Tagging Technology for the Masses (TTM) Trevor Maynard Dan Santoni

Outline Existing technologies Existing problems Proposed solution Risks Current Progress Conclusion

Existing Technologies Bar Codes RFID Tags IR Tags Contact Tags See “The challenges and opportunities of integrating the physical world and networked systems” (course website)

Problems with Current Technology Cost – Even a small cost can make tagging hundreds and thousands of items prohibitively expensive Availability – Tag reading hardware is uncommon Power – Even a small power requirement for the tag makes large scale tagging impractical

Proposed Solution Solution Requirements – Almost zero cost for tag – Sensor technology widely available – Zero power required for the tag – Can easily become ubiquitous – Unobtrusive tagging and tag reading

Proposed Solution (Cont’d) The solution – Optically sensed tag – Can be scanned by a camera phone/PDA (with camera) – Tags can be printed on a standard laser printer – Tags are unobtrusive (approx 1”x1”, fit on product price tag or poster)

Solution Requirements Open tag standard – Anyone can create a tag based on the standard – Eases adoption of technology Use existing network infrastructure – Data storage on tag is limited, use wireless network to collect additional product/item information Run on any portable device – Since the tag standard should be open, clients can be written for any platform.

Risks Camera capture quality is too low Tags cannot be made small enough (relates to first risk) Tags cannot hold enough data Tag analysis (processing power and programming skill)

Current Progress Prototype Tag generator complete (sample output below)

Current Progress (Cont’d) Preliminary stages of image analysis underway Still gathering prototype hardware

Conclusion The goal is to prototype a tagging system that is: – Easy to deploy – Built around an open standard – Can be scanned with existing hardware (i.e. camera phones) – Cheap