The invention relates to a method for retrieving a shut state and/or a location of a closable container as well as closable containers, wherein a transition between an open position and a closed position is achieved by a relative movement at least of a first container part with respect to a second container part, wherein the container has at least one RFID chip having a connected near field antenna and a far field antenna and the RFID chip having the connected near field antenna is arranged at the first or at the second container part and the far field antenna is arranged at the other one of the first and second container part, respectively, and the near field antenna, which is connected to the RFID chip, is arranged, as compared to the far field antenna, such that, in the closed position of the container, a noncontact electromagnetic coupling takes place between the near field antenna and the far field antenna. In the context of the method, due to the interaction of a sending unit and a receiving unit, a response signal can by generated by means of the RFID chip and can be transmitted, the range of said response signal depending on the shut position of the container.

Various embodiments are directed to overlaying relevant product information in augmented reality via the use of near-field communication (NFC) and a product selection system. A user may authenticate into an application or user profile. Information about the user in the user profile may be used to determine which products are relevant to the user. Information related to the relevant products may then be displayed to the user in augmented reality, which improves at least the overall shopping and in-store experience.

A portable terminal issues an authentication process request for an information storage medium to an information processing apparatus by using terminal information indicative of an information terminal, which performs authentication of the information storage medium without performing short-range wireless communication with the information storage medium. The information processing apparatus has the portable terminal output an authentication information request to the information storage medium by short-range wireless communication, performs authentication of the information storage medium on the basis of an authentication information answer, and outputs, to the portable terminal, approval information to be used when the information terminal is to acquire a result of authentication of the information storage medium from the information processing apparatus. The portable terminal performs display based on the approval information. The information terminal can acquire an authentication result relating to a user of the information storage medium from the information processing apparatus, by using the displayed permission information. Accordingly, authentication of an information storage medium for which reading out and writing of information can be performed by proximity wireless communication can be performed by an information terminal that does not have a proximity wireless communication function.

A system having a radio-frequency-identification (RFID) tag reader and a camera to map playing cards to RFID tag values. Each card is inserted into a sleeve that has an RFID tag. During or after insertion of a card into a sleeve, the camera captures an image of the card and the RFID reader captures an RFID tag value for the sleeve. The identity of the card is then determined from the captured image and mapped to the RFID tag value. This mapping information is generated for each card-sleeve pair in a card deck and utilized to track the movement of the cards during game play. The RFID tag value of each card-sleeve pair in the card deck is captured before and after a player draws a card from the deck. The missing RFID tag values are compared to the mapping information to identify which cards where drawn by the player.

This disclosure relates to systems with multiple NFC front ends and at least one shared controller. One disclosed system includes a first discrete device having a first near field communication (NFC) controller, a second discrete device having a second NFC controller, a communicative connection between the first discrete device and the second discrete device, and a system controller located on the first discrete device. The system controller is communicatively connected to the first NFC controller. The system controller is connected to the second NFC controller via the communicative connection. In specific approaches, the second discrete device can include a display which is also controlled by the system controller, and the system controller is NCI compliant and application aware. In specific approaches, the system controller can control the second NFC controller based on the content concurrently being provided to the display.

A tag reading device includes an external interface, an RFID interface, a buffer memory, and a processor. The external interface communicates with a higher-level device. The RFID interface reads tag information from an RFID tag. The buffer memory sequentially records the tag information read from the RFID tag using the RFID interface. The processor transmits the tag information recorded in order in the buffer memory to the higher-level device via the external interface, and updates a transmission start pointer indicating untransmitted tag information in the buffer memory.

A two part dual layer transaction device comprising a computerized master unit powered by rechargeable battery, the master unit capable of connecting wirelessly to a data network and accessing at least one network server, the master unit having a length, a width, and an internal volume, and a transaction card element having a form factor acceptable for use as a debit or credit card, wherein the transaction card element may be docked or otherwise coupled to the master unit in an idle state and may be uncoupled by the user for the purpose using or cleaning the card element.

Features relating to a laser etching and/or tag writing machine are provided. The machine may include a tray assembly including a tray and a nest. The tray may hold an array of vaporizer cartridges. The tray may allow for a laser-etching operation to be performed by the machine on at least one or two sides of the vaporizer cartridges held by the tray. The tray may allow for the array of vaporizer cartridges to be rotated at the same time between laser etching operations. The tray may additionally and/or alternatively allow for the machine, such as via an antenna, to write data to an NFC tag of a corresponding vaporizer cartridge before, during, and/or after each laser etching operation.

Systems and methods monitor loading of cargo onto a transport vehicle to avoid incorrect cargo loading incidents. A wireless monitoring device positioned near an access port of a cargo hold of the transport vehicle receives a tracking identifier of a wireless tracking tag attached to a logistic container containing the cargo as the logistic container is conveyed into the cargo hold. An alert is generated by the wireless monitoring device when the tracking identifier is not listed in a manifest listing identifiers of wireless tracking tags attached to logistic containers expected to be loaded into the cargo hold. Within the cargo hold, the wireless tracking tags may also exchange their tracking identifiers such that any one of the wireless tracking tags may determine, by counting, when less than a target threshold number of wireless tracking tags are present.

Provided herein are automated article dispensing systems having inventory management capabilities, and methods for managing inventory of articles in automated dispensing systems. In particular, the systems and methods disclosed herein utilize an inventory management assembly which includes one or more sensors configured to detect directly or indirectly one or more parameters related to quality and/or quantity the articles and an inventory management processing module configured to compute inventory related data based at least on the one or more parameters.