Apple just might be hitting on another bit of innovation that could be just as cool as the iPod, for the tech set at least. A patent application filed by Apple in September 2005 and published March 8 details a system to simplify Wi-Fi networking in the company's next-gen Mac and consumer electronic devices.

The idea seems pretty simple. A router holds an RFID transceiver containing a network's configuration information, along with authentication and encryption keys. When an RFID-tagged Wi-Fi enabled device with a synchronized RFID tag gets within range of the router, the configuration information is pumped into the tag. The tag then connects to the network, eliminating the need for a user to perform software setup.

It's not clear what Apple's plans are with the patent, but it will be interesting to see how the company uses it to solve potentially messy networking issues.

Another RFID-based patent with consumers in mind has been submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by American Express. The company is looking to capitalize on its use of RFID technology in credit cards through "people tracking" capabilities. Amex's patent, titled "Method and System for Facilitating a Shopping Experience," that outlines a method for monitoring consumers through RFID-enabled objects. Here's the gist of what AMEX has in mind: An RFID-embedded object carried by a shopper would emit a "consumer identification signal" when queried by a consumer tracker device in the environment. Businesses would pick up the signal and use it to identify shoppers, track their movements and observe their behavior.

CASPIAN founders Kathryn Albrecht and Liz McIntyre sort of pre-announced the patent for AMEX in a March 9 press release that detailed a meeting CASPIAN held with Amex executives, that CASPIAN hoped would result in the withdrawal of the patent application. Instead, Amex said it would provide a chipless RFID credit card for those consumers who request it.

With an idea clearly stolen from the futuristic move Minority Report, the Amex technology would not only track and observe shoppers, but it would also spam them with purchasing "incentives," advertisements, and even odors, according to the patent. "[I]ncentive information may be specifically tailored for presentation to consumer based on consumer identification signal .... incentive information may also be configured to trigger a corresponding presentation to be perceived by consumer. For example, the presentation to consumer may be configured as any combination of an emission of a printed advertisement, a display of a moving or static video image, a performance of a sound recording, or even an emission of a scent." [Section 0213]

The concept of identifying people through RFID-tagged items like AMEX credit cards is not limited to shoppers. The patent suggests schools also use the technology in schools, bus stations and "other places of public accommodation" so that consumers may "obtain incentives outside the merchant location."

As a consumer I prefer Apple's methodology for RFID--solving a technical issue. Just don't even think about using it to track my movements in a store.