(2) (Electronic Product Code) A standard code for RFID tags administered by EPCglobal Inc. (www.epcglobalinc.org). The EPC number, which can be from 64 to 256 bits, contains at least the following fields: (1) EPC version, (2) company identification number assigned by EPCglobal, (3) product number (object class) and (4) unique serial number. A 96-bit EPC is capable of differentiating 68 billion items for each of 16 million products within each of 268 million companies.
Unlike UPC bar codes, which do not have serial numbers, the EPC enables tracking of individual items because every item can be uniquely identified. See Gen 2 and RFID. Contrast with UPC.
![]() | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
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