The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to track, identify and locate goods has grown significantly in recent years. RFID tags allow manufacturers, distributors and retailers, amongst others, to regulate products and inventory, quickly determine production, manufacture, distribution or retail needs and efficiently intake and remove items utilizing RFID tags from inventory or other supply chain situation. The RFID tags themselves can provide any desired product data and may be scanned or read in any of a variety of manners through the use of any device that has a reader or scanner.
Near-field communication (NFC) is a type of radio frequency communication technology, operating at about 13.56 MHz and at bandwidth of about 2 MHz, which allows for read-only and read-write communications between a NFC-enabled RF tag reader and a NFC-enabled tag. NFC operation is based on inductive coupling between two loop antennas, which allows for sharing of power and data between NFC-enabled devices. Typically, for proper operation, the distance between a NFC-enabled reader and a NFC-enabled tag needs to be under about 20 centimeters.
In certain situations, for example when a consumer is shopping, they may desire to learn more about a product. Such information typically has to be read from a product label, such as through visual indicia or messages, which may not have all of the desired information a consumer requires and typically cannot be changed easily, for example to target a specific type of consumer or reflect a change in the product, such as a change in price or other promotion. In order to make a change, the entire message has to be replaced, or over labeled with the new message, that is concealing the underlying message by applying a label over the message with the new indicia.