matches the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5 (step S111). Here, the reading mode of the host system 9 is terminated. That is, the reading of the reading antenna 2 is terminated. That is, the reading antenna 2 confirms the coincidence between the carrier information stored in the storage unit 11 in advance in the front determination unit 14 and the carrier ID extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna 4, and then the end antenna 5. Until the signal is received from the carrier tag 6a. Thereby, the precision which specifies the article tag 7a which the reading antenna 2 should detect can be improved.

  In step S111, if the end determination unit 17 does not confirm that the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 matches the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5, an alarm or the like is issued. An operation is performed and an alarm is sounded (step S116). On the other hand, if they match, the article number determination unit 18 determines the total number of articles calculated by the calculation unit 16 based on the article ID extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2 from the storage unit 11 and the upper system 9 in advance. The conveyance number information stored in the storage unit 11 is read. Then, it is determined whether or not the total number of articles and the transport number information match (step S113). If they do not match, an alarm or the like is activated and an alarm is sounded (step S117). On the other hand, if they match, the carrier information of the carrier 6 read by the end antenna 5 and the reading antenna 2, the work mode information, the total number of articles, the article ID, and the like are registered from the article number determination unit 18 to the storage unit 11. (Step S114). Thereafter, the operator or the like of the transport body 6 may be notified that the planned number of articles has been confirmed.

  In the present embodiment, after the carrier ID extracted from the signal received from the carrier tag 6a in the front antenna 4 and the number-of-conveys information stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9 in advance can be confirmed. The reading of the reading antenna 2 is enabled only until the end antenna 5 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6a. Thereby, since the reading antenna 2 can improve the accuracy of specifying the article tag 7a to be detected, it is possible to prevent reading the article tag 7a other than the article tag 7a to be originally read. In addition, when the end determination unit 17 confirms that the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 matches the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the end antenna 5, the number of articles determination unit 18 Then, it is determined whether or not the total number of articles calculated by the calculation unit 16 matches the transport number information of the articles 7 stored in the storage unit 11 in advance. As a result, when the total number of articles is different, an alarm is activated to notify the worker. Thereby, for example, when the number of articles loaded on the conveyance body 6 is different from the planned number of articles, it is possible to prevent the conveyance number from being conveyed while being erroneously recognized. For this reason, the management capability of the article 7 can be improved. Further, the reading antenna 2 calculates the number of articles 7 loaded on the carrier 6 that has passed through the gate 3. As a result, the number of articles to be conveyed can be confirmed for each sorting unit in which the sorting operation is performed by the conveyance body 6, and the number of articles 7 to be conveyed can be confirmed in fine units, thereby further preventing erroneous conveyance of the articles 7. can do.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, after the carrier ID extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4 and the carrier ID of the carrier 6 stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9 can be confirmed in advance, Until the end antenna 5 receives a signal transmitted from the carrier tag 6a, reading of the reading antenna 2 is enabled. Then, the article number determination unit 18 determines whether or not the total number of articles calculated based on the article ID extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2 matches the transport number information stored in the storage unit 11 in advance. To do. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the reading antenna 2 from detecting an article tag 7a other than the article tag 7a that should be read. Moreover, it can prevent conveying the number of articles to convey with misrecognition. That is, the article management ability can be improved.

  However, even if the reading period of the reading antenna 2 is defined, the reading antenna 2 may erroneously read an article tag 7 a other than the article 7 loaded on the carrier 6. Therefore, in the second embodiment, when the carrier ID is not extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4, the article tag 7 a of the article 7 that is read erroneously by the reading antenna 2 is detected in advance, and the carrier 6 is detected. It is registered as an exclusion tag indicating that the article 7 is not loaded. Here, in the transport system 10 shown in FIG. 5, the host system 9 further determines whether or not transport number information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11 (determines whether there is a work mode). 19

  Hereinafter, the transport system according to the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a transport system 10 according to the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the host system 9. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the reading operation of the article tag 7a of the transport system 10 shown in FIG. Here, in the transport system according to the second embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  First, it will be described that the front antenna 4 becomes effective for reading at a constant time interval. The front antenna 4 is enabled to read at regular intervals regardless of whether the host system 9 is in the work mode, and detects the carrier tag 6a. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the antenna control unit 12 of the host system 9 transmits a signal for enabling reading of the front antenna 4 via the R / W 8 at regular time intervals (step S102). The front antenna 4 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6 a and transmits the received signal to the front determination unit 14 via the transmission / reception unit 13. The front determination unit 14 extracts the carrier ID from the received signal (step S103). At this time, when the carrier ID is extracted, the process continues to step S104 shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the carrier ID is not extracted, it is determined whether or not the host system 9 is in the work mode (step S201). That is, it is determined whether or not carrier information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11. At this time, a signal indicating that the carrier ID is not extracted is transmitted from the front determination unit 14 to the work mode determination unit 19. The work mode determination unit 19 that has received the signal reads carrier information and the like from the storage unit 11 and determines whether or not the host system 9 is in the work mode. If no carrier information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11 and the work mode is not set, the process returns to step S102 after a certain period of time. That is, when the carrier information or the like is not stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9, step S102, step S103, and step S201 are repeated.

  Hereinafter, a case will be described in which the carrier information and the like are stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9 and the host system 9 is in the work mode when the front antenna 4 is enabled to be read at regular time intervals. As shown in FIG. 5, the carrier information and the like (M101) are stored in the storage unit 11 of the host system 9, and the host system 9 enters the work mode (step S101). And the antenna control part 12 transmits the signal which validates the reading of the front antenna 4 via R / W8 (step S102). The front antenna 4 receives a signal from the carrier tag 6 a and transmits the received signal to the front determination unit 14 via the transmission / reception unit 13. The front determination unit 14 extracts the carrier ID from the received signal (step S103). At this time, when the carrier ID is extracted in the front determination unit 14, the process moves to step S <b> 104 shown in FIG. 4, and the carrier ID stored in the storage unit 11 is extracted in the front determination unit 14. It is determined whether or not the IDs match. On the other hand, when the carrier ID is not extracted in step S <b> 103, the work mode determination unit 19 of the host system 9 determines whether carrier information or the like is stored in the storage unit 11. That is, it is determined whether or not the host system 9 is in the work mode (step S201). Here, in step S101, since the carrier information and the like are stored in the host system 9, it is determined that the operation mode is set. Then, the antenna control unit 12 performs antenna switching control via the R / W 8, and the reading antenna 2 detects the article tag 7 a. As a result, reading of 1 to n reading antennas 2 arranged in the gate 3 is validated (step S202). At this time, when the reading antenna 2 receives a signal from the article tag 7a (step S203), the received signal is transmitted to the calculation unit 16 via the transmission / reception unit 13. Then, the calculation unit 16 analyzes the received signal and extracts the article ID. The total number of articles with the extracted article ID is calculated based on the extracted article ID. Then, the extracted article ID and the total number of articles are stored in the storage unit 11 (M201). Here, for example, it is assumed that the article 7 with the article ID = z is detected.

  Here, when the carrier ID is extracted in step S103, the carrier ID is not extracted. For this reason, the reading antenna 2 should not detect the article tag 7a. However, the reading antenna 2 may detect the article tag 7a of the article 7 loaded near the gate 3, for example. Therefore, in the second embodiment, when the carrier ID is not extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna 4 and the reading antenna 2 erroneously detects the article tag 7a, the article loaded on the carrier 6 is used. 7 is an exclusion tag 7b indicating that it is not an article tag 7a.

  Hereinafter, the operation following step S203 will be described. In step S <b> 203, when the article tag 7 a is extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2, the extracted article ID and the total number of articles are stored in the storage unit 11. Then, the tag reading determination unit 20 reads the article ID and the total number of articles from the storage unit 11, and determines whether or not the article tag 7a is extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2 (step S204). When the tag reading determination unit 20 can read the article ID and the total number of articles from the storage unit 11, the article tag 7a is extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2, and the extracted article tag 7a is set as the exclusion tag 7b. Registration is performed (for example, an article whose article ID is z is set as an exclusion tag 7b. At this time, the number of exclusion tags is 1 (M203)) (step S205). And the alarm etc. which notify a worker etc. that there existed registration of the exclusion tag 7b are actuated (step S206). On the other hand, if the tag reading determination unit 20 cannot read the article ID and the total number of articles from the storage unit 11 in step S204, the reading antenna 2 does not detect the article ID and data indicating that the exclusion tag 7b is not registered ( For example, the number of excluded tags = 0 (M202)) is stored (step S207).

  As described above, in the transport system 10 according to the present embodiment, when the carrier ID is not extracted from the signal received by the front antenna 4, the reading antenna 2 receives the signal from the article tag 7a and receives the received signal. When the product ID is extracted from the product tag, the product tag 7a storing the product ID is set as an exclusion tag 7b indicating that the product is not the product 7 loaded on the carrier 6. That is, the reading tag 2 of the gate 3 registers in advance an article tag 7a that may be detected other than the article tag 7a of the article 7 passing through the gate 3 as an exclusion tag 7b. Thereby, when the reading antenna 2 detects an article tag 7a other than the article 7 loaded on the carrier 6, the article 7 registered as the exclusion tag 7b and the article 7 loaded on the carrier 6 Can be distinguished. And the goods which are due to be transported can be specified more strictly, and the goods 7 can be prevented from being transported to the wrong transport destination or the like. Thereby, the management capability of goods can be improved more.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. In other words, the transport body information and the work mode information may be information that can calculate the number of articles to be transported or the like based on the information. For example, the information may be the destination information of the article, the flight number of a truck or the like that transports the article to the destination. Furthermore, in the first embodiment, is the number of articles scheduled for conveyance calculated in advance by the host system 9 and the total number of articles calculated based on the article ID extracted from the signal received by the reading antenna 2 matched? For example, the article ID stores article information such as the article type indicating the size of the article or the presence / absence of contents in the article ID, and not only the total number of articles coincides but also the article type or contents. You may decide whether you are doing it.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a transport system according to a first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a transport system according to a first embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a host system according to a first exemplary embodiment. It is the schematic which shows operation | movement of the conveyance system concerning Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows the conveyance system concerning Embodiment 2. FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a host system according to a second exemplary embodiment. It is the schematic which shows operation | movement of the conveyance system concerning Embodiment 2 shown in FIG. It is the schematic which shows the conventional management system. It is the schematic which shows the conventional management system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,10 ... Conveyance system 2, 101a ... Reading antenna 3, 91 ... Gate 4 ... Front antenna 5 ... End antenna 6 ... Conveyance body 6a ... Conveyance body tag 7, 93 ... article 7a ... article tag 7b ... exclusion tag 8 ... R / W
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... Host system 11 ... Memory | storage part 12 ... Antenna control part 13 ... Transmission / reception part 14 ... Front judgment part 15 ... Display part 16 ... Calculation part 17 ... End judgment Section 18 ... Number of articles judgment section 19 ... Work mode judgment section 20 ... Tag reading judgment section 90, 100 ... Management system 91a ... Reader / writer 91b ... Transmission / reception antenna 92 ... Management Device 92a ... Display device 93a ... RFID tag 94 ... Cart 95 ... Storage area 96 ... Delivery area 103 ... Lift

Claims (8)

A storage unit that stores identification information of a carrier that conveys the article;
The identification information of the carrier extracted from a signal detected by a front antenna disposed in front of a reading antenna that detects the identification information of the article, and the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit A front determination unit for determining whether or not they match,
Whether the identification information of the carrier extracted from a signal detected by an end antenna disposed behind the reading antenna matches the identification information of the carrier extracted from a signal detected by the front antenna An end determination unit for determining
Control is performed so that the reading antenna is enabled after the front determination unit confirms the coincidence of the identification information of the carrier until the end antenna detects the identification information of the carrier. A conveyance system having an antenna control unit. The storage unit further stores in advance the number of the articles to be conveyed,
A calculating unit that calculates the number of articles detected by the reading antenna based on the identification information of the articles extracted from a signal detected by the reading antenna;
When the end determination unit confirms the coincidence of the identification information of the carrier, the number of articles calculated by the calculation unit matches the number of articles stored in advance in the storage unit. The conveyance system according to claim 1, further comprising: an article number determination unit that determines whether or not the item is present. When the front determination unit does not confirm the coincidence of the identification information of the transport body, or when the end determination unit does not confirm the coincidence of the identification information of the transport body, or the article number determination unit 3. The transport system according to claim 1, wherein an alarm is activated when a match between the number of articles calculated by the calculation unit and the number of articles stored in the storage unit is not confirmed. . When the identification information of the carrier is not extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna, the carrier tag is attached to the article detected by the reading antenna and the identification information of the article is stored. The transfer system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transfer system is registered in the storage unit as an exclusion tag indicating that the article is not loaded on the storage. Storing identification information of a carrier that conveys an article in a storage unit;
The identification information of the carrier extracted from a signal detected by a front antenna disposed in front of a reading antenna that detects the identification information of the article, and the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit Determine whether they match,
Determining whether the identification information of the carrier detected by the end antenna disposed behind the reading antenna matches the identification information of the carrier detected by the front antenna;
The identification information of the carrier after the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna and the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit can be confirmed. A control method of a transport system that controls to enable the reading antenna until the end antenna is detected by the end antenna. Further storing the number of articles to be conveyed in advance in the storage unit,
Calculating the number of articles detected by the reading antenna based on the identification information of the articles extracted from the signal detected by the reading antenna;
When the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the end antenna matches the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna, the calculated number of articles, 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein it is determined whether or not the number of articles stored in advance in the storage unit matches. When the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna does not match the identification information of the carrier stored in the storage unit, or from the signal detected by the end antenna When the extracted identification information of the carrier does not match the identification information of the carrier extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna, or the calculated number of articles is stored in the storage unit in advance. The control method for a transport system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein an alarm is activated when the number of the articles that are present does not match. When the identification information of the carrier is not extracted from the signal detected by the front antenna, the carrier tag is attached to the article detected by the reading antenna and the identification information of the article is stored. The transfer system control method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein an exclusion tag indicating that the article is not loaded on the storage unit is registered in the storage unit.

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