It's Mick - and this is the second time this has happened! Will be looking
at the JISC mail admin pages in 5 mins!
But thanks for that clarification. What does " fully integrating the RFID
bits into the LMS supplier's staff client application" actually mean?
Mick Fortune
Library RFID Ltd
Make your voice heard in the public library debate!
m. +44 (0)7786 625544 e. [log in to unmask] w. www.libraryrfid.co.uk
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion List for RFID in Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Colin Parker
Sent: 27 January 2011 17:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Current state of RFID client software integration with LMS
client software on PC desktops for Issue/renewal and Discharge?
Debbie (or is it Mick?)
SIP is still commonly used as part of the RFID integration on a staff client
to poll the item status to detect when it has been processed by the LMS. The
next item on the stack can then be sent to the LMS client. The only other
way of automation (as far as I know) is by fully integrating the RFID bits
into the LMS supplier's staff client application.
Colin
On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 5:08 PM, Debbie Ornewell <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Not sure why this issue (no pun intended) appears to be exercising the
list?
>
> Intellident's smartWedge product website clearly states that it IS
> software
> - to be used in conjunction with their smartStation.
>
> Perhaps it's the reference to there being no need for SIP that is
> confusing the issue? The image shown on the smartWedge page is of
> Talis Alto - just one of the many LMS out there that share the same
> problem as every other LMS out there when it comes to handling RFID.
>
> Early RFID/LMS interactions were almost entirely managed using SIP.
> This, as I'm sure everyone knows, is a serial protocol - i.e. it
> processes transactions one-at-a-time. It was originally written by 3M
> over 20 years ago to allow their barcode based self-service systems to
> communicate with any LMS that could support it. Unsurprisingly that
> eventually became all of them and 3M made the laudable decision not to
> charge for the use of the protocol in order to make integration
> easier. Some LMS companies did however charge their clients for using it.
>
> When RFID was introduced for self-service SIP was used to carry the
> transactions to and from the LMS - just as it did for the
> barcode-based systems previously. However because RFID can process
> many items simultaneously - and SIP did not - it was necessary to
> write software in the RFID self-service units to manage the relay of data
to and from the LMS.
>
> When libraries realised that staff interactions with stock (rather
> than
> self-service) would also need to access the RFID tags early providers
> thought that perhaps this process should also use SIP to transport
> data between the item and the LMS and staff workstations were proposed
> that would work independently of the LMS for cataloguing,
> staff-mediated loans and returns etc. It became pretty obvious, pretty
> quickly that this wasn't the most elegant way to tackle the problem
> since all that was really needed was to find a way to feed RFID tag
> data into the existing LMS client. That meant using an RFID scanner
> attached to a reader that could feed barcode numbers (taken from the tags)
singly to the LMS client.
>
> The reader/scanner was sometimes called a "wedge" - rather like the
> barcode reader wedges that were coupled to keyboards in the dark ages
> of staff LMS use. In this case Intellident call their scanner/reader a
> smartStation and the software that collects the barcode data and
> passes it to the LMS client a smartWedge. Granted it may sound
> confusing but there's no rule that says we all have to call things by the
same name.
>
> I think every supplier has a staff RFID station that performs the same
> function with different LMS. I'm a bit surprised that there would be
> too many problems in taking the RFID input and feeding it into the LMS
> client - it's not an especially complex task - but perhaps I'm missing
something?
>
> The really interesting bit is that some LMS suppliers are now working
> on taking the RFID input simultaneously through to the LMS. That means
> faster throughput all round. And that's why BIC are working with RFID
> suppliers to build a standard set of services to replace the
> serially-limited nature of SIP for all RFID/LMS interactions.
>
> Hope that illuminates rather than obfuscates. Anyone want to correct
> any of the details please do.
>
> Thanks
>
> Mick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for RFID in Libraries
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sue Valentine
> Sent: 27 January 2011 13:53
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Current state of RFID client software integration with
> LMS client software on PC desktops for Issue/renewal and Discharge?
>
> Well it works with our current LMS and we have tested it with the LMS
> we are moving to in the near future.
> Sue Valentine
> Head of Stock, Reader Development and Customer Services Hertfordshire
> Libraries
> 01707 281593
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for RFID in Libraries
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Benton, Janet
> Sent: 17 January 2011 14:02
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Current state of RFID client software integration with
> LMS client software on PC desktops for Issue/renewal and Discharge?
>
> SmartWedge is software not hardware, we tried it in Bexley, but it
> idn't work with our old system and somehow the will to try it with our
> new system was lost
>
>
> Janet Benton
> Technical Assistant Libraries
> 07837 270041
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for RFID in Libraries
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of MJ Ray
> Sent: 14 January 2011 13:28
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Current state of RFID client software integration with
> LMS client software on PC desktops for Issue/renewal and Discharge?
>
> Sue Valentine wrote:
>> Intellident Smartwedge does this
>
> Which of the aforementioned systems work with non-Windows staff clients?
>
> Calling something "wedge" sounds like it should appear as a USB
> keyboard like the old wedges appeared as a PS/2 keyboard. Does it?
>
> I'm a software developer not a hardware expert, but I'd prefer to know
> which are hardware-only options.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op.
> Past Koha Release Manager (2.0), LMS programmer, statistician, webmaster.
> In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html
> Available for hire for Koha work
> http://www.software.coop/products/koha
>
>
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