D3.7 A Structured Collection on Information and Literature on Technological and Usability Aspects of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Untitled ELECTRONIC PRODUCT CODE (EPC)

EPC allows for unique identification and tracking of tagged objects via internet. 

EPCglobal Inc. is a non-profit organisation founded by GS1 (former EAN – European Article Numbering International) and UCC (Uniform Code Council), the two main barcode issuing associations.  

EPC, the Electronic Product Code standardised by EPCglobal, is intended to replace EAN or UPC (Universal Product Code) numbers when RFID tags replace barcodes as identifiers on products. 

EPC is a set of coding schemes for RFID tags, originally developed by MIT Auto-ID Center. EPC numbers start with a header identifying the encoding scheme used, which according to EPC Version 1.3 can be one of the following:

• General Identifier (GID), GID-96, 

• Serialized version of the GS1 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), SGTIN-96, SGTIN-198, 

• GS1 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC), SSCC-96, 

• GS1 Global Location Number (GLN), SGLN-96, SGLN-195, 

• GS1 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI), GRAI-96, GRAI-170, 

• GS1 Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI), GIAI-96, GIAI-202,  

• DoD Construct, DoD-96. 

The EPCglobal architecture allows the use of a variety of authentication technologies across its defined interfaces. It is expected, however, that the X.509 authentication framework will be widely employed within the EPCglobal network.

When an EPC number is read, the reading device can identify the object via internet by accessing the Object Name Service within the EPCglobal network. The EPCglobal Networks aims at exchanging data in real time to allow tracking of products.

EPC uses Object Name Service (technically based on DNS) to allow for unique identification of tagged objects (as opposed to identification of object class with barcodes).