IDENTIFICATION AND CONDITION DETECTION SYSTEM

• US 20080043804A1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SIRF Technology Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SIRF Technology Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goldsmith, Robert M., Reddersen, Brad
• Application Number:
  US11/838,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20080043804A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 374/106
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/04 in respect of time
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0291 Labels or tickets undergoing a change under particular conditions, e.g. heat, radiation, passage of time
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/0297 including a machine-readable marking, e.g. a bar code digitally marked record carriers in general G06K19/00

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for monitoring item sourcing and handling information. The present disclosure provides a device for tracking and tracing a product or item'"'"'s source and handling history. The present disclosure may, for instance, be applied to any product that is packaged, distributed, shipped, or requiring or using cold chain distribution where a greater quality of freshness of a product is desired or where preventing distribution or removing from distribution of a product exposed to a preselected condition such as an undesirable environmental temperature is desired.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a first identifiable indicia;

a second indicia for becoming identifiable upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition; and

a third indicia.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein upon the occurrence of the predetermined condition, the third indicia is nonreadable.

3. The device of claim 1 further comprising at least one indicator that can be activated by the occurrence of the preselected condition to enable the identification of the second indicia and disable the identification of the third indicia.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the indicia comprise optically-readable or computer-readable code.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises a thermochromic ink responsive to the occurrence of the predetermined condition.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first indicia is identifiable by scanning equipment.

7. The device of claim 3, wherein upon activation the indicator renders the second indicia readable by scanning equipment and renders the third indicia unreadable by scanning equipment.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the device is a label identifying a consumable product.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the indicia comprise symbology selected from the group consisting of reduced space symbology (RSS), UPC, EAN, UCC-13, GTIN, RRFID, RFID, biometrics, magnetic stripes, OCR, smart cards and voice recognition.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the predetermined condition is a preselected temperature.

11. The device of claim 10 wherein the preselected temperature is an environmental temperature of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or above.

21. A method of identifying a product for removal from cold-chain distribution comprising use of the device of claim 1 or 12.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein use of the device of claim 1 or 12 provides archival data.

12. A product code device comprising:

a first readable indicia;

a second indicia reactive to a preselected temperature; and

at least one indicator, wherein in the presence of the preselected temperature the indicator is activated and the second indicia is then readable.

13. The product code device of claim 12 wherein the first readable indicia comprises a purveyor'"'"'s code.

14. The product code device of claim 12 wherein in the presence of the preselected temperature, the second indicia is unreadable by a scanning device.

15. A method of monitoring the exposure of a product to a preselected condition, comprising:

applying at least one identifiable indicia to the product;

applying a second indicia to the product; and

applying a third indicia to the product, wherein in the presence of a predetermined condition, the second indicia is identifiable and the third indicia is nonidentifiable.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the indicia comprises optically-readable code.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein at least one indicia comprises a thermochromic ink.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the predetermined condition is a temperature of about 30 to about 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the predetermined condition is a temperature of above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein identification of the indicia comprises use of a bar code reader.