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New technologies bring services within touching distance
27.09.2006
New mobile business initiative led by VTT
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is managing a new international co-operative project SmartTouch targeted at finding new, versatile applications for mobile devices. The technologies employed in the project will bring different services literally within reach of touch - in the local catering service for the elderly of the City of Oulu, in Finland, for example, the simple act of touching a catering menu item with a mobile phone will automatically place the order and bring the selected meal directly to the home of the service user. The same technology can also be applied to paying for one's shopping or purchasing public transport tickets.
The goal of the ITEA/Eureka project managed by VTT is to develop versatile and
easy-to-use mobile services based on NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.
NFC
enables the acquisition and transmission of data between the mobile device and
the service system, e.g., by touching an NFC tag carrying service related
information, or by touching a specific reader device connected to related
infrastructure on a bus or at a shop checkout.
Another
application is proximity-based data transfer, which refers to initiating data
transfer by bringing a smart device (such as a mobile phone) close to another
device (such as a computer, TV set, DVD player, or another mobile phone). For
example, this functionality will allow images to be transmitted from a mobile
phone to a printer or to a computer for storing or further processing.
In
Finland, the new mobile technologies are piloted in the City of Oulu, where
the local catering service for the elderly will be piloting a catering order
system using mobile phones equipped with NFC readers. A simple touch of the
desired menu item will automatically transmit the order to the service
provider. The objective is to support elderly people living at home by
monitoring and automatic registration of meal orders, which is expected to cut
down on manual work. This pilot has been implemented by ToP Tunniste together
with VTT. By implementing efficient service systems, this project aims to
enable the administrative units of the City of Oulu to help it’s citizens
manage their daily activities more easily. Practical applications will include
services for elderly people, catering, logistics, access control and health
services.
The same technology can also be applied to paying
for one’s shopping and for purchasing public transport tickets. The smart card
used in the NFC device can be any limited-value charge card, such as a city
card, a library card, a bus card, a cinema ticket, or a sports event ticket.
The consumer will be able to manage the card and monitor its use on the mobile
phone, by reviewing the card use log on the phone display, for example. The
technology enables the service provider to deliver the service card to the
customer via the mobile network much more cost-efficiently compared with
traditional methods.
Other ongoing pilot projects include
public transport ticketing systems in the cities of Oulu, Turku and Tampere,
and access control systems of public premises.
According to
Mr Gerhard Romen, the chairman of the NFC forum marketing committee,
SmartTouch applications provide good examples of the use of the NFC technology
in making everyday life easier. These examples also make us more aware of
NFC-related business opportunities and of the roles of the different parties
involved.
NFC technology will be part of our everyday lives
in the near future. The R&D activities of VTT in the field of mobile services
cover the entire product chain from concepting of mobile services to piloting
and implementing products.
The ITEA SmartTouch (Browsing
Through Smart Objects Around You) project involves 19 participants from eight
different EU countries. Members of SmartTouch consortia are Alcatel, Buscom,
City of Oulu, Dan Company, Gemalto, Idesco, Innovision Research and
Technology, K.U. Leuven, MedicTouch, Nokia, Nordea, Philips CE, the Innovation
Lab, Rain-Main-Verkehrsverbund, Robotiker, Telefónica Investigación y
Desarrollo S.A. Unipersonal, TeliaSonera, Telvent Tráfico y Transporte, S.A.,
ToP Tunniste, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. A joint meeting of the
international consortium is being held in Helsinki on 28 to 29 September 2006,
attended by delegates from all consortium companies.
This,
more than 30 million EUR, project is to be completed in 2008. This project is
the largest single NFC technology related venture funded by TEKES (the Finnish
Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) in Finland.
www.smarttouch.org
www.nfc-forum.org
www.tekes.fi/vamos