Apple Travel App Patent Hints At Ticketless Airlines

Leander Kahney ()

Apple Travel App Patent Hints At Ticketless Airlines

Apple has filed a very interesting patent for a travel app called iTravel that books flights, hotels and car reservations. But the most interesting part is how it uses a radio chip to check you in at the airport, whisk you through security and allows you to wireless board your flight.

The iTravel app uses Near Field Communications, a short-range wireless technology that is starting to become widely used in cell phones for mobile ticketing, payment and electronic keys, especially in countries like Japan.

Apple is rumored to be adding NFC chipset to the next iPhone. If so, it could turn the iPhone into an electronic wallet, allowing you to for everything, from a cup of coffee to a subway ride. Your iPhone could unlock your car, pick up e-coupons at the local mall, and pay for all your supermarket groceries just by laying it on top of the checkout.

Note, however, that neither Gizmodo’s iPhone 4G teardown nor the iPhone OS 4 beta have revealed the existance of NFC chips, so this may be premature.

Nonetheless, the iTravel app is another sign that Apple is interested in adding NFC to the iPhone.
Apple has filed several patents related to RFID, including using RFID to find and connect to WiFi networks, and a touchscreen RFID tag reader.

The iTravel app is likely the first of several NFC iPhone apps from Apple.

The iTravel app is a pretty comprehensive travel app. It focuses on finding and booking flights, making hotel and rental car reservations, and airline check-in and baggage ID.

The most interesting part of the patent describes how airline travelers can use the app with an NFC-equipped iPhone to travel through the airline check-in system without paper tickets or even a passport. The app can be used to wirelessly check in the traveller at the ticket counter. Combined with a fingerprint or retina scan, the app can identify them to airline and security personel.

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The system will then whisk them through airport security, logging their progress as they go through X-Ray and metal detectors. It will allow them to check themselves in at the boarding gate and help them find their RFID-tagged luggage at the other end.

Via: Patently Apple

12 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Apple, iPhone, iPhone Apps, News |

  • cv

    Yes, now *this* is progress. The “Osaifu Keitai” system in Japan is where we want to be headed. Kudos to Apple for pushing to get NFC into the iPhone.

  • Kavok

    Um.. Does this mean that someone will also be able to track you through a city, reading the RFID from your iPhone (kinda like some movie I saw a while back.) I’m not sure I would want this tech in my cell phone. Makes me wonder what the “Why 1984 won’t be like “1984.” ” Mac commercial would be like today…

    Hrm…

  • shaunathan

    I’m with Kavok, I’m going to have to start carrying my iphone in a Faraday Cage.

  • eric

    Great, so my AT&T bill will be even higher!

  • Dylan

    Air New Zealand’s mPass iPhone application provides a barcode on the iPhone screen replacing a ticket or print out. Very useful.

    http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=93935&expand=false

  • Greg

    @kavok you do realize that new us passports already have a chip in them that allows security to track you at airports. it looks like tech like this is unavoidable.

  • http://www.mindonfire.com xJane

    A friend was showing me an app on his Blackberry (maybe it was just a document downloaded to the ‘berry) that was his ticket. He can present it, along with his ID at security to get to his gate. DO WANT.

  • Joe Lewis

    This piece needs some editing.

  • http://ihbs.co.uk Ben

    @Kavok and @Greg

    Having this technology available is a good thing. Especially if things like this can be achieved with it! No one is going to track where you are going through a city. No ones going to be constantly spying or monitoring you. No offence but you’re just not that important.

    Im a bit sceptical of the passports though? Just because Ive bought my ticket on my iPhone probably doesnt mean I wont have to bother with passport control. Even if my passport was in some way electronically paired with my iPhone, i doubt i could avoid the whole looking at it in person procedure.

  • charli

    keep in mind that the patent game is about the ideas. it is not uncommon to patent ideas way before they might ever be used. if at all. then even if you don’t use them, and someone else wants to, they have to pay you money for the idea.

    also, yes this might mean some level of tracking, which would require limits to where the tracking takes place and who can see the data.

    I myself don’t have a problem if the system is so low powered that it only works within the confines of an airport, subway station, train station etc. Or it can be turned on and off so when I need it I turn it on, when I don’t its off. I like the idea of paperless tickets, tags that help me find my luggage etc. I don’t mind the notion of being trackable in an airport because I’m not up to anything bad and what do I care if airport security knows I’m in the ladies. Heck what if I was sick and needed help and no one was around. I might be able to send out an alert and someone could track me to where I was. that might mean the difference between life and death.

    yes it’s a brave new world, but that doesn’t make it a bad one. there’s all kinds of ways this sort of tech can be beneficial. again it all depends on how it is used and who can get to the info.

  • David

    Activating a regular RFID chip from more than 12 inches would be really difficult. So long as that’s what the phone uses, I wouldn’t be too worried.

  • http://intellectsoft.net/iphone_application_development.html iphone application development

    Thank you for this review. This Travel app seems to open really excitingly wide prospects for those who have to travel a lot either on business or for pleasure. iTravel will make it much more convenient and pleasant to manage all the booking/payment operations during one`s trip.this is a comment from iphone developers