ARTICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, ARTICLE MANAGEMENT METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM STORING ARTICLE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

• US 20160125211A1
• Filed: 04/15/2014
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: HATTORI, Wataru
• Granted Patent: US 9,898,632 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An article management system includes RFID tags (102) fixed above a reader waveguide (101), a tag position table storage unit (106) that stores tag information and fixed positions of the RFID tags (102) in association with each other, an article position table storage unit (105) that stores identification information and an assigned position of an article (108) in association with each other, an article management table storage unit (107) that stores the identification information of the article (108) and the tag information of the RFID tags (102) in association with each other, a tag reading unit (103) that reads the RFID tags (102) by electromagnetic coupling through the reader waveguide (101), and an article presence/absence determination unit that determines presence or absence of placement of the article (108) corresponding to the RFID tags (102) based on results of reading the RFID tags (102). It is thereby possible to easily manage articles in a simplified way even when the placement of articles has changed.

Claims

1. An article management system comprising:

a reader waveguide formed as an open transmission line terminated with matching impedance;

a plurality of RFID tags fixed in an article allocable area above the reader waveguide and electromagnetically coupled to the reader waveguide;

a tag position table storage unit that stores a tag position table associating tag information of the plurality of RFID tags and fixed positions of the plurality of RFID tags;

an article position table storage unit that stores an article position table associating identification information of articles and assigned positions of the articles assigned to place the articles in the allocable area;

an article management table storage unit that stores an article management table associating the identification information of the articles and the tag information of the plurality of RFID tags based on the tag position table and the article position table;

a tag reading unit that reads the plurality of RFID tags by electromagnetic coupling through the reader waveguide; and

an article presence/absence determination unit that determines presence or absence of an article corresponding to the plurality of RFID tags based on results of reading the plurality of RFID tags by referring to the article management table.

2. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein a size of the plurality of RFID tags is smaller than a size coming into contact with the allocable area when the article is placed.

3. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein an interval of the plurality of RFID tags is smaller than a size coming into contact with the allocable area when the article is placed.

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

an article management table creation unit that creates the article management table according to association between the fixed positions of the plurality of RFID tags in the tag position table and the assigned positions of the articles in the article position table.

5. The article management system according to claim 1, comprising

an article management table creation unit that receives input of the identification information of the articles and the tag information of the plurality of RFID tags in association and creates the article management table according to the input association.

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

a metal sheet placed on the plurality of RFID tags and having an opening at positions corresponding to RFID tags located within the assigned position of the article among the plurality of RFID tags, wherein

the article presence/absence determination unit determines presence or absence of the article placed on the metal sheet.

7. The article management system according to claim 6, comprising:

a metal sheet creation unit that makes the opening corresponding to positions of RFID tags in the article management table by referring to the article management table.

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

an article placement sheet placed on the plurality of RFID tags and where the assigned position of the article is displayed, wherein

the article presence/absence determination unit determines presence or absence of the article placed on the article placement sheet.

9. The article management system according to claim 6, comprising:

an article placement sheet placed on the metal sheet and where the assigned position of the article is displayed, wherein

the article presence/absence determination unit determines presence or absence of the article placed on the article placement sheet.

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

an article placement sheet creation unit that creates the article placement sheet according to the assigned positions of the articles in the article position table by referring to the article position table.

11. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein

the tag reading unit reads all of the plurality of RFID tags at a time, and

the article presence/absence determination unit determines presence or absence of the article based on results of reading RFID tags contained in the article management table among the results of reading.

12. The article management system according to claim 1, wherein

the tag reading unit reads RFID tags contained in the article management table among the plurality of RFID tags one by one, and

the article presence/absence determination unit determines presence or absence of the article based on all of the results of reading.

13. An article management method comprising:

fixing a plurality of RFID tags in an article allocable area above a reader waveguide formed as an open transmission line terminated with matching impedance, the plurality of RFID tags to be electromagnetically coupled to the reader waveguide;

storing a tag position table associating tag information of the plurality of RFID tags and fixed positions of the plurality of RFID tags;

storing an article position table associating identification information of articles and assigned positions of the articles assigned to place the articles in the allocable area;

storing an article management table associating the identification information of the articles and the tag information of the plurality of RFID tags based on the tag position table and the article position table;

reading the plurality of RFID tags by electromagnetic coupling through the reader waveguide; and

determining presence or absence of an article corresponding to the plurality of RFID tags based on results of reading the plurality of RFID tags by referring to the article management table.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an article management program causing a computer to execute an article management process, the article management process comprising:

storing a tag position table associating tag information of a plurality of RFID tags and fixed positions of the plurality of RFID tags, the plurality of RFID tags being fixed in an article allocable area above a reader waveguide formed as an open transmission line terminated with matching impedance and being electromagnetically coupled to the reader waveguide;

storing an article position table associating identification information of articles and assigned positions of the articles assigned to place the articles in the allocable area;

storing an article management table associating the identification information of the articles and the tag information of the plurality of RFID tags based on the tag position table and the article position table;

reading the plurality of RFID tags by electromagnetic coupling through the reader waveguide; and

determining presence or absence of an article corresponding to the plurality of RFID tags based on results of reading the plurality of RFID tags by referring to the article management table.

15. An article management system comprising:

a reader waveguide formed as an open transmission line terminated with matching impedance;

a plurality of RFID tags fixed in an article allocable area above the reader waveguide and electromagnetically coupled to the reader waveguide;

a tag position table storage means for storing a tag position table associating tag information of the plurality of RFID tags and fixed positions of the plurality of RFID tags;

an article position table storage means for storing an article position table associating identification information of articles and assigned positions of the articles assigned to place the articles in the allocable area;

an article management table storage means for storing an article management table associating the identification information of the articles and the tag information of the plurality of RFID tags based on the tag position table and the article position table;

a tag reading means for reading the plurality of RFID tags by electromagnetic coupling through the reader waveguide; and

an article presence/absence determination means for determining presence or absence of an article corresponding to the plurality of RFID tags based on results of reading the plurality of RFID tags by referring to the article management table.