Pharmaceutical product tracking

• US 20050261935A1
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Published: 11/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia, Lapstun, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,905,401 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/004 using digital security elements, e.g. information coded on a magnetic thread or strip
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/20 Manipulating the length of blocks of bits, e.g. padding or block truncation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A method of tracking a pharmaceutical product, the pharmaceutical product being associated with packaging having disposed thereon or therein coded data including a number of coded data portions, each coded data portion being indicative of an identity of the pharmaceutical product. The method includes having a computer system receiving indicating data from a sensing device, in response to sensing of the coded data. The computer system uses the indicating data to update tracking data at least partially indicative of tracking information.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a pharmaceutical product, the pharmaceutical product being associated with packaging having disposed thereon or therein coded data including a number of coded data portions, each coded data portion being indicative of an identity of the pharmaceutical product, the method including, in a computer system:

receiving indicating data from a sensing device, the sensing device being responsive to sensing of the coded data to generate indicating data indicative of the identity of the product item; and

,

updating, using the received indicating data, tracking data at least partially indicative of tracking information.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the tracking information and the indicating data are indicative of at least one of:

an identity of the sensing device;

an identity of a patient;

an identity of a current owner of the pharmaceutical product;

one or more transactions performed using the pharmaceutical product;

a location of the pharmaceutical product; and

,

a location of the sensing device.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein each coded data portion is indicative of at least part of a signature, the signature being a digital signature of at least part of the identity, wherein the indicating data is at least partially indicative of at least one signature part, and wherein the method includes, in a computer system:

determining, from the indicating data, at least one determined signature part; and

,

authenticating the pharmaceutical product using the determined identity and the at least one-determined signature part.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the method includes, in the computer system, and in response to a successful authentication:

authorising a transaction relating to the pharmaceutical product; and

,

updating the tracking data.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the entire signature is encoded within a plurality of coded data portions and wherein the system includes the sensing device configured to sense a number of coded data portions to thereby determine the entire signature.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method includes, in the computer system, communicating with a database, the database storing data relating the pharmaceutical product, including at least one of:

authentication data, including at least a key associated with a signature, the signature being a digital

signature of at least part of the identity; and

, product data, the product data being at least partially indicative of product information including at least one of;

a product cost;

a patient identifier;

a user identifier;

an owner identifier;

manufacture date;

batch number;

product manufacturer;

product distributor;

product supplier;

issue country;

ingredients;

storage conditions;

disposal conditions;

serial number;

expiry date;

effects;

side-effects;

conditions for use;

instructions for use;

links to further information;

contra-indications; and

,

dosage.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method includes, in the computer system, causing the display of at least one of:

results of authentication;

tracking information; and

,

product information.

8. A transaction terminal according to claim 3, wherein the coded data includes a plurality of layouts, each layout defining the position of a plurality of first symbols encoding the identity, and a plurality of second symbols defining at least part of the signature.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the identity is formed at least in part from at least one of:

a coded data portion identity;

an identity of the pharmaceutical product;

an EPC;

an identity of the packaging; and

,

an identity of a region of the packaging.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein packaging includes at least one of:

a blister pack;

a bottle;

a bottle lid;

a label;

a box; and

,

a leaflet.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data is substantially invisible to an unaided human.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data is printed on the surface using at least one of:

an invisible ink; and

,

an infrared-absorptive ink.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data is provided substantially coincident with visible human-readable information.

14. A method according to claim 5, wherein the coded includes a number of coded data portions, and wherein at least some of the coded data portions encode at least one of:

a location of the respective coded data portion;

a position of the respective coded data portion on the surface;

a size of the coded data portions;

a signature part;

a size of a signature;

an identity of a signature part;

units of indicated locations; and

,

at least part of a data object, the entire data object being encoded at least once by a plurality of coded data portions.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the data object includes at least one of:

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) data;

text data;

image data;

audio data;

video data;

application data;

contact data;

information;

business card data; and

,

directory data.

16. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data includes at least one of:

redundant data;

data allowing error correction;

Reed-Solomon data; and

,

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data.

17. A method according to claim 5, wherein the digital signature includes at least one of:

a random number associated with the identity;

a keyed hash of at least the identity;

a keyed hash of at least the identity produced using a private key, and verifiable using a corresponding public key;

cipher-text produced by encrypting at least the identity;

cipher-text produced by encrypting at least the identity and a random number; and

,

cipher-text produced using a private key, and verifiable using a corresponding public key.

18. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data is arranged in accordance with at least one layout having n-fold rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a centre of rotation, at least one sub-layout including rotation-indicating data that distinguishes that sub-layout from each other sub-layout.

19. A method according to claim 1, wherein the coded data is arranged in accordance with at least one layout having n-fold rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout encoding orientation-indicating data comprising a sequence of an integer multiple m of n symbols, where m is one or more, each encoded symbol being distributed at n locations about a centre of rotational symmetry of the layout such that decoding the symbols at each of the n orientations of the layout produces n representations of the orientation-indicating data, each representation comprising a different cyclic shift of the orientation-indicating data and being indicative of the degree of rotation of the layout.

20. A method of tracking a pharmaceutical product, the pharmaceutical product being associated with packaging having disposed thereon or therein coded data including a number of coded data portions, each coded data portion being indicative of an identity of the pharmaceutical product, the method including, in a sensing device:

sensing at least some of the coded data;

determining, using the sensed coded data, indicating data at least partially indicative of the identity; and

,

transferring the indicating data to a computer system, the computer system being responsive to the indicating data to update, using the received indicating data, the tracking data.