JP2010286935A - System and method for writing data to ic tag - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system and method for speeding up data write processing to an IC tag which includes a limit in computing capability and memory capacity while suppressing a repair frequency of business application accompanying a specification change of the IC tag and an update frequency of information shared between the business applications. <P>SOLUTION: The total execution frequency of a write request command is reduced by taking a difference between last data read from the IC tag and next data to be written before issuing a data write command to the IC tag, and then issuing a write request command only for data to which rewriting has occurred. Also, write request data is obtained by a single continuous area write command (a BlockWrite equivalent command of ISO18000-6Type C) by splitting a storage area in the IC tag into two areas, a prime area and a postscript area, and allowing writing to the tail of postscript area after adding an identification code to writing target data when newly writing data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data writing process for an IC tag.

  In recent years, introduction of an efficient business processing system and article management system using an IC tag has been examined in various industries including the physical distribution field. An IC tag is composed of an IC chip and an antenna in which data is written, and can transmit and receive data without contact using radio waves such as a UHF band. Since it is possible to express more information than a barcode and it is possible to read the information from a distant location, the logistics industry has been studying as a management means to replace the conventional barcode. Yes. In addition, since it can be produced at a lower price than an IC card, the possibility of using it for a disposable ticket such as a train ticket or an admission ticket for an amusement facility is also being studied.

  In such business use, it is assumed that business applications such as ticket gates often change a part of data read from an IC tag and write the changed data to the IC tag. For example, when an IC tag is used for a train ticket, when the passenger enters, the automatic ticket checker reads the data in the IC tag and checks the validity of the ticket, and then stores information such as information on the entry station. To update the memory in the tag. Also, when passengers enter, the automatic ticket gate reads the data in the IC tag, confirms that the passenger has entered from the valid entry station and entry time, and then enters the entry information into the memory in the tag. Update.

  By the way, when writing data to the IC tag, it is necessary to send a specific command for requesting data writing to the IC tag. In ISO 18000-6 Type C, which defines the specifications of IC tags, as a means for instructing data writing, a Write command for writing 2-byte data to a specified address and a command for writing continuous data to a specified address Two BlockWrite commands are defined, but the following restrictions are added to the use of the commands. When writing data using the Write command, only 2 bytes can be written in one command / response. The BlockWrite command can write data of 2 bytes or more, but can write only continuous data on the memory with a single command / response. Therefore, when writing data distributed in the memory, there is a concern that a plurality of commands / responses may occur and it takes a long time to complete the processing.

  Further, the IC tag does not have a driving power supply itself, and is driven by being supplied with electric power by electromagnetic induction by a reader / writer. Therefore, a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) is used as the memory in the IC chip. It is known that this type of nonvolatile memory generally takes time for erasure processing and writing processing.

  In the business processing described above, high-speed processing is often required. For example, when an IC tag is used as a train ticket, high-speed processing in a few hundred milliseconds is required so as not to crowd passengers with an automatic ticket gate. The same high speed is required when information on completed processing is added to a tag attached to an article flowing on the line. Therefore, the length of the writing process with respect to the IC tag may interfere with business processing and article management using the IC tag.

  In order to speed up the writing process to the IC tag, the business application requests the writing process only for the data that needs to be rewritten, thereby reducing the number of executions of the write command (Write command, BlockWrite command, etc.). There is a known method for reducing the number of commands / responses required to complete the processing.

  In addition, in order to shorten the writing time to the memory, a method using the writing characteristic of the memory is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). A nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM has a characteristic that an erasing / writing operation can be performed collectively in a unit of a page composed of a plurality of bytes. In Patent Document 1, when a write request is generated for data distributed in memory, data is written in page units as much as possible by rearranging the data arrangement on the memory, and the number of times of processing is set. Techniques to reduce have been proposed. With this technology, it is possible to change the data arrangement at each writing by managing the correspondence table of the address (logical address) that received the write request and the actual address (real address) on the memory. It is said.

JP 2006-107379 A

  When a business application requests a write process only for data that needs to be rewritten, how the data is arranged in the memory in the IC tag to specify the position and range of the write data It is necessary to know whether or not For this reason, when the specification of the IC tag is changed and the data arrangement of the memory is changed, it is necessary to modify the business application, and there is a possibility that the burden on management of the entire system increases.

In the technique described in Patent Document 1, data in an IC tag cannot be read and written correctly without a correspondence table called a link table for associating a logical address with a real address for each IC tag. It is difficult for the tag itself to manage the link table in the case of an IC tag that has a limited calculation capability and memory capacity compared to an IC card. On the other hand, when the link table is managed by a business application, the link table of each tag must be shared by all business applications that may process the tag. In addition, there is a problem that it is necessary to update all the link tables of the shared tags every time the data arrangement of the IC tags in the memory is changed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to reduce the calculation frequency and memory capacity of the business application while suppressing the frequency of revising the business application accompanying the change in the IC tag specifications and the frequency of updating the information shared between business applications. An apparatus, method, and program for speeding up data writing processing are provided for limited IC tags.

  Specifically, before issuing the data write command for the IC tag, the difference between the data read from the IC tag immediately before and the data to be written is taken, and the write request is limited to the data that has been rewritten. Issuing commands reduces the total number of write request commands executed.

  Then, the storage area in the IC tag is divided into two areas: a basic area for storing the initial value of each data and an additional recording area for storing newly rewritten data. After adding an identification code for identification to each target data, writing is performed to the end of the additional write area so as to be continuous on the memory, whereby the write request data is sent to a single continuous area write command (ISO 18000). -6 Realized with Type C BlockWrite command).

  Here, in order to manage the association between the actual data stored in the additional write area in the IC tag and the business data, in the present invention, the identification code stored in the IC tag and each middleware device are shared. A combination of correspondence management table and code management table is used.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the frequency of revising business applications accompanying changes in IC tag specifications and the frequency of updating information shared between business applications, thereby speeding up the data writing process.

1 is a schematic diagram of an RFID system. 1 is a schematic diagram of a group of devices that constitute an RFID system. Schematic diagram of business data write buffer. Schematic diagram of the correspondence management table. The schematic diagram of a code management table. The hardware block diagram of an apparatus. The sequence diagram of initialization processing. The flowchart at the time of a middleware apparatus performing the initialization process. The sequence diagram of a read process and an update process. The flowchart at the time of a middleware apparatus performing a reading process. The flowchart at the time of a middleware apparatus performing a reading process. The flowchart at the time of a middleware apparatus performing a writing process. The figure which showed an example of the system in the case of using an IC tag as a boarding ticket. The figure which showed an example of the correspondence management table and the code | symbol management table. The figure which showed an example of the data storage part. The figure which showed an example of the business data read buffer, the business data write buffer, and the business data difference buffer. The figure which showed an example of the data storage part. The figure which showed an example of the data storage part. The figure which showed an example of the data storage part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited thereby.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an RFID system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As illustrated, the RFID system 10 includes business application devices 1-1 to 1-n (n is a natural number of 1 or more), middleware devices 2-1 to 2-n, and reader / writer devices 3-1 to 3-1. -N and the IC tag 4 are provided. The reader / writer device 3-i (i is a natural number between 1 and n) and the IC tag 4 communicate with each other using radio waves such as UHF band. The middleware device 2-i and the reader / writer device 3-i communicate with each other via a USB or a network. Further, the business application apparatus 1-i and the middleware apparatus 2-i may communicate with each other via a USB or a network. When the middleware device 2-i is included as software in the business application device 1-i, the middleware device 2-i may communicate with each other using a signal line inside the device.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of the business application device 1, the middleware device 2, the reader / writer device 3, and the IC tag 4. Here, the business application device 1, the middleware device 2, and the reader / writer device 3 are respectively the business application devices 1-1 to 1-n, the middleware devices 2-1 to 2-n, and the reader / writer device 3. Structures common to -1 to 3-n are shown.

  As illustrated, the business application apparatus 1 includes a business processing unit 101 and a middleware communication unit 102.

  The business processing unit 101 processes a business in charge of a business application. For example, in an automatic ticket gate, processing such as verification of ticket data read from an IC tag and instructing overwriting of data based on information such as the time at the ticket gate and the installed station can be considered.

  The middleware communication unit 102 controls data transmission / reception with the middleware device 2. For example, the middleware communication unit 102 may be a protocol stack that enables TCP / IP communication, a module that enables interprocess communication, or the like.

  The middleware device 2 includes an application communication unit 201, an application command processing unit 202, a data conversion unit 203, a difference calculation unit 204, an additional write area end pointer 205, a business data difference buffer 2061, and a business data write buffer 2062. Business data read buffer 2063, basic area write buffer 2064, basic area read buffer 2065, additional write area write buffer 2066, additional write area read buffer 2067, correspondence management table 207, code management table 208 The IC tag command processing unit 209 and the reader / writer communication unit 210 are provided.

  The application communication unit 201 controls data transmission / reception with the business application apparatus 1. For example, the application communication unit 201 may be a protocol stack that enables TCP / IP communication, a module that enables inter-process communication, or the like.

  The application command processing unit 202 executes a decoding process of an application command received from the business application device 1 via the application communication unit 201 and an encoding process of an application response transmitted to the business application device 1. The application command is a command used by the business application apparatus 1 to instruct the IC tag 4 to read and write data. The application response includes the execution result of the application command and the content of the data read from the IC tag. This is a message transmitted to the business application apparatus 1.

  The data conversion unit 203 reads / writes data from / to various buffers 2061 to 2067 according to the contents of the application command decoded by the application command processing unit 202, acquires data from the correspondence management table 207 and the code management table 208, After making a difference calculation execution request to the difference calculation unit 204, the IC tag command processing unit 209 is requested to execute an IC tag command, and data is read from and written to the IC tag 4.

  When the data conversion unit 203 is notified from the IC tag command processing unit 209 that a response from the IC tag 4 has been received via the reader / writer 3, the data conversion unit 203 performs various buffers 2061 to 2067 according to the content of the response. After reading / writing data to / from the server and obtaining data from the correspondence management table 207 and code management table 208, an application response is transmitted to the business application apparatus 1 via the application communication unit 201.

  The difference calculation unit 204 calculates a difference (extraction of different data) between the data stored in the business data write buffer 2062 and the data stored in the business data read buffer 2063, and the result is calculated as a business data difference. Store in buffer 2061.

  The additional write area end pointer 205 includes the end address of the additional write area 4032 in the IC tag 4 and stores the value in association with each IC tag.

  The business data difference buffer 2061 is a storage area for storing the difference data calculated by the difference calculation unit 204 as described above. Since the structure of the buffer is the same as that of a business data write buffer 2062, which will be described later, description thereof is omitted.

  The business data write buffer 2062 is a storage area for temporarily storing write target business data included in the write application command received from the business application device 1. An example of the business data write buffer 2062 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the business data write buffer 2062. As shown in FIG. 3, the business data write buffer 2062 has a table type data structure. In each record (row), a “data name” field 2062-1 and a “data” field 2062-2 are defined. The “data name” field 2062-1 includes the name of the business data to be written received from the business application apparatus 1, and the “data” field 2062-2 stores the contents of the business data. Hereinafter, the line having the value X in the “data name” field 2062-1 in the business data write buffer 2062 is referred to as the X line of the business data write buffer 2062.

  The business data reading buffer 2063 is a storage area for temporarily storing business data to be returned as a response to the business application apparatus 1 after executing a read application command. Since the business data read buffer 2063 has the same data structure as that of the business data write buffer 2062, the description thereof is omitted.

  The basic area write buffer 2064 is a storage area for temporarily storing data to be written to the basic area 4031 in the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4.

  The basic area reading buffer 2065 is a storage area for temporarily storing data read from the basic area 4031 in the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4.

  The additional write area write buffer 2066 is a storage area for temporarily storing data to be written to the additional write area 4032 in the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4.

  The additional write area reading buffer 2067 is a storage area for temporarily storing data read from the additional write area 4032 in the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4.

The value of data stored in each of the buffers 2061 to 2067 differs depending on the middleware devices 2-1 to 2-n during execution of the processing flow described later.

  The correspondence management table 207 is a table for associating three values: business data handled by the business application apparatus 1, an offset indicating where the business data is written in the basic area 4031, and the size of the business data. It is. The values included in the correspondence management table 207 are the same among the middleware devices 2-1 to 2-n before the RFID system 10 starts operation. An example of the correspondence management table 207 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the correspondence management table 207. In the correspondence management table 207, a “data name” field 207-1, an “offset” field 207-2, and a “data length” field 207-3 are defined for each record (row). The “data name” field 207-1 stores the name of the business data handled by the business application apparatus 1, and the “offset” field 207-2 in the same record (row) stores the business data in the basic area 4031. A physical address value indicating in which position is stored is stored. In the “data length” field 208-3 in the same record, the data size occupied by the business data in the data storage unit 403 is stored.

  The code management table 208 is a table that associates a set of business data handled by the business application apparatus 1, a data length of the business data, and an identification code used when writing the business data in the additional recording area 4032. The values included in the code management table 208 are shared by the middleware apparatuses 2-1 to 2-n before the operation of the RFID system 10 is started. An example of the code management table 208 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the code management table 208. In the code management table 208, a “data name” field 208-1 and an “identification code” field 208-2 are defined for each record (row). The “data name” field 208-1 stores the name of the business data handled by the business application apparatus 1. The “identification code” field 208-2 in the same record (row) stores the business data in the IC tag 4. When the data is written in the additional recording area 4032, a code for identification written together with the business data is stored. An “identification code” c0 corresponding to “data name” NULL is a special identification code used to indicate the end of data in the additional recording area.

  In this embodiment, no limitation is imposed on the type of code used as the identification code. Either a fixed-length code or a variable-length code can be used, but if the rewrite frequency of each data can be predicted to a certain degree of accuracy, a variable-length code such as a Huffman code based on the rewrite frequency is used. By doing so, the proportion of the code in the data storage unit 403 can be reduced, which may be effective.

  The IC tag command processing unit 209 transmits the IC tag command to the reader / writer device 3 via the reader / writer communication unit 210 in order to execute the IC tag command received from the data conversion unit 203. Further, the IC tag response received via the reader / writer communication unit 210 is notified to the data conversion unit 203. The IC tag command is a command used by the reader / writer device 3 to instruct the IC tag 4 to read and write data. The IC tag response is the execution result of the IC tag command and the content of the data read from the IC tag. This message contains

  The reader / writer communication unit 210 controls transmission / reception of data to / from the reader / writer device 3. For example, a device driver that controls a USB device, a protocol stack that enables TCP / IP communication, and the like are conceivable.

  The reader / writer device 3 includes a middleware communication unit 301 and an IC tag communication unit 302.

  The middleware communication unit 301 controls data transmission / reception with the middleware device 2. For example, a device driver that controls a USB device, a protocol stack that enables TCP / IP communication, and the like are conceivable.

  The IC tag communication unit 302 controls data transmission / reception with the IC tag 4. For example, the frequency used for communication is changed, antenna output control, IC tag command transmission control by modulation, IC tag response reception control, and the like are performed.

  The IC tag 4 includes a reader / writer communication unit 401, a command processing unit 402, and a data storage unit 403.

  The reader / writer communication unit 401 controls data transmission / reception with the reader / writer device 3. For example, the frequency used for communication is changed, antenna output control, IC tag response transmission control by modulation, IC tag command reception control, and the like are performed.

  The command processing unit 402 executes decoding processing of an IC tag command received from the reader / writer device 3 via the reader / writer communication unit 401 and encoding processing of an IC tag response transmitted to the reader / writer device 3.

  The data storage unit 403 stores data unique to the IC tag 4 and controls data writing, erasing, reading, and the like according to the content of the command decoded by the command processing unit 402. The data storage unit 403 includes a basic area 4031 and a write-once area 4032.

  Here, it is assumed that the IC tag command processing unit 209 of the middleware apparatus 2 can determine whether the data read / written to / from the data storage unit 403 belongs to the basic area 4031 or the additional recording area 4032. . This can be realized by, for example, pre-sharing between the middleware devices 2 the ratio of the basic area 4031 and the additional recording area 4032 occupying the data storage unit 403 and the information on the position in the memory.

  The basic area 4031 is an area in which data is written when the IC tag 4 is initialized.

  The additional recording area 4032 is an area in which data is written when data is rewritten after the IC tag 4 is initialized. The basic area 4031 and the additional recording area 4032 may be realized by using different memories in the data storage unit, or may be obtained by virtually separating continuous areas.

  The business application device 1, middleware device 2, and reader / writer device 3 described above are, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, a memory 902, as shown in FIG. 6 (schematic diagram of the computer 9). , HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and other external storage devices 903, and CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) and DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Memory) such as a portable storage medium 90 having readability. A reader 905, an input device 906 such as a keyboard and a mouse, an output device 907 such as a display, and a NIC (Network Interface) for connection to a communication network ace Card) and other transmission / reception devices 908. For example, the various buffers 2061 to 2067 and the data storage unit 403 can be realized by the CPU 901 using the memory 902 or the external storage device 903. Further, functions such as the business processing unit 101 and the data conversion unit 203 that perform specific processing and control are realized by loading a predetermined program stored in the external storage device 903 into the memory 902 and executing it by the CPU 901. Is possible. Further, functions for performing communication control such as the reader / writer communication unit 210 can be realized by the CPU 901 using the transmission / reception device 908. The predetermined program is downloaded from the storage medium 904 via the reading device 905 or from the network via the transmission / reception device 908 to the external storage device 903, and then loaded onto the memory 902 and executed by the CPU 901. You may do it. Alternatively, the program may be directly loaded on the memory 902 from the storage medium 904 via the reading device 905 or from the network via the transmission / reception device 908 and executed by the CPU 901.

  Next, a sequence when the IC tag 4 initialized by the business application apparatus 1-1 is read / written by another business application apparatus 1-2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram describing a sequence in a case where the business application apparatus 1-1 initializes the IC tag 4.

  When the IC tag is used as a ticket, the sequence corresponds to a ticket issuing sequence by a ticket issuing machine (business application device). That is, with respect to a ticket IC tag before ticketing in which data is not written, information on the station where the ticketing machine is installed, ticketing time, valid range of the ticket, expiration date, etc. Corresponds to the sequence of writing in the data storage area.

  When the business application apparatus 1-1 receives an initialization request operation from the user via the input / output device, the middleware communication unit 102 transmits an initialization request application command to the middleware apparatus 2-1 (S101). The command includes setting information related to the business application apparatus 1-1 as a parameter. In the case of a ticketing service for a ticket, the parameters include information on the station where the business application device is installed, the ticketing time, the valid range of the ticket, the expiration date, and the like.

  When the application communication unit 201 in the device receives the initialization request application command transmitted from the business application device 1-1, the middleware device 2-1 writes the business data in the received parameter to the IC tag. Processing is executed (pre-initialization processing, S102).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S102 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the initialization process by the middleware device 2.

  In the middleware device 2-1, when the application communication unit 201 receives the initialization request application command transmitted from the business application device 1-1 (S102-1), the application command processing unit 202 decodes the command. The parameter (business data) included in the command is acquired and transferred to the data conversion unit 203 (S102-2).

  The data conversion unit 203 first empties the business data write buffer 2062 and the basic area write buffer 2064 (S102-3).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 stores the acquired business data in the business data write buffer 2062 (S102-4).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 secures four variable M, NAME, OFFSET, and DATA areas on a register in the CPU 901, the memory 902, or the external storage device 903, and initializes them with a value of 0 (S102). -5).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 refers to the correspondence management table 207 and determines whether a value exists in the Mth row of the table (S102-6).

  As a result of the determination, if a value exists in the Mth row of the table (YES in S102-6), the data conversion unit 203 starts with the “data name” field 207-1 from the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207. The value of the “offset” field 207-2 is acquired, and the values of the variable NAME and the variable OFFSET are overwritten with each value (S102-7).

  As an example, let us consider a case where the correspondence management table 207 is in a state where values as shown in FIG. 4 are written. At this time, if the value of M is 2, since the data is stored in the second row of the table, the data name “d2” is substituted for the variable NAME, and the offset value “( k, 10) "is substituted.

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 acquires the value of the “data” field 2062-2 from the NAME line of the business data write buffer 2062, and overwrites the variable DATA with the value of the data (S102-8).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 stores the data in the variable DATA at the address specified by the variable OFFSET in the basic area write buffer 2064 (S102-9).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 increments the value of the variable M (S102-10), and proceeds to a process of determining whether or not a value exists in the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207 (S102-6). return.

  In process S102-6, when the value does not exist in the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207, that is, when scanning for all the rows in the correspondence management table 207 is completed, the data conversion unit 203 completes the basic area write buffer 2064. A state in which a data write request message is transmitted to the reader / writer device 3-1 so as to write data in the basic area 4031 of the IC tag 4 (S102-11), and a reply from the reader / writer device 3-1 is awaited. (S102-12). The data write request message includes a parameter, and the write position and the content of data to be written are designated by the parameter. Here, the head of the basic area 4031 is designated as the write position, and the data in the basic area write buffer 2064 is designated as the contents of the data to be written.

  The above is the details of the pre-initialization process S102 by the middleware device 2-1.

  Returning to FIG. 7, when the middleware device 2-1 transmits a data write request message to the reader / writer device 3-1 as a result of the above-described pre-initialization process S102 (S103), the reader / writer device 3-1 performs the writing. According to the request, the designated data is written to the head of the basic area 4031 in the IC tag 4 (S104).

  When writing into the IC tag 4 is successful (S105), the reader / writer device 3-1 notifies the middleware device 2-1 that writing into the basic area 4031 is successful (S106).

When the middleware device 2-1 is notified from the reader / writer device 3-1 that the writing to the basic area 4031 is successful, the middleware apparatus 2-1 proceeds to a process for initializing the additional recording area 4032 (processing during initialization, S107).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S107 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the middleware device 2-1, when the reader / writer communication unit 210 receives a message from the reader / writer device 3-1, the IC tag command processing unit 209 decodes the message, and the message is written to the basic area 4031. This message is interpreted as a message indicating that the message has been successfully loaded (YES in S102-12).

  Then, the data conversion unit 203 in the middleware device 2-1 sends a data write request message to the reader / writer device 3-1 so as to write the identification code c0 indicating the end of the additional write area to the additional write area 4032 of the IC tag 4. Is transmitted (S107-1), and a transition is made to a state of waiting for a reply from the reader / writer device 3-1 (S107-2). The data write request message includes a parameter, and the write position and the content of data to be written are designated by the parameter. Here, the head of the additional recording area 4032 is designated as the writing position, and the identification code c0 is designated as the content of the data to be written.

  The above is the details of the initialization process S107 performed by the middleware device 2-1.

  Returning to FIG. 7, when the middleware device 2-1 transmits a data write request message to the reader / writer device 3-1 as a result of the above-described initialization process S107 (S108), the reader / writer device 3-1 performs the writing. According to the request, the designated data is written to the head of the additional recording area 4032 in the IC tag 4 (S109).

  When writing into the IC tag 4 is successful (S110), the reader / writer device 3-1 notifies the middleware device 2-1 that writing into the additional write area 4032 is successful (S111).

  When the middleware device 2-1 is notified by the reader / writer device 3-1 that the writing to the additional write area 4032 has been successful, the middleware device 2-1 notifies the business application device 1-1 that the initialization process has been successful. The process proceeds to (post-initialization process, S112).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S112 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the middleware device 2-1, when the reader / writer communication unit 210 receives a message from the reader / writer device 3-1, the IC tag command processing unit 209 decodes the message, and the message is written to the additional write area 4032. This message is interpreted as a message indicating that the data has been successfully loaded (YES in S107-2).

  Then, the application command processing unit 202 in the middleware device 2-1 generates an initialization request application success response indicating that the initialization request application command has been successfully executed, and the business application device 201 passes through the application communication unit 201. The data is transmitted to 1-1 (S112-1).

  The above is the details of the post-initialization process S112 by the middleware device 2-1.

  Returning to FIG. 7, as a result of the above-described post-initialization process S112, the middleware apparatus 2-1 transmits an initialization request application success response to the business application apparatus 1-1 (S113), and the initialization process for the IC tag 4 is normal. To complete.

  On the other hand, in FIG. 8, when the middleware device 2-1 receives any error message from the reader / writer device 3-1 in S102-12 or S107-2 (NO in S102-12 or S107-2), The application command processing unit 202 in the middleware device 2-1 generates an initialization request application failure response indicating that the execution of the initialization request application command has failed, and the business application device 1- 1 (S107-3).

  FIG. 9 is a diagram describing a sequence in which the business application apparatus 1-2 reads data from the IC tag 4 and performs business processing, and then updates the data.

  When an IC tag is used as a ticket, the sequence corresponds to an entrance / exit sequence by an automatic ticket gate (business application device). That is, with respect to the ticket IC tag before entry or departure where the ticket data is written, information on the station where the ticket was issued, ticketing time, valid range of the ticket, expiration date, etc. Is read from the data storage area in the IC tag, and after confirming that it is a valid boarding ticket, it corresponds to a sequence in which the data in the tag is updated with data indicating that the ticket has been entered or entered.

  When the business application apparatus 1-2 receives an initialization request operation from the user via the input / output device, the middleware communication unit 102 transmits a read request application command to the middleware apparatus 2-2 (S201).

  When the application communication unit 201 in the device receives the read request application command transmitted from the business application device 1-1, the middleware device 2-1 performs processing for writing the business data in the received parameter to the IC tag. Is executed (pre-reading process, S202).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S202 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the first half of the reading process by the middleware device 2.

  In the middleware device 2-2, when the application communication unit 201 receives the read request application command transmitted from the business application device 1-2, the application command processing unit 202 decodes the command and receives it to the data conversion unit 203. Pass (S202-1).

  The data conversion unit 203 first empties the business data reading buffer 2063, the basic area reading buffer 2065, and the additional writing area reading buffer 2067 (S202-3).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 transmits a data read request message to the reader / writer device 3-2 so as to read the data stored in the basic area 4031 and the additional write area 4032 of the IC tag 4 (S202-3). Then, a transition is made to a state of waiting for a reply from the reader / writer device 3-2 (S202-4).

  The above is the details of the pre-read process S202 by the middleware device 2-2.

  Returning to FIG. 9, when the middleware device 2-2 transmits a data read request message to the reader / writer device 3-2 as a result of the above-described read preprocessing S202 (S203), the reader / writer device 3-2 performs the IC according to the read request. The data stored in the basic area 4031 and the additional recording area 4032 in the tag 4 is read (S204).

  When reading from the IC tag 4 is successful (S205), the reader / writer device 3-2 transmits the data read from the basic area 4031 and the additional recording area 4032 to the middleware apparatus 2-2 (S206).

  When the middleware apparatus 2-2 receives the data read from the basic area 4031 and the additional recording area 4032 from the reader / writer apparatus 3-2, the middleware apparatus 2-2 proceeds to processing for providing the read data to the business application apparatus 1-2 (after reading). Processing, S207).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S207 will be described with reference to FIG. 10 again.

  In the middleware device 2-2, when the reader / writer communication unit 210 receives a message from the reader / writer device 3-2, the IC tag command processing unit 209 decodes the message, and includes parameters (basic area 4031) included in the message. And data read from the additional recording area 4032).

  Here, if data cannot be acquired normally, or if there is no response from the reader / writer device 3-2 after a certain number of retries for a certain time (NO in S202-4), the middleware device 2-2. Application command processing unit 202 generates a read request application failure response indicating that the execution of the read request application command has failed, and transmits the response to the business application apparatus 1-2 via the application communication unit 201 (S202-). 5).

  On the other hand, when the data can be normally acquired (YES in S202-4), the IC tag command processing unit 209 transfers the data to the data conversion unit 203. The data conversion unit 203 stores the data read from the basic area 4031 among the received data in the basic area reading buffer 2065 (S207-1), and the data read from the additional writing area 4032 to the additional writing area reading buffer 2067. Store (S207-2).

  First, the data conversion unit 203 starts data conversion processing in the basic area read buffer 2065. The data conversion unit 203 secures areas for five variables M, NAME, OFFSET, LEN, and DATA on a register in the CPU 901, the memory 902, or the external storage device 903, and initializes each with a value of 0 (S207- 3).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 refers to the correspondence management table 207 and determines whether or not a value exists in the Mth row of the table (S207-4).

  As a result of the determination, if there is a value in the Mth row of the table, the data conversion unit 203 starts from the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207 with a “data name” field 207-1 and an “offset” field 207- 2 and the “data length” field 207-3 are acquired, and the values of the variable NAME, the variable OFFSET, and the variable LEN are overwritten with the values (S207-5).

  As an example, let us consider a case where the correspondence management table 207 is in a state where values as shown in FIG. 4 are written. At this time, if the value of M is 2, since the data is stored in the second row of the table, the data name “d2” is substituted for the variable NAME, and the offset value “( k, 10) "is substituted, and the data length" 6 "is substituted for the variable LEN.

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 acquires the data stored in the area of the length LEN starting from the OFFSET address from the basic area reading buffer 2065, and substitutes it into the variable DATA (S207-6).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 stores the data in the variable DATA in the NAME row of the business data read buffer 2063 (S207-7).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 increments the value of the variable M (S207-8), and returns to the process of determining whether a value exists in the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207 (S207-4).

  In process S207-4, when the value does not exist in the Mth row of the correspondence management table 207, that is, when scanning for all the rows in the correspondence management table 207 is completed, the data conversion unit 203 stores in the additional write area reading buffer 2067. The data conversion process is shifted to (S207-9). Hereinafter, details of the processing will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the latter half of the reading process by the middleware device 2.

  The data conversion unit 203 in the middleware device 2-2 first resets the value of the variable M to 0, and secures an area for the variable CODE on the register in the CPU 901, the memory 902, or the external storage device 903, Initialization is performed with a value of 0 (S207-10).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 checks whether or not the value of the variable M exceeds MAX_APPEND indicating the maximum size of the additional recording area 4032 (S207-11). If the value of M exceeds MAX_APPEND (YES in S207-11), the same value as MAX_APPEND is substituted for M (S207-20), and the process proceeds to reading end processing (S207-21, S207-22). The processing (S207-21, S207-22) will be described later.

  On the other hand, when the value of M is equal to or less than MAX_APPEND (NO in S207-11), the data conversion unit 203 acquires data (identification code) from the M address of the additional write area read buffer 2067 and substitutes it into the variable CODE ( S207-12). Here, the data length of the acquired CODE depends on the type of code used as the identification code. For example, when a fixed-length code is used as an identification code, data of that code length may always be obtained. When a variable-length code is used, data may be read until the code is determined. good.

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 checks whether or not the value of the variable CODE matches the identification code c0 indicating the end of the additional write area (S207-13). When the value of CODE coincides with c0 (YES in S207-13), the process proceeds to reading end processing (S207-20, S207-21). The processing (S207-20, S207-21) will be described later.

  On the other hand, if the value of CODE is other than c0 (NO in S207-13), first, the value of variable M is increased by the length of CODE (S207-14). Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 selects a row in which the “identification code” field 208-2 has the same value as the variable CODE in the code management table 208, and sets the value of the “data name” field 208-1 in the row. Substitute into the variable NAME (S207-15).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 selects a line in which the “data name” field 207-1 has the same value as the variable NAME in the correspondence management table 207, the “offset” field 207-2 of the line, The value of the “length” field 207-3 is assigned to the variables OFFSET and LEN, respectively (S207-16).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 acquires data in the range from the address M to the length LEN in the additional write area reading buffer 2067, and substitutes it into the variable DATA (S207-17).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 stores the value of the variable DATA in the NAME line of the business data read buffer 2063 (S207-18). At this time, if data has already been written in the corresponding position (NAME line) of the business data read buffer 2063, new data is stored by overwriting the existing data.

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 updates the value of the variable M to a value obtained by adding the value of LEN to M (S207-19), and determines whether or not the value of M exceeds MAX_APPEND (S207). Return to -11).

  As described above, if the conditions are satisfied in the processing S207-11 or S207-13 (YES in S207-11 or S207-13), the process proceeds to reading end processing (S207-21, S207-22).

  First, the data conversion unit 203 stores the value of the variable M in the additional write area end pointer 205 (S207-21). The storage in the additional write area end pointer 205 is executed as a pair with an identifier (tag ID) for uniquely identifying the tag.

  Next, the application command processing unit 202 in the middleware apparatus 2-2 generates a read request application success response including the data in the business data read buffer 2063 as a parameter as a response to the read request application command, and the application communication unit 201 Is sent to the business application apparatus 1-2 (S207-22).

  The above is the details of the post-read process S207 by the middleware device 2-2.

  When the data name (NAME) is the same, the data stored in the additional write area read buffer 2067 is newer than the data stored in the basic area read buffer 2065. By executing the processing in the following order instead of the flow of S207, it is possible to increase the speed of the reading processing. First, the processing of S207-1 and S207-2 is executed. Subsequently, a process of storing data read from the additional write area reading buffer 2067 in the business data reading buffer 2063 (a series of processes from S207-10 to S207-21) is executed. Here, the data name (NAME) stored in the business data read buffer 2063 is stored as “updated data type”. Next, a process (a series of processes from S207-3 to S207-9) for storing the data read from the basic area read buffer 2065 in the business data read buffer 2063 is executed. Here, the process S207-5 and the process are performed. During S207-6, for the data whose data name (NAME) is included in the “updated data type”, the reading process (S207-6, S207-7) from the basic area reading buffer 2065 is skipped. Finally, process S207-22 is executed, and post-read process S207 is terminated. Returning to FIG. 9, as a result of the above-described post-read processing S207, the middleware device 2-2 transmits a read request application success response to the business application device 1-2. The success response includes data read from the IC tag 4 as a set of business data name and value (S208).

  In the business application device 1-2, when the middleware communication unit 102 receives data from the middleware device 2-2, the business processing unit 101 executes business processing using the data and performs processing such as partial rewriting of data. (S209).

  Subsequently, in the business application apparatus 1-2, the business processing unit 101 transmits a renewed data update request message to the middleware apparatus 2-2 via the middleware communication unit 102 (S210). The message may include not only the rewritten data but the entire business data.

  When the application communication unit 201 in the apparatus receives the update request application command transmitted from the business application apparatus 1-2, the middleware apparatus 2-2 performs a process for writing the business data in the received parameter to the IC tag. Is executed (processing before writing, S211).

  Details of the processing S211 will be described below with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of the writing process by the middleware device 2.

  In the middleware device 2-2, when the application communication unit 201 receives the update request application command transmitted from the business application device 1-2 (S211-1), the application command processing unit 202 decodes the command, The parameter (business data) included in the command is acquired and transferred to the data conversion unit 203 (S211-2).

  The data conversion unit 203 first empties the business data write buffer 2062, the business data difference buffer 2061, and the additional write area write buffer 2066 (S211-3).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 stores the acquired business data in the business data write buffer 2062 (S211-4).

  Subsequently, the difference calculation unit 204 compares the value stored in the business data write buffer with the value stored in the business data read buffer, extracts only the data having different values, and extracts the business data Store in the difference buffer (S211-5).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 secures areas for four variables M, NAME, CODE, and DATA on a register in the CPU 901, the memory 902, or the external storage device 903, and initializes them with values 0 (S211). -6).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 determines whether data exists in the business data difference buffer (S211-7).

  As a result of the determination, if data exists in the buffer (YES in S211-7), the data conversion unit 203 reads the “data name” field 2061-1 and the “data” field 2061-2 from the business data difference buffer 2061. The value is acquired, and the values of the variable NAME and the variable DATA are overwritten with each value. After the value is acquired, the data of the row including the acquired value is deleted from the business data difference buffer 2061 so that the same value is not acquired more than once (S211-8).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 selects a line in which the “data name” field 208-1 has the same value as the variable NAME in the code management table 208, and sets the value of the “identification code” field 208-2 of the line Substitute into the variable CODE (S211-9).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 combines the variable CODE and the value included in the variable DATA in the order of CODE and DATA, and adds the combined data to the end of the additional write area write buffer 2066 (S211-10). . After the addition, the data conversion unit 203 returns to the process (S211-7) for confirming whether data still remains in the business data difference buffer 2061.

  In processing S211-7, when no data remains in the business data difference buffer 2061, that is, when all the business data that needs to be rewritten has been added to the additional write area write buffer 2066 (in S211-7) NO), the data conversion unit 203 writes the identification code c0 at the end of the additional write area write buffer 2066 (S211-11).

  Next, the data conversion unit 203 searches the additional writing area end pointer 205 for a line that matches the tag ID of the electronic tag 4 to be written, acquires the end address of the additional writing area 4032, and stores it in the variable M ( S211-12).

  Subsequently, the data conversion unit 203 sends data to the reader / writer device 3-2 so as to write the data in the additional write area write buffer 2066 to the address specified by the variable M in the additional write area 4032 of the IC tag 4. A write request message is transmitted (S211-13), and a transition is made to a state of waiting for a reply from the reader / writer device 3-2 (S211-14). The data write request message includes a parameter, and the write position and the content of data to be written are designated by the parameter. Here, the address M of the additional write area 4032 is specified as the write position, and the data in the additional write area write buffer 2066 is specified as the content of the data to be written.

  The above is the details of the pre-write processing S211 performed by the middleware device 2-2.

  Returning to FIG. 9, when the middleware apparatus 2-2 transmits a data write request message to the reader / writer apparatus 3-2 as a result of the above-described pre-writing process S211 (S212), the reader / writer apparatus 3-2 performs the write operation. In accordance with the request, the designated data is written to the address M in the additional recording area 4032 in the IC tag 4 (S213).

  When the writing into the IC tag 4 is successful (S214), the reader / writer device 3-2 notifies the middleware device 2-2 that the writing into the additional recording area 4032 is successful (S215).

  When the middleware device 2-2 is notified from the reader / writer device 3-2 that the writing to the additional writing area 4032 is successful, the middleware device 2-2 performs processing for notifying the business application device 1-2 of the writing success. Move (post-write processing, S216).

  Hereinafter, details of the processing S216 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In the middleware device 2-2, when the reader / writer communication unit 210 receives a message from the reader / writer device 3-2, the IC tag command processing unit 209 decodes the message, and the message is written to the additional write area 4032. This message is interpreted as a message indicating that the data has been successfully loaded (YES in S211-14).

  Then, the application command processing unit 202 in the middleware device 2-2 generates an update request application success response indicating that the execution of the update request application command is successful, and the business application device 1- 2 (S216-1).

  On the other hand, when the middleware device 2-2 receives any error message from the reader / writer device 3-2 in S211-14, or no response is received from the reader / writer device 3-2 even after a predetermined number of retries. If the application command processing unit 202 of the middleware apparatus 2-2 generates an update request application failure response indicating that the execution of the update request application command has failed, the application communication unit 201 Then, it is transmitted to the business application apparatus 1-2 (S216-2).

  The above is the details of the post-write processing S216 by the middleware device 2-1.

  Returning to FIG. 9, when the middleware device 2-2 transmits an update request application success response to the business application device 1-2 as a result of the above-described post-write processing S216 (S217), the data update processing for the IC tag 4 is normally performed. Complete.

  Here, for the sake of explanation, the business application device that has performed initialization processing on the IC tag 4 is different from the business application device that performs read processing and writing processing on the IC tag 4 after initialization. However, the two are not necessarily different.

  Further, when the free space in the additional write area 4032 becomes small, the free space can be maximized by cleaning the additional write area 4032 according to the following procedure. First, the business application apparatus 1 transmits a read request message to the middleware apparatus 2 and acquires the latest business data from the IC tag 4. Subsequently, by transmitting an initialization request message using the acquired data as a parameter to the middleware device 2, the data in the basic area 4031 in the IC tag 4 is updated to the latest data, and the additional recording area 4032 is updated. Only the identification code c0 is stored.

  Here, until the additional recording area 4032 is cleaned, all the update contents that have been performed on the IC tag 4 so far remain in the form of data in the additional recording area. By referring to this data and writing it again as the latest data, it is possible to realize processing re-execution (undo operation).

  Based on the above embodiment, taking the case where the IC tag is used as a boarding ticket as an example, the process of writing data to the IC tag (boarding ticket) will be described more specifically.

  FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a system configuration of the present embodiment.

  As shown in the figure, in the present embodiment, there are four business application devices: a ticket issuing device 1-1, an entrance management device 1-2, an exit management device 1-3, and a checkout device 1-4. . The devices communicate with the middleware devices 2-1 to 2-4, respectively, and the middleware devices communicate with the reader / writer devices 3-1 to 3-4, respectively. The IC tag 4 is used as a boarding ticket.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence management table 207 and the code management table 208 stored in each of the middleware devices 2-1 to 2-4 in the present embodiment. For example, in the correspondence management table 207, data having the “boarding station” as the data name is written in the location specified by the offset (k + 2, 10) in the basic area 4031 on the IC tag 4, and the length is 8. It is shown that there is. Further, in the code management table 208, it is shown that data having “boarding station” as the data name is written in a state of being combined with the identification code c9 when written in the additional recording area 4032 on the IC tag 4. Has been.

  When the passenger instructs the ticket issuing device 1-1 (for example, a ticket vending machine) installed in the station premises to enter a fare, select a destination range, etc., the ticket issuing device 1-1 instructs the middleware device 2-1. 7 and the execution request for the initialization process as shown in FIG. When the sequence shown in FIG. 7 and the flow shown in FIG. 8 are completed without delay, data is written in the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data storage unit 403 in the IC tag 4 (passage ticket) after the ticketing process by the ticketing device 1-1 is completed. Data such as ticketing station, type, ticket gate passage date / time, valid period, valid section, entry / exit information (described as “entrance / exit” in FIG. 15), ticketing date / time, boarding station are written in the basic area 4031. In the additional recording area 4032, only the identification code c0 is written at the beginning.

  Subsequently, when the passenger inserts the issued IC tag 4 into the admission management device 1-2 (for example, an automatic ticket gate), the admission management device 1-2 in FIG. 9 to FIG. The execution request for the reading process and the updating process as shown in (1) is transmitted.

  First, when the processing from S201 to S207 in FIG. 9 is completed without delay, the data read from the data storage unit 403 of the IC tag 4 is stored in the business data reading buffer 2063 in the middleware device 2-2. An example of the business data read buffer 2063 immediately after the data is stored is shown in the upper left part of FIG. As shown in the figure, a value corresponding to each business data name (ticketing station, ticket gate passage date and time) is read and stored in a buffer.

  When the entrance management device 1-2 receives the data in the business data reading buffer 2063 from the middleware device 2-2, the processing corresponding to the business processing S209 in FIG. 9 includes, for example, a ticketing station, a ticketing time, an effective section, and the like. Confirm whether or not to enter. If it is determined that the admission is possible, after rewriting the business data, an update request message as shown in S210 in FIG. At this time, the rewritten data is passed as a parameter of the update request message, and the parameter is stored in the business data write buffer 2062 in accordance with S21-1 to S211-4 of FIG. An example of the business data write buffer 2062 immediately after the data is stored is shown in the upper right part of FIG.

  Subsequently, the middleware device 2-2 calculates the difference between the business data write buffer 2062 and the business data read buffer 2063 in accordance with S211-5 of FIG. An example of the business data difference buffer 2061 immediately after the difference data is stored is shown in the lower part of FIG.

  As described above, in this embodiment, by calculating the difference between the business data before rewriting and the business data after rewriting, the range of data that needs to be updated is specified, and the IC tag to be executed later is processed. The number of data writing processes is reduced and the writing speed is improved.

  The middleware apparatus 2-2 writes each business data in the business data difference buffer 2061 to the additional write area write buffer 2066 according to S211-7 to S211-10 in FIG. 12, and then sets an identification code c0 at the end of the buffer. Append and append to the end of the appending area. An example of the data storage unit 403 in the IC tag 4 immediately after the additional writing is completed is shown in FIG.

In the update process, the data in the basic area 4031 is not changed, and the identification code and the updated data corresponding to the identification code are additionally written in the additional recording area 4032. In FIG. 17, the ticket entry passage date / time, entry / exit information, and boarding station information are additionally written in the additional recording area 4032. (In FIG. 17, the symbol * indicates that the data has been updated.)
As described above, in this embodiment, additional writing is performed so that data to be rewritten is continuous. Therefore, for an IC tag that can write continuous data in memory with a single command, such as an IC tag that supports the BlockWrite command of the ISO 18000-6 Type C specification, update processing has been completed with a single command. High-speed writing processing is realized.

  Subsequently, in order for the passenger to get on the train, arrive at the desired station and enter, the IC tag 4 after passing through the entrance management device 1-2 is transferred to the entrance management device 1-3 (for example, an automatic ticket gate). When inserted, the participation management device 1-3 transmits execution requests for reading processing and updating processing as shown in FIGS. 9 to 12 to the middleware device 2-3.

  Here, the reading process by the entry management apparatus 1-3 is different from the reading process by the admission management apparatus 1-2 described above in that data is stored in the additional recording area 4032. In particular, the processing of S207-14 to S207-19 in FIG. 11 is executed for the data stored in the additional write area 4032. For example, when the data storage unit 403 in the IC tag 4 takes a state as shown in FIG. 17, the data at the head of the additional write area reading buffer is compared with c0 in the process S207-13 of FIG. Since the identification code c2 is stored, the processing proceeds to S207-14 and thereafter.

  First, after the value of M is increased by the length of the identification code c2 (S207-14), the code management table 208 described in FIG. 14 is referred to search for a line including c2 as the identification code. “Ticket passage date and time” included in the “data name” field is acquired and substituted into the variable NAME (S207-15).

  Next, the correspondence management table 207 is looked up for a line including the variable NAME, that is, “ticket gate passage date” as the data name, and the values of the “offset” field and “data length” field of the line are respectively set to the variable OFFSET and the variable LEN Assign to. Here, based on the correspondence management table 207 shown in FIG. 14, (k, 10) is substituted for OFFSET, and 6 is substituted for LEN (S207-16).

  Subsequently, data existing in the range of only the length LEN is read from address M (position immediately after reading the identification code c2) in the additional write area reading buffer 2067, and is substituted into the variable DATA. Here, since the data storage unit 403 in the IC tag 4 has the structure shown in FIG. 17, the updated value of the ticket gate passage date and time is acquired (S207-17). The acquired value is stored in the “ticket gate passage date and time” line of the business data reading buffer 2063, and the value read from the basic area 4031 is overwritten with the value read from the additional writing area 4032.

  The processing as described above is also performed on the remaining data in the additional write area 4032. Finally, the business data read buffer 2063 is overwritten with old data by the latest additional write data. It is provided to the application (here, the participation management device 1-3).

  In this embodiment, the data arrangement method in the IC tag is expressed only by the identification code, and the data length and data name are stored in each middleware device, so that the memory in the IC tag can be used effectively. Yes.

  Upon confirming the validity of the IC tag 4, the participation management device 1-3 rewrites the ticket data passing date and time of the business data, requests the middleware device 2-3 to update, collects the ticket after completion of the update, Open the door for passengers. FIG. 18 shows an example of the data storage unit 403 for the IC tag 4 immediately after the ticket gate passage date and time is rewritten. As shown in the drawing, at the end of the additional writing area 4032, an identification code c2, update data of the second ticket gate passage date and time (denoted as “ticket gate passage date and time **”), and an identification code c0 indicating the end of the additional writing area, , Is added.

  When the IC tag 4 and the middleware device 2 can communicate with each other for a relatively long time, such as during the settlement by the settlement apparatus 1-4, in order to increase the free space in the additional recording area 4032, the following is performed. Various processes may be executed. First, the settlement apparatus 1-4 transmits a read request message to the middleware apparatus 2-4, and acquires the latest business data from the IC tag 4. Subsequently, by transmitting an initialization request message using the acquired data as a parameter to the middleware device 2-4, the data in the basic area 4031 in the IC tag 4 is updated to the latest data, and the additional recording area Only the identification code c0 is stored in 4032.

  FIG. 19 shows an example in which the free space in the additional write area 4032 is maximized as a result of executing the above processing on the IC tag 4 shown in FIG.

1-1 to 1-n: business application device, 2-1 to 2-n: middleware device, 3-1 to 3-n: reader / writer device, 4: IC tag, 9: computer, 10: RFID system

Claims (5)

In the system for writing data to IC tags,
The data storage unit of the IC tag has a basic area in which a plurality of types of data are stored in advance and an additional recording area,
A middleware device that compares data to be written to the IC tag with data stored in the data storage unit of the IC tag and extracts data that has changed,
A reader / writer device that stores the extracted change data in the additional write area together with an identification code according to the type of the data;
A data writing system comprising: The data writing system according to claim 1, wherein
The data writing system, wherein the reader / writer device writes a plurality of data to be stored in the additional recording area so as to be continuously located. The data writing system according to claim 1 or 2,
The middleware device is:
An identification code is added by using the identification code stored in the IC tag and the combination of the correspondence management table and the code management table shared between the middleware devices. In the method of writing data to the IC tag,
The data storage unit of the IC tag has a basic area in which a plurality of types of data are stored in advance and an additional recording area,
The middleware device compares the data to be written to the IC tag with the data stored in the data storage unit of the IC tag, and extracts the changed data;
A step of storing the extracted data with the reader / writer device in the additional recording area together with an identification code corresponding to the type of the data;
A data writing method comprising: The data writing method according to claim 4, wherein
The step of storing in the write-once area by the reader / writer device, when writing a plurality of data to be stored in the write-once area, writes the plurality of data so as to be stored in consecutive positions. .

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