Wonder stories from Japan!

(About technology development)

The first thought that comes into our mind when we hear about Japan- the Land of Rising Sun, is the development of technology in this country.  During our stay here, we also could see around us many things, which are wonders of technology and notice that even in minor things they apply some technology, to make it more convenient and effective.  For example, one day, we saw a machine for grass cutting, which was very fast in cutting the grass on side roads!

Hope that, all are familiar with the brand name ‘Hitachi’. As a part of our training we visited the Cyber Government Square, Tokyo which is the Hitachi Demonstration showroom.  That was a great opportunity for us to get a glimpse of the progress of technology here.

‘Inspire the Next’ – that is the Corporate Statement of Hitachi.  Since the earliest days of Hitachi, it has contributed to the creation of social infrastructures through a wide array of business and technologies.  In 2010, Hitachi will celebrate its centennial anniversary.  At this juncture, inspired by a strong sense of ethics, each of the Hitachi Group’s 3,00,000 employees are dedicated towards realiasing further development by promoting innovation directed toward overcoming the challenges facing today. 

In the following paras, I will share with you a few new developments aimed ‘Toward a more human friendly society’, demonstrated to us.

Digital Pen Solution

This enables the efficient conversion of information into electronic data by using a paper and pen tools, which are familiar to everyone.  It directly converts handwritten information into electronic data through the use of digital pen and paper.  The data can be immediately entered into a business system.  Like an ordinary pen the Digital Pen writes down data on digital paper using ink.  During the writing process, the built –in- camera checks the Digital’s Pen’s positional information and the pressure sensor measures the writing pressure.  The processor then processes the written information and stores it temporarily in memory.  The information can then be transmitted through a celluar phone or PC. 

          The paper dedicated to use with the Digital Pen has a special dot pattern on the surface.  Every part of the paper has a slightly different dot distribution, so that Digital Pen can locate itself on the paper.

Toward a more Human friendly Society- Hitachi web accessibility solution

        Hitachi has developed many technologies to improve the accessibility of web for everyone, including visually and aurally handicapped people.  Program of ‘Zoom sight’ is to help people with visual difficulties!  Also there are systems, which display the sought information through sign language to help deaf people!

Biometric authentication for Security

          Each individual has a unique finger vein pattern, the hemoglobin in finger blood absorbs near infra- red rays, and forms an image of finger veins.  To ensure more security for ATM cards, identity cards, PC assess etc the image of your finger vein is recorded along with other codes.  When the card is issued to you, an image of your finger veins (more than one finger to handle emergency situations) is recorded using a special scanner.  Every time of assessing the above services, the image of the finger is verified using the scanner and if not found matching access is denied!

Secure room

          With the increasing importance of security concerns, this invention is of great important.  The secure room in the showroom presents a door access control system.  By using multiple means of protection, such as biometric authentication and IC cards, this system limits access to buildings and machine rooms containing information devices.  This system uses the ‘finger veins of the authorized person instead of keys’, to open the room and the monitoring access through an automatic camera which turns as soon as the door is opened.  The image gets confirmation and then only you can enter!  If there are more than one person near to the door, (may be trying to enter along with the authorized person), an alarm will ring with flash red light above the door!

(I couldn’t supplement the above information about new inventions, with the photographs of the above technologies, as photography is not allowed inside the demonstration showroom.)

We also visited INFORIUM of NTT Data (a leading IT agency), where we again got a glimpse of the new trends in technology and about the research going on.  It is located in the 30^th floor of a 35-storied building. Here is a view of Tokyo, which I captured from that building.

 
                     A view of Tokyo from the top of a high building

One of the interesting things we came to know from there is,

Application with RF -tags

RF- tags are important devices for distinguishing items and cordlessly obtaining ID information housed in IC chips.  There are two kinds of RF tags, namely active RF tags and passive RF tags.  Active RF tags can be used for identifying lost and found items.  For example, the active RF tag on the found items will start blink as soon as the computer identifies the matching item as per the customer description.

The Use of a passive RF tag was explained by using it to calculate the calorie contents, allergic effects etc of food items.  

   The paasive acive tags imprinted at the bottom of the food iems helping to calculate its calorie....

The advances in IT as we saw in these showrooms were really amazing!

*****