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NFC use cases summarized
jures33 | 23 September, 2011 12:12

So, what can one do with NFC technology and what are the related standards that ensure interoperability across devices?

Well given the fact that it is a shortwave technology that operates at very close distances (up to 10 cm in theory but as implemented in devices the distance to get a good reading is just few centimeters) it inherently means that it requires a the users to do something specific with the device (expressing intent). In Nokia we describe this gesture as a "Tap". In its essence it means users using their phone by almost touching it with another NFC related object to accomplish an action.

Below I describe a few use case families that we try to group these actions and related standards

Tap to share

This family of use cases is all about users exchanging content using two NFC enabled devices/phones in so called peer-2-peer mode. The information exchanged can be either content or small objects.

The exchange relies on LLCP (Logical Link Control Protocol) defined in NFC Forum so that developers can implement sharing with multiple device types coming from various manufacturers (provided that they are NFC Forum compliant). Sharing of content can be 2 users exchanging a photo, video, file using NFC as a signaling channel to connect the devices via a secondary bearer (like Bluetooth or WLAN) information and do the transfer over it automatically.

The second area of use cases is more application centric, allowing applications to exchange objects between each other to perform operations. The objects can be simple contact, social profile information, unlock level object, virtual currency, game objects and much more. Furthermore these objects can be standardised so they become application agnostic. The SNEP (Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol) is the NFC forum Standard covering these use cases.

Tap to initiate a service

Here we are talking about using your NFC mobile phone in the context of interacting/tapping passive NFC tags. The tags, a small and inexpensive IC, can be embedded in a product (i.e. consumer HW, toys, other consumer goods), in a poster/sticker, in a business card or badge, and all sorts of other ingenious ways. The expectation is that when user is tapping such a smart product (which usually needs to have a visual indication on where to tap it) a service will be initiated automatically.

What kind of service? The most common service is automatically launching a predefined URL (to show product information, to automatically connect, to follow on Twitter, check-in to a service, like on Facebook). Furthermore the use cases can be sending an automated SMS (SMS - info, ticketing, entertainment services etc.), get vCard information or the tag contains application specific code (i.e. unlock hidden levels in a game, get a voucher). An NFC tag can contain multiple information (multiple NDEF records), for instance application specific code (i.e. to unlock levels) and a generic URL record (to download the application from the application store).

What type of information NFC devices expect/can read from NFC tags is summarised by the RTD (Record Type Definition) specification and how the data is stored on the tag is defined by NDEF (NFC Forum Data Exchange Format) specification.

Tap to pair

Here we are talking about devices using NFC to easily establish connection with each other using a secondary bearer such as Bluetooth. This case applies to easy and convenient way of pairing of devices such as headphones, speakers, printers, computers and other HW allowing the tap gesture (=intent) to replace discovery, PIN exchange and setup steps otherwise necessary to perform the pairing of devices. The related standard that governs this kind of use cases is the NFC Forum Connection Handover Specification

Tap to pay/gain access

This family of use cases is mostly related to (secure) transactions such as ticketing and payment. In this case the device acts as a smartcard and when tapped together with a NFC reader (say a POS payment terminal, a security/access check gate or a transport reader) user performs a transaction (pays for goods/services, opens gate/door, validates train ticket etc). These use cases require that the information is stored (and provisioned) securely to the Device. In NFC jargon we are talking about a Secure Element - a tamper proof storage, ideally physically isolated as a chip embedded on the device HW, integrated into a SIM card or available as a SD card .

When a user touches an NFC reader to perform a transaction the reader needs to read the secure information (card number, status, value of credit, credentials etc) via NFC radio and a secure protocol - called SWP (Single Wire Protocol).

This is by far the most complex family of use cases to implement. In many cases it involves several stakeholders i.e. HW manufacturer, service provider, trusted service manager, banking system and other players to make it work. Recently players in the industry also started working on solutions using peer-2-peer protocols/architectures using LLCP (i.e. Google Wallet)

This is in a nutshell NFC use case families that we are thinking about in Nokia, most certainly there are more that we haven't thought of yet so we would not like the community to limit themselves to this when thinking how NFC can benefit their business/cause, but rather provide a frame on how the differend standards that ensure interoperability were designed.