Cruise operator Carnival Corporation[1] has been granted a series of patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for its Ocean Medallion, a wearable device that combines NFC and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to provide passengers with a wide range of payments, access control and information services.
US Patent No 10,037,642[2] has been issued for the Ocean Medallion itself and US Patent No 10,045,184[3] covers Carnival’s Experience Internet of Things (xIoT) platform which leverages the Ocean Medallion to provide a wide range of innovative on-board customer services.
US Patent No 10,049,516[4], meanwhile, covers Carnival’s smart door portal solution which combines NFC, BLE, proximity, capacitive sensors and cameras to allow guests to seamlessly and securely access their stateroom without the need for a room key or room card.
Carnival rolled out the Ocean Medallion to passengers travelling on its Caribbean Princess cruise ship in 2017. Michael Jungen, a key player in the development of the Disney MagicBand[5] and who went on to head development of the Ocean Medallion, explained how the wearable was conceived and built in an in-depth paper which is available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre[6].
References
- ^ Carnival Corporation (www.carnivalcorp.com)
- ^ US Patent No 10,037,642 (patft1.uspto.gov)
- ^ US Patent No 10,045,184 (patft1.uspto.gov)
- ^ US Patent No 10,049,516 (patft1.uspto.gov)
- ^ the development of the Disney MagicBand (www.nfcworld.com)
- ^ available to download from the NFC World Knowledge Centre (members.nfcworld.com)
