Method and apparatus for tracing components of a production chain
First Claim
1. A method of tracking, at a remote central information store, elements in a production chain, the chain comprising a plurality or processes, each process having one or more input ingredients and one or more output products, and the central information store being remote from the location of at least one of the processes, the method comprising carrying out the following steps in respect of each of the processes:
- 1) recording at the remote central information store, via a telecommunications link, an identifier identifying each of the input ingredients of the process;
2) marking each of the output products of the process with a respective identifier; and
3) recording at the remote central information store, via a telecommunications link, the identifiers of each of the output products.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of tracking, at a remote, central information store 140, elements in a production chain. The chain comprises a plurality of processes, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, each process having one or more input ingredients 10, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110 and one or more output products, 30, 50, 70, 90, 110, 130. The central information store 140 is remote from the location of at least one of the processes. The method comprises carrying out the following steps in respect of each of the processes 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120: (1) recording at the remote central information store 140, via a telecommunications link, an identifier identifying each of the input ingredients of the process; (2) marking each of the output products of the process with a respective identifier; and (3) recording at the remote central information store 140, via a telecommunications link, the identifiers of each of the output products.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of tracking, at a remote central information store, elements in a production chain, the chain comprising a plurality or processes, each process having one or more input ingredients and one or more output products, and the central information store being remote from the location of at least one of the processes, the method comprising carrying out the following steps in respect of each of the processes:
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1) recording at the remote central information store, via a telecommunications link, an identifier identifying each of the input ingredients of the process; 2) marking each of the output products of the process with a respective identifier; and 3) recording at the remote central information store, via a telecommunications link, the identifiers of each of the output products. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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- 20. A production-chain-element tracing apparatus for tracing elements in a production chain that comprises a plurality of processes, the tracing apparatus comprising a central information store that is remote from the location of a least one of the processes and that comprises a plurality of records, each record comprising identifiers of one or more ingredients input into a process and identifiers of one or more output products from the process, the apparatus further comprising an interface for recording, via a telecommunications link, identifiers in the records, an interface for inputting a query regarding relationships between the ingredients, the processes and/or the products, and a query engine for generating, in response to the query, at least part of the web of ingredients, processes and products upstream or downstream of an ingredient, process or product that has been specified in the query.
Specification