Innovision Research & Technology PLC

Web Site : http://www.innovision-group.com

Major News/Events :

Japan Engagement News July 2007

LTFA -- May 2007

New Engagement -- March 2007


Innovision R&T delivers innovative and market leading ICs for wireless connectivity solutions. The primary focus is on short-range data communication from one device to another, passive and/or active, with a special emphasis on Near Field Communications (NFC) and RFID solutions.

As a leading fabless custom RF IC design and systems provider they offer a complete engineering capability to our clients, including research engineering, custom IC design and production, and system design engineering.

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Email : info@innovision-group.com

http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php/id;1702074915;fp;16;fpid;1

Taiwanese to soon use mobile phones for subway, shopping

Taiwan is already trying out using mobile phones to pay for subway rides, and merchandise will be added soon.

Dan Nystedt (IDG News Service) 05 November, 2007 11:43:36

A trial group of Taiwanese citizens are already using their mobile phones to pay for subway rides using a contactless payment system, and they will soon start testing handsets with credit and cash cards on board.

The subway system in Taipei already accepts contactless payment cards for all rides, but using mobile phones to make such payments is new.

The technology for the payments is built right into the SIM (subscriber identity module) cards inside the handsets, said Chiang Yen-hsu, a researcher on Chunghwa Telecom\'s ETC&IC card project.

The subway payment trial has already started, and a shopping trial will begin soon, he said.

In September, credit card company Visa announced a six-month public trial of a contactless payment system on mobile phones in Taiwan.

A total of 500 Chunghwa Telecom subscribers will use NFC (near field communication) equipped Nokia 6131i handsets to make contactless payments at 3000 stores that already accept Visa payWave contactless cards in Taiwan.

Taiwan was chosen because 1.4 million people here already use contactless payment Visa cards, the company said.

As part of the trial, advertisements and coupons will be sent to handsets over the airwaves. Users passing by posters or other media embedded with NFC tags in popular shopping areas will receive specific offers, including movie, restaurant and bar discounts.

For smart phones, RFID (radio frequency identification) or NFC tags will be used in the future to send signals connecting them to Web sites designed for small screen sizes and that contain useful information, such as movie times, bus, subway, train, airplane schedules, and more.

\"If you\'re waiting for a bus, then an RFID signal installed at the bus stop could let you know exactly where your bus is and when it will arrive,\" said Chiang.

Chunghwa Telecom is Taiwan\'s largest mobile phone operator by subscribers.

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http://www.accountancyagejobs.com/vnunet/news/2202603/pay-mobile-hit-5bn-2011

Mobile payments to ring up $11bn by 2011

Analyst predicts 52 million consumers paying for goods via mobile technology

Ian Williams, vnunet.com, 01 Nov 2007

Around 52 million consumers will adopt new mobile technologies such as Near Field Communication (NFC) and other physical mobile payment methods to pay for everyday goods and services by 2011, analysts predict.

A recent study from Juniper Research suggests that mobile payments will hit $11.5bn by 2011.

This research follows a similar report in July which foresees mobile payments generating $22bn by 2011, driven primarily by SMS-based person-to-person fund transfers and payments.

Juniper reckons that NFC and other physical mobile payments methods will begin to offer consumers a viable alternative to cash, credit and debit cards.

Alan Goode, a senior analyst at Juniper, told vnunet.com that the major drivers of physical mobile payments will be convenience and enhanced functionality.

\"Convenience in terms of you never leave home without your mobile phone, and enhanced functionality in terms of the value-added services it can bring,\" he said.

\"For instance, I can check my credit card balance via the phone before paying for goods at a physical point of sale, and use a mobile barcode coupon to redeem a special offer at the same time.\"

Juniper predicted that around 12 per cent of mobile phones will offer support for some form of contactless payment by 2011, most probably NFC.

This equates to nearly 470 million NFC-enabled handsets worldwide, which should provide a significant marketplace for retailers to offer goods via mobile payment applications.

The study found that varying mobile payment applications and services are already available in most regions in a variety of formats where they are being adopted in either trial or commercial modes with favourable user feedback.

Although there are some security concerns regarding these forms of payment, Goode explained that banks will not allow physical payment on a phone if the security does not meet certain standards.

He added that mobile phone theft is an issue, but that with the correct procedures in place by the mobile operators and the payment scheme providers the concern should be \"no more than losing a plastic payment card\".

Industry players including retailers, handset vendors and the financial community in the Far East and the US are seen as particularly receptive to the idea of using RFID or NFC to facilitate mobile payments for physical goods and services.

\"The evidence is that people generally spend more when using a physical mobile phone payment method. Data from Japan sees an increase in the retail basket size in comparison to other payment methods such as card and cash,\" said Goode.

The report concluded that all members of the mobile payments value chain must develop a mutually satisfactory and robust business model to guarantee revenue to all parties.

http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2007/11/14/42626/nfc+chip+ip+will+open+mass+market+says+innovision.htm

NFC chip IP will open mass market, says Innovision
by Richard Wilson

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Near field communication (NFC) semiconductor intellectual property (IP) developed by Innovision Research & Technology is to be made available under an evaluation licensing programme.

According to the company, the availability of the NFC silicon IP will clear the way for semiconductor companies to move to the next stage of NFC integration in chipsets and devices.

It will deliver significant unit cost benefits to implementers of NFC technology, and accelerate mass-market deployment of NFC, said Innovision.

As NFC enters the next phase of volume deployment, manufacturers of handsets and other devices will require a competitive supply base to maintain innovation and reduce the cost of NFC technology, said Marc Borrett, Innovisions business development director.

Making our advanced Gem IP available for evaluation now is a key step in realising this vision, said Borrett.

The Gem IP is compliant with NFC standards and includes support for features such as battery off.

The intention is to offer the IP under an evaluation licence, with forthcoming test silicon. This will allow companies to create demonstration systems to show to end-customers.

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http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/303084/Innovision+license+NFC.htm

Innovision license NFC
Published: 15 November 2007 11:40 AM
Source: The Engineer Online

Innovision Research and Technology is releasing its Gem Near Field Communication (NFC) semiconductor intellectual property (IP) under an evaluation licensing programme.

According to Innovision the move is designed to open up NFC short-range wireless technology to the mass market and will allow companies to develop the technology as a stand-alone system or integrated in a System-on-Chip (SoC).

As NFC enters the next phase of volume deployment, manufacturers of handsets and other devices will require a competitive supply base to maintain innovation and reduce the cost of NFC technology, said Marc Borrett, Innovisions business development officer. Making our advanced Gem IP available for evaluation now is a key step in realising this vision. It will help many device and chipset designers to meet the growing demand for high-performance, lower-cost NFC-enabled devices and applications.

Innovision claim that, for the first time, developers will be able to create high-performance SoC designs that fully integrate NFC into other complementary technologies, including WiFi and other wireless or power chipsets. The benefits of this include a reduction in the complexity and production costs of NFC-enabled devices.

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http://www.embedded.com/products/softwaretools/203101111

Innovision offers NFC technology as IP as expected
By Peter Clarke

EE Times Europe
(11/15/07, 12:10:00 PM EST)

LONDON Innovision Research & Technology plc, supplier of radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC) chips has started an intellectual property evaluation and licensing program for its NFC technology called Gem.

Innovision (Cirecester, England) said the program would enable semiconductor companies to develop NFC capability, either for stand-alone solutions or as part of System-on-Chip (SoC) integrated NFC solutions.

It has been known for some time that Innovision intended to do this. Indeed Innovision may have been supplying semiconductor companies with NFC IP for some time. The IP is compliant with NFC standards, Innovision said.

Innovision's Gem IP will be offered to interested parties under an evaluation licence, with forthcoming test silicon. This will not only enable detailed evaluation of the NFC IP, but also enable the creation of demonstration systems to show to end-customers.

A claimed benefit of the Gem IP is its relative ease of transfer from one silicon foundry process or geometry to another, due primarily to the use of DSP.

RNS today:

Innovision Research&Technology PLC
05 December 2007

Innovision is pleased to announce that it was the provide of NFC tags for the
major launch of the O2 wallet phone, which finished yesterday in London. As part
of the launch, 15,000 Innovision Topaz tags were supplied to 500 London trial
lists selected by O2. Each trial list received a Nokia NFC handset, several
Topaz tags and 200 credited to a Barclaycard Visa/Oyster card application
integrated on the phone. The tags were also used for promotional purposes in
Smart posters at the launch event. The trial will last for six months.

David Wollen, Chief Executive commented 'We see this is an important step in the
adoption of NFC technology within mainstream applications. Based on the
investments to date, Innovision is well placed to provide technology in this
area.'

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