DUAL INTERFACE: An NFC tag with content that can be updated by the host

Inside Secure has introduced a dual interface NFC tag that can act as a wireless bridge between two electronic devices.

The tag, says Inside Secure, "creates virtually limitless possibilities for interactions between NFC mobile devices like smartphones and a broad range of medical, communications, entertainment and other electronic devices."

"In addition to a conventional NFC contactless interface, the new Inside dual-interface NFC Forum Type 4 Tag also provides a unique one-wire interface that allows the tag to provide a low-cost wireless communications bridge between two devices, opening the door to an array of exciting new NFC applications."

For example, when an NFC-enabled device is touched to the tag, the NFC field is detected on the tag's traditional contactless interface and a pulse can be sent over the one-wire interface to start a data transfer or pairing process.

The tag is offered in two memory configurations, the VaultIC 151D with a 1.5Kbyte file system and the VaultIC 161D with a 16Kbyte file system. A range of hardware security mechanisms to prevent tampering and attacks are included and data access over either interface is performed using standard NFC Forum commands.

The larger memory option has been earmarked for home medical monitoring devices, Inside Secure's Jean Charles Lesage explained to NFC World.

"We have a lot of requests from people in the medical field particularly because they need to share a lot of information. Using an NFC phone as the reader, we can transfer all the information stored in one of these tags and then send it back to a server for analysis.

"For example, the tag can record a patient's heartbeat, something that is constantly changing and is quite random, over a day or a week because of the size of the tag. It is probably the biggest file system for this type of tag available today."

"There's also the ability for the tags to work well in supermarkets," Lesage added. "Products have a lot of information; price, ingredients, allergy information. If we put one of these dual interface tags in place then all that information can be written in through the contact interface.

"Any changes such as updating pricing can be done using the contactless interface rather than having to add new tags each time a change is made."