The Art and Science of NFC Programming

3NFC Use Cases

NFC applications are implemented in three different modes:

• – NFC applications using the reader/writer mode to read information (e.g. a URL, an activation code);
• – NFC P2P mode to exchange information (e.g. computer files exchange) or to pair two NFC devices (e.g. exchange of connection data);
• – NFC application transactions based on the card emulation mode of NFC and communication with services offering interfaces based on smart cards standard (e.g. for m-payment transactions, e-ticketing, identification or access control).

In this chapter, we offer tangible examples of the use of the NFC standard illustrating each of the three operating modes of NFC in a classic use case. However, we must keep in mind that NFC can be applied to any sector for a variety of use cases.

3.1. Usage of the NFC reader/writer mode

The NFC standard reader/writer mode is similar to the use case of QR codes, with the advantage that the user does not need to select a program, nor to center a picture in order to access the content, but simply to bring the NFC mobile device (i.e. acting as a reader) into the close proximity of the “target” object to be read (e.g. NFC tag). This thus automatically starts the mobile application linked to the tag content (see section 2.2.2.1). The target object contains a NDEF message; it can be any material object, for example a building, a door, a poster or a book. The content of the NFC tag (e.g. a URL and a code) acts as a link with information in the digital ...