JP2024027602A - Conveyed object identification system - Google Patents

Abstract

To enable accurate identification of an object having multiple RF tags attached thereto without having to use special RF tags.SOLUTION: A conveyed object identification system performs a step of registering information that associates identification information (tag ID) carried by each of multiple RF tags to be attached to an object with information that enables identification of the object in a database. Information accumulated in the database is used to identify an object based on a tag ID of any RF tag attached to the object.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

The present invention relates to a transported object identification system for accurately identifying transported objects on a transport route using RF tags.

2. Description of the Related Art RF tags are used to identify conveyed objects that are conveyed along conveyance paths such as conveyors. Identification information is acquired from the RF tag using a reader capable of communicating with the RF tag attached to the object to be transported, and the object to be transported is identified using a computer or the like based on the identification information.

In this case, a reader with an appropriate communication range is used to avoid false detection of the transported object (for example, identifying an unarrived transported object at a distance as an arrived object), but a reader with an appropriate communication range is used. If the transported object does not maintain a fixed posture (orientation) due to manual operation, etc., the RF tag may become separated from the reader, and the transported object may not be identified. sell. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to attach multiple RF tags to a single conveyed object so that one of the RF tags comes close to the reader to a certain extent in any position. Ta.

JP2022-055530

In order to realize the method described above, preparations such as preparing multiple RF tags with the same identification information stored in advance are required, but each RF tag can be uniquely identified by individually storing different identification information. Generally, it is difficult to procure from the market two or more RF tags storing the same identification information. Therefore, it is necessary to specially manufacture such RF tags, and there is a problem in that costs increase when using RF tags in applications where it is difficult for objects to be transported to maintain a constant posture along the transport route. Ta.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, etc., the conveyed object identification system of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as the "present invention") is provided with an RF RFID tag affixed to the conveyed object that is conveyed along the conveyance route. a tag, a reader capable of receiving information from the RF tag by wireless communication, and a computer that executes processing for identifying the transported object based on the information received by the reader, and the RF tag A plurality of RF tags are affixed to the object to be transported such that one of the RF tags approaches the reader depending on the posture of the object to be transported, and the RF tag identifies a unique RF tag. The reader is capable of receiving the tag identification information from the RF tag, and the reader is capable of receiving the tag identification information from the RF tag to which the RF tag is attached. and the object identification information that can identify one object to be transported. a first acquisition means for acquiring tag identification information; and a second acquisition means for acquiring the transported object identification information stored in association with the tag identification information acquired by the first acquisition means by the association means. and an identification unit that identifies the transported object conveyed along the transport route based on the transported object identification information acquired by the second acquisition means.

Further, in the present invention, the reader is installed at a position upstream of the position where the reader is installed on the transport route so as to face each other via the transport route, and the tags are identified from the RF tags that are located nearby. A set of upstream readers configured to be able to receive information is provided, and the associating means associates the tag identification information received substantially simultaneously by the set of upstream readers with the transported object corresponding to one transported object. It is proposed that the information be stored in association with identification information.

According to the conveyed object identification system of the present invention, by using an easily procured component called a commercially available RF tag that holds unique identification information, it is possible to accurately identify a conveyed object whose posture is not fixed on the conveyance route. It has the effect of being able to do it.

1 is a diagram schematically showing how the tray identification system 1 is used. 7 is a diagram schematically showing an aspect of a tray 71. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of a tray identification system 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing information held by a database 20a. It is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the preparation program 30a. It is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the detection program 40a. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing the exchange of information between elements related to the tray identification system 1 in chronological order.

As an embodiment of the present invention, a tray identification system 1 will be described with reference to the drawings. The tray identification system 1 is for identifying for which patient the tray 71 containing blood collection tubes 80 used for medical blood collection should be used.

In the tray identification system 1 of the present embodiment, a blood collection tube 80 housed in a tray 71 moves from section A to section B to section C through sections A, B, and C shown by dashed lines in FIG. used in the work performed. Section A is a section in which the blood collection tube 80 that has been processed by the issuing machine 50, such as affixing a label with the name of the person to be blood sampled, etc., is put into the tray 71 from the discharge section 51 of the issuing machine 50. It is. The tray 71 containing the blood collection tubes 80 is conveyed toward section B by the conveyor 100. In section B, the tray 71 and blood collection tube 80 are checked by the operator 120, and then the tray 71 is placed on the conveyor 101 in section C. After section C, the tray 71 is conveyed by the conveyor 101 to subsequent steps.

As explained above, in this embodiment, the blood collection tube 80 housed in the tray 71 is transported to section A, section B, and section C. A configuration is provided to accurately manage whether or not the device should be used for the purpose.

The tray identification system 1 of this embodiment includes a host system 10, a server 20, an upstream PC 30, and a downstream PC 40, which are configured to be able to communicate with each other via an intranet 110.

Further, although details will be described later, in the tray identification system 1 of this embodiment, RF tags 70a and 70b are attached to the tray 71. The RF tags 70a and 70b are information storage media based on the RFID standard and include an IC chip and an antenna. Each of the RF tags 70a and 70b stores unique identification information as a "tag ID," and can be individually identified using this tag ID. The RF tags 70a and 70b transmit their tag IDs to a connected computer (upstream PC 30 or downstream PC 40 described later) by performing wireless communication via the first upstream antenna 60a, the second upstream antenna 60b, and the downstream antenna 60c. Send.

Note that the first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b are arranged to face each other directly below the discharge port 51.

The host system 10 is an information processing system called an "electronic medical record system" or the like for comprehensively managing information regarding patients and test subjects. Responsible for transmitting information.

The server 20 is a computer that has a role as a storage area used by a program that will be described later, and more specifically, it has a role that holds information for associating the tray 71 with RF tags 70a and 70b that will be described later.

The upstream PC 30 is a computer that has the role of controlling the issuing machine 50 for storing the blood collection tubes 80 in the tray 71 in the section A, and controls the issuing machine 50, the conveyor 100, and the upstream A first antenna 60a and a second upstream antenna 60b are connected. Note that the conveyor 100 is configured to be able to be switched between driving and stopping based on control information transmitted from the upstream PC 30.

The downstream PC 40 is a computer that has the role of displaying on the connected monitor 41 which blood sample recipient the tray 71 placed on the conveyor 101 in section C is intended for. A downstream antenna 60c is connected to the downstream PC 40 for executing a detection program 40a to be described later.

In addition, in the work related to human blood collection, mixing up the blood collection tube 80 and tray 71 prepared for a specific blood sample recipient is an extremely dangerous event that should be avoided. On the other hand, when identifying the tray 71 etc. using a wireless communication method such as RFID, it is possible to communicate with all the RF tags that exist near the antenna, and if a plurality of trays 71 are present, an unintended tray 71 may be detected. There is a risk that information may be acquired from the RF tags 70a and 70b attached to the RF tags 70a and 70b. Therefore, the first upstream antenna 60a, the second upstream antenna 60b, and the downstream antenna 60c of this embodiment are set so that the communication distance is short to the extent that there is no practical problem. The communication range is approximately half the path width. This prevents a situation in which the tag ID is acquired from the RF tag 70a of a tray 71 that is different from the tray 71 that should originally be identified (for example, the tray 71 that was conveyed in advance).

Next, an aspect of the tray 71 will be explained with reference to FIG. 2. The tray 71 is a container that can accommodate a plurality of blood collection tubes 80. An RF tag 70a and an RF tag 70b are attached to the outer surface of the side wall of the tray 71. As described above, the RF tag 70a and the RF tag 70b are information storage media that hold a "tag ID" as identification information based on the RFID standard.

The RF tag 70a and the RF tag 70b are respectively affixed to the outer surfaces of opposing side walls so as to be affixed as far apart as possible. As a result, no matter which direction the tray 71 is rotated in the conveyor 101 shown as section C in FIG. Therefore, the downstream antenna 60c can acquire the tag ID from at least either the RF tag 70a or the RF tag 70b.

Note that when the tray 71 in FIG. 2 is on the conveyor 100 or 101 in FIG. 1, the direction in which it is conveyed is the direction indicated by the arrow X in the figure.

Next, the electrical configuration of the tray identification system 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. As described above, it is composed of the host system 10, server 20, upstream PC 30, and downstream PC 40 that are interconnected via the intranet 110. As mentioned above, the host system 10 is an information processing system called an "electronic medical record system" for comprehensively managing information regarding patients and test subjects. It is responsible for transmitting blood sampling instruction information.

The server 20 includes a database 20a. The database 20a is configured so that records can be queried, added, etc. based on information sent from other computers via the intranet 110. The information held by the database 20a will be described in detail later.

The upstream PC 30 is a computer installed in section A in FIG. 1, and is connected to the upstream conveyor 100, the issuing machine 50, the first upstream antenna 60a, the second upstream antenna 60b, and the like. The conveyor 100 is a conveyance device for conveying the tray 71 in section A of FIG. 1, and can be switched between driving and stopping based on a control signal transmitted from the upstream PC 30.

The issuing machine 50 is a device that receives information to be printed on a label from the upstream PC 30, affixes the label to the blood collection tube 80, and discharges the label onto the tray 71.

The first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b are devices for communicating with the RF tag 70a or 70b attached to the tray 71, and attempt communication with the RF tag 70a or 70b based on control from the upstream PC. . When the first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b successfully communicate with the RF tag 70a or 70b, they input the tag ID obtained through the communication to the upstream PC.

The upstream PC 30 includes a preparation program 30a for controlling connected devices and the like. The details of the preparation program 30a will be described later.

The downstream PC 40 is a computer installed in section C in FIG. 1, and is connected to the downstream antenna 60c, monitor 41, and the like. The downstream antenna 60c is a device that can communicate with the RF tag 70a or 70b, and has the same configuration as the first upstream antenna 60a or the second upstream antenna 60b, except that it is connected to the downstream PC 40 instead of the upstream PC 30. be.

The downstream PC 40 includes a detection program 40a for controlling connected devices and the like. Note that in this embodiment, the conveyor 101 belonging to section C in FIG. 1 is different from the conveyor 100 in section A and is configured to independently convey the tray 71 without being connected to the downstream PC 40. . For example, the conveyor 101 may start driving when it detects by weight or pressure that an object is placed on the upper surface, and stops driving when the object is removed from the upper surface.

Next, the database 20a will be explained with reference to FIG. The database 20a is a so-called table-type database, and has fields of "tag ID" and "blood sample ID", and holds a plurality of records including information corresponding to these fields. "Tag ID" is information held by the aforementioned RF tags 70a and 70b, and is information that allows the RF tags 70a and 70b to be individually identified. “Blood sample ID” is information for identifying a specific individual who receives blood collection, in other words, it identifies which blood sample tube 80 housed in the tray 71 is used by which blood sample recipient. This is information to help you.

A procedure for holding information in the database 20a and a procedure for inquiring information in the database 20a will be described later.

Next, the contents of the preparation program 30a will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The preparation program 30a is a program included in the upstream PC 30, and is executed by the CPU (not shown) of the upstream PC 30 when a predetermined instruction for performing blood collection for a specific blood sample recipient is received from the host system 10 via the intranet 110. executed.

The preparation program 30a first processes the information received from the host system 10 (S101), and acquires the blood sample recipient ID from the received information (S102). As described above, the blood sample recipient ID is identification information for identifying the person receiving blood sample.

Next, the conveyor 100 is stopped in order to prepare the blood collection tube 80 so that the tray 71 is positioned below the discharge port 51 (S103). It is assumed that the tray 71 is placed on the conveyor 100 in advance using a known technique such as a robot arm.

Next, the issuing device 50 is controlled to discharge the blood collection tube 80 to which the label with the blood sample ID and the like printed thereon is affixed from the discharge port 51 to the tray 71 (S104). Through this process, the blood collection tube 80 for the blood sample identified by the blood sample recipient ID is accommodated in the tray 71.

Next, the first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b are made to attempt communication with the RF tag 70a or 70b (S105). As described above, the RF tag 70a and the RF tag 70b each exist within a distance range of at least half the width of the path of the conveyor 100 from either the first upstream antenna 60a or the second upstream antenna 60b. Therefore, regardless of the degree of rotation of the tray 71, the RF tag 70a and the RF tag 70b can each communicate with either the first upstream antenna 60a or the second upstream antenna 60b.

As a result of the trial in S105, the tag ID read by the first upstream antenna 60a is acquired (S106). As mentioned above, it is uncertain which of the RF tags 70a and 70b was closer to the first upstream antenna 60a depending on the degree of rotation of the tray 71, but at least one of the RF tags 70a and 70b was closer to the first upstream antenna 60a. Tag ID can be obtained.

Next, the acquired tag ID is transmitted to the server 20 in association with the blood sample recipient ID acquired in the process of S102 (S107). Thereby, the tag ID and the blood sample recipient ID are registered in the database 20a of the server 20 in association with each other.

Next, as a result of the trial in S105, the tag ID read by the upstream second antenna 60b is acquired (S108). The tag ID acquired here is a tag ID different from the tag ID acquired in the process of S106. This is because, as shown in FIG. 2, the RF tag 70a and the RF tag 70b are attached to opposite side walls of the tray 71, and when one approaches the first upstream antenna 60a, the other 2 antenna 60b.

Similar to the process of S107, the tag ID acquired in the process of S108 is associated with the blood sample recipient ID acquired in the process of S102 and transmitted to the server 20 to be registered in the database 20a (S109). Although the processing from S105 to S109 has been described so far as being executed sequentially, it is also possible to execute S105 and S106 and S107 and S108 substantially simultaneously as parallel processing.

Assuming that the preparation of the blood collection tube 80 is completed through the above process, the conveyor 100 is driven to convey the tray 71 below the operator 120 (S110).

Next, the detection program 40a will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. The detection program 40a is repeatedly executed by the CPU (not shown) of the downstream PC 40 while the downstream PC 40 is activated until a termination instruction such as shutdown is given (S201: Yes).

In the detection program 40a, if there is no end instruction input (S201: No), the detection program 40a instructs the downstream antenna 60c to attempt communication with the RF tag 70a or RF tag 70b (S202), and obtains the result of the attempt (S203). .

As a result of the trial, if there is no tag ID read from the RF tag 70a or 70b (S204: No), the program returns to the beginning and repeats the process.

On the other hand, if there is a tag ID read from the RF tag 70a or 70b as a trial result (S204: Yes), the tag ID is acquired (S205), and the database 20a is inquired of the server 20 (S206). ). More specifically, the blood sampling subject ID of the record in the database 20a that matches the tag ID acquired in the process of S205 is inquired (S207).

The blood sample ID obtained as a result of the inquiry is displayed on the monitor 41 (S208), the process returns to the beginning of the detection program 40a, and the process is repeated until there is an instruction to terminate from the operator or the like (S201: No).

In the detection program 40a described above, regardless of whether the tag ID was read from the RF tag 70a or the RF tag 70b as a result of the communication trial in S202, the preparation program 30a A unique blood sample ID associated with the tag ID can be obtained in the step. Therefore, no matter what direction the tray 71 is oriented with respect to the downstream antenna 60c, it is difficult to know for which blood sample the tray 71 and the blood collection tube 80 accommodated therein are intended. It is possible to reliably identify the person, and in turn, the information of the person to be blood sampled can be displayed accurately on the monitor 41, contributing to correct blood sampling work.

For ease of understanding, FIG. 7 shows the exchange of information in the tray identification system 1 described above as a sequence diagram.

First, the blood sample recipient ID transmitted from the host system 10 is received by the upstream PC 30 (processing in S101 in FIG. 5), and then the tag of the RF tag 70a or RF tag 70b existing in the vicinity is transmitted from the first upstream antenna 60a. The ID is received by the upstream PC 30 (processing of S106 in FIG. 5). The received tag ID is transmitted to the server 20 together with the blood sample recipient ID and registered in the database 20a (processing in S107 in FIG. 5).

Next, the tag ID of the RF tag 70a or 70b existing in the vicinity is received by the upstream PC 30 from the second upstream antenna 60b (processing of S108 in FIG. 5). The tag ID received at this time is based on the relationship between the attachment positions of the RF tags 70a and 70b on the tray 71 (see FIG. 2, etc.), and the relationship between the installation positions and communication distance of the first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b. (See FIG. 1, etc.) is different from the tag ID transmitted from the upstream first antenna 60a. Therefore, the upstream PC 30 has received the tag IDs from the two RF tags 70a and 70b attached to the tray 71 by the first upstream antenna 60a and the second upstream antenna 60b. The upstream PC transmits the received tag ID along with the blood sample ID to the server 20, and the server 20 registers the information in the database 20a (processing in S109 in FIG. 5).

After that, when the tray 71 reaches section C in FIG. 1, when the downstream PC 40 receives the tag ID of the RF tag 71a or 71b read by the downstream antenna 60c of the conveyor 101 (processing in S203 and S205 in FIG. 6). , the tag ID is inquired from the downstream PC 40 to the database 20a of the server 20 (processing of S206 in FIG. 6), and the blood sample recipient ID is transmitted from the database 20a to the downstream PC 40. The downstream PC 40 that has received the blood sample ID (processing in S207 in FIG. 6) displays this on the monitor 41 to determine which blood sample the tray 71 and the blood collection tubes 80 accommodated in it belong to. (processing in S208 of FIG. 6).

As clearly shown in this sequence diagram, in this embodiment, the condition is such that it is not guaranteed which tag ID will be acquired by the downstream antenna 60c for the plurality of RF tags 70a and RF tags 70b attached to the tray 71. Also below, the tray 71 is configured to be able to be identified based on the tag ID through interaction between the upstream PC 30, the upstream PC 40, etc. that constitute the tray identification system 1.

The tray 71 accommodates blood collection tubes 80 used in blood sampling, which is extremely important for human treatment or testing, and should be identified without error. According to the tray identification system 1 of this embodiment, , it is possible to provide a mechanism for accurately identifying the tray 71 using a relatively simple method without taking special measures such as having two or more RF tags hold the same identification information (tag ID).

1 Tray identification system (conveyed object identification system)
10 Upper system 20 Server 20a Database 30 Upstream PC
30a Preparation program 40 Downstream PC
40a Detection program 41 Monitor 50 Issuing machine 60a First upstream antenna 60b Second upstream antenna 60c Downstream antennas 70a, 70b RF tag 71 Tray 80 Blood collection tubes 100, 101 Conveyor 110 Intranet 120 Operator

Claims (2)

Regarding an object to be transported along a transport route, an RF tag attached to the object, a reader capable of receiving information from the RF tag through wireless communication, and an RF tag attached to the object to be transported, based on the information received by the reader. a computer that executes processing to identify an object, and the RF tags are arranged so that a plurality of RF tags are attached to the object so that one of the RF tags approaches the reader depending on the attitude of the object. In the conveyed object identification system affixed to
The RF tag holds tag identification information that can identify a unique RF tag,
The reader is capable of receiving the tag identification information from the RF tag,
an association means for storing tag identification information held by the RF tag in association with the transported object identification information capable of identifying one transported object to which the RF tag is attached;
The computer includes:
a first acquisition means for controlling the reader to acquire tag identification information from the RF tag present in the vicinity of the reader;
a second acquisition means for acquiring the transported object identification information stored in association with the tag identification information acquired by the first acquisition means;
A conveyed object identification system comprising: identification means for identifying a conveyed object conveyed on the conveyance path based on the conveyed object identification information acquired by the second acquisition means. The tags are installed at a position upstream from the position where the reader is installed on the transport route so as to face each other via the transport route, and are each configured to be able to receive tag identification information from the RF tags existing in the vicinity. Equipped with a senior leader of the group,
The associating means stores the tag identification information received substantially simultaneously by a set of upstream readers in association with the transported object identification information corresponding to one transported object. Item 1. The conveyed object identification system according to item 1.

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