Discussion on Current Situation and Development Trend of Mobile Phone RFID Smart Card

1 Introduction

In recent years, the market environment of the communication industry has undergone tremendous changes. The Internetization trend of communication services has become more and more obvious. The telecommunication network is increasingly channelized and the telecommunication services are becoming increasingly virtualized. Companies without networks can provide more and more through the use of network channels. The more communication services, the traditional telecom operators rely solely on providing simple voice and data communications to make profitable models more and more difficult to continue, have turned to "information services."

On the other hand, with the rapid development of electronic technology, more and more functions are integrated into mobile phones, such as media playback, games, photography, navigation, etc. Mobile phones are more than just a communication tool, but increasingly become a personal synthesis. Entertainment and information terminals. How to expand the functions of mobile phones, in addition to traditional communication through mobile networks, mobile phones can also serve the information applications of mobile e-commerce, Internet of Things, media advertising, etc. that operators hope to cut, which is the focus of research in the field of mobile communications in recent years. Among them, mobile phone RFID technology has achieved breakthrough results and started commercial use.

The mobile phone RFID technology integrates the RFID chip into the mobile phone or mobile phone smart card (SIM/UIM) to realize the integration of the mobile phone function and the RFID function, and the user can brush the mobile phone to realize many applications such as financial service, shopping consumption, passenger service, identity authentication and the like. Since the mobile phone-based RFID technology cannot be supported by telecom operators, this paper will mainly study the implementation scheme, application status, existing problems and development trends of mobile smart cards (hereinafter referred to as mobile RFID smart cards) integrated with RFID radio frequency functions. .

2 mobile phone RFID smart card mainstream solution

At present, mainstream mobile phone RFID smart card solutions at home and abroad can be divided into two categories according to the operating frequency, namely 13.56 MHz solution and 2.4 GHz solution. The 13.56MHz solution can be further divided into an eNFC solution, a dual interface card self-contained antenna solution, and a dual interface card mobile phone customization solution. The following describes the four mobile RFID smart card solutions separately.

2.1 eNFC solution

The eNFC solution integrates the RF antenna and RF communication control functions into the mobile phone terminal, and puts the RFID data storage and data processing functions on the mobile phone smart card, and communicates between the card and the mobile phone through the SWP protocol to realize the integration of the RFID and the mobile phone.

The eNFC solution has been designated as an international standard by 3GPP and the technology is perfect. The 13.56Mhz frequency communication commonly used in the industry is adopted to facilitate the transformation and implementation of cooperative services. However, the eNFC solution must replace mobile phones and smart cards, and the cost is high; and currently supported mobile phone terminals and smart card products are few, and the industry chain is not mature enough. In addition, eNFC's patents are concentrated in the hands of foreign manufacturers Axalto and NXP, and the application of eNFC solutions on a domestic scale may encounter patent flaws.

2.2 Dual interface card mobile phone customization program

The dual interface card mobile phone customization solution integrates the RFID processing chip on the mobile phone smart card, and integrates the RFID coil on the mobile phone terminal. The RFID smart card is connected with the coil of the mobile phone terminal through the C4 and C8 pins to realize short-range communication. This scheme adopts the 13.56Mhz frequency communication commonly used in the industry to facilitate the transformation and implementation of cooperative services. The terminal transformation only needs to realize the integration of the antenna and the mobile phone, and the modification is simple and the cost is low. The antenna is integrated into the terminal to improve card stability. The disadvantage is that it takes up C4, C8 contacts, and conflicts with large-capacity card applications in international standard applications, and still needs to customize the mobile phone terminal.

2.3 Dual interface card self-contained antenna solution

The solution integrates an RFID processing chip on a mobile phone smart card, and extracts an RFID coil from a smart card for short-range communication. The dual interface card self-contained antenna solution adopts the 13.56Mhz frequency communication commonly used in the industry, and does not need to replace the mobile phone, and the service implementation is convenient and fast. However, because the UIM card has a large RFID coil, the user is inconvenient to install and use, is relatively easy to damage, has a slightly poor card stability, and is poorly used. At the same time, it also occupies C4, C8 contacts, and conflicts with large-capacity card applications in international standard applications.

2.4 2.4G full card solution

The 2.4G all-card solution is based on Bluetooth communication technology, integrates the Bluetooth RF chip into the smart card of the mobile phone, and performs on-site communication through technology such as distance control algorithm. It does not need to bring an antenna, and does not need to replace the mobile phone to realize the RFID card swiping function of the mobile phone. Easy and fast implementation. In addition to realizing the on-site card swipe function, the 2.4G all-card solution can also realize mid-range swipe application and card reader application according to business needs. However, since the 2.4G frequency band is not compatible with domestic and foreign financial and transportation on-site payment standards, new POS machines are needed for cooperative applications, and the cooperation is difficult, and the cost of equipment modification is relatively high.

3 Mobile phone RFID smart card industry application status

In the international arena, eNFC is the standard, but due to the lack of demand, there are few mobile terminals supporting eNFC, and there are few commercial cases of using the eNFC solution for on-site credit card printing. There are many applications for mobile phone cards in Japan and South Korea. However, because the mobile terminal adopts the card-in-one mode, it does not belong to the mobile phone RFID smart card application mode.

In China, mobile phone RFID smart cards have entered the trial commercial stage since 2010 after several years of research and pilot projects. Mobile RFID smart cards are mainly used in mobile payment, school-enterprise card, and electronic bills. The application situation of domestic operators is briefly described as follows:

3.1 China Mobile Development

China Mobile has conducted in-depth research on mobile phone RFID smart cards for many years. Since 2007, China Mobile has carried out multi-mode implementation of 13.56M dual interface card solution, 433M SIM solution and 2.4G RFIDSIM card solution in Chongqing, Hunan and Guangdong provinces. Pilot. In April 2009, the 2.4G RFID-SIM card full card solution was determined as the smart card solution for mobile payment in China Mobile. After less than one year of trial commercialization, more than 400,000 mobile payment users have been developed, including more than 280,000 mobile phone wall-issuing users, more than 150,000 corporate card users, and more than 30,000 Expo ticket users. In May 2010, under the pressure of industry cooperation, China Mobile re-considered its mobile RFID smart card solution, no longer taking the 2.4G solution as the lead, rethinking the 13.56MHz solution, but still pushing the 2.4G solution to become the national standard for mobile payment.

3.2 Development of China Telecom

Since the second half of 2009, China Telecom has launched a mobile payment service and started research and piloting mobile RFID smart cards. Different from China Mobile's clear solution, China Telecom's strategy is to target eNFC in the long term, with a recent 13.56M double. The interface card solution is mainly used, and the 2.4G solution is selectively used, and the application of multiple modes coexisting is used for application promotion. By June 2010, China Telecom's mobile phone RFID smart card has been applied in telecom mobile payment services (wing payment), wing machine, bank co-branded card, bus co-branded card, industry cooperation card, etc. Million sheets.

3.3 Development of China Unicom

China Unicom is a follower of mobile payment. Its research on mobile RFID smart cards is relatively rare. It mainly uses a small amount of business pilots in the industry. China Unicom's basic attitude is to target eNFC and track the industry. The state of technological development has not invested too much resources to promote the development of the industrial chain. As of June 2010, China Unicom has developed thousands of mobile payment pilot users, including eNFC/SWP card, 2.4G card, and dual interface card.

3.4 Development of China UnionPay

China UnionPay has also conducted in-depth research on RFID smart cards for mobile payment. China UnionPay currently selects 13.56MHz for its RF mobile phone operating frequency. Since financial institutions do not issue card rights to mobile SIM/UIM cards, In addition to the interface card solution, China UnionPay also piloted the SD smart card and film card solution.

4 Problems with mobile RFID smart cards

Since 2009, with the boom of mobile payment and mobile e-commerce, there have been many types of mobile RFID smart card types in China. The dual interface card solution and the 2.4G full card solution have all been innovative in mobile RFID smart card solutions. Development, and has a certain number of independent patents, it can be said that domestic research and application in the field of mobile phone RFID smart cards has been at the forefront of the international market, but because the industry has just started, there are still many problems. Mainly manifested in:

4.1 Standards are not uniform

The standard is not unified firstly, the working frequency is not uniform. At present, the mainstream RF operating frequency has 13.60MHz and 2.4GHz two RF operating frequencies. The 13.56MHz frequency is currently widely used in many non-mobile RFID fields, but mobile RFID smart cards. If the frequency of 13.56MHz is used, the large antenna problem must be solved. The antenna is self-contained by the card, and the user's perception is poor and the stability is poor. When the antenna is placed in the mobile phone terminal, the mobile phone terminal must be customized, and the development cycle is long, and it is difficult to scale commercial use in the short term. Because the 2.4GH is ultra-high frequency, it has good penetrability and does not need a large antenna. It can integrate the RFID function completely in a smart card. Because it does not need the cooperation of the mobile terminal, the user perceives well and has the conditions for rapid scale promotion. The battle for work frequency has a long history, and the choice of work frequency directly affects the business model, business model and industrial chain cooperation. The problem is very complicated.

The standard is not uniform. The interface and protocol are not unified. The mobile phone RFID application includes cards and terminals (mobile terminal and POS terminal) domain, communication network domain, transaction processing domain and other fields. There is no unified interface between various domains. Defining and interacting with protocol standards, resulting in the development of mobile RFID