Grocery Stores Use RFID to Dispense Rental DVDs

"The tag is used to manage inventory," Svoboda explains, "and to ensure a customer is getting the movie requested and returning the movie originally rented."

A customer using the kiosk follows prompts on the 17-inch screen to find the desired movie. After choosing what to rent, the customer presses the "checkout" prompt on the screen and swipes a credit card using the kiosk's built-in card reader. The machine's robotics system then pulls each chosen title from the storage area and brings it within an inch of the RFID reader, which captures the tag ID number of the movie. The Touch Automation system compares the RFID data with the data related to the customer's selection. If the information matches, the DVD is provided to the customer through a slot.

When returning the DVD, the customer presses the "return" prompt, the robotic system draws the disc into the machine and the reader captures the RFID data on the DVD's tag once more. If there is a match, the disc is returned to its storage position and the point-of-sale process proceeds to charge the customer's credit card the appropriate amount for the duration of the rental. The data related to the rentals can then be stored in a hosted Web site via a broadband Internet connection.

These automated DVD self-service kiosks hold between 550 and 3,500 DVDs at a time. In addition, Fitzpatrick says, "the system can take an unattended inventory of itself" when instructed to do so. After completing such an inventory check, the robotic arm removes each video individually and captures data on its RFID tag.

A similar version of the Rafsec BullsEye is in use by the library market, Svoboda notes, for similar applications involving audio or software CDs and DVDs.