Published on Jun 05, 2023
A Java Ring is a finger ring that contains a small microprocessor with built-in capabilities for the user, a sort of smart card that is wearable on a finger. Sun Microsystem's Java Ring was introduced at their JavaOne Conference in 1998 and, instead of a gemstone, contained an inexpensive microprocessor in a stainless-steel iButton running a Java virtual machine and preloaded with applets (little application programs). The rings were built by Dallas Semiconductor.
Workstations at the conference had "ring readers" installed on them that downloaded information about the user from the conference registration system. This information was then used to enable a number of personalized services. For example, a robotic machine made coffee according to user preferences, which it downloaded when they snapped the ring into another "ring reader." although Java Rings aren't widely used yet, such rings or similar devices could have a number of real-world applications, such as starting your car and having all your vehicle's components (such as the seat, mirrors, and radio selections) automatically adjust to your preferences. The Java Ring is an extremely secure Java-powered electronic token with a continuously running, unalterable real-time clock and rugged packaging, suitable for many applications. The jewel of the Java Ring is the Java iButton -- a one-million transistor, single chip trusted microcomputer with a powerful Java Virtual Machine (JVM) housed in a rugged and secure stainless-steel case.
The Java Ring is a stainless-steel ring, 16-millimeters (0.6 inches) in diameter, that houses a 1-million-transistor processor, called an iButton. The ring has 134 KB of RAM, 32 KB of ROM, a real-time clock and a Java virtual machine, which is a piece of software that recognizes the Java language and translates it for the user's computer system.The Ring, first introduced at JavaOne Conference, has been tested at Celebration School, an innovative K-12 school just outside Orlando, FL. The rings given to students are programmed with Java applets that communicate with host applications on networked systems. Applets are small applications that are designed to be run within another application. The Java Ring is snapped into a reader, called a Blue Dot receptor, to allow communication between a host system and the Java Ring.
Java-powered cryptographic iButton
A microprocessor and high-speed arithmetic accelerator generate the large numbers needed to encrypt and decrypt information. The Java-powered iButton adds its complete cryptographic circuitry to a Java Virtual Machine (VM) that is Java Card™ 2.0-compliant, enabling the world's large pool of Java programmers to tap into a powerful development tools to get an application up and running quickly. The Java-powered iButton's greatest promise lies in its capacity to interact with Internet applications to support strong remote authentication and remotely authorized financial transactions. In practical terms, that means you can jump into the age of electronic commerce with both feet: your messages are sent over the Internet scrambled and can only be unscrambled at the other end by someone with an authorized iButton.
Thermochron iButtons
A rugged, single-chip time and temperature logger, the iButton integrates a thermometer, real time clock and memory. Free development software displays and exports Internet-transmissible data formatted in both histogram and regular time-temp logging modes. The rugged Thermochron can attach to containers and travel with temperature-sensitive goods such as organic materials and chemicals. The Thermochron can stand-alone or network with audio/visual indicators, displays, hand-held or notebook computers.
