A Rugged portable device comprises: a base, a cover pivotally connected to the base, a first antenna unit, a second antenna unit, and a control unit. The first antenna unit and the second antenna unit are respectively disposed at an edge of the cover and an edge of the base, and the first antenna unit and the second antenna unit respectively have a near-field antenna and a far-field antenna. When the cover pivots relative to the base and is close to the base, the near-field antenna disposed at the cover and the near-field antenna disposed at the base generate a near-field communication (NFC) sensing signal and the near-field communication sensing signal is transmitted to the control unit. Therefore, the control unit sets up one of functions in the rugged portable device. For instance, the control unit switches off and/or switches on the far-field antenna or a peripheral unit (a keyboard or a camera).

Systems and methods using a network of wearable devices to support secure payment for a user are described. The network of wearable devices may include a wearable secure unit including a first short-range transceiver, a wearable sensory unit including a second short-range transceiver, and a wearable communication unit including a third short-range transceiver and a long-range transceiver. The systems and methods may include receiving a transaction request from a merchant device. Thereafter, the systems and methods may obtain information from the wearable secure unit configured to provide an environment in which processes and data are securely stored and executed. The systems and methods may also obtain information from the wearable sensory unit configured to capture and compare biometrics of the user with a stored profile. Based on the obtained information, the systems and methods may instruct the wearable communication unit to transmit to the merchant device user authentication data.

Embodiments of this application disclose an NFC-based communication method, an apparatus, and a system. In the NFC-based communication method, an electronic device works in an NFC reader/writer mode and performs an NFC communication process with an NFC tag. When failing to perform the NFC communication process, the electronic device may adjust a currently used radio frequency parameter, and re-perform the NFC communication process with the NFC tag by using an adjusted radio frequency parameter.

A trainable transceiver may comprise an electro-optic element comprising a first substrate having an electrode coating on a surface; a second substrate generally parallel to and in a spaced-apart relationship with the first substrate and having an electrode coating on a surface; and a window in at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate from which the electrode coating has been at least partially removed. The trainable transceiver may also comprise a machine-readable optical image selectively visible through the window; a light source disposed in proximity to the machine-readable optical image; and a controller capable of controlling the light source. Upon receipt of an appropriate input, the controller causes the activation of the light source which, in turn, causes the machine-readable optical image to be visible through the electro-optic element.

In an embodiment, an NFC controller of an NFC device is configured to transmit, after the detection, by the NFC controller, of an NFC reader in relation with a first NFC transaction and prior to receiving an application selection command from the NFC reader, an application selection message to a transaction handling element of the NFC device.

The present disclosure is drawn to, among other things, a method of providing a payment terminal application on an electronic device, the electronic device comprising a volatile storage module, a user input module and a network interface module. In some aspects the method includes receiving user credentials from the user input module, transmitting an authentication request message to a remote data center via the network interface module, the authentication request message including the user credentials, receiving an authentication response message from the remote data center, the authentication response message including an indication as to whether authentication was successful, and if the authentication was successful, receiving at least one encryption key from the remote data center; and storing the at least one encryption key in the volatile storage module.

Described herein are smart labels, each comprising multiple wireless radios, and methods of operating such labels. For example, a smart label comprises a battery and two wireless radios having different power requirements. When the battery is no longer able to support a high-power radio (e.g., NB-IoT), the battery can still power a low-power (e.g., BLE). A battery can be specially configured and/or controlled to support the multi-radio operation of the smart label. For example, a battery can include multiple battery cells with configurable connections among these cells and radios. Furthermore, some battery components can be shared by wireless radios. The battery can also power other components of the smart label, such as sensors (e.g., temperature, acceleration, pressure, package integrity, global positioning), memory, and input/output components. In some examples, multiple smart labels form a mesh network, designed to lower the total power consumption by the radios of these labels.

A trainable transceiver may comprise an electro-optic element comprising a first substrate having an electrode coating on a surface; a second substrate generally parallel to and in a spaced-apart relationship with the first substrate and having an electrode coating on a surface; and a window in at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate from which the electrode coating has been at least partially removed. The trainable transceiver may also comprise a machine-readable optical image selectively visible through the window; a light source disposed in proximity to the machine-readable optical image; and a controller capable of controlling the light source. Upon receipt of an appropriate input, the controller causes the activation of the light source which, in turn, causes the machine-readable optical image to be visible through the electro-optic element.

A Near Field Communication (NFC) tag and a control system for the NFC tag are provided. The NFC tag includes: a NFC coil, a control circuit, an energy acquisition circuit, and an energy storage circuit, wherein the NFC coil is configured to detect a magnetic field signal transmitted by a card reader when a distance between the NFC tag and the card reader is within a predetermined distance range; the energy acquisition circuit is configured to convert the magnetic field signal into an electrical signal when the NFC coil detects the magnetic field signal; and the control circuit is configured to control the energy acquisition circuit to transmit the electrical signal to the energy storage circuit, and control to charge the energy storage circuit through the electrical signal.

A system comprising synchronization circuitry, a first interrogator, and a second interrogator. The first interrogator includes a transmit antenna; a first receive antenna, and circuitry configured to generate, using radio-frequency (RF) signal synthesis information received from the synchronization circuitry, a first RF signal for transmission by the transmit antenna, and generate, using the first RF signal and a second RF signal received from a target device by the first receive antenna, a first mixed RF signal indicative of a distance between the first interrogator and the target device. The second interrogator includes a second receive antenna, and circuitry configured to generate, using the RF signal synthesis information, a third RF signal; and generate, using the third RF signal and a fourth RF signal received from the target device by the second receive antenna, a second mixed RF signal indicative of a distance between the second interrogator and the target device.