Technology Review - Published By MIT
Advertisement

Wireless Wonder Chip

HP's tiny chip could offer a new way for storing and sharing video, audio, and pictures.

By Kate Greene

Thursday, July 20, 2006

smaller text tool iconmedium text tool iconlarger text tool icon

Hewlett-Packard's announcement earlier this week that it's working on a miniscule wireless chip, called Memory Spot, has prompted some experts to speculate that the device could revolutionize how digital information is stored and shared. The chip -- which is half the size of a grain of rice -- can hold up to four megabits of information, enough for minutes of audio, short video clips, or hundreds of pages of text.

This tiny wireless chip is capable of storing audio, video, pictures, and text. When attached to or imbedded in paper, it can add more media options to photos, postcards, and other documents. (Courtesy of Hewlett-Packard)

Because it's so small, and potentially cheap, HP's chip can be either attached to or embedded in various objects, including paper, says Howard Taub, vice president of research at HP. For instance, by using a device called a reader to extract the information stored on the chip, Memory Spot could provide an audio clip for a photo, a revision history of a paper document, or supplementary video footage to explain a complex topic in a text book. It has the ability to "make paper or a document more dynamic," he says.

Additionally, the chip could be beneficial in the health-care and pharmaceutical industries, for example, in hospital wristbands to hold a patient's medical history and keep track of doctors' notes and the patient's progress, potentially reducing errors. Also, if encoded with information and attached to a bottle of pills, it could verify a drug's authenticity, as well as provide instructions and information about side effects and harmful interactions.

Although Memory Spot is currently a research project and HP does not yet have plans to commercialize it, the chip could eventually be sold for $1 or less, according to Taub, and Memory Spot readers could be available on cell phones, PDAs, and printers.

HP's chip is based on technology called a radio-frequency identification device, or RFID, which consists of a small chip and a wireless antenna. RFID tags are used in merchandising as a replacement for bar codes. Although much RFID research has been aimed at increasing the range of the readers so that tags can be read from more than 20 feet away, the HP researchers tried to solve a different problem. The group wanted to know how it could "store more on the smallest chip," says Taub.

Story continues below

Memory Spot and traditional RFID share a couple of features: both contain data and wirelessly transmit it, and both can operate without a battery. HP's chip and some types of RFIDs harvest energy from a reader when it comes within range. When an electrical current on the RFID reader comes near the RFID antenna, it causes current to flow in the circuitry of the tag or chip, allowing stored data to be accessed.

But conventional battery-free RFIDs can hold only a few kilobits of information, useful for storing a product code, for instance, but not much else. Also, this data can usually be programmed into the tag's memory just once. In contrast, Memory Spot can hold up to four megabits of data in Flash memory, and information can be written, deleted, and rewritten to its memory many times.

Comments

  • chip
    not really that handy, i mean sure it has some uses but its the size of memory is too small for me.  Even if they had to make it bigger, i wouldnt mind.  Its the size that really counts.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (lucifer)
    07/20/2006
    Posts:1
    • [no subject]
      i agree we would need more size, or networking multiple chip together in order to obtain greater size.
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (gpfistner)
      07/20/2006
      Posts:1
    • 4meg RFID
      I think it has a great many potential new uses.  If worm it will limit use to product marking and other info when poled applications.  If the memory can be easily updated with very low power that opens many more novel applications
      Rate this comment: 12345
      Guest (Bob Zeliff)
      07/20/2006
      Posts:1
      • Forget traditional RFID applications
        This isn't a "super RFID" so much as a new idea. How 'bout an electronic wireless passport that keeps all your travel history--you just walk thru customs, your passport is read AND updated, and you keep going. Or it could be used for tracking shipping containers--once received a history of the container's (and more importantly its contents) could be printed out. No, there are a ton of uses.
        Rate this comment: 12345
        Guest (Jim Van Sickle)
        07/20/2006
        Posts:1
  • Why the size Issue?
    The point of this chip isn't to be the world's next flash drive.  Four megabits is plenty to hold some bacis instructions about a document, or the history of something, or the authenticity of medication.  The goal for this isn't personal use, like being attached to a PC to hold Word documents and music...
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (The Guru)
    07/20/2006
    Posts:1
  • Any relation to MRAM announced by Freescale
    Is there any relation with Freescale's  MRAM technology, which also targets similar market.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (Shan)
    07/20/2006
    Posts:1
  • RFID future
    This device seems to be one of many RFID chips that could interact with any object of our life. The evolution could be the "interaction" among varius RFIDs, the same way of some cooperative robots. Insn'it?
    Marco
    http://www.marcodesalvo.it
    Rate this comment: 12345
    Guest (MARCO DE SALVO)
    07/21/2006
    Posts:1

Log In

Forgot your password?     Register »
Advertisement

Videos

Making 3D Maps on the Move
Technology Review November/December 2009

Current Issue

Natural Gas Changes the Energy Map
The United States has vast supplies of this cleaner fossil fuel. But how should we use it?
Featured Content
Sponsored by:
White Papers

Twelve ways to reduce costs with SQL Server 2008
Find out how to reduce costs and get more efficient

Download

Total Economic Impact of SQL Server 2008 Upgrade
Forrester reports on increasing productivity and management capabilities

Download 

Achieving Cost and Resource Savings with UC
How Office Communications Server R2 and Exchange Server can make your business smarter and more efficient

Download 

The Compelling Case for Conferencing
Read how you can improve workload support and find IT efficiencies

Download

How Windows Server 2008 R2 Helps Optimize IT and Save you Money
Read how you can improve workload support and find IT efficiencies

Download

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration
See how Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V enable virtualization and Live Migration

Download
Advertisement
Subscribe to Technology Review's daily e-mail update. Enter your e-mail address

TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
Advertisement
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology © 2009 Technology Review. All Rights Reserved.