System and method for tracking products in open-loop supply or value chain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018211207-A1
Application number	US-201615766439-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 5, 2016
Priority date	Oct 8, 2015
Publication date	Jul 26, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for monitoring the life cycle of a product even in open-loop retail environment having regard to the associated supply or value chain, comprising tag provision equipment arranged to obtain product information and to configure a wirelessly interrogatable electronic identification tag provided with externally readable identification information to a product item, wherein configuring incorporates at least partially automated determination, according to predefined decision logic, of at least one technical characteristic of tag implementation based on the product information to optimize the operation of the tag, and electronic data management system accessible via a communications network, preferably the Internet, comprising a data interface configured to receive and transmit data, and a data repository configured to store indications of received digital notifications of tag reading events in a plurality of activities of the associated supply or value chain, said notifications conveying said tag identification information. A corresponding method for execution by the system is presented.

First claim

1 . A system for monitoring the life cycle of a product in open-loop or closed-loop retail environment having regard to the associated supply or value chain, said system comprising:
tag provision equipment arranged to
obtain product information, where the product information indicates properties of a product item, and
configure a wirelessly interrogatable electronic identification tag to the product item for identifying the product item by externally readable identification information carried by the tag, wherein the externally readable identification information differs from the product information, and further wherein said configuring of the tag to the product item comprises:
determining, in automated fashion according to predefined decision logic, at least one adapted technical characteristic of the implementation of the tag, said implementation including properties, positioning and/or alignment of the tag, wherein the at least one characteristic is adapted based on the obtained product information to optimize the operation of the tag in connection with said product item, and
producing or attaching the tag to the product item in accordance with said at least one adapted technical characteristic, and

electronic data management system accessible via a communications network, preferably the Internet, comprising a data interface configured to receive and transmit data, and a data repository configured to store indications of received digital notifications of tag reading events in a plurality of activities of the associated supply or value chain, said notifications conveying said tag identification information.

2 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising identifier allocation equipment arranged to assign at least portion of said identification information to the tag.

3 . (canceled)

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the product information comprises at least one element selected from the group consisting of: product class or type, material, composition, chemical formula, ingredients, list of ingredients, size, dimensions, shape, shell-life, electrical properties of the product, product package information, product package size, package material, product package dimensions, product package shape, temperature, storage temperature, processing temperature, transport temperature, product package capacity, electrical properties of the package, tray information, blister pack information, mallet information, container information, wrapper information and crate information.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one adapted technical characteristic of the implementation of the tag includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: size, shape, dimensions, location, position, alignment, type, RF (Radio Frequency) technology, RF frequency, antenna, antenna type, antenna shape, antenna size, antenna position relative to the tag or product item, number of antennas, production technique, transmission power, receiver sensitivity, circuit design, integrated circuit design, material(s), casing, label, substrate, number of layers, printing material, printing material properties, printing material thickness, protective material, electrical conductivity, capacitance, inductance, resistance, optical transparency, and design of a product package accommodating the product and the tag, design of a label or other substrate accommodating the tag.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein received notification includes at least one data element selected from the group consisting of: location, time, date, sender id, and activity indication.

7 . The system of claim 1 , configured to analyse the data having regard to a plurality of the stored indications of notifications of tag reading events, said analysis covering one or a plurality of tags and related product items, and based on the analysis, to establish statistical indication of a predefined performance indicator relating to the supply or value chain.

8 . The system of claim 1 , configured to analyse the data having regard to a plurality of the stored indications of notifications of tag reading events, said analysis incorporating joint analysis covering a plurality of tags and related product items in multiple supply or value chains of mutually different or similar product items.

9 . The system of claim 7 , configured to determine, through said analysis, at least one indication characterizing one or more of the analyzed supply or value chains, said at least one indication being selected from the group consisting of: product class or segment, customer segment, location, manufacturing location, sales location, storage location, transport location or route, time, schedule, manufacturing time, dispatch time, transport time, storage time, sales period, customer profile, customer preferences, market area, and product item batch size.

10 . The system of claim 7 , configured to determine, based on the analysis, a control signal for improving the performance of an associated supply or value chain member according to predefined criterion.

11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising tag reading equipment configured to provide notifications of tag reading events to the management system via at least one communications network.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one technical characteristic of the implementation of the tag is adapted based on the product information utilizing at least one optimization criterion selected from the group consisting of: reading range, antenna directivity, heat resistance, impact resistance, pressure resistance, moisture resistance, noise resistance, small size, low weight, and low thickness.

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tag provision equipment is configured to execute at least one provision action selected from the group consisting of: (a) printing, at least part of the tag directly on the product item or product package surface, (b) attaching by adhesive at least part of the tag on the product item or product package surface, or (c) and attaching at least part of the tag on the product item where at least part of the tag electronics have been produced additively by printing conductive material on a carrier substrate.

14 . (canceled)

15 . (canceled)

16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tag comprises at least one property selected from the group consisting of: RF (radio frequency) spectrum operability, LF, HF, UHF or SHF spectrum operability, passivity or semi-passivity, and read-only or WORM (write once, read many) nature of the tag.

17 . (canceled)

18 . (canceled)

19 . The system of claim 1 , configured to determine said at least one adapted technical characteristic of the tag implementation based on reader configuration at a number of locations of the supply or value chain.

20 . The system of claim 19 , wherein the reader configuration to be taken into account in determining the adapted technical characteristic of the implementation of the tag includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: physical distance from the estimated tag location during reading, maximum or recommended reading distance, material(s) between the reader antenna and tag antenna, properties of material(s) between the reader antenna and tag antenna, transmission properties, transmission power, antenna type (e.g. linear polarization, circular polarization, monostatic or bistatic circular), reception properties, read pattern (e.g. azimuth/elevation), receiver sensitivity, environment temperature, environment pressure, and e

Assignees

• Stora Enso Oyj

Inventors

• Maijala Juha
• Sirvio Petri

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/0833 Primary

  Tracking · CPC title

• G06K7/00

  Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, {e.g. for reading patterns} (methods or arrangements for marking the record carrier in digital fashion G06K1/00; pattern recognition G06F18/00; arrangements for image or video recognition or understanding G06V10/00; character recognition, recognising digital ink or document-oriented image-based pattern recognition G06V30/00) · CPC title

• G06K19/0723

  the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs · CPC title