In the past it’s been difficult to have a web site access a device such as an RFID reader, located in some remote office. The only two possibilities would be to either have a clunky web application which would take so long to load each page that it would be unbearable to use for any production application. The other possibility would be to create a java application which required a plug-in to run (and I use the term run loosely), which thankfully the industry seems to have abandoned in recent times. One of the main causes for it to have been abandoned just so happens to be the the technology which makes real time interactions with remote devices over the web possible, asynchronous HTTP Requests.

Asynchronous HTTP Requests have been around for a few years now. However, we’re just starting to scratch the surface of its potential. Prior to these asynchronous requests, you would be able to click a scan button, have a loop start which connected to the RFID reader and waited for an RFID tag to be dragged across the antennae. If you were lucky an item would be scanned prior to your page timing out. If you did manage to get the tag id, then you would have to wait for a new page to load and do it all over to scan your second item. That process didn’t appear too bad though since your RFID reader would only be able to read one tag at a time. The industry is changing now though and RFID manufacturers are making readers which can scan hundreds of RFID tags in under a second and with asynchronous requests, the web will be able to keep up.

We can now make simultaneous HTTP Requests which enable us to load our page, then once the user clicks that scan button our site will start a new request while keeping that old existing page open. The first request will connect to the RFID reader and grab every tag scanned across that antennae until the user decides to press that Stop button which displayed as soon as it started scanning. Now we’ve just had a user interact with a remote device through a web browser in near real-time without having to download some application, install a plug-in and pray that the browser doesn’t crash while running it. It’s really not a complex process, and I’m sure it will improve even more with the upcoming adoption of HTML5 and XHTML2 standards.

Many years ago we were promised we’d be able to interact with our devices at home from the office over the web, but we’ve always been held back by the clunkiness and lack of a standard. Well now we can do that and with more ease and simplicity than originally anticipated. You can be sure that with the web finesse cycle coming to an end and the upcoming innovation cycle returning, we’ll be seeing this put to use for some very convenient processes in everyday life.

Currently I am writing a uniform tracking system using RFID chips for a client of mine which will tremendously speed up the process of uniform control for large chain hotels and casinos over their existing bar code scanning. Some other great examples of real time access to RFID would be filing and inventory. Companies could line their filing cabinets with RFID antennae and the folders with RFID stickers and instantly find out what drawer of what cabinet the folder is in without worrying about whether or not it’s been moved. Up to date inventory for an entire chain of stores could be checked in an instant allowing for their supplier to bring them new inventory without even having to call.

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