Rfid Reader Interface User's Guide; Rfid Reader Interface - Siemens SIMATIC RF310M Function Manual

RFID Reader Interface User's Guide

2.1

RFID Reader Interface

Simatic Handheld devices enable end users to acquire tag data from any place without the
limitations of a cable-bound system. It provides the hardware as well as a software
application to use the features of the mobile reader.
Figure 2-1
The Figure above shows the main components of a SIMATIC Handheld device. Obviously, a
piece of hardware is necessary – the RFID Reader Module – to acquire RFID information.
The capabilities of this hardware are accessed by a driver that is also used by the reader
service which is the software component that controls all RFID features.
The Simatic Handheld application utilizes the reader service's features and provides
customers with a user interface that can trigger all RFID features made available by the
reader service (IRfReaderApi). However, the application has no information on the special
requirements or the business processes of end customers.
Since a single application can almost never meet every need of every customer, another
approach is used. Instead of inflating the application with a large number of possible options
while still missing others, only the basic features are supported.
To facilitate the end user's needs, these basic functions are provided by an interface that
allows custom applications to fully exploit all RFID features with programming and to add the
customer's own workflows and relationships to suit his needs.
It would have been possible to directly access the reader service component via an interface
that extends the EPC standards. However, these standards are complicated and use many
internal concepts and entities. You do neither need nor probably want to know these details
if your only objective is to simply access and write data to RFID tags. That is why all this
complexity is hidden behind a simple interface - the RFID Reader Interface.
The following sections will explain how to use this interface in your work. Detailed
information about all the functions provided by this interface is given in the next chapter.
Mobile Readers
Function Manual, 12/2010, J31069-D0198-U001-A2-7618
Software system structure on a SIMATIC Handheld device.
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