NEC develops RFID beverage bottle caps

NEC teamed up with Japanese container maker Toyo Seikan Kaisha to develop a new RFID cap model. This kind of bottle cap embedded with 2.45 GHz passive RFID tags allows consumers to learn about products and promotions. RFID bottle caps and their associated RFID readers are planned to be officially sold in 2008, targeting the commercial beverage market.

After its first show in Japan, NEC plans to gradually promote the use of RFID bottle caps globally, said Taiki Matsuo, general manager of NEC's ubiquitous solution promotion department. The RFID tag provided by NEC is embedded in the bottle cap when producing PET plastic bottle. It consists of an RFID chip and an antenna that can be embedded in the plastic bottle cap of each bottle. Each tag has a unique ID number and is stored in the tag's 128-byte read-only memory. NEC also provides a 128-byte, readable and writable memory tag that can be used to document other information, such as bottled content and product promotion details. In addition, NEC also developed supporting readers for such caps.

By reading the cap through the RFID reader in the store, the customer can first understand the composition of the beverage and the promotional information of the product before the purchase, such as contests or sweepstakes.

This 2.45 GHz tag complies with the ISO 15963 air interface standard and has the same diameter as a bottle cap. It works well in a liquid environment with a maximum reading distance of 4 inches. “We independently developed the cap model using a 2.45 GHz passive RFID tag,” Matsuo said. “Because it is a single-item application, the size of the tag is extremely important, and 2.45 GHz tags work better in both metal and liquid environments.” The 13.56 MHz and 900 MHz tags are better.” The Japanese Recycling Act stipulates that when the articles are recycled, the metal components in the plastic products must be stripped. The design of the RFID bottle cap also complies with this regulation. During the recycling process, the metal-containing chip and antenna in the cap can be removed.

Beverage companies can use this RFID bottle cap to monitor the circulation of products, such as tracking the location of the drinks in the store and sales speed. “NEC and Toyo Seikan believe that the system allows beverage manufacturers to manage their inventory more effectively and promote their promotional activities,” Matsuo said, adding that if the problematic product is sold during the sale, he added, “because the system can identify each product The identification code, find out the corresponding production factory, greatly speed up the beverage company's event processing speed."

NEC hopes that Japan Crown Cork Co, a subsidiary of the Toyo Seikan Group, can produce such caps on a large scale in 2008. Matsuo said that NEC and Toyo Seikan are now in contact with beverage makers and food companies to jointly develop new applications.

Reprinted from: RFID World Network He Lin translated