RFID staples operate exactly like normal staples, at the top flat area they incorporate an RFID tag that uses the staple blades as an antenna. The staples can come precoded or can be coded at the time of application of the staple. This would allow File storage systems to know where a document is located as well as aid in document control systems("i lost my copy", "check in your bottom left office drawer")

Additionaly many sorts of books use a staple in the binding, this would permit the staple to act as an inventory control tag without defacing the book with a sticker or having a tag inside that could fall out.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 13 2008

Gratuitous cross-link A_20staple_20form_20of_20memory
[normzone, Mar 13 2008]

Passive RFID Tag smaller than a Human Hair! http://www.technove...ews.asp?NewsNum=939
Plenty small enough for a Staple. [jhomrighaus, Mar 13 2008]

Buy one now, before its too late... http://www.boingboi...own-a-128bit-n.html
quick there are only, 2^128 = 3.40282367 × 10^38 - a few, left. [4whom, Mar 24 2008]

I'm pretty sure that the staple wouldn't be large enough to function as an antenna.
-- angel, Mar 13 2008


the average staple is more than adequate to house a Tag and antenna. The range on such a device would not be long(1 meter or so) but more than sufficient for th intended use. A note, these would be passive tags.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 13 2008


Another blow to the paperless office.
-- wagster, Mar 13 2008


Sounds good to me.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 13 2008


A transceiver (passive or otherwise) requires power. Antennas can be an arbitrary unit of length, depending on the sensitivity of the transmitting/detecting components, push or pull. A decrease in antenna length does correspond with a decrease in power usage (from the receiving side and a proportional increase in the transmitting side (shorter wavelengths require moe energy)). However, to receive a signal and send a signal will require two different antenna lengths and power requirements. The notion that passive tags exists at the staple realm is, at the moment science fiction.
I do not take issue with the transceiving abilities(as they already exist), but rather: How the fuck do you power these units?
This says nothing of the fresnel effect in closed environs, wave interference, etc. Best to stick to military issue GPS, accurate to (at least) within a thousandth of a meter. Requires some power and some processing power.
-- 4whom, Mar 13 2008


//The notion that passive tags exists at the staple realm is, at the moment science fiction. //

You are completely and totaly incorrect on this point. This technology exists today and is in use. The antennas of passive tags receive power from the RFID reader, Please see the links for the product.

Interrogating tags is not impacted by the effects you mention as the signal recieved from the tag is digital, the power signal is just that a power signal with no information transfer.

This is a mature technology that is in place now.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 13 2008


I'm pretty sure that implantable RFID are nearing the size of construction staples. I don't think bothering with antennas will be necessary though, as passive RFID is itself intended to merely reflect the transmission of the reader with a specific distortion.

These would be rather large staples though. You might do better with sticking them to the loop part of a paperclip.
-- ye_river_xiv, Mar 13 2008


Brilliant!

Though i have a feeling that something that size would have to be factory ID'd on creation, and wouldn't have enough size to be reprogrammable. No worries, you can request specific IDs from the factory.
-- ericscottf, Mar 13 2008


[ye_river_xiv] Read the links these are really, really tiny little buggers.

[ericscottf] with 38 digits to play with you could code for example the book title ID number as well as a unique volume ID so that a store could tell which book it is and how many individual copies they got. Publishers of books(like say the Hairy Potter books) would be able to track down exactly which copy of the book was leaked and which store it was sent to when a copy gets released early.
-- jhomrighaus, Mar 13 2008


I stand corrected. These <linked> units are true marvels (purely for the fact that they retrieve 38 digits from 128 bits). Sorry for not being up to date on the hardware.
To be more rigorous with the idea, I suggest implanting said devices into binding glue, not many books/documents are stapled nowadays.
In fact, the opportunities are endless, but limited by the 25cm read parameter. With the presumption that the passive signal can be triangulated, many more bits can be encoded per document. Two 128 bit, *38* digit (as per article (something wrong there)) chips on one "staple" carry far more data than the embodied idea.
Paranoid schizos of the world unite! But not with each other, or with someone you *trust*, as they could be the enemy.
-- 4whom, Mar 17 2008


// *38* digit (as per article (something wrong there)) //
What's wrong with that?
128 bits is 32 hex digits, but 2^128 is 3.4 x 10^38, so 38 decimal digits is feasible, shirley?
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 24 2008


This would be ideal in environments where paper documents are exchanged by the office staff whenever there is a dispute over who has the missing document.
-- Jscotty, Mar 24 2008


2^128 = 3.40282367 × 10^38. As per my link. It is a bit hopefull we can get away without communication losses, headers, error correcting, collisions (there has to be some form of security), etc. Sure it is the maximum, and that was my problem, not with the idea, but with the loosely worded article that presumes 38 digits as a standard enumeration. Having said that, there is still ample room to enumerate everything (ie give every discernable thing on earth a unique number) in this format, theoretically.
-- 4whom, Mar 24 2008



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