Orientation-agnostic method to interface to printed memory

#The present teachings relate to the field of memory devices and product marking, for example, products including a tag or label for authentication and/or inventory control and, more particularly, to readers and scanners for reading and/or writing data from/to a product marked with an electronic memory, tag, or label.

#Xerox Printed Memory is a highly secure printed label including rewritable memory. In one exemplary use, the labels may be used for authentication to determine whether a product is authentic or genuine to prevent counterfeiting. For example, the printed memory may be attached as a label onto a consumable product, supply, shipment packaging, consumer product, document, customer-replaceable product, etc. Data from the printed memory may be read and compared to an expected result or value. If the value read from the printed memory by a memory reader matches the expected value, circuitry within the memory reader can identify the printed memory (and thus the item to which it is attached) as authentic. In some uses, identification of the product as authentic may be required before the product to which the printed memory is attached is allowed to function, in which case the memory reader, or a host device that incorporates the memory reader as a subsystem, can allow or enable functionality of the product. If the value read from the printed memory does not match the expected value, the circuitry within the reader or host device can designate the printed memory, and thus the item to which the printed memory is attached, as not authentic, for example, as counterfeit, gray market, not manufactured by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or a licensed manufacturer (i.e., non-OEM), etc. In some uses, the memory reader or host device can disable functionality of the product if the label attached to the product is identified as not authentic.

#In another implementation, Xerox Printed Memory may be used to track a product through a manufacturing process and/or a supply chain. The labels can be programmed to mark individual items with a unique electronic identifier that may be verified with a memory reading device. Other uses for Xerox Printed Memory are contemplated including, but not limited to, smart consumables where an object is associated with data that is later used by a base unit to improve or optimize performance, consumption records where bulk usage of a product supply is tracked, tracking of items or people outside of a manufacturing environment, etc.

#The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in, and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate implementations of the present teachings and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. In the figures:

#FIG. 1 is a plan view of a printed memory such as a Xerox Printed Memory.

#FIG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a printed circuit positioned on a first side of a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate.

#It should be noted that some details of the figures have been simplified and are drawn to facilitate understanding of the present teachings rather than to maintain strict structural accuracy, detail, and scale.

#Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary implementations of the present teachings, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever convenient, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

#As used herein, “data” refers to any type of information, signal, or other result that is obtained from or sent to an electrical device such as a memory device, an integrated circuit, or another electrical device, or any information obtained from monitoring, interrogating, querying, or measuring, etc., an electrical device. The term “data” includes digital data, analog data, voltage values, current values, resistance values, vector values, scalar values, and/or flux values.