PRODUCT MANAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD USING RFID TECHNOLOGY

• US 20070152047A1
• Filed: 08/08/2006
• Published: 07/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Huang, Cheng-Wei, Kuo, Jen-Yau, Fu, Li-Dien, Lo, Kuo-Shu, Tu, Mengru (Arthur)
• Application Number:
  US11/463,009
• Publication Number:
  US 20070152047A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A product managing system and method using RFID technology is provided. The product managing system includes an RFID tag, an RFID reader, and a server. The RFID tag is set on a product for providing a tag ID, an object type and attribute, and an event content. The RFID reader reads the RFID tag. The server obtains various information provided by the RFID tag set on the product from the RFID reader, determines the product ID according to the tag ID, determines a class of the product and whether the product is correctly combined with another product according to the object type and attribute, and determines whether a processing procedure of the product is correctly conducted according to the event content. The server finally determines whether the product is normal according to the aforementioned determinations.

Claims

1. A product managing system using RFID technology, comprising:

an RFID tag set on a product, the RFID tag comprising memory data structure information, wherein the memory data structure information comprises;

a tag ID, being used as a code information of the RFID tag;

an object type and attribute, for recording a class of the product and associated information of a product combination; and

an event content, for recording associated information of a product processing procedure;

an RFID reader, for reading the memory data structure information on the RFID tag; and

a server, for receiving the tag ID, the object type and attribute, and the event content provided by the memory data structure information in the RFID tag set on the product from the RFID reader, and achieving a purpose of product management according to a system database and a process setting.

2. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tag ID is product information about product manufacture, product class, product serial number, and the coding manner follows the industry standard or is defined by the company.

3. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the object type and attribute are a product category and a product BOM ID, so as to determine a class of the product and determine whether the product is correctly combined with another product.

4. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the object type and attribute is information about an agent type, a BOM Checking Flag, and a BOM ID.

5. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the event content comprises an event header EH and an event payload EP.

6. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 5, wherein the event header is used to record an operational flow of the process sequence, process result, and process mode of the event and determination manners of the event and a next event.

7. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 5, wherein the event payload is used to record the event ID and provide a storage space for various setting data which is divided into a preload block and a write block.

8. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 5, wherein the event content is increased or decreased dynamically, and the different event contents compose an Event Linklist.

9. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the RFID tag is an active RFID tag or a positive RFID tag.

10. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 1, wherein the server comprises:

an RFID Middleware module, for reading the tag ID, the object type and attribute, and the event content from the RFID reader;

a central agent module, coupled to the RFID Middleware module to obtain the tag ID, the object type and attribute, and the event content, and determine a processing procedure to be performed according to the obtained data; and

an interface agent module, coupled to the central agent module to receive an external instruction, and transmit the external instruction to the central agent module so as to perform a corresponding processing procedure.

11. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 9, wherein the central agent module comprises:

an information agent module, coupled to a database to provide a function of accessing the data or a continuous monitor to the data source;

more than one operation agent modules, coupled to the interface agent module and the information agent module, for receiving an external instruction from the interface agent module and performing a specific processing procedure, and obtaining a required data through the information agent module; and

a coordination agent module, for coordinating and managing an interaction between individual agent modules and continuously monitoring operations of individual agent modules.

12. The product managing system using RFID technology as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

a database, for storing initial data, master data, static information, dynamic information, process-associated information, RFID tag passage information, and data of an external system to be processed; and

a data managing module, coupled between the database and the server, responsible for accessing the data of the database and converting the data format between the database and the server.

13. A product managing method using RFID technology, the method comprising:

using an RFID tag to provide a tag ID, an object type and attribute, and an event content;

reading the tag ID to determine a product ID of the product;

reading the object type and attribute to determine a class of the product and determine whether the product is correctly combined with another product;

reading the event content to determine whether or not a processing procedure of the product is correct; and

determining whether the product disposed with the RFID tag is normal according to the aforementioned determinations.

14. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 13, wherein the provided object type and attribute comprises:

an agent type, for providing a product category;

a BOM Checking Flag, for marking whether or not the product is combined with another product; and

a BOM ID, for marking the product ID of another product combined with the product.

15. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 13, wherein when the object type and attribute are read to determine a class of the product and determine whether the product is correctly combined with another product, it is determined whether the product is correctly combined with another product in the case that the BOM Checking Flag marks that the product is combined with another product.

16. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 13, wherein the event recording area comprises at least one event content, each of the event content comprising:

an event payload, for recording the event ID of the event and providing a storage space of various setting data; and

an event header, for recording the process sequence, process result, and process mode of the event, and the determination manners of the event and the next event.

17. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

performing an initialization before the RFID tag is read, and in the initialization, storing the setting data required by the process in the storage space of various setting data provided by the event payload.

18. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

after each event is processed, recording the associated information produced during the processing into the storage space of various setting data provided by the event payload.

19. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

before RFID is read, performing an initialization to reset the content of the RFID tag.

20. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 17, wherein the step of performing initialization comprises:

resetting the RFID tag;

obtaining the initial data of the external system;

collating and storing the initial data into a corresponding data table of the database;

obtaining the tag ID and the object type and attribute according to the data in the corresponding data table;

defining the event content; and

writing the tag ID, the object type and attribute, and the event content into the RFID tag.

21. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of resetting the event content comprises:

setting the determination manner of the event as Predefined (PD);

setting the field of a flag determining whether the event payload is allowed to record as ON, and preparing the setting data in the field used when writing the event payload; and

determining the determination manner of the next event.

22. The product managing method using RFID technology as claimed in claim 20, wherein the step of resetting the event content comprises:

setting the determination manner of the event as Dynamic (DY);

setting the field of a flag determining whether or not the event payload is allowed to record as ON, and clearing the unset data fields; and

determining a determination manner of the next event.

23. A product managing method using RFID technology, comprising steps of processing an RFID tagged work piece entering a workstation equipped with an RFID reader/reader group, wherein the steps of processing the RFID tagged work piece comprise:

an RFID tag handler agent module'"'"'s fetching a next available tag data through an RFID middleware module;

the RFID tag handler agent module'"'"'s parsing and analyzing a tag ID and an event string to obtain associated parameters and pass relevant parameters to a session manager agent module;

a session manager agent'"'"'s obtaining the associated information with a certain mobile agent and location and/or operation specific information from a system database using the relevant parameters just passed from the RFID tag handler agent module and then caching these data in its memory;

the session manager agent'"'"'s sending key parameters regarding a certain mobile agent back to the RFID tag handler agent so as to perform a further determination and process;

a tag handler agent'"'"'s comparing the tag ID and event parameters with the associated parameters provided by the session manager agent, so as to determine whether the event represented by a mobile agent can be processed at this location and at this time, if yes, the RFID tag handler agent module sending a notification with associated parameter data to a service manager agent module to process the event;

otherwise, the RFID tag handler agent module informing the service manager agent module to handle the exception and to display an error message and relevant correcting information to a user;

upon receiving an event processing notification and associated parameter data from the RFID tag handler agent module, a service manager agent module'"'"'s retrieving location and/or operation specific information cached in the session manager agent module according the tag ID, a location ID, an event ID, and other associated information in the parameters, wherein, if detail event data is predefined and preloaded in a Mobile Agent memory bank during tagged object initialization, the service manager agent performs its operation directly according to the associated setting data and instructions of the tag sent from the RFID tag handler agent module;

the service manager agent module'"'"'s transmitting the event process logic or recipe information to the external system, and driving its automatic process flow, wherein, when the external process flow completed, the external processing information is sent back to the service manager agent module by the external system and then service manager agent module relays these information to the session manager agent module;

a session manager agent module'"'"'s registering external processing information in its cache memory and sending a completion notice and associated parameters to an event manager agent module for further process;

the event manager agent module'"'"'s obtaining production routing and recipe information regarding the work piece from the system database, performing data comparison and computing to determine a next stage of the mobile agent and generate a new event information, and finally instructing the RFID tag handler agent module to write the new event to the tagged work piece;

the RFID tag handler agent module'"'"'s writing the new event into the mobile agent and updating the associated parameters of the current event while the RFID tag handler agent module notifies the session manager agent module about the completion of this production event cycle; and

the session manager agent module'"'"'s storing associated production event handling data registered in its cache memory respectively into the system database and a tag activity database and releasing from its cache memory corresponding cached event data regarding the work piece during this event handling session.