Smart laundry system and methods therefor

A method of laundering a plurality of material items, the method comprising the steps of:

• reading a plurality of laundering instructions contained in a plurality of electronic tags, each of the plurality of electronic tags attached to a corresponding one of the plurality of material items, wherein the plurality of laundering instructions are read while the plurality of material items are within a laundry machine for laundering the plurality of material items;
• and
• laundering the plurality of material items in accordance with the plurality of laundering instructions.

A system for laundering a plurality of material items using a laundry machine, the system comprising:

• a tag communicating device embedded in the laundry machine to read a plurality of laundering instructions contained in a plurality of electronic tags, each of the plurality of electronic tags being attached to a corresponding one of the plurality of material items, wherein the tag communicating device is embedded in the laundry machine so that the plurality of laundering instructions are read while the plurality of material items are within the laundry machine;
• and
• a controller which controls the laundry machine to launder the plurality of material items in accordance with the plurality of laundering instructions.

An electronic tag for attaching to a material item, the electronic tag comprising:

• a memory which stores a count indicative of a number of times the material item has been laundered;
• and
• a transmitter operatively associated with the memory to transmit the count for external reading.