There are several proprietary LF tags on the market. For these tags the ReadTag and WriteTag commands can be used. Here we describe the operation of standardized tags according ISO/IEC 18000-2. In addition, we describe simple tags with fixed codes or data that can be read only.

LF tags according ISO/IEC 18000-2 have no memory banks. The memory is organized block wise. A block is 32 bits. There may be up to 256 blocks. Maximum memory size is 1024 Bytes This is page 0. But additional memory may be added as pages 1…255.

Tag contain a system memory area with system information consisting of an optional Application Family Identifier (AFI, 1 byte), an optional Data storage format identifier (DSFID, 1 byte).

KillTag

There is no Kill command for LF tags.

LockTag

According ISO/IEC 18000-2 memory blocks can be locked, i.e. write operations to locked blocks are prohibited. Therefore, the State PermanentLock_2 is the only acceptable state. The mapping of the lock type is defined in Table B.1.

Table B.1 – LockType enumeration LF mapping

State

Meaning

Lock_0

not allowed

Unlock_1

not allowed

PermanentLock_2

Read operations to the memory area are allowed without limitation.

Write operations to the memory area are not allowed under any circumstances.

It is not possible to unlock the memory area again.

PermanentUnlock_3

not allowed

The mapping of the LockTag parameters is defined in Table B.2.

Table B.2 – LockTag LF parameter mapping

Command Argument

Description

Identifier

AutoID Identifier according to the device configuration as returned as part of a ScanResult in a scan event or scan method. AFI and mask as part of the UII (0…48 bits) or no value, if no identifier is available.

CodeType

raw data

Password

no password defined

Region

to be set to 0 for memory, to be set to AFI for AFI, to be set to DSFID for DSFID

Lock

PermanentLock_2

Offset

Start address of the memory area [byte counting]. It is up to the user to enter values as multiples of 4 or any other block length.To be set to 0 for AFI or DSFID.

Length

Length of the memory area [byte counting]. It is up to the user to enter values as multiples of 4 or any other block length.To be set to 1 for AFI or DSFID.

Status

Returns the result of the LOCK operation.

The AutoIdOperationStatusEnumeration DataType is defined in 9.2.1.

SetTagPassword

Commands for Change Password and Lock Password are listed in ISO/IEC 18000-2 but are not defined and reserved for future use.

As proprietary LF tags may use password commands this command should be defined here (for example transponder chip EM 4550). For EM 4550 the password is 4 bytes. Further parameters are Protection Word (4 bytes) and Control Word (4 bytes). Password mode must be set in order to read or write Protection Word or Control Word. Password is not used for other read or write operations.

The mapping of the SetTagPassword parameters is defined in Table B.3.

Table B.3 – SetTagPassword LF parameter mapping

Command Argument

Description

Identifier

AutoID Identifier according to the device configuration as returned as part of a ScanResult in a scan event or scan method. AFI and mask as part of the UII or no value, if no identifier is available.

CodeType

raw data

PasswordType

AccessPassword

not applicable

NewPassword

The new password of the tag, if unequal from zero (4 bytes, MSB first).

Status

Returns the result of the SetTagPassword method.

ReadTag

Read and write operations according ISO/IEC 18000-2 are defined for blocks only. It is up to the user to use the correct values for Offset and Length. They must be multiples of 4.

There is a further read command “Get system information”. It reads the system memory block data, i.e. 104 bits = 13 bytes, including UII, AFI and DSFID (see ISO/IEC 18000-2 Table 25).

Region should be set to 0 for data. For UII/TID region should be set to 2. The region mapping is defined in Table B.4.

Table B.4 – ReadTag Region LF mapping

Region

Meaning

0

Read data area of the Tag

1

not allowed

2

TID bank, bank size is tag dependant

3

not allowed

4

Read AFI

5

Read DSFID

An access password is not defined for LF tags.

The mapping of the ReadTag parameters is defined in Table B.17.

Table B.5 – ReadTag LF parameter mapping

Command Argument

Description

Identifier

AutoID Identifier according to the device configuration as returned as part of a ScanResult in a scan event or scan method. AFI and mask as part of the UII or no value, if no identifier is available.

CodeType

raw data

Region

To be set to 0 for memory, to be set to 2 for UII, to be set to 4 for AFI or to be set to 5 for DSFID

Offset

Start address of the memory area [byte counting]. It is up to the user to enter values as multiples of 4 or any other block length.To be set to 0 for AFI or DSFID.

Length

Length of the memory area [byte counting]. It is up to the user to enter values as multiples of 4 or any other block length.To be set to 1 for AFI or DSFID.

Password

no password

ResultData

Returns the requested tag data

Status

Returns the status of the read operation.

ISO/IEC 18000-2 describes a system with read/write tags. In addition, there are many RFID systems on the market with read only transponders (ROM). Tags store only a fixed code that is factory programmed, or the user programs it himself (WORM). Such tags will be red with a read command. Region will be set to 0. Length will be set to 0 as well as the length of data cannot be changed.

WriteTag

Read and write operations according ISO/IEC 18000-2 are defined for blocks only. It is up to the user to use the correct values for Offset and Length. They must be multiples of 4.

There is a further write command “Write system data”. It writes the AFI (1 byte) or the DSFID (1 byte).

Region should be set to 0 for data. For UII/TID region should be set to 2. The region mapping is defined in Table B.6.

Table B.6 – WriteTag Region LF mapping

Region

Meaning

0

Write data area of the Tag

1

not allowed

2

TID bank, bank size is tag dependant

3

not allowed

4

Write AFI

5

Write DSFID

The length of the data is defined by the data itself.

The mapping of the WriteTag parameters is defined in Table B.7.

Table B.7 – WriteTag LF parameter mapping

Command Argument

Description

Identifier

AutoID Identifier according to the device configuration as returned as part of a ScanResult in a scan event or scan method. AFI and mask as part of the UIIor no value, if no identifier available

CodeType

raw data

Region

to be set to 0 for memory, to be set to 4 for AFI, to be set to 5 for DSFID

Offset

Start address of the memory area [byte counting]. It is up to the user to enter values as multiples of 4 or any other block length.To be set to 0 for AFI or DSFID.

Data

Data to be written

Password

no password

Status

Returns the status of the read operation.