Methods and apparatus for communicating condition information associated with an item
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one storage device storing at least one dynamic identifier associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic identifier configured to include a variable portion, the variable portion being comprised of one or more bits which were previously fixed and used to represent information identifying an item and not to represent any detectable environmental or physical condition, wherein the variable portion has at least one of a variable content and a variable length and represents, at least in part, at least one detectable environmental or physical condition associated with the at least one item;
wherein the at least one dynamic identifier includes at least one dynamic electronic product code (EPC); and
wherein the at least one dynamic EPC further includes a fixed portion including a first identifier related to a source of the at least one item, a second identifier related to a product type of the at least one item, and a third identifier related to a serial number of the at least one item.
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Abstract
One embodiment of the invention is directed to an apparatus including at least one storage device storing at least one dynamic identifier associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic identifier configured to include at least one variable portion that has at least one of a variable content and a variable length based at least in part on at least one detectable condition associated with the at least one item. Another embodiment of the invention is directed to a signal transporting at least one dynamic electronic product code (EPC) associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic EPC configured to include at least one portion that is variable based at least in part on at least one detectable condition associated with the at least one item.
84 Citations
39 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one storage device storing at least one dynamic identifier associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic identifier configured to include a variable portion, the variable portion being comprised of one or more bits which were previously fixed and used to represent information identifying an item and not to represent any detectable environmental or physical condition, wherein the variable portion has at least one of a variable content and a variable length and represents, at least in part, at least one detectable environmental or physical condition associated with the at least one item; wherein the at least one dynamic identifier includes at least one dynamic electronic product code (EPC); and wherein the at least one dynamic EPC further includes a fixed portion including a first identifier related to a source of the at least one item, a second identifier related to a product type of the at least one item, and a third identifier related to a serial number of the at least one item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A signal transporting at least one dynamic electronic product code (EPC) associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic EPC configured to include a variable portion, a variable portion being comprised of one or more bits which were previously fixed and used to represent information identifying an item and not to represent any environmental or physical detectable condition, wherein the variable portion is variable to represent, at least in part, at least one detectable environmental or physical condition associated with the at least one item;
wherein the at least one dynamic EPC further includes a fixed portion including at least one of a first identifier related to a source of the at least one item, a second identifier related to a product type of the at least one item, and a third identifier related to a serial number of the at least one item. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one storage device storing at least one dynamic identifier associated with at least one item, the at least one dynamic identifier configured to include a variable portion, the variable portion being comprised of one or more bits which were previously fixed and used to represent information identifying an item and not to represent any environmental or physical detectable condition, wherein the variable portion has at least one of a variable content and a variable length and represents, at least in part, at least one detectable environmental or physical condition associated with the at least one item; at least one sensor to monitor the at least one detectable environmental or physical condition and provide raw condition information representing the at least one detectable environmental or physical condition; and at least one processor, coupled to the at least one storage device and the at least one sensor, to process the raw condition information to provide processed condition information that is different from the raw condition information, the at least one processor configured to periodically update the at least one dynamic identifier so as to provide a representation of the processed condition information as the variable content in the variable portion of the at least one dynamic identifier.
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Specification