DE10350080A1 - Detection-/reading/scanning device for detection of identification line codes/bar codes useful in departmental store check out regions, in drug stores and in retail shops - Google Patents

Abstract

Detection-/reading/scanning device in departmental store check out regions in which reception/delivery sites of products/ in drug stores and in retail trade shops for detection of identification line codes/bar codes, which apart from product identification, also contain at least durability or usability information and characteristic quantities, e.g. at least the shelf life in the case of food products or at least suitability/usability data in the case of drugs. An independent claim is included for a method of evaluating the residual (sic) useful life/durability (sic) of food products and/or drugs with the aid of line codes and bar codes.

Description

The The invention relates to a method of a / and an apparatus for automatic detection, as well as the generation, the expiration date of a Product or products that have a limited service life and at the point of delivery / checkout by means of an optical Scanning system / scanner system are scanned, according to the preamble the claims 1, 2, 7 and 11.

in the During the industrialization and introduction of department stores with larger stock, instead of the former Retail with manageable and very limited inventory, it has become increasingly important that the products, especially the foods with limited Durability, regarding the durability were marked. The same thing also applies for the drug stock of pharmacies or drugstores too. Earlier mainly on Needs the preparations by the pharmacist, whereas Today, in comparison to this, as a rule already predominantly all products packaged ex warehouse / shelf available are.

Around therefor to provide the consumer or user with some protection, to superimpose this before Protect products, was a labeling requirement for goods / products with limited Durability introduced. As a rule, this labeling requirement for the goods / products thereby becomes that the manufacturer or the packer of the products / goods, This provides a date, from this one the minimum shelf life can take. Often these details / stamps / imprints but very small, hard to find and hard to read, especially if it is a colorless imprint / impression, how this is often found on pharmaceutical packaging. Equally problematic is when the font size was chosen to be so small that of spectacle wearers often with difficulty to read.

So it is not excluded or can be ruled out that a customer acquiring a product / goods, finds home, that the minimum shelf life has already been exceeded. To this would have to prevent at regular intervals from Personnel a complex control process of the stock inventory are carried out.

Around Here to avoid a chagrin, are often so-called "find bonuses" in some shops Customers who promise a low premium to a customer, if they find in the inventory a product that already covered the best before date should have.

Around here to provide relief / improvement is proposed this information also automatically / computer-readable to be installed at the latest in the cash register area or at the delivery point a "slip" of the goods / products with expired Expiration date is prevented. Likewise, products can filtered out or tracked whose minimum durability or remaining duration of for the intended period of use, as e.g. in the case of drugs for one certain application period will be spent the case is not longer would be sufficient.

These Simplification can be achieved in the simplest way, by adding the already existing product identifying barcode additional Information regarding the minimum shelf-life / minimum duration of use added / attached.

So are / are disclosed from various font applications this by means of the product identifying / product identifying barcode / barcode, Additional information for the user can be generated additional to the user / user to provide further helpful information.

From the writing of DE 297 05 780 U1 a method is known in which by means of linking the product code with the product belonging / appropriate preparation data, the user eg a relief in the programming of the cooking device can be made possible. In this case, the linked, permanently assigned data / information are factory-stored in the production or delivery of the product which has the reading device / scanner device, the product identification of the products to be heated, on a chip of the reading device / scanner device.

From the series of lectures "Patent Offensive", was on April 15, 2002 on television, a post entitled "Wine from the computer" sent, read at www.Patentoffensive.de, which showed that the customer by means of the product-identifying bar code, at a terminal additional information can be made available to the product whose information content eg the origin of the product, serving recommendations of the product and the like. Content is. This possibility of retrieving additional information that is made available to the customer is used in this application as a substitute for expert advice, instead of the otherwise often lacking specialist staff, due to staff shortage or understaffing Peak hours.

From the Scriptures DE 199 42 786 A1 For example, there is known a method and a device which is used to detect items taken from a store. Here too, by means of the product identification, additional information which is stored in a database connected to the scanner is communicated to the customer when the objects are removed and recorded.

So revealed the DE 199 42 786 A1 in that, for example, the additional information may be pure product information such as price, weight, minimum shelf life, etc., as well as actual conditions beyond the product.

In the DE 199 42 786 A1 Although this is the subject of "shelf life information" addressed, but still no doctrine disclosed to action, as this with a fixed / unchanging product-identifying bar code labels is technically impossible, as a fixed / unchanging product-identifying bar code label, as these already today on the products, identifies a product as a fixed product as such, and does not contain any variable additional information for batches / batches / manufacturing data, except that the bar code labeling, eg of dairy products / ogurt, changes its labeling every day and thus each one Day a new product identification / product identification takes place.

As from the aforementioned writings / examples, all have Writings / examples, however, the commonality that from the already existing (Unchanged) Barcode for product identification, in or on the recording system Additional information for the user can be generated and displayed, or provided to the user, which are permanently assigned to a product. Thus, the additional information only so "variable" within one Business / a Delivery point / a reading device that this information only for the the entire stock of goods, a product-identifying inventory, with the identical product marking, apply or are valid - e.g. price, Weight, content and the like.

In addition, let the patent DE 196 25 307 C2 mentions, in this example, the topic "automatically readable expiration date" is addressed, and a method for monitoring the sale of medicines is disclosed, this writing is limited in the task and the solution of the problem that goods or pharmaceuticals that have already exceeded their expiry date, can be reliably prevented from being placed on the market or being able to reach it.

at This method of this document is a purely "reactive Measure ", which is the only one Comparative sizes without consideration other influencing factors, the Brings expiration date with the current date for comparison, to get out of here the expiration date to generate an alert and the sales process to interrupt.

By means of this document, sufficient customer satisfaction can not be achieved, which is becoming increasingly important, since by means of the proposed method of DE 196 25 307 C2 It can not be ruled out that a customer will purchase a product / medicine that has already expired / overdrawed the next day's expiry date.

Likewise, finally, the not yet published patent DE 102 20 060 C mentions the topic "determination (evaluation) of the remaining minimum useful life / minimum shelf life" is described in this document according to the invention "if necessary, still a safety period / a safety period is taken into account" according to the invention. (Procedure for the labeling of foods and / or products with best before dates / minimum applicability data, if necessary a safety period / safety period is taken into account).

task The invention is a detection device / reader / scanner device in the checkout area of department stores or at the issue / delivery points of products / goods in pharmacies, Drugstores as well as retail, to capture the product-identifying Barcodes, as well as an associated Procedures to introduce which in addition to the information regarding the Product identification, the information regarding the minimum shelf life for food or the minimum usability / minimum usability in the case of medicines, which are also indicated by means of barcode labeling the packaging / on the product or the goods applied / attached are, or these are thus marked, at the issue / delivery point or in the cash register area to be able to capture this information by means of a minimum durability or To exploit / evaluate minimum applicability to a "pass" of "time critical" goods / products to recognize this if necessary to prevent.

The essential difference of the invention presented here over the prior art is to present a device or method which / s a flexible, the same product identification, continuous / flexible shelf life additional information feature automatically assignable / scannable assign / edit / evaluate allows, or to supplement the existing product-identifying bar code to that effect so that this "machine-accessible" can be detected automatically, so that the information regarding the shelf life of food or the minimum usability / minimum usability for medicines, which are barcoded on the packaging / on the product are / are / or these labeled are / can be recorded at the point of issue / delivery or in the checkout area and utilized / evaluated and that when determining (evaluation) of the remaining minimum period of usefulness / best before date, a safety period or a safety period may be required is taken into account.

In addition to the unpublished patent DE 102 20 060 C (Procedure for labeling of foods and / or drugs with best before dates / minimum applicability data, if necessary, if a safety period / a safety period is taken into account) is further additionally presented the distinguishing feature that the "minimum useful life / best before information" in the barcode / barcode / Marking area, with regard to the safety period (s) taken into account, if necessary, supplemented with additional information showing how large the safety period considered is and / or already a reasonable / adequate safety period for labeling (production / packaging / determination) taken into consideration.

These Task is performed according to the characteristics of patent claims 1, 2, 7 and 11 solved. Advantageous developments are the subject of the dependent claims.

The invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment with the aid of 1 to 7 be explained in more detail.

It demonstrate

1 : Shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for labeling products and merchandise according to the prior art.

2 : Shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for labeling products and goods according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are placed in parallel in a tag area.

3 : Shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for identifying products and merchandise according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are stored serially (by far) in a tag area.

4 : Shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for identifying products and merchandise according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are stored serially (without spacing) in a tag area.

5 : Shows a product identifying barcode / barcode / tagging area for identifying products and merchandise according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are integral with each other in a tagging area.

6 : Shows a basic procedure according to the invention, which shows a possible evaluation process for the evaluation of the identification.

7 : Shows a basic procedure according to the invention, which shows a possible evaluation process for the identification of goods / products.

1 shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for labeling products and merchandise according to the prior art. In the labeling area ( 1.1 ) contains the product-identifying barcode / barcode ( 1.2 ).

2 shows a product identifying barcode / barcode / tagging area for products and merchandise according to the invention where two pieces of information are placed in parallel in one tagging area. In addition to the product identifying barcode / barcode ( 1.2 ) according to the prior art, there is another barcode / barcode ( 2 ) in the marking area ( 1.1 ). This further barcode / barcode ( 2 ) contains / contains the additional information of the product / the goods, regarding the best before date / best before date or the minimum period of application.

3 shows a product identifying barcode / barcode / label area of Products and goods according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are stored serially (by far) in an identification area. In addition to the product identifying barcode / barcode ( 1.2 ) according to the prior art, there is another barcode / barcode ( 2 ) in the marking area ( 1.1 ). This further barcode / barcode ( 2 ) contains / contains the additional information of the product / the goods, regarding the best before date / best before date or the minimum period of application.

4 shows a product identifying bar code / bar code / label area for products and goods according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are stored serially (without spacing) in a tag area. In addition to the product identifying barcode / barcode ( 1.2 ) according to the prior art, there is another barcode / barcode ( 2 ) in the marking area ( 1.1 ). This further barcode / barcode ( 2 ) contains / contains the additional information of the product / the goods, regarding the best before date / best before date or the minimum period of application.

5 shows a product identifying barcode / barcode / tagging area for products and merchandise according to the invention, wherein two pieces of information are integral with each other in a tagging area. In addition to the product identifying barcode / barcode ( 1.2 ) according to the prior art, there is another barcode / barcode ( 2 ) in the marking area ( 1.1 ). This further barcode / barcode ( 2 ) contains / contains the additional information of the product / the goods, regarding the best before date / best before date or the minimum period of application.

6 shows a basic procedure according to the invention, which shows a possible evaluation course for the evaluation of the marking. In the checkout area of department stores or at the dispensaries / dispensaries of products / merchandise in pharmacies, drugstores and retail stores, there are detection devices / readers / scanner devices for capturing the product-identifying bar code. Since these devices are already known technical products, their structure (eg rotating polygon mirror) and mode of operation (eg deviating reflected optical scanning beam / scanning beam at the bar code) are no longer discussed in greater detail. For the sake of simplicity, this process is represented here with a bar code symbol.

To reading / recording the applied minimum shelf life / best before date (T-min) will be a comparison with the current date (T-ist) carried out, after previously one at the expiration date (T-min) Safety period (T-Sich) has been taken into account / deducted accordingly is. In this security period (T-Sich), starting from zero, can assume any strategic value, is one Correction factor that is individually dependent on the "house philosophy" or is definable. The comparison with the current date (T-ist), as a result, whether the product or the goods already "expired / overlaid" or not. When exceeded the current date (T-is) generates / initiates a warning signal.

If no overrun here the current date (T-ist) could be determined a comparison is made, whether it is a drug product or a larger unit pack of food, for those with a longer period of use / period of consumption / consumption time is to be expected. Leads this comparison to the result that with a longer application period / consumption period / consumption period (T-duration) is to be calculated, it is attempted on the basis of the boundary conditions to determine the anticipated duration (T-duration), Which, in the simplest case, depends on the size / content of the pack (GR) determined by daily requirement (TB). This determined duration (T-duration) can turn with a security period (T-Sich) accordingly considered / corrected become. In this security period (T-Sich), again from Beginning zero, assuming any strategic value, acts it is a correction factor, which is again individually dependent on the "house philosophy" or is definable.

Of the subsequent Comparison of the minimum durability (T-min) with the expected one Application period / consumption period / consumption period (T-duration) brings as Result to result, whether the product or the goods the expected Duration (T-duration) covering to a sufficient extent or not. At a Falling below the expected duration (T-duration) will be a warning signal generated / initiated. Similarly, if the barcode is not completely readable is, unless this alert is disabled.

7 shows a basic procedure according to the invention, which shows a possible evaluation process for the labeling of goods / products. When labeling the products / goods for which a minimum shelf life is to be taken into account, the minimum shelf life with the current date (T-ist) is taken into account accordingly so that the result of the calendar-related best before date / best before date (T-min) can be calculated. with this the product / the goods is to be marked. To When determining this calendar-related minimum shelf-life / best-before date (T-min), a safety period (T-Sich) is taken into account / deducted accordingly. This safety period (T-Sich), which can assume any strategic value starting from zero, is a correction factor that is individually dependent on the "home philosophy" or determinable.

Subsequently, will due to the nature of the goods or the size of the goods / packaging unit decided whether to consider a safety period is because this is appropriate if it is a drug product or a larger packing unit of food, for those with a longer period of use / period of consumption / consumption time is to be expected.

Lead this one Comparison to the result that with a longer period of use / consumption period / consumption period (T-duration), this calendar-related minimum shelf-life / best-before date (T-min) again a safety period (T-Sich) considered accordingly. In this security period (T-Sich), starting again from zero, can assume any strategic value, is one Correction factor that is individually dependent on the "house philosophy" or is firmly fixed. In this as already mentioned at the beginning Security period (T-Sich) may be e.g. around the average Dwell time of the products / goods in the warehouses, shelves and the Transport routes act. Based on the boundary conditions, further attempts are made to determine the expected expected duration (T-duration), which in the simplest case, the size / content of the Determine the packing (GR) by the average daily requirement (TB) leaves.

With This determined duration (T-duration), or the current date (T-is), finally will turn a comparison with the specified minimum shelf life / best before date (T-min) performed. Is the specified minimum shelf life / best before date (T-min) greater than the expected application period / consumption period / consumption period (T-duration), or greater than the current date (T-is), this results in a result, that the goods / products with a corresponding barcode / barcode What is shown here with a bar code symbol is.

is the specified minimum shelf life / best before date (T-min) is less than the expected application period / consumption period / consumption period (T-duration), or less than the current date (T-is), so brings as a result, a warning signal is generated / initiated becomes. In practice this can mean or result as a result have that on certain days / weekdays or at certain seasons, due to e.g. the temperature-dependent influences on the durability as well as the transport-related / sales-related or also seasonal differences in service life, storage times such as also shelf times, certain products not packaged or manufactured be allowed to.

Of the completeness be mentioned that the bar code / bar code shown / explained in the figures, designed so that this of the detection devices, which capture both the past and the "extended" barcode / barcode can, is attached so that these by means of a scan-scanning or by passing it once the product / product can be recorded.

The advantage over the prior art, in which the control mechanism is exclusively aimed at reliably preventing goods / pharmaceuticals which have already passed the expiry date from being used or being marketed ( DE 196 25 307 C2 Column 2 - lines 55 to 59) is to be seen in an "Acting Action" DE 196 25 307 C2 this is a "reactive measure", whereas the filing documents of the present invention are predominantly an "acting measure" since (continuing to the document DE 196 25 307 C2 ) in the delivery (packaging, stamping & placing on the market) of the product / pharmaceutical, the review is also already in the future, since it is checked on the basis of the amount delivered and the calculated / the expected period of application, whether the product / the drug still has a sufficient enough / long period of application (duration of use) / possesses / permits. Ultimately, only with such an additional precautionary measure, the goal of sufficient customer satisfaction can be reliably achieved, which is becoming increasingly important, as with the measures of the document DE 196 25 307 C2 It can not be ruled out that a customer will buy a product / medicine that has already expired / overdrawn the next day.

However, this disadvantage is ruled out with the inventive concept of the present invention, since it can be checked at the delivery point whether a sufficiently large / sufficient "minimum useful life / minimum shelf life" is guaranteed or assumed in a reassuring manner It may be that even though the product (s) would have expired from the date marking shortly after it was purchased, the marking / marking during the packaging / manufacture, for example due to the size of the package, already provides an adequate period of safety / Safety duration has been considered / deducted. For control / information purposes, the safety period / period of safety already considered during packaging / manufacture may be taken into account as additional information in order to determine when the goods / products are submitted, how large the safety period taken into account is / the safety period considered; that an adequate / adequate safety period has already been taken into account.

In another not closer illustrated example, or possibility Of the marking it is also conceivable that with the marking the "Minimum Usage Period / Shelf Life Information", the current date / day reference, Week marking or month indication to be recorded / recorded will be to later Based on this identification data (size) and the known product-dependent shelf life, for this, if necessary, a safety period / a Safety duration (safety variable / parameter) taken into account may be the actual "minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life derive / determine / evaluate.

ever still product, or depending the product-related shelf life / applicability period, and the thus dependent Accuracy requirement of the marking, can the marking the "minimum useful life / best before date information", for example, either at the packaging manufacturer together with the product identification be applied jointly / simultaneously, especially for products with a long shelf life / applicability period, or in immediate temporal proximity accompanying the manufacturing process of the goods / products by: the marking of the "minimum shelf life / best before date information", by the producer / packer additional applied to the existing product identification sequentially / subsequently especially for products with a short shelf life / applicability period.

Of the completeness is still the obvious Facts added, that in this method of marking or method of evaluation no negative parameters, resp. no negative "remaining Minimum Usability Period / Shelf Life ", as well as none negative / expected periods / durations are allowed, because these inevitably to an unusable result, or thus to a warning message to lead. A possibly occurring negative number or a negative value becomes automatically / mutatis mutandis in comparison replaced with a zero.

Claims (27)

Collection device / reader / scanner device in the checkout area of department stores or at the dispensing / dispensing points of products / goods in pharmacies, drugstores and retail stores, for the detection of the product identifying bar code, characterized in that it includes the barcode / barcode / marking area, which in addition to the product identification, additionally contains at least one minimum durability or minimum applicability information / characteristic, for example the minimum shelf life for foodstuffs or the minimum usability / minimum usability for pharmaceuticals, which, if already included in the labeling (production / packaging process / determination), a need-based safety period / need-based Safety period, contains additional information indicating how long the safety period taken into consideration / the safety period taken into account is and / or already adequate / need-based The security period is taken into account, and this information / parameter / s is also recorded and utilized / evaluated at the point of issue / delivery or in the cash register area. Detector / reader / scanner device in the checkout area of department stores or at the issue / delivery points of products / goods in pharmacies, Drugstores and retailers, for capturing the product-identifying barcode, characterized in that this is a comparison of the parameters / information (Shelf life / minimum usability data) of the bar code / bar code / marking area carried out, whether the characteristic for the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life ", if applicable still a need-based security period / need-based Safety period is taken into account, less than / equal to / greater, as the parameter for the determined / too expected period of use / exhaustion period and / or as the Characteristic for the determined / too expected duration of use / consumption time. Detecting device / reading device / scanner device according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the evaluation unit of the integrated / associated evaluation circuit the device / device performs a comparison s of the parameter (s) of the "remaining minimum durability information / minimum usability information" with the parameter for the determined / expected application period / exhaustion period. Detector / reader / scanner device according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized that upon detecting an overrun the minimum shelf life automatically generates a warning signal. Detector / reader / scanner device according to one or more of claims 1 to 3, characterized that in case of a too limited or insufficient remaining Duration of Shelf Life / Minimum Applicability, based on the planned period of application / period of use / exhaustion period, automatically a warning signal is generated. Detector / reader / scanner device according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterized that upon detection of a missing or unreadable / not committed Shelf life information a warning signal is generated, provided that this warning signal generation was not deactivated. Detector / reader / scanner device in the checkout area of department stores or at the issue / delivery points of products / goods in pharmacies, Drugstores and retailers, for capturing the product-identifying barcode, characterized in that it comprises the barcode / barcode / label area, which in addition to the product marking, in addition at least one minimum durability or minimum usability information / characteristic contains  - For example, the minimum durability for food or the minimum usability / minimum usability for medicines, - Which, if already included in labeling (production / packaging / determination) a need-based safety period / need-based safety duration considered which contains additional information, how big the considered Safety period / the considered Security period is and / or that already a reasonable / needs-based Safety period taken into account,  at the point of issue / delivery or in the checkout area by means of a "combined" entry / reading / scanning process detected. Detector / reader / scanner device according to one or more of the claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the device / device compatible or capable is known to both conventional Barcodes, as well as the extended / supplemented / compound / parallel / integrated To capture barcodes. Detector / reader / scanner device according to claim 7, characterized in that the term of a "combined" read / scan is to be understood that the goods / products as conventional, only once at the detector / reader / scanner device by gege leads Need to become. Detector / reader / scanner device according to claim 7, characterized in that the term of a "combined" read / scan it should be understood that the detector / reader / scanner device just once, as usual, passed the goods / products must become. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / shelf life of food and / or period of validity / minimum usability data, characterized in that a comparison of the parameters / information (best before dates / minimum applicability data) the barcode / barcode / label area is performed, whether the characteristic for the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life ", if any a need-based safety period / need-based safety duration is / was considered, less than / equal to / greater, as the parameter for the determined / too expected period of use / exhaustion period and / or as the Characteristic for the determined / too expected duration of use / consumption time. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1, 2, 7 and 11, characterized in that the remaining minimum useful life, the result from the minimum applicability minus the current date is. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1, 2, 7 and 11, characterized in that the remaining minimum shelf life, the Result from expiration date minus the current date is. Method for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining minimum useful life / minimum shelf life" according to one or more of claims 1, 2, 7 and 11 to 13, characterized indicates that, when determining the remaining minimum useful life / best before date, a safety period / period has been taken into account as needed. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 14, characterized in that in determining the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life ", if appropriate yet another safety period / safety period taken into account will / was to accept this any strategic value starting from zero can. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1, 2, 7 and 11, characterized in that the (determined expected) application period is a parameter that is made up of pack size and daily requirement or weekly requirement can be determined. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 16, characterized in that the (remaining) "minimum useful life / minimum durability information", as a period / time period was recorded during labeling. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 17, characterized in that the (remaining) "minimum useful life / minimum durability information", as "date of manufacture, plus shelf-life, plus if necessary a needs-based Safety period / safety period and / or a note regarding one already taken into account Safety period / safety period in which labeling was recorded. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 17, characterized in that the "(remaining) minimum period of use / minimum shelf life information", as end date / end date, if necessary, a need-based safety period / safety period and / or a note regarding an already taken into account security period / safety period, was recorded during labeling. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 19, characterized in that the determined / expected Exhaustion period or the determined / expected exhaustion period none negative value / may not assume negative characteristics, or always a value / characteristic of greater than or equal to Zero must be / because this otherwise inevitably too lead to an unusable result would. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 20, characterized in that the "remaining minimum shelf life / applicability period" no negative Value / do not accept negative characteristics may, or always have a value / a parameter greater than or equal to zero must, because this otherwise inevitably to a useless Result would. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 21, characterized in that in the case of a resulting negative characteristic / negative Value, for the "remaining Shelf life / applicability period ", or (as well as) for the determined / expected Consumption period or the determined / expected consumption time, the negative value / the negative characteristic is replaced with a zero. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 22, characterized in that in the case of an emerging negative characteristic / negative Value, at one or more of the characteristics / values to be compared, these in comparison / parameter comparison be set to zero or be replaced with zero. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 23, characterized in that the characteristic zero, at the "remaining Shelf Life / Applicability Period ", which corresponds to the current date. Method for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining minimum useful life / minimum shelf life" according to one or more of claims 1 to 24, characterized in that the parameter zero, in the determined / expected application period / consumption period and / or in the determined / expected duration of use / exhaustion period, the current date. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 25, characterized in that in the case of a correction a negative characteristic (zero), a warning message is generated. Procedure for the evaluation (determination) of the "remaining Minimum shelf life / minimum shelf life "after one or more several of the claims 1 to 26, characterized in that in the case of a negative Comparison result / inadequate "remaining shelf life / applicability period", a warning message is generated.