A Uniform Resource Name Namespace for the EPCglobal Electronic Product Code (EPC) and Related Standards
RFC 5134
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(January 2008; Errata)
Was draft-mealling-epc-urn (individual in app area)
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Author | Michael Mealling | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Reviews | |||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 5134 (Informational) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Lisa Dusseault | ||
Send notices to | leslie@thinkingcat.com |
Network Working Group M. Mealling Request for Comments: 5134 Refactored Networks, LLC Category: Informational January 2008 A Uniform Resource Name Namespace for the EPCglobal Electronic Product Code (EPC) and Related Standards Status of This Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract This document describes URN namespaces that will identify various objects within the EPCglobal system for identifying products within ecommerce and supply chain management applications. 1. Introduction The EPCglobal Architecture Framework [6] is a set of specifications for reading, managing, and acting on object codes and other sensor data as physical objects pass through a supply chain. Events and metadata about physical objects are exchanged via EPCglobal Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) that are essentially web services that implement agreed upon schema and interfaces. Each object that is tracked by the EPCglobal Architecture Framework is identified by one or more managed identifiers. In many cases, these identification systems existed prior to the Internet becoming widely used. One such namespace is the Global Trade Item Number, or GTIN [7]. GTINs are widely used in global commerce and are managed by GS1. In order for the EPCglobal Architecture Framework to leverage the Internet to the fullest extent possible, the GTIN namespace (and others, such as Global Location Numbers (GLNs), Serialized Shipping Container Code (SSCC), etc. [7]) need to be directly compatible with the URI family of identifiers. The use of GTINs, GLNs, and SSCCs are all managed by GS1. Their use within the EPCglobal Architecture Framework is managed by the GS1 subsidiary known as EPCglobal, Inc. For these, and possibly future Mealling Informational [Page 1] RFC 5134 The EPC URN January 2008 identification systems, a single Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace ID (NID) is being requested: 'epc'. Each of the identifier namespaces mentioned will have a separate sub-space beneath the top level 'epc' NID. In addition to physical object identifiers, the EPCglobal Architecture Framework requires new namespaces for naming system components. In many cases, an interface within the EPCglobal Architecture Framework is XML [11] based and as such will require naming schemes for its XML schema [9] and various namespaces [10]. For these uses, another Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace ID (NID) is being requested: 'epcglobal'. Each specification or system component within the EPCglobal Architecture Framework will have a separate sub-space beneath the top level 'epcglobal' NID. Since the EPCglobal Architecture Framework is engineered for widespread and general use, this namespace specification is a formal one, and the namespace IDs that are being requested are 'epc' and 'epcglobal'. It is important to note that it is the explicit intent that various sub-namespaces of the 'epc' NID actually name real, physical objects and/or corporeal entities. In contrast, sub- namespaces of the 'epcglobal' NID name logical or software constructs, such as schema namespaces. 2. 'epc' Registration Template Namespace ID: "epc" Registration Information: Registration Version Number: 1 Registration Date: 2008-01-16 Declared registrant of the namespace: EPCglobal, Inc. is a subsidiary of GS1 Princeton Pike Corporate Center 1009 Lenox Drive, Suite 202 Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA bhogan@epcglobalinc.org Tel: +1-609-620-4585 Mealling Informational [Page 2] RFC 5134 The EPC URN January 2008 Declaration of structure: The normative specification of the structure of the 'epc' namespace is "EPC Tag Data Standards" [5]. The examples given below are not normative. The 'epc' namespace is a set of sub-namespaces that can be extended in the future. The following ABNF [2] defines how the sub-namespaces are identified and any restrictions on their syntax (definitions not specified below can be found in RFC 2141 [1]): EPC-URN = "urn:epc:" sub-ns-name ":" sub-ns sub-ns-name = let-num [ 1*let-num-hyp ] sub-ns = 1*<URN chars> let-num = upper / lower / number let-num-hyp = upper / lower / number / "-" upper = %x41-5A ; "A" - "Z" lower = %x61-7A ; "a" - "z" number = "0" / "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" / "5" / "6" / "7" /Show full document text