Systems and methods for managing barcode information

• US 9,852,395 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2015
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Geopri, LLC
• Original Assignee: Geopri, LLC
• Inventors: Hodges, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, SEUNG H
• Application Number:
  US14/984,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20160267428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 727 Days
• Field of Search: 235385
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06009 with optically detectable marking G06K19/063, G06K19/08 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2007/10504 Data fields affixed to objects or articles
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10861 sensing of data fields affixed to objects or articles, e.g. coded labels postal sorting B07C3/14, conveying articles B65G47/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

The invention provides systems and methods for managing identifier labels for use in tracking one or more associated products in a supply chain.

Claims

1. A system for providing product information associated with a unit of coffee, the system comprising:

a hardware processor coupled to a memory containing instructions executable by the processor to cause the system to;

receive data from a tag associated with a unit of coffee, the data comprising a unique identifier that is associated with the tag and associated with information about at least one member of the supply chain that is involved with the unit of coffee;

receive traceability data as the unit of coffee moves through the supply chain, the traceability data comprising specific activities or processes of the supply chain through which the unit of coffee has gone through;

generate product information about the unit of coffee based upon associating the data and the traceability data, wherein the product information comprises a combination of;

information related to the unit of coffee, wherein the information comprises at least one of an identity of the coffee and characteristics of the coffee;

information related to the specific activity or process of the supply chain through which the unit of coffee has gone through, wherein the specific activity or process comprises at least one of harvesting, washing, milling, grading, and roasting of the coffee; and

information related to the member of the supply chain associated with the specific activity or process, wherein the member of the supply chain comprises an individual and the information associated with the individual comprises biographical information; and

output the product information to a computing device of a member of the supply chain.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data is associated with the product information via the unique identifier, the data selected from the group consisting of:

identity of the unit of coffee, characteristics of the unit of coffee, location of the unit of coffee, characteristics of the location, and a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the characteristics of the unit of coffee are selected from the group consisting of:

grading and classification of the unit of coffee, origin of the unit of coffee, destination of the unit of coffee, and a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the characteristics of the location of the unit of coffee are selected from the group consisting of:

operator of the location, overall capacity of the location, current capacity of the location, seasonality of the location, operational status of the location, current weather at the location, and a combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the specific activities or processes of the supply chain through which the unit of coffee has gone through are selected from the group consisting of:

processing of the unit of coffee, storage of the unit of coffee, movement of the unit of coffee from one location to another location, transactional data related to an exchange of the unit of coffee between members of the supply chain, and a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein processing of the unit of coffee is selected from the group consisting of:

washing the unit of coffee, drying the unit of coffee, hulling the unit of coffee, sorting the unit of coffee, sampling the unit of coffee, grading the unit of coffee, partitioning the unit of coffee into parsed units of coffee, blending the unit of coffee with other units of coffee, and a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the transactional data is selected from the group consisting of:

identity of members of the supply chain associated with the exchange of the unit of coffee, quantity of unit of coffee exchanged, price paid for the unit of coffee, date of the exchange of the unit of coffee, and a combination thereof.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the traceability data is received in real-, or near-real-, time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the tag comprises a digital representation of a machine-readable label.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the machine-readable label is selected from the group consisting of:

text, graphics, an image, a linear barcode, a matrix barcode, an RFID element, and a combination thereof.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the member of the supply chain is a buyer of the unit of coffee.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the buyer is a consumer.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to transmit the product information to the computing device over a cloud-based service in real-time.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the cloud-based service is based on a model selected from the group consisting of:

software as a service (SaaS) model, platform as a service (PaaS) model, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model, and a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a smartphone.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the data is received by the system from a smartphone configured to scan the tag and transmit the data to the system.