PILL PRINTING IDENTIFICATION

• US 20080290168A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1996
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Robert Joseph Hess, Scott Lindsay Sullivan
• Original Assignee: Robert Joseph Hess, Scott Lindsay Sullivan
• Inventors: Hess, Robert Joseph, Sullivan, Scott Lindsay
• Application Number:
  US12/116,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20080290168A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations

Abstract

Drug dosages and bar code labels are within a tamperproof, sealed container. A printer is configured to mark a drug dosage with an imprint in a form of a machine readable bar code. A method and product are provided to enable both the source of manufacture and distributor to be identified based on scanning a barcode from a label.

Claims

1. A method of tracking passage of a container through a channel of distribution, comprising scanning from a container a machine readable code, correlating the scanned machine readable code with information stored in a database to reveal identities of those in a channel of distribution of the container.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein contents of he container include an edible or biocompatible item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein contents of the container include a drug dosage, the channel of distribution being a drug channel of distribution.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable code is on the container.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable code is within the container.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the machine readable code appears invisible to the unaided human eye.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the correlating further reveals a national drug code pertaining to the drug dosage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the correlating reveals an identity of a distributor of the container as one of those in the channel of distribution.

9. A monitoring system, comprising a scanner arranged to scan a machine readable code from a container and store same into a database in correlation with information to reveal identifies of those in a channel of distribution of the container, and an indicator that indicates the revealed identities based on the correlation.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein contents of the container include a drug dosage, the channel of distribution being a drug channel of distribution.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein contents of the container include an edible or biocompatible item.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the machine readable code is on the container.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the machine readable code is within the container.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the machine readable code is configured to appear invisible to the unaided human eye.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for correlating the scanned machine readable code with information stored in the database to reveal a national drug code pertaining to the drug dosage.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the indicator is configured to indicate an identity of a distributor of the container as one of those in the channel of distribution based on the correlation.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein what is stored in the database includes an electronic identity code, which is stored in the database in correlation with the scanned machine readable code.

18. A computer readable memory device, comprising computer readable storage configured to store information from a scanner pertaining to a code on a container that contains a drug dosage, the computer readable storage being configured to store the information in correlation with an electronic identity code to reveal an identify of a distributor of the drug dosage from the correlation.