User Guide for the 1166 Rugged Bluetooth^® UHF RFID reader

To connect a TSL^® Reader to a desktop PC via a USB connection, the necessary Virtual COM Port (VCP) drivers must be downloaded from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm. Note that there is a setup executable on the same page, which will install the drivers for you.

This document provides a comparison of the two available modes of operation (SPP and HID) using Bluetooth^® Wireless Technology.

This document provides details of how to rapidly locate hard to find tagged items using TSL’s tag-finding Apps such as 'RFID Tag Finder' (available for Android™ and Windows Phone) or the Find-a-Tag feature in 'RFID Explorer for iOS'.

User Guide for UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 .NET for Windows Desktop.

UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 is a solution that converts UHF transponder reads and barcode scans from TSL^® ASCII Protocol UHF readers into keyboard presses. This enables UHF and barcode data to be scanned into legacy applications without any changes to the application.

The document describes the process of updating firmware to a TSL ASCII Protocol Reader.

RFID Web Wedge is designed to insert RFID (or bar-code) data into Web Applications

TSL’s mobile Apps now provide a feature to restrict the tags that are detected and displayed when performing an RFID scan. This can be used to ensure that only tags of interest to the user are detected and counted. This document details how to specify the EPC filter in TSL's mobile Apps.

This document describes how to pair a TSL^® Reader to a Windows 8.1 desktop computer via Bluetooth^® wireless technology. The process is similar for other desktop computers.

This document describes how to pair a TSL^® Reader to a Windows 7 desktop computer via Bluetooth^® wireless technology. The process is similar for other desktop computers.

Version 1.23

- fix for 1128 Bluetooth^® reset timeout

- added support for future products

Updated to support the ASCII protocol v2.4.
The install is now digitally signed.

UHF Smart Wedge ASCII 2 is a solution that converts UHF transponder reads and barcode scans from TSL^® ASCII Protocol UHF readers into keyboard presses. This enables UHF and barcode data to be scanned into legacy applications without any changes to the application.

v1.20 fixes a number of issues including reading from user memory

The User Guide can be downloaded here.

Added and updated many new Response Field Headers and Commands.

Added –e option to the .bt command

This document describes the Technology Solutions ASCII 2.4 protocol. The commands and their parameters are detailed along with the responses. Each command has a few examples to aid understanding. The commands all have default parameters and most can be used without change.

TSL® Readers can be operated in Bluetooth® SPP mode where the Reader is controlled by a custom written application or in HID mode, where the Reader behaves like a Bluetooth® Keyboard. This document details how to switch between these modes.

The TSL^® range of Bluetooth^® Readers are able to appear to host devices as an HID keyboard. In this mode the data read by the reader is sent to the host as if it were typed on the host’s keyboard.  This document describes the Bluetooth^® HID mode in more detail.

This document details Log file and Autorun file commands/responses that can be used with TSL®  Readers with a micro-SD card installed.

This document recaps the behaviour and operation of UHF transponders with respect to selecting, reading and writing, and provides some examples of how to achieve this with the TSL ASCII 2 Protocol.

It is often necessary to change the existing EPC of a tag to a new value to support either standards-based or custom encoding formats. This document provides examples of how to modify the EPC identifier using the TSL RFID Explorer App.

It is often necessary to change the existing EPC of a tag to a new value to support either standards-based or custom encoding formats. This document provides examples of how to modify the EPC identifier using the TSL ASCII 2 protocol.

Information on enabling Bluetooth^® Auto-Reconnect Mode on iOS Devices.

Document detailing the firmware version history of the 1166 Bluetooth^® Rugged UHF RFID Reader

Information relating to submitting your TSL-hardware enabled apps to the App Store.

This document details appropriate parameters for an Inventory command in a reader supporting the TSL ASCII 2 protocol (such as the 1128 Bluetooth^® UHF RFID Reader) to be used in the implementation of a “Tag Finder” operation.

Technology Solutions (UK) Ltd has implemented a common object model for Android, iOS, Windows Desktop, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone. This document is provided as an overview of using this object model to perform ASCII 2 commands with a TSL ASCII 2 device

This document describes USB charging behaviour, safety features and the best programming practises for tethered mode operation.

This Windows application connects to a TSL® RFID Reader (via a USB connection) in order to generate diagnostic information that can be emailed to our Support team. The Virtual COM Port driver must be installed in order for this application to function correctly.

V1.7 - Improved Bluetooth® and RFID tests. Please uninstall previous version before installing this one.

V1.4 - Further Bluetooth® and barcode engine tests added.

2.1.1:

Added missing QT: header for .rd -qm3
Added HID substrings

2.1.0:

Added custom region for Indonesia (id)

2.0.9:

Fixed long-standing bug where incorrectly formatted AUTO.TXT could cause reader to hang

2.0.8:

Added custom region for Brunei (BN)

2.0.7:

Added custom region for Vietnam (VN)

2.0.4:

Added new notifications sounds (cf 2128)
Added volume options on .al command
Added phase PH: reports to .iv & .rd
Added channel CF: reports to .iv & .rd
Added “AS: XXX-Internal” reports to .vr
Added custom region for Albania (DZ)

Improvements, optimisations and bug fixes

1.4.0:

Added HII keyboard toggle (cf 1128)
Added new Serial HID (.sh) command
Added new Autorun (.ar) command
Added Egypt region (EG)

1.3.1:

Added BlockPermalock command (.bp )

Added barcode engine poll at startup to reduce boot delay (7s -> 2-3s, Motorola only)

Added extra startup beeps for HID (one extra) and HII (two extra)

Added reset of Bluetooth reconnect mode on .bt -m

Minor bug fixes

***Please Note****  TSL PC Firmware Downloader v1.13 or higher is required to load this firmware. Please also see Application Note – Downloading Firmware and 1166 Firmware History.

The document describes the process of updating firmware to a TSL ASCII Protocol Reader.

Document detailing the firmware version history of the 1166 Bluetooth^® Rugged UHF RFID Reader

v1.3.1

Added option for Inverse 1D barcode setting
Removed obsolete Data Matrix Mirrored setting
Added support for new readers 2173 & 2166
UI improvements
Minor bug-fixes

v1.2.0

For ePop-Loq and USB OTG connected Readers:
- the Reader will automatically connect when attached
- the Option screen now includes controls to switch between SPP and HID modes.

The Reader clock can now be reset to the current time from the Options screen.
The Options page now provides the ability to change the mode of the ePop-Loq connector on compatible Readers.
The Select Reader screen list now provides images of available Readers.

Version 2.4.4

• RFID Explorer now has a Settings page. Use this page to change the Inventory Session and the display format (Hex/ASCII).
• The Settings page also controls the new audio feedback with modes based on tag acquisition rate and for each unique tag seen.
• The Reader connection behaviour has also changed so that, by default, the App will maintain the connection when in the background.
• A Setting has also been added to prevent the Inventory screen display from sleeping.
• Inventory results can now be saved to the device instead of being shared.
• Performance has also been improved when in high density tag environments.
• Minor bug fixes

3.3.1

This release provides support for using the built-in barcode scanner for Honeywell Android handheld devices such as the D75e, CT40, CT50, CT60 & EDA51. This feature uses the "Honeywell Android Data Collection Intent API" so may require an update to the Common_ES package on the device.

Tags with an existing EPC over 256 bits long can now be encoded.

Improved writing to small tags

This special version of RFID Tag Finder for Android, with the same feature set as the Play Store App, is able to connect to Readers with ePop-Loq^® connectors, such as the 2128 , 218P and 2166 UHF RFID Readers. Snap a terminal, in an ePop-Loq^® case, onto the Reader and the App will automatically launch, connect and be ready for use!

Note that there is no support for Bluetooth^® device connections in this version. This App can be installed along-side the Play Store (Bluetooth^®) version and will identify as "TSL ePL Tag Finder".

Welcome to the next major version of the Tsl.AsciiProtocol SDK for .NET Standard development. With this release we debut Reader Operations - an alternative API to simplify many of the  common RFID tasks such as Inventory, Scanning barcodes, Reading from and Writing to tags. We have also implemented a "Tag Finder" Operation, an oft requested addition to the TSL SDK.

The SDK ships with a multi-page, Xamarin Forms Sample Project, built to demonstrate the use of the ReaderOperations and AsciiTransportsManager API.

The Sample App supports Android, iOS, Windows UWP and Windows WPF.

This release uses the Tsl.AsciiProtocol.Std library v1.4.0 (available via NuGet) which contains many new features including:

• Full support for ASCII Protocol 2.5 - including the new FindTagCommand to simplify the implementation of tag finding.
• The new ReaderOperation API to help simplify RFID App development.
• USB support for UWP-based projects
• A new connection mechanism (AsciiTransportsManager) while retaining ReaderConnectionManager to maintain full backwards-compatibility with existing projects.
• Sequencing of synchronously executed ExecuteCommand() calls to eliminate cross-thread "Command is already executing" exceptions
• New Bluetooth pairing support via the BluetoothSecurity class allowing Apps to programatically initiate a pairing to a Reader
• HostBarcodeHandler - a helper class to initiate a scan on supported terminal barcode scanners. (Currently supports Honeywell, Zebra, Motorola, Symbol and Datalogic terminals)

The Tsl.AsciiProtocol.Std library is also designed to be backwards-compatible with Tsl.AsciiProtcol PCL library code to provide your project with a smooth transition to .NET Standard.

The release contains documentation in HTML format (Docs/HTML folder)

Open "Docs/HTML/Index.html" with your favourite browser and go to the Concepts Page where you will find information about TSL's APIs and the Getting Started guide.

The v1.2 release of the TSL cross-platform, Xamarin SDK (for PCL-based projects) is now available. This release uses the Tsl.AsciiProtocol PCL library v1.3.6 (available via NuGet) which contains many new features including:

• Full support for ASCII Protocol 2.5 - including the new FindTagCommand to simplify the implementation of tag finding.
• USB support for UWP-based projects
• A new connection mechanism (AsciiTransportsManager) while retaining ReaderConnectionManager to maintain full backwards compatibility with existing projects.
• Sequencing of synchronously executed ExecuteCommand() calls to eliminate cross thread "Command is already executing" exceptions
• New Bluetooth pairing support via the BluetoothSecurity class
• HostBarcodeHandler a helper class to initiate a barcode scan on the terminal from reader trigger for supported terminals

The Sample Projects, in this release, have all been updated to demonstrate USB support for UWP Apps and fix minor bugs. The new, cross-platform, .NET Standard SDK will be released shortly and we recommend that it is used for all new projects.

v2.0

This is the first release of the unified Android SDK v2.0 that supports both ePop-Loq^®/USB and Bluetooth^® Readers.

The ReaderManager and Reader classes, introduced in the ePop-Loq SDK (v1.0.x), can now also handle Bluetooth^® devices.

A new Sample Project, ReaderManager, has been created that showcases the new ReaderManager classes and the updated DeviceList Activity project.

All other Sample projects have been updated to use the new ReaderManager and DeviceList Activity project.

The ConfigureBarcode Sample project now displays a Code 128 barcode on the UI to aid testing.

The Developer Resource Pack contains images of our readers, for use in applications developed to support our readers.   

Terms of Use
The images in this bundle and the rights pertaining to them, including copyright and ownership, are the sole and exclusive property of Technology Solutions (UK) Ltd 2019.  The images in this bundle are only provided for use in Mobile or Desktop applications that connect to the TSL Reader depicted in the image. No other use is authorised.

TSL ASCII 2.0 SDK v1.4.1 for iOS adds support for the 2128 UHF RFID Reader and provides a popLoqMode parameter on the FactoryDefaultsCommand to allow changes to the mode of the ePop-Loq^® connector on compatible devices.

Bug fixes:

All Sample projects have been updated to address a connection issue when switching Apps using the iOS task-switcher. This change moves the disconnection of the current Reader into the will ResignActive: method. We strongly recommend developers implement this approach to ensure multiple Apps can work effectively while sharing a single Reader.

See the included "Framework Version History.txt" file for additional release details.