Information Selection based on Data Read from Multiple RFID Tags

As the ubiquitous society progresses, RFID tags are expected to spread widely. However, a tag still costs more than a barcode. To improve the cost-effectiveness of RFID tags, it is necessary to consider secondary uses for them. This paper focuses on a secondary use of applying RFID tags to a local area advertising system. It proposes an algorithm to determine what information is to be displayed on a series of display screens installed along a pedestrian path, based on information about the preferences of nearby pedestrians, collected from RFID tags which the pedestrians are carrying. The algorithm is characterized by the use of several information items to determine the information to be displayed. These include the degree to which the preferences read in front of one display are used to influence the information to be shown in other displays, the weights given to the preferences of the all the pedestrians concerned, and the "word-of-mouth" information available from Web pages via the Internet. It has been confirmed that the proposed algorithm can successfully select display information according to the preferences of the pedestrians concerned