The Florida-based start-up company says the Hyperlabel technology enables item-level track and trace at "a more realistic cost than alternative technologies like RFID". However, Hyperlabel can complement RFID tags and complies with emerging EPC (Electronic Product Code) standards.
Hyperlabel "tags", digitally printed over the carrier's entire surface, are only readable with a purpose-designed scanner. Hyperlabel says "low cost" scanners, including USB pen-sized peripherals, wireless pens, laser scanners for supermarket checkouts, and short-range handhelds, will become widely available within two years.
The Hyperlabel process invisibly encodes the product's EPC, a secure digital signature and a coordinate grid which renders the product surface "interactive". Each tag is unique so clicking on separate parts of a label can, for instance, open different web pages. Hyperlabel says its technology is low-cost, protects consumer privacy and has "zero packaging design impact".
Don Korn, chief executive officer, says: "Hyperlabel allows packaging and documents to contain hundreds of hyperlinks, making it ideal, for example, for competitions, promotions and detailed product data.
"Each encoded surface can incorporate tens of thousands of XY co-ordinates, making the technology excellent for anti-counterfeiting. Hyperlabel is compatible with numerous digital printing processes. We are now looking to establish a consortium of brand owners, partners, distributors and retailers to pilot the technology."
