NFC Forum Type Tags
White Paper V1.0
1 April 2009 - PUBLIC
NXP Semiconductors - Public
NXP B.V.
NFC Forum Type Tags
NFC Forum Type Tags White Paper V1.0
Document Information
Information
Title
Audience
Abstract
Legal Notice
Description
NFC Forum Type Tags White Paper V1.0
Technical and marketing people
The NFC Forum is an industry consortium to further develop and
improve the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. NFC is a
new short range wireless connectivity technology that evolved from a
combination of existing contactless identification and interconnection
technologies. NFC enables intuitive and easy to use consumer
devices interactions.
Based on NFC the NFC Forum has created the NFC Data Exchange
Format (NDEF) and the NFC Forum Type Tag Operation. NDEF is a
data format to encapsulate and identify application data that is
exchanged between NFC enabled devices. A type of such device is
the NFC Forum Type Tag. The Type Tags are contactless cards
based on currently available products capable to store NDEF
formatted data.
NDEF and the NFC Forum Type Tag Operation allow new kind of
touch based applications: Smart Poster, automatic wireless
communication configuration (e.g. Bluetooth pairing), electronic
business card exchange, etc. Such applications can be implemented
using already available in the market NFC enabled tag products:
MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight C, MIFARE DESFire,
SmartMX, Innovision Topaz, and Sony FeliCa.
This document describes the NFC Forum, NDEF, the NFC Forum
Type Tag Operation, the NFC enabled tag products, and several use
cases related to the NFC Forum Type Tag Operation. Finally the
Type MIFARE Classic Tag Operation based on the NXP family
products MIFARE Classic 1k/4k/Mini is also described.
MIFARE, DESFire, SmartMX and JCOP are registered trademarks of
NXP B.V.
Java and Java Card are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
FeliCa is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation.
NFC Forum and the NFC Forum logo are trademarks or service
marks of the Near Field Communication Forum in the United States
and in other countries.
Other product and company names mentioned herein may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Change History
Version
1.0
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Status
Approved
Description
Initial Version
© NXP B.V. 2009
Date
2009/04/01
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NFC Forum Type Tags White Paper V1.0
TABLE OF CONTENT
1.
Introduction .............................................................................................................................5
1.1 References ........................................................................................................................5
1.2 Abbreviations.....................................................................................................................7
2. NFC Forum ..............................................................................................................................8
2.1 The NFC Forum Device ....................................................................................................8
2.2 The NFC Forum Device in Reader/Writer Operating Mode ..............................................9
2.3 The NFC Forum Tag .......................................................................................................10
3. Storage of Application Data.................................................................................................10
3.1 The Application Data .......................................................................................................11
3.2 NDEF...............................................................................................................................11
3.3 The NFC Forum Type Tag Platform................................................................................12
3.4 The Product (NFC Forum Tag) .......................................................................................13
4. Use Cases..............................................................................................................................15
4.1 Smart Poster Use Case...................................................................................................15
4.2 Handover Use Case ........................................................................................................15
4.3 vCard Use Case ..............................................................................................................15
4.4 URL Use Case ................................................................................................................15
4.5 SMS Use Case................................................................................................................16
4.6 Call Request Use Case ...................................................................................................16
5. Use Cases vs. Products .......................................................................................................17
6. Disclaimers............................................................................................................................18
Appendix A. NXP Specific Type Tag Platform........................................................................19
A.1 The Product (NXP Specific Type Tag) ............................................................................20
A.2 Use Cases vs. Products ..................................................................................................22
Appendix B. Best Practices .....................................................................................................23
B.1 Formatting procedure during the Tag’s first use..............................................................23
B.2 Formatting procedure during Tag Production..................................................................24
B.3 Samples ..........................................................................................................................24
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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figure 1 - NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer Operating Mode. The Protocol Stack
elements in the gray rectangles are the ones described by this document. ......................................... 9
Figure 2 - Overview of the Application Data, NDEF, the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform and the
Product................................................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 3 - NDEF Message. ................................................................................................................. 11
Figure 4 - NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer Operating Mode................................... 19
Table 1 - Referenced documents.......................................................................................................... 5
Table 2 - Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... 7
Table 3 - Communication links (indicated with “9”) between an NFC Forum Devices and either an
NFC Forum Device, NFC Forum Tag or a Reader/Writer Terminal...................................................... 8
Table 4 - NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and related products. ....................................................... 13
Table 5 - Comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC Forum (Type Tag) Platforms.
............................................................................................................................................................ 14
Table 6 - Comparisons between Use Cases and NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms compatible
Products.............................................................................................................................................. 17
Table 7 - NXP Specific Type Tag Platform and related products........................................................ 20
Table 8 - Comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC Forum (Type Tag) Platforms
and the NXP Specific (Type Tag) Platform. ........................................................................................ 21
Table 9 - Comparisons between Use Cases and NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and NXP Type Tag
Platform compatible Products. ............................................................................................................ 22
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1.
INTRODUCTION
This white paper gives a technical introduction to the NFC Forum Type Tags, the use
cases where these devices can be applied and a comparison of currently available
products.
The document consists of the following chapters:
•
Chapter 2 describes the NFC Forum consortium, the NFC Forum device, and
the NFC Forum Tag,
•
Chapter 3 describes the storage of application data into the NFC Forum Type
Tag platform and the NXP specific Type Tag platform,
•
Chapter 4 describes several common use cases such as Smart Poster,
Handover, vCard, URL, SMS and Call request,
•
Chapter 5 compares based on the use cases of chapter 4 several NFC Forum
tag products,
•
Appendix A describes the NXP Type Tag Platform based on MIFARE Classic
1K/4K/mini, and
•
Appendix B describes best practices.
1.1 References
The following Table 1 contains referenced documents.
Table 1 - Referenced documents.
Reference
[HANDOVER]
[NDEF]
[NFC FORUM]
[NFC RTD]
[NFCIP-1]
[NXP 1K]
PUBLIC
Document
Connection Handover, Candidate Technical Specification, NFC
Forum, Connection Handover 1.0, April 14, 2008 (downloadable
from www.nfc-forum.org/specs/)
NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF), Technical Specification, NFC
Forum, Revision 1.0, July 24, 2006 (downloadable from www.nfcforum.org/specs/)
www.nfc-forum.org
NFC Record Type Definition (RTD), Technical Specification, NFC
Forum, RTD 1.0, July 24, 2006 (downloadable from www.nfcforum.org/specs/)
ISO/IEC 18092:2004, Information technology –
Telecommunications and information exchange between systems –
Near Field Communication – Interface and Protocol (NFCIP-1)
MF1 IC S50, Functional Specification, DocNo. 1052 (downloadable
from http://www.nxp.com/products/identification/MIFARE/classic/
see “MF1 ICS50 Functional Specification (350kB)”)
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[NXP 4K]
[NXP DES]
[NXP MAD]
[NXP MFNFC]
[NXP MFTT]
[NXP MINI]
[NXP T2T]
[NXP T4T]
[NXP UL]
[NXP ULC]
[RFC 2425]
[RFC 2426]
[SP RTD]
[TEXT RTD]
[TYPE 1 TAG]
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MF1 IC S70, Standard 4 kByte Card IC Functional Specification,
DocNo. 0435 (downloadable from
http://www.nxp.com/products/identification/MIFARE/classic/ see
“MF1 ICS70 Functional specification (413kB)”)
MIFARE DESFire, Contactless Multi-Application IC with DES and
3DES Security, MF3 IC D40, DocNo. 0750 (to be requested from
nxp.docu-control@nxp.com)
AN MAD, MIFARE Application Directory, DocNo. 1830
(downloadable from
http://www.nxp.com/products/identification/MIFARE/index.html see
“AN MAD MIFARE application directory (763kB)”)
Application Note MIFARE Std as NFC Forum Enabled Tag,
Revision 1.1, Document Number 130511, NXP Semiconductors,
August 21, 2007 (downloadable from www.nxp.com/nfc see
“Application Note MIFARE Standard as NFC Forum Tag 1.1
130511”)
Application Note Type MIFARE 1k/4k Tag, Revision 1.1, Document
Number 130411, NXP Semiconductors, August 21, 2007
(downloadable from www.nxp.com/nfc see “Application Note Type
MIFARE Standard 1k-4k Tag 1.1 130411”)
MF1 IC S20, Functional Specification, DocNo. 1322 (downloadable
from http://www.nxp.com/products/identification/MIFARE/classic/
see “MF1 ICS20 Functional Specification (372kB)”)
Application Note MIFARE Ultralight as Type 2 Tag, Revision 1.2,
Document Number 130312, NXP Semiconductors, May 15, 2008
(downloadable from www.nxp.com/nfc see “Application Note
MIFARE Ultralight as Type 2 Tag 1.2 130312”)
Application Note MIFARE DESFire as Type 4 Tag, Revision 1.1,
Document Number 130211, NXP Semiconductors, August 21, 2007
(downloadable from www.nxp.com/nfc see “Application Note
MIFARE DESFire as Type 4 Tag 1.1 130211”)
MF0 IC U1, Functional Specification Contactless Single-trip Ticket
IC, DocNo. 028632 (downloadable from
http://www.nxp.com/products/identification/MIFARE/ultralight/index.
html see “MF0 ICU1 Functional specification contactless single-trip
ticket IC (358kB)”)
MF0 ICU2 Functional specification contactless single-trip ticket IC,
DocNo. 1376 (to be requested from nxp.docu-control@nxp.com)
MIME Content-Type for Directory Information, RFC 2425, IETF,
September 1998
vCard MIME Directory Profile, RFC 2426, IETF, September 1998
Smart Poster Record Type Definition, Technical Specification, NFC
Forum, SPR 1.1, July 24, 2006 (downloadable from www.nfcforum.org/specs/)
Text Record Type Definition, Technical Specification, NFC Forum,
RTD-Text 1.0, July 24, 2006 (downloadable from www.nfcforum.org/specs/)
NFC Forum, Type 1 Tag Operation Specification, July 9, 2007
(downloadable from www.nfc-forum.org/specs/)
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[TYPE 2 TAG]
[TYPE 3 TAG]
[TYPE 4 TAG]
[URI RTD]
[VCARD21]
NFC Forum, Type 2 Tag Operation Specification, July 9, 2007
(downloadable from www.nfc-forum.org/specs/)
NFC Forum, Type 3 Tag Operation Specification, August 16, 2007
(downloadable from www.nfc-forum.org/specs/)
NFC Forum, Type 4 Tag Operation Specification, March 13, 2007
(downloadable from www.nfc-forum.org/specs/)
URI Record Type Definition, Technical Specification, NFC Forum,
RTD-URI 1.0, July 24, 2006 (downloadable from www.nfcforum.org/specs/)
vCard, The Electronic Business Card, Version 2.1, Versit
Consortium Specification, September 18, 1996
1.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of this document the following abbreviations in Table 2 apply.
Table 2 - Abbreviations
Acronym
LAN
MIME
NDEF
NFC
PDA
PIN
SMS
SSID
URI
URL
WEP key
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Description
Local Area Network
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
NFC Data Exchange Format
Near Field Communication
Personal Digital Assistant
Personal Identification Number
Short Message Service
Service Set Identifier
Uniform Resource Identifier
Uniform Resource Locator
Wired Equivalent Privacy key
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2. NFC FORUM
The NFC Forum is an industry consortium to further develop and improve the Near
Field Communication (NFC) technology guaranteeing interoperability among devices
and services. NFC is a new short range, low power contact-less technology. NFC
enables intuitive and easy to use communications. The NFC technology can be
applied to consumer electronics, mobile devices, and PCs.
For more information see [NFC FORUM].
2.1 The NFC Forum Device
The NFC Forum distinguishes between NFC Forum Devices and NFC Forum Tags.
An NFC Forum Device is a device that implements at least the mandatory parts of the
NFC Forum Protocol Stack and complies with the NFC Forum interoperability
requirements. An NFC Forum Device may support different NFC Forum Operating
Modes: NFC Forum Peer Mode (mandatory), NFC Forum Reader/Writer Mode
(mandatory), and NFC Forum Card Emulation Mode (Optional). The NFC Forum
Device can be a mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a PCs or a
consumer electronic device.
An NFC Forum Tag is a contactless tag compatible to one of four NFC Forum Tag
platforms (see section 2.3 and chapter 3) or a Target according to ISO/IEC 18092 (see
[NFCIP-1]).
Table 3 - Communication links (indicated with “9”) between an NFC Forum Devices
and either an NFC Forum Device, NFC Forum Tag or a Reader/Writer Terminal.
Communication link between
an NFC Forum Device in…
… and …
…an NFC
Forum Device
in …
…an NFC
Forum Tag …
…a Reader /
Writer Terminal
…NFC Forum Peer Mode
…NFC
Forum
Peer
Mode…
…NFC
Forum
Reader
/ Write
Mode…
…NFC
Forum
Card
Emulation
Mode…
9
-
-
…NFC Forum Reader/Write Mode
-
-
9
…NFC Forum Card Emulation Mode
-
9
-
…operating as ISO 18092 Target
-
(9)*
-
…operating as one of the NFC
Forum Type Tag platforms
-
9
-
-
-
-
9
* This document focuses on this communication link.
Table 3 shows the possible communication links between the NFC Forum Device (in
different Operating Modes) and either an NFC Forum Device, NFC Forum Tag or a
Reader/Writer Terminal. Note that an NFC Forum Device in the NFC Forum Card
Emulation Mode can communicate with a Reader/Writer Terminal.
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This document focuses on the communication link highlighted in Table 3 with the
symbol (9)*, in particular: The “Communication link between an NFC Forum Device in
NFC Forum Reader/Writer Mode and an NFC Forum Tag operating as one of the NFC
Forum Type Tag platforms”.
2.2 The NFC Forum Device in Reader/Writer Operating Mode
In NFC Forum Reader/Writer Mode, an NFC Forum Device shall have the capability to
communicate with the NFC Forum Tags reading or writing data into it.
Figure 1 - NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer Operating Mode. The
Protocol Stack elements in the gray rectangles are the ones described by this
document.
The NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer mode is described in Figure 1
and consists of the following Protocol Stack elements:
•
Digital Protocol, Analog: lower protocols e.g. [NFCIP-1].
•
Type Tag 1-4 Operation: commands and instructions used by an NFC Forum
Device (see [TYPE 1 TAG, TYPE 2 TAG, TYPE 3 TAG, TYPE 4 TAG]) to
operate the NFC Forum Tag that is based on the NFC Forum Type 1-4 Tag
Platforms.
•
NDEF Applications: applications like Smart Poster, v-Card…based on NDEF
(see [NDEF] and chapter 4).
•
Non-NDEF Applications: vendor specific applications that are not based on
NDEF.
The Protocol Stack elements in the gray rectangles are the ones described by this
document.
Note : NXP has also specified the Type MIFARE Classic Tag Operation to operate the NXP
MIFARE Classic 1K/4K/Mini Tag, see Appendix A.
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2.3 The NFC Forum Tag
The NFC Forum Tag is a contactless tag that can operate according to one of the four
NFC Forum tag platforms called NFC Forum Type 1-4 Tag Platforms (see chapter 3).
Note that the NFC Forum does not specify the NFC Forum Tag, but how to operate
them from the NFC Forum device in Reader/Writer mode perspective.
The application data that can be stored inside the NFC Forum Tag are described in the
following chapter 3.
3. STORAGE OF APPLICATION DATA
This chapter describes how application data is stored inside an NFC Forum Tag (also
called product).
The application data stored inside an NFC Forum Tag is encapsulated firstly into an
NDEF message and secondly into the data structure specified by the NFC Forum Type
Tag Platform. The NDEF message and the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform
encapsulations are used to identify the type of application data e.g. an URL, a v-Card
or a Jpeg image (see label “text/x-vCard” in Figure 2) and to guarantee the
interoperability and the co-existence between applications.
Figure 2 shows an overview of the following 4 elements and how they are
encapsulated into each other:
•
the application data: the v-Card on the left-hand side,
•
the NDEF Message: the parcel,
•
the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform (data structure): the container with the text
“Type 2 Tag”, and
•
the Product (NFC Forum Tag): for example the NXP MIFARE Ultralight card.
These 4 elements are going to be described in the following sections.
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
…
END:VCARD
Application
Data
Type 2 Tag
text/xvCard
NDEF Message
NFC Forum
Type Tag Platform
Product
(NFC Forum Tag)
Figure 2 - Overview of the Application Data, NDEF, the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform
and the Product.
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3.1 The Application Data
The application data is any kind of information that can be stored into a NFC Forum
Tag. Examples of available application data are shown below:
•
•
•
URI:
o
URL: “http://www.nxp.com”
o
Telephone Number: “tel:+49 40 5613 5013”
o
SMS: “sms:+494056135013?Body=Ciao!”
o
E-mail: "mailto:nfc@nfc.com"
Text:
o
“Hello World!”, “Morjens, maailma”
o
“NXP web-site”
Smart Poster = Text + URI +…
o
•
•
Handover Parameters
o
Bluetooth parameters: PIN, Bluetooth address…
o
WiFi parameters: SSID, WEP key…
Business Card
o
•
“NXP web-site” + ”http://www.nxp.com”
vCard
Signature
The number of different application data types that can be stored into an NFC Forum
Tag (if we do not consider the available memory space) is unlimited thanks to the
flexible identification system provided by NDEF. For more information see next section
3.2.
3.2 NDEF
The NDEF specification (see [NDEF]) defines a message encapsulation format to
exchange information between an NFC Forum Device and another NFC Forum Device
or an NFC Forum Tag.
NDEF record
NDEF record
Application-defined
payload
NDEF record
NDEF record
… NDEF record
Application-defined
payload
Figure 3 - NDEF Message.
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NDEF is a lightweight, binary message format that can be used to encapsulate one or
more application-defined payloads of arbitrary type and size into a single construct
called NDEF message (see Figure 3). An application-defined payload is encapsulated
inside one single NDEF record, or chunked into two or more NDEF records. One or
more application-defined payload contains the Application Data.
Each application-defined payload is described by a Type, and an Optional Identifier:
•
Type identifiers may be URIs, MIME media types, or NFC-specific types (see
[NDEF, NFC RTD]).
•
Optional Identifier enables association of multiple payloads and crossreferencing between them.
Examples of Type identifiers based on MIME Media Types are the following:
application/acad
application/applefile
application/astound
application/dsptype
application/dxf
application/futuresplash
application/gzip
application/listenup
application/mac-binhex40
application/mbedlet
application/mif
application/msexcel
application/mshelp
application/mspowerpoint
application/msword
application/octet-stream
application/oda
application/pdf
application/postscript
application/rtc
application/rtf
application/studiom
application/toolbook
application/xhtml+xml
application/xml
application/x-bcpio
application/x-compress
application/x-cpio
application/x-csh
application/x-director
application/x-dvi
application/x-envoy
application/x-gtar
application/x-hdf
application/x-httpd-php
application/x-javascript
application/x-latex
application/x-macbinary
application/x-mif
application/x-netcdf
application/x-nschat
application/x-sh
application/x-shar
application/x-sprite
application/x-stuffit
application/x-supercard
application/x-sv4cpio
application/x-sv4crc
application/x-tar
image/cis-cod
image/cmu-raster
image/fif
image/gif
image/ief
image/jpeg
image/png
image/tiff
image/vasa
image/vnd.wap.wbmp
image/x-freehand
image/x-icon
image/x-portable-anymap
image/x-portable-bitmap
image/x-portable-graymap
image/x-portable-pixmap
image/x-rgb
image/x-windowdump
image/x-xbitmap
image/x-xpixmap
message/external-body
message/http
message/news
message/partial
message/rfc822
text/css
text/html
text/javascript
text/plain
text/richtext
text/rtf
text/tab-separated-values
text/vnd.wap.wml
text/vnd.wap.wmlscript
text/xml
text/x-setext
text/x-sgml
text/x-speech
text/x-vcard
text/xvcal
video/mpeg
video/quicktime
video/vnd.vivo
video/x-msvideo
3.3 The NFC Forum Type Tag Platform
The NFC Forum Type Tag platform is a container to store NDEF messages that
guarantees co-existence with already existing product applications. The NFC Forum
Type Tag platform is product independent although there are products compatible with
it (NFC Forum Tag like Innovision Topaz, NXP MIFARE Ultralight and Sony FeliCa see
next section 3.4).
The NFC Forum Type Tag Platform shall not be confused with the NFC Forum Type
Tag Operation Specifications (see [TYPE 1 TAG, TYPE 2 TAG, TYPE 3 TAG and
TYPE 4 TAG]). These four documents describe how an NFC Forum Device operates
the NFC Forum Type 1-4 Tag platform ensuring that the user experience for the
service initiation of e.g. Smart Poster is consistent.
Note : Similarly to the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform, NXP has also specified an additional
Type Tag Platform based on the MIFARE Classic family. The NXP specific Type Tag
Platform can store NDEF Messages guaranteeing the co-existence with already
existing product applications related to the MIFARE Classic family products. For more
information see Appendix A.
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3.4 The Product (NFC Forum Tag)
Each NFC Forum Type Tag Platform has been build on top of existing available off the
shelf products. These products are usually contactless tags referred in the NFC Forum
terminology as NFC Forum Tags.
Table 4 describes the relationship between the NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and
the compatible and available products at the time of writing of this document.
Table 4 - NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and related products.
#
1
2
NFC Forum Platform
NFC Forum Type 1 Tag
NFC Forum Type 2 Tag
3
4
NFC Forum Type 3 Tag
NFC Forum Type 4 Tag
Compatible Products
Innovision Topaz
NXP MIFARE Ultralight
NXP MIFARE Ultralight C
Sony FeliCa
NXP DESFire
NXP SmartMX with JCOP or other compatible
contactless products
Note : For the NXP specific Type Tag Platform for MIFARE Classic family products, see
Appendix Section A.1.
A comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC Forum Type Tag
Platforms is shown in Table 5. In Table 5 the following terminology is used:
•
Active Content: the content of the NFC Forum Tag can be modified not only by
the NFC Forum Device, but also by the NFC Forum Tag itself. A typical
example is an NFC Forum Tag based on the Java Card technology that is able
to change the NDEF content to implement a self-incremental counter. This
counter may be incremented by 1 during each read access.
•
Operation Specification: the NFC Forum documents [TYPE 1 TAG, TYPE 2
TAG, TYPE 3 TAG, TYPE 4 TAG] made to describe how to operate the NFC
Forum Type 1-4 Tag platforms.
•
NXP Supporting Documents: NXP Application Notes [NXP T2T, NXP T4T]
describing:
•
PUBLIC
o
how to set the NXP products to be compliant to the NFC Forum Type
Tag Operation Specifications.
o
how to use the additional NXP product features remaining compatible
with the NFC Forum Type Tag Operation Specifications.
NXP Product Datasheet: Datasheets specific to the NXP products.
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Table 5 - Comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC Forum (Type
Tag) Platforms.
NFC Forum Platform
Type 1 Tag
Type 2 Tag
Type 3 Tag
Type 4 Tag
Compatible
Products
Innovision
Topaz
NXP MIFARE Ultralight /
NXP MIFARE Ultralight C
Sony FeliCa
NXP DESFire /
NXP SmartMX-JCOP
Memory Size
96 Bytes
48 Bytes / 144 Bytes
1, 4, 9 KB
4 KB / 32 KB
Unit Price
Low
Low
High
Medium / High
Data Access
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Active
Content
8
8/8
8
8/9
Operation
Specifications
[TYPE 1 TAG]
[TYPE 2 TAG]
[TYPE 3 TAG]
[TYPE 4 TAG]
NXP
Supporting
Documents
-
[NXP T2T]
-
[NXP T4T]
NXP Product
Datasheets
-
[NXP UL, NXP ULC]
-
[NXP DES]
Note : For comparison of the different products including the NXP Specific Type Tag Platform
for MIFARE Classic family products, see Appendix Section A.1.
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4. USE CASES
The NFC Type tags enable many kinds of use cases. In the next sections the following
use cases are described in details: Smart Poster, Handover, vCard, URL, SMS and
Call Request.
4.1 Smart Poster Use Case
A typical example of Smart Poster use case is when the user touches with an NFC
Forum Device (e.g. mobile phone) the NFC Forum Tag integrated into a poster and
reads out the application data stored into it. The application data of the NFC Forum
Tag can be e.g. the web-page address of the concert advertised by the poster. In this
case the NFC Forum Device may open a browser window and connect to the Internet
to retrieve the web-page.
For more technical information see [SP RTD, TEXT RTD, and URI RTD].
4.2 Handover Use Case
The handover use case consists in exchanging of configuration information via the
NFC link to easily establish a connection over e.g. Bluetooth or Wireless LAN. A
typical example of Handover use case is: the user touches with his NFC Forum Device
(e.g. a Personal Digital Assistant, PDA) the NFC Forum Tag attached on top of a WiFi
router. The NFC Forum Tag contains the configuration data that is used by the PDA to
setup the Wireless LAN interface and to establish the wireless connection to the WiFi
router.
For more technical information see [HANDOVER].
4.3 vCard Use Case
The vCard use case consists of an NFC Forum Tag embedded into a business card
that contains an electronic vCard (see [VCARD21, RFC 2425, and RFC 2426]) with
the person details. Reading the tag using an NFC Forum device like a mobile phone or
a notebook, the user can retrieve and save the vCard information into his address
book. This saves the user from manually typing the person details of the business
card. If the memory space of the NFC Forum Tag is big enough even a Jpeg image
can be stored in the electronic vCard.
4.4 URL Use Case
The URL use case consists on reading an NFC Forum Tag that is integrated into a
leaflet or into a credit-card size label. The NFC Forum Tag contains a NDEF message
with stored the URL address of a web-page. The label or the leaflet may be read using
a notebook or a mobile device both equipped with the NFC interface. As soon as the
notebook has read the label, it opens automatically the web-browser on the indicated
URL address.
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For more technical information see [URI RTD, SP RTD, and TEXT RTD].
4.5 SMS Use Case
The SMS use case consists on reading an NFC Forum Tag that is integrated into for
example a credit-card size label. The NFC Forum Tag contains an SMS that can be
read by a NFC enable device e.g. mobile phone. The user reading this label sends the
predefined SMS either retrieving the ring tone shown by the label or activating any of
nowadays SMS services.
For more technical information see [URI RTD, SP RTD, and TEXT RTD].
4.6 Call Request Use Case
The Call Request use case is the call of the phone number stored into an NFC Forum
Tag. The phone number may be written by the user into the NFC Forum Tag by means
of an NFC enabled mobile phone. Afterwards reading the NFC Forum Tag the user
can make a call request on the stored phone number. For example my grandma can
touch with her NFC enabled mobile phone her grandson’s photo. The photo has
embedded an NFC Forum Tag from where the mobile phone gets and calls
automatically the grandson’s phone number without any further complicated actions
needed from my grandma.
For more technical information see [URI RTD, SP RTD, and TEXT RTD].
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5. USE CASES VS. PRODUCTS
Table 6 provides a comparison between the use cases and the different products
complaint to the NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms. In particular it is shown:
•
the possibility to use the product in combination with a specific use case,
•
the limitations of the product in combination with a specific use case, and
•
the advantages of the product in combination with a specific use case.
Table 6 - Comparisons between Use Cases and NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms
compatible Products.
Use Case
NFC Forum Platform
Compatible Products
Type 1 Tag
Innovision
Topaz
Type 2 Tag
NXP MIFARE Ultralight /
NXP MIFARE Ultralight C
9
Type 3 Tag
Sony FeliCa
Price
Memory Size
Memory Size,
ISO APDU,
Speed
9
Type 4 Tag
NXP DESFire /
NXP SmartMX-JCOP
9
Smart Poster
- Limitations
- Advantages
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
Handover
9
9
9
vCard
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
8
Price
8
9
ISO APDU
9
- Limitations
- Advantages
-
-
Jpeg Image
Jpeg Image,
ISO APDU,
Speed
SMS
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
9
9
9
Price
140 octets len
URL
- Limitations
- Advantages
9
9
9
ISO APDU,
140 octects len
9
Price
Price
Memory Size
Memory Size,
ISO APDU,
Speed
Call Request
9
9
9
9
- Limitations
- Advantages
Price
Price
-
ISO APDU
- Limitations
- Advantages
- Limitations
- Advantages
* Due to not sufficient memory size the product has strong limitation to be used in combination with the
use case
Note : For a comparison with the NXP specific Type Tag Platform, see Appendix Section A.2.
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6. DISCLAIMERS
General — All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without
the prior written consent of the copyright owner. The information presented in this
document does not form part of any quotation or contract. Publication thereof does not
convey nor imply any license under patent- or other industrial or intellectual property
rights. Information in this document is believed to be accurate and reliable. However,
NXP Semiconductors does not give any representations or warranties, expressed or
implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such information and shall have no
liability for the consequences of use of such information.
Right to make changes — NXP Semiconductors reserves the right to make changes
to information published in this document, including without limitation specifications
and product descriptions, at any time and without notice. This document supersedes
and replaces all information supplied prior to the publication hereof.
Suitability for use — NXP Semiconductors products are not designed, authorized or
warranted to be suitable for use in medical, military, aircraft, space or life support
equipment, nor in applications where failure or malfunction of a NXP Semiconductors
product can reasonably be expected to result in personal injury, death or severe
property or environmental damage. NXP Semiconductors accepts no liability for
inclusion and/or use of NXP Semiconductors products in such equipment or
applications and therefore such inclusion and/or use is for the customer’s own risk.
Applications — Applications that are described herein for any of these products are
for illustrative purposes only. NXP Semiconductors makes no representation or
warranty that such applications will be suitable for the specified use without further
testing or modification.
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APPENDIX A. NXP SPECIFIC TYPE TAG PLATFORM
Similarly to the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform, NXP has also specified in the Type
MIFARE Classic Tag Operation how to operate a Type Tag Platform based on the
MIFARE Classic family. This NXP specific Type Tag Platform can store NDEF
Messages guaranteeing the co-existence with already existing product applications
related to the MIFARE Classic family products.
Figure 4 - NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer Operating Mode.
In order to operate the NXP specific Type Tag Platform based on the MIFARE Classic
family, the NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer mode (see Figure 1) must
be modified to include an additional Protocol Stack element called Type MIFARE
Classic Tag Operation. The resulting NFC Forum Device Architecture in Reader/Writer
mode is described in Figure 4 and consists of the following Protocol Stack elements:
•
Digital Protocol, Analog: lower protocols e.g. [NFCIP-1]
•
Type Tag 1-4 Operation, Type MIFARE Classic Tag Operation: commands and
instructions (see [TYPE 1 TAG, TYPE 2 TAG, TYPE 3 TAG, TYPE 4 TAG,
NXP MFTT]) to operate the NFC Forum Tag based on the NFC Forum Type 14 Tag Platforms, and to operate the NXP MIFARE Classic 1K/4K/Mini Tag
based on Type MIFARE Classic Tag Operation.
•
NDEF Applications: applications like Smart Poster, v-Card…based on NDEF
(see [NDEF] and chapter 4).
•
Non-NDEF Applications: vendor specific applications that are not based on
NDEF.
In Figure 4 the Protocol Stack element called Type MIFARE Classic Tag Operation
has been highlighted in white and gray, for comparison see Figure 1.
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A.1 The Product (NXP Specific Type Tag)
Each NXP specific Type Tag Platform has been build on top of existing available off
the shelf products.
Table 7 describes the relationship between the NXP specific Type Tag Platform and
the compatible and available products at the time of writing of this document.
Table 7 - NXP Specific Type Tag Platform and related products.
#
1
NXP Specific Platform
Type MIFARE Classic Tag
Compatible Products
NXP MIFARE Classic 1k
NXP MIFARE Classic 4k
NXP MIFARE Classic Mini
Similarly to Table 5, a comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC
Forum Type Tag Platforms and additionally the NXP Specific Type Tag Platform is
shown in Table 8. In Table 8 the following terminology is used:
•
Active Content: the content of the NFC Forum Tag can be modified not only by
the NFC Forum Device, but also by the NFC Forum Tag itself. A typical
example is an NFC Forum Tag based on the Java Card technology that is able
to change the NDEF content to implement a self-incremental counter. This
counter may be incremented by 1 during each read access.
•
Operation Specification: the NFC Forum documents [TYPE 1 TAG, TYPE 2
TAG, TYPE 3 TAG, TYPE 4 TAG] and the NXP Application Note [NXP MFTT]
made to describe how to operate respectively the NFC Forum Type 1-4 Tag
platforms and the MIFARE Classic 1k/4k/Mini tag to store NDEF messages.
•
NXP Supporting Documents: NXP Application Notes [NXP T2T, NXP T4T, NXP
MFNFC] describing:
•
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o
how to set the NXP products to be compliant to the NFC Forum Type
Tag Operation Specifications.
o
how to use the additional NXP product features remaining compatible
with the NFC Forum Type Tag Operation Specifications.
NXP Product Datasheet: Datasheets specific to the NXP products.
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Table 8 - Comparison of the different products compatible with the NFC Forum (Type
Tag) Platforms and the NXP Specific (Type Tag) Platform.
NFC Forum Platform
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NXP Specific
Platform
Type 1 Tag
Type 2 Tag
Type 3 Tag
Type 4 Tag
Type MIFARE
Classic Tag
Compatible
Products
Innovision
Topaz
NXP MIFARE
Ultralight /
NXP MIFARE
Ultralight C
Sony FeliCa
NXP DESFire /
NXP
SmartMXJCOP
NXP MIFARE
Classic 1k /
NXP MIFARE
Classic 4k /
NXP MIFARE
Classic Mini
Memory Size
96 Bytes
48 Bytes /
144 Bytes
1, 4, 9 KB
4 KB / 32 KB
768 Bytes /
3584 Bytes /
192 Bytes
Unit Price
Low
Low
High
Medium / High
Low
Data Access
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Read/Write or
Read-only
Active
Content
8
8/8
8
8/9
8/8/8
Operation
Specifications
[TYPE 1 TAG]
[TYPE 2 TAG]
[TYPE 3 TAG]
[TYPE 4 TAG]
[NXP MFTT]
NXP
Supporting
Documents
-
[NXP T2T]
-
[NXP T4T]
[NXP MFNFC]
NXP Product
Datasheets
-
[NXP UL, NXP
ULC]
-
[NXP DES]
[NXP 1K, NXP
4K, NXP MINI,
NXP MAD]
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A.2 Use Cases vs. Products
Table 9 provides a comparison between the use cases and the different products
complaint to the NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and the additionally NXP specific
Type Tag Platform. In particular it is shown:
•
the possibility to use the product in combination with a specific use case,
•
the limitations of the product in combination with a specific use case, and
•
the advantages of the product in combination with a specific use case.
Table 9 - Comparisons between Use Cases and NFC Forum Type Tag Platforms and
NXP Type Tag Platform compatible Products.
Use Case
NFC Forum Platform
Compatible Products
NXP Specific Platform
Compatible Products
Type 1 Tag
Innovision
Topaz
Type 2 Tag
NXP MIFARE
Ultralight /
NXP MIFARE
Ultralight C
Type 3 Tag
Sony FeliCa
Type 4 Tag
NXP DESFire /
NXP
SmartMXJCOP
Type MIFARE Classic Tag
NXP MIFARE Classic 1k /
NXP MIFARE Classic 4k /
NXP MIFARE Classic Mini
Smart Poster
- Limitations
- Advantages
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
9
9
9
9
Price
Memory Size
Memory Size,
Price
Handover
9
9
vCard
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
8
Memory Size,
ISO APDU,
Speed
9
Price
8
9
ISO APDU
9
Price
9
- Limitations
- Advantages
-
-
Jpeg Image
Jpeg Image,
ISO APDU,
Speed
Price
SMS
(9 )*
Memory Size
Price
9
9
9
9
Price
140 octets len
URL
- Limitations
- Advantages
9
9
9
ISO APDU,
140 octects len
9
Price,
140 octets len
9
Price
Price
Memory Size
Memory Size,
ISO APDU,
Speed
Memory Size,
Price
Call Request
9
9
9
9
9
- Limitations
- Advantages
Price
Price
-
ISO APDU
Price
- Limitations
- Advantages
- Limitations
- Advantages
9
* Due to not sufficient memory size the product has strong limitation to be used in combination with the use case
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APPENDIX B. BEST PRACTICES
The NXP products MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight C, MIFARE DESFire and
MIFARE Classic 1k/4k/Mini shall be formatted to be compliant with the NFC Forum
Type Tag Platform or to the NXP Specific Type Tag Platform. The formatting is a
procedure that consists of sending a sequence of commands to the contactless tags in
order to configure the functionalities and the internal data structures. This is necessary
to set the contactless tags to be compliant with the NFC Forum Type Tag Platform or
to the NXP Specific Type Tag Platform.
For the NXP products the formatting procedures use mainly specific commands. The
general formatting procedures are described in the following Application Notes:
•
[NXP T2T] for MIFARE Ultralight and MIFARE Ultralight C,
•
[NXP T4T] for MIFARE DESFire, and
•
[NXP MFNFC] for MIFARE Classic 1k/4k/Mini.
The formatting procedure can be integrated in the tag production or it can be
implemented in an NFC Forum Device e.g. mobile phone to format tags at their first
use. The following sections describe some more details of the formatting procedure in
these two cases.
B.1 Formatting procedure during the Tag’s first use
When a tag is presented in front of an NFC Forum Device (e.g. mobile phone), the
NFC Forum Device does not know how to format it being not aware a priori of the tag
specific information like the type of product (i.e. MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight
C, MIFARE DESFire, MIFARE Classic 1k/4k/Mini) and the product settings. This
information is fundamental for conducting successfully the formatting procedure and it
shall be automatically detected by the NFC Forum Device.
Due to the previous issues before formatting a product the NFC Forum Device uses
specific command sequences (for more information see [NXP T2T, NXP T4T, NXP
MFNFC]) to be able to:
•
identify the type of product: MIFARE Ultralight, MIFARE Ultralight C, MIFARE
DESFire, …,
•
detect the product settings,
•
if it is the case, exclude from formatting:
o
products already set to be complaint with the NFC Forum Type Tag
Platform or to the NXP Platform, or
o
products containing data for applications different from the NFC Forum
Type Tag one e.g. ticket of an already existing infrastructure.
Finally if the product type and settings are correct, the product can be formatted
accordingly.
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B.2 Formatting procedure during Tag Production
During tag production the formatting procedure can be drastically simplified due to the
knowledge a priori of the tag specific information. The specific command sequences to
get this information can be simplified or may not be needed at all. In this way the tag
may be directly formatted.
B.3 Samples
NXP provides the following sample sets of already formatted tags:
•
5 tags MIFARE Ultralight (OM5591) – NFC Forum Type 2 Tag platform,
•
5 tags MIFARE DESFire (OM5594) – NFC Forum Type 4 Tag platform,
•
5 tags MIFARE Classic 1k (OM5592) – NXP Type MIFARE Classic 1k Tag
platform,
•
5 tags MIFARE Classic 4k (OM5593) – NXP Type MIFARE Classic 4k Tag
platform, or
•
the previous 4 tag sets all together in a single kit (OM5595).
To request the samples please contact the NXP Sales representatives.
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