Apple has filed a sweeping patent application for a technology suite designed to provide iPhone users with a broad range of real-time product information, special offers, sales opportunities, and related services in stores, restaurants, and other retail establishments.
The filing also points to the inclusion of near-field communication (NFC) technology in upcoming iPhones.
The system described relies primarily on two methods of obtaining information on products or services: a reader using the aforementioned NFC tech to get data from an RFID or its equivalent placed on a product, owners manual, point-of-sale device or display, and the like; or a matrix bar code to be read by the iPhone’s camera and decoded by an iPhone app or iOS element. Both an RFID or a matrix bar code, of course, would need to be placed on the product by their manufacturer.
Product information could also be provided by an internet connection, in an email message, or an in-store kiosk.
A host of examples are listed in the 83-page filing. Examples include:
- Bellying up to a the bar in a pub and checking out the event calendar for that establishment
- Walking down a supermarket aisle and reading recipes related to items on the shelves, complete with instructional videos
- Scanning the packaging of a movie DVD and being shown that movie’s trailer, snippets of its soundtrack, and online reviews
- Sitting in a coffee shop and purchasing the tunes that’s being played over the shop’s sound system
- Dining in a restaurant and receiving nutritional information about your meal
- Receiving the answers to problem sets in textbooks or reviews of novels in, uh, novels
- Scanning software packaging and watching a video tutorial
- Scanning magazine inserts and blow-in cards that provide info or discounts on the products advertised
Source: The Register
Editors Note:
Most of these examples seem to be obvious applications for RFID and mobile devices in general, so I am not too sure what Apple is actually protecting with this patent application. Most of these ideas have been known and talked about for years and even a decade or more.
