Article management system

• US 20040206810A1
• Filed: 03/09/2004
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Yamagiwa, Toshio
• Granted Patent: US 7,142,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/376
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

To provide an article management system capable of managing part configuration information, registration information of owners and the like, and detailed history information related to articles and capable of utilizing the information for further various purposes. In addition, to provide an IC (RFID) capable of transmitting not only product information previously given from the outside but also information indicating the current state of a product itself.

Claims

1. An article management system comprising:

tag information read means for reading information from a tag fixed to an article from production of the article to disposal thereof;

identification means for identifying the individual article based on information read from the tag;

article information storage means for storing at least one of registration information and history information of the article while associating the information with identification information of the individual article; and

information output means for reading at least any one of the registration information related to the individual article and the history information related thereto from the article information storage means and outputting the read information, based on an identification result obtained by the identification means.

2. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein the article information storage means is provided outside of the tag.

3. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein the article is transportation equipment.

4. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein the article is transportation equipment.

5. The article management system according to claim 3, wherein a terminal device provided in each base includes the tag information read means, and the system further comprises:

search target identification information storage means for storing identification information of transportation equipment to be searched; and

comparison means for comparing an identification result obtained by identifying an individual transportation equipment by the identification means to identification information stored in the search target identification information storage means, based on information sent from the terminal device.

6. The article management system according to claim 4, wherein a terminal device provided in each base includes the tag information read means, and the system further comprises:

search target identification information storage means for storing identification information of transportation equipment to be searched; and

comparison means for comparing an identification result obtained by identifying an individual transportation equipment by the identification means to identification information stored in the search target identification information storage means, based on information sent from the terminal device.

7. The article management system according to claim 1, further comprising:

part configuration information storage means for storing part configuration information indicating a part configuration for each individual article while associating the part configuration information with identification information of the article;

owner information storage means for storing owner information indicating an owner for each individual article while associating the owner information with the identification information of the article; and

owner information extraction means for listing article identification information of an article including a specific part by referring to the part configuration information storage means and for extracting and outputting the owner information stored in the owner information storage means while associating the owner information with the listed article identification information, respectively.

8. The article management system according to claim 1, further comprising:

manifest issuance means for issuing a manifest in association with identification information for identifying the individual article; and

waste disposal information storage means for storing information of enterprises in respective stages of waste disposal in association with the identification information.

9. The article management system according to claim 8, wherein

a portable terminal device for reading information from the tag fixed to a dumped article includes the tag information read means,

the identification means identifies the dumped individual article based on information sent from the portable terminal device and

the system further comprises dumped article information output means for outputting information read by referring to at least any one of the article information storage means and the waste disposal information storage means based on an identification result obtained by the identification means.

10. An IC comprising:

storage means for storing product information including product identification information; and

control means for reading out the product information from the storage means and transmitting the information to the outside,

wherein a sensor is provided inside.

11. The IC described in claim 10, wherein upon receiving product information from an outside, the control means writes the product information to the storage means.

12. The IC described in claim 10, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor.

13. The IC described in claim 11, wherein the sensor is a pressure sensor.

14. The IC described in claim 10, wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor.

15. The IC described in claim 11, wherein the sensor is a temperature sensor.

16. The IC described in claim 10, wherein the storage means, the control means, and the sensor are contained in a single case.

17. The IC described in claim 11, wherein the storage means, the control means, and the sensor are contained in a single case.