Computing systems and methods for electronically indicating the acceptability of a product

• US 9,053,616 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2010
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Temptime Corporation (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Temptime Corporation (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Grabiner, Frederick Robert, Lentz, Carl Michael, Moore, Emily, Prusik, Thaddeus, Puro, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kira
• Application Number:
  US12/799,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20110258130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,876 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 705/317
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0081 the reader being a portable scanner or data reader G07G1/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

Computing systems and methods for electronically indicating the acceptability of a product. An image capture and communication device may analyze a product label that includes one or more monitors, authentication elements, and identification elements. The image capture and communication device may determine the type and features of the monitors, authentication elements, and identification elements and, based on the type of the monitors, authentication elements, and identification elements. The image capture and communication device may transmit data based on the type and features to a host server, which may transmit data associated with the host product to the image capture and communication device in, inter alia, the form of an acceptability report.

Claims

1. A method for determining the acceptability of a variety of host products having labels with different types of environmental monitors, the different types of environmental monitors having different types of features, each of the labels having one or more types of environmental monitor and one or more authentication elements or identification elements, the method comprising:

(a) capturing an image with an image capture and communication device of a product label for a host product, the product label comprising one or more environmental monitors, the product label also comprising one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements;

(b) determining by the image capture and communication device a type for each of the one or more environmental monitors on the product label, wherein determining the type for at least one of the environmental monitors further includes determining whether the environmental monitor contains a color reference area;

(c) based on the respective determined types of each of the one or more environmental monitors on the product label, analyzing image features of the one or more environmental monitors, the different types of environmental monitors having different image features which are analyzed using different image analysis techniques selected based on the respective type and features of the environmental monitor,

wherein analyzing image features of the one or more environmental monitors includes, conditioned on the environmental monitor containing a color reference area, comparing an active area of the environmental monitor with the color reference area, and conditioned on the environmental monitor not containing a color reference area, analyzing the image of the environmental monitor to measure the active area without comparing it to a color reference area,

(d) obtaining environmental monitoring data from each of the one or more environmental monitors on the product label using the respective image analysis techniques for the environmental monitors;

(e) transmitting by the image capture and communication device to a host server the environmental monitoring data from the one or more environmental monitors and data based on the one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements;

(f) receiving by the image capture and communication device from the host server an acceptability report based on the environmental monitoring data and the data based on the one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements; and

(g) outputting by the image capture and communication device the acceptability report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more environmental monitors, one or more authentication elements, and one or more identification elements include one or more RFID devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more identification elements includes an RFID device or barcode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more authentication elements includes an area printed with special ink.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting an interrogation signal to the RFID device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture and communication device is a smartphone having a camera.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture and communication device is a computer and a camera.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture and communication device includes a barcode scanner.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capture and communication device further comprises a plurality of image capture and communication devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the host server further comprises one or more computers having one or more memories and one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media distributed over more than one physical location.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the product label further comprises a plurality of product labels.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the host product further comprises a plurality of host products.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more environmental monitors include a cumulative time-temperature indicator.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of environmental monitors includes a freeze indicator.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more environmental monitors include one or more threshold indicators configured to indicate previous exposure to a temperature above a preset limit.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more environmental monitors include an environmental history monitor.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(a) analyzing by an image capture and communication device a second product label for a second host product, the second product label comprising one or more second environmental monitors and comprising one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements, at least one of second environmental monitors being of a different type than the one or more environmental monitors for the host product;

(b) determining by the image capture and communication device a second type for each of the one or more second environmental monitors on the second product label for the second host product;

(c) based on the respective second types of each the one or more second environmental monitors on the second product label for the second host product, determining second features of the one or more second environmental monitors

(d) transmitting by the image capture and communication device to a host server second data based on the respective second type and second features for each of the one or more second environmental monitors and one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements;

(e) receiving by the image capture and communication device from the host server a second acceptability report based on the second data for the one or more second environmental monitors and one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements; and

(f) outputting by the image capture and communication device the second acceptability report.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more environmental monitors include a heat exposure indicators.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the features of the one or more environmental monitors include the color of an active zone of the one or more environmental monitors.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the features of the one or more environmental monitors include the color of a reference zone of the one or more environmental monitors.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the acceptability report is conditioned on whether the data from the features of the one or more environmental monitors indicates the host product was exposed to environmental conditions outside set limits for the host product.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the label includes a plurality of environmental monitors of different types, and wherein different image analysis techniques are used to analyze the environmental monitors on the same label.

13. An image capture and communication device comprising:

(a) one or more memories each having at least one region for storing computer executable program code; and

(b) a processor for executing the program code stored in the one or more memories, wherein the program code comprises;

(b)(i) code to analyze a product label for a host product, the product label comprising one or more environmental monitors having different types of features, the product label further comprising one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements;

(b)(ii) code to determine a type for each of the one or more environmental monitors including code to determine whether an environmental monitor contains a color reference area;

(b)(iii) code to analyze image features of each of the one or more environmental monitors based on their respective types, the code using different image analysis techniques selected based on the respective type and features of the one or more environmental monitors, the code to analyze image features including code that, conditioned on the environmental monitor containing a color reference area compares an active area of the environmental monitor with the color reference area, and conditioned on the environmental monitor not containing a color reference area, analyzes the environmental monitor by measure the active area without comparing it to a color reference area;

(b)(iv) code to transmit to a host server the environmental monitoring data for the one or more environmental monitors and data based on and one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements;

(b)(v) code to receive from the host server an acceptability report based on the environmental monitoring data and data from the one or more authentication elements or one or more identification elements; and

(b)(vi) code to output the acceptability report.

18. The image capture and communication device of claim 13 wherein the one or more environmental monitors include an environmental history monitor.

24. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more authentication elements includes a symbol.

25. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more environmental monitors, one or more authentication elements, and one or more identification elements include one or more RFID devices.

26. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more identification elements includes an RFID device or barcode.

27. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more environmental monitors include a cumulative time-temperature indicator.

28. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more environmental monitors include a freeze indicator.

29. The device of claim 13, wherein the one or more environmental monitors include a threshold indicator configured to indicate previous exposure to a temperature above a preset limit.

30. The device of claim 13, wherein the code further comprises:

(a) code to analyze a second product label for a second host product, the second product label comprising one or more second environmental monitors and comprising one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements, at least one of second environmental monitors being of a different type than the one or more environmental monitors for the host product;

(b) code to determine a second type for each of the one or more second environmental monitors on the second product label for the second host product;

(c) code to determine one or more second features of each of the one or more second environmental monitors based on their respective second types;

(d) code to transmit to a host server second data based on the respective second type and second features for each of the one or more second environmental monitors and one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements;

(e) code to receive from the host server a second acceptability report based on the second data for the one or more second environmental monitors and one or more second authentication elements or one or more second identification elements; and

(f) code to output the second acceptability report.

32. The device of claim 13, wherein the label includes a plurality of environmental monitors of different types, and wherein the code to analyze the image features includes code to analyze each of the different types of environmental monitors found on the same label.