Many companies, such as retailers and manufacturers, utilize RFID tags to uniquely identify products for purposes such as inventory control and optimizing product availability. RFID tags are typically attached to products to enable the companies to wirelessly detect the presence of the products. For example, mobile or fixed scanners can be utilized by employees to quickly and easily determine inventory in a retail store. By using this information, the companies can determine if the amount of inventory is sufficient and/or whether certain products need to be replenished.
A typical RFID tag is encoded with an SGTIN (Serialized Global Trade Item Number) that is a universal identifier for uniquely identifying a particular physical object, e.g., a product. The SGTIN can be associated not only with the particular object, but also with a distinct category or family of objects all having the same SKU (stock keeping unit). For example, an apparel product of a certain style, size, and color (e.g., mini, size 8, red, dress) may have a particular SKU. Each of the products may share the same SKU but have a unique SGTIN that is a combination of the SKU and a unique identifier. Accordingly, the precise number of products can be determined by scanning the RFID tags attached to the products and counting the unique SGTINs for a particular SKU. In addition to inventory control, SGTINs may be used for other purposes, such as to help detect counterfeit products or prevent diversion of authentic products. All of these applications require the successful reading of the RFID tag throughout a supply chain.
However, RFID tags can degrade or become defective. When RFID tags degrade or become defective, they may be unable to be read by scanners in a reliable and consistent fashion. In particular, RFID tags could degrade to different levels of degradation that may cause scanners to incorrectly read the RFID tags, not read the RFID tags, and/or make the RFID tags unreadable from a required distance, for example. The inability to read RFID tags can adversely impact the effectiveness of RFID-based applications. For example, when RFID tag failure occurs, the inventory count of products in a retail store can be inaccurate. This may result in the false appearance of insufficient inventory, the improper replenishing of products that do not need to be replenished, and/or the need to re-tag products after the products have been delivered to a retail store. RFID tags can degrade or become defective due to physical damage (e.g., folding, creasing, impacts, etc.), electrostatic discharge, temperature, humidity, and/or other causes. In particular, components of RFID tags, such as RFID chips, antennas, and/or inlays, can degrade or become defective. Some studies have shown that a significant number of RFID tags can degrade or become defective as the components and the completed RFID tags themselves move through a supply chain. The supply chain can be complex and involve many different entities that require conveying the components and the RFID tags between the entities. As such, there are many potential points in the supply chain where RFID degradation or tag failure could be caused.
RFID tags can also be considered defective if the data encoded within the RFID tags is incorrect. In one aspect, RFID tags encoded with duplicate SGTINs have incorrect data and can be considered defective. In particular, if the SGTIN encoded in a particular RFID tag is the same as the SGTIN encoded in one or more other RFID tags, all of the RFID tags with the same SGTIN can be considered defective. Products that have such RFID tags attached would not be counted correctly, resulting in incorrect inventory counts. For example, a scanner would only count one product when RFID tags with the same SGTIN are scanned because only one SGTIN would be detected.
In another aspect, RFID tags encoded with SGTINs that do not conform to a required encoding scheme have incorrect data and can be considered defective. The required encoding scheme may be established by a retailer, for example, and can include rules or protocols that specify how the SGTIN must be encoded. One goal of such encoding schemes may be to minimize the possibility of encoding duplicate SGTINs in multiple RFID tags. The encoding scheme can include, for example, Multi-vendor Chip Serialization (MCS) from GS1 and proprietary encoding schemes. However, if the encoding scheme is not followed correctly when the SGTIN is created, duplicate SGTINs and/or SGTINs that do not conform to the encoding scheme can result. Duplicate and incorrectly encoded SGTINs can also result in incorrect inventory counts of products.
Another problem associated with RFID tags relates to the use of wrong inlays within an RFID tag. An inlay in an RFID tag consists of an RFID chip attached to an antenna. A company may require that an RFID tag for a particular product (and SKU) includes a particular combination of a specific RFID chip and a specific antenna. This particular combination may be required to improve read rates of the RFID tags when attached to these particular products. For example, a particular inlay may be required so that it can be read from a farther distance, e.g., due to a larger antenna in the inlay. Existing RFID printers and scanners can only read the TID (Tag Identification Number) of the RFID chip in an inlay and cannot detect the type of antenna that is in the inlay. As such, it is possible that an RFID tag printer/converter, by accident or with intent (e.g., use of a lower cost underperforming inlay), could use the wrong type of inlay, e.g., with the correct RFID chip but the wrong antenna type, when producing an RFID tag for a particular product (with a particular SKU).
Additional issues associated with RFID tags relate to the licensing of inlays and/or RFID chips within the RFID tags. Entities that produce inlays and/or RFID chips may or may not be a party to a license agreement. Auditors, compliance entities, and other users may wish to determine if particular inlays and/or RFID chips are compliant with the license agreement for auditing and compliance purposes. However, merely scanning an RFID tag does not reveal enough information to determine whether the particular inlay and/or RFID chip in the RFID tag is compliant with the license agreement.
Therefore, there exists an opportunity for systems and methods for collecting data related to the performance characteristics of RFID tags across a supply chain and the quality of data encoded within the RFID tags, analyzing the data to identify and predict defective RFID tags within the supply chain, storing the data to ensure quality control metrics are met, validating inlay-SKU combinations of RFID tags within the supply chain, and performing auditing and compliance of inlays and/or RFID chips in RFID tags with respect to licensing agreements.