> On Oct 11, 2013, at 4:39 PM, John Robinson <[email protected]> wrote: > > I read an article several months ago of using bluetooth packaging for items > at the grocery. Every product would have built into the bottle, box, sack > etc a wafer thin bluetooth device, so a few or hundreds of items in carts > would be pushed through the checkout readers and instantly the cost would be > generated.
There are two related technologies floating around. The other one is RFID. This shopping cart thing sounds more like RFID because it's a lot cheaper since only one side needs a battery. The RFID chips are not much bigger than a large grain of rice. When one comes near an RFID reader, a passive field comes to life and it sends information to the reader. The advantage of RFID is that the chips are really cheap. The disadvantage is that the range is pretty short. Lots of big companies like Wal-Mart are using RFID to keep track of boxes in their logistics. The UofL library uses RFID to keep track of books. _______________________________________________ MacGroup mailing list [email protected] http://www.math.louisville.edu/mailman/listinfo/macgroup
