Philip Morris USA Inc.

Inexto Sa

Patrick Chanez

Philippe Chatelain

Erwan Fradet

Alain Sager

Patrick Mauroux

Erwan Pierre Marie Fradet

Nicolas Schaefer

Roger Barata

Steve Niquille

A method and apparatus for identifying manufactured items in containers, where each container is suitable for containing two or more units, and where the method comprises the steps of: associating each unit with a unique unit identifier, uniquely identifying each unit, allocating two or more units to be contained in each container, uniquely identifying each container, for each container, determining one or more ranges of unit identifiers of the two or more units allocated to the container, and storing, in a database, a container identifier for each container, each container identifier being coupled, in the database, to the one or more ranges of unit identifiers of the two or more units allocated to the container. There is also provided methods and apparatus for authenticating, tracking and tracing the units.

Method and apparatus for identifying, authenticating, tracking and tracing manufactured items

Exemplary embodiments are directed to a method and apparatus for storing data for a batch of manufactured items. The method comprises defining in a processor, using a lower limit identifier and an upper limit identifier, a range of unique item identifiers for the batch, wherein each manufactured item in the batch is allocated a unique item identifier falling within the range. The item identifiers are stored in allocated storage space. If an upper limit identifier is specified for each time interval, an amount of storage specified for all manufactured items during a production time period is calculated as a sum of a first product and a second product, the first product being a product of a production time and a size allocated to each upper limit identifier, and the second product being a product of the production time, a total number of manufactured items, and a percentage of unused identifiers.

Method and apparatus for storage of data for manufactured items

There is provided a method and apparatus for tracking of items and containers of items. The method comprises generating a set of unique item identifier codes, each identifier code corresponding to a specific item in a set of items. Then, at a production line, uniquely identifying multiple items by marking the multiple items with the corresponding unique item identifiers. The method further includes detecting the unique item identifiers on the set of items and transmitting the detected unique item identifiers to a processor. After aggregating items into containers, containers are marked with container identifiers. The method then associates the detected container identifier in the database with detected item identifiers.

Method and apparatus for unit and container identification and tracking

The invention relates to a system of obtaining authorization where there are multiple authorization modules. When an authorization is provided by a module, it is combined with a security token, digital signature or encryption identifying which module provided the authorization. To obtain a full authorization, multiple authorization modules may be required and these modules can be connected in parallel and or in series with each other.

Multiple authorization modules for secure production and verification

A method for marking a manufactured item is provided, the manufactured item comprising a container and a removable closure for the container, the method comprising: generating a first code for the container, generating a second code for the closure, marking the container with the first code, and marking the closure with the second code, wherein the first code and the second code are interrelated such that at least a portion of one of the first code and the second code can be derived from the other of the first code and the second code. In an authentication process one of the first or second codes or a portion of the first or second code, in encrypted or unencrypted form, may be compared with a value derived from reading the other of the first or second code.

Method and system for marking manufactured items to detect unauthorized refilling

The invention provides a method for the generation and storage of data for manufactured items in a batch of manufactured items that reduces data storage requirements. The method may comprise the steps of: at a production line generating a unique identifier for each item, the unique identifier comprising production details and a counter value of an incremental counter; at a production line, associating each item with the corresponding unique identifier or an encrypted version of the unique identifier; reading at least some of the unique identifiers associated with items in the batch of the items to provide a list of read identifiers, wherein at least some counter values of the incremental counter are not in the list of read identifiers; generating a plurality of ranges of read identifiers, each range comprising a number of read identifiers having common production details and sequential counter values; and storing the plurality of ranges of read identifiers having common production details as a single data record in an electronic database, the single data record comprising the production details and an indication of each of the ranges of sequential counter values.

Method and apparatus for storage of data for tracking manufactured items

The invention relates to a method of defining a numerical basis by combining at least two different ranges of numbers which can be used to obfuscate an alphanumeric character. This basis can be used for product identification or other methods of creating unique tracking or identification numbers when used in combination with conversion functions.

Enhanced obfuscation or randomization for secure product identification and verification

The invention relates to a system of automatic correction where certain errors are accepted while others are recognized as errors. This applies specifically to non-machine readable inputs or to optical character recognition when reading or transcribing codes. When entering certain characters, this system would allow certain similar character combinations and number of errors from that set while still maintaining integrity of identification codes.

Growing community of inventors

Cheyres, Switzerland

Patrick Chanez