New versions of nine NFC Forum specifications have been published today, including version 1.3 of the NFC Connection Handover Technical Specification which now provides a way to use an intermediary NFC device to set up a connection between two other NFC devices located at a distance from each other.

With the new update to the specification, the NFC Forum says, “a smartphone can serve as a mediator to securely connect the living-room TV to the WiFi router with just a tap on each device.”

Eight other specifications have also been updated:

NFC Activity Technical Specification version 1.1: This specification describes the building blocks for setting up the communication protocol between NFC devices or between an NFC device and an NFC tag. This version includes updates that address comments made on the previous version.NFC Controller Interface (NCI) Technical Specification version 1.1: This defines a standard interface between an NFC controller and a device’s main application processor. The new version adds a Logical Link Control Protocol Low RF Interface for power savings on idle LLCP links, an Aggregated Frame RF Interface for faster tag reading and writing and NFCID2-based listen mode routing. This provides more flexibility to emulate Type 3 tag applications on different secure elements directly connected to an NFC controller, such as SIM cards, the NFC Forum says.NFC Digital Protocol Specification version 1.1: This addresses the digital protocol for NFC-enabled device communication and defines a common feature set that can be used for major NFC applications in areas such as financial services and public transport. Content changes include clarifications, corrections, and editorial updates.NFC Logical Link Control Protocol (LLCP) Specification version 1.2: This defines a protocol to support peer-to-peer communication between two NFC-enabled devices. Comment resolutions and editorial updates have been made in this version.NFC Forum Type 1/2/3/4 tag operation specifications: These four specifications provide the technical information needed to implement an NFC reader/writer and the associated control functionality of an NFC device to interact with tags. Comment resolutions and editorial updates have been made on Type 1 tags, Type 2 and Type 3 tags have been aligned with the NFC Digital Protocol specification, while Type 4 tags now include extended length Application Protocol Data Unit support. The new Type 4 specification also adds an offset data object and a discretionary data object.

“Our NFC Forum specifications are living resources that must evolve to stay ahead of the changing needs of the rapidly expanding NFC ecosystem,” says Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum. “These newly updated specifications demonstrate how diligently our technical committee and its working groups strive to implement and distribute revisions that deliver greater value to NFC developers and solution providers.”