December 2008 (City of Oulu)

SERVICES THROUGH NFC TECHNOLOGY
SERVICES THROUGH NFC TECHNOLOGY
Revolutionising Services
Homeshopping With Your
NFC Mobile Phone ............................. 5
Touch-tag Edutainment at Future Schools,
Roll Calls At The Touch Of A Tag ...... 6-7
NFC on The Bus................................ 9
NFC at the Theatre ......................... 10
What is SmartTouch?
SmartTouch develops and demonstrates new, innovative mobile services that are as easy and
intuitive as a touch. By simply touching a handset to a ’smart’ object (a reader, smart poster,
smart card, or another NFC-enabled handset), users receive the service or content of their choice. • www.smarttouch.org
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NFC
MOBILE PHONES FOR TOUCH-BASED INTERACTION
NFC (Near Field Communication) is a very-shortrange wireless communication technology that
allows mobile handsets to be used in interaction with other devices simply by touch. Intuitive,
user-friendly, and perfect for exchanging information quickly, NFC functionality can be added
to any Bluetooth-enabled devices; commonly,
mobile phones, PDAs, or laptops.
NFC technology is based on widely-used RFID
standards, making it compatible with RFID sys-
tems such as access control and public transport
ticketing. Other applications include short-range
data exchange between terminals, and sensors.
From several existing alternatives, NFC has become the RFID technology of choice among mobile phone manufacturers. Its versatile functionality means that an NFC device can emulate
both active RFID readers and passive RFID tags,
depending on the counterpart device.
SmartTouch has 22 partners from 8 European countries under the Eureka/ITEA collaboration
framework focusing on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The partners include 9
large industrial organizations and 5 SMEs, 4 research and 2 public organizations. The SmartTouch partners are contributing a total of 235 person years, which makes it the biggest effort
in the European Union on NFC. The total budget is close to 30 M E. The SmartTouch project is
coordinated by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The Finnish partners in the consortium are the City of Oulu, TeliaSonera, TopTunniste, Fara, Idesco, Nokia, Nordea, and VTT.
INDEX
NFC ............................................................. 2
OULU, CITY OF NFC ....................................... 3
SMARTTOUCH Only a Touch Away ................... 3
NFC & Meals for the Elderly ............................ 4
NFC Mobile Lock Management ........................ 4
NFC Future Shop Concept .............................. 5
NFC In the School Environment ................... 6-7
SmartParking with NCF ................................. 8
NFC-based Voting Event ................................ 8
NFC Information Tags ................................... 9
NFC On the Bus ............................................ 9
NFC At the Theatre ...................................... 10
NFC At the Restaurant ................................. 11
NCF-enabled Blood Sugar Meter .................... 11
SmartTouch Partners ................................... 12
Finnish Consortium Partners ........................ 12
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OUTI ROURU-KUIVALA
Project Manager
ITEA SmartTouch • City of Oulu -project
Central Administration
Innovation and Marketing Group
City of Oulu, Finland • + 358 44 703 1637
outi.rouru-kuivala@ouka.fi
CITY OF NFC
Oulu’s vibrant mix of business,
research, and education drives
and inspires new companies and
products towards success in the
world market. The city has firmly established itself as one of the
world’s most significant centres
in wireless communication.
With over 800 high-tech companies in
specialised focus areas–for instance,
NFC/RFID, sensors, AGPS-location
services, contextual internet, digital
mobile media, and virtual reality–the
level of technical competence in the
region is one of the world’s best-kept
secrets.
But perhaps most impressive is the
commitment to technology in public
services.
Oulu defines, pilot-tests, and develops the public service processes of
the future, cooperating with local,
SMARTTOUCH
Children using contactless smart cards to ’log in’ to a classroom at Hintta primary school.
national and international consortiums. Oulu´s vision is to develop
mechanisms to offer public infrastructures and service processes as
a test bed for ICT companies and research institutes, and in this fashion
to run active economic policy.
As a stakeholder in the consortiums,
Oulu is a forerunner for the newest
technology and provides the most
modern public services to its citizens.
Now the city that housed the world’s
first GSM and 3G mobile telephone
calls is the first to integrate NFC into
its public services.
Oulu’s vision is to have the most advanced public services in the world
by 2015. The city is eager to seize
new opportunities; NFC is tomorrow’s
technology today.
ONLY A TOUCH AWAY
SmartTouch develops and demonstrates new, innovative mobile services that are as easy and intuitive as a touch. By touching a handset
to a ’smart’ object (a reader, smart poster, smart card, or another
NFC-enabled handset) users receive the service or content of their
choice.
SmartTouch is coordinated by VTT,
the Technical Research Centre of Finland, and is the largest NFC project
(Near Field Communication) technology in the European Union. Running
from 2006 to the end of 2008, it examines the role of Near Field Communication Technology in city life, home,
wellness and health, entertainment,
technological building blocks, and
Oulu is the first city in the world to
be approved as a member of the International NFC Forum, which champions the use and development of
NFC (Near Field Communication)
technology. Founded in 2004, the
NFC Forum is a global network of businesses, inventors and individuals
with over 130 members.
communication. Momentum is building as ”touch” trials and solutions
multiply around the world.
business building blocks. Citizens of
Oulu can test extensive commercial
and public services made possible by
NFC, such as parking, theatre, and
restaurant services.
The extraordinary combination of
partners in SmartTouch, which includes technology providers, service
producers, researchers, and organisations, is driving NFC technology
forward on many fronts in public services.
The user interface in SmartTouch is
based on NFC technology and creates opportunities for new, user-friendly applications, transaction, and
All the projects in SmartTouch City of
Oulu have been specified, arranged,
and implemented in cooperation with
the City Of Oulu administrations.
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NFC
MEALS FOR THE ELDERLY
Demonstration video at www.ouka.fi/video/smart/elderly/
In 2006, the City of Oulu’s Elderly
Care services, Oulu Meal Service
and Oulu Logistic, piloted NFC
enhancements to their meal service for elderly citizens. Instead
of calling in orders, clients simply
touched a tag.
Interaction through NFC was relatively easy for the elderly clients
of the Meal Service to adopt, even
though some had problems using a
mobile phone in the traditional way.
During the piloting phase, meals
were ordered for home delivery by
touching tags on the daily menu with
NFC-enabled mobile phones.
Touching the menu set an extensive
service process in motion. Oulu Meal
Service received the order electronically via its database and prepared
the meal according to the order. The
meals were then delivered to elderly
people by Oulu Logistic. Using NFC
technology, the drivers distributing
the meals reported in at the start of
the delivery round, upon successful
delivery, and finally upon completion
of the round.
Both Oulu Meal Service and Oulu Logistic obtained real-time information
on the progress of the service process, and the quality of the customer
service was enhanced. TopTunniste
and VTT provided all technical applications, interfaces, and software.
VTT carried out usability research.
NFC
MOBILE LOCK MANAGEMENT
The City’s Sports Office and Department of Education launched
a project pilot in 2006 using NFC-enabled mobile phones as keys
to public facilities.
Citizens using the sports facilities
in Pohjankartano School in the evenings received NFC-enabled mobile
phones programmed to provide access to the facilities on given days
and times.
Customer information, card IDs,
and access information were added
to the database, and the customer
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profile was updated over the air.
The door of the sports facility was
opened by touching a reader next
to the door with the mobile phone.
The project’s objective was to find
solutions to future access control
needs for public facilities. The solution was realised by Fara in cooperation with VTT.
Parents taking part in the project found Future Shop a ’real time-saver.’
Future
Shop
NFC
Demonstration video at
www.ouka.fi/video/smart/futureshop/
A ‘Future Shop’ project based on NFC technology was implemented in April 2008 in cooperation
with Oulu Innovation Oy, Tradeka, TeliaSonera,
VTT, the Lintulammi residents’ association, and
the Oulu Elderly Care service. NFC brought milk
and eggs, packaged and delivered, at the touch
of a tag.
Groceries were purchased at home
by touching tagged shopping lists
with an NFC mobile phone. Elderly
residents and families with children
participating in the pilot chose 60 to
200 frequently purchased food items
for a tagged shopping binder. Delivery logistics were handled by the Lintulammi residents’ association.
Itemised bills were sent to customers every month. During the project, customers of Oulu Elderly Care
Service were offered other domestic
services unique to NFC technology
such as call activation and SMS activation through tagged photographs.
Busy parents in particular fell in
love with the service. ”Shopping with
three children can be an experience,”
commented one busy mother. ”This
is a real time-saver!”
TeliaSonera was responsible for
project technical solutions, while VTT
carried out usability and business
analysis research.
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Demonstration video a
NFC Attendance
supervision
NFC Info Channel
at school and home
by NFC mobile phone began in
2008. Designed to simplify attendance monitoring and replace
manual roll calls, the NFC system does not require teachers to
mark absences in the backend
system–leaving more time for
teaching.
The NFC info channel consists of
an active timetable, homework,
and school media contents. During the project, students use
smartposters at home containing
several tags: timetable, homework, and school media. There
are also smart posters in many
school locations.
Arriving in class, students touch a
tag and the backend system is informed who is present. If a log-in does
not occur, the student is marked absent by default. If a student logs in
late, the backend system records the
lateness.
The school health department,
special education teacher, curator or
other school staff members can update the backend system; for instance, should the student have a dental
appointment. In this case, the student does not need to worry about
being absent.
The system prevents truancy by
informing tutors, administrators,
and parents of absences in real time,
enabling instant intervention. Security is improved: it is easy to see
which students are in which classrooms. Real-time attendance logs
are important for the pupil and for
his or her legal protection. They eliminate unnecessary doubt, and plug
the gap in knowledge that deters
parents from prompt attendance supervision.
NextTime Solutions designed the
NFC interface for the project.
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1. Active timetable/homework
By touching a tag on a smart poster
at home or at school, a pupil receives
an individual daily school timetable
and any classroom changes. If there
are no changes in schedule, the system sends the pupil the timetable for
the day.
The timetable contains, as well
as the daily classes, all possible doctor and other appointments, changes
in classroom/teaching space, other
exceptions, and homework assignments with instructions.
The student can add own individual events or appointments to the
active timetable, once received. These
are not visible to teachers or parents.
MSG Software created the technical application for the project.
2. NFC School Media
NFC School media contains material
produced by students about school
events, parties or festivals, student
interviews or class introduction.
When a student touches the tag,
a list of links is send to the phone
from which the student can choose
the desired content. The info-channel content is saved on the server
where it is easier for the students of
the entire school and staff to produce material.
A widescreen monitor has been
installed in the reception area of
Laanila upper secondary school. By
touching a tag next to a widescreen
monitor, the NFC phone acts as a remote control and the chosen content
of the info-channel can be watched
on the monitor for a pre-designated
time.
The University of Oulu Department of Electrical and Information
Engineering developed the application for controlling widescreen monitor functions.
Amazing NFC
“Amazing NFC” is an Oulu city
orienteering project for schools,
implemented by NFC phone and
designed to teach pupils skills
and knowledge essential to everyday life–such as where to apply
for a student loan, or information
about local culture and history.
The project has two orienteering routes, a survival track and a culture/
historical track. The survival track
includes 11 checkpoints at which pupils get to know Oulu’s offices and
institutions. The pupils also make a
bus journey to Oulu University’s zoological museum. Ticketing is done
with an NFC phone.
During the bus journey, the pupils
become familiar with, among other
items, the ‘Initative for Oulu’ service
at www.ouka.fi/video/smart/school/
Demonstration video at www.ouka.fi/video/smart/amazing/
by touching information strips in the
buses. In the zoological museum,
pupils use their NFC phones to touch
tags and load content about the animal of their choice.
On the culture trail, students become familiar with Oulu’s culture and
history. The culture trail consists of
seven control points that employ the
Digital Oulu cultural database and its
contents as developed in the University of Oulu’s Rotuaari project.
Amazing NFC
functions on the route
The teacher distributes the phones
to the students, and each student or
student pair receives an individual
route with an individual departure
point. Upon arrival at a control point,
the student touches the tag and a
webpage concerning the site is sent
to the student’s phone containing the
following three links:
1. Read text, Watch video or
Listen to message: the student
either reads the text relating to the
control point, watches a relevant video, or listens to a sound file.
2. Answer questions: the student
answers a multiple choice exercise
relating to the site.
3. Instructions to the next
control point (when a correct answer is received): the student receives a map and directions to the next
control point.
Amazing NFC is still ongoing and
available to all secondary schools in
the Oulu district. Technical solutions
were provided by MSG Software and
TeliaSonera.
In addition to VTT’s usability
research, the Oulu University
Department of Education is
conducting research into NFC
in relation to learning.
NFC Attendance
Supervision at Hintta Primary School
Students from 6 to 7 years old (just starting at school) are taking
part in an ongoing NFC-enabled attendance supervision project
with an emphasis on security. The project gives parents real-time
information on children’s attendance.
Students use contactless smart
cards containing the Pupil ID to
mark themselves present in class.
The smart card reader registers
the pupil’s name and ID, and adds
a time stamp and an attendance
direction (In or Out) defined by
the application and set by the teacher.
In a small class of less than 20
pupils, the teacher has an NFCenabled mobile phone with an at-
tendance application. Larger classes of more than 20 pupils have
a smart card reader. Parents can
choose whether to learn of their
children’s attendance details via
an online ’citizen’s portal,’ or in an
SMS sent to their mobile phone.
NFC attendance supervision is
also used in extended day care
programs before and after school.
Technical solutions were provided
by MSG Software and Fara.
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SMARTPARKING WITH
Demonstration video at www.ouka.fi/video/smart/parking/
NFC
A motorist discovers no-fuss SmartParking.
In 2007, Smartparking through NFC technology
brought motorists to a new level of comfort parking: no coins and no parking tickets–not even the
trouble of sending an SMS. Better yet, you only pay
for the actual parking time.
To initiate parking, the user simply
touched an NFC tag on the windshield with an NFC-enabled phone
then a tag at the selected parking
zone, or selected the correct parking
zone from the phone application. After parking, the user only needed to
touch the tag on the windshield or at
the parking zone.
a tag on a parked car, the phone automatically connected to a backend
system and checked the parking status.
In a parking garage, parking was initiated and ended by touching a tag
adjacent to the entrance and exit gates with an NFC phone. The application remembered the parking level.
VTT, the Technical Research Centre
of Finland, conducted usability research and business analysis based on
the project.
Traffic wardens were equipped with
their own NFC enabled phones and
dedicated software for parking fee
control. When an attendant touched
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The Technical Centre of Oulu, the authority responsible for parking control, trained all their traffic wardens to
use the monitoring application.
The project was conducted by the
city of Oulu’s Technical Centre and
by Oulun Pysäköinti Oy. TopTunniste
provided technical solutions.
NFC
VOTING
EVENT
A voting event based on NFC
technology was implemented
in 2007 by the City of Oulu and
TeliaSonera in association with
the Nordic Innovation seminar.
During the event, 150 participants voted for the best/most
interesting seminar presentation by touching the NFC phone
first to their own id card, then
to the presentation of their
choice in the voting poster.
NFC
INFORMATION POSTERS
During the 2007-2008 NFC projects, information
posters in Oulu city theatre, on buses, at certain
bus stops, in Restaurant Pannu, and in Public
House Leskinen offered services belonging to Kaleva News, Vaisala local weather service network,
Oulu Theatre, Motor Services, and the Area Taxi.
The posters also offered KAMO, the metropolitan mobile guide program whose ’value added services’ are
provided by VTT.
From tags on the smart posters in Restaurant Pannu
and Public House Leskinen, a customer received extra information on restaurant products. Buses on route
19 had ‘Initiative for City of Oulu’ tags from which a
citizen’s initiative could be created with an NFC phone.
Tag content and implementation was handled by the
previous parties and by the City of Oulu, TopTunniste,
TeliaSonera, and MSG Software.
NFC
ON THE BUS
Koskilinjat, the City Of Oulu’s private bus operator; TeliaSonera; the City of Oulu; and Fara, a
ticketing company, ran a project in 2008 testing
an NFC-enabled payment solution for electronic
ticketing on public transport. This allowed passengers to pay for their journey with a NFC-enabled phone on any of nine buses equipped with
NFC readers operating on two city routes.
The mobile phone replaced cash and cards as payment,
making public transport more convenient. All nine buses equipped with the NFC ticketing solution had information tags in smart posters, allowing passengers
to access, for example, the latest news. Several bus
stops in Oulu provided VTT KAMO tags with information
on the next bus arriving at the stop. The background
system provided bus location information in real time.
VTT KAMO offered also additional services like ”journey
planning”.
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NFC
At the Theatre
Demonstration video at www.ouka.fi/video/smart/theatre/
Oulu City Theatre was the first
cultural establishment in the
world to pilot NFC technology in
all its customer services.
The project covered nine theatre
performances and a service package for the entire theatre evening
and pre-selected user groups. The
groups consisted of the staff of different corporations, and of members
of different communities.
Project participants received the
theatre tickets wirelessly via TeliaSonera’s backend system or directly
from the theatre sales point to their
NFC-enabled mobile phones.
Billing information was stored in the
backend system, and the actual billing took place after the event. Pilot
users could pre-order intermission
services using an NFC-enabled mobile phone, a theatre applet, and a
menu card.
A theatre programme was included
in the admission price, and could be
received by touching a tag with an
NFC-enabled phone.
These videos were tailored for the
small screens of mobile devices under the Oulu University of Applied
Sciences’ NeoArena project.
In the theatre restaurant, clients
obtained information–for example,
local news–from smart posters. Videos could also be downloaded via
NFC, containing in one instance the
director’s thoughts about the play.
The Oulu NFC Theatre project was
planned and designed by the Oulu
Theatre and by Kanresta, the restaurant service provider. TeliaSonera
and MSG Software were responsible
for technical solutions.
A usability analysis and a business
analysis were carried out for the project by VTT, the Technical Research
Centre of Finland.
Customers at the Oulu theatre restaurant
enjoy a meal ordered before the show by
touching a tagged menu with an NFCenabled mobile phone.
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NFC
AT THE RESTAURANT
In 2007, a project in Restaurant Pannu allowed
diners to order lunch quickly with their mobile phones during busy lunch hours via an NFC application.
Customers touched their handset to a table tag,
then touched the menu list tags to submit their order. TeliaSonera’s mediator system, receiving the
order, delivered it to the restaurant cash system
and kitchen.
It was also possible to use electronic lunch coupons. A
handset could be ’loaded’ with coupons, and each time
an order was placed, a coupon
was removed. Complementary
information could also be accessed by touching smart posters on the restaurant tables.
The lunch order idea came
from the restaurant owners,
who wanted more throughput
and revenue at busy lunchtimes and to get rid of paper
coupons.
At a project in Public House Leskinen, the customer
was able to ”check in” by touching a NFC tag near the
door, marking the customer as ”in” by Leskinen’s loyalty system. ’Leskinen’s people’ could then receive SMSbased marketing information
or special offers by touching
a marketing tag behind the
bar with an NFC-enabled mobile phone.
Information about beers and
other products was accessible
through information tags on
posters and tables.
Technical solutions for both
projects were provided by TeliaSonera. VTT carried out usability and business analysis research.
NFC-ENABLED BLOOD SUGAR METER
From October 2008, a blood sugar meter with an NFC interface has been piloted
in association with ProWellness and the City of Oulu’s SelfCare project.
Using a commercial blood glucose
meter prototype modified by VTT
and enhanced with NFC communications, the project provides backend support to improve self-treatment for diabetes patients. Via the
meter and mobile telephone with
NFC, glucose measures are transferred to a SelfCare system in the
Oulu SelfCare Portal. Upon receiving the blood glucose level, the system returns
instructions for accurate insulin administration.
The object of the project is to evaluate if the NFC system reduces
the need for health care personnel, especially in the beginning
stages of diabetes medication.
The project is implemented in association with VTT, ProWellness,
and the City Of Oulu’s SelfCare
project, and is part of a new action and development testing model in a ’Technology
Health Center’ in Oulu’s Kaakkuri district.
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Providers of technical solutions for the SmartTouch City of Oulu project:
SmartTouch consortium partners
Technical
solutions for...
TeliaSonera Finland
Mr. Jukka Suikkanen
Mobile +358 40 5489884
jukka.suikkanen@teliasonera.com
www.teliasonera.com
ToP Tunniste Oy
Mr. Pauli Tossavainen
Mobile +358 400 790 290
pauli.tossavainen@toptunniste.fi
www.toptunniste.fi
Technical Research Center of
Finland
Mr. Tuomo Tuikka
Tel. +358 20 722 2379
tuomo.tuikka@vtt.fi
www.vtt.fi
Fara Oy
Mr. Antti Jurvelin
Mobile +358 40 5000754
antti.jurvelin@fara.fi
www.fara.fi
NFC • Elderly meal service
TopTunniste and VTT
NFC • Mobile Lock
Management
Fara and VTT
NFC • Future Shop
TeliaSonera
NFC • SmartSchool
MSG Software,
Nextime Solutions, and
the University of Oulu
Department of Electrical and
Information Engineering
NFC • SmartParking
TopTunniste
NFC • On the Bus
Fara and TeliaSonera
Outside Finnish Consortium:
NexTime Solutions Oy
Mr. Jere Polvi
Mobile +358 40 765 1800
jere.polvi@nextime.fi
www.nextime.fi
MSG Software
Mr. Kari Kivistö
Mobile +358 40 843 3948
kari.kivisto@msg.fi
www.whileonthemove.com
The University of Oulu
Department of Electrical and
Information Engineering
Mr. Jukka Riekki
Mobile +358 40 551 2122
jpr@ee.oulu.fi
www.oulu.fi/english
Oy ProWellness Ltd.
Mr. Mika Sipilä
Mobile +358 40 572 5249
mika.sipila@prowellness.com
www.prowellness.com
NFC • At the Theatre
TeliaSonera and
MSG Software
NFC • Blood Sugar Meter
VTT and ProWellness
NFC • At the Restaurant
TeliaSonera
ITEA is one of the main Eureka cluster programmes and it is focused on R&D for software intensive
systems and services. The vision of ITEA is to maintain European leadership in Software-Intensive
Systems and Services, building on key European strengths and industries.
In Finland the project partners are funded by Tekes (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and
Innovation) through its VAMOS (Value Added Mobile Solutions) technology programme. The primary
objective of Tekes is to promote the competitiveness of Finnish industry and the service sector by assisting in the creation of world-class technology and technological know-how. www.tekes.fi/vamos
ITEA SmartTouch, City of Oulu -project • Project Manager mrs. Outi Rouru-Kuivala • + 358 44 703 1637 • outi.rouru-kuivala@ouka.fi
• Central Administration, Innovation and Marketing Group, City of Oulu, Finland
• Layout: Innovation and Marketing Group, mrs. Sonja Saukkonen • The Printing House: Oulun Konttori, Painatuskeskus • October 2008
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