NEC is developing a new way to ID everyday objects. Bolts for example, are tagged with a number so that the smart phone can identify them. It can also tell whether or not a product is an imitation of another, such as machinery and who it is manufactured by.
Tokyo based NEC has claimed that the development will lead to mass-produced products, which are unidentifiable to the naked eye, easily determined by the new microscopic-like technology. The focus so far is on industrial products.
“Industrial products look very plain, but we can use fingerprint of things technology (to tell them apart). It’s similar to identical twins, who have different fingerprints,” Ishiyama said. “Smartphone cameras are actually as good as microscopes, so if we use them wisely, it is easy to take pictures of surface patterns.”
Other merits of the new technology include keeping track of purchased products to identify the use of fakes; and monitor industrial parts for potential maintenance. However, it’s not without its problems, with transparent objects difficult to identify.
The recognition technology is currently on a trial basis, but Ishiyama hopes that by the end of the fiscal year the trial will be introduced into practice.
