RFID in Japan

VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) is a system for delivering traffic information to car drivers. Car navigation systems receive data from three types of sources: FM broadcast stations (deliver wide-area traffic information), radio beacon devices in highways (deliver information about what's going on at about 200km ahead) , and infrared beacon devices in city streets (deliver information about what's going on within the next 30km).

Using a computerized FM radio broadcast system that collects and sends information from more than 28,000 infrared and radio-wave beacons installed along roads, they can also calculate how many seconds it would take to drive through virtually every block of the nation's cities and then find the fastest routes.

--
Yuri Kageyama (2004) Smart Transport Systems Catch on in Japan. Yahoo! News, December 29, 2004. (December 29, 2004)

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation developed a technology that combines RFID tags and cameras for controlling elevators. With their technology, elevators don't make people wait for them. Instead, they wait for people.

By combining RFID and image processing, they claim that their system could tell if a person wanted to use an elevator or was just waking near an elevator (without any intention to use an elevator.)

This technology seems to have many useful applications --Handicapped people and the elderly may be able to get on an elevator without the trouble of pushing buttons. Also, in an office building, employees could move back to their "home floors" without selecting a floor number everytime. Moreover, tags can be used to prevent unauthorized persons from getting on an elevator.

Some technical challenges still remain. The company wants to commercialize the technology in 5 years.

via Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, December 22, 2004, in Japanese.

In September, I wrote this rather obscure piece on Pachinko RFID.

It may be the time to talk more about it as I came across some additional information today -- it is the company called Rakkii Unyu (Lucky Transportation) that started attaching RFID tags to all Pachinko machines they transport. They spent 150 million Japanese yen (about US$1.4M) for tagging, software development, and buying server machines. And it seems that they think it was a good investment.

When Pachinko machines are installed in a Pachinko Hall, information about individual Pachinko machines must be reported to police along with the machines' IDs. Then, police come to the hall to check if the reported IDs match the actual machines'. If they don't match, the Pachinko Hall's business is suspended.

Lucky Transportation stores and transports second hand Pachinko machines,which required complex management of Pachinko machine IDs. This has been done by humans -- it was a error prone process and a small error caused a major consequence to their customers, namely suspension of their businesses.

Lucky Transportation's system uses Dell PowerEdge Server, Dell EMC Fibre Channel Strage, Oracle Database 10g, and KRD Corp's Recycle Tags.

Source: Nikkei RFID Technology, December 22, 2004, in Japanese
Oracle Japan News release, November 25, 2004 in Japanese

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) initiated a group called "Miraigata Tenpo Saabisuwo Kangaeru Kenkyukai (Research Group to Think about Future Retail Services)" on December 17. This group, whose members include experts from retail companies, started discussing how the Japanese version of "Future Store" should be.

"Future Store" is a kind of futuristic retailing and shopping environments that exploit (available, but still expensive) technologies such as RFID, sensors, ambient displays, and mobile devices. One of the most prominent examples of this is METRO's version of "Future Store" in Germany.

The one in Japan may (also) include components such as

• Self-checkout
• Sales promotion
• Information delivery for customers
• Management of products

However, Japanese "Future Store" could be slightly different from the existing ones in other countries because:

• this project is lead by the goverment rather than a retailer, which could make things more consumer-centered
• a higher level of consumer tracking may be explored (such as capturing data about consumers "touching" sales items)
• mobile phones could play key roles

The group will meet again in February and in March before summarizing their dicsussions. They plan to present their vision in March at Retail Tech 2005 convention in Japan. Then, they'll look for technology vendors and store locations to build and open a "Future Store" in Japan by the summer (or by the end of the year at the latest) of 2005.

Though much of the technological details may still need to be determined, it seems that METI is clear about using13.56MHz EPC tags for this project rather than UHF tags.

Source: Nikke RFID Technology, December 21, 2004, in Japanese

It's hard to keep a household account book if you are as forgetful and lazy as I am.

MegaSoft released on Monday a new version of their household accounting software called Wagayano Nandemo Joho (All Information About My Home) V6. A limited edition package of this software now comes with Sony's RFID reader (PaSoRi) that reads RFID-chipped NTT DoCoMo phones (aka wallet phones / FeliCa phones) and Edy wireless payment cards.

If you do most of your shopping with either your wallet phone or Edy card, your purchase records are already electronically stored. So, why not just show your phone or card to PaSoRi instead of the good-old way. ( this is my version of the sales pitch.)

via Livedoor Computer, December 20, in Japanese

Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo, whose spectacular buildings and large business and shopping facilities attract many visitors.

RFID-based Edy wireless payment cards are now accepted at most of the shopping facilities in Odaiba. There was an event that celebrates the pervasiveness of wireless payment in the island. One of the speakers at the event, NTT DoCoMo's Atsushi Hirano called Odaiba "a digital money island."

via Keitai Watch, December 17, 2004, in Japanese

Nishijin is a district in Kyoto, which is well-known for its sophisticated traditional textile products (its origin can be traced back to 1200 years ago).

At Nishijin, each of the seasons is represented. Spring sings of the scent of flowers. Summer speaks of days gone by. Autumn indulges herself in simplicity and serenity. Winter applies a delicate dusting of snow to the patchwork of roof tiles. No one is inferior to any other in this world, lavish with beauty. Savor contentment with the elegance of Nishijin, conceived in the midst of history and tradition.

Interestingly, people there seem to be into high-tech.

The first meeting of "Nishijin Textile Traceability Committee" was held on December 16. What they discussed included a system for tracking Nishijin textile products using RFID and delivering information to consumers. They plan to introduce such a system as early as in 2006. Consumers will hopefully be able to distinguish real Nishijin from counterfeited ones more easily. One of the issues raised at the meeting was the complexity of the special supply chain of Japanese-style products. Also, local governments (city and prefecture-level) are involved in this project.

Source: Kyoto Shimbun, December 16, in Japanese

RFID tags will play a key role at a car auction site in Saitama prefecture, Japan. A pilot test will take place around February/March next year -- RFID tags attached to individual cars are scanned by wireless PDAs. Then, PDAs allow for retrieval of relevant information (e.g., how many miles/kilometers are on them, repair/check-up histories, etc.).

PDAs additionally allow for registration of vehicle locations in a database. The database can then be used to easily find cars in a large auction site.

The following organizations are involved in this project:

• JU Saitama Auto Auction
• Hitachi
• NTT Com
• NICT

Hitachi's "Air Location" System will be used to automatically detect locations of wireless PDAs, and NTT Com's IPv6/Mobile IP Service will allow users to interact with PDAs without explicit system reconfiguration.

via NTT Com News Release, December 16, 2004, in Japanese