Innovision Research&technology Share Discussion Threads

[papalpower] 28/7/2007 05:15

RF tags will help visually-impaired to shop
by Steve Bush
Wednesday 23 May 2007

An RFID wireless tag with embedded memory from Cirencester-based Innovision Research and Technology has been used in a system to help visually-impaired people when buying items in shops.

The system, which is called Seeingeyephone, uses near-field communications (NFC), the RFID tag reader and tag emulation technology to allow handhelds, predominantly mobile phones, to connect to and interact with tagged objects and tag readers by magnetic coupling.

Seeingeyephone is aimed at customers unable to read product information in shops.

A Topaz RFID tag containing an ID, address and product-specific data such as the price, use-by date and nutritional values, is attached to the shelf next to each product.

When the customer holds an NFC-enabled handset to the tag, the text-based information is retrieved, and the phone's text-to-speech synthesiser feeds the information to the user in his or her chosen language.

"We were inspired not only by the creativity and practicality of some of the applications on display, but excited by the very positive response we got to our Topaz tag," said Marc Borrett, business development Director at Innovision.

At least one chip firm, NXP Semiconductors, believes NFC will become a standard technology included in every mobile phone.

Developed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland, the project recently won 'Most Innovative NFC Proposal of the Year' at the Wireless Information Multimedia Applications 2007 event in Monaco.

[papalpower] 28/7/2007 05:06

Innovision's Topaz winner's choice at European NFC Competition

Innovision Research & Technology plc

[05/17/07]

Topaz, designed and developed by British firm, Innovision Research & Technology, was used by the overall winner of Track B - 'Most Innovative NFC Proposal of the Year 2007' - at the first European NFC Competition held last month as part of the NFC Developers Summit at the Wireless Information Multimedia Applications (WIMA) 2007 event in Monaco.

Topaz, mandated last year by the NFC Forum as the Type 1 NFC tag, proved to be a popular choice at the NFC Competition and was the tag of choice for the Track B winners, the 'Seeingeyephone', an innovative use of NFC by the Technical Research Center of Finland, VTT.

The project is aimed at visually impaired customers who are unable to read product information in shops. The Topaz tag containing an ID and address with product-specific data, such as the price, use-by date and nutritional values, is simply attached to the shelf next to each product. When the customer holds an NFC-enabled phone up to the tag, the text-based information is retrieved and the phone's text-to-speech synthesiser feeds the information directly to the user in their chosen language.

Innovision's Topaz tag, popular among NFC developers for it's memory size, low-cost capabilities and flexibility across a wide range of NFC applications, was used by many of the NFC Competition's 21 finalists, including France's MIS MDBS for its HOTELNOVA and the Institute of Electronic Business from the University of Arts in Berlin for its Mobile Sales Assistant (MSA) for retailers application.

"The NFC Competition is all about promoting innovation and excellence in NFC service implementations, both now and for the future," said Marc Borrett, Business Development Director at Innovision Research & Technology. "We were inspired not only by the creativity and practicality of some of the applications on display, but excited by the very positive response we got to our Topaz tag and the fact that it was used by the Track B winner and many of the finalists."

About Innovision Research & Technology plc

Innovision Research & Technology plc, is a leading NFC/RFID IC Design and solutions provider. At the heart of the emerging Near Field Communication (NFC) market, designing and developing solutions for the mobile handset and consumer device sectors the company also focuses on RFID and ultra low-cost Integrated Circuit (IC) and electronic design.

Innovision R&T develops innovative technologies and technology applications for commercialisation and then licenses the technology on to its customers who incorporate it into their own products. The company's work with customers includes pre-engineering studies, building of prototypes and complete product development through to production, including full custom silicon chip design.

Innovision R&T products include Topaz, mandated by the NFC Forum as the NFC number one tag format, Jewel for mass transit ticketing applications, and "io", the world's smallest standards compatible near field RFID reader.

Headquartered in the UK , the company was established in 1994 and is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: INN ).

For an overview of Innovision, NFC and Topaz, visit: www.innovision-group.com

[papalpower] 28/7/2007 04:59

The specific aims of the recent placing were noted as :

"Use of proceeds
In order to maximise the current opportunities, the Company believes it needs to invest ahead of the predicted revenues and therefore requires additional cash resources as detailed below which are expected to be met by the net proceeds of the Placing:

Further investment in NFC-related IP – £3 million over the next two years
Advanced, re-usable, customisable and transferable NFC-related IP developed by the Company is a key determinant in winning contracts and the Company is committed to developing its NFC IP over the next two years in order to keep it in the forefront of technological developments within this arena.
Examples of such developments include the potential incorporation of more global standards with its NFC IP, such as UHF/HF EPC functionality.

Chinese market investment – £1 million – £2 million over the next two years
China is seen as the largest RFID tag consumer in future. The Company is looking to co-operate with a major corporation and standards organisation or university in China to produce standards-based products derived from the Company's existing Topaz™ and Jewel™ tag technologies for the Chinese market and to exploit UHF tag market opportunities in China.

NFC IP product development – £0.5 million over the next year
The Company intends to further develop and document its NFC IP into a 'product' for sale to tier 2 and 3 customers for transfer to their in-house customisation teams.

Balance sheet strength – up to £1 million
The remainder of the net funds of the Placing will be used to enhance the balance sheet of the Company. The Directors believe a stronger balance sheet will assist the Company in winning contracts with global semiconductor vendors who often require their suppliers to demonstrate financial strength
before they are prepared to contract directly with them.

[papalpower] 27/7/2007 12:18

And then today :

Innovision Research&Technology PLC
26 July 2007

Innovision Research & Technology Plc

New Engagement

Innovision Research & Technology plc ('Innovision') is pleased to announce it
has entered into an engagement with a major Japanese electronics corporation
related to contactless semiconductor devices. The initial contract is expected
to lead later this year to a longer term development agreement for the
integration of Innovision's NFC and RFID intellectual property into a significant number of contactless products.

Enquiries arising from this announcement should be directed to:

Innovision Research & Technology plc 01285 888200
David Wollen, Chief Executive Officer

KBC Peel Hunt Ltd 0207 418 8900
David Anderson
Oliver Scott

[garth] 27/7/2007 08:12

Good to see them winning business. Market cap still a bit high for me at present following the placing.

G.

[katylied] 27/7/2007 08:09

INN announce a new tie up with a Jap electronics company.
Great timing (NOT!), the day after the sky fell.
Ho Hmmmmmmm....

[benson] 10/7/2007 18:34

Previous resistance becomes support. I see KBC were lapping up some sells today - they seem to be prominent in controlling how this stock moves.

[garth] 10/7/2007 07:55

So nearly bought a shed load of SPA at 12p. Oh well.....

G.

[hybrasil] 10/7/2007 06:44

I dont think it is odd at all. It helps (if the info is correct) to see how firm their belief is. I often set out what I have bought on various stocks.

[houseprices] 10/7/2007 06:29

Don't understand why you boys talk about your positions on a BB. Very odd!! Give it up!

[buzzzzzzzz] 09/7/2007 22:51

I do and there is alot more to come!!!


I hope!

Sweating a bit as I have made alot of money and don't want to lose it but the game has farther to go!!

[old portmuthian] 09/7/2007 22:40

I'm impressed. You must have massive faith in SLN.

[buzzzzzzzz] 09/7/2007 22:38

OP

SLN 3+million

VIY 2 million

[old portmuthian] 09/7/2007 22:26

Buzz. Don't wish to be picky about post 129. Is it 3M SLN or VIY you have?

[buzzzzzzzz] 09/7/2007 15:40

ROL is something else!!!

Don't want to post my brokers name on here, they can be funny about that.

Sorry for the off topic Katy!