User Guide

System Type Functions and control in the Thinkify HSP3.0 system

The firmware in the PI and TR65 in the HSP3.0 system allows configuring for 3 specific

purposes. These are VERIFIER, ENCODE, and STANDALONE. This document

describes the control commands to specify the system type, and program flow differences

between the three types.

The system type can be specified in the config.ini file to configure the system at power

up reset - this is the expected way to configure a system, since it is unlikely to change

once defined for the current tag transport mechanism. A runtime command is also

provided to change it - syntax SYSTEMTYPE= <VER, ENC, or STA>. Issuing a

SYSTEMTYPE command with no parameters will return the current setting. In the

splash messages sent to console port on power up reset the current setting in the

config.ini will be reported.

Historically the concept of the system having different types comes from the initial

HSP2.0 transport hardware. Most if not all HSP2.0 systems have at least 2 verifiers and

one encoder type system in the transport mechanism.

The first verifier reads the pre-programmed value of the EPC field and the TID field of

the tag, then the encoder performs programming operations, then the second verifier

again reads the EPC and TID fields to check the validity of the programming operation.

Some transport systems provide a third verifier for various purposes.

To support backwards compatibility with these type of systems the HSP3.0 system will

allow system setup options to offer this same functionality (along with all the new

functionality provided).

Advantages of this approach are throughput speed since each system has fewer overall

operations to perform and very robust data integrity verification. of at least the EPC data.

Disadvantages are system cost, complexity and the need for the host controller to access

and control multiple systems with very stringent timing control.

Initial HSP2.0 systems only allowed 96 bit EPC programming. As desire to add different

EPC lengths, and USER bank programming was expressed the configuration and control

of multiple systems becomes more cumbersome and complicated. Also even in earlier

systems the programming functions of the PASSWORD fields was never re-checked by

the verifier which decreased the robustness of the approach.

To overcome these disadvantages, the HSP3.0 system offers a third system type - the

STANDALONE. If a system is configured this way it will do all of the different tag

access operations internally, which allows an overall system to only have one PI/TR65

combination. This can make a large difference in overall system cost and host control

Thinkify, LLC, 18450 Technology Drive, Suite E1, Morgan Hill, Ca. 95037, www.thinkifyit.com 408-782-7111