JP5261994B2 - Identification tag and cable identification system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an identification tag which can be attached to an optional position after segmenting a cable to necessary length, by which cable identification can be performed by a computer, and which is suitable for cabling operation, and to provide an identification tag which makes it possible to read the identification tag of a cable as the object of reading without reading the identification tag of the other cable. <P>SOLUTION: This identification tag is attached to a cable-shaped mounting object, and provided with an attaching part to be to be attached to the cable-shaped attaching object; an antenna for transmitting/receiving a signal; and an RFID circuit for analyzing a signal transmitted/received by the antenna, wherein the antenna is composed to surround the circumferential direction of the cross-section of the attaching object when it is attached to the attaching object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an identification tag and a cable identification system using RFID.

  In order to lay electrical cables in plants, railways, and buildings, work specifications are created from design circuit drawings, and workers perform laying, wiring, testing, and removal work while referring to this. In order to carry out these operations, it is necessary to identify the cable, and for this purpose, an identification tag is attached to the cable composed of one or a plurality of core wires or to the core wire constituting the cable. This identification tag can be visually confirmed by a computer by using a tag using a barcode or RFID in addition to a tag on which a name or ID is written or printed for visual observation, improving reliability. There are advantages you can do.

  In order to attach the identification tag to the cable and perform the work while reading, it is desirable that the identification tag be easy to read.

  However, when a cable is connected to a terminal, a plurality of cables are concentrated in a narrow space around the terminal block. Therefore, if the cable is simply easy to read, the identification tag of another cable that is not to be read will be read. There is. Therefore, it is necessary to lead the identification tag of the target cable to be read without leading the identification tag of the other cable.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for identifying terminals and cables by attaching a barcode. Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a technique for writing wiring information to an RFID and attaching it to a cable.

  However, since the barcode cannot be satisfactorily read unless it is made large and flat and then lead, it is not suitable for attaching to a cable. Further, Patent Documents 2 and 3 do not disclose how to attach to cables or terminals.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a technique for winding an antenna around a cable-shaped linear wireless tag body in order to attach a wireless tag to a cable. However, a cable is necessary to print the coiled antenna. It cannot be attached to any position where it is easy to work after it is cut out long.

  Further, there is no disclosure of an identification tag for reading the identification tag of a target cable to be read without using RFID to read the identification tag of another cable.

JP 2000-90044 A JP 2003-114247 A JP 2004-349184 A JP 2004-192114 A

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an identification tag suitable for cable work, in which a cable can be attached to an arbitrary position after being cut out to a required length, and cable identification can be performed by a computer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an identification tag and a cable identification system that can lead an identification tag of a target cable to be read without leading the identification tag of the cable.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention is an identification tag attached to a cable-like attachment object connected to one of a plurality of terminals arranged at a predetermined interval provided on a terminal block, The identification tag includes an attachment portion attached to the cable-like attachment object, a linear antenna that transmits and receives signals, and an RFID circuit that analyzes and transmits signals transmitted and received by the antenna. The antenna and the RFID circuit are Embedded in the resin forming the attachment portion by injection molding, and the attachment portion is partly in the attachment portion in a cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cable-like attachment object. The antenna has a substantially straight part for forming a substantially flat part, and the antenna is long when the identification tag is attached to the cable-like attachment object Direction are arranged in parallel with the cross-section, the antenna, it is characterized in shorter than the interval of a plurality of terminals arranged at a predetermined interval provided in the terminal block.

  The identification tag of the present invention can be attached at an arbitrary position where it is easy to work after the cable is cut to the required length.

  Further, the cable identification system of the present invention has an advantage that the cable identification can be performed by a computer, and the reliability of the cable work can be improved.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1, 2 and 15 show a cable identification tag to which an RFID is attached. A mounting section 1 molded with a resin such as plastic in a deformed shape (FIG. 15) in which the cross section is C-type (FIG. 1) or O-type (FIG. 2) or a cross-section is combined with a part of C-type or O-type, Consists of.

  The RFID 2 includes an antenna 21 and an RFID circuit 22, and FIG. 13 shows a configuration of one embodiment thereof. The antenna 21 receives radio waves and passes them to the power receiving apparatus 222 and the transmission / reception unit 224. The power receiving device 222 performs impedance matching of the radio wave, extracts electric power from the radio wave, and stores it in the capacitor 223 (or the secondary battery 223). The transmission / reception unit 224, the calculation unit 225, and the ID signal holding unit 221 operate as follows with the electric power stored in the capacitor 223.

  The transmission / reception unit 224 receives a radio wave from the antenna 21 as a radio signal and passes it to the calculation unit 225. The calculation unit 225 analyzes the radio signal received from the transmission / reception unit 224, obtains an ID included in the signal, compares the ID with the ID held in the ID signal holding unit 221, and determines that the transmission / reception unit 224 indicates a match if they match. Reply via. When the congestion control is not performed, the ID held in the ID signal holding unit 221 is returned without comparing the IDs in the calculation unit 225. The RFID circuit 22 may have other configurations.

  The antenna 21 in FIGS. 1, 2 and 15 is a dipole antenna, and is attached to the attachment portion 1 along the circumferential direction of the cable when the attachment portion 1 is attached to the cable (see FIG. 10). It is characterized by that. The reason is described below. The antenna length is determined by the size of the radio wave to be transmitted and received and the optimum transmission and reception size based on the surrounding dielectric constant. For example, in the 2.45 GHz band, the length is 5 to 6 cm. In order to attach this length to the cable as it is, if it is attached along the longitudinal direction of the cable, when connecting each cable to the terminal of the terminal block, it is arranged at a pitch (for example, about 1 cm) between the terminals of the terminal block. become. Then, since the range in which the tag attached to the adjacent cable can be read has a wide overlapping range, even when it is desired to read the RFID of one target cable, the tag of the adjacent cable is read. Therefore, if the cables are attached in the circumferential direction, a range in which the tags attached to adjacent cables can be read can be reduced, and only the RFID of one target cable can be easily read.

  If the circumference is shorter than the optimum length of the antenna, shorten the antenna. Further, it is also effective to shorten the antenna as shown in FIG. 3 in order to reduce the overlapping range of the leadable range with the tag attached to the adjacent cable.

  If the antenna 21 is attached to the outside of the attachment portion 1, the range in which the RFID 2 can be easily read can be widened. On the other hand, in order to prevent the attachment portion 1 and the RFID 2 from being separated, it is effective to embed the RFID 2 when the attachment portion 1 is injection-molded as shown in FIG.

  If you write or print the name or ID for visual inspection on this identification tag, you can also work by visual inspection, you can check by both visual and reader means, improving reliability There are advantages you can do. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a flat surface portion 11 and a tag embedding portion 12 for printing on the attachment portion 1 as shown in FIG. The flat surface portion 11 may be bent, but by using a flat surface, there is an advantage that printing is possible even with a printer that cannot perform printing unless it is a flat surface portion such as a thermal transfer system.

Further, when attaching the identification tag to the cable, it is easier to work if the direction of the tag is directed in the direction in which the reader can be easily applied, but it is troublesome for the operator to align the direction. In FIG. 4, (1), (2), (3), and (4) are referred to as the first quadrant, the second quadrant, the third quadrant, and the fourth quadrant, respectively. Since the RFID 2 is embedded in the direction of the fourth quadrant and the third quadrant in the mounting portion 1 in FIG. 4, it is generally easy to read when the reader antenna is applied from this direction. On the other hand, the visual tag is often used toward the worker so that the worker can easily work. Therefore, in order that the RFID 2 also faces the worker direction when the visual print is directed in an easy-to-view direction, the print section is also embedded with the quadrants 4 and 3, ie, RFID 2 shown in FIG. It is good to provide it on the side.

  In addition, if the position where the RFID 2 is embedded in the attachment portion 1 avoids the printing portion, it is effective in avoiding damage to the RFID 2 due to heat or pressure during printing. It is also effective in making it easy to understand whether the RFID 2 is embedded. If the operator knows that it is embedded at the end, the operator can comfortably lead by approaching the end when the reader antenna is applied. In addition, the same effect can be obtained by adding a protrusion, a dent, or a notch so that the antenna portion can be seen. If there is no risk of breakage due to printing, it is possible to lead comfortably by printing a mark indicating that at the position where the RFID 2 is embedded.

  FIGS. 6 and 7 disclose a method in which it is desired to increase the print information and to embed the antenna along the circumferential direction in order to increase the print information. Since printing is performed without attaching to the cable at the time of printing, the attachment portion 1 is molded using a soft rubbery material so that the cross section has a major axis and a minor axis as in the attachment portion 1 in FIG. The flat portion 11 is provided in parallel with the major axis. As a result, a large print surface can be taken. Further, when the attachment portion 1 is fitted to the cable, the shape of the cross section is deformed due to the roundness of the cable, so that the antenna can be placed along the circumference of the cable.

A method of reading with a reader regardless of the orientation of the identification tag will be disclosed with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, since RFID 2 is embedded in the direction of the fourth quadrant and the third quadrant, it is generally easy to read when the reader antenna is applied from this direction. There is annoyance that must be considered. If you can lead from the direction of the first quadrant and the second quadrant, you can work comfortably.

  The method will be described below. When the reader 4 in FIG. 8 receives an instruction to read from the upper host via the signal line 101, the reader 4 generates a signal for reading the RFID and sends the signal to the reader antenna 31 via the signal line 100. When a signal for reading an RFID is transmitted from the reader antenna 31, the RFID 2 embedded in the attachment unit 1 receives the signal, analyzes it, and transmits a reply signal. When the signal transmitted from the RFID 2 is received by the reader antenna 31, the signal is sent to the reader 4 through the signal line 100, and the reader 4 analyzes the signal received through the signal line 100 to obtain necessary information such as the ID number of the RFID 2. Is sent to the upper host via the signal line 101. The reader antenna 31 is characterized in that a straight normal dipole antenna is bent along the circumferential direction of the cable, and the identification tag to be read is sandwiched between the bends and is read.

  FIG. 9 illustrates a case where a normal linear dipole antenna is used. The reader 4 is the same as that described in FIG. The reader antenna 33 can be comfortably read when the reader antenna 33 and the antenna 21 are brought close to each other in accordance with the direction of the antenna 21 of the RFID 2 of the mounting portion 1. Therefore, it is preferable to determine an angle at which the reader antenna 33 is attached to the reader so that the reader antenna 33 and the RFID 2 antenna 21 of the attachment unit 1 are close to parallel from the assumed way of holding the reader.

  FIG. 10 discloses a size for improving workability. Terminals 10-1 to 10-4 are arranged on the terminal block 10, and cables 1-1 to 1-4 are connected to the terminal block 10, respectively. Since the cables are arranged at the pitch L of the terminal block 10, the length size L1mm of the mounting portion 1 in the terminal arrangement direction when fitted on the cable needs to be smaller than the pitch Lmm of the terminal block.

  Also, if the width L2 mm of the reader antenna 31 shown in FIG. 8 and the length L3 mm of the reader antenna 33 shown in FIG. It may be difficult to lead. When the antenna 33 of the RFID 2 is not bent along the circumference, it must be at least smaller than the terminal block pitch Lmm. Some pitches Lmm are around 10 mm, and the cables are adjacent to each other at this pitch Lmm. Therefore, in order to read the RFID of the target cable without reading the RFID of the adjacent cable, such a configuration is necessary.

  In order to improve the reliability of cable connection, as shown in FIG. 10, RFIDs 2-11 to 2-14 are also attached to the terminal side of the terminal block so that the cable side RFID 2-1 and the terminal side RFID 2-11 In addition, the connected cable and terminal RFID may be read as a pair to automatically determine whether it is correct or incorrect. At this time, the size of the RFIDs 2-11 to 2-14 on the terminal side is also made smaller than the pitch L of the terminal block so that it is in the same direction as the cable side RFIDs 2-1 to 2-4, that is, along the circumferential direction of the cable. When attached to the cable, the reader antenna 31 or the reader antenna 33 is slid in the cable direction, and the connected cable and terminal RFID pair (for example, 2-11 and 2-1, 2-12 and 2-2). Can be prevented from being read erroneously (for example, 2-11 and 2-2). In addition to attaching an RFID for each terminal on the terminal side, an RFID for identifying the terminal block can be attached to check whether there is an error in the terminal block connected to the cable.

  With reference to FIG. 11, another method when using the normal linear dipole antenna described in FIG. 9 will be described. The configuration of the signal line 100 and the reader antenna 33 in FIG. 11 is the same as that described in FIG. In order to read only the target identification tag without reading the adjacent identification tag, as shown in FIG. 11, the plane part 41 including the reader antenna 33, the plane part 421R, the plane part 422R, the plane part 421L, A flat portion 422L is provided so as to surround the identification tag to be read. The shape surrounding the identification tag, that is, since the planar portion is actually thick, the distance between the planar portion 422R and the planar portion 422L is the inner side L4in and the outer side L4out, but the inner side L4in is the identification shown in FIG. The tag size is larger than L1 mm, and the outer side L4out is smaller than the pitch L of the terminal block. Thereby, the operator can comfortably lead the target tag by the act of surrounding the identification tag with the flat portions 41, 421, and 422. If the flat surface portion 422R and the flat surface portion 422L are configured by a radio wave absorption band or a radio wave reflection band, even if the output of a signal emitted from the reader antenna 33 is increased, the adjacent identification tag is not erroneously read, and the lead work can be comfortably performed. it can. Note that the planar portion 421R and the planar portion 421L may not be provided.

  A modification of the method of mounting the antenna 21 on the mounting portion 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The antenna 21 shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 15 is a dipole antenna. When the attachment portion 1 is attached to the cable (FIG. 10), the antenna 21 is attached to the attachment portion 1 along the circumferential direction of the cable. FIG. 12 (a) shows the identification tag and antenna 21 in this state from the side, and FIG. 12 (b) shows it from the side. When the attachment portion 1 is fitted to the cable, the antenna 21 is attached to the attachment portion 1 along the circumference of the cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the cable. At this time, if the antenna 21 is attached at an angle Θ with an angle Θ as shown in 2a or 2b, the antenna 21 can be made long, so that the lead can be easily read when the circumference is less than the optimum length of the antenna 21. May improve. In this case, when the reader antenna 31 described with reference to FIG. 8 is used, if the identification tag is sandwiched so as to lie at an angle of about H with respect to the orthogonal direction, rather than being sandwiched at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the cable, the reader antenna 31 is It will be located on the outer concentric circle of the RFID antenna 21 and it will be easy to read. Therefore, it is preferable to determine the insertion direction of the reader antenna 31 that is easy to work, and attach the antenna 21 to the attachment portion 1 as shown in 2a or 2b with an angle H so as to be positioned on the inner concentric circle of the reader antenna 31. It is also effective to attach the antenna 21 along the lines 2b and 2c as a device for increasing the antenna length.

  A method for cable management using an identification tag will be described with reference to FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 5, when the identification tag is provided with a printing portion and printed, it can be used as both a visual identification tag and a reader identification tag, thereby improving work reliability. Therefore, it is effective for work if the user-defined ID, the ID of RFID 2 of the identification tag, and the print character string are combined and stored as data in a PC or the like. When the RFID 2 of the identification tag is read, the print character string can be displayed on the PC screen, or related information can be displayed from the user-defined ID. The print character string uses a user-defined ID that is different from the print character string in order to allow the same print character string to exist in other groups. The ID of the RFID 2 and the print character string may be used in combination.

  To that end, (Step 1) prepare a table in which data is defined only for user-defined IDs, and (Step 2) repeat the following for the number of identification tags to be printed. That is, (Step 3) The character string to be printed is input to the print character string, (Step 4) RFID2 of the identification tag to be printed is read by the reader, and (Step 5) the read value is input to the ID of RFID2 (Step 6) A character string to be printed on the identification tag is printed. Alternatively, as a modified example of (Step 3) from the design data, (Step 3a) prepare a table in which a character string to be printed is paired with a print character string, and for example, (Step 2) print in order of user-defined ID The above steps (Step 4), (Step 5), and (Step 6) are repeated for the number of identification tags to be used. Thus, cable management can be performed using the printed identification tag, the user-defined ID, the ID of the identification tag RFID 2 and the print character string.

  It can be used for cable work for laying and maintaining electrical cables in plants, railways, and buildings. It can also be used for the purpose of attaching to a cable-like object and identifying it with a computer.

The block diagram of a C-type identification tag. The block diagram of an identification tag whose section is O type. The block diagram of an identification tag. The block diagram of an identification tag. The block diagram of the identification tag which provided the printing part. The block diagram of an identification tag. The block diagram of an identification tag. Identification tag and reader. Identification tag and reader. The figure of how to attach an identification tag. The block diagram of a reader antenna. The block diagram of an identification tag. The block diagram of RFID. Example of cable management data. The block diagram of an identification tag.

Explanation of symbols

1 Mounting part 2 RFID
4 Reader 10 Terminal Block 21 Antenna 22 RFID Circuit 31 Reader Antenna

Claims (5)

An identification tag attached to a cable-like attachment object connected to one of a plurality of terminals arranged at a predetermined interval provided on a terminal block,
The identification tag is
An attachment portion to be attached to the cable-like attachment object;
A linear antenna for transmitting and receiving signals;
An RFID circuit for analyzing and processing signals transmitted and received by the antenna;
The antenna and the RFID circuit are embedded by injection molding in a resin that forms the attachment portion,
The attachment part has a substantially straight part for forming a substantially flat part in the attachment part in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cable-like attachment object,
The antenna is arranged such that the longitudinal direction is parallel to the cross section when the identification tag is attached to the cable-like attachment object,
The identification tag, wherein the antenna is shorter than an interval between a plurality of terminals arranged at a predetermined interval provided on the terminal block. In the identification tag in claim 1,
The substantially flat portion has a print portion that is printed or printed in the future,
The identification tag is mounted in a portion different from the print unit at a position within the substantially flat portion and away from the print unit in the longitudinal direction of the cable-like attachment object. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 2.
The attachment object is assigned an object ID defined in advance by the user,
The RFID circuit holds a unique ID,
A set of the object ID, the unique ID, and a character string, and data consisting of one or more sets;
In the substantially plane portion of the identification tag having the RFID circuit holding the unique ID,
A character string that is paired with a unique ID in the data is printed. In any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The mounting part is provided with a unique shape part with a recess or a notch,
An identification tag, wherein the antenna has a fixed positional relationship with the unique shape portion. An identification tag according to claim 1, and
The cable identification system using the reader characterized by the antenna of the shape surrounding the circumferential direction of the section of the attachment part.

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