Attributing Harvest Information with Unique Identifiers

• US 20110215148A1
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Published: 09/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Inc.
• Original Assignee: YottaMark, Inc.
• Inventors: Grant, Elliott, Self, Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,342,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/00 Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H

Abstract

Systems and methods allow units of produce to be traced back to the fields in which the produce was grown. In the field, a harvest form is completed with harvest information at the time of the harvest. In some instances, labels having unique codes are used to label the produce in the field, and two additional labels are placed on the harvest form to associate a range of unique codes with the harvest information on the form. The labels used to label the produce can also be marked with a lot code and date at the time of harvest. In other instances, empty packages arrive at the field already marked with a range of associated unique codes. In the field, harvest information is recorded and associated with the range of unique codes by scanning one or more of the packages.

Claims

1. A method for associating information with harvested produce comprising:

recording harvest information on a harvest form;

affixing a pair of labels to the harvest form and affixing individual labels to produce being harvested, where each of the labels includes a unique code;

marking at least one of a lot code, a harvest date, or a best before date on at least some of the individual labels; and

creating a record that associates the harvest information with a range defined by the unique codes on the pair of labels.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein marking is performed by printing on the labels before affixing the labels to the produce being harvested.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein marking is performed by printing on labels after having been affixed to the produce being harvested.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein marking the labels includes marking the lot code and one of either the harvest date or the best before date, where the combination of the marked lot code and date defines a unique code.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein affixing the pair of labels to the harvest form and affixing individual labels to produce being harvested comprises

removing a first label from a roll of labels and affixing the first label to the harvest form;

removing the individual labels from the roll after removing the first label and affixing the individual labels to produce being harvested; and

after removing the individual labels from the roll, removing a last label from the roll and affixing the last label to the harvest form.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein produce being harvested comprises loose bulk produce.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein produce being harvested comprises item-level packages for produce.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique code on each label appears in both a human-readable form and a machine-readable form.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein each label includes a UPC.

10. A method comprising:

marking a plurality of item-level packages with unique codes from a batch of unique codes to produce a plurality of marked and empty item-level packages;

filling a container with the marked and empty item-level packages; and

creating a record that associates the marked and empty item-level packages in the container to each other.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein creating the record that associates the marked and empty item-level packages in the container to each other comprises scanning one of the marked and empty item-level packages.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising generating the batch of unique codes.

13. A method for associating information with harvested produce comprising:

receiving a container including a plurality of empty item-level packages, each empty item-level package including a unique code marked thereon;

recording harvest information;

removing the empty item-level packages from the container and packing the marked item-level packages with produce; and

creating a record that associates the harvest information with the unique codes marked on the item-level packages from the container.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the harvest information is recorded on a harvest form.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the harvest information is recorded with an electronic hand-held device.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein associating the harvest information to the associated marked item-level packages comprises scanning one of the marked item-level packages.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein an item-level package is scanned as part of a labor data collection event.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein a plurality of item-level packages are scanned as part of a quality inspection process and quality assessments are further associated with the harvest information.

19. A method comprising:

generating a batch of unique codes with a first computing device;

transmitting the batch of unique codes to a second computing device;

receiving a range of unique codes in association with harvest data from a third computing device; and

storing the range of unique codes in association with the harvest data in a database.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising receiving a quality assessment in association with a unique code, determining that the range of unique codes in the database includes the received unique code, and further associating the quality assessment to the range of unique codes.