EPCglobal - Reader Protocol

Reader Protocol

Reader Protocol (RP) is an interface standard specifying the interactions between a device capable of reading/writing tags and application software. The informal summary of the charter was "Define an interface supporting Reading, Writing and Killing tags, and the supporting operations necessary for those actions." The goal was to define an open and extensible interface that reader vendors could embrace supporting most operations in a standard (common) way, yet not dictate implementation nor preclude vendor extension and innovation.

Version 1.1 was ratified and made publicly available in August, 2006. Notable features include commands to read, write and kill tags, access to 'User Memory' as well as identity information, extensive configuration-related commands, rich reporting options, asynchronous notifications, multiple Message Transport Bindings (MTBs) including serial, TCP and HTTP transports and XML and Text message formats, ReadPoints and Sources (originally dubbed 'Virtual Reader') and rich extensibility mechanisms.

There is no version 1.0. A very early draft of the work-in-progress specification was released on the internet with the moniker "1.0", but the document was a very early file (mostly template) that didn't include most of the design points even at that time, let alone later additions and refinements. The document itself is clearly a very early and incomplete document, as obvious to even a casual review. The workgroup opted to change the version number to 1.1 to avoid confusion with this document, and to reflect the significant advances since the earlier work.