So what would you do with an RFID-equipped iPhone? Use it as a credit card, perhaps? As a driving license? A passport? As a way to find your iPhone, in conjunction with GPS? Well, if a report crossing our desk this afternoon has substance, Apple’s already exploring just what such a device could do, and has built prototype iPhones equipped with RFID chips.
We’re not saying we’re 100 percent on the source - Near Field Communications - but we’ll relate what we’ve learned. Einar Rosenberg, who runs the Near Field Communications Group on Linkedin.com, claims as follows:
“A highly reliable source has informed me that Apple has built some prototypes of the next gen iPhone with an RFID reader built in and they have seen it in action. So its not full NFC but its a start for real service discovery and I'm told that the reaction was very positive that we can expect this in the next gen iPhone.”
Speculating that introduction of the technology in a future Apple mobile would cause every other phone maker to emulate the move, he suggests various uses relating to “service discovery and sync”.
Apple has previously submitted a pair of patents describing implementations in which the iPhone is enabled to read RFID tags. “I'm told that the touch project video and the BT SIG's specs were all driving forces to push this forward as well as other factors,” Rosenberg informs, adding, “Guess I'll be touching my iPhone to my Mac to link them together to sync iTunes by next year.”
A December 2007 Apple patent described a 'Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader', which desribes a way in which RFID circuits can be built into a touch sensor.
“The RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel, such that the touch sensor panel can now additionally function as an RFID transponder. No separate space-consuming RFID antenna is necessary. Loops (single or multiple) forming the loop antenna of the RFID circuit (for either reader or tag applications) can be formed from metal on the same layer as metal traces formed in the borders of a substrate. Forming loops from metal on the same layer as the metal traces are advantageous in that the loops can be formed during the same processing step as the metal traces, without requiring a separate metal layer,” the patent explains.
Rosenberg’s enthusiasm is easily explained. He’s CTO at Narian Technologies, a company focused on mobile payments, marketing, advertising, and more - just about any aspect of mobile service delivery is in this company’s remit.
The Narian Technologies website notes that major credit card companies are introducing RFID-based card readers across the US, and that cellphone makers representing over 60% of the world’s cellular manufacturing market are fully committed to Nearfield Communications.
Chatter of RFID in iPhones isn’t new, of course as this April-published video from the Touch Project proves. This is a video prototype of an iPhone media player that uses RFID embedded in physical objects to control media playback. The way this implementation works is that you can set trigger events up to run when certain objects are approached (mobile advertisers will love this).
Away from actual usage, these technologies - particularly in combination with WiFi Direct ad-hoc wireless networking - point to a vision of a perfectly connected forest of digital home devices.
As Watching Apple opined in 2007: “For Apple to create a true digital home, devices like your computer and Apple TV need to communicate with each other. To communicate, they must first be able to discover each other. And before even that, they must be able to sense each other.”
A 2006 Apple patent furnished a small glimpse of how devices might use RFID tags to connect with your wireless home network without configuration. Check this report for some idea of how this would work (and bear in mind it was written in 2007).
Source: http://www.9to5mac.com 2009/11/5 by Jonny Evans
2009年11月8日 星期日
Apple testing RFID-equipped iPhone, expert claims
So what would you do with an RFID-equipped iPhone? Use it as a credit card, perhaps? As a driving license? A passport? As a way to find your iPhone, in conjunction with GPS? Well, if a report crossing our desk this afternoon has substance, Apple’s already exploring just what such a device could do, and has built prototype iPhones equipped with RFID chips.
We’re not saying we’re 100 percent on the source - Near Field Communications - but we’ll relate what we’ve learned. Einar Rosenberg, who runs the Near Field Communications Group on Linkedin.com, claims as follows:
“A highly reliable source has informed me that Apple has built some prototypes of the next gen iPhone with an RFID reader built in and they have seen it in action. So its not full NFC but its a start for real service discovery and I'm told that the reaction was very positive that we can expect this in the next gen iPhone.”
Speculating that introduction of the technology in a future Apple mobile would cause every other phone maker to emulate the move, he suggests various uses relating to “service discovery and sync”.
Apple has previously submitted a pair of patents describing implementations in which the iPhone is enabled to read RFID tags. “I'm told that the touch project video and the BT SIG's specs were all driving forces to push this forward as well as other factors,” Rosenberg informs, adding, “Guess I'll be touching my iPhone to my Mac to link them together to sync iTunes by next year.”
A December 2007 Apple patent described a 'Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader', which desribes a way in which RFID circuits can be built into a touch sensor.
“The RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel, such that the touch sensor panel can now additionally function as an RFID transponder. No separate space-consuming RFID antenna is necessary. Loops (single or multiple) forming the loop antenna of the RFID circuit (for either reader or tag applications) can be formed from metal on the same layer as metal traces formed in the borders of a substrate. Forming loops from metal on the same layer as the metal traces are advantageous in that the loops can be formed during the same processing step as the metal traces, without requiring a separate metal layer,” the patent explains.
Rosenberg’s enthusiasm is easily explained. He’s CTO at Narian Technologies, a company focused on mobile payments, marketing, advertising, and more - just about any aspect of mobile service delivery is in this company’s remit.
The Narian Technologies website notes that major credit card companies are introducing RFID-based card readers across the US, and that cellphone makers representing over 60% of the world’s cellular manufacturing market are fully committed to Nearfield Communications.
Chatter of RFID in iPhones isn’t new, of course as this April-published video from the Touch Project proves. This is a video prototype of an iPhone media player that uses RFID embedded in physical objects to control media playback. The way this implementation works is that you can set trigger events up to run when certain objects are approached (mobile advertisers will love this).
Away from actual usage, these technologies - particularly in combination with WiFi Direct ad-hoc wireless networking - point to a vision of a perfectly connected forest of digital home devices.
As Watching Apple opined in 2007: “For Apple to create a true digital home, devices like your computer and Apple TV need to communicate with each other. To communicate, they must first be able to discover each other. And before even that, they must be able to sense each other.”
A 2006 Apple patent furnished a small glimpse of how devices might use RFID tags to connect with your wireless home network without configuration. Check this report for some idea of how this would work (and bear in mind it was written in 2007).
Source: http://www.9to5mac.com 2009/11/5 by Jonny Evans
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