Smartphones are the key to our world and never leave our sides. After all, wherever there is reception, we have access to the Internet. However, up until now, the clever little device wasn't smart enough to open an ordinary door with a lock and latch. That's all about to change – thanks to near field communication (NFC). This technology allows information exchange between devices at a very short d...
Smartphones are the key to our world and never leave our sides. After all, wherever there is reception, we have access to the Internet. However, up until now, the clever little device wasn't smart enough to open an ordinary door with a lock and latch. That's all about to change – thanks to near field communication (NFC). This technology allows information exchange between devices at a very short distance of a few centimetres – this is the way that RFID cards, smart tags and card readers work – and now also smartphones.
The decisive trick in near field communication lies in the active display of the user's intent by means of a particular, physical act. This consists in his placing his card or NFC-compatible smartphone near to another device. For example, if he wants to open a certain door, he displays this intent by holding his card up to a card reader.
This simple display of the user's intent can now be incorporated into a wide range of applications. We differentiate between three modes:
The smartphone acts like a card reader. This allows people to read, for example, tags, which are small RFID chips, on so-called smart posters. These tags include web links via which people are then redirected to websites where more information on the topic is available.
This mode involves direct, close-proximity communication between two smartphones. For example, this can be used to exchange business cards and play interactive games (social gaming) as well as create Bluetooth and WLAN connections.
In this mode, the smartphone acts like a non-contact smartcard allowing you to use it, for example, as a credit or debit card for payment functions. Public transport ticketing can also be effected via telephone.
The user can then collect his daily or hourly lock authorisations simply at the push of a key in his MobileKey app. The keys can be configured by the administrator in such a way that they only work for a specified validity period and then expire again. The corresponding doors can then be opened – when the respective authorisations exist – by simply holding the smartphone to the reader integrated in the lock.