Identifiers

In IMMS, there are a number of different things which are identified through external identification, which in everyday practice is typically carried out by reading a label containing an RFID chip and/or a barcode. This revolves around the following kinds of things: items, transport units, locations (depending on their usage type), and chutes.

Items

The items are always identified by an Item ID that IMMS receives from the LMS. If an item needs a new Item ID, it must therefore be changed in the LMS, which then notifies IMMS about the change.

If IMMS is notified by the LMS that an item has changed Item ID, the old Item ID may then be reused for another item.

Transport units, locations, and chutes

Transport units, locations, and chutes may be created in IMMS without an associated label. Later, you can link them with a label either via the mobile client’s “Attach new label to...” function or the web client’s functions for editing the details of the three types of data.

For all three types of data, even if the identification is changed or deleted, the prior identification will still remain in the system and can be used to identify the original item. Therefore, it is not possible to reuse an identifier for another item. This principle is necessary since registrations - especially from the mobile clients - may be received late but are still able to be processed correctly even though the item has changed identity in the meantime.

Since an identifier that has already been used once remains active, IMMS does not permit an identifier to be reused for another item. The system will actively prevent this from happening.

Interpretation of data in barcodes and RFID labels

The 4 types of things mentioned above are handled using identifiers, which from a system perspective are completely unrelated. The web client will only show the identification as described below. A given installation of IMMS will support one specific way of distinguishing the 4 types from each other when reading a label. It is recommmended to use one of the following schemes:

One-letter model: Transport units, locations, and chutes all have identifiers that consist of 6 digits. In order for the mobile client to distinguish between these 3 types of things, "T", "L", or "C" is added in front of the sequence number to form the identifier in the tag. For example, a transport unit label will contain the information "T000042", while a location label will contain "L000042". IMMS accepts both uppercase and lowercase in the identifier.
Three-letter model: Transport units, locations, and chutes all have identifiers that consist of 6 digits. In order for the mobile client to distinguish between these 3 types of things, "BOX", "LOC", or "CHU" is added to the identifier in the tag. For example, a transport unit tag may contain the information "BOX000042", while a location tag may contain "LOC000042". IMMS accepts both uppercase and lowercase in the identifier.

Note: This is configuration and it can be adapted to allow for identifiers already in use if needed or wanted.

Note: RFID labels and barcodes that based on the chosen scheme do not identify either a transport unit, a location, or a chute, identify an item. There are no further restrictions on Item-ID's.

Coding in the physical RFID tags and barcodes

IMMS works with RFID tags that meet the requirements of the ISO 15693 and ISO 18000-3 standards and operate at 13.56 MHz which is commonly used in the library world. IMMS supports the following encoding schemes:

ISO 28560-2
ISO 28560-3 ("Danish Data Model")

Note: RFID labels must be encoded with a valid checksum according to the standards.

A wide range of barcodes is supported, both 1D (e.g. Code-39 and Code-128) and 2D (e.g. QR Code and Data Matrix).