EPC and PSIDs

1
EPC and PSIDs

• Carl Kain, PE
• February 8, 2006

2
Introduction

• IEEE 1609 standards define PSIDs to be
  administered by IEEE
• Procedures for registering, fees, guarantees of
  uniqueness, configuration control are all TBD
• Mitretek examined method for Electronic Product
  Code (EPC) registration for applicability to PSID
  assignment
• Used for RFID-based product identification and
  supply chain applications
• Millions of unique codes maintained
• Mapping of legacy numbers into EPC
• Bar codes
• Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN)
• Computer database and network access for
  e-commerce

3
What is EPC?

• The tag, including a chip, an antenna and the
  packaging substrate
• A numbering scheme that uniquely identifies all
  objects
• Connects physical objects to computer networks

4
Basic Format of EPC
Header
EPC Manager Number
Object Class
Serial Number
Assigned by EPC Manger Owner
Assigned by EPCGlobal
Header identifies the length, type, structure,
version, and generation of the EPC EPC Manager
Number entity responsible for maintaining the
subsequent partitions Object Class identifies
a class of objects Serial Number identifies
the instance
5
Formats

• Two formats-64 bit and 96 bit
• Existing numbers can be encoded into EPC number
• Global Trade Item Numbers
• Universal Product Codes
• Serialized Global Location Numbers
• DoD constructs
• EPC is not flat space
• Has header and company prefix
• Filter values
• Serial numbers

6
Whos Who?

• European Article Numbering-Uniform Code Council
• was a supply chain standards family name,
  formally the EAN.UCC System, that included
  product barcodes.
• EAN International was the global office for the
  more than 100 Member Organizations around the
  world. In 2005 the organization changed its name
  to GS1.
• The Uniform Code Council (UCC)
• was the Numbering Organization in the USA to
  administer and manage the EAN.UCC System. In 2005
  the UCC changed its name to GS1 US

7
How Do I Get a Number?

• Apply for membership in GS1 (your regional
  organization)
• Pay membership fee
• GS1 will assign globally unique company prefix
• Use GS1 standards to create globally unique
  number
• Membership includes many services in addition to
  number
• The Global Electronic Party Information Register
  (GEPIR) is a distributed database that contains
  basic information on over 1,000,000 companies in
  over 100 countries.
• You can search by GTIN (includes UPC and EAN-13),
  SSCC and GLN numbers or by company name in some
  countries.
• Results can be returned in HTML or XML for some
  countries.
• The service is provided jointly by different GS1
  Member Organizations.
• GS1 provides Electronic Data Interchange
  guidelines for e-commerce.

8
What Does it Cost?

• Initial Subscription Fee.
• Each subscription includes the use of the
  designated number of EPC Manager Numbers and
  access to the EPCglobal Network for a one year
  period beginning on the first calendar day of the
  month following the date payment is received.
• Annual Renewal Fee.
• The Annual Renewal Fee for the designated number
  of EPC Manager Numbers and access to the
  EPCglobal Network will be 20 of a subscribers
  total subscription.

9
Subscription Prices
Subscription Annual Sales Initial
Subscription Level Volume Fee 1 Less than
100K 750 2 100K - 500K 1,250 3
500K - 1M 2,000 4 1M - 5M 3,000
5 5M - 10M 5,000 6 10M - 100M
10,000 7 100 M - 500M 25,000 8
500M - 1B 50,000 9 1B - 10B
75,000 10 10B - 25B 100,000 11
25B - 40B 150,000 12 Greater than
40B 200,000
10
Cost for Additional Manager Numbers
Quantity Initial Fee per EPC Manager Number
1-10 3,500.00 11-50 3,000.00 51-200
2,000.00 201-500 1,250.00 Over 501
875.00
11
Some Issues

• EPC numbers are based on standards and contain a
  unique company prefix
• PSIDs are currently undefined
• Several types of supply chain number standards
  exist
• Standardized methods for encoding to EPC
• EPC Number is hierarchical with well defined
  fields
• Distributed databases and information networks
  help construct electronic supply chain management
• PSID is flat-space
• Data bases and electronic commerce services
  administered by GS1
• Included in annual fee
• Companies can calculate ROI when using EPC

12
Acknowledgments

• Information in briefing provided by EPCGlobal and
  GS1-US
• Additional information on databases provided by
  WikiPedia