Sep 15, 2015
This service received the grand prize in the 17th Auto-ID Systems Award, organized by the Japan Automatic Identification Systems Association (JAISA) and will be displayed at the Auto ID & Communication Expo 2015, organized by JAISA and held at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center from September 16 to 18, 2015.
Scanning can be done from the rear of the product itself (left) or by holding the smartphone over the box in which it is packaged (right)
Background
In recent years, distribution of imitation and pirated goods has increased worldwide. The types of goods involved are becoming more diverse, and the annual cost to businesses is estimated to be about 177 trillion yen. If this is allowed to continue, it has the potential to push down sales of authentic products and negatively affect brand value.
TANITA manufactures and sells scales and other precision measuring equipment to customers in Japan and overseas, and its products are regarded highly throughout the world. Conventional measures taken by TANITA to counteract counterfeiting have included the use of holograms on goods sold overseas. However, the company has been looking for new approaches that are more effective in eliminating imitation goods from the market.
The PUF technology used by Toppan's SMARTICS-V IC tags is based on authentication of small differences between individual IC chips, similar to humans' fingerprints. It is garnering attention as a next-generation security technology because, in contrast to conventional high-cost IC chips using encryption technology, manufacturing costs can be contained and the possibility of successful counterfeiting is extremely small. As it is compatible with NFC technology, tags can also be read using NFC-enabled smartphones.
Toppan Printing provides a PUF-enabled IC tag-based authentication service that combines and exploits these features. Based on this, Toppan has contributed to enhancing measures to counteract imitation and pirate versions of TANITA's products.
Features of the PUF-enabled IC tag-based authentication service adopted by TANITA
- Construction and provision of a high-security authentication mechanism based on the world's first PUF-enabled silicon IC tag.
- NFC compatibility enables consumers to verify authenticity using an NFC-enabled smartphone.
- Menu screen available in nine languages in line with language setting of smartphone.
(Japanese, English, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch)
- Provision of ASP service enables prompt, low-cost implementation at businesses.
TANITA products for which the service will be used
| Product name | 1479V | 1479J/J2 |
| Dimensions | D156*W76*H16.5mm | D167*W75*H17mm |
| Weight | 170g | 147g |
| Weighing capacity * | 120g | 200g/7.05oz/6.43ozt/128.6dwt/1000.0ct/3086.0grain |
| Minimum that can be displayed | 0.1g | 0.01g/0.001oz/0.001ozt/0.01dwt/0.1ct/0.2grain |
| Power source | CR2032*1 | CR2032*2 |
Future targets
With a target of approximately 1 billion yen for sales of the service and related orders in 2017, Toppan Printing is aiming to expand this service to industries handling durable consumer goods, such as electrical appliances and housing equipment, and consumables, such as industrial parts and office supplies. The company will also extend the service to provide track & trace functions based on authentication.
Additional applications will also be advanced, such as the provision of new points of contact for manufacturers and consumers and opportunities for users to communicate with each other.
*1 PUF (Physical Unclonable Function) technology
During the IC chip manufacturing process, unique differences between individual chips arise. Digitization and extraction enables these to be used as PUF parameters.
The patterns of these PUF parameters cannot be predicted and are permanently maintained, meaning that they are essentially fingerprints of the IC chips. They are effective in preventing counterfeiting because even if unauthorized copies of the LSI circuit pattern are made, it is possible to distinguish between the genuine item and the imitation.
*2 NFC (Near Field Communication）
The international standard for short-range wireless communication stipulated by the ISO. The number of smartphones with contactless smart card and reader/writer functions has been on the rise in recent years. It is compatible with type A, type B, FeliCa, and ISO 15693 communication standards.
* The names of companies, products and services featured in this press release are the trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.
* The information in this press release is current as of the date of publication and is subject to change without notice.
