RFID: Helping the Blind to See

Filed in archive Retail on May 26, 2005

OK, I admit, the title of this post is a bit of an exaggeration. RFID can't exactly help the blind see -- at least not yet.

However, a new system being implemented June 1 in Seattle, Washington will call out to shoppers as they pass by. The system uses RFID tags which activate speakers (for the blind) or video monitors (for the hearing impaired) when the person carrying them walks in the vicinity. A ComputerWorld article tells how the RFID tags will be used:

Six wireless public areas, called activation fields, will go live next week throughout downtown Seattle and at the city's ferry terminal. Over the next few months, 15 more city areas will be added. Users carrying an active tag and entering one of the activation fields are recognized as the tag is read and are then presented with announcements.

"Speakers are mounted on the telephone booth or the facade of the store. So they will be above the individual's head when they pass underneath or nearby," said Harry H. Hart III, founder and CEO of Seattle's Awarea Corp., which owns and manages the system.

Users of the personalized marketing system carry an Active RFID tag roughly the size of a stack of four credit cards. When the tag comes within 100 feet of a transmitter sending low-frequency signals at 126KHz, the tag transmits a unique identification signal to a receiver connected to a monitoring and execution server.

Depending on what information the system has on file about the individual, the server selects the correct file to output -- either an audio file in Microsoft Corp.'s WAV format for an announcement or an Apple Computer Inc. QuickTime file for American Sign Language to be displayed on a video monitor. The first message could be the address and sale information from a nearby retailer.

Customers seeking more information can push a "tell me more" button, explained Ben Donohue, vice president of business development for Axcess Inc., which is providing the hardware and designing the system.

Data about the customer can be mined and sold to the retailers, Donohue said. It can also be used to personalize marketing and map customer behavior.

Methinks he would have been better off leaving off that bit about data mining, however. That's just the thing to raise the hackles of privacy advocates.

On the other hand, most consumers won't lift an eyebrow. We are all inured to the multitudes of databases out there with personal information in them.