IPA IP 2023 Question 12

Topic: Business Industry

A question IPA Japan published in 令和5年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問12, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.

Which of the following lists all and only the examples of services that are realized by a contactless IC chip built into a smartphone and an external RFID reader?

ADuring a call while moving, the base station is switched automatically so that the call is maintained.BIt is used as a commuter pass when passing through an automatic ticket gate at a station.CEven overseas, the same services as in one’s home country, such as e-mail, are used.DA QR code is read in order to obtain payment procedure information.

Explanation

Only B, the commuter pass at the ticket gate — the only service in which the reader at the gate talks to the IC chip in the phone by short-range radio.

A contactless IC chip (an NFC chip, a kind of RFID tag) is powered and read by a reader a few centimetres away. A smartphone with such a chip can act as a transport IC card, an electronic money card or a commuter pass: holding it over the reader at an automatic ticket gate lets the gate read and update the pass.

  • •A: switching base stations during a call (handover) is done by the mobile network and the phone’s cellular radio, not by an IC chip and a reader.
  • •C: using the same services abroad is roaming, again a function of the mobile network.
  • •D: a QR code is a printed two-dimensional code read optically by the phone’s camera; no IC chip or RFID reader is involved.

Answer (c)

Why not others:

  • •(a) — adds handover (A), roaming (C) and QR code reading (D), none of which uses the IC chip
  • •(b) — adds A and D: the cellular network and the camera, not RFID
  • •(d) — adds D, but a QR code is read by the camera from an image, not by radio from a chip

Key rule: RFID/NFC means a reader exchanging data with a chip by short-range radio (ticket gates, e-money, tags); handover and roaming belong to the mobile network, and QR and bar codes are read optically.

Business Industry · AI-written, may contain errors

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This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.