The Thinkify Python Library

This library is a Python wrapper for Thinkify's Thinkify Reader Protocol. It allows developers to issue commands to their RFID readers as well as retreive data from them.

Installation

To install the Thinkify python library using pip:

$ sudo pip install thinkify

or alternatively via easy_install:

$ sudo easy_install thinkify

or from source:

$ sudo python setup.py install

Usage

>>> from thinkify.reader import ThinkifyReader
>>> reader = ThinkifyReader('/dev/tty.usbmodem1411')

>>> # Get the firmware version on your reader
>>> reader.get_version()
VERSION=2.2.3

>>> # Get a list of nearby tags
>>> tag_list = reader.get_tags()
STARTINVENTORY
TAG=3000E2001021490
TAG=3000E2001021491
STOPINVENTORY=0x0002 0x0031

# Iterate over the tag_list and inspect properties of each `Tag` object
>>> [tag.epc_id for tag in tag_list]
3000E2001021490
3000E2001021491

# Finding the closest Tag
>>> tag = reader.get_closest_tag()
>>> tag.signal_strength
23.9234987345

Handling Tag Prefixes

A common case is to have a number of similar tags from the same manufacturer with the same prefix on them. To parse this prefix when reading tags, you may optionally pass the prefix as a named arg to the ThinkifyReader.__init__() method like so.

>>> reader = ThinkifyReader('/dev/tty.usbmodem1411', tag_id_prefix='SOME_PREFIX_STRING')
>>> tag = reader.get_closest_tag()
>>> tag.epc_id # The full id
SOME_PREFIX_STRING_000001

>>> tag.trunc_id
000001

Notes

This library covers about ~20% of the total functionality provided by the Thinkify Reader Protocol (TRP) - it basically covers what I currently need. If one feels inclined to add extended functionality, please fork!

Another small side note: Instead of using TRP's "T(x)" command which loops indefinitely looking for tag presence, my current workflow is to handle the looping logic in Python. This is because:

• It's cumbersome to constantly read data from the I/O buffer using pyserial.
• It's difficult to manage the timing of the scan loop on the device itself.

Anyway, it works for my use case -- if someone can think of a cleaner way to handle this, please fork.

Author

This library is maintained by Sean Coonce and can be found here: https://github.com/cooncesean/thinkify/