Copies of a distributed ledger with multiple blocks are stored on multiple computing devices. A first computing device coming into proximity with a particular object triggers generation of a new block to the distributed ledger, the new block identifying a characteristic of the object and including a hash of a previous block of the distributed ledger. The new block is optionally verified before it is appended onto the distributed ledger and transmitted out to each of the multiple computing devices so that each copy of the distributed ledger includes the new block.

Provided are a checkout device, a control method, and a storage medium that can smoothly perform a checkout process for a customer in accordance with a status. The checkout device includes: a first input/output unit; a second input/output unit provided to face a different direction from the first input/output unit; and a control unit that selects an input/output unit which accepts input related to a checkout process from the first input/output unit and the second input/output unit based on at least one of status of the checkout device and time.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a radio frequency identification (RFID) device is provided, comprising a first power domain, a second power domain, a first processing unit, and a second processing unit, wherein the first processing unit is configured to execute one or more first operations and the second processing unit is configured to execute one or more second operations, wherein the first operations output intermediate data which are used as input for the second operations, and wherein the first processing unit is configured to operate in the first power domain and the second processing unit is configured to operate in the second power domain, said first power domain having a larger amount of available power than the second power domain. In accordance with further aspects of the present disclosure, a corresponding method of operating a radio frequency identification (RFID) device is conceived, and a corresponding computer program is provided.

A device implementing a system for NFC communication with a second device includes an antenna and a processor configured to transmit a pulse signal for detection of another device within proximity of the device, and to detect, in conjunction with transmission of the pulse signal, that a first value of a measurement parameter of the antenna satisfies an initial detection factor. The processor is further configured, in response to the detection, to set a confirmation detection factor for the measurement parameter of the antenna based at least in part on the first value of the measurement parameter of the antenna, to transmit a confirmation pulse signal, and to initiate a second polling for reception of data from the other device when a second value of the measurement parameter of the antenna detected in conjunction with transmission of the confirmation pulse signal satisfies the confirmation detection factor.

An embodiment method comprises transmitting a reader carrier signal from a contactless reader to a contactless device, receiving by the reader, a device modulated carrier signal from the device, the device modulated carrier signal having a carrier frequency, preferably turning off by the reader, the transmission of the reader carrier signal during reception of the device modulated carrier signal, and after having turned off the transmission of the reader carrier signal, determining by the reader the presence or the absence at the reader's antenna of a modulated carrier signal having at the reader's antenna the carrier frequency with a tolerance, without relying on the data content of the modulated carrier signal.

There is provided a pick-and-place system for transferring and installing a contoured composite structure onto a mandrel, in a composite manufacturing system. The pick-and-place system includes a tray station having a tray assembly to hold the contoured composite structure, prior to transfer and installation onto the mandrel. The pick-and-place system further includes an installation station having the mandrel and a pick-and-place assembly. The mandrel is designed to receive the contoured composite structure, and designed to move along a moving manufacturing line, via a conveyor assembly. The pick-and-place assembly includes a gantry assembly, a main beam suspended from the gantry assembly, the main beam having a plurality of end effector assemblies and a plurality of indexing assemblies, a vacuum system coupled to the main beam, a load balancer assembly coupling the main beam to the gantry assembly, and a control system coupled to the pick-and-place assembly, to operably control the pick-and-place-assembly.

A contactless transponder includes a non-volatile static random access memory including memory points. Each memory point is formed by a volatile memory cell and a non-volatile memory cell. A protocol processing circuit receives data and stores the received data in the volatile memory cells of the memory. A write processing circuit is configured, at the end of the reception and storage of the data, to record, in a single write cycle, the data from the volatile memory cells to the non-volatile memory cells of the respective memory points.

An article input device includes a processor. The processor acquires identification information read from a wireless tag by a reading unit installed in a first carrier carrying an article. The processor registers the acquired identification information in a first list when the acquired identification information is not registered in a second list in which identification information read from a wireless tag by a second reading unit installed in a second carrier carrying an article is registered. The processor causes a display on the first carrier to output a notification when the acquired identification information is registered in the second list.

The present disclosure generally relates to a computer system displaying a user interface that includes a representation of a card, where the representation of the card includes a plurality of layers that are concurrently displayed. The plurality of layers include a first layer with a first visual asset and a second layer with a second visual asset. A first set of visual effects is applied to the first visual asset without applying the first set of visual effects to the second visual asset. A second set of visual effects, different from the first set of visual effects, is applied to the second visual asset.

In this patent disclosure, various embodiments of using near-field communication (NFC) to facilitate secure data exchange between a robotic surgical system and a surgical tool attached onto the robotic surgical system are disclosed. In one aspect, a process for enabling secure data exchange between a robotic surgical system and a surgical tool begins by detecting a coupling of the surgical tool onto the robotic surgical system. The process next establishes a NFC link between a first NFC module embedded in the robotic surgical system and a second NFC module embedded in the surgical tool. The process then determines whether the surgical tool is authenticated to the robotic surgical system via the NFC link. Next, in response to the authentication of the surgical tool, the process establishes secure data exchange between the robotic surgical system and the surgical tool.