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New Bar Codes With Radio Chip
And Antenna In Product Label
By Wes Bleed
http://abcnews.go.com
5-6-1

CHICAGO - We've all become familiar with the Universal Product Code, that strip of thin black lines found on practically every consumer product. In the works now from Motorola is the Electronic Product Code.
 
Such "smart labels" have been around for a while and used mainly to inventory pallets in warehouses or track the progress of huge shipping containers as they travel en route to their destinations. But these systems, developed by companies such as Symbol Technology, have been too expensive to produce on a massive scale such as one label for every item on a supermarket shelf.
 
Cheap and Easy Technology
 
"We've got a technology that actually results in the packaging of the chip being at basically its lowest possible cost by its printed antenna," says Richard Krueger, Director of Business Development of the World Wide Smart Card Solutions Division of Motorola. "As the box is going through the printer, through the press, I'm actually printing an antenna. It's two patches of carbon ink," Krueger explained. What's more, since the BiStatix label can be integrated into a printing process, it's much easier to produce on ordinary items such as cereal boxes or bottles of mouthwash.
 
Krueger says product information can be accessed as needed with the convenience of wireless communications. "From distribution down to retail, from retail into the consumer's hands, and then immediate feedback of that information through sensors back to the supply chain to replenish the shelf."
 
Beyond the Checkout Counter
 
But the potential uses of the BiStatix label doesn't stop once you leave the store. Since the embedded chip can store all sorts of information, it could help make a consumer's life a little easier. A frozen dinner with a smart label could transmit cooking instruction to a microwave oven equipped with the appropriate radio receiver.
 
Krueger says the Bistatix chip could be integrated into tickets for sporting events or theme parks as a way to thwart bogus tickets. "You get throughput improvement at the turnstiles, it's automated and you would begin to cut down the counterfeit ticket business."
 
Other possible uses for the new technology include security and event ticketing. "You can issue temporary passes to guests, to contractors and provide them limited access," Krueger explains. "There would be a unique identification in the system that a particular recipient of that badge or card is in the building at a certain time and place."
 
Could an Electronic People Code be far behind?
 
 
ABCNEWS' Paul Eng contributed to this report.
 
 
 
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