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NFC

An NFC Tag is a regular ISO 14443 card (either a memory card or a microprocessor-based smartcard), holding a specific content (standardized by the NFC Forum ). Depending on this content, the application reading the tag will perform automatically a predefined action. Typical actions are :
  • open a URL (Internet address),
  • dial a number or send an SMS (if the reader is a mobile phone),
  • launch a software,
  • etc ...
NFC Tags make it possible to link easily computer-based information to paper sheets or posters, therefore the name SmartPoster.

What is NFC?

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a large-scope, multi-purpose concept that aim to federate various technologies enabling interactions between two electronic devices at short distance (< 10cm) .

The name NFC used to be closely linked to the ISO 14443 world (RFID communication using inductive coupling at 13.56MHz )

New actors (mobile phone operators mostly) focus on the usages and not on the techno : in its wider acceptance, NFC also covers UHF and SHF RFID, short-distance Bluetooh, 2D barcodes, etc ...

NFC Forum

NFC Forum is the organisation in charge of NFC standardization, it consists of over 140 members (silicon and phone manufacturers, applications developers, payment schemes, mobile operators, ...) Promotes the development of products using NFC technologies Educates consumers and companies globally about NFC.

NFC Forum has developped a set of specifications based on the ISO standards, that define :

  • a modular architecture for NFC applications
  • interoperability parameters for NFC protocols and devices
  • a certification program to ensure that products labelled NFC-Forum will actually be interoperable

3 modes of operation

3 modes of operation

Reader mode

The NFC device behaves just as any other ISO 14443 contactless coupler (+ Felica, + ISO 15693, etc ), it can do everything a reader / writer can. RFID tags could be embedded in virtually anything; the NFC device (phone/smartphone/tablet/whatever) will perform appropriate action when reading one of them.

  • Typical applications : smart poster, storage of WIFI or Bluetooth credentials, mobile card processing, etc.

Card emulation mode

The NFC device behaves like an existing ISO 14443 contactless smart card (+ Mifare, + Felica, + ISO 15693, + etc ... ) . This is the richest mode as it takes benefit of the existing reader infrastructures and offers multiple innovative use cases.

  • Typical applications : transportation, payment

Peer-to-peer mode

Two NFC devices are communicating together and exchanging information :

  • Business card,
  • Peer-to-peer payment,
  • Bluetooth pairing,
  • etc ...

NFC with our SpringCard devices

SpringCard's readers can be used as an NFC device, operating in the Reader mode described above. Take a look at the list of our readers to find out which one is the most suited to your project.

Our readers support Type 1, 2 and 4 NFC Tags. The only NFC type tag unsupported is Type 3 (Sony Felica cards).

Our NFC applications

NFCTool and NFCSpTray

NFCTool is a full-featured software to read/write SmartPosters or vCard into NFC Forum compliant tags (type 2 and type 4 are supported). NFCSpTray is a small unitilty that sits in the tray-bar and open the URL stored in SmartPoster tags.

Source code is provided in the PC/SC SDK (requires the .NET framework, written in C#).

NFCTool and NFCSpTray fonctionnent avec les lecteurs PC/SC sans contact (for instance : Prox'N'Roll, CrazyWriter or CSB6).

Download SpringCard NfcTool & NfcSpTray (Windows setup)

 NFCTool

NFCWizard

NFCWizard is a free web-based online service, created by SpringCard. Thanks to a Java applet, NFCWizard makes it possible to read and write SmartPoster or vCard tags directly within your web browser !

Discover NFCWizard right now

Learn more