RFID in Japan

In 2005, Japanese consumer electronics makers together established so-called Consumer Electronics RFID Consortium. Their aim is to develop usage models and international standards of RFID-based product life cycle management for consumer electronics devices.

@IT has this recent story on the consortium. One of the consortium's major goals is to improve the process of recycling. For example, refrigerators, which may or may not contain ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbon. By RFID tagging and tracking information about each individual refrigerator, one may easily figure out the right recycling method for it.

In this recycling scenario, however, RFID tags are not removed after purchase. Therefore, there would be much larger privacy concerns than supply-chain or storefront RFID scenarios. I'd think consumers may want to remove and/or kill the tags after purchase, and voluntarily reattach and/or reactivate the tags at the time of disposal.

In sum, privacy-aware recycling would be cool.

Chiyoda Maintenance developed a system to easily check "if everyone is here" using RFID. Imagine an excursion with your colleagues. "Alright, it's free time. Go play enjoy whatever you want. Just come back in 30 minutes, okay?" 30 minutes later, "is everyone here?" but what if you've got 400 colleagues travelling with you?

As you might have already guessed, the system uses RFID tags carried by people and a handheld device that reads the tags and shows a list of people who are missing. The read range is about 7-10 meters and takes about 5 sec to check 20 people but the system somehow supports as many as 400 people.

The company, Chiyoda Mainteneace -- their main business is actually to provide services for nuclear facilities.

via nikkei local edition, septermber 14.

ChinaTechNews reports:

RFID China Alliance is interested in this technology:

IP-XTM provides for FreeFlow Spotting of tags in all frequency bands, which means it can enable an RFID tag to be read or authenticated even while it is rapidly moving through sorting or continuous manufacturing processes or attached to a person, container, or vehicle moving at a speed of up to 240 kilometers an hour.

Universal Studio Japan (USJ) will soon introduce RFID (phone) tickets -- as early as later this year. Visitors buy entrance tickets on the internet and, when they visit USJ, they can just wave their RFID-chipped cell phones to get in. This way, they will likely be able to get in a lot faster than people with regular tickets. The system is compatible with Sony's mobile felica technology. NEC and USJ will co-develop the system.

via Nikkei Shimbun, September 7, 2006.

via ChinaTechNews

CCW Research's recent report states that China's public security sector will drive the development of RFID in China.

RFID Lowdown has posted a comprehensive article on this topic. It includes some examples from Asia and Japan.

Thanks Mini.

DNP, Tana-X, and SEARS codeveloped a smart shelf that can monitor detailed consumer behaviors.

The shelf monitors RFID-tagged sales items on the shelf and collects information such as:
- how many people stopped in front of a sales item
- how many people did not stop in front of a sales item
- how many times / how long a sales item was picked up by a customer
- how much time was spent by a consumer before coming to a decision whether or not to buy it

It's stored on a PC and analyzed by dedicated software. 5-inch digital POP terminals are monted on the shelf and display product relevant information.

The POP terminals are equipped with RFID readers that read consumer loyalty cards and delivers personalized info. Future versions of them can issue digital coupons and points based on consumers' in-store behavior histories (e.g., which sales items they took a look at).

The companies plan to test this system in December.

via japan.internet.com

via RFID blog

Fuji Xerox and Starway have collaborated for the development of recyclable packing boxes. These boxes can be used over a hundred times and tracked using RFID tags. Most of the traditional recyclable packing boxes are used for twice, not more than that.