Specifications

P4T/RP4T User Guide
31
Printer Preparation
Connecting the
Printer
Radio Regulatory
Information
RP4T Printers
Maintenance Troubleshooting Specifications Appendices Index
P4T Overview
Manual
Introduction
 The information in this section is provided for your
convenience only and is subject to change. Go to
http://www.epcglobalinc.org for the lates t EPC
information.
TheRP4TprinterisequippedwithanRFIDencoder/reader,which
isintegratedintotheprinter’sprintheadassembly.TheRP4Ten-
codes (writes) information on ultra-thin UHF RFID transponders
thatareembeddedin“smart”labels,tickets,andtags.Theprinter
encodes the information; verifies proper encoding; and prints bar
codes,graphics,and/ortextonthelabel’ssurface.TheRP4Tprinter
usesZebra’sextensivesetofRFIDcommendsrunningunderZPL
programming language emulation.
TheRFIDtransponderissometimescalledtheRFIDtagoraninlay.
The transponder is usually made of an antenna that is bonded to
anintegratedcircuit(IC)chip.TheICchipcontainstheRFcircuit,
coders,decoders,andmemory.IfyouholdanRFIDlabeluptothe
light, you can see the transponder’s antenna, and you can feel a
bump in the label where the IC chip is located.
TheRP4TcanencodeandverifyEPC(ElectronicProductCode)
Generation2Class1UHFpassiveRFIDtags,inadditiontoprinting
humanreadabletextandconventional1and2-Dbarcodeinforma-
tiononZebrasuppliedRFIDthermaltransfermedia.
EPC is a product numbering standard that can be used to identify
avarietyofitemsbyusingRFIDtechnology.EPCGeneration2tags
offeradvantagesoverothertagtypes.Thetagidentication(TID)
memoryinaGeneration2tagincludesthechipmanufacturerand
model number information, which can be used to identify which
optional features are present on the tag. These optional features
include those for data content and security.
Gen2tagstypicallyhavea96-bitEPCidentier,whichisdifferent
fromthe64-bitidentierscommoninearlyEPCtags.The96-bit
EPCcodelinkstoanonlinedatabase,providingasecurewayof
sharing product-specific information along the supply chain.
Gen2tagsalsosupportmuchlargerdatastructures.Thesizeof
usermemoryavailable(ifany)variesbythemodelandmanufac-
turer of the tag.
 Printqualitywillbereducedwhenattemptingtoprintover
thetransponderportionofanRFIDlabel.Itisrecommended
thatRFIDlabellayoutsshouldnotallowprintingoverthe
RFIDtransponderportionofalabel.
Generation2Class1UHFPassiveTagsSupportedByTheP4T
AlienSquiggle
AveryDennison
RaatacOnetenna
OmronWave
EncodingandprintingofanRFIDlabelusuallyarecompletedonthe
first try, but some failures may occur. If you experience consistent
encodingfailures,itmaysignalaproblemwiththeRFIDtags,your
label formats, or with the transponder placement.
IfanRFIDtagcannotbeencoded,“VOID”willbeprintedonthe
label. The printer then attempts to read/encode “n” labels before
the next format is attempted, where “n” is specied by the ZPL
programming language “^RS ” command. Acceptable values of “n”
are1to10andthedefaultis3.Afterprintingthedenednumberof
voidedRFIDlabels,printerwillgointoanerrormode.Theprinter
responsetoanerrorisdenedbytheRFIDSetupcommandand
will allow:
1.NoAction(Labelformatcausingtheerrorisdropped)
2.NoticationtotheHostofthedetailsoftheerror(Labelformat
causingtheerrorisdropped).
TheuserhascontrolofwhereonthelabeltheVOIDisprinted.
More information on the “^R S ” command may be found in Zebra’s
RFIDProgrammingGuideavailableonthecorporateWebsite.
Model RP4T RFID Encoder