Smart ID Card

From my RoadTest application:

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I wish to make a smart ID system which would be able to display not just personal information but update able information (like daily schedule, appointments, deadlines etc) using the The Wireless Power Transfer Solution to Go demo kit. All that, without an on-board battery pack so you do not need to be recharge it often!

Description:

The ID cards would have an E-Ink display, a micro-controller, a RF transceiver and the receiver board of the demo kit.

By employing E-Ink displays I can ensure that the ID card requires power only to refresh the screen while it updates the information (I plan to use Wyolum BADGEr http://wyolum.com/projects/badger/) Wyolum BADGEr has an on-board micro-controller. The RF transceiver would transmit a Unique User ID (stored on micro-controller EEPROM) corresponding to the user to the "stationary module".

The "stationary module" would comprise of The Wireless Power Transfer Solution to Go demo kit transmitter, a micro controller (with Ethernet or WiFi connectivity) and RF transceiver and the whole module would be placed in public areas (of the organization that would use the smart ID system) from where the users can update their ID cards.

The only thing the users would need to do to update their ID cards would be to hold them up to the "stationary module". The Wireless Power Transfer Solution to Go would power the ID card and the Unique User ID would be transmitted to the stationary module. The micro-controller on the stationary module would pull up the relevant information to be updated (corresponding to the Unique User ID) via Ethernet or WiFi. Then that information would be transmitted over using the RF transceiver to the ID card. The ID card micro controller would then refresh the E-Ink display with the updated information. After updating, the user is free to withdraw the ID card and it would have updated information on the E-Ink display. I estimate that the whole process will not take more than 3 seconds.

This system can be deployed  in many situations and the system is quite flexible in terms of its usefulness as you can practically configure the ID card to update any sort of information.

I wish to create this project because I wish to explore the possibility of applying wireless power solutions to not just charging but to situations where short burst of power might be required in an otherwise battery less product. In that regard, E-Ink display and wireless power seem to be made for each other.

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While I have zero'ed in on the Display I wish to use, I have not made up my mind as to which RF links I should use. As of now I think those tiny dirt cheap 433MHz RF links should do just fine as the communication needs to happen over a very small distance and the application is stationary. (I am also itching to try out the possibility of communicating using purely optical means (IR Leds etc) but I will explore that possibility probably after I complete the implementation of the basic idea). To pull data which needs to be updated from the internet, I am thinking about doing it using an Arduino Yun or an Uno with an Ethernet shield. And to enter user specific data (which will be done manually in the first iteration but can be automated later), I am planning to host a server on my laptop for access over the Intranet.
I think I will be able to complete this project as I have already done some similar work in my freshman year in college as part of a summer project.

As for the finishing touches I plan to laser cut a back panel for the whole assembly from acrylic which will fit behind the BADGEr

Please give suggestions/advice in the comments section. Looking forward to your feedback.

Kevin Jose