CA2684181A1 - Improving the value of volatile materials - Google Patents

Abstract

An improved method for providing a definition of complex materials, such as perfumes, comprising digitally mapping and objective classification based on the results from a multivariate analytical procedure such as headspace mass spectrometry, especially where the definition is based on the comparison of the analytical results for a single complex material with the analytical results for more than one complex standard material and optionally using the definition of, e.g., perfumes as trademarks or in patent applications, especially in support of methods of using such complex materials to influence a consumer to purchase a product or service or, optionally, using the method to develop new complex materials.

Description

IMPROVING THE VALUE OF VOLATILE MATERIALS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the use of volatile, normally complex, materials, especially complex materials having a distinct physiological effect, to influence consumer attitudes, e.g., acceptance and/or preference, toward products and/or services. The invention comprises improvements in: novel complex materials including those useful in influencing consumer attitudes and the definition of such complex materials; improvements in research and production processes relating to such complex materials, especially complex materials having a volatile component and physiological activity; and/or to the use of such definitions of such materials for purposes of obtaining patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. to improve the value of such materials.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A traditional and very subjective approach for determining a perfume's odor character is the use of odor descriptors. This method is not very reliable because the result can vary from judge to judge. One effort to simulate the human olfactory system was the development of different "electronic noses" which are arrays of multiple sensors where each sensor yields a different response to a specific type of chemical in a "headspace". The signals recorded by the sensors give a spectral signature or characteristic pattern that can be associated with a given odor.
The current electronic noses are not yet adequate to describe a perfume's character. The electronic nose provides a "finger print" of the whole headspace without the capability of isolating the effect of the extraneous and non-contributing ingredients, such as highly volatile solvents. These solvents normally exist as major components in the headspace, do not contribute noticeably to the character of the fragrance, but can interact strongly with the sensors and are reflected prominently in the measurements.
Volatile materials such as perfumes are often used to help create a favorable impression for consumer products such as detergents, fabric softeners, etc, and to improve the impression of the fabrics treated with such products. Perfumes are also sold to create favorable impressions for consumers themselves, either directly, or by addition to consumer products that are used, e.g., in the mouth such as mouthwashes, tooth pastes, etc., or on the body, such as skin soaps, shampoos, etc. However, many products such as designer clothing and other expensive items are not normally associated with perfumes. Often, the consumer learns to associate these volatile materials with particular suppliers, whereupon many unscrupulous competitors of those suppliers try to appropriate the resulting good will by copying the volatile materials as closely as they are able. Protection of the good will and defining the volatile materials for the purpose of providing such protection has been very difficult. Thus, there has been a long-standing need for a better way to define such complex materials, especially those that are volatile, and especially those with a physiological effect such as perfumes and/or flavors. For example, International Application WO 02/48700 A2 for METHOD FOR CLASSIFYING CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
ACCORDING TO OLFACTORY CHARACTERISTICS filed in Germany on Dec. 14, 2000, discloses a method of checking detergent finished products using an electronic nose with a preferred sensor system having 12 sensors.

It has been reported that applications were filed in Europe for a method of defining perfumes in trademark applications using the artificial nose. There is still a need to develop an improved method for digitally mapping and objective classification of perfume odor character and/or flavor character, for use in, e.g., prevention of imitation via trademark and/or patent.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to: A. the definition of either a single complex material comprising a mixture of compounds, especially those having a physiological action, and/or a definition of all of the complex materials that share one or more characteristics, especially by an improved method for digitally mapping and objective classification of complex materials having one or more similar characteristics such as perfume odor character and/or flavor character and/or physiological effects, using the results from an analytical procedure that provides more multiple results (multivariate results) than an artificial nose, and desirably provides results for most of the volatile components, such as headspace mass spectrometry, and/or optionally by combining such results with, the results of other analytical methods that provide multiple results, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, etc., and even more especially where the definition is based on the comparison of the analytical results for the single complex material with the analytical results for more than one complex reference material; B. the use of complex materials such as perfumes to identify the source of products, services, etc. that originate from a specific supplier, and especially the use of the improved definitions of A. to provide intellectual property protection for such use; C. the methods of influencing consumers to purchase a product of service in which one or more complex materials, typically and desirably a volatile material having an odor, are used to influence a consumer to purchase a product or service not normally sold in association with an odor, or in association with a separate odor; D. the evaluation of two or more complex materials having one or more similar characteristics to define a range of mixtures sharing one or more common characteristics and/or to determine which, if any, specific members of the mixture are responsible for a specific characteristic; andlor E. novel complex materials or individual novel materials identified with the assistance of the methods of A. and/or D.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGURE I is a dendrogram of the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of 12 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set A).
FIGURE II is a pictorial representation of a Principal Components Analysis of the spatial relationship between 11 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set A).
FIGURE III are spider diagrams providing a pictorial representation of several perfumes as compared to 11 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set A).
FIGURE IV is a dendrogram of the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of 12 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set B).
FIGURE V is a pictorial representation of a Principal Components Analysis of the spatial relationship between 11 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set B).
FIGURE VI are spider diagrams providing a pictorial representation of several perfumes as compared to 11 reference perfume compositions (Perfume Set B).
FIGURE VII is a dendrogram of the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis of 5 reference coffee compositions.
FIGURE VIII is a pictorial representation of a Principal Components Analysis of the spatial relationship between 5 reference coffee blends.
FIGURE IX are spider diagrams providing a pictorial representation of several coffees as compared to 5 reference coffee compositions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A. DEFINITION OF COMPLEX MATERIALS
The definition of complex materials, especially those having a physiological action, is complicated. The number of ingredients can be very large and, for naturally occurring materials, can involve subtle differences in the mixture and/or the compounds of the mixture. In order to describe all of the complex materials that share one or more characteristics, the present invention makes use of an improved method for digitally mapping and objective classification. The methods described herein can define complex materials having one or more similar characteristics such as perfume odor character and/or flavor character and/or other physiological effects including medicinal effects, using an analytical procedure giving multiple results such as headspace mass spectrometry, and optionally using such results, or combining such results with, the results from other analytical methods that provide multiple results, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, etc. The methods can also evaluate complex materials to discover problems with the said complex materials that need to be corrected.
It is highly desirable to have a definition of a composition that uses only the essential information needed to ensure that the composition has the desired characteristics. The "electronic nose" does not provide sufficient and adequate information and can provide information that is misleading since the "electronic nose" does not discriminate between compounds that share similar response characteristics to the sensor array used in the electronic nose, and is severely affected by the presence of nonessential components in the composition, thus a definition provided by the "electronic nose" will include compounds that do not provide the desired characteristics of the composition. On the other hand, elaborate and thorough chemical analysis methods typically can provide too much information and unnecessarily define all aspects of chemical compounds including those that are not relevant to the desired characteristics, nor wanted in the definition. Such a definition based upon a complete analysis can also exclude desirable compounds by providing a definition that is limited to just those compounds found by the analysis and thus excluding optional, but desirable compounds. It is desirable for many reasons, including quality control, intellectual property protection, etc., to provide a definition that prescribes limits on the structure and amounts of compounds that are relevant to the desired characteristics of the compositions containing them.
The present method achieves this difficult compromise by utilizing complex reference materials.
The present invention desirably utilizes one or more analytical methods that provide analytical results for many different constituent materials of a mixture (multivariate results). The results of the analysis of any given complex mixture are then defined by relating said results to the results obtained by a similar analysis of one or more complex materials that are defined as "reference materials". This technique allows one to define and/or create a range of complex mixtures that are related, especially with respect to one or more physiological effects. The definitions herein are desirably based on more than one complex reference material.

Thus, the method herein can comprise defining the character of at least one specific complex material in digital form wherein the said complex material is analyzed using at least one multivariate analytical method, the results of the analysis are normalized with respect to at least two different complex reference materials, said reference materials representing a range of 5 complex materials that is of interest and sharing at least one or more traits of the character of the specific complex material, and the results are given as a number, a range of numbers, and/or a geometric figure on a graph that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials. Said number and/or said geometric figure is desirably expressed as a range defining an area comprising similar specific complex materials, especially when the complex material is volatile and the analysis is obtained from vapor phase mass spectrometry. The materials can also be analyzed by other analytical methods including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and/or Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and/or Raman spectroscopy. The results of the resulting analysis or analyses by such analytical methods can be analyzed using a computer and a pattern recognition program to determine the degree of similarity/difference to the reference material or materials and the results are desirably stored in digital form.
The use of multiple complex reference materials enables one to identify a range of materials with greater accuracy and with more variation in characteristics than the use of a single complex reference material. The use of two reference materials enables one to identify a range of mixtures of materials with more precision and the use of at least three reference materials enables one to define an area in which the materials share one or more characteristics.
Vapor phase mass spectrometry, for example, can be accomplished with commercially available equipment in a matter of minutes, yet can successfully predict the behavior of complex materials having physiological effects like perfumes, especially when multiple complex reference materials having similar physiological effects are used. The definition can be made more precise by using reference materials with similar compositions, or can be used to define the "perfume character" more broadly by utilizing reference materials with more diverse compositions. The results show that vapor phase mass spectrometry is a better predictor of perfume character than the "electronic nose", which was specifically developed for the purpose of analyzing perfumes and other environmental volatile materials.
During the work which demonstrated the effectiveness of using vapor phase mass spectrometry for characterizing perfumes, it was found that an even better and/or broader definition could be achieved if the analyzed perfume was compared to more than one other "reference" perfume, even perfumes which had different characters than the analyzed perfume.

The selection of the other reference perfumes increases the range of the method to allow one to determine "areas" of perfume products that share the same character, even though the formulas for the perfumes are quite different. If multiple reference perfumes with highly different compositions and/or characters are used, the definition can predict, with a good degree of confidence, composition areas where new character traits can be found. With reference perfumes that are very different in character, it is possible to map out areas of different perfume character, even character that has been previously unknown.
It was also discovered that by using available pattern recognition software, one can compare various perfumes and establish the components responsible for the differences in character. Thus, one can create a family of perfumes with similar character while minimizing the number of ingredients, the amount of research involved, and/or the cost of the perfume, e.g., by using synthetic ingredients for non-essential components of the perfume.
It was also discovered that one can determine what compound structure(s) are responsible for a given character, thus allowing one to predict new perfume ingredients with desired character to simplify research in developing such new ingredients.
A highly desirable method uses a rapid headspace analyzer that combines mass spectrometry and chemometrics for discrimination and classification of fragrance samples by their volatile compositions. This chemical sensor relies on a scan of mass fragments over a m/z range of 35-200 of the total headspace, which essentially provides 165 nearly independent channels of information. Chemometric software is desirably then used to organize that information and build models for discrimination and classification.
As discussed before, the only previous attempt to define complex mixtures such as perfumes involved the "electronic nose", which was not acceptable. The electronic nose is composed of a solid-state sensor array. The electronic nose provides a "finger print" of the whole headspace without the capability of isolating the effect of the extraneous and non-contributing ingredients, such as highly volatile solvents that do not contribute to the character of the fragrance, but exist as major components in the headspace and are present prominently in the measurements.
The use of vapor phase mass spectrometry for determining whether a product meets certain specifications has been disclosed. However, it has only now been discovered that vapor phase mass spectrometry can be used to establish whether a material is a functional equivalent of another material, even when the overall analysis of the materials differs substantially.

In vapor phase mass spectrometry, the effect of highly volatile solvents, e.g., those that do not contribute to the character of a fragrance, can be isolated and removed from the data analyses. Surprisingly, it has been determined that a mass spectrometer using vapor phase mass spectrometry is capable of determining the physiological effect of an unknown volatile complex material by relating to known reference complex materials with known physiological effects.
Even when the volatile portion of a complex material is only a small part of the total complex material, the results of the analysis can predict the physiological effect with a relatively high degree of accuracy. With respect to perfumes, the results are much better than from the electronic nose that uses multiple sensors and takes much longer. The resulting digital display from the vapor phase mass spectrometer can be used for purposes of defining a range of mixtures sharing one or more characteristics.
A headspace analyzer that is especially useful in the present invention is a "chemical sensor" which combines a mass spectrometer that is adapted to sample the headspace with software that provides a pattern recognition capability to provide data analysis and classification.
An instrument that is well suitable for use in the present invention is the Gerstel ChemSensor 4440 Chemical Sensor system. The Gerstel ChemSensor 4440 Chemical sensor system has four components: an HP 7694 headspace automatic sampler for introduction of headspace samples, a mass spectrometer with a sensor array using quadrapole technology, an integrated chemometric/pattern recognition software package from Infometrix, Inc., for instrument control, data analysis, and reporting, that is loaded in a high-performance personal computer. The whole mixture of headspace volatiles from a perfumed sample is transferred directly to the mass spectrometer where all of the volatiles are fragmented and ionized. The mass spectrometer is designed to register the signals of the resulting charged ions over a user-selectable range from 2 to 800 atomic mass units. This results in a pattern that is unique to the particular sample. Pattern recognition and clustering software are capable of differentiating and grouping samples according to their unique mass spectral pattern or "fingerprint". Samples that are more similar to one another in volatile chemical composition, and hence odor character, are grouped more closely together, while samples that differ widely will be far apart.
A suitable method for objective classification of odor characters of the present invention comprises the following steps:
I. Select two or more reference materials of known composition, desirably about 5, more desirably about 10, even more desirably 15 or more, reference materials.
This is the reference set or the training set. Reference samples should be chosen that are representative of and span the range of compositions and odor characters that are likely to be encountered in the application. This is true whether the application be fragrances, perfumes, foods, beverages, etc.
Desirably, reference samples can be characterized by using sensor descriptors recognized by those skilled in the art; however, this is not a prerequisite to successful application of this method.
2. Make multiple (n) measurements on each reference sample. Measurements are done by headspace-mass spectrometry. Data obtained are the mass spectral channel signals (m/z) after electron-ionization of the volatiles in the headspace over the sample.
More generally, data can consist of signals from any multivariate analysis system or be a collection of univariate data obtained from several independent measurement techniques. Replications of the (n) measurements, desirably at least about 4 times, more desirably at least about 6 times, should be made on each reference sample. Each set of replicates for a given sample is hereinafter referred to as a reference "class".
3. Pre-process the data. The data in this example are desirably pre-processed by vector normalization, however there are several options for pre-processing depending on the type of data obtained.
4. Verify class distinctions for the reference set. Verify that differences within a reference class (intra-class variance) are smaller than differences between reference classes (inter-class variance). This may be done using any of a variety of clustering methods, such as Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), factor analysis techniques such as Principal Components Analysis (PCA), or any other statistical or discriminant analysis tests. Those skilled in the art will recognize that significant difference can be defined by any of several statistical criteria.
5. Build a classification model for the reference set. Those skilled in the art would recognize that there are a variety of classification methods available. In the present method, apply SIMCA classification (Pirouette 0.0, Infometrix, Inc.) to the reference set to determine the inter-class distances between the reference set samples.
6. With the reference samples established, one can make one or multiple (n) measurements on test, or unknown, samples. Test samples can be unknown samples or any samples for which objective classification relative to the reference set of samples is desired.
Replications of the (n) measurements can be desirable for averaging or for comparison to other test, or unknown, samples. Measurements should be made on each test sample in an identical manner as for the reference samples.

7. Determine the "distance" from each test sample to each of the reference classes.
(In the art, typically, test samples are given to trained sensory experts who assign scores using sensory descriptors recognizable by those skilled in the art.) In the present method, test samples are compared to a set of reference materials for which the composition is known and well-defined. Ideally, the reference samples can also be characterized by unique sensory descriptors.
In typical use, the SIMCA classification model constructed from a training set would be used to "predict" the class assignment of test samples. This determination is based on how well the test sample can be modeled by any one of reference class models, relative to the others. A good or poor "fit" into a class depends on the magnitude of a test "residual", "distance" or error of fit. In this example, an average "distance" is calculated from each test sample to each of the reference classes. A smaller distance implies similarity to the reference class, while a larger distance implies difference.
8. Optionally, but desirably, one can display result(s) which visually depict the similarity or difference of the test sample relative to reference samples.
This can be done using a radial plot (also called "spider diagram" or "star plot") in which each of the reference classes is a terminal point. The "distance" of the test sample to each of the reference classes is plotted graphically. In situations where the reference samples are readily characterized by sensory descriptors and the measurements can be shown to correlate with these sensory descriptors, then the similarity or difference of the test sample relative to the reference can be used to predict the sensory characteristics of the test sample. In situations where these criteria are not met, this tool nonetheless offers a means by which to objectively classify test samples relative to a set of reference samples of known and well-defined composition.
By using suitable reference fragrances with known chemical composition and character, it is possible to classify new perfumes by their distance from these references, i.e., as coordinates in a multidimensional perfume space. The selection of preferred reference standards and their formulation are part of the invention and are exemplified herein.
It was also found, surprisingly, that complex materials having a physiological effect could be defined in terms of other different complex materials, even those having different characters and/or physiological effects. However, desirably, the other complex materials are of similar character or effect. The method involves analyzing such a material using a mass spectrometer, optionally normalizing the data, and using pattern recognition software to determine the degree of similarity of said material to the same data derived from known reference materials having the same or different characters, but which are generally representative of the desired character, the character of the reference materials being determined by their effect on at least one person.
Surprisingly, the comparison results in the definition and/or determination of the character of the "unknown" material.
Suitable software for practicing the methods herein include:
5 Pirouette (Infometrix, Inc., 10634 E. Riverside Dr., Suite 250, Bothell, WA
98011) ; Simca-P
(Umetrics, Inc., 17 Kiel Avenue, Kinnelon, NJ 07405) ;
The Unscrambler (CAMO Software Inc., Aspen Corporate Park, 1480 Route 9 North, Suite 209, Woodbridge, NJ 07095); MatLAB-Statistics Toolbox (The MathWorks, Inc., 3 Apple Hill Drive, Natick, MA 01760-2098); and SAS/STAT software (SAS Institute Inc., 10 Campus Drive, Cary, NC 27513-2414).
It is possible, by using a spider graph, to define an area that represents complex materials sharing the same physiological effects. This definition is based upon a comparison with reference materials of known physiological effects. The process desirably includes the provision of a collection of data from reference materials comprising one or more volatile compounds and representing a variation in at least one character element based on a physiological effect as experienced by at least one individual. Such an area can be used for definitions used in obtaining intellectual property including trademarks, copyrights, and patents, as discussed hereinafter, where claims can contain definitions utilizing such an area.
For example, one can define the limits of one or more odor or flavor characters, optionally as specified by at least one flavor or odor expert, in terms of the said analytical results.
For purposes of creating new materials, defining complex materials, and/or comparing complex materials, it is desirable to have a computer program to combine and compare the results of mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry analytical procedures on different complex materials. Therefore, it is desirable to have a computer-readable medium containing instructions for comparing an analysis of a target complex material, said analysis being derived from a mass spectrometer, nmr, or combinations thereof, to one or more similar analyses of other reference complex materials and defining the target complex material in terms of the differences between the target complex material and the reference complex material(s).
The method herein can also be described as the method of defining a specific complex material comprising the steps of analyzing said complex material using at least one multivariate analytical method, normalizing the results with respect to at least one complex reference material, said reference material, or materials, representing the range of complex materials that is of interest, and giving the results as at least one number or geometric figure that defines the said complex material by its relationship to the said reference material or materials, said number and/or said geometric figure optionally defining an area comprising similar specific complex materials.
When the complex material is volatile the analysis is desirably obtained from a vapor phase mass spectrometer but the complex material can be analyzed using headspace mass spectrometry, and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and/or Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and/or Raman spectroscopy. As described above, the results are desirably analyzed using a pattern recognition program to determine the degree of similarity to the reference material or materials and the results are desirably given in digital form.
When the complex material is volatile and has at least one physiological effect that is odor and/or taste, it is preferred that there are at least two complex reference materials that represent a range of complex materials having similar physiological effects.
A desirable method comprises the following steps: (a) select a reference set comprising a number, n, of reference complex material samples which span the breadth of odor and/or taste characters of interest, and which are used as n distinct references; (b) using headspace mass spectrometry, determine the mass spectral channel signal pattern of the headspace of each of said n reference samples, and use them to define an "n-dimension space" with each reference sample defining one dimension; (c) determine the mass spectral channel signal pattern of the headspace of one or more test samples; (d) define the location of said test sample or test samples, in said n-dimension space, by determining the differences between said test sample or samples and each of the reference samples, by defining the distances from said test sample or test samples to the reference samples; and, optionally, (d) defining an area around the test sample or test samples that contains complex materials having similar physiological properties.
In another preferred highly desirable method, reference materials are chosen that are representative of, and span the range of, compositions and characters that are likely to be of interest for the specific complex material to comprise a reference set;
multiple measurements are made on each reference material; the data for the reference set are optionally pre-processed by vector normalization; optionally, verify that differences within a reference set are smaller than differences between the reference set and a different set having different characteristics;
optionally, build a classification model for the reference set; optionally, make multiple measurements on the said specific complex material; determine the "distance"
from each test sample of the specific complex material to the reference sets; and optionally display the result to visually depict the similarity or difference of the said specific complex material relative to the reference sets. The above method can also be used to predict characteristics of a mixture of complex materials by using the method on each component of the mixture and combining the results mathematically and comparing the combined results to the said reference material or materials.
Desirably the methods herein utilize a computer-readable medium containing instructions for comparing an analysis of a target specific complex material said analysis being derived from mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gas chromatography, infrared spectrometry, and/or Raman spectrometry, electronic nose, image analysis, or combinations thereof, to more than one similar analysis of other reference complex materials and defining the target complex material in terms of the differences between the target complex material and the reference complex materials.
The method herein desirably can use as the reference material or materials ingredients that have been determined in previous iterations to provide the most influence on the determination of the characteristic of interest.

B. Intellectual Property Protection The methods described herein can be used to define a complex material, or a range of complex materials, for the purpose of obtaining trademark, copyright, or patent protection. The application for a trademark or a trade name on a material, including complex materials or commercial products, uses at least a portion of either its mass spectrometry, its nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or both, to cover both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics if the definition allows for variability of the relative frequency for at least some of the individual points in the resulting spectrograph or spectrographs.
Thus, the discovery, in one preferred embodiment, involves the use of vapor phase mass spectrometry to define a material such as a perfume by digital means. The digitized results can then be used, for example, for the purpose of filing trademark applications, patent applications, etc. The digital expression can also be copyrighted. For a trademark, the issue, as always, is whether there is an association of the perfume with the source of the product in the mind of the consumer and whether another perfume being used by a competitor will result in confusion.
Although one can simply file a trademark application on the digital version of the vapor phase mass spectrometry analysis of a specific complex material, it is normally desirable to use a broader definition. For example one can use a relative similarity index as exemplified hereinafter. For definitions that are more usable to cover functional equivalents, it is desirable to use a"pattern recognition" software program to compare the analyzed material to one or more similar reference materials and allow for a reasonable degree of variation, or, more desirably, the complex material is defined by comparison to more than one reference material.
The use of multiple complex reference materials allows one to define complex materials as, e.g., an "area"
of materials on a spider diagram when plotted against the multiple reference materials where said complex materials share at least one common characteristic.
The use of results from a different, or additional, analytical process such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry can be helpful in providing a definition for purposes of applying for trademarks, copyrights, patents, etc., since nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry can be used for non-volatile materials. Thus, the invention comprises the method, or process, of filing an application for a trademark, copyright, patent, or a trade name on a material, including commercial products, in which the material is characterized by at least a portion of its mass spectrometry, of its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or of both, the application covering both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics by utilizing a definition allowing for variability of the relative frequency (which correlates with the amounts of materials of components of materials indicative of the amounts of individual compounds) for at least some of the individual points in the resulting spectrograph or spectrographs from the analyses.
It has long been desired to protect complex materials such as perfumes from piracy.
However, it has not been possible heretofore to reliably and easily identify either a perfume or perfumes that share the same odor characteristics. The current methods allow one to effectively use them to identify individual perfumes and even equivalent perfumes, for products, services, etc. that originate from a specific supplier. The improved definitions herein, which are desirably in digital form, can be used to define areas that can be used in claims for intellectual property protection for such uses.
When a complex material is effective in creating good will on the part of the consumer, competitors try to copy the material to take advantage of the reputation and good will built up by the material. This invention provides protection, especially intellectual property protection, of complex, normally volatile, materials so they can used to provide favorable impressions for consumer products and services. The use of normal analytical methods, especially vapor phase mass spectrometry, to define complex materials, especially complex materials containing one or more volatile components, and especially complex materials useful in providing favorable impressions to consumers, and more especially such complex materials having a physiological action such as perfumes and/or flavors, allows one to provide effective intellectual property protection. The use of such analytical methods allows one to define a complex material in digital form, which is also very convenient when computers are used to control quality, production, etc. The digital definition of such complex materials can be copyrighted to prevent "pirates" from using the digital definition; can be used as the basis for a trademark application;
and can be used to define inventions for patent purposes.
As described above, one can also use definitions of perfumes using less than a complete spectrum analysis by limiting the definition to the content of the most important components, especially those listed herein, so as to minimize the size of the definition and to eliminate less relevant components such as solvents which can be present in much less and/or much greater amounts without making a major change in the perfume character. Thus, one can define a perfume by that portion that remains after the first few minutes, after the most volatile compounds have evaporated.
In order to ensure that the perfume as perceived by the consumer is correct, the perfume can be checked by using individual compounds as reference points when analyzing the headspace over, e.g., a substrate treated with the perfume or a composition containing the perfume.
Trademark Protection The use of vapor phase mass spectrometry to provide a definition of a complex material, especially a perfume, for purposes of obtaining trademark protection is highly desirable. Vapor phase mass spectrometry has proven more accurate than the "electronic nose"
for defining such materials. It is also much easier to use. The trademark can be coupled with a copyright on the digital expression of the mass spectrometry results to prevent would-be pirates from stealing the essence of a perfume for their purposes.
The trademark can be on the name of the perfume itself, or on the perfume as it provides an identity for a product or service with which it is associated.
The identity of the perfume can be defined based on a specific analytical result obtained by using specific analytical equipment, or, more desirably, to such a result with a certain percentage variation in the results. The identity of the perfume can also be conveniently defined to allow for variation by making a graph of the results of a vapor phase mass spectrometry analysis and then providing upper and lower limits by using lines both above and below the graph. The definition can also be made by comparison to one or more complex reference materials and by utilizing only the fragments that make the major contribution to the character.

Thus, the trademark can comprise only the more substantive ingredients.
However, one can use both the complete perfume and one or more distinctive fractions of the perfume as trademarks.
Copyright Protection It is highly desirable to copyright the digital expression of the results of any of the 5 described mass spectrometry analyses. One can also copyright the digital expression of the results of the digital analysis by means of the "electronic nose" although such a copyright is much less useful. The copyright of the broader protection is not as useful, but can be included using a series of graphs with gradually increasing limits. Each of the limits can be more, or less, than the analytical results or definition by, e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or 20%
in decreasing order of 10 specificity and increasing order of scope of coverage.
Patent Protection The use of analytical results for filing patent applications is well known.
However, it has not been suggested that the analysis of a perfume, flavor, etc. using vapor phase mass spectrometry could adequately define the range of compositions that would be operable in 15 providing a desired physiological effect. As in the copyright applications, each of the limits can be more, or less, than the analytical results or definition by e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or 20% in decreasing order of specificity and increasing order of scope of coverage.
C. METHODS OF IMPROVING ACCEPTANCE OF PRODUCTS AND/OR
SERVICES (Association of a Complex Material with a Product or Service) The invention comprises methods of improving commercial acceptance of products, e.g., goods, and/or services comprising at least one step of associating a volatile material having a physiological effect of a particular character with a commercial product used by a consumer or a service performed for a consumer where said commercial product or service has a primary benefit unrelated to the said physiological effect, and where either the: (1) said association takes place at one or more times after the initial exposure of the said commercial product to the said consumer, or, (2) where said commercial product is designer clothing or other branded articles, the association can take place starting at the point where the consumer is initially exposed to the said designer clothing or other branded articles, or before, or, (3) where the said commercial product is a food, or drink, the said volatile material is collected at some time during the preparation of said food or drink and is exposed to the consumer independent of the product, but, optionally, where the product is either present, or is being advertised or sold.
Typically, the association is created by advertising that can be either on the product container, on other product packaging, in print advertising, or in electronic media advertising, and the association clearly states the connection of the volatile material's character with the product or service.
Typically, the products can be: (a) a personal care product which is: either a skin care product; an antiperspirant or underarm deodorant; air care product; or tanning product and the volatile material has the same, or complementary, character as the perfume of the said personal care product, the volatile material being exposed to the consumer after the initial use so as to reinforce the association of the volatile material and the product; (b) a laundry product and the volatile material has the same, or complementary, character as the perfume of the said laundry product, the volatile material being exposed to the consumer after the initial use so as to reinforce the association of the volatile material and the product; (c) clothing, especially designer clothing, optionally bearing a specific designer label and the volatile material, optionally, but desirably, a perfume, has a character that either identifies the said clothing as being from a specific supplier, or, in another aspect, is used to create a desire in the consumer to purchase the clothing, e.g., by eliciting an emotional response associated with the end use of the clothing;
(d) branded articles of manufacture such as hand bags, ski equipments, automobiles, and the like where the volatile material is used as an identifier and/or to elicit an emotional response that promotes sale, (e) brewed coffee, especially where the volatile material is obtained during the roasting of one, or more of the coffee beans used to brew the said coffee; (f) cooked, especially baked or fried goods, where the volatile material is collected when the goods are baked or fried and then exposed to the consumer nearer the point of sale; and/or (g) perfume products where the volatile material is part of the perfume product and is exposed to the consumer at a time before sale, e.g., to demonstrate the character without using the total perfume and/or after the consumer has used the perfume to augment the perfume portions that are lost first.
The use of volatile materials to create a favorable consumer impression requires that the character of the physiological effect of the volatile materials be desirable and consistent with the consumers' expectations for the product and/or service that is being offered to the consumer.
This is a complex interaction and a successful selection of such volatile materials normally requires considerable effort by experts who have both scientific and artistic abilities. The creation of such volatile materials typically results in complex formulations in which the effect of each ingredient is extremely difficult to quantify.
The protection of such formulations has typically been by use of a "trade secret" in which the formulation has been protected from becoming public knowledge. This has allowed "pirates"
to create similar formulations, often without regard to the quality, safety, and aesthetic issues faced by the originator of the original formulation. Consumers are therefore put at risk when they select the product or service with the mistaken belief that it originated from the first supplier.
Heretofore it was difficult to protect the good will created by the use of a complex material such as a perfume in association with a product or service. The ability to define and protect such a complex material and the good will that it can create is a major advantage of the invention. The choice of a perfume for association with a particular product, or service, can be very difficult, involving the creation of many different perfumes and the consumer research to determine which of the many possible perfumes best complements the product or service objective. The character of a perfume that best influences the perception of the consumer that the product or service is acceptable for the consumer's need is primarily determined by relatively few of the components in the perfume, but it is very difficult to determine which components are responsible for the good effect.
As discussed hereinbefore, it is possible to use the methods herein to create intellectual property to protect the complex materials and/or their association with products and/or services.
II. Tvpes of Products and Services Branded Personal Care Products It is highly desirable to associate a perfume with a branded commercial product that is a personal care product. Non-limiting examples of personal care products include: (a) a skin care product; (b) an antiperspirant or underarm deodorant; (c) hair care product;
(d) tanning product, and the like. It is preferable that the volatile material has the same, or complementary, character as the perfume of the said personal care product. Thus, it is possible to create an association of the perfume of the product with the product itself so that the consumer recognizes that the perfume indicates the source of the product and it is also possible to create an association of a portion of the perfume of the product with the product, i.e., the volatile portion of the perfume of the product can be used independently of the product to create a feeling of comfort for the consumer in selecting the product.
An example of the above would be the presentation of the volatile portion of the perfume of a product at the point of selection to confirm that the consumer has located the desired product.
This presentation can be accomplished by a spray that is either activated by the consumer, or automatically by some means, or by a "scratch and sniff" strip on the product package. This is especially important where the product comes in a variety of perfume variations and the consumer prefers one of the variations or wants to check the perfume before the purchase. This approach is particularly desirable for perfumes and colognes and would supplement the "sample"
approach that can often cause distress for others in the area. The scratch and sniff approach typically provides a bare minimum of the volatile portion of the fragrance. If desired, the residual perfume can be placed in a separate strip so the consumer can appreciate what it will smell like.
The volatile portion can be sold separately to supplement the perfume and/or to create the desired feeling.
Thus, the perfume and/or its volatile portion can be used as trademarks for the product, assuring the consumer that the product is, in fact, the one that is desired.
It is also possible to use a perfume (volatile material) that has a complementary character to the perfume of the said personal care product for more than associative purposes. For example, a more business oriented addition for the workplace and a more casual addition for after work. When the perfumes are compatible, the mood can be changed without changing the base impression. Similarly, one could add perfume to keep one alert during slow times and an addition to calm during stress times. Progressive modification of a perfume's physiological effect could become its own trademark.
Branded Laundry Products The present invention relates to a method of imparting odor character of a branded laundry product to fabric comprising the step of applying said fabric with a perfume composition, desirably an aqueous perfume composition, having an odor, wherein said odor of said perfume composition comprises an odor character substantially similar to the odor character of a branded laundry product. Non-limiting examples of branded laundry product include laundry detergent products, fabric softening products, fabric wrinkle releaser products, and combinations thereof.
A "substantially similar" odor character is defined herein below.
The use of a perfume in laundry products is highly desirable. Many consumers associate the laundry experience with a particular perfume, or at least the volatile portion of said perfume.
Again, many laundry products come in a variety of perfumes and the consumer needs to know that the product is in fact the proper one. The association of the perfume which has the same character as, or a character that is complementary to, the character of the perfume of the said laundry product with the product, especially at the point of purchase helps the consumer make the appropriate selection. The association can be by vapor creation near the product shelf, or by using a typical "scratch and sniff' strip on the product package. If complementary products are desired, the association of the perfume assures the consumer that the perfumes are compatible and/or that the source of the product can be trusted.
It is also preferable to create an association of the perfume of the product with the product itself so that the consumer recognizes that the perfume indicates the source of the product and it is also possible to create an association of a portion of the perfume of the product with the product, i.e., the volatile portion of the perfume of the product can be used independently of the product to create a feeling of comfort for the consumer in selecting the product. It is optional but preferable to provide a fabric perfume that is associated with a laundry product, such as a fabric softener, to apply on the clothing to replenish or enhance the favorite scent.
The normal habit of the most consumers is to launder the laundry at some intervals, then store the washed fabrics for later use. In storage, the clothes may loose a substantial amount of product perfume, and by the time the clothes are used, the scent can be very faint. The fabric perfume can then be used to replenish the scent, and give the clothes in storage or already worn a "just washed feeling"
impression. Furthermore, such fabric perfume provides the consumer the opportunity to apply the preferred scents on clothing that she cannot use the laundry product on, such as garments that require dry cleaning, or large items that do not fit in her washer, such as bed comforters and sleeping bags. Desirably, these perfumes that are designed specifically for a direct application on clothing and other fabrics are essentially free of any ingredient that stains fabric or damages the colors and designs of color fabrics.
As with the personal products, the approach to sampling is useful for the consumer and can be accomplished with minimum distress to others in the area.
Branded Articles of Manufacture The present invention relates to a method of identifying a branded article (wherein a branded article is an article with insignia, logo, trade name, trademark, etc.) comprising the steps of (a) providing said branded article to a consumer; (b) providing a branded perfume composition to the consumer; and (c) instructing said consumer to apply said branded perfume composition to said branded article; desirably wherein the brand of said branded perfume composition is the same as the brand of said branded article.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of identifying a branded line of clothing, e.g., a line of clothing designed by a fashion designer, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an article of clothing of said branded line of clothing to a consumer; (b) providing a branded perfume composition, desirably a branded fine fragrance composition, to the consumer; and (c) instructing said consumer to apply said branded perfume composition to said branded clothing article; wherein the brand of said branded perfume composition is the same as the brand of said branded clothing article.
Thus, the present invention also relates to a method of improving product recognition and/or acceptance wherein a particular fragrance is associated with a particular source, especially 5 a particular fashion designer. Such a perfume serves as the olfactory signature of a line of fashion, so that people can subtly recognize the line of designer clothes that one is wearing, without having to read, or in addition to reading, the labels. Thus, when one smells the particular fragrance, one knows that the designer is the source and that the clothing is not a "knock-off' by some cheap copier. Desirably, these perfumes that are designed specifically for a direct 10 application on clothing and other fabrics are essentially free of any ingredient that stains fabric or damages the colors and designs of color fabrics.
The present invention also relates to a method of improving product recognition and/or acceptance wherein an up-scale branded product, such as fine fragrances for body, fine fragrances for fabrics, luxury automobile brand, upholstery furniture brand, leather goods such as 15 designer hand bags, ski equipments, and the like, is associated with a distinctive perfume, desirably a fabric perfume, for use as the signature for the brand.
The use of perfume with clothing is not conventional. Perfume is a personal preference ordinarily. However, perfume can evoke feelings without being so obvious as to intrude upon ones personal preference. It is possible to create a perfume that evokes the sea for nautical wear 20 or the outdoors for outdoor wear, etc. It is also possible to create personalized fragrances that are based on personal preference and/or personality, and thus provide and/or establish a "scent signature" for each consumer and/or for their family. The present invention relates to a method of protecting this scent signature, and a method for others to identify the consumer and/or their family by this distinctive fragrance.
The present invention relates to a method of targeted perfume delivery on fabrics for the branded laundry perfumes and/or branded fine fragrances of the present invention, by applying the perfume in only a part of the garment, e.g., a small area of a upper part of the outside of a vest or a blouse, or an area underneath the tab of a collar, to provide the olfactory benefit, instead of the need for applying the whole inside and/or outside of a garment with perfume, as in the case of a laundry product. It is also possible to apply the fabric perfume to a patch that can be placed in inconspicuous area of clothing, e.g., under the tab of a collar, etc. This method of the present invention provides many advantages as compared to the conventional method of applying perfume to fabrics via a laundry process, such as, (a) reduction of skin irritation and sensitization due to an application of a smaller amount of perfume to the outside of a garment, thus, not having a direct contact with the skin, as compared to a total application of perfume to the inside and outside of the garment via a laundry product, and (b) improvement of the environment conservation benefit, due to the much smaller amount of perfume that is needed to treat a garment, and still obtain the olfactory benefit of the fragrance.
Brewed Coffee The popularity of coffee houses has created a host of competitors. In order to know that the coffee being sold is in fact the desired coffee, one can associate the smell of the brewed coffee with the coffee house, thus assuring the consumer of the source and quality of the coffee.
For example, one can extract the desired volatiles from the roasting of the beans and present them from time to time in the coffee house to assure potential consumers of the quality and source of the brewed coffee being served. The use of the odor in this way will be a trademark that assures the consumer that the product is one that is from a trusted source. A discontinuous, e.g., pulsed, presentation of the odor after a time sufficient for the nose to recover can minimize olfactory fatigue.
Baked Goods In order to inform the consumer that baked goods are in fresh condition, it is desirable to collect a portion of the volatiles released during the baking and either present them in the atmosphere near the display point or in a scratch and sniff on the product.
Since the flavor is due in great part to the odor, the consumer will be able to more accurately assess whether the baked good encased in a package that protects it will meet the consumer's need. The use of the odor in this way will be a trademark that assures the consumer that the product is one that is from a trusted source.
D. ImprovingLComplex Mixtures.
As previously mentioned, it is possible to use the methods herein to improve existing complex mixtures and or to identify new useful materials.
One can predict the odor or flavor character of new mixtures of one, or more, of compounds or old mixtures of compounds that have been analyzed separately, by combining the results mathematically. Accordingly, one can use the process to help create new odors or flavors.
Thus, the invention can comprise a step in the creation of a new odor or flavor comprising creating a collection of data as discussed above by analyzing existing odors or flavors by vapor phase mass spectrometry, optionally normalizing the results, plotting the results, and selecting individual components that, when combined, will create an odor of flavor that is outside the area defined by the existing odors or flavors.
The above process can also be useful in selecting and/or identifying new materials, especially those that have complex formulae, that have novel effects, by selecting materials that are statistically different from known complex materials of similar effect based upon their mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry digital analyses.
One can define such novel complex materials by the differences from the said reference material or materials.
The methods can be used in a process of creating new complex materials having similar characteristics to an existing complex material by using the method to determine which components of the existing complex material are primarily responsible for its position with respect to a reference set and using those components with new additional components to create a new complex material. The method can also be used to create a new odor or flavor by creating a collection of data for existing odors or flavors, plotting the results, and selecting individual components that will create an odor of flavor that is outside the area defined by the existing odors or flavors. The perfumes or other complex materials created by this process can be patented as new and novel compositions. These new complex materials can be patented as complete compositions or by defining only that portion of the mixture of compounds, e.g., that is present after the volatile materials have evaporated and/or the mixture of compounds that is most important to the perceived odor or effect.
The process can also be used to help determine what structure of a volatile compound will provide a specific character by analyzing a set of complex mixtures having the desired character and using a pattern recognition method of statistical analysis to determine combinations of specific compound structures that make the maximum contribution to the desired character. The use of comparative software also allows one to determine the compound structure that results in a physiological effect, thus assisting research into compounds that possess, or in the case of undesirable effects, do not possess, a given physiological effect.
The above process is especially useful in creating a branded perfume having a specific name that is different from existing branded perfumes or a food flavor that is different from existing flavors. The process is also useful for optimizing the formulation of an odor or flavor in which each component of the odor of flavor is analyzed and at least one of the potential binary mixtures is analyzed to provide a weighted value for the contribution of each material to the odor or flavor character.

One can create a branded perfume or flavor that has a new character by comparing the perfume or flavor to existing perfumes or flavors, especially those that have been previously branded, i.e., those that have been previously sold under a brand name.
The method can be used in research to define new useful materials by analyzing a known complex material using mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or both, and comparing the known complex material to at least one different complex material analyzed by the same method or methods, and then using pattern recognition software to determine the components of the two materials that are responsible for the difference in analytical results and relating said difference to an observed difference in the effects of the two complex materials.
For example, the evaluation of complex materials having one or more similar characteristics to define mixtures sharing one or more common characteristics and/or to determine which, if any, specific members of the mixture are responsible for the characteristics allows one to determine the components within an odor or flavor that are responsible for the contribution of a particular odor or flavor character, by comparing the analytical results having a particular character or odor to the analytical results from other complex materials having different characters or odors. The knowledge of the different components in the different perfumes enables the perfumer, or flavor expert, to create improved variations more efficiently.
Odors and/or flavors created by this method have the advantage of using materials that are primarily responsible for the difference in character. Therefore, the differences can be made more pronounced, or, the number of trials to create the odor or flavor can be reduced.
The method of doing research to define new materials, including the complex materials that can be used in the method of improving product recognition and/or acceptance described hereinbefore, can include analyzing one or more known complex materials having specific physiological effects using mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or both, and comparing these known complex materials to themselves or a different complex material analyzed by the same method or methods, and then using pattern recognition software to determine the components of the materials that are responsible for the difference in analytical results and, by association, relating said differences to any observed differences in the effects of the complex materials.
E. Novel Complex Materials or Individual Novel Materials The invention also comprises the novel complex material mixtures and individual materials that are found by the methods described above. The ability to define mixtures and materials that have novel properties allows one to find such novel materials.
Without the method, there would be no way to determine these materials.
Following are non-limiting examples of the practice of the methods of the present invention.

Example 1. Method for Defining the Uniqueness andJor Similarity of the Character of a Neat Perfume Composition. This example illustrates the method of the present invention for digitally defining the character of neat perfume compositions, and their relative similarity and/or difference with character of other perfumes.

1. Reference Perfume Compositions A. Eleven perfume accords of known composition that are representative of and span the range of compositions and odor characters likely to be encountered are prepared as the reference set or training set. Sensor descriptors recognized by those skilled in the art characterize each of the reference samples. These descriptors desirably match with characters assigned to these reference compositions by those skilled in the art, but are used herein for the classification purpose only, and not necessarily claimed to broadly represent each assigned character. The 11 reference compositions are as follows:
Reference 1 A - Rose (Floral) Ingredients Wt. %
Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol 50 Citronellol 15 Geraniol 15 Citronellyl Acetate 10 Geranyl Acetate 10 Total 100 Reference 2A - Minty Ing_redients Wt. %
Peppermint Rp 50 Spearmint, Natural 15 Laevo Carvone 15 Menthyl Acetate 10 Methyl Salicylate Usp 10 Total 100 Reference 3A - Muguet (Floral) Ingredients Wt. %
Hydroxycitronellal 50 10 Cymal 15 Lyral 15 P. T. Bucinal 10 Phenyl Ethyl Acetate 10 Total 100 Reference 4A - Jasmin (Floral) Ingredients Wt. %
Methyl Dihydro Jasmonate 50 Hexyl Cinnamic Aldehyde 15 Benzyl Acetate 15 Iso Jasmone 10 Ylang Ylang 10 Total 100 Reference 5A - Citrus (Floral) Ingredients Wt. %
Orange Terpenes 50 Citral 15 Citronellal Nitrile 15 Citrathal (conf.-frag) 10 Iso Bergamate 10 Total 100 Reference 6A - Fruity (Apple) Ingredients Wt. %
Fructone 50 Fructene 15 Flor Acetate 20 Allyl Cyclohexane Propionate 10 Alpha Damascone 5 Total 100 Reference 7A - Woody Ingredients Wt. %
Gamma Methyl lonone 50 Sandalwood 15 Iso E Super 15 4-Tertiary-Butyl Cyclohexyl Acetatel0 Cedarwood Terpenes 10 Total 100 Reference 8A - Musk Ingredients Wt. %
Ethylene Brassylate 50 Musk Plus 15 Ambrox DI 10% in DPG 15 Exaltolite 10 Musk 771 Nmf (conf.-tak) 10 Total 100 Reference 9A - Green Floral Ingredients Wt. %
Cis-3-Hexenyl Salicylate 50 Agrumen Aldehyde Light-4 15 Iso Cyclo Citral 15 Cis-3-Hexenyl Acetate 10 Leaf Acetal 10 Total 100 Reference 10A - Spice Ingredients Wt. %
Eugenol 50 Iso Eugenol 15 Cinnamic Alcohol 15 Elemi Oil 10 Anisic Aldehyde 10 Total 100 Reference 11A - Lavender Ingredients Wt. %
Lavender 50 Eucalyptol 15 Rosemary 15 Linalyl Acetate 10 Terpinyl Acetate 10 Total 100 2. Reference Perfume Compositions B. Eleven perfume accords of known composition that are representative of and span the range of compositions and odor characters likely to be encountered are prepared as the reference set or training set. Sensor descriptors recognized by those skilled in the art characterize each of the reference samples. These descriptors desirably match with characters assigned to these reference compositions by those skilled in the art, but are used herein for the classification purpose only, and not necessarily claimed to broadly represent each assigned character. The 11 reference compositions are as follows:

Reference 1B - Rose Floral Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
alpha-Damascone 0.5 Benzophenone 1.0 Citronellol 19.0 Citronellyl acetate 5.0 beta-Damascone 1.0 Dimethyl benzyl carbinyl acetate 3.0 Dimethyl octanol 3.0 Geraniol 16.0 Geranyl acetate 7.0 Hydroxycitronellal 5.0 Methyl lonone 3.0 para Hydroxy phenyl butanone 0.5 Phenyl ethyl acetate 7.0 Phenyl ethyl alcohol 21.0 Phenyl hexanol 5.0 Rosalva(a) 3.0 Total 100.0 (a) 9-Decen-l-ol.

Reference 2B - Jasmin Floral Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Amyl cinnamic aldehyde 8.0 Amyl salicylate 5.0 Anisic aldehyde 3.0 Benzyl acetate 16.7 Benzyl salicylate 5.0 cis Jasmone 2.0 Flor acetate 5.0 gamma Decalactone 2.0 Hexyl cinnamic aldehyde 20.0 Indol 0.3 Jasmal 2.0 Jasmolactone 3.0 Methyl benzoate 3.0 Methyl dihydro jasmonate 20.0 Phenyl ethyl iso butyrate 5_0 Total 100.0 Reference 3B - Muguet Floral Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Bourgeonal(b) 5.0 Cymal( ) 5.0 Floralozone(d) 5.0 Florhydral(e) 5.0 Helional(f) 7.0 Hydroxycitronellal 20.0 Lyral(g) 5.0 Mayol(h) 5.0 P. T. Bucinal(') 10.0 Phenyl acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal 5.0 Phenyl ethyl alcohol 5.0 Phenyl ethyl phenyl acetate 7.0 Rhodinol 700) 3.0 Terpineol 3.0 Tetra hydro linalool 5.0 Tetra hydro muguol 5^0 Total 100.0 3-(4-( 1,1-Dimethylethyl)phenyl)propanal.
2-Methyl-3-(para iso propyl phenyl)propionaldehyde.
(d) para-Ethyl-alpha, alpha-dimethyl hydrocinnamaldehyde.
(e) 3-(3-Isoropylphenyl)butanal.
5 alpha-Methyl-3,4, (methylenedioxy) hydrocinnamaldehyde.
4-(4-hHdroxy-4-methyl-pentyl) 3-cylcohexene-l-carboxaldehyde.
(h) cis-4-(10-Methylethyl)-cyclohexanemethanol.
Lilial, or para-tertiary-butyl-alpha-methyl hydrocinnamic aldehyde.
laevo-Citronellol.

Reference 4B - Citrus Lemon Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Citral 15.0 Citral dimethyl acetal 7.0 Citronellyl nitrile 5.0 Decyl aldehyde 2.0 Dihydro myrcenol 6.0 Geranyl nitrile 10.0 Lime oxide 5.0 Linalool 9.0 Methyl beta-naphthyl ketone 3.0 Methyl nonyl acetaldehyde 1.0 Nonyl aldehyde 1.0 Octyl aldehyde 1.00 Orange terpenes 35.0 Total 100.0 Reference 5B - Fruity Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Allyl amyl glycolate 5.0 Allyl cyclohexane propionate 7.0 alpha Damascone 1.0 Amyl acetate 1.0 Benzyl propionate 3.5 Ethyl methyl phenyl glycidate 3.0 Ethyl-2-methyl butyrate 2.0 Fructone 18.0 Frutene 5.0 Galaxolide 50 25.0 Hexyl acetate 2.5 Methyl anthranilate 3.0 Prenyl acetate 2.0 Triplal(k) 1.0 Undecalactone 3.0 Verdox(') 18.0 Total 100.0 (k) 2, 4-Dimethyl-3-cyclohexene-l-carboxaldehyde.
(') 4-(4-Hydroxy-4-methyl-pentyl) 3-cylcohexene-l-carboxaldehyde.
Reference 6B - Green Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Allyl caproate 3.0 beta gamma Hexenol 2.0 cis 3 Hexenyl acetate 3.0 cis-3-Hexenyl salicylate 25.5 Cyclal C 2.0 Cyclo galbanate 5.0 Hexyl salicylate 10.0 iso Cyclo citral 5.0 Leaf Acetal 2.0 Liffarome(m) 1.0 Methyl heptine carbonate 1.5 Neobutanone( ) 0.5 Phenyl ethyl dimethyl carbinyl 5.0 acetate Phenyl ethyl phenyl acetate 12.0 Tridecene 2 nitrile 0.5 Trifone( ) 2.0 Undecavertol 20.0 Total 100.0 (m) cis-3-Hexenyl methyl carbonate.
(n) 1 -(5, 5-Dimethyl-l-cyclohexen-l-yl)-4-penten-l-one.
Schiff base of methyl anthranilate and 3-phenylbutanal.
Reference 7B - Woody Balsamic Perfume In gLeLlients Wt. %
4-Tertiary butyl cyclohexyl acetate 7.0 Bacdanol 4.0 Cedac(P) 2.0 Cedrol 2.0 Cedroxide 5.0 Coumarin 3.0 Guaiacwood acetate 3.0 lonone alpha 5.0 lonone Beta 3.0 gamma Methyl ionone 15.0 Iso E Super(9) 10.0 Koavone 5.0 Methyl cedrylone 10.0 Ockumal(`) 5.0 Patchouli 5.0 Trimofix O(S) 4.0 Vetivert 5.
Vetivert Acetate 3.0 Lrg 201 (`) 4.0 Total 100.0 (P) Cedryl acetate.
(q) 7-Acetyl-1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydro-1,1,6,7-tetramethyl naphthalene.
(<)2,4,-Dimethyl-2-(1,1,4,4-tetramethyltetralin-6-yl)-1,3-dioxoiane (trans &
cis isomers).
2, 5,10-Trimethyl-2,5,9-cyclododecatrien-l-yl methyl ketone and isomers.
2,4-Dihydroxy-3,6-dimethyl benzoic acid methyl ester.
Reference 8B - Musk Sweet Perfume Ingr~edients Wt. %
Ambrettolide 1.0 Ambroxan 0.5 Bisabolene 3.0 Cashmeran(Q) 5.0 Cetalox( ) 1.0 Cyclohexadecenone 10.0 Ebanol 3.0 Ethyl Vanillin 0.9 Ethylene Brassylate 27.6 Exaltolide 2.0 Habanolide 100% 15.0 Heliotropin 3.0 Musk Indanone 5.0 Musk Plus 10.0 Sanjinol("") 3.0 Musk RI(X' 7.0 Vanillin 3.0 Total 100.0 (u) 2-Ethyl-4-(2,2,3-trimethyl-3-cyclopentenyl)-2-buten-l-ol.
Dodecahydro-3A,6,6,9A-tetramethylnaphtho[2,1B]-furan.
6,7-Dihydro-1,1,2,3,3-pentamethyl-4(5th)-indanone.
(x) 1,7-Dioxacycloheptadecan-8-one.
Reference 9B - Lavender Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
beta Pinene 5.0 Camphor Gum 4.0 Caryophyllene Extra 5.0 Ethyl amyl ketone 1.0 Eucalyptol 32.0 Linalool 24.0 Linalyl acetate 20.0 Methyl amyl ketone 1.0 Myrcenyl acetate crude 3.0 Terpinyl acetate 5_0 Total 100.0 Reference l OB - Spice Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
Amyl cinnamic aldehyde diethyl 8.0 acetal Cinnamic alcohol 27.0 Cinnamic aldehyde 4.0 Cuminic aldehyde 2.0 Ethyl cinnamate 5.0 Eugenol 15.0 beta lonone 5.0 iso Eugenol 10.0 Jasmolactone 3.0 Methyl benzoate 2.0 Methyl cinnamate 7.0 Methyl eugenol 5.0 Myrcenyl acetate crude 5.0 Methyl chavicol 2_0 Total 100.0 Reference 11B - Pine, Orange Flower Perfume Ingredients Wt. %
alpha Pinene 5.0 alpha Terpineol 10.0 Aurantiol 3.0 Beta naphthol methyl ether 3.0 beta Pinene 5.0 Camphene 3.0 Dimetol(l) 5.0 Diphenyl oxide 3.0 Fenchyl acetate 3.0 iso Borneol 2.0 iso Bornyl Acetate 20.0 Lauric aldehyde 2.0 Methyl anthranilate 5.0 Myrcene 3.0 para Cymene 5.0 Koavone(Z) 6.0 Terpineolene 4.0 Verdantiol 10.0 Ligantraal(aa) 3.0 Total 100.0 ('") Terpineolene.
(z) 3,4,5,6,6-Pentamethyl-3-hepten-2-one.
(-) Methyl2-((7-hydroxy-3,7-dimethyloctylidene)amino)-1-benzenecarboxylate.

2. Data Collection. Measurements are made by headspace-mass spectrometry and require an equilibration of about 100 0 L of the perfume in a 10 mL headspace vial at about 50 C, followed by an injection of about 3 mL of headspace into an HP 5973 benchtop single quadrapole mass spectrometer. Data obtained are the mass spectral channel signals m/z=46 to 200 after electron-ionization of the volatiles in the headspace. Six replications are made on each reference sample.
Each set of replicates for a given sample comprises a reference "class".

3. Data Processing for the Reference Perfume Compositions. The data in this example are pre-processed by vector normalization using an integrated chemometric/pattem recognition software package (Pirouette v.4.0, Infometrix, Inc.) loaded on a high-performance personal computer.

4. Data Analysis for the Reference Perfume Compositions. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) of the normalized data clusters the reference samples into 11 classes by calculation of Euclidean distance. The resulting dendrograms for Reference Perfume Compositions A
presented herein as FIGURE 1, and for Reference Perfume Compositions B
presented herein as FIGURE IV, illustrate that intra-class distances (m=6 replications) are smaller that the inter-class distances.
This concept is further illustrated by the results of a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) which shows a 3-dimensional spatial relationship among the reference classes.
These results are presented herein as FIGURE II for Reference Perfume Compositions A and as FIGURE V for Reference Perfume Compositions B.
The eleven reference classes are subjected to SIMCA classification analysis (Soft-Independent Modeling of Class Analogy) in order to verify class distinctions.
An examination of interclass and intraclass residuals verifies that differences within a reference class are smaller than differences between reference classes. A matrix of interclass distances was constructed, where FS2~.
Interclass distance, D i 1- D

The terms s12 and s21 are interclass residuals and si I and s22 are intraclass residuals for classes I and 2, respectively. In this sense, D is essentially a ratio of standard deviations so a value greater that 3 is deemed significant at the 95% confidence level. Those skilled in the art will realize that the calculation of residuals, and hence interclass distances, will depend on the number of factors retained for each class within the SIMCA model. As a general rule, the number of factors retained should describe the majority of variance within a class, desirably greater than 90% but less than 100%. The number of factors chosen defines the reference set model and should be consistent for all subsequent calculations. The resulting interclass distances are presented herein as Tables 1 and 2.

TABLE 1 Perfume Set A - Interclass Distances Rose Mint Muguet Jasmin Citrus Fruity Rose 0.0 38.6 33.9 28.9 40.4 56.8 Mint 0.0 72.0 125.5 193.8 370.6 Muguet 0.0 72.2 79.0 73.2 Jasmin 0.0 133.8 159.3 Citrus 0.0 383.9 Fruity 0.0 Woody Musk Green Spice Lavender Rose 24.9 17.3 40.4 34.7 37.4 Mint 33.5 25.1 184.1 114.1 131.7 Muguet 41.0 25.1 77.2 78.5 80.2 Jasmin 55.9 30.5 132.8 111.3 124.6 Citrus 45.5 22.7 60.0 86.7 213.0 Fruity 67.9 37.7 345.3 297.1 402.3 Woody 0.0 16.5 44.5 35.3 36.6 Musk 0.0 23.1 21.0 25.0 Green 0.0 99.2 208.8 Spice 0.0 66.6 Lavender 0.0 TABLE 2 Perfume Set B - Interclass Distances Rose Jasmin Muguet Citrus Floral Floral Floral Lemon Fruity Green Rose Floral 0.00 48.85 49.97 60.57 87.98 73.65 Jasmin Floral 0.00 78.62 146.87 173.29 146.05 Muguet Floral 0.00 86.33 75.85 71.22 Citrus Lemon 0.00 310.04 176.02 Fruity 0.00 178.06 Green 0.00 Pine, Woody Musk Orange Balsamic Sweet Lavender Spice Flower Rose Floral 60.33 7.16 71.84 40.15 66.82 Jasmin Floral 101.71 9.17 145.04 31.36 132.89 Muguet Floral 56.40 6.43 65.05 52.12 83.71 Citrus Lemon 113.09 8.50 255.59 71.70 321.88 Fruity 68.03 9.55 257.48 81.50 343.96 Green 89.72 8.16 175.20 63.66 237.57 Woody Balsamic 0.00 7.08 96.79 61.37 118.08 Musk Sweet 0.00 7.84 8.25 9.57 Lavender 0.00 74.18 249.93 Spice 0.00 74.82 Pine, Orange Flower 0.00 6. Test Perfume Samples. One or more replicate headspace-mass spectrometry measurements are made on each of the test samples. The test samples consist of commercial perfumes and colognes and/or experimental perfume compositions. Measurements are made and data are normalized in an identical manner as the reference samples.
7. Test Perfume Samples in the "Eleven-Dimension Perfume Space". All of the samples, test and reference samples, are projected into the SIMCA model created with the reference samples.
A "distance" matrix is output that contains the sample residuals that result when attempting to project the test sample data into each the reference classes. This residual or "distance" is a measure of how well or poorly the sample is modeled by the principal features of each of the reference classes, and as such is a useful measure of similarity or dissimilarity. Shown in Table 3 (Perfume Set A) and Table 4 (Perfume Set B) is a matrix for each perfume set of the mean "distance" values for the test samples relative to each of the reference samples TABLE 3 Perfume Set A - Residuals or "Distances"
Rose Mint Muguet Jasmin Citrus Fruity Test Perfume 7.36 5.59 8.44 8.54 0.92 10.05 Comp Perf 1 6.91 6.42 7.76 8.15 4.85 9.81 Comp Perf 2 6.94 5.14 8.00 8.26 1.60 9.74 Comp Perf 3 7.47 6.97 7.74 8.61 6.36 9.63 Comp Perf 4 6.89 5.12 7.94 8.21 1.68 9.73 Comp Perf 5 7.33 6.75 7.54 8.62 5.73 9.43 Comp Perf 6 8.58 7.91 8.93 9.42 6.84 10.39 Woody Musk Green Spice Lavender Test Perfume 5.18 4.78 1.59 2.73 5.07 Comp Perf 1 5.68 4.66 5.02 5.06 6.27 Comp Perf 2 4.38 4.36 1.91 2.61 4.63 Comp Perf 3 6.15 5.47 6.43 6.41 7.06 Comp Perf 4 4.30 4.30 2.01 2.59 4.58 Comp Perf 5 5.73 4.99 5.79 5.92 6.76 Comp Perf 6 7.71 6.93 6.98 7.14 7.97 TABLE 4 Perfume Set B - Residuals or "Distances"

Rose Jasmin Muguet Citrus Floral Floral Floral Lemon Fruity Green Test Perfume 6.00 7.59 8.36 0.79 9.70 6.88 Comp Perf 1 6.55 8.04 8.41 1.16 9.89 7.25 Comp Perf 2 6.65 8.21 8.31 0.67 9.73 6.76 Comp Perf 3 5.05 6.50 7.00 3.43 8.03 5.97 Comp Perf 4 6.38 7.84 8.54 0.54 9.92 7.19 Comp Perf 5 5.52 7.12 7.84 1.41 9.31 6.72 Comp Perf 6 5.99 6.57 8.06 2.66 10.16 8.03 Woody Musk Pine, Orange Balsamic Sweet Lavender Spice Flower Test Perfume 8.10 7.27 6.00 7.99 5.59 Comp Perf 1 8.52 7.64 6.25 8.40 5.51 Comp Perf 2 8.28 7.52 5.93 8.29 5.70 Comp Perf 3 5.50 5.80 5.14 6.69 5.65 Comp Perf 4 8.43 7.61 6.07 8.33 5.27 Comp Perf 5 7.33 6.83 5.48 7.67 5.22 Comp Perf 6 8.24 7.47 5.33 8.25 3.16 5 Because each of the reference classes here is assigned a sensory descriptor, the "distance" of a test sample to a reference class can be a measure of the sensory characteristic of the test sample. This is particularly probable when the test sample contains substantially the same chemical raw materials as the reference samples. A large distance implies that the test sample shares very little of the characteristics of the reference class, while a small distance would imply closeness in character.
8.Test Perfume Samples in the Eleven-Dimension Similarity Perfume Space. The display of results to visually depict the similarity or difference of the test sample relative to reference samples is conveniently accomplished with a radial plot (also called "spider diagram" or "star plot") in which each of the reference classes is a terminal point. The axes are scaled by the "similarity index" S, a number calculated from the "distance" as follows, where d is the residual or "distance" value for any individual test sample to a reference (i) and dMAx is the maximum distance value for the entire reference set:
S; = 1- (di / dMAx) wherein each Si has values from 0 (very different) to 1(very similar). This way, the uniqueness of each test perfume or each commercial perfume can be defined digitally by the similarity indices Si relative to the 11 reference samples (i) for which composition is well defined and sensory character is known. For each test perfume, its 11 similarity indices Si are compiled in the form of a "similarity matrix" using the class distances generated from SIMCA, as given in TABLEs 5 and 6.

TABLE 5 Perfume Set A - Similarity Indices Rose Mint Muguet Jasmin Citrus Fruity Test Perfume 0.307 0.474 0.206 0.196 0.913 0.054 Comp Perf 1 0.350 0.396 0.270 0.233 0.544 0.077 Comp Perf 2 0.347 0.517 0.247 0.223 0.849 0.083 Comp Perf 3 0.297 0.344 0.272 0.190 0.402 0.094 Comp Perf 4 0.351 0.519 0.253 0.227 0.842 0.085 Comp Perf 5 0.310 0.365 0.290 0.189 0.461 0.113 Comp Perf 6 0.193 0.256 0.160 0.114 0.356 0.023 Woody Musk Green Spice Lavender Test Perfume 0.513 0.551 0.851 0.743 0.523 Comp Perf 1 0.466 0.561 0.528 0.524 0.410 Comp Perf 2 0.588 0.590 0.820 0.754 0.565 Comp Perf 3 0.421 0.486 0.395 0.397 0.336 Comp Perf 4 0.595 0.596 0.811 0.756 0.569 Comp Perf 5 0.461 0.531 0.455 0.443 0.363 Comp Perf 6 0.275 0.348 0.343 0.329 0.250 TABLE 6 Perfume Set B - Similarity Indices Rose Jasmin Muguet Citrus Floral Floral Floral Lemon Fruity Green Test Perfume 0.437 0.288 0.216 0.926 0.091 0.355 Comp Perf 1 0.386 0.246 0.212 0.891 0.073 0.321 Comp Perf 2 0.377 0.230 0.221 0.937 0.087 0.366 Comp Perf 3 0.526 0.391 0.344 0.678 0.247 0.440 Comp Perf 4 0.402 0.265 0.199 0.949 0.070 0.326 Comp Perf 5 0.482 0.332 0.265 0.868 0.127 0.370 Comp Perf 6 0.438 0.384 0.244 0.750 0.047 0.248 Woody Musk Pine, Orange Balsamic Sweet Lavender Spice Flower Test Perfume 0.241 0.318 0.438 0.250 0.476 Comp Perf 1 0.201 0.284 0.414 0.212 0.483 Comp Perf 2 0.223 0.295 0.444 0.223 0.466 Comp Perf 3 0.485 0.456 0.518 0.373 0.470 Comp Perf 4 0.210 0.287 0.431 0.219 0.506 Comp Perf 5 0.312 0.360 0.486 0.281 0.511 Comp Perf 6 0.227 0.300 0.500 0.227 0.704 This similarity matrix can be visually depicted as a spider diagram to show the similarity and/or the difference of these perfumes from the 11 reference samples, and from each other, as follows. The similarity or dissimilarity of the character of two or more test perfumes can be readily estimated visually by the size and shape of their spider diagram.
Spider diagrams for the above data are shown herein as FIGURE III for Perfume Set A and as FIGURE VI
for Perfume Set B.

9.Digital Definition of the Uniqueness and/or Similarity of Test Perfumes.
As given hereinabove, each perfume is defined by a set of 11 similarity indices Si. The difference or similarity between two or more test perfumes,, and/or how said test perfume can be distinguished from comparative perfumes for, e.g., protection purpose, can be defined by the differences between the similarity indices of said test perfume and the similarity indices of each of the comparative perfumes.

Thus, according to the method of the present invention, the difference or similarity between a pair of perfumes, e.g., between the test perfume (designated as t: test perfume) and a comparative perfume (designated as c: comparative perfume), is defined by a "relative similarity index" (RSI) as the average difference of the similarity indices Si of perfume (t) and perfume (c), expressed as a percent and calculated as:

o S~
RSI ( /o) = x 100 m Where m(=11) is the number of reference points and Sit and Si, are the similarity indices S of perfume (t) and comparative perfume (c), respectively, relative to each reference (i).
The sum of squares can be derived from the similarity matrix by adding each individually squared difference between the comparative and the test perfume for all 11 similarity indices.
The difference matrix, the sum of squares, and the relative similarity indices are summarized for the examples herein as TABLE 7 and TABLE 8.

The Tables show that the relative similarity indices for the comparative perfumes vs. the test perfume range from about 5% (slightly different) to 12% (different) to more than 20% (quite different).

TABLE 7 Perfume Set A - Relative Similarity Indices Rose Mint Muguet Jasmin Citrus Fruity Test 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Perfume Comp Perf 1 0.019 0.027 0.097 0.036 0.163 0.179 Comp Perf 2 0.017 0.008 0.040 0.018 0.005 0.282 Comp Perf 3 0.001 0.075 0.102 0.001 0.313 0.519 Comp Perf 4 0.020 0.009 0.051 0.025 0.006 0.311 Comp Perf 0.000 0.053 0.166 0.001 0.245 1.157 Comp Perf 6 0.138 0.213 0.050 0.178 0.372 0.338 Woody Musk Green Spice Lavender RSI%
Test Perfume 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0 Comp Perf 1 0.008 0.000 0.144 0.087 0.046 0.807 8.2 Comp Perf 2 0.022 0.005 0.001 0.000 0.007 0.404 5.8 Comp Perf 3 0.032 0.014 0.287 0.217 0.128 1.688 11.8 Comp Perf 4 0.026 0.007 0.002 0.000 0.008 0.465 6.2 Comp Perf 5 0.010 0.001 0.217 0.163 0.093 2.107 13.2 Comp Perf 6 0.216 0.135 0.355 0.311 0.272 2.578 14.6 TABLE 8 Perfume Set B - Relative Similarity Indices Rose Jasmin Muguet Citrus Floral Floral Floral Lemon Fruity Green Test Perfume 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Comp Perf 1 0.014 0.021 0.000 0.001 0.038 0.009 Comp Perf 2 0.019 0.041 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 Comp Perf 3 0.041 0.126 0.347 0.072 2.955 0.058 Comp Perf 4 0.006 0.007 0.006 0.001 0.052 0.007 Comp Perf 5 0.011 0.023 0.050 0.004 0.161 0.002 Comp Perf 6 0.000 0.111 0.016 0.036 0.229 0.091 Pine, Woody Musk Orange Balsamic Sweet Lavender Spice Flower RSI%
Test Perfume 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0 Comp Perf 1 0.027 0.011 0.003 0.024 0.000 0.149 3.5 Comp Perf 2 0.005 0.005 0.000 0.012 0.001 0.086 2.7 Comp Perf 3 1.029 0.189 0.034 0.240 0.000 5.090 20.5 Comp Perf 4 0.017 0.010 0.000 0.016 0.004 0.125 3.2 Comp Perf 0.089 0.018 0.012 0.015 0.005 0.389 5.7 Comp Perf 6 0.003 0.003 0.020 0.009 0.228 0.747 7.9 Novel perfumes can be defined as having a RSI greater than a set value, which is a measure of overall difference as defined by the similarity matrix. For example, for a meaningful difference, we have found that the RSI would be typically greater than about 10%, desirably 5 greater than about 15%, more desirably greater than about 20%, and even more desirably greater than about 25%. For perfumes that are similar, the RSI would be expected to be smaller than 10%. In fact, in Table 7 the Test Perfume and the Comparative Perfume 1 are very similar, as the RSI between these two is only 5.8% (we know one is derived from the other, and they are very similar).
Example 2. Method for Defining the Uniqueness and/or Similarity of the Character of Roasted Coffee. This example illustrates the method of the present invention for digitally definingthe character of roasted coffees and their relative similarity and/or difference with the character of other coffees.
1. Reference Coffee Compositions. Five coffee blends of known composition that are representative of, and span the range of, compositions and flavor and aroma characters likely to be encountered are prepared as the reference set or training set. Sensory descriptors recognized by those skilled in the art characterize each of the reference samples. These descriptors desirably match with characters assigned to these reference compositions by those skilled in the art, but are used herein for the classification purpose only, and not necessarily claimed to broadly represent each assigned character. The 5 reference compositions are as follows:

Reference 1- High Acid Blend Ingredients Wt.%
Nicaragua arabica 40 Guatemala arabica 20 Colombia arabica 20 Mexico arabica 20 Total 100 Roasted to Hunter L = 18.6 Reference 2 - Dirty/Earthy Blend Ingredients Wt.%
Vietnam robusta 50 Thailand robusta 25 Indonesia robusta 25 Total 100 Roasted to Hunter L = 22.9 Reference 3 - High Prime/High Body Blend Ingredients Wt.%
Guatemalan arabica 50 Mexican arabica 50 Total 100 Roasted to Hunter L = 18.1 Reference 4 - Medium Blend Ingredients Wt.%
Honduras arabica 55 Mexico arabica 18 Brazil arabica 15 Guatemala arabica 12 Total 100 Roasted to Hunter L = 17.4 Reference 5 - Low Prime/Low Acid Blend Ingredients Wt.%
Brazil arabica 100 Total 100 Roasted to Hunter L = 17.9 2. Data Collection. Measurements are made by headspace-mass spectrometry and require equilibration of about 2 g of ground, roast coffee in a 10 mL headspace vial at about 50 C, followed by an injection of about 3 mL of headspace into an HP 5973 benchtop single quadrupole mass spectrometer. Data obtained are the mass spectral channel signals m/z = 50 to 165 after electron-ionization of the volatiles in the headspace. Seven replicates are made on each reference sample. Each set of replicates for a given sample comprises a reference "class".
3. Data Processing for the Reference Coffee Blends. The data in this example are pre-processed by vector normalization using an integrated chemometric/pattem recognition software package (Pirouette v.4.0, Infometrix, Inc.) loaded on a high-performance personal computer.

4. Data Analysis for the Reference Coffee Blends. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) of the normalized data clusters the reference samples into 5 classes by calculation of Euclidean distance. The resulting dendrogram shown herein as FIGURE VII, illustrates that intra-class distance (m=7 replications) is smaller that the inter-class distance.

This concept is further illustrated by the results of Principal Components Analysis (PCA) which shows a 3-dimensional spatial relationship among the reference classes as shown in FIGURE VIII.
The five reference classes are subjected to SIMCA classification analysis (Soft-Independent Modeling of Class Analogy) in order to verify class distinctions. Those skilled in the art will realize that the calculation of residuals, and hence interclass distances, will depend on the number of factors retained for each class within the SIMCA model. As a general rule, the number of factors retained should describe the majority of variance within a class, desirably greater than 90% but less than 100%. The number of factors chosen defines the reference set model and should be consistent for all subsequent calculations. An examination of interclass and intraclass residuals verifies that differences within a reference class are smaller than differences between reference classes. A matrix of interclass distances was constructed and is illustrated in TABLE
9.

TABLE 9 Coffee Set - Interclass Distances dirtylearthy high acid low prime high prime medium prime dirty/earthy 0.00 19.83 17.31 13.63 12.90 high acid 0.00 5.16 9.43 12.33 low prime 0.00 5.31 7.97 high prime 0.00 4.22 medium prime 0.00 5. Commercial Coffee Samples. Three replicate headspace-mass spectrometry measurements are made on each of 4 test samples. The test samples consist of 2 commercial coffees and two test coffees blended to approximate the character of one of the commercial coffees. Data are normalized in an identical manner as the reference samples.
6. Test Coffee Samples in the "Five-Dimension Coffee Space". All of the samples, test and reference samples, are projected into the SIMCA model created with the reference samples. A
"distance" matrix is output that contains the sample residuals that result when attempting to project the test sample data into each the reference classes. This residual or "distance" is a measure of how well or poorly the sample is modeled by the principal features of each of the reference classes, and as such is a useful measure of similarity or dissimilarity. Shown in TABLE 10 is a matrix of the mean "distance" values for the test coffee samples and comparative coffee samples relative to each of the reference samples.

TABLE 10 Coffee Set - Residuals or "Distances"
Dirty Earthy High Acid High Prime Low Prime Medium Prime TestCoffee 2.01 0.62 0.60 0.84 1.16 CC 1 1.43 1.33 0.94 0.46 0.45 Comp Coffee 1 1.87 0.73 0.53 0.74 0.95 Comp Coffee 2 1.92 0.74 0.60 0.86 1.12 Because each of the reference classes here is assigned a sensory descriptor, the "distance" of a test sample to a reference class can be a measure of the sensory characteristic of the test sample.
A large distance implies that the test sample shares very little of the characteristics of the reference class, while a small distance would imply closeness in character.
7. Test Coffee Samples in the Five-Dimension Similarity Coffee Space. The display of results to visually depict the similarity or difference of the test sample relative to reference samples is conveniently accomplished with a radial plot (also called "spider diagram" or "star plot") in which each of the reference classes is a terminal point. The axes are scaled by the "similarity index" S, a number calculated from the "distance" as follows, where d is the augmented residual or "distance" value for any individual test sample to a reference (i) and dmAx is the maximum distance value for the entire test set:

Si = 1- (di / dM.e,x) wherein each S; has values from 0 (very different) to 1(very similar). This way, the uniqueness of each test coffee or each commercial coffee can be defined digitally by the similarity indices Si relative to the 5 reference samples (i) for which composition is well defined and sensory character is known. For each test coffee, its 5 similarity indices Si are compiled in the form of a "similarity matrix" using the class distances generated from SIMCA, as given in TABLE 11.
TABLE 11 Coffee Set B - Similarities Dirty Earthy High Acid High Prime Low Prime Medium Prime Test Coffee 0.148 0.737 0.743 0.644 0.507 CC 1 0.392 0.435 0.603 0.806 0.808 Comp Coffee 1 0.204 0.689 0.774 0.684 0.594 5 Comp Coffee 2 0.184 0.685 0.745 0.636 0.525 This similarity matrix can be visually depicted as a spider diagram to show the similarity and/or the difference of these coffees from the 5 reference coffees, and from each other, as follows. The similarity or dissimilarity of the character of two or more test coffees can be readily 10 estimated visually by the size and shape of their spider diagram. The spider diagram for the above data is shown herein as FIGURE IX.

8. Digital Definition of the Uniqueness and/or Similarity of Test Coffees. As given hereinabove, each coffee is defined by a set of 5 similarity indices Si. The difference between a test coffee and commercial coffees, and/or how the said test coffee can be distinguished from 15 other test coffees or comparative coffees for, e.g., protection purpose, can be defined by the differences between the similarity indices of said test coffee and the similarity indices of each of the commercial coffees. The absolute difference matrix can be calculated using the similarity indices in TABLE12. Individual differences are calculated by taking difference between the test coffee and each of the commercial coffees on each of the 5 similarity indices.

20 9. Thus, according to the method of the present invention, the difference or similarity between a pair of coffees, e.g., between the test coffee (designated as t:
test coffee) and a comparative or commercial coffee (designated as c: comparative coffee), is defined by a "relative similarity index" (RSI) as the average difference of the similarity indices S;
of coffee (t) and coffee (c), expressed as a percent and calculated as:

s ~ s ;t m RSI (0/0) - x 100 m Where m(=5) is the number of reference points and Sit and Sic are the similarity indices S
of coffee (t) and comparative coffee (c), respectively, relative to each reference (i).
The sum of squares can be derived from the similarity matrix by adding each individually squared difference between the comparative and the test coffee for all 5 similarity indices. The difference matrix, the sum of squares, and the relative similarity indices are summarized for the example herein as TABLE 12.

TABLE 12 Coffee Set A - Relative Similarity Indices Dirty High High Low Medium Earthy Acid Prime Prime Prime RSI%
Test Coffee 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0 CC 1 2.729 0.167 0.036 0.063 0.350 3.346 36.6 Comp Coffee 1 0.146 0.004 0.002 0.004 0.029 0.185 8.6 Comp Coffee 2 0.061 0.005 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.067 5.2 TABLE 12 shows that the relative similarity indices for 2 comparative coffees (Cl and C2) vs. the test coffee (TC) and a commercial coffee (CC) vs. the test coffee (TC) range from about 5.2% (slightly different) to 8.6% (slightly more different) to more than 36%
(quite different).
Novel coffees or coffee blends can be defined as having a RSI greater than a set value, which is a measure of overall difference as defined by the similarity matrix.
For example, for a meaningful difference, we have found that the RSI would be typically greater than about 10%, desirably greater than about 15%, more desirably greater than about 20%, and even more desirably greater than about 25%. For coffees that are similar, the RSI would be expected to be smaller than about 10%. In fact the Test Coffee (TC) and the Comparative Coffees (CCI and CC2) above are very similar, and the RSI between these two are only 8.6% and 5.2%, respectively (we know that they are blended from the same coffees and are indeed very similar).
Example 3.
A novel perfume is created by analyzing existing perfumes according to the method of Example I and then modifying an existing perfume so that it is statistically different from the existing perfumes, i.e. exhibits a Relative Similarity Index that is greater than a set value, typically greater than about 10%, desirably greater than about 15%, more desirably greater than about 20%, and even more desirably greater than about 25%. .

Example 4.
A novel perfume is created in accordance with Example 3. The digital expression of the results of the perfume's analysis and an area around the perfume that is determined to be substantially the same as the novel perfume are used to file: a patent application with a claim to the perfume and perfumes having a similar character that are substantially the same as determined by a Relative Similarity Index; a copyright application on the digital expression; and a trademark application for the use of the novel perfume and those perfumes having a similar character and that are substantially the same as determined by a Relative Similarity Index to identify one or more products or services as being provided by a given manufacturer.
Example 5.
The perfume of Example 3 is used in association with one or more expensive articles of commerce like a designer line of clothing to identify the articles as being from a specific designer and to create a distinct impression for the purchasers of said articles.
The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as "40 mm" is intended to mean "about 40 mm."
Every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such invention.
Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.

Claims (75)

1. The method of defining the character of at least one specific complex material in digital form wherein the said complex material is analyzed using at least one multivariate analytical method, the results of the analysis are normalized with respect to at least two different complex reference materials, said reference materials representing a range of complex materials that is of interest and sharing at least one or more traits of the character of the specific complex material, and the results are given as at least one of: a number; a range of numbers; or a geometric figure that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials.

2. The method of Claim 1 wherein said number is either a range of numbers or a geometric figure that is an area defining similar specific complex materials.

3. The method of Claim 1 wherein the complex material is volatile and the analysis is obtained by analyzing the material using a headspace mass spectrometer.

4. The method of Claim 1 wherein said complex material is analyzed by an analytical method which is at least one of: headspace mass spectrometry; nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; or Raman spectroscopy.

5. The method of Claim 1 wherein the results of at least one of the analyses by at least one of said methods is analyzed by a computer using a pattern recognition program to determine the degree of similarity of the specific complex material to the reference materials.

6. The method of Claim 5 wherein the complex material is volatile and has at least one physiological effect.

7. The method of Claim 6 wherein the physiological effect is at least one of:
odor or taste and there are at least two complex reference materials that represent a range of complex materials having similar physiological effects.

8. The method of Claim 1 comprising the following steps: (a) select a reference set comprising a number, n, of reference complex material samples which span the breadth of odor or taste characters of interest, and which are used as n distinct references; (b) using headspace mass spectrometry, determine the mass spectral channel signal pattern of the headspace of each of said n reference samples, and use them to define an n-dimension space with each reference sample defining one dimension; (c) determine the mass spectral channel signal pattern of the headspace of one or more test samples; (d) define the location of said test sample or test samples, in said n-dimension space, by determining the differences between said test sample or samples and each of the reference samples, by defining the distances from said test sample or test samples to the reference samples; and, optionally, (d) defining an area around the test sample or test samples that contains complex materials having similar physiological properties.

9. The method of Claim 8 comprising at least one step wherein: said reference set materials are chosen that are representative of and span the range of compositions and characters that are likely to be of interest for the specific complex material to comprise each reference set; multiple measurements are made on each reference set material;
the data for the reference set are optionally pre-processed by vector normalization; verify that differences within a reference set are smaller than differences between the reference set and a different set having different characteristics; build a classification model for the reference set; make multiple measurements on the said complex material; determine the distance from each test sample of the complex material to each of the reference sets; and display the result to visually depict the similarity or difference of the said complex material relative to the reference sets.

10. The method of predicting characteristics of a mixture of complex materials by using the method of Claim 9 on each component of the mixture and combining the results mathematically to determine where the mixture is with respect to the reference set materials.

11. The method of creating new complex materials having similar characteristics to an existing complex material by using the method of Claim 9 and determining which components of the existing complex material are primarily responsible for the position of the existing complex material with respect to the reference set materials and controlling those components while adding or subtracting other components.

12. The method of creating a new odor or flavor involving creating a collection of data according to the method of Claim 9 by analyzing existing odors or flavors, plotting the results, and selecting individual components that will create an odor or flavor that is outside the area defined by the existing odors or flavors.

13. The method of creating a branded perfume having a specific name using the method of Claim 12 wherein said existing odors are the existing branded perfumes.

14. The method of creating a food flavor using the method of Claim 12 wherein said existing flavors are the existing branded flavors.

15. The method of optimizing the formulation of an odor or flavor to provide a specific character including the step in which each component of the odor of flavor is analyzed according to Claim 1 to provide a value for the contribution of each component to the odor or flavor character.

16. An odor or flavor created by any of the methods or processes of Claims 12-15.

17. The process of defining a volatile compound having a specific character including the steps of (a) analyzing a set of complex mixtures having the desired character according to Claim 7 using vapor mass spectrometry and (b) using a pattern recognition method of statistical analysis to determine which specific compound structures contribute to the desired character.

18. The method of doing research to define new materials including the steps of (a) analyzing a known complex material using mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or both, and (b) comparing the known complex material to at least one different complex material analyzed by the same method or methods, and then using pattern recognition software to determine the components of the two materials that are responsible for the difference in analytical results and (c) relating said difference to an observed difference in the effects of the two complex materials.

19. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for comparing an analysis of a target complex material said analysis being derived from mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, gas chromatography, infrared spectrometry, and/or Raman spectrometry, electronic nose, image analysis, or combinations thereof, to similar analyses of at least two different reference complex materials and, optionally, the further step of defining the target complex material in terms of the differences between the target complex material and the reference complex materials.

20. The method of Claim 1 in which the reference material or reference materials comprise ingredients which have been determined in previous iterations to provide the most influence on the determination of the characteristic of interest.

21. The method of improving the acceptance of products or services by using a complex material wherein either: (a) the character of at said complex material is defined in digital form using a process wherein the said complex material is analyzed using at least one multivariate analytical method, the results of the analysis are normalized with respect to at least two different complex reference materials, said reference materials representing a range of complex materials that is of interest and sharing at least one or more traits of the character of the specific complex material, and the results are given as at least one of: a number; a range of numbers; or a geometric figure that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials; (b) filing an application for a trademark, copyright, or patent to provide protection for said complex material involving the step of defining the characteristics of said complex material in digital form using results obtained by the steps of (a) analyzing the said complex material using a multivariate analytical method, and (b) normalizing the results of the analysis with respect to at least two different complex reference materials representing the characteristics, or range of characteristics that is of interest and wherein said definition optionally comprises complex materials having the same relative similarity index to a given complex material based upon m reference materials wherein the average difference of the similarity indices S i of the defined complex material, expressed as a percent are calculated as:

where m is the number of reference points (i) and S it and S ic are the similarity indices S of the given complex material and equivalent complex materials, respectively, relative to each reference point (i); and/or ( c ) wherein said improved acceptance is as a result of associating a separate volatile material which is either a perfume or an odorless volatile material having a physiological effect with said commercial product or service method wherein said association takes place at one or more times either before, at, or after the initial exposure of the said commercial product or service to the said consumer so as to increase, prolong and/or accentuate the desirable aspects of the association, wherein the said volatile material can also be all or part of the volatile materials associated directly with the said commercial product or service, said volatile material not being a normal part of such product.

22. The method of filing an application for a trademark, copyright, or patent to provide protection for a complex material involving the step of defining the characteristics of said complex material in digital form using results obtained by the steps of (a) analyzing the said complex material using a multivariate analytical method, and (b) normalizing the results of the analysis with respect to at least two different complex reference materials representing the characteristics, or range of characteristics that is of interest.

23. The method of Claim 22 wherein said results are given as at least one number or an area on a graphical representation that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials.

24. The method of Claim 22 wherein the complex material is volatile and the analyses are obtained using a headspace mass spectrometer.

25. The method of Claim 22 wherein said complex material is analyzed by at least one of:
headspace mass spectrometry; nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; or Raman spectroscopy.

26. The method of Claim 25 wherein the complex material is volatile and has at least one physiological effect and the said complex material is analyzed by headspace mass spectrometry.

27. The method of Claim 26 wherein said physiological effect is odor or taste.

28. The method of Claim 27 wherein said complex material is a perfume.

29. The method of Claim 27 wherein said complex material is a flavor.

30. The method of filing an application for a trademark or a trade name on a material, including complex material as in Claim 22 or commercial product containing said complex material in which the material or product containing the material, is characterized by at least a portion of its mass spectrometry, of its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or of both, said application covering both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics in which said application contains a definition of said complex material allowing for variability of the relative frequency for at least some of the individual points in a spectrograph or spectrographs created using said mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry.

31. The method of Claim 30 wherein said definition comprises complex materials having the same relative similarity index to a given complex material based upon m reference materials wherein the average difference of the similarity indices Si of the defined complex material, expressed as a percent are calculated as:

where m is the number of reference points (i) and S it and S ic are the similarity indices S of the given complex material and equivalent complex materials, respectively, relative to each reference point (i).

32. A definition of a complex material created by the method of Claim 31.

33. A trademark or trade name on a composition that includes a definition according to Claim 32 of a complex material or a commercial product containing said complex material in which the composition or product containing the material, is characterized by at least a portion of its mass spectrometry, of its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or of both, said application covering both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics by utilizing a definition allowing for variability of the relative frequency for at least some of the individual points in the resulting spectrograph or spectrographs created using said mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry.

34. A patent that includes a definition according to Claim 32 of a complex material in which the material is characterized by at least a portion of its mass spectrometry, of its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or of both, definition in the patent covering both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics by utilizing a definition allowing for variability of the relative frequency for at least some of the individual points in the resulting spectrograph or spectrographs created using said mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry.

35. A copyright that includes a digital expression of the definition according to Claim 32 of a complex material in which the material is characterized by at least a portion of its mass spectrometry, of its nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, or of both, definition in the patent covering both the material and other materials having the same essential characteristics by utilizing a definition allowing for variability of the relative frequency for at least some of the individual points in the resulting spectrograph or spectrographs created using said mass spectrometry and/or nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry.

36. The method of ensuring that a change in formulation of a product does not change the essential nature of a complex material incorporated into said product wherein any complex material that is to be substituted for said complex material has the same relative similarity index to a given complex material based upon m reference materials wherein the average difference of the similarity indices S i of the defined complex material, expressed as a percent are calculated as:

where m is the number of reference points (i) and S it and S ic are the similarity indices S of the given complex material and equivalent complex materials, respectively, relative to each reference point (i) in which the reference points (i) can include single compounds.

37. The method of improving the acceptance of products or services by using a complex material wherein either: (a) the character of at said complex material is defined in digital form using a process wherein the said complex material is analyzed using at least one multivariate analytical method, the results of the analysis are normalized with respect to at least two different complex reference materials, said reference materials representing a range of complex materials that is of interest and sharing at least one or more traits of the character of the specific complex material, and the results are given as at least one of: a number; a range of numbers; or a geometric figure that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials; (b) filing an application for a trademark, copyright, or patent to provide protection for said complex material involving the step of defining the characteristics of said complex material in digital form using results obtained by the steps of (a) analyzing the said complex material using a multivariate analytical method, and (b) normalizing the results of the analysis with respect to at least two different complex reference materials representing the characteristics, or range of characteristics that is of interest and wherein said definition optionally comprises complex materials having the same relative similarity index to a given complex material based upon m reference materials wherein the average difference of the similarity indices S i of the defined complex material, expressed as a percent are calculated as:

where m is the number of reference points (i) and S it and S ic are the similarity indices S of the given complex material and equivalent complex materials, respectively, relative to each reference point (i); and/or ( c ) wherein said improved acceptance is as a result of associating a separate volatile material which is either a perfume or an odorless volatile material having a physiological effect with said commercial product or service method wherein said association takes place at one or more times either before, at, or after the initial exposure of the said commercial product or service to the said consumer so as to increase, prolong and/or accentuate the desirable aspects of the association, wherein the said volatile material can also be all or part of the volatile materials associated directly with the said commercial product or service, said volatile material not being a normal part of such product.

38. A commercial product or service method having improved acceptance as a result of associating a separate volatile material which is either a perfume or an odorless volatile material having a physiological effect with said commercial product or service method wherein said association takes place at one or more times either before, at, or after the initial exposure of the said commercial product or service to the said consumer so as to increase, prolong and/or accentuate the desirable aspects of the association, wherein the said volatile material can also be all or part of the volatile materials associated directly with the said commercial product or service, said volatile material not being a normal part of such product.

39. The commercial product or service method according to Claim 38 involving associating a volatile material with a commercial product which is designer clothing or other branded articles not normally associated with such volatile compounds, where the association take place either before, during, or after the consumer is exposed to the said commercial product and/or optionally having the branded article directly associated with said volatile material.

40. The commercial product or service method according to Claim 38 wherein the commercial product is a food, or drink, where the said volatile material has an odor and is collected at some time during the preparation of said food or drink so that the volatile material connotes "freshness", the volatile material is saved, and the volatile material is then exposed to the consumer independent of the product, but, optionally, where the product is either present, or is being advertised or sold.

41. The commercial product or service method according to Claim 38 where the volatile material is used to enhance the experience and/or influence the perception of the value of the service.

42. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 created by associating a volatile material having a physiological effect of a particular character with a commercial product used by a consumer, or a service performed for a consumer, where said commercial product or service has a primary benefit unrelated to the said physiological effect.

43. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the association of the material with the product and/or service is created and/or emphasized by advertising that can be either on a product container, on other product packaging, in print advertising, or in electronic media advertising and wherein said advertising clearly states the connection of the volatile material and/or its character with the product or service.

44. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the said volatile material is used as a trademark for the commercial product or service.

45. The commercial product or service method of Claim 44 wherein different versions of said volatile material are used as trademarks for different versions of the said commercial product or service.

46. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein said commercial product is a personal care product.

47. The commercial product or service method of Claim 46 wherein said personal care product is either: (a) a skin care product; (b) an antiperspirant; (c) an underarm deodorant; (d) a hair care product; or (d) a tanning product; or an oral care product.

48. The commercial product or service method of Claim 46 wherein the volatile material used as the associative complex material or as a trademark has the same, or complementary, character as the perfume of the said personal care product.

49. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 comprising the presentation of the volatile material which is a portion of the perfume of a product itself at the point of selection of the product to confirm that the consumer has located the desired product when the volatile material in the product is not perceivable by the consumer.

50. The commercial product or service method of Claim 49 wherein the presentation is accomplished by a spray that is either activated by the consumer, or automatically when the consumer approaches the product.

51. The commercial product or service method of Claim 49 wherein the consumer activates a "scratch and sniff" strip on the product package.

52. The commercial product or service method of Claim 49 wherein the volatile material is presented in a discontinuous way to avoid olfactory fatigue.

53. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a personal care product and the volatile material has a complementary character to the perfume of the said personal care product for more than associative purposes.

54. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a laundry product and where the volatile material has the same, or complementary, character as the perfume of the said laundry product

55. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is clothing, including designer clothing, optionally bearing a specific designer label or indicia where the volatile material, optionally a perfume, has a character that identifies the said clothing or creates a desire in the consumer to purchase the clothing.

56. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a branded article of manufacture which is either a hand bag, ski equipment, or automobile, and the volatile material, optionally a perfume, has a character that identifies the said article.

57. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a brewed coffee, and where the volatile material is obtained during the roasting of one, or more of the coffee beans used to brew the said coffee.

58. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is baked or fried goods and where the volatile material is collected when the goods are baked or fried.

59. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a perfume and where the volatile material is the more volatile fraction of the perfume that is primarily responsible for the initial impression and is presented to the consumer independent of the total perfume, optionally either independently or to supplement the perfume after the more volatile components of the perfume corresponding to the said volatile fraction are diminished.

60. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is a branded laundry product and the method comprises the step of applying the said volatile material which is a perfume composition, optionally an aqueous perfume composition, having an odor character substantially similar to the odor character that results on a fabric from the use of said branded laundry product.

61. The commercial product or service method of Claim 60 where the odor of fabric that has been freshly laundered is analyzed by vapor phase spectrometry and is used to define the desired volatile material.

62. The commercial product or service method of Claim 61 comprising the presentation of the volatile material which is a portion of the perfume of a product itself at the point of selection of the product to confirm that the consumer has located the desired product and that the end result will be one that the consumer likes.

63. The commercial product or service method of Claim 60 comprising the presentation of the volatile material which is a portion of the perfume of a product itself at the point of selection of the product to confirm that the consumer has located the desired product.

64. The commercial product or service method of Claim 63 wherein the presentation is accomplished by a spray that is either activated by the consumer, or automatically.

65. The commercial product or service method of Claim 59 wherein the consumer activates a scratch and sniff strip on the product package and the perfume is the residual portion of the perfume in the product.

66. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 comprising the steps for identifying a branded line of clothing, optionally designed by a specific fashion designer, by: (a) providing an article of clothing of said branded line of clothing to a consumer; (b) providing a branded perfume composition, optionally a branded fine fragrance composition, to the consumer, either separately, applied to the clothing, or both; and (c) instructing said consumer to apply said branded perfume composition to said branded clothing article when the clothing is worn; wherein the brand of said branded perfume composition is the same as the brand of said branded clothing article.

67. The commercial product or service method of Claim 63 wherein the volatile material is applied on only a part of a garment, optionally, the outside of a vest or a blouse, or an area underneath the tab of a collar, where the volatile material is not in contact with the skin of the consumer so as to provide the desired olfactory benefit.

68. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein an up-scale branded product, either a fine fragrance for the body, a fine fragrance for fabrics, a luxury automobile brand, an upholstery furniture brand, designer leather goods, or ski equipment, is associated with a distinctive perfume for use as the signature for the brand and to indicate the supplier.

69. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is brewed coffee and the volatile material is the odor of the specific freshly brewed coffee served in the coffee house that is added to the air to assure the consumer of the source and quality of the coffee.

70. The commercial product or service method of Claim 69 wherein the volatile material is presented in a discontinuous way to avoid olfactory fatigue.

71. The commercial product or service method of Claim 69 wherein the volatile material is collected from the roasting of the beans used to prepare the coffee and is presented from time to time in the atmosphere of the coffee house to assure potential consumers of the quality, freshness, and/or source of the brewed coffee being served.

72. The commercial product or service method of Claim 38 wherein the product is baked goods and the volatile material is a portion of the volatiles released during the baking.

73. The commercial product or service method of Claim 49 wherein the volatile material is presented in a discontinuous way to avoid olfactory fatigue.

74. The commercial product or service method of Claim 73 wherein said volatile materials are added to the atmosphere near the display point for the baked goods and/or incorporated in a scratch and sniff selection on the product wrapper to assure the consumer that the goods are fresh and/or are from the desired supplier.

75. The method of improving the acceptance of products or services by using a complex material wherein either: (a) the character of at said complex material is defined in digital form using a process wherein the said complex material is analyzed using at least one multivariate analytical method, the results of the analysis are normalized with respect to at least two different complex reference materials, said reference materials representing a range of complex materials that is of interest and sharing at least one or more traits of the character of the specific complex material, and the results are given as at least one of: a number; a range of numbers; or a geometric figure that defines the said complex material by comparison with the said reference materials; (b) filing an application for a trademark, copyright, or patent to provide protection for said complex material involving the step of defining the characteristics of said complex material in digital form using results obtained by the steps of (a) analyzing the said complex material using a multivariate analytical method, and (b) normalizing the results of the analysis with respect to at least two different complex reference materials representing the characteristics, or range of characteristics that is of interest and wherein said definition optionally comprises complex materials having the same relative similarity index to a given complex material based upon m reference materials wherein the average difference of the similarity indices Si of the defined complex material, expressed as a percent are calculated as:

where m is the number of reference points (i) and S it and S ic are the similarity indices S of the given complex material and equivalent complex materials, respectively, relative to each reference point (i); and/or (c) wherein said improved acceptance is as a result of associating a separate volatile material which is either a perfume or an odorless volatile material having a physiological effect with said commercial product or service method wherein said association takes place at one or more times either before, at, or after the initial exposure of the said commercial product or service to the said consumer so as to increase, prolong and/or accentuate the desirable aspects of the association, wherein the said volatile material can also be all or part of the volatile materials associated directly with the said commercial product or service, said volatile material not being a normal part of such product.