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Abstract24

This document defines the EPC Tag Data Standards. These standards define completely25

that portion of EPC tag data that is standardized, including how that data is encoded on26

the EPC tag itself (i.e. the EPC Tag Encodings), as well as how it is encoded for use in27the information systems layers of the EPC Systems Network (i.e. the EPC URI or28Uniform Resource Identifier Encodings).29

The EPC Tag Encodings include a Header field followed by one or more Value Fields.30

The Header field defines the overall length and format of the Values Fields. The Value31

Fields contain a unique EPC Identifier and optional Filter Value when the latter is judged32to be important to encode on the tag itself.33

The EPC URI Encodings provide the means for applications software to process EPC34Tag Encodings either literally (i.e. at the bit level) or at various levels of semantic35

abstraction that is independent of the tag variations. This document defines four36

categories of URI:37

1. URIs for pure identities, sometimes called canonical forms. These contain only38the unique information that identifies a specific physical object, and are39

independent of tag encodings.40

2. URIs that represent specific tag encodings. These are used in software41

applications where the encoding scheme is relevant, as when commanding42software to write a tag.43

3. URIs that represent patterns, or sets of EPCs. These are used when instructing44

software how to filter tag data.45

4. URIs that represent raw tag information, generally used only for error reporting46

purposes.47

48

Status of this document49

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other50

documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is51maintained at the EPCglobal. This document is the Last Call Working Draft.52

This is an EPCglobal Center Working Draft for review by EPCglobal Members and other53

interested parties. It is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or made obsolete54

by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use EPCglobal Working Drafts as55reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress". This is work in56

progress and does not imply endorsement by the EPCglobal membership.57

Comments on this document should be sent to the EPCglobal Software Action Group58

mailing list [email protected]


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Changes from Previous Versions60

Version 1.1, as the first formally specified version, serves as the basis for assignment and61

use of EPC numbers in standard, open systems applications. Previous versions, consisting62of technical reports and working drafts, recommended certain headers, tag lengths, and63

EPC data structures. Many of these constructs have been modified in the development of64Version 1.1, and are generally not preserved for standard usage. Specifically, Version 1.165

supersedes all previous definitions of EPC Tag Data Standards.66

67

Beyond the new content in Version 1.1 (such as the addition of new coding formats), the68

most significant changes to prior versions include the following:69

1. Redefinition and clarification of the rules for assigning Header values: (i) to allow70various Header lengths for a given length tag, to support more encoding options in71

a given length tag; and (ii) to indicate the tag length via the left-most72

(preamble) portion of the Header, to support maximum reader efficiency.73

2. Withdrawal of the 64-bit Universal Identifier format Types I-III, previously74identified by specific 2-bit Headers. The Header assigned to the previous75

Universal Type II is now assigned to the 64-bit SGTIN encoding. The Type I and76

III Headers have not been reassigned to other encodings, but are rather simply77designated as reserved. The Headers associated with Types I and III will78

remain reserved for a yet-to-be-determined period of time to support tags that79

have previously used them, unless a clear need for them arises (as was the case80with the SGTIN), in which case they will be considered for reassignment.81

3. Renumbering of the 96-bit Universal Identifier Header to fit within the revised82

Header rules, and renaming this code the General Identifier to avoid confusion83

with the Unique Identifier (UID) that will be introduced by the US Department of84Defense and its suppliers.85

86


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86

Table of Contents87

1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 788

2 Identity Concepts.......................................................................................................... 889

2.1 Pure Identities ........................................................................................................ 990

2.1.1 General Types ................................................................................................. 991

2.1.2 EAN.UCC System Identity Types ................................................................ 1092

2.1.2.1 Serialized Global Trade Identification Number (SGTIN)...................... 1193

2.1.2.2 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) ............................................... 1194

2.1.2.3 Serialized Global Location Number (SGLN)......................................... 12952.1.2.4 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI) ........................................... 1396

2.1.2.5 Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI).............................................. 1497

3 EPC Tag Bit-level Encodings .................................................................................... 1498

3.1 Headers ................................................................................................................ 1599

3.2 Notational Conventions ....................................................................................... 17100

3.3 General Identifier (GID-96)................................................................................. 18101

3.3.1.1 GID-96 Encoding Procedure.................................................................. 18102

3.3.1.2 GID-96 Decoding Procedure.................................................................. 19103

3.4 Serialized Global Trade Item Number (SGTIN) ................................................. 19104

3.4.1 SGTIN-64 ..................................................................................................... 19105

3.4.1.1 SGTIN-64 Encoding Procedure ............................................................. 21106

3.4.1.2 SGTIN-64 Decoding Procedure ............................................................. 21107

3.4.2 SGTIN-96 ..................................................................................................... 22108

3.4.2.1 SGTIN-96 Encoding Procedure ............................................................. 23109

3.4.2.2 SGTIN-96 Decoding Procedure ............................................................. 24110

3.5 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)............................................................. 25111

3.5.1 SSCC-64 ....................................................................................................... 25112

3.5.1.1 SSCC-64 Encoding Procedure ............................................................... 26113

3.5.1.2 SSCC-64 Decoding Procedure ............................................................... 27114

3.5.2 SSCC-96 ....................................................................................................... 27115


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3.5.2.1 SSCC-96 Encoding Procedure ............................................................... 29116

3.5.2.2 SSCC-96 Decoding Procedure ............................................................... 29117

3.6 Serialized Global Location Number (SGLN)...................................................... 30118

3.6.1 SGLN-64....................................................................................................... 31119

3.6.1.1 SGLN-64 Encoding Procedure............................................................... 32120

3.6.1.2 SGLN-64 Decoding Procedure .............................................................. 32121

3.6.2 SGLN-96....................................................................................................... 33122

3.6.2.1 SGLN-96 Encoding Procedure............................................................... 34123

3.6.2.2 SGLN-96 Decoding Procedure .............................................................. 35124

3.7 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI)......................................................... 36125

3.7.1 GRAI-64 ....................................................................................................... 36126

3.7.1.1 GRAI-64 Encoding Procedure ............................................................... 38127

3.7.1.2 GRAI-64 Decoding Procedure ............................................................... 38128

3.7.2 GRAI-96 ....................................................................................................... 39129

3.7.2.1 GRAI-96 Encoding Procedure ............................................................... 40130

3.7.2.2 GRAI-96 Decoding Procedure ............................................................... 41131

3.8 Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI)........................................................... 42132

3.8.1 GIAI-64......................................................................................................... 42133

3.8.1.1 GIAI-64 Encoding Procedure................................................................. 43134

3.8.1.2 GIAI-64 Decoding Procedure ................................................................ 441353.8.2 GIAI-96......................................................................................................... 44136

3.8.2.1 GIAI-96 Encoding Procedure................................................................. 46137

3.8.2.2 GIAI-96 Decoding Procedure ................................................................ 46138

4 URI Representation .................................................................................................... 47139

4.1 URI Forms for Pure Identities ............................................................................. 48140

4.2 URI Forms for Related Data Types..................................................................... 49141

4.2.1 URIs for EPC Tags ....................................................................................... 50142

4.2.2 URIs for Raw Bit Strings Arising From Invalid Tags .................................. 51143

4.2.3 URIs for EPC Patterns .................................................................................. 51144

4.3 Syntax .................................................................................................................. 52145

4.3.1 Common Grammar Elements ....................................................................... 52146

4.3.2 EPCGID-URI................................................................................................ 52147


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4.3.3 SGTIN-URI................................................................................................... 52148

4.3.4 SSCC-URI..................................................................................................... 53149

4.3.5 SGLN-URI.................................................................................................... 53150

4.3.6 GRAI-URI..................................................................................................... 53151

4.3.7 GIAI-URI...................................................................................................... 53152

4.3.8 EPC Tag URI ................................................................................................ 53153

4.3.9 Raw Tag URI ................................................................................................ 54154

4.3.10 EPC Pattern URI........................................................................................ 54155

4.3.11 Summary (non-normative) ........................................................................ 54156

5 Translation between EPC-URI and Other EPC Representations ............................... 56157

6 Semantics of EPC Pattern URIs................................................................................. 63158

7 Background Information ............................................................................................ 64159

8 References .................................................................................................................. 65160

9 Appendix A: Encoding Scheme Summary Tables..................................................... 66161

10 Appendix B: EPC Header Values and Tag Identity Lengths.................................. 71162

11 Appendix C: Example of a Specific Trade Item (SGTIN) ..................................... 73163

12 Appendix D: Binary Digit Capacity Tables............................................................ 75164

13 Appendix E: List of Abbreviations ......................................................................... 76165

166

167


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1 Introduction167The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is an identification scheme for universally168

identifying physical objects via Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and other169

means. The standardized EPC data consists of an EPC (or EPC Identifier) that uniquely170

identifies an individual object, as well as an optional Filter Value when judged to be171necessary to enable effective and efficient reading of the EPC tags. In addition to this172

standardized data, certain Classes of EPC tags will allow user-defined data. The EPC173Tag Data Standards will define the length and position of this data, without defining its174

content. Currently no user-defined data specifications exist since the related Class tags175have not been defined.176

The EPC Identifier is a meta-coding scheme designed to support the needs of various177

industries by accommodating both existing coding schemes where possible and defining178

new schemes where necessary. The various coding schemes are referred to as Domain179Identifiers, to indicate that they provide object identification within certain domains such180

as a particular industry or group of industries. As such, the Electronic Product Code181

represents a family of coding schemes (or namespaces) and a means to make them182unique across all possible EPC-compliant tags. These concepts are depicted in the chart183

below.184

185

Figure A. EPC Terminology.186

187

In this version of the EPC EPC Version 1.1 the specific coding schemes include a188General Identifier (GID), a serialized version of the EAN.UCC Global Trade Item189

Number (GTIN), the EAN.UCC Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC), the190

Key Terminology

EPC or EPC Identifier

e.g. SGTIN, SGLN, SSCC, GID

Standard EPC Tag Data

Header Filter Value

(Optional)

Domain Identifier


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EAN.UCC Global Location Number (GLN), the EAN.UCC Global Returnable Asset191

Identifier (GRAI), and the EAN.UCC Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI).192

In the following sections, we will describe the structure and organization of the EPC and193

provide illustrations to show its recommended use.194

2 Identity Concepts195To better understand the overall framework of the EPC Tag Data Standards, its helpful196

to distinguish between three levels of identification (See Figure B). Although this197

specification addresses the pure identity and encoding layers in detail, all three layers are198described below to explain the layer concepts and the context for the encoding layer.199

200

Figure B. Defined Identity Namespaces, Encodings, and Realizations.201

Pure identity -- the identity associated with a specific physical or logical entity,202

independent of any particular encoding vehicle such as an RF tag, bar code or database203field. As such, a pure identity is an abstract name or number used to identify an entity. A204

pure identity consists of the information required to uniquely identify a specific entity,205

and no more. Identity URI a representation of a pure identity as a Uniform Resource206

Physical Realization Layer

Pure Identity Layer

Encoding Layer

Identity

Namespace

Additional Info

Realization

Encoding

Procedure

Identity URN

URI Encoding

Realization

Tag Encoding

Identity

Namespace

Encoding

Procedure

Identity


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Identifier (URI). A URI is a character string representation that is commonly used to207

exchange identity data between software components of a larger system.208

Encoding -- a pure identity, together with additional information such as filter value,209

rendered into a specific syntax (typically consisting of value fields of specific sizes). A210

given pure identity may have a number of possible encodings, such as a Barcode211

Encoding, various Tag Encodings, and various URI Encodings. Encodings may also212incorporate additional data besides the identity (such as the Filter Value used in some213

encodings), in which case the encoding scheme specifies what additional data it can hold.214

Physical Realization of an Encoding -- an encoding rendered in a concrete215

implementation suitable for a particular machine-readable form, such as a specific kind of216RF tag or specific database field. A given encoding may have a number of possible217

physical realizations.218

For example, the Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) format as defined by the219

EAN.UCC System is an example of a pure identity. An SSCC encoded into the EPC-220SSCC 96-bit format is an example of an encoding. That 96-bit encoding, written onto a221

UHF Class 1 RF Tag, is an example of a physical realization.222

A particular encoding scheme may implicitly impose constraints on the range of identities223

that may be represented using that encoding. For example, only 16,384 company224prefixes can be encoded in the 64-bit SSCC scheme. In general, each encoding scheme225

specifies what constraints it imposes on the range of identities it can represent.226

Conversely, a particular encoding scheme may accommodate values that are not valid227

with respect to the underlying pure identity type, thereby requiring an explicit constraint.228For example, the EPC-SSCC 96-bit encoding provides 24 bits to encode a 7-digit229

company prefix. In a 24-bit field, it is possible to encode the decimal number230

10,000,001, which is longer than 7 decimal digits. Therefore, this does not represent a231

valid SSCC, and is forbidden. In general, each encoding scheme specifies what limits it232 imposes on the value that may appear in any given encoded field.233

2.1 Pure Identities234

This section defines the pure identity types for which this document specifies encoding235

schemes.236

2.1.1 General Types237

This version of the EPC Tag Data Standards defines one general identity type. The238General Identifier (GID-96) is independent of any known, existing specifications or239

identity schemes. The General Identifier is composed of three fields - the General240Manager Number, Object Class and Serial Number. Encodings of the GID include a241fourth field, the header, to guarantee uniqueness in the EPC namespace.242

The General Manager Numberidentifies an organizational entity (essentially a company,243

manager or other organization) that is responsible for maintaining the numbers in244

subsequent fields Object Class and Serial Number. EPCglobal assigns the General245Manager Number to an entity, and ensures that each General Manager Number is unique.246


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The Object Class, and is used by an EPC managing entity to identify a class or type of247

thing. These object class numbers, of course, must be unique within each General248Manager Number domain. Examples of Object Classes could include case Stock249

Keeping Units of consumer-packaged goods or different structures in a highway system,250

like road signs, lighting poles, and bridges, where the managing entity is a County.251

Finally, the Serial Numbercode, or serial number, is unique within each object class. In252other words, the managing entity is responsible for assigning unique, non-repeating serial253

numbers for every instance within each object class.254

2.1.2 EAN.UCC System Identity Types255

This version of the EPC Tag Data Standards defines five EPC identity types derived from256

the EAN.UCC System family of product codes, each described in the subsections below.257

EAN.UCC System codes have a common structure, consisting of a fixed number of258decimal digits that encode the identity, plus one additional check digit which is259

computed algorithmically from the other digits. Within the non-check digits, there is an260

implicit division into two fields: a Company Prefix assigned by EAN or UCC to a261managing entity, and the remaining digits, which are assigned by the managing entity.262

(The digits apart from the Company Prefix are called by a different name by each of the263

EAN.UCC System codes.) The number of decimal digits in the Company Prefix varies264from 6 to 12 depending on the particular Company Prefix assigned. The number of265

remaining digits therefore varies inversely so that the total number of digits is fixed for a266

particular EAN.UCC System code type.267

The EAN.UCC recommendations for the encoding of EAN.UCC System identities into268bar codes, as well as for their use within associated data processing software, stipulate269

that the digits comprising a EAN.UCC System code should always be processed together270

as a unit, and not parsed into individual fields. This recommendation, however, is not271appropriate within the EPC Network, as the ability to divide a code into the part assigned272

to the managing entity (the Company Prefix in EAN.UCC System types) versus the part273

that is managed by the managing entity (the remainder) is essential to the proper274

functioning of the Object Name Service (ONS). In addition, the ability to distinguish the275Company Prefix is believed to be useful in filtering or otherwise securing access to EPC-276

derived data. Hence, the EPC encodings for EAN.UCC code types specified herein277

deviate from the aforementioned recommendations in the following ways:278

EPC encodings carry an explicit division between the Company Prefix and the remaining279digits, with each individually encoded into binary. Hence, converting from the traditional280

decimal representation of an EAN.UCC System code and an EPC encoding requires281

independent knowledge of the length of the Company Prefix.282EPC encodings do not include the check digit. Hence, converting from an EPC encoding283to a traditional decimal representation of a code requires that the check digit be284

recalculated from the other digits.285


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2.1.2.1 Serialized Global Trade Identification Number (SGTIN)286

The Serialized Global Trade Identification Number is a new identity type based on the287EAN.UCC Global Trade Identification Number (GTIN) code defined in the General288

EAN.UCC Specifications[GenSpec5.0]. A GTIN by itself does not fit the definition of289

an EPC pure identity, because it does not uniquely identify a single physical object.290

Instead, a GTIN identifies a particular class of object, such as a particular kind of product291or SKU.292

All representations of SGTIN support the full 14-digit GTIN format. This means that the293zero indicator-digit and leading zero in the Company Prefix for UCC-12, and the zero294

indicator-digit for EAN/UCC-13, can be encoded and interpreted accurately from an295

EPC encoding. EAN/UCC-8 is not currently supported in EPC, but would be supported296in full 14-digit GTIN format as well.297

To create a unique identifier for individual objects, the GTIN is augmented with a serial298number, which the managing entity is responsible for assigning uniquely to individual299

object classes. The combination of GTIN and a unique serial number is called a300

Serialized GTIN (SGTIN).301The SGTIN consists of the following information elements:302

The Company Prefix, assigned by EAN or UCC to a managing entity. The Company303Prefix is the same as the Company Prefix digits within an EAN.UCC GTIN decimal304

code.305

TheItem Reference, assigned by the managing entity to a particular object class. The306

Item Reference for the purposes of EPC encoding is derived from the GTIN by307concatenating the Indicator Digit of the GTIN and the Item Reference digits, and treating308

the result as a single integer.309

The Serial Number, assigned by the managing entity to an individual object. The serial310

number is not part of the GTIN code, but is formally a part of the SGTIN.311

312

313

314Figure C. How the parts of the decimal SGTIN are extracted, rearranged, and315

augmented for encoding.316

2.1.2.2 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)317

The Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) is defined by the General EAN.UCC318

Specifications[GenSpec5.0]. Unlike the GTIN, the SSCC is already intended for319


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assignment to individual objects and therefore does not require any additional fields to320

serve as an EPC pure identity.321

Note that many applications of SSCC have historically included the Application Identifier322

(00) in the SSCC identifier field when stored in a database. This is not a standard323requirement, but a widespread practice. The Application Identifier is a sort of header324

used in bar code applications, and can be inferred directly from EPC headers325representing SSCC. In other words, an SSCC EPC can be interpreted as needed to326include the (00) as part of the SSCC identifier or not.327

The SSCC consists of the following information elements:328


code.331

The Serial Reference, assigned uniquely by the managing entity to a specific shipping332

unit. The Serial Reference for the purposes of EPC encoding is derived from the SSCC333by concatenating the Extension Digit of the SSCC and the Serial Reference digits, and334

treating the result as a single integer.335

336

337

Figure D. How the parts of the decimal SSCC are extracted and rearranged for338encoding.339

2.1.2.3 Serialized Global Location Number (SGLN)340

The Global Location Number (GLN) is defined by the General EAN.UCC Specifications341

[GenSpec5.0]. A GLN can represent either a discrete, unique physical location such as a342

dock door or a warehouse slot, or an aggregate physical location such as an entire343warehouse. In addition, a GLN can represent a logical entity such as an organization344

that performs a business function such as placing an order.345

Recognizing these variables, the EPC GLN is meant to apply only to the physical346 location sub-type of GLN.347

The serial number field is reserved and should not be used, until the EAN.UCC348community determines the appropriate way, if any, for extending GLN.349

The SGLN consists of the following information elements:350


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The Company Prefix, assigned by EAN or UCC to a managing entity. The Company351

Prefix is the same as the Company Prefix digits within an EAN.UCC GTIN decimal352code.353

TheLocation Reference, assigned uniquely by the managing entity to an aggregate or354

specific physical location.355

The Serial Number, assigned by the managing entity to an individual unique location.356

The serial number should not be used until specified by the EAN.UCC General357Specifications [GenSpec5.0].358

359

360

Figure E. How the parts of the decimal SGLN are extracted and rearranged for361

encoding.362

2.1.2.4 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI)363

The Global Returnable Asset Identifier is (GRAI) is defined by the General EAN.UCC364

Specifications[GenSpec5.0]. Unlike the GTIN, the GRAI is already intended for365

assignment to individual objects and therefore does not require any additional fields to366serve as an EPC pure identity.367

368

The GRAI consists of the following information elements:369

The Company Prefix, assigned by EAN or UCC to a managing entity. The Company370

Prefix is the same as the Company Prefix digits within an EAN.UCC GRAI decimal371code.372

TheAsset Type, assigned by the managing entity to a particular class of asset.373

The Serial Number, assigned by the managing entity to an individual object. The EPC374

representation is only capable of representing a subset of Serial Numbers allowed in the375

General EAN.UCC Specifications. Specifically, only those Serial Numbers consisting of376

one or more digits, with no leading zeros, are permitted.377

378


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379

Figure F. How the parts of the decimal GRAI are extracted and rearranged for encoding.380

2.1.2.5 Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI)381

The Global Individual Asset Identifier (GIAI) is defined by the General EAN.UCC382

Specifications[GenSpec5.0]. Unlike the GTIN, the GIAI is already intended for383assignment to individual objects and therefore does not require any additional fields to384

serve as an EPC pure identity.385

386

The GIAI consists of the following information elements:387


code.390

TheIndividual Asset Reference, assigned uniquely by the managing entity to a specific391

asset. The EPC representation is only capable of representing a subset of Individual Asset392References allowed in the General EAN.UCC Specifications. Specifically, only those393

Individual Asset References consisting of one or more digits, with no leading zeros, are394

permitted.395

396

397

FigureG. How the parts of the decimal GIAI are extracted and rearranged for encoding.398

3 EPC Tag Bit-level Encodings399The general structure of EPC encodings on a tag is as a string of bits (i.e., a binary400

representation), consisting of a tiered, variable length header followed by a series of401numeric fields (Figure H) whose overall length, structure, and function are completely402

determined by the header value.403


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404

3.1 Headers405

As previously stated, the Header defines the overall length, identity type, and structure of406the EPC Tag Encoding, including its Filter Value, if any. The header is of variable length,407

using a tiered approach in which a zero value in each tier indicates that the header is408drawn from the next longer tier. For the encodings defined in this specification, headers409are either 2 bits or 8 bits. Given that a zero value is reserved to indicate a header in the410

next longer tier, the 2-bit header can have 3 possible values (01, 10, and 11, not 00), and411

the 8-bit header can have 63 possible values (recognizing that the first 2 bits must be 00412and 00000000 is reserved to allow headers that are longer than 8 bits).413

Explanation (non-normative): The tiered scheme is designed to simplify the Header414processing required by the Reader in order to determine the tag data format, particularly415

the location of the Filter Value, while attempting to conserve bits for data values in the416

64-bit tag. In the not-too-distant future, we expect to be able to reclaim the 2-bit tier417

when 64-bit tags are no longer needed, thereby expanding the 8-bit Header from 63418 possible values to 255.419

The assignment of Header values has been designed so that the tag length may be easily420discerned by examining the leftmost (or Preamble) bits of the Header. Moreover, the421

design is aimed at having as few Preambles per tag length as possible, ideally 1 but422

certainly no more than 2 or 3. This latter objective prompts us to avoid, if it all possible,423using those Preambles that allow very few Header values (as noted in italics in Table 1424

below). The purpose of this Preamble-to-Tag-Length design is so that RFID readers may425

easily determine a tags length. See Appendix B for a detailed discussion of why this is426

important.427

The currently assigned Headers are such that a tag may be inferred to be 64 bits if either428

the first two bits are non-zero orthe first five bits are equal to 00001; otherwise, the429

Header indicates the tag is 96 bits. In the future, unassigned Headers may be assigned for430these and other tag lengths.431

Certain Preambles arent currently tied to a particular tag length to leave open the option432

for additional tag lengths, especially longer ones that can accommodate longer coding433schemes such as the Unique ID (UID) being pursued by suppliers to the US Department434

of Defense.435

Figure H.The general structure of EPC encodings is as a string of bits, consistinof a variable length header followed by a series of value fields, whose overall

length, structure, and function are completely determined by the header value.

Header Numbers


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Eleven encoding schemes have been defined in this version of the EPC Tag Data436

Standard, as shown in Table 1 below.437

Header Value

(binary)

Tag Length

(bits)

EPC Encoding Scheme

01 64 [Reserved 64-bit scheme]10 64 SGTIN-64

11 64 [Reserved 64-bit scheme]

0000 0001

0000 001x

0000 01xx

na

na

na

[1 reserved scheme]

[2 reserved schemes]

[4 reserved schemes]

0000 1000 64 SSCC-64

0000 1001 64 GLN-64

0000 1010 64 GRAI-64

0000 1011 64 GIAI-64

0000 1100

0000 1111

64 [4 reserved 64-bit schemes]

0001 0000

0010 1111

na [32 reserved schemes]

0011 0000 96 SGTIN-96

0011 0001 96 SSCC-96

0011 0010 96 GLN-96

0011 0011 96 GRAI-96

0011 0100 96 GIAI-96

0011 0101 96 GID-96

0011 0110

0011 1111

96 [10 reserved 96-bit schemes]

0000 0000 [reserved for future headerslonger than 8 bits]

Table 1. Electronic Product Code Headers438


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439

3.2 Notational Conventions440

In the remainder of this section, tag-encoding schemes are depicted using the following441

notation (See Table 2).442

Header Filter

Value

Company

Prefix

Index

Item

Reference

Serial

Number

SGTIN-64 2 3 14 20 25

10

(Binaryvalue)

8

(Decimalcapacity)

16,383

(Decimalcapacity)

9 --1,048,575

(Decimalcapacity*)

33,554,431

(Decimalcapacity)

*Capacity of Item Reference field varies with the length of the Company Prefix443

Table 2. Example of Notation Conventions.444

445

The first column of the table gives the formal name for the encoding. The remaining446

columns specify the layout of each field within the encoding. The field in the leftmost447column occupies the most significant bits of the encoding (this is always the header448

field), and the field in the rightmost column occupies the least significant bits. Each field449

is a non-negative integer, encoded into binary using a specified number of bits. Any450

unused bits (i.e., bits not required by a defined field) are explicitly indicated in the table,451so that the columns in the table are concatenated with no gaps to form the complete452

binary encoding.453

Reading down each column, the table gives the formal name of the field, the number of454

bits used to encode the fields value, and the number of possible values that are permitted455within that field. The number of possible values in the field can be either a specified456

limit, or simply two to the power of the number of bits in the field.457

In some cases, the number of possible values in one field depends on the specific value458

assigned to another field. In such cases, a range of decimal capacity is shown. In the459

example above, the decimal capacity for the Item Reference field depends on the length460

of the Company Prefix field; hence the decimal capacity is shown as a range. Where a461field must contain a specific value (as in the Header field), the last row of the table462

specifies the specific value rather than the number of possible values.463

Some encodings have fields that are of variable length. The accompanying text specifies464how the field boundaries are determined in those cases.465

Following an overview of each encoding scheme are a detailed encoding procedure and466

decoding procedure. The encoding and decoding procedure provide the normative467

specification for how each type of encoding is to be formed and interpreted.468


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3.3 General Identifier (GID-96)469

The General Identifier is defined for a 96-bit EPC, and is independent of any existing470

identity specification or convention. The General Identifier is composed of three fields -471

the General Manager Number, Object Class and Serial Number. Encodings of the GID472

include a fourth field, the header, to guarantee uniqueness in the EPC namespace, as473

shown in Table 3.474

475

Header GeneralManager

Number

Object Class Serial Number

8 28 24 36GID-96

00110101

(Binaryvalue)

268,435,456

(Decimal

capacity)

16,777,216

(Decimal

capacity)

68,719,476,736

(Decimal

capacity)

Table 3. The General Identifier (GID-96) includes three fields in addition to the header the476General Manager Number, Object class and Serial Numbernumbers.477

478

The General Manager Number identifies essentially a company, manager or479

organization; that is an entity responsible for maintaining the numbers in subsequent480

fields Object Class and Serial Number. EPCglobal assigns the General Manager481

Number to an entity, and ensures that each General Manager Number is unique.482

The third component is Object Class, and is used by an EPC managing entity to identify a483class or type of thing. These object class numbers, of course, must be unique within484

each General Manager Number domain. Examples of Object Classes could include case485

Stock Keeping Units of consumer-packaged goods and component parts in an assembly.486

Finally, the Serial Numbercode, or serial number, is unique within each object class. In487

other words, the managing entity is responsible for assigning unique non-repeating488

serial numbers for every instance within each object class code.489

3.3.1.1 GID-96 Encoding Procedure490

The following procedure creates a GID-96 encoding.491

Given:492

An General Manager NumberMwhere 0 M< 228493

An Object Class Cwhere 0 C< 224494

A Serial NumberSwhere 0 S< 236495

Procedure:496


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1. Construct the final encoding by concatenating the following bit fields, from most497

significant to least significant: Header 00110101, General Manager NumberM(28 bits),498Object Class C(24 bits), Serial NumberS(36 bits).499

3.3.1.2 GID-96 Decoding Procedure500

Given:501

A GID-96 as a 96-bit string 00110101b87b86b0 (where the first eight bits 00110101 are502

the header)503

Yields:504

An General Manager Number505

An Object Class506

A Serial Number507

Procedure:508

1. Bits b87b86b60, considered as an unsigned integer, are the General Manager Number.509

2. Bits b59b58b36, considered as an unsigned integer, are the Object Class.510

3. Bits b35b34b0, considered as an unsigned integer, are the Serial Number.511

3.4 Serialized Global Trade Item Number (SGTIN)512

The EPC encoding scheme for SGTIN permits the direct embedding of EAN.UCC513

System standard GTIN and Serial Number codes on EPC tags. In all cases, the check514

digit is not encoded. Two encoding schemes are specified, SGTIN-64 (64 bits) and515SGTIN-96 (96 bits).516

In the SGTIN-64 encoding, the limited number of bits prohibits a literal embedding of the517GTIN. As a partial solution, a Company PrefixIndex is used. This Index, which can518

accommodate up to 16,384 codes, is assigned to companies that need to use the 64 bit519tags, in addition to their existing EAN.UCC Company Prefixes. The Index is encoded on520

the tag instead of the Company Prefix, and is subsequently translated to the Company521

Prefix at low levels of the EPC system components (i.e. the Reader or Savant). While522this means that only a limited number of Company Prefixes can be represented in the 64-523

bit tag, this is a transitional step to full accommodation in 96-bit and additional encoding524

schemes.525

3.4.1 SGTIN-64526

The SGTIN-64 includes five fields Header,Filter Value,Company Prefix Index, Item527

Reference, and Serial Number, as shown in Table 4.528

529

530

531


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Header Filter

Value

Company

Prefix

Index

Item

Reference

Serial

Number

2 3 14 20 25SGTIN-64

10(Binary

value)

8(Decimal

capacity)

16,383(Decimal

capacity)

9 --1,048,575(Decimal

capacity*)

33,554,431(Decimal

capacity)

*Capacity of Item Reference field varies with the length of the Company Prefix532

Table 4. The EPC SGTIN-64 bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.533

534

Headeris 2 bits, with a binary value of10.535

Filter Value is not part of the SGTIN pure identity, but is additional data that is used for536

fast filtering and pre-selection of basic logistics types, such as items, inner packs, cases537

and pallets. The Filter Values for 64-bit and 96-bit SGTIN are the same. The normative538specifications for Filter Values are undefined at this time; see Table 5 for a non-539normative summary (for purposes of illustration only).540

541

Type Binary Value

Other xxx

Item xxx

Inner Pack xxx

Case xxx

Load/Pallet xxx

Reserved xxx

Table 5. SGTIN Filter Values (non-normative).542

543

Company Prefix Index encodes the EAN.UCC Company Prefix. The value of this field is544not the Company Prefix itself, but rather an index into a table that provides the Company545

Prefix as well as an indication of the Company Prefixs length. The means by which546

hardware or software may obtain the contents of the translation table is specified in547 [Translation of 64-bit Tag Encoding Company Prefix Indices Into EAN.UCC Company548

Prefixes].549

Item Reference encodes the GTIN Item Reference number and Indicator Digit. The550Indicator Digit is combined with the Item Reference field in the following manner:551

Leading zeros on the item reference are significant. Put the Indicator Digit in the leftmost552

position available within the field.For instance, 00235 is different than 235. With the553


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indicator digit of 1, the combination with 00235 is 100235.The resulting combination is554treated as a single integer, and encoded into binary to form the Item Reference field.555

Serial Numbercontains a serial number. The 25-bit capacity is limited to serial numbers556

up to 33,554,431, smaller than the EAN.UCC System specification for serial number.557

Only numbers are permitted.558

3.4.1.1 SGTIN-64 Encoding Procedure559

The following procedure creates an SGTIN-64 encoding.560

Given:561

An EAN.UCC GTIN-14 consisting of digits d1d2d14562

The lengthL of the company prefix portion of the GTIN563


564

A Filter ValueFwhere 0 F< 8565

Procedure:566

1. Extract the EAN.UCC Company Prefix d2d3d(L+1)567

2. Do a reverse lookup of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Translation Table568

to obtain the corresponding Company Prefix Index, C. If the Company Prefix was not569

found in the Company Prefix Translation Table, stop: this GTIN cannot be encoded in the570SGTIN-64 encoding.571

3. Construct the Item Reference by concatenating digits d1d(L+2)d(L+3)d13 and572

considering the result to be a decimal integer,I. IfI 220

, stop: this GTIN cannot be573

encoded in the SGTIN-64 encoding.574

4. Construct the final encoding by concatenating the following bit fields, from most575significant to least significant: Header 10 (2 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits), Company576

Prefix Index Cfrom Step 2 (14 bits), Item Reference from Step 3 (20 bits), Serial577

NumberS(25 bits).578

3.4.1.2 SGTIN-64 Decoding Procedure579

Given:580

An SGTIN-64 as a 64-bit bit string 10b61b60b0 (where the first two bits 10 are the581header)582

Yields:583

An EAN.UCC GTIN-14584

A Serial Number585

A Filter Value586

Procedure:587

1. Bits b61b60b59, considered as an unsigned integer, are the Filter Value.588


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2. Extract the Company Prefix Index Cby considering bits b58b57b45 as an unsigned589

integer.590

3. Look up the Company Prefix Index Cin the Company Prefix Translation Table to591

obtain the EAN.UCC Company Prefixp1p2pL consisting of L decimal digits (the value592

of L is also obtained from the table).593

4. Consider bits b44b43b25 as an unsigned integer. If this integer is greater than or594equal to 10

(13-L), stop: the input bit string is not a legal SGTIN-64 encoding. Otherwise,595

convert this integer to a (13-L)-digit decimal numberi1i2i(13-L), adding leading zeros as596

necessary to make (13-L) digits.597

5. Construct a 13-digit numberd1d2d13 where d1 = i1 from Step 4, d2d3d(L+1) =598

p1p2pL from Step 3, and d(L+2)d(L+3)d13 = i2 i3i(13-L) from Step 4.599

6. Calculate the check digit d14 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11 + d13) (d2 + d4 + d6 +600

d8 + d10 + d12)) mod 10.601

7. The EAN.UCC GTIN-14 is the concatenation of digits from Steps 5 and 6: d1d2d14.602


3.4.2 SGTIN-96604

In addition to a Header, the SGTIN-96 is composed of five fields: the Filter Value,605

Partition, Company Prefix, Item Reference, and Serial Number, as shown in Table 6.606

*Capacity of Company Prefix and Item Reference fields vary according to the contents of the Partition field.607

Table 6. The EPC SGTIN-96 bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.608

Headeris 8-bits, with a binary value of0011 0000.609

Filter Value is not part of the GTIN or EPC identifier, but is used for fast filtering and610 pre-selection of basic logistics types, such as items, inner packs, cases and pallets. The611Filter Values for 64-bit and 96-bit GTIN are the same. See Table 5.612

Partition is an indication of where the subsequent Company Prefix and Item Reference613

numbers are divided. This organization matches the structure in the EAN.UCC GTIN in614

which the Company Prefix added to the Item Reference number (plus the single Indicator615Digit) totals 13 digits, yet the Company Prefix may vary from 6 to 12 digits and the Item616

Header Filter

Value

Partition Company

Prefix

Item

Reference

Serial

Number

8 3 3 20-40 24-4 38SGTIN-96

00110000

(Binaryvalue)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

999,999 999,999,999,999

(Decimal

capacity*)

9,999,999 9

(Decimalcapacity*)

274,877,906,943

(Decimalcapacity)


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Reference (including the single Indicator Digit) from 7 to 1 digit(s). The available values617

ofPartition and the corresponding sizes of the Company Prefix andItem Reference fields618are defined in Table 7.619

Company Prefix contains a literal embedding of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix.620

Item Reference contains a literal embedding of the GTIN Item Reference number. The621

Indicator Digit is combined with the Item Reference field in the following manner:622Leading zeros on the item reference are significant. Put the Indicator Digit in the leftmost623

position available within the field.For instance, 00235 is different than 235. With the624

indicator digit of 1, the combination with 00235 is 100235. The resulting combination is625

treated as a single integer, and encoded into binary to form theItem Reference field.626

Serial Numbercontains a serial number. The capacity of this serial number is less than627

the maximum EAN.UCC System specification for serial number, and only numbers are628

permitted.629

630

PartitionValue

(P)

Company Prefix Item Referenceand Indicator Digit

Bits

(M)

Digits

(L)

Bits

(N)

Digits

0 40 12 4 1

1 37 11 7 2

2 34 10 10 3

3 30 9 14 4

4 27 8 17 5

5 24 7 20 6

6 20 6 24 7

Table 7. SGTIN-96 Partitions.631

3.4.2.1 SGTIN-96 Encoding Procedure632

The following procedure creates an SGTIN-96 encoding.633

Given:634

An EAN.UCC GTIN-14 consisting of digits d1d2d14635

The lengthL of the Company Prefix portion of the GTIN636


637


Procedure:639


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1. Look up the lengthL of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Digits column640

of the Partition Table (Table 7) to determine the Partition Value,P, the number of bitsM641in the Company Prefix field, and the number of bitsNin the Item Reference and642

Indicator Digit field. IfL is not found in any row of Table 7, stop: this GTIN cannot be643

encoded in an SGTIN-96.644

2. Construct the Company Prefix by concatenating digits d2d3d(L+1) and considering645the result to be a decimal integer, C.646

3. Construct the Item Reference by concatenating digits d1d(L+2)d(L+3)d13 and647

considering the result to be a decimal integer,I.648

4. Construct the final encoding by concatenating the following bit fields, from most649significant to least significant: Header 00110000 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),650

Partition ValuePfrom Step 1 (3 bits), Company Prefix Cfrom Step 2 (Mbits), Item651

Reference from Step 3 (Nbits), Serial NumberS(38 bits). Note thatM+N= 44 bits for652

allP.653

3.4.2.2 SGTIN-96 Decoding Procedure654

Given:655

An SGTIN-96 as a 96-bit bit string 00110000b87b86b0 (where the first eight bits65600110000 are the header)657

Yields:658

An EAN.UCC GTIN-14659

A Serial Number660

A Filter Value661

Procedure:662


2. Extract the Partition ValuePby considering bits b84b83b82 as an unsigned integer. If664

P= 7, stop: this bit string cannot be decoded as an SGTIN-96.665

3. Look up the Partition ValuePin Table 7 to obtain the number of bitsMin the666Company Prefix, the number of bitsNin the Item Reference and Indicator, and the667

number of digitsL in the Company Prefix.668

4. Extract the Company Prefix Cby considering bits b81b80b(82-M) as an unsigned669

integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10L, stop: the input bit string is not a670

legal SGTIN-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer into a decimal number671 p1p2pL, adding leading zeros as necessary to make up L digits in total.672

5. Extract the Item Reference and Indicator by considering bits b(81-M) b(80-M)b38 as an673

unsigned integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10(13-L)

, stop: the input bit674string is not a legal SGTIN-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer to a (13-L)-digit675

decimal numberi1i2i(13-L), adding leading zeros as necessary to make (13-L) digits.676


25/76


6. Construct a 13-digit numberd1d2d13 where d1 = i1 from Step 5, d2d3d(L+1) =677

p1p2pL from Step 4, and d(L+2)d(L+3)d13 = i2 i3i(13-L) from Step 5.678

7. Calculate the check digit d14 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11 + d13) (d2 + d4 + d6 +679

d8 + d10 + d12)) mod 10.680

8. The EAN.UCC GTIN-14 is the concatenation of digits from Steps 6 and 7: d1d

2d

14.681


3.5 Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)683

The EPC encoding scheme for SSCC permits the direct embedding of EAN.UCC System684

standard SSCC codes on EPC tags. In all cases, the check digit is not encoded. Two685encoding schemes are specified, SSCC-64 (64 bits) and SSCC-96 (96 bits).686

In the 64-bit EPC, the limited number of bits prohibits a literal embedding of the687

EAN.UCC Company Prefix. As a partial solution, a Company PrefixIndex is used. This688

Index, which can accommodate up to 16,384 codes, is assigned to companies that need to689

use the 64 bit tags, in addition to their existing Company Prefixes. The Index is encoded690on the tag instead of the Company Prefix, and is subsequently translated to the Company691

Prefix at low levels of the EPC system components (i.e. the Reader or Savant). While692this means a limited number of Company Prefixes can be represented in the 64-bit tag,693

this is a transitional step to full accommodation in 96-bit and additional encoding694

schemes.695

3.5.1 SSCC-64696

In addition to a Header, the EPC SSCC-64 is composed of three fields: the Filter Value,697

Company Prefix Index, and Serial Reference, as shown in Table 8.698

Header FilterValue

CompanyPrefix

Index

Serial Reference

8 3 14 39SSCC-64

00001000

(Binary

value)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

16,383

(Decimal

capacity)

99,999 -

99,999,999,999

(Decimal capacity*)

*Capacity of Serial Reference field varies with the length of the Company Prefix699

Table 8. The EPC 64-bit SSCC bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.700

701


Filter Value is not part of the SSCC or EPC identifier, but is used for fast filtering and703

pre-selection of basic logistics types, such as cases and pallets. The Filter Values for 64-704bit and 96-bit SSCC are the same. The normative specifications for Filter Values are705


26/76


undefined at this time; see Table 9 for a non-normative summary (for purposes of706

illustration only).707

Type Binary Value

Other xxx

Case xxx

Load/Pallet xxx

Reserved xxx

Table 9. SSCC Filter Values (non-normative).708

Company Prefix Index encodes the EAN.UCC Company Prefix. The value of this field is709

not the Company Prefix itself, but rather an index into a table that provides the Company710Prefix as well as an indication of the Company Prefixs length. The means by which711

hardware or software may obtain the contents of the translation table is specified in712

[Translation of 64-bit Tag Encoding Company Prefix Indices Into EAN.UCC Company713

Prefixes].714

Serial Reference is a unique number for each instance, comprised of the Serial Reference715

and the Extension digit. The Extension Digit is combined with the Serial Reference field716

in the following manner: Leading zeros on the Serial Reference are significant. Put the717Extension Digit in the leftmost position available within the field.For instance,718

000042235 is different than 42235. With the extension digit of 1, the combination with719000042235 is 1000042235.The resulting combination is treated as a single integer, and720encoded into binary to form the Serial Reference field. To avoid unmanageably large and721

out-of-specification serial references, they should not exceed the capacity specified in722EAN.UCC specifications, which are (inclusive of extension digit) 9,999 for company723

prefixes of 12 digits up to 9,999,999,999 for company prefixes of 6 digits.724

3.5.1.1 SSCC-64 Encoding Procedure725

The following procedure creates an SSCC-64 encoding.726

Given:727

An EAN.UCC SSCC consisting of digits d1d2d18728

The lengthL of the company prefix portion of the GTIN729


Procedure:731

1. Extract the EAN.UCC Company Prefix d2d3d(L+1)732

2. Do a reverse lookup of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Translation Table733to obtain the corresponding Company Prefix Index, C. If the Company Prefix was not734

found in the Company Prefix Translation Table, stop: this SSCC cannot be encoded in735

the SSCC-64 encoding.736


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3. Construct the Serial Reference by concatenating digits d1d(L+2)d(L+3)d17 and737


, stop: this SSCC cannot be738encoded in the SSCC-64 encoding.739


significant to least significant: Header 00001000 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),741

Company Prefix Index Cfrom Step 2 (14 bits), Serial Reference from Step 3 (39 bits).742

3.5.1.2 SSCC-64 Decoding Procedure743

Given:744

An SSCC-64 as a 64-bit bit string 00001000b55b54b0 (where the first eight bits74500001000 are the header)746

Yields:747

An EAN.UCC SSCC748

A Filter Value749

Procedure:750


2. Extract the Company Prefix Index Cby considering bits b52b51b39 as an unsigned752

integer.753

3. Look up the Company Prefix Index Cin the Company Prefix Translation Table to754

obtain the EAN.UCC Company Prefixp1p2pL consisting of L decimal digits (the value755of L is also obtained from the table).756

4. Consider bits b38b37b0 as an unsigned integer. If this integer is greater than or equal757

to 10(16-L)

, stop: the input bit string is not a legal SSCC-64 encoding. Otherwise, convert758

this integer to a (17-L)-digit decimal numbers1s2s(17-L), adding leading zeros as759necessary to make (17-L) digits.760

5. Construct a 17-digit numberd1d2d17 where d1 =s1 from Step4, d2d3d(L+1) =761

p1p2pL from Step 3, and d(L+2)d(L+3)d17 =s2 s3s(17-L) from Step 4.762

6. Calculate the check digit d18 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11 + d13 + d15 + d17) (d2 +763d4 + d6 + d8 + d10 + d12 + d14 + d16)) mod 10.764

7. The EAN.UCC SSCC is the concatenation of digits from Steps 5 and 6: d1d2d18.765

3.5.2 SSCC-96766

In addition to a Header, the EPC SSCC-96 is composed of four fields: the Filter Value,767Partition, Company Prefix, and Serial Reference, as shown in Table 10.768


28/76


*Capacity of Company Prefix and Serial Reference fields vary according to the contents of the Partition field.769

Table 10. The EPC 96-bit SSCC bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.770


Filter Value is not part of the SSCC or EPC identifier, but is used for fast filtering and772pre-selection of basic logistics types, such as cases and pallets. The Filter Values for 64-773

bit and 96-bit SSCC are the same. See Table 9.774

ThePartition is an indication of where the subsequent Company Prefix and Serial775

Reference numbers are divided. This organization matches the structure in the776EAN.UCC SSCC in which the Company Prefix added to the Serial Reference number777

(including the single Extension Digit) totals 17 digits, yet the Company Prefix may vary778from 6 to 12 digits and the Serial Reference from 11 to 5 digit(s). Table 11 shows779

allowed values of the partition value and the corresponding lengths of the company prefix780

and serial reference.781

Partition

Value

(P)

Company Prefix Serial Reference

and Extension

Digit

Bits

(M)

Digits

(L)

Bits

(N)

Digits

0 40 12 17 5

1 37 11 20 6

2 34 10 24 7

3 30 9 27 84 27 8 30 9

5 24 7 34 10

6 20 6 37 11

Table 11. SSCC-96 Partitions.782

Header Filter

Value

Partition Company

Prefix

Serial

Reference

Unallocated

8 3 3 20-40 37-17 25SSCC-96

00110001

(Binary

value)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

999,999

999,999,99

9,999

(Decimalcapacity*)

99,999,999

,999

99,999

(Decimalcapacity*)

[Not Used]


29/76


Company Prefix contains a literal embedding of the Company Prefix.783

Serial Reference is a unique number for each instance, comprised of the Serial Reference784and the Extension digit. The Extension Digit is combined with the Serial Reference field785

in the following manner: Leading zeros on the Serial Reference are significant. Put the786

Extension Digit in the leftmost position available within the field.For instance,787

000042235 is different than 42235. With the extension digit of 1, the combination with788000042235 is 1000042235.The resulting combination is treated as a single integer, and789encoded into binary to form the Serial Reference field. To avoid unmanageably large and790

out-of-specification serial references, they should not exceed the capacity specified in791EAN.UCC specifications, which are (inclusive of extension digit) 9,999 for company792

prefixes of 12 digits up to 9,999,999,999 for company prefixes of 6 digits.793

Unallocatedis not used. This field must contain zeros to conform with this version of the794

specification.795

3.5.2.1 SSCC-96 Encoding Procedure796

The following procedure creates an SSCC-96 encoding.797

Given:798

An EAN.UCC SSCC consisting of digits d1d2d18799

The lengthL of the Company Prefix portion of the SSCC800


Procedure:802

1. Look up the lengthL of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Digits column803

of the Partition Table (Table 11) to determine the Partition Value,P, the number of bits804

Min the Company Prefix field, and the number of bitsNin the Serial Reference and805Extension Digit field. IfL is not found in any row of Table 11, stop: this SSCC cannot806

be encoded in an SSCC-96.807

2. Construct the Company Prefix by concatenating digits d2d3d(L+1) and considering808the result to be a decimal integer, C.809

3. Construct the Serial Reference by concatenating digits d1d(L+2)d(L+3)d17 and810

considering the result to be a decimal integer, S.811

4. Construct the final encoding by concatenating the following bit fields, from most812significant to least significant: Header 00110001 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),813

Partition ValuePfrom Step 2 (3 bits), Company Prefix Cfrom Step 2 (Mbits), Serial814

NumberSfrom Step 3 (Nbits), and 25 zero bits. Note thatM+N= 57 bits for allP.815

3.5.2.2 SSCC-96 Decoding Procedure816

Given:817

An SSCC-96 as a 96-bit bit string 00110001b87b86b0 (where the first eight bits81800110001 are the header)819


30/76


Yields:820

An EAN.UCC SSCC821

A Filter Value822

Procedure:823



P= 7, stop: this bit string cannot be decoded as an SSCC-96.826

3. Look up the Partition ValuePin Table 11 to obtain the number of bitsMin the827

Company Prefix, the number of bitsNin the Serial Reference, and the number of digitsL828in the Company Prefix.829

4. Extract the Company Prefix Cby considering bits b81b80b(82-M) as an unsigned830

integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10L, stop: the input bit string is not a831

legal SSCC-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer into a decimal number832

p1p2pL, adding leading zeros as necessary to make up L digits in total.8335. Extract the Serial Reference by considering bits b(81-M) b(80-M)b25 as an unsigned834

integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10(17-L)

, stop: the input bit string is not a835

legal SSCC-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer to a (17-L)-digit decimal836numbers1s2s(17-L), adding leading zeros as necessary to make (17-L) digits.837

6. Construct a 17-digit numberd1d2d17 where d1 =s1 from Step5, d2d3d(L+1) =838

p1p2pL from Step 4, and d(L+2)d(L+3)d17 = s2 s3s(17-L) from Step 5.839

7. Calculate the check digit d18 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11 + d13 + d15 + d17) (d2 +840

d4 + d6 + d8 + d10 + d12 + d14 + d16)) mod 10.841

8. The EAN.UCC SSCC is the concatenation of digits from Steps 6 and 7: d1d2d18.842

3.6 Serialized Global Location Number (SGLN)843

The EPC encoding scheme for GLN permits the direct embedding of EAN.UCC System844standard GLN on EPC tags. The serial number field is not used. In all cases the check845

digit is not encoded. Two encoding schemes are specified, SGLN-64 (64 bits) and846

SGLN-96 (96 bits).847

In the SGLN-64 encoding, the limited number of bits prohibits a literal embedding of the848GLN. As a partial solution, a Company Prefix Index is used. This index, which can849

accommodate up to 16,384 codes, is assigned to companies that need to use the 64 bit850

tags, in addition to their existing EAN.UCC Company Prefixes. The index is encoded on851the tag instead of the Company Prefix, and is subsequently translated to the Company852

Prefix at low levels of the EPC system components (i.e. the Reader or Savant).853

While this means a limited number of Company Prefixes can be represented in the 64-bit854

tag, this is a transitional step to full accommodation in 96-bit and additional encoding855schemes.856


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3.6.1 SGLN-64857

The SGLN-64 includes four fields in addition to the header Filter Value, Company858Prefix Index, Location Reference, and Serial Number, as shown in Table 12.859

860

Header FilterValue

CompanyPrefix

Index

LocationReference

SerialNumber

8 3 14 20 19SGLN-64

00001001

(Binaryvalue)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

16,383

(Decimal

capacity)

999,999 -

0

(Decimalcapacity*)

524,288

(Decimal

capacity)[Not Used]

*Capacity of Location Reference field varies with the length of the Company Prefix861

Table 12. The EPC SGLN-64 bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.862

863

Headeris 8 bits, with a binary value of0000 1001.864

Filter Value is not part of the SGLN pure identity, but is additional data that is used for865fast filtering and pre-selection of basic location types. The Filter Values for 64-bit and866

96-bit SGLN are the same. The normative specifications for Filter Values are undefined867

at this time; see Table 13 for a non-normative summary (for purposes of illustration868only).869


not the Company Prefix itself, but rather an index into a table that provides the Company871

Prefix as well as an indication of the Company Prefixs length. The means by which872hardware or software may obtain the contents of the translation table is specified in873

[Translation of 64-bit Tag Encoding Company Prefix Indices Into EAN.UCC Company874

Prefixes].875

Location Reference encodes the GLN Location Reference number.876

Serial Numbercontains a serial number. Note: The serial number field is reserved and877should not be used, until the EAN.UCC community determines the appropriate way, if878

any, for extending GLN.879

880

881

882

883


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Type Binary Value

Other xxx

PhysicalLocation

xxx

Reserved xxx

Table 13. SGLN Filter Values (non-normative).884

3.6.1.1 SGLN-64 Encoding Procedure885

The following procedure creates an SGLN-64 encoding.886

Given:887

An EAN.UCC GLN consisting of digits d1d2d13888

The lengthL of the company prefix portion of the GLN889


890A Filter ValueFwhere 0 F< 8891

Procedure:892

1. Extract the EAN.UCC Company Prefix d1d2dL893

2. Do a reverse lookup of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Translation Table894to obtain the corresponding Company Prefix Index, C. If the Company Prefix was not895

found in the Company Prefix Translation Table, stop: this GLN cannot be encoded in the896

SGLN-64 encoding.897

3. Construct the Location Reference by concatenating digits d(L+1)d(L+2)d12 and898


, stop: this GLN cannot be899encoded in the SGLN-64 encoding.900


significant to least significant: Header 00001001 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),902Company Prefix Index Cfrom Step 2 (14 bits), Location Reference from Step 3 (20 bits),903

Serial NumberS(19 bits).904

3.6.1.2 SGLN-64 Decoding Procedure905

Given:906

An SGLN-64 as a 64-bit bit string 00001001b55b54b0 (where the first eight bits907

00001001 are the header)908

Yields:909

An EAN.UCC GLN910

A Serial Number911

A Filter Value912


33/76


Procedure:913


2. Extract the Company Prefix Index Cby considering bits b52b51b39 as an unsigned915integer.916

3. Look up the Company Prefix Index Cin the Company Prefix Translation Table to917obtain the EAN.UCC Company Prefixp1p2pL consisting of L decimal digits (the value918

of L is also obtained from the table).919

4. Consider bits b38b37b19 as an unsigned integer. If this integer is greater than or920equal to 10

(12-L), stop: the input bit string is not a legal SGLN-64 encoding. Otherwise,921

convert this integer to a (12L)-digit decimal numberi1i2i(12-L), adding leading zeros as922

necessary to make (12L) digits.923

5. Construct a 12-digit numberd1d2d12 where d1d2dL =p1p2pL from Step 3, and924d(L+1)d(L+2)d12 = i1 i2i(12-L) from Step 4.925

6. Calculate the check digit d13 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11) (d2 + d4 + d6 + d8 +926

d10 + d12)) mod 10.927

7. The EAN.UCC GLN is the concatenation of digits from Steps 5 and 6: d1d2d13.928


3.6.2 SGLN-96930

In addition to a Header, the SGLN-96 is composed of five fields: theFilter Value,931

Partition, Company Prefix, Location Reference, and Serial Number, as shown in932Table 14.933


Filter Value is not part of the GLN or EPC identifier, but is used for fast filtering and pre-935

selection of basic location types. The Filter Values for 64-bit and 96-bit GLN are the936same. See Table 13.937

Partition is an indication of where the subsequent Company Prefix and Location938

Reference numbers are divided. This organization matches the structure in the939

EAN.UCC GLN in which the Company Prefix added to the Location Reference number940totals 12 digits, yet the Company Prefix may vary from 6 to 12 digits and the Item941

Reference from 6 to 0 digit(s). The available values ofPartition and the corresponding942

sizes of the Company Prefix andLocation Reference fields are defined in Table 15.943

944


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*Capacity of Company Prefix and Location Reference fields vary according to contents of the Partition field.945

Table 14. The EPC SGLN-96 bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.946

947

Company Prefix contains a literal embedding of the EAN.UCC Company Prefix.948Location Reference encodes the GLN Location Reference number.949

Serial Numbercontains a serial number. Note: The serial number field is reserved and950

should not be used, until the EAN.UCC community determines the appropriate way, if951

any, for extending GLN.952

Partition

Value

(P)

Company Prefix Location Reference

Bits

(M)

Digits

(L)

Bits

(N)

Digits

0 40 12 1 0

1 37 11 4 1

2 34 10 7 2

3 30 9 11 3

4 27 8 14 4

5 24 7 17 5

6 20 6 21 6

Table 15. SGLN-96 Partitions.953

3.6.2.1 SGLN-96 Encoding Procedure954

The following procedure creates an SGLN-96 encoding.955

Given:956

An EAN.UCC GLN consisting of digits d1d2d13957

Header Filter

Value

Partition Company

Prefix

Location

Reference

Serial

Number

8 3 3 20-40 21-1 41SGLN-96

00110010

(Binary

value)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

8

(Decimal

capacity)

999,999

999,999,99

9,999

(Decimalcapacity*)

999,999

0

(Decimal

capacity*)

2,199,023,255

,552

(Decimal

capacity)

[Not Used]


35/76


The lengthL of the Company Prefix portion of the GLN958


959


Procedure:961

1. Look up the lengthL of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Digits column962of the Partition Table (Table 15) to determine the Partition Value,P, the number of bits963

Min the Company Prefix field, and the number of bitsNin the Location Reference field.964

IfL is not found in any row of Table 15, stop: this GLN cannot be encoded in an SGLN-96596.966

2. Construct the Company Prefix by concatenating digits d1d2dL and considering the967

result to be a decimal integer, C.968

3. Construct the Location Reference by concatenating digits d(L+1)d(L+3)d12 and969

considering the result to be a decimal integer,I.970

4. Construct the final encoding by concatenating the following bit fields, from most971 significant to least significant: Header 00110010 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),972

Partition ValuePfrom Step 1 (3 bits), Company Prefix Cfrom Step 2 (Mbits), Location973

Reference from Step 3 (Nbits), Serial NumberS(41 bits). Note thatM+N= 41 bits for974allP.975

3.6.2.2 SGLN-96 Decoding Procedure976

Given:977

An SGLN-96 as a 96-bit bit string 00110010b87b86b0 (where the first eight bits97800110010 are the header)979

980

Yields:981

An EAN.UCC GLN982

A Serial Number983

A Filter Value984

Procedure:985



P= 7, stop: this bit string cannot be decoded as an SGLN-96.988

3. Look up the Partition ValuePin Table 15 to obtain the number of bitsMin the989

Company Prefix, the number of bitsNin the Location Reference, and the number of990

digitsL in the Company Prefix.991

4. Extract the Company Prefix Cby considering bits b81b80b(82-M) as an unsigned992integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10

L, stop: the input bit string is not a993


36/76


legal SGLN-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer into a decimal number994

p1p2pL, adding leading zeros as necessary to make up L digits in total.995

5. Extract the Location Reference by considering bits b(81-M) b(80-M)b41 as an unsigned996

integer. If this integer is greater than or equal to 10(12-L)

, stop: the input bit string is not a997

legal SGLN-96 encoding. Otherwise, convert this integer to a (12L)-digit decimal998

numberi1i2i(12-L), adding leading zeros as necessary to make (12L) digits.999

6. Construct a 12-digit numberd1d2d12 where d1d2dL =p1p2pL from Step 4, and1000

d(L+1)d(L+2)d12 = i2 i3i(12-L) from Step 5.1001

7. Calculate the check digit d13 = (3(d1 + d3 + d5 + d7 + d9 + d11) (d2 + d4 + d6 + d8 +1002

d10 + d12)) mod 10.1003

8. The EAN.UCC GLN is the concatenation of digits from Steps 6 and 7: d1d2d13.1004


3.7 Global Returnable Asset Identifier (GRAI)1006

The EPC encoding scheme for GRAI permits the direct embedding of EAN.UCC System1007standard GRAI on EPC tags. In all cases, the check digit is not encoded. Two encoding1008

schemes are specified, GRAI-64 (64 bits) and GRAI-96 (96 bits).1009

In the GRAI-64 encoding, the limited number of bits prohibits a literal embedding of the1010

GRAI. As a partial solution, a Company PrefixIndex is used. This Index, which can1011accommodate up to 16,384 codes, is assigned to companies that need to use the 64 bit1012

tags, in addition to their existing EAN.UCC Company Prefixes. The Index is encoded on1013

the tag instead of the Company Prefix, and is subsequently translated to the Company1014Prefix at low levels of the EPC system components (i.e. the Reader or Savant). While1015

this means that only a limited number of Company Prefixes can be represented in the 64-1016

bit tag, this is a transitional step to full accommodation in 96-bit and additional encoding1017schemes.1018

3.7.1 GRAI-641019

The GRAI-64 includes four fields in addition to the Header Filter Value, Company1020Prefix Index, Asset Type, and Serial Number, as shown in Table 16.1021

1022

1023

1024

1025

1026

1027

1028

1029


37/76


Header Filter

Value

Company

Prefix

Index

Asset

Type

Serial

Number

8 3 14 20 19GRAI-64

00001010

(Binaryvalue)

8(Decimal

capacity)

16,383(Decimal

capacity)

9,999,999- 9

(Decimalcapacity*)

524,288(Decimal

capacity)

*Capacity of Asset Type field varies with Company Prefix.1030

Table 16. The EPC GRAI-64 bit allocation, header, and decimal capacity.1031

1032

Headeris 8 bits, with a binary value of0000 1010.1033Filter Value is not part of the GRAI pure identity, but is additional data that is used for1034

fast filtering and pre-selection of basic asset types. The Filter Values for 64-bit and 96-1035

bit GRAI are the same. The Filter Values for GRAI are undefined at this time. However,1036this specification anticipates that valuable Filter Values will be determined once there has1037

been time to consider the possible use cases.1038

1039

Type Binary Value

tbd tbd

Reserved xxx

Table 17. GRAI Filter Values (non-normative).1040


not the Company Prefix itself, but rather an index into a table that provides the Company1042Prefix as well as an indication of the Company Prefixs length. The means by which1043

hardware or software may obtain the contents of the translation table is specified in1044

[Translation of 64-bit Tag Encoding Company Prefix Indices Into EAN.UCC Company1045Prefixes].1046

Asset Type encodes the GRAI Asset Type number.1047

Serial Numbercontains a serial number. The EPC representation is only capable of1048representing a subset of Serial Numbers allowed in the General EAN.UCC1049

Specifications. The capacity of this serial number is less than the maximum EAN.UCC1050System specification for serial number, no leading zeros are permitted, and only numbers1051

are permitted.1052


38/76


3.7.1.1 GRAI-64 Encoding Procedure1053

The following procedure creates a GRAI-64 encoding.1054

Given:1055

An EAN.UCC GRAI consisting of digits 0d2dK, where 15 K30.1056

The lengthL of the company prefix portion of the GRAI1057


Procedure:1059

1. Extract the EAN.UCC Company Prefix d2d3dL+11060

2. Do a reverse lookup of the Company Prefix in the Company Prefix Translation Table1061

to obtain the corresponding Company Prefix Index, C. If the Company Prefix was not1062found in the Company Prefix Translation Table, stop: this GRAI cannot be encoded in1063

the GRAI-64 encoding.1064

3. Construct the Asset Type by concatenating digits d(L+2)d(L+3)d13 and considering the1065

result to be a decimal integer,I. IfI 220, stop: this GRAI cannot be encoded in the1066GRAI-64 encoding.1067

4. Construct the Serial Number by concatenating digits d15d16dKand considering the1068

result to be a decimal integer, S. IfS 219

, stop: this GRAI cannot be encoded in the1069

GRAI-64 encoding. Also, if K > 15 and d15 = 0, stop: this GRAI cannot be encoded in1070the GRAI-64 encoding (because leading zeros are not permitted except in the case where1071

the Serial Number consists of a single zero digit).1072


significant to least significant: Header 00001010 (8 bits), Filter ValueF(3 bits),1074Company Prefix Index Cfrom Step 2 (14 bits), Asset TypeIfrom Step 3 (20 bits), Serial1075

NumberSfrom Step 4 (19 bits).1076

3.7.1.2 GRAI-64 Decoding Procedure1077

Given:1078

An GRAI-64 as a 64-bit bit string 00001010b55b54b0 (where the first eight bits107900001010 are the header)1080

Yields:1081

An EAN.UCC GRAI

epc tag data specification 1.1 rev 1.23

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