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Suica' and Cellular Phone Information Service for Customers with 'Suica' and Cellular phone Fuminori Tsunoda1, Takeshi Nakagawa1 1East Japan Railway Company, Saitama, Japan Abstract In this paper, I describe a service of the information in next generation's railway. We developed high convenient service by Suica card we have issued and cellular phone. The service according to individual is so important for Railway Company that generation people needs the service to every context. Therefore we realize it with IT, especially ubiquitous technology. Smart Station is our Vision which has three concepts Suitable Information, Value Creation, and Comfortable Space. Actually, we develop many product based on Smart Station Vision. I introduce our development vision and product below. 1. Introduction East Japan Railway Company is the World's largest railroad company which serves 16 million customers daily. One of our missions has been to provide customers railway information clearly, but customers requirement had been increased to meet the diversified customers’ needs. Our research group has launched a "Smart Station Vision" for next generation railway service utilizing IT by customers’ viewpoint. Four service systems that distribute rail information to every customer are proposed in the paper. 2. Background In Japan, there are about 80 million cellular phones which can access the Internet among 90 million widespread cellular phones. It is appropriate to think that most rail customer possesses cellular phone. These cellular phones have high-performance functions such as e-mail, browser, application and GPS. Recently, they have been equipped with contactless IC card technology "Felica" developed by Sony. JR East has been issued more than 15 million contactless smart card which the name is "Suica". Suica stands for Super Urban Intelligent Card and is good for JR East railway network. It is based on RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and used not only ticket but also electronic money at many shops. In addition, "Mobile Suica" that Suica IC chip is embedded into a cellular phone has just started the service from this January. By the spread of such ubiquitous devices, we can expect these technologies as the tool of offering information service to railway customers. The railway is the mass transit system and efficiently delivers some information to a lot of customers by broadcasting in stations and train cars or displaying a guidance sign. However it is required to serve each individuality at the view point of diversification of customer needs and improvement of public service level. IT is the means of offering information service to each individuality. We believe that Suica and cellular phone are the important device to realize smart information service to each customers in stations. Because most of customers poses both Suica and cellular phone in railway so that we can use them as an infrastructure for providing information. In addition, Suica has the unique ID (Identification Number) and cellular phone has the telephone number and email address. We can deliver the information service to each customer by using ID, number and email address. 3. Smart Station Vision Smart Station Vision,“ is a future station which can provide high value-added services to satisfy diverse customer needs launched by (Ubiquitous Solution Group) , Frontier Service Development Laboratory in the Research and Development Center of JR East Group. Smart Station Vision has three concepts: "Suitable Information", "Value Creation" and "Comfortable Space". Research are conducted on how the future station and railway should be from the users' perspective in the ubiquitous-computer era by developing information technologies, human-interfaces, databases, next generation networks and high- precise location detection systems. Our goal is to create new value-added services for customers by providing on-demand information services seamlessly from customers’ origin to destination (Figure1). Figure 1: Smart Station Vision In addition, we create the service that does not let a customer be conscious of IT by design to fuse a signature and furniture of a station and IT together, we tried to improve feasibility. Moreover, station signs and furniture, and IT are combined to achieve well designed experiment environment, so that we could create services that would not bother customers with IT devices (Figure 2). Figure 2: The ubiquitous information space For the cause of Smart Station Vision, we research and develop the service of information deliver according to individual, by using Suica and a cellular phone which owned each person. 4. Smart Navigation System "Cochira" 4.1 Purpose for development of navigation service In recent years, as the result of having pursued convenience and comfortable simultaneously with reservation of safety, our company has increased the operation number of a train and renewed the station. At the same time, a train operation system and the structure of a station become complicated. A customer indicates that a train and a station is hard to understand for various factors. Then, the navigation system using Suica is developed from last year for the purpose of the service realization to guide a customer smoothly to the destination. The reason of using Suica for navigation system is the image of Suica which is IC card for moving. So, I thought it is reasonable to guide in case of movement. Moreover, the navigation ,summarization of service model utilizing IT, needs several technique such as location detection, personal certification, information delivery system, and so on. Thus, we are expected to be able to apply other services like various guides and purchase of the ticket, etc. from here on. 4.2 Cochira Terminal To archive a comprehensible guide, we developed the navigation terminal (figure3). Cochira, which is the Japanese word, means 'This way' in English. The station employee often uses it when the customer asks the way to. There is a pointer in upper part of the terminal. It can indicate 8 directions to control the wire. Touch Panel Display under the pointer assists the input and the guide output where user selects and registers the destination. In addition, the reader of Suica was buried under the stand in the center part. We hide a computer, cable, speaker and WiFi system in a small lower body (figure4). Figure 3: Cochira Figure 4: Construction parts By the pointer, a user learns intuitively how you want to go from the place by not using the map and only seeing the pointer device. As a result, we realized comprehensive guidance like a human. When we develop it, it made efforts to not only the system and contents but also the design and the operation feeling of the terminal. The industrial designer also joined the body design and it made in the smart design in which IT is not impressed with having a required interface. 4.3 Navigation System There are three features of a system. (1) Guidance only by touching Suica (2) Information delivery according to individual (3) To be able to use under anonymity (1) If you select a destination with the touch panel display and register it by touching Suica on the reader, the system combine the data Suica ID and destination ID. The data have shared by terminal through the center server. Therefore, any terminal utilize you, it shows your data to indicate your destination from there. As a result, you can reach your destination only touch a Cochira terminal everywhere. (2) This system can be shared the information of mother language and barrier-free just like the destination information of navigation. So user register the mother language to a terminal once, mother language service will be able to be accepted another terminal. For instance, the customer from foreign language in Narita International Airport register his mother language to the terminal, it is possible to guide by the mother language in Tokyo or Yokohama. It corresponded also to barrier-free information. If a user registers barrier-free guidance as it is required, stairs and escalator etc. will be avoided in every terminal and the equipment corresponding to barrier-free of an elevator etc. will be guided. (3) Since registration information is managed by system side, there is no fear of the 3rd person reading registration information in a card. Moreover, it did not write in IC card but grasps by system side, it does not need high security operation. So, this system doesn't need expensive equipment. This system can be used with Suica ID that this system uses kept anonymity because it uses the number when the card is manufactured without under our management. 5. Information furniture of the station 5.1 Purpose for development of Information furniture It was the problem for above-mentioned "Cochira" to input the destination when user registers because of small touch panel display. On the other hand, if the display become more large-sized, thin shape, and more cheap, it is capable to be easy to understandable many information and to offer it. Moreover, it is expectable to have Information furniture in place of the station. So, we have developed aiming to early research the information furniture design and contents in the station in the future. 5.2 Information furniture A terminal succeeds the concept of "Cochira" which realizes some guidance using Suica ID. Therefore, it is equipped with the reader of Suica (Figure 5). It considered as the design which divided the role of a sign or paper has been arranged beside a display, and it was made to unite as the legacy media. Even if it spreads that Information furniture uses the display for the future, it is not thought that a paper poster and fixed guidance signature disappear. Figure 5: Information furniture 5.3 Function We constructed the system that sent contents of the premises map and surrounding information, etc. to user's cellular phone by e-mail by touching Suica card.
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