ITRM20130049A1 - LABEL FOR THE UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION OF SMART OBJECTS OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS, RELATED METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR THE USE OF THE IDENTITY OF THE SURE THINGS THROUGH THE USE OF THESE SMART OBJECTS - Google Patents

Description

Label for the univocal identification of Internet of Things smart objects, related method and system for the use of the ascertained identity of things through the use of said smart objects

The present invention relates to a label for the univocal identification of smart objects of the Internet of Things, relative method and system for the use of the ascertained identity of things through the use of said smart objects.

The "ascertained identity" of things is the ability to permanently associate a unique code to each of them that allows them to be identified individually without confusion in all circumstances, locations and types of use. The unequivocal ascertainment of the identity of an object is one of the most felt needs at this time for the fight against imitations and counterfeits as well as for other typical applications of the Internet of Things.

More specifically, the system of the present invention is focused on solving the hitherto unsolved problems of the management of so-called intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ € as defined in the literature in the so-called Internet of Things (â € œInternet of Thingsâ €) for applications of interaction between objects and individuals as well as between objects and objects.

Definitions

CASAGRAS (â € œCoordination and support action for global RFID-related activities and standardizationâ €) is a EU-funded project, which aims to provide a framework of foundation studies to assist the European Commission and the global community in defining and accommodating international issues and developments concerning radio frequency identification (RFID), with particular reference to the emerging â € œInternet of Thingsâ €.

CASAGRAS defines the Internet of Things as â € œA global communication infrastructure, which connects physical and virtual objects through the exploitation of data detection and communication capabilities. This infrastructure includes the Internet and its network developments and developments. It will offer specific object identification, sensors and connection capabilities as a basis for developing independent cooperative services and applications. These will be characterized by a high degree of autonomous data capture, event transfer, network connectivity and interoperability â € (in the words of Anthony Furness, â € œEuropean Center of Excellence for AIDCâ €).

The SAP definition is as follows: â € œA world in which physical objects are seamlessly integrated into the information network, and in which physical objects can become active participants in business processes. Services are available to interact with these â € œintelligent objectsâ € through the Internet, request and change their status and any information associated with them, taking account of account security and privacy issuesâ € (in the words of Stephan Haller SAP AG)

There is also a definition based on functionality: â € œObjects that have virtual identities and personalities that operate in intelligent spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate within social, environmental and user contextsâ €.

A different definition that focuses on continuous integration could be: "interconnected objects that play an active role in what could be called the Internet of the future".

The expression Internet of Things is composed of two words and concepts: â € œInternetâ € and â € œThingâ €, in which â € œInternetâ € can be defined as â € œThe worldwide network of interconnected computers, based on a standard communication, the Internet suite (TCP / IP) â €, while â € œThingâ € is an object that is not precisely identifiableâ €. Therefore, semantically, â € œInternet of Thingsâ € means â € œa worldwide network of uniquely contactable interconnected objects, based on standard communication protocolsâ €.

There is still another definition of IoT, the one we have chosen, which starts from the consideration of a specific class of â € œthingsâ € that are part of the IoT universe and that are identified as smart objects. In this sense, the definition of IoT is the following: an infrastructure that connects uniquely addressable intelligent objects that have characteristics that allow the object to know its common properties such as creation, recycling, transformation, change of ownership, or use for different purposes and therefore suitable for a data capture with a high degree of autonomy, event transfer, network connectivity and interoperability to act actively and decisively with the environment.

The definition highlights three areas of great interest in the creation of Smart Objects:

1. â € uniquely addressable thingâ €, that is a â € œthingâ € uniquely addressable in each domain of the WEB and having characteristics such as to allow the object to

2. â € œto know its common propertiesâ €, that is to know its common properties - such as creation, recycling, transformation, change of ownership, or use for different purposes - and therefore of

3. â € œto be able to interact actively and decisively with the environmentâ € be able to actively and decisively interact with the environment with a high degree of autonomy in data collection, transfer of events, connectivity with the belonging network and of interoperability.

Implications and context

In the IoT there is an evolution of the concept of WEB connectivity which until now was limited to the interaction between people and, where interaction techniques between `` things '' such as hypertext were used, they were totally subject to the initiative of individuals.

The Internet of Things considerably expands the concept of interaction by also introducing the ANYTHING paradigm and therefore â € œverythingâ € but to do this it must expand the capabilities of the admitted objects and equip them with characteristics that simulate the behavior of individuals and that is (1) the ability of objects to know their common properties and the (2) ability to interact actively and decisively with the environment.

These two novations presuppose that there is â € œintelligenceâ € (smartness) inside the objects to be able to perceive what is happening in one's environment and to react appropriately if necessary. Hence the definition of â € œsmart objectsâ € the availability of which combined with the new uses of mobile phones (NFC, etc.) is triggering a new socio-economic revolution that will complete the information revolution initiated by the WEB and the digitalization of the media.

In fact, the availability of smart objects, better the possibility of introducing smartness in common objects, resembles in some way the hypertext technology with which we have been able to link together different concepts, explanations, references by analogies by making available of all an immense amount of knowledge (the power of logical connections) that otherwise would have remained in the potential of a few cultured individuals.

With social media, the maximum asymptotic of the evolution of the WEB, we have improved our possibilities of relationship between individuals going down to the one-to-one level, IoT allows objects to come to the fore as individual entities, to acquire knowledge of their position in the world, to interact with other objects and to have access to comparison information through the data collected around them just as it happens with individuals.

To obtain these results, however, it is necessary to find an operational solution in the field of technology and current costs to the four classes of IoT problems relating to â € œsmart objectsâ €:

1. IDENTITY: obtained with the availability of an object identification paradigm that guarantees that its addressability on the WEB is unique, secure and unambiguous even taking into account the number of objects available;

2. INTELLIGENCE: the ability to dispose of â € œsmartnessâ € or variable intelligence in order to know its common properties - such as the creation, recycling and transformation of the object, the change of ownership, etc. - without constraints or particular limitations, including the ease of maintenance of the same;

3. REACTIVITY: the ability to be able to interact reactively and decisively when prompted from the outside,

4. CONNECTIVITY: being within a global infrastructure with the ability to connect and react within the WEB. The biggest obstacle to the large-scale introduction of IoT smart objects remains the question of the web addresses still available.

A smart object in the IoT is an entity distinct from all the others with its own identity and with exclusive characteristics of the object whose value is precisely the uniqueness of addressability. It is therefore necessary that EVERY smart object has its own unique address of exactly the same nature as the WEB domain addresses (name@domain.suffix).

The discussion around the problems of the addresses available on the Web has been going on for a long time to avoid reaching the expected saturation, under current conditions, within a few years. In this regard, an expansion program has been launched which goes under the name of IPv6.

The uniqueness of e-mail addresses at this time is guaranteed by a US organization that oversees the assignment of domains around the world. For the Internet of Things there is no such organism and it is therefore necessary to replace it with an identification paradigm that is able to guarantee â € œde factoâ € the uniqueness of the code generated while waiting for it to be sanctioned over the course of the decade in somehow the uniqueness de jure.

The first steps on NFC technology are taking place in another direction to obtain a low-cost “smart objects” reactivity capacity by exploiting the expected spread of smartphones in the coming years.

These are all initiatives that will have their course and that will reach an acceptable level of diffusion only at the beginning of the next decade. (Consider that RFID after more than ten years of diffusion represent less than 10% of the Japanese market, the most advanced in the world in this sector). Currently the question of addresses and reactivity technology with related costs, energy expenditure, etc. It is at the stage of the global debate and does not seem to be addressing quick solutions that are easily practicable.

The purpose of the present invention - called DAF System (Digital Accessability Facility) precisely to emphasize the area of greatest importance of the system and that is the addressability of objects - is to make available a system that provides a solution to the needs of the availability of â € œsmart objectsâ € that is immediately operable in the context of the current technology, cost and capacity context of the WEB and that is not in contrast with the evolution foreseen during the current decade, on the contrary it is able to fully exploit its additional potential when available.

The object of the present invention is an object identification label, in particular for the management of intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, comprising identification information, expressed in a suitable format readable by a reading device and including a code object identification, the object identification label being characterized by the fact that said identification code includes:

∠’a first string of characters identifying the country of production of the object;

∠’a second string of characters identifying the company that produced the object;

∠’a third string of characters identifying the year of production in which the object was produced;

∠’a fourth string of characters identifying the product code of that company;

∠’a fifth string of characters not necessarily sequential that serves as the identifier of the progressive serial number of the object;

and by the fact that said identification code is encrypted through an encryption function such as to pseudorandomize identification codes of distinct objects. It is necessary to underline that there are no intelligent objects but that the definition smart objects refers to the fact that any object (a bottle of wine) becomes intelligent because it is inserted in the context of the Internet of Things and with a unique code such as the DAF / PIK is able to appropriate a dose of electronic intelligence existing within itself or, much more likely, within a cloud where the uniqueness of its code is able to guarantee uniqueness of reactions .

Regarding encryption, if for example an overall string ends with 123456 and another with 123459, the other characters being identical, there is clearly a mutual sequentiality, which must be removed with encryption. The average person in the encryption branch knows how to pseudorandomize character strings (e.g. â € œRandom walks on the symmetric groupâ €). The important thing is that two or more codes are not sequential, which is easy as they are made up of five strings and therefore are sufficiently long. Any codes that appear sequential in relation to similar objects will be the result of pure chance and therefore very unlikely.

Preferably according to the invention, said first, second, third, fourth and fifth string of characters is composed of alphanumeric characters.

Preferably according to the invention, the label is printed on a paper support, with appropriate coding.

Preferably according to the invention, said suitable coding is that of the QR code, said reading device being a bar code reading device.

A further specific object of the present invention is an object identification data structure, comprising identification information and personalization information, characterized by the fact that said identification information is the identification information defined according to invention, and by the fact that said personalization information includes:

∠’a string of values that encode product information;

- at least one identification code as defined according to the invention and relating to at least one respective semi-finished product from a different company in the production chain of said object;

- one or more strings of triples containing an event identifier, one or more event triggers, one or more actions determined by said trigger and related to said object.

A further specific object of the present invention is a method of managing intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, characterized by the fact that a label as defined in claims 1 to 5 is affixed to said intelligent objects, by the fact that on a intelligent object management server there is a data structure relating to said objects as defined according to the invention, and by performing the following steps:

â ’reading of said identification information on said identification label by means of said reading device;

- sending of said identification information to said intelligent object management server, via a communication network, in particular the Internet;

Said intelligent object management server, on the basis of said one or more strings of triples, performs said one or more actions by coming into contact and / or operating with one or more devices associated with said intelligent objects.

The devices associated with this object can be the most disparate, but it is clear that here we mainly refer to the means of communication and movement. For example, the server can enter into communication with the cell phone of the purchaser of the object, a cell phone that was used both as a means of reading the code and as a means of communicating it. The interaction with the mobile phone can be based on an automatic responder menu to provide an assistance service, or it can be implemented through a human operator. It is also possible to activate handling and warning devices for the management of further services.

A further specific object of the present invention is a management system for intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, characterized by the fact that it includes:

∠’an intelligent object management server on which there is a data structure relating to said objects as defined according to the invention;

∠’one or more devices for reading said identification information on said identification label;

∠’a communication network, in particular the Internet, for sending said identification information to said intelligent object management server;

∠’one or more devices associated with said intelligent objects provided with means for communication with said intelligent object management server,

the system being configured for the implementation of the method according to the invention.

The invention will now be described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, with particular reference to the drawings of the attached figures, in which:

∠’Figure 1 shows the identification code according to the invention;

- Figure 2 shows an intelligence code that can be associated with said identification code and with the product on which the latter is affixed;

â ’Figure 3 shows an example of an intelligent object management system according to the invention;

∠Figure 4 shows an example of a label with an identification code according to the invention;

∠’Figure 5 shows a label of the type of Fig. 4 applied to a product;

∠Figure 6 shows a block diagram that illustrates the use of the system according to the invention.

The basic idea

The idea behind the system according to the invention is focused towards the solution of the most significant instance of the Internet of Things which consists precisely in creating the technical organizational conditions that allow the effective availability of smart objects in the current conditions of operability of both the identification technology and, above all, the costs of production, dissemination and maintenance of the identification supports and intelligence within the smart objects to interact with each other and with the environment.

It is therefore a complex technical-organizational system designed to be set up for the management of processes for:

1. the creation of identification codes for smart objects in the various conditions of applicability; 2. the capture of the events in which they are involved;

3. the activation of the proactive actions that they are required to carry out based on the needs of the users;

4. the management of the Business rules foreseen for the single activities.

The solution

The solution proposed in this document as a DAF System satisfies 100% the needs foreseen in the IoT and in particular the need to CONVERT THE `` normal things '' into SMART OBJECTS (objects, consumer products, raw materials and food products, medicines, meters of the functions of the human body, household appliances and home automation tools, spare parts of a vehicle, etc.) starting from their unique identification and adding technological capabilities to make them suitable for reactivity with their environment and connectivity with other objects or individuals.

To this end, the DAF System presents specific solutions for each of the four classes of issues and in particular:

â € ¢ has an algorithm for generating identification codes with the Identity characteristics previously indicated for the IoT; â € ¢ allows the availability of â € œsmartnessâ € with variable intelligence without any limitation, â € ¢ amplifies the reactivity characteristics allowed by the support used to record and report one's identification code (paper label, QR Code, Nfc, Rfid, etc.)

â € ¢ operates within the current WEB environment and therefore with universal connectivity and reactivity characteristics typical of the network.

The invention starts from the consideration that it is not possible to modify the nature and production criteria of millions if not billions of objects to introduce electronic equipment into the object itself, assuming that there is one valid for everyone. To carry out the CONVERSION of a normal object (of each object) into a â € œsmart objectâ € (intelligent object) it is only possible by associating it with an authentic â € œsmart objectâ € â € “which we have called DAF / PIK (Primary Identification Key) - which is the real innovative element of the whole system of the invention.

The basic concept of the DAF / PIK

The DAF / PIK is in fact an authentic smart object and therefore has a unique identifier that connects it with an autonomous and self-sufficient information structure - a sort of computer monad - with variable complexity and which contains within itself itself all the technical components required by the definition of the IoT to perform, from the moment of its creation, the role of autonomous and exhaustive manager of the events to which the original object will be subjected.

The DAF / PIK is proposed as a node of the permanent network of smart objects being able to â ’be uniquely identified on the WEB;

∠’distil 100% of the informative value of the events it witnesses during its informative existence;

â ’to make available the knowledge acquired in the context of the needs of the network.

This is achieved with a sequence of actions managed by the DAF Sytem and which are listed below.

1. It starts with the generation of the identification code of the DAF / PIK, the possible encryption of the same, and its transposition on a paper support (label to be applied to the object) or electronic (QR code, Nfc, RFid, App dedicated, etc.) that is able to identify the identification code to the â € œmechanismâ € adopted for reading the code. This mechanism, depending on the case (Qr code, Rfid, Nfc, dedicated App, etc.) may be an electronic device or (paper label) the reading of the code reported in clear text by a person and then entering it on a site dedicated to control, the same to which the codes read in electronic form are received.

2. The DAF / PIK support is subsequently associated - normally physically glued on the product with the normal label shown on each product - keeping in mind the DAF / PIK association and company code of the product or object in question .

3. With this procedure DAF / PIK removes the object from its anonymity and provides it with a unique, mutually exclusive and valid `` identity '' in all circumstances since the association of the DAF / PIK with the object is recorded in the DAF System database for any future reference needs.

4. The object made â € œintelligentâ €, through the other functions available in the DAF System in the Customization Section, automatically collects during its production cycle all the information that describes its quality and value and is tracked to its destination of use by recording all the information in a cloud service available to the users of the object.

From a strictly operational point of view, the system, according to the invention, therefore manages the smart objects using a technical architecture (DAF System) consisting of two sections:

∠’Section 1 (see Figure 1): the Identification section of the object structured in accordance with the requirements of the IoT;

∠’Section 2 (see Figure 2): the Customization section of the object with the typical information of the user (Company) and all the Business Rules necessary to meet the proactive needs typical of intelligent objects.

Section 1 is dedicated exclusively to the identification of the object and takes the form of a sequence of numbers and / or letters for the uniqueness of the identification. The generation algorithm can be as complex as you want in order to be able to produce a few billion different combinations.

Section 2 is dedicated to the customization of the object and to the definition of all the components (data, business rules, proactive events, etc.) that constitute an authentic reservoir of smartness of the single object.

The Primary Identification Key or â € œDAF / PIKâ €

Referring to figure 1, the DAF / PIK is the keystone of the entire system because it consists of a unique and univocal code to be able to identify the specific object in the WEB accurately, distinguishing it from all the other â € œsimilar onesâ € which have been produced in the meantime and which will be produced in the future for the same purposes.

The purpose of the DAF / PIK is to assign a unique code that distinguishes that specific object from all other similar, similar, identical ones that exist or may exist (connected) on the WEB. For example, if we take a wine with a specific denomination, there are many thousands of identical bottles of the same wine that can be easily counterfeited and placed on the market too â € œidenticalâ € in the label and in the content.

With the DAF / PIK the bottles are now different from each other and can be distinguished by the identification on the label which refers to the specific characteristics of that bottle at the time of production. In this way, it is the single object, the single bottle, that is present on the market and in the network as a single object and with its ability to provide an â € œsecured identityâ €.

From a technical point of view, the DAF / PIK plays exactly the same role as an email address (info@domainname.suffix), which uniquely identifies the recipient worldwide.

This identification paradigm, called DAF / PIK, constitutes the heart of the invention.

In general, the structure of an identification code can be as wide and varied as possible, but it must always remain connected to the composition chosen at the beginning to avoid duplication of codes over time.

The various international organizations, as already mentioned, are discussing different criteria for the creation and management of codes for IoT objects on a global level but the matter will take several years before being solved on a theoretical level and other years to be used worldwide. also because it is not only a problem of codes but it is also a problem of reactivity and connectivity technology that must be introduced into the object to make it â € œsmartâ € and this is a serious problem of costs.

In this stalemate the Inventor has thought of a highly innovative approach that is more practical and is immediately applicable but has defined the particular characteristics of the DAF / PIK according to the invention to create a structure that can be modified later to adapt to the various international standards as they establish themselves in the world market.

The proposed structure is as follows (such as to be able to produce the DAF / PIK by oneself and use it online, without the need for an authority):

- Country: a series of alphanumeric characters (preferably two with over 500 possibilities) to identify the country of reference for the object, which can be the country of the legal, operational or other headquarters chosen by the company that enters the product in the market;

- Company: a series of (eg 5) alphanumeric characters with the possibility of identifying (with reference to the 500 countries) tens of millions of companies per country; the alphanumeric characters can be related to the name, VAT number or other identification code of the company (in this way having the possibility of virtually identifying an infinite number of companies);

- Production time window: it is an identifier for a time window in which the object is produced, which can coincide with the year or be shorter, for example the semester (with two alphanumeric digits there will be 500 combinations ): It is clear that the smaller it is, the more it identifies a limited number of products, with the disadvantage of having to dedicate more digits to it in the code, therefore a compromise will be found;

- Object / product code: it is the actual code used by the company to identify its products / objects, or the so-called product number; normally it allows to generate tens of thousands of different product codes within the same company;

- Progressive product code: this is in practice the so-called serial number which does not necessarily have to be progressive and consecutive; also taking into account the identification of the time window, it is able to uniquely identify more than 300 million products (of the same type) produced by the same company. To increase the capacity of uniqueness and to support the fight against counterfeiting and industrial espionage, the nature of the progressive code will be defined in agreement with the company that owns the product and may change randomly on the basis of specific needs. Naturally, the length of the various sections of the DAF / PIK code can be increased to increase the number of identification codes that can be generated and therefore associated with as many objects to be identified.

To save space, the DAF / PIK can be compressed by a data compression algorithm.

The DAF / PIK thus constructed has all the practical features to be able to be generated at any level. In fact, it is possible that a service company generates it for other production companies or that the latter generate it themselves.

In fact, the strength of the structure provided lies in the fact that it is practically impossible for two identical codes to be generated in the world, thanks to the codes of space (country), time (window), property (company) and serial product codes ( p / n and s / n), all data already in the possession of the manufacturing company.

It is specified here that the information of the codes is not the particular content, which has only a meaning for the user company, but the overall representation of the identification code. In other words, the term information is here to be understood in the definition given by Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver, in â € œThe Mathematical Theory of Communicationâ € (1949): "The word information, in this theory, is used in a special sense that must not be confused with its ordinary usage. In particular, information must not be confused with meaning. In fact, two messages, one of which is heavily loaded with meaning and the other of which is pure nonsense, can be exactly equivalent, from the present (information technology) viewpoint, as regards information. Information in communication theory relates not so much to what you do say, as to what you could say. That is, information is a measure of one's freedom of choice when one selects a message. " The code thus constructed allows the univocal identification of an object by association of the same code to the object.

The power of the DAF / PIK in the fight against counterfeiting

One of the strengths of the DAF / PIK according to the invention is that the fight against counterfeiting is now brought to the level of the single object: no longer a generic bottle of wine X, but every single bottle of wine X. With the ™ use of the DAF / PIK the marketing of the counterfeit product must necessarily be started only after the product is offered for sale by the original manufacturer, otherwise it will not be possible to know its DAF / PIK identifier and to copy it. To allow imitated and / or counterfeit products to be marketed, it is in fact necessary to reproduce codes identical to those allocated to products already on the market that could be confused with those of other objects of the same company.

At the time of purchase it is easy for the user to verify that the object associated with a DAF / PIK code is not counterfeit. In fact, the user will be able to activate the reactivity mechanism of the smart object (QR code, Rfid, or simply the reading of the DAF / PIK) and connect via the internet to the website of the manufacturer or of the company that provides the ascertained identity service. and verify that that number read on the label corresponds to a specific object offered for sale in an authorized manner in the place where the buyer is present because the delivery address has also been traced.

It is therefore possible to confirm the correctness of the product and possibly the congruity of the price, while the lack of one of the aforementioned characteristics irrefutably proves the counterfeiting of the label and therefore of the product.

If a dishonest shopkeeper duplicates or duplicates the codes of an authentic product in his possession and therefore available in the location correctly registered in the DAF System, it would be possible to sell only as many counterfeit products with that specific code as the authentic ones purchased because the system keeps inventory account. The dishonest shopkeeper would therefore still pay for the authentic product at its price and would have as a profit the sale of the authentic product or that of the counterfeit product with the loss of the investment made on the product that remains in stock.

In addition, there is also the risk of a legal proceeding brought by the defrauded consumer or by the manufacturing company that has evidence of the fraud.

Finally, to provide another element of security, the invention provides for the encryption of the DAF / PIK.

The encryption will be performed so that, starting from two or more sequential DAF / PIK, the relative strings coming out of the encryption are non-sequential. However, they are univocal and therefore usable for identification, but they are no longer connectable with each other, without the knowledge of the decryption algorithm.

Among other things, encryption produces much more binding legal effects in the case of legal actions against counterfeiting because it presupposes a deliberately malicious action to obtain an economic advantage.

Personalization and intelligence section

It consists of a structure of variable dimensions according to the specific needs of the users and the requests that emerge from the exploitation of the proactive capacities that can be obtained with the use of the system according to the invention.

A composition of the Section is the one listed below, but it is only an example of the possibilities offered by the particular flexibility offered by the system according to the invention in all circumstances.

Three groups of information are identified in the Personalization Section:

1. Identification of the single smart object and of the environment in which it is produced, created, etc. This Group contains the following classes of data: â € ¢ Company identification code which includes the Country and the Tax Code, the VAT number or the Tax Code or any other element that can contribute to having a unique identification code ;

â € ¢ ASSET code which is the code that the Company assigns internally to its ASSET; ASSET here means any product, even a semi-finished product that the Company catalogs, therefore does not necessarily coincide with the product number;

â € ¢ Other variable information that can range from the date of production, to Lots, groups, quantities, etc. and any information that allows the precise connection between the DAF / PIK and the single â € œobjectâ €;

â € ¢ The rules (Business Rules) to acquire and adequately process the data coming from the data capture instrumentation of the Company for the identification of the single ASSET,

â € ¢ Complementary references to complete the information considered necessary in the specific supply chain and which may vary from one supply chain to another. This is information, news, etc. that the manufacturer intends to transfer to the purchaser and / or user of the product to confirm the quality of the product and to improve its relationship with the customer. For example, in addition to the accurate description of a food product, it is possible to insert recipes and methods of use, local contact points, experts to contact even locally, affiliated chefs, etc.

If it is a product against food intolerances (celiacs for example), it is possible to report the results of laboratory tests of prestigious universities including those of the nations in the world where the product is marketed. All this expressed in the user's language taken from the DAF System from the place of origin of the DAF / PIK control contact.

2. List of DAF / PIK immediately preceding for the purpose of building the entire supply chain in order to retrace the components that participated in the production of the final product.

â € ¢ This Information Group contains, for reasons of space, only the latest DAF / PIK items that contributed to the â € œproductionâ € of the DAF / PIK in question, from which the entire production chain can then be reconstructed;

â € ¢ The information of this Group depends on the use of smart objects and in particular it will be emphasized in cases of (ren) traceability of components for the purpose of demonstrating the quality of the final product. A Product and a service is usually obtained from the manipulation of other less complex products or services with the added value technique typical of a value chain. Guaranteeing the quality of the final product also means guaranteeing the quality of intermediate products (raw materials or ingredients, etc.) which must be â € œtracedâ € (checked in their origin and quality of origin) in order to be exhibited in the event of disputes or of quality assurance.

â € ¢ It therefore depends on the company responsible for the sale of the final product to decide how much information to provide regarding the production cycle and the components (or ingredients) used. On the basis of these decisions, the collection of information that will be carried out by the DAF System will be more or less detailed as well as the amount of information provided to the buyer in the various cases may also vary.

â € ¢ DAF System therefore allows the traceability of each product in its basic components using, in turn, the DAF / PIK codes of the components that have previously been tracked and recorded within the information chain of each DAF / PIK

â € ¢

3. Action oriented Information:

â € ¢ It is the complex of the most significant information of the smart object because it allows it to operate according to the principles of the Internet of Things and therefore to o Know its common properties, which characterize the smart object and allow it to operate in a context of coexistence with other smart objects, for example in a traceability chain. For example, the common properties can include the registration of one's creation, the association with the target object (the bottle of wine), the recycling or the change of state that can take place in the value chain (from semi-finished to finished product , from component to semi-finished product with other components), transformation (it was wheat now it is dietary pasta) the change of ownership passing from one company to another, or use for different purposes: o Being able to interact actively and decisively with the environment; for example in the simplest case to communicate to the user (individual or object) its organoleptic characteristics or the basic materials to check for any intolerances or components not allowed in one country compared to another.

o Please note that we are now in the condition that it is possible that a product autonomously changes its production and packaging and shipping cycle if, for example, it is communicated to it by a component used for that product that contains ingredients not allowed in a country compared to another.

o For example, if the Country x does not admit sodium hyposulphite in the wine marketed in its territory, the smart object associated with the aforementioned ingredient will be appropriately registered and when the wine thus obtained is placed in the bottles, the smart object of the bottles will automatically contain the Information that will cause a deviation in the bottling and packaging cycle to be sent to another less rigorous Nation.

o In the most sophisticated cases, automatically activate a connection with experts who can provide advice or specialist or emergency interventions including life-saving.

â € ¢ For illustrative purposes only, some possibilities are listed such as defining which events must be monitored, which are the alert thresholds (triggers) exceeded which the action listed below must be triggered.

â € ¢ As an example we have already mentioned the existence of components and / or ingredients to be checked but we can also consider expiration dates of products (especially pharmaceutical ones) and therefore activate more important alarm systems in the event that recruitments occur of drugs in these conditions.

â € ¢ We can also consider the possibility of introducing expiration dates for preventive maintenance of parts or entire equipment (building boilers) and of automatically activating an intervention call if the managers have â € œforgottenâ € the deadlines.

This is a considerable mass of information that must be recorded in connection with the DAF / PIK shown on the label according to the invention, bearing in mind that it is necessary to define not only the generic nature of the information itself but also: 1. the data that it is necessary to have, their logical structure, etc.

2. the media where they reside (DB; WEB, Media, etc.) and the mechanisms for extracting / accessing the data themselves;

3. All the Business Rules necessary to manage all the logical, algorithmic, data access functions, for the collection and processing of â € œpricesâ € data, for the conversion into information necessary for subsequent processing and for the progressive accumulation , 4. any other information necessary to make the label independent of the specific product on which it is affixed.

Physical supports of the DAF / PIK

The most critical factor of the Internet of Things consists exactly in the type of physical support where to house the identification systems of smart objects

The ideal solution would seem to be to house the DAF / PIK inside RFid labels with the possibility of â € œreadingâ € the content inside and having an almost immediate reactivity of the content of the smart object. However, reading an RFID label requires sophisticated equipment and certainly not available to the mass of users worldwide.

There remains the problem of the size of the phenomenon of objects in the IoT which, being identified individually, can reach numbers that exceed tens if not hundreds of billions of units per year.

The costs and the expenditure of energy for the management of these numbers are still unacceptable and severely limit the use of the considerable potential of smart objects in everyday life.

There is an emerging technology that begins to spread with the most advanced mobile phones and it is NFC (Near Field Communication). With NFC it is possible to activate the reactivity process of the DAF / PIK code at much lower costs than RFid but for the moment the system is penalized by the still scarce diffusion of these devices which will certainly spread in the next five years.

The solution of the system according to the invention consists in inverting the terms of the problem and allocating the part of the Primary Identification Key on the support even at the lowest cost in the world: an adhesive paper label to be physically affixed to the physical object which is intended to be managed as a smart object together with the manufacturer and product identification label which is now mandatory all over the world.

The electronic recognition part of the DAF / PIK is entrusted to the most universal instrument that exists at the moment, namely the mobile phone and its ability to interact with the label according to the invention.

In fact, according to the invention, the label contains a code that can be a QR Code or an APP specially prepared for the system according to the invention, which reads and interprets the DAF / PIK and sends it via the Web to a Cloud service center of the DAF System according to the invention where all the Personalization & Smartness sections of the single DAF / PIK codes of the labels are recorded in special databases, which are placed under system control at the time of their â € œproductionâ € €.

In this way, the maximum flexibility of smartness is obtained because the ability to manage smart objects at the lowest possible cost within the current address structure is available (at any time, in any place and for anything). WEB.

The millions or even billions of DAF / PIK that could be generated would be hosted in the data bases of the DAF System with costs that are constantly decreasing and with the capacity of information teradata available without any limitation.

Example of use of the DAF / PIK according to the invention

Company X produces high-end panettone with traditional recipes and ingredients selected from the best on the market. Company X has decided to consolidate its position on the high end of the market by focusing on the excellence of its products and trying to diversify from products in the same price range but with lower quality characteristics than its own.

Top Management decides to invest in an Identity Assured Project using the system with the DAF / PIK according to the invention, with the aim of guaranteeing the origin of its products and activating a one-to-one communication program typical of social networks to correctly inform customers at the time of the purchase choice and improve loyalty to the product and then to the brand by taking care of the correct positioning in terms of quality, treatment of intolerances with ad hoc products, and in general of customer enhancement trust, a method of relating to customers that constitutes the customer care typical of the first decade of the century.

Marketing Project

In this regard, the Top Management decides to involve also the suppliers of the production chain in the Project with the concept that a product of excellence arises at the end of a chain of excellence in which all the production links operate at the highest levels of quality.

The Project begins with the definition of the promotional message that the Company and its Partners intend to provide to the individual buyer at the time of the purchase decision.

The choice is made concrete in the sending of a series of photos that evoke the salient points of the production cycle and the ingredients used with a text in the language of the country where the purchase takes place with the assumption that the buyer is a citizen of that nation or, if passing through, at least able to understand its language. If you are interested in a message in a different language, you can then go to the official website of the service and choose the messages in the language that is most familiar to you.

Once the definition of the promotional message has been completed, we move on to the realization of the techno-organizational project.

Techno-organizational project

First of all, the technological infrastructure is set up and built on a one-off basis.

The realization of the technological infrastructure consists in the structuring of the DAF / PIK generation algorithm and in the identification of the data areas that the Management of Company X intends to use to complete the product information, in particular:

∠’The identification of the information necessary to uniquely create the DAF / PIK (see diagram on page 14 et seq.);

∠’Accurate definition of indications of date, country, company code, etc. which are recorded in the database in relation to the specific company;

∠’Identification of the Product_Code usually used by the Company to be associated with each DAF / PIK; ∠’A brief description;

∠’Date and batch of production;

â ’Reference to the portion of the database where the promotional message to be sent with the specific Product_Code resides (it can change with the lot because some characteristics of the product may change from one lot to another); ∠’Business rules, the rules and algorithms to go to the Company's database and draw on the specific data of the individual products during the data acquisition;

∠’The agreement with the Company that prints the packaging or labels of the Company's products to define where to allocate the pomegranate symbol with the DAF / PIK code attached;

â ’The definition of how long the â € œchain of excellenceâ € of the final product is and to which supplier companies the traceability of the final product must be extended;

∠'The preparation and installation in the Information System of the Company of an application developed ad hoc that allows to capture the periodic information of the unloading in the warehouse from the production to obtain the information of the products included in each production batch and to have the possibility to connect the DAF / PIK existing on the product to the product-code of the same. Where the traceability chain extends to other companies, the application is modified to also take into account deliveries and the same initial setup procedure is repeated for all the other companies in the chain. This application is written using a Business Rules technology to be able to maintain considerable flexibility to accept the changes that the Company inserts in its database without having to constantly modify the DAF System software for capturing information. Normally this operation ends the service preparation phase.

Operational Phase

The operational phase includes:

∠’Preparation and Printing of DAF / PIK Codes (see

Fig. 3);

∠’The Company requires the preparation of a certain number of DAF / PIK codes sufficient for next month's production (for example 10,000 DAF / PIK codes). The codes are generated according to the invention and are physically sent to the company that prints the labels. This company transfers the individual codes on the labels through a digital printer according to the previously agreed graphic scheme;

∠’At the end of the printing activity, deliver the labels to Company X with a list indicating the initial and final DAF / PIK code;

∠’This list is received by the DAF System which updates its database by recording each code as already used;

∠’Use of labels on the product:

to. The xyz Company, following its usual production procedures, uses the labels (or wrappers as appropriate) with the DAF / PIK to complete the production of its products.

b. At the end of the day or the work shift, the production is â € œunloadedâ € in the warehouse by batches (a certain number of products) and the information of the DAF / PIK codes used in each batch is also included in the unloading information.

c. The DAF System now associates the DAF / PIK with the single product (see Fig. 4) of the batch to seal the confirmation of â € verification of identity â € of the single product of the batch.

d. Since the products in the batches are identical, any mismatch of the labels does not cause any difficulty of ascertained identity because each DAF / PIK included in the batch refers to an identical and therefore interchangeable product. â ’Shipping of products: the DAF System is updated with information relating to product shipments and each DAF / PIK code is tracked and checked for the final location where it will be placed for sale.

Final Phase: SALE and ASSESSMENT.

In the final phase, the customer, before purchasing the product, wishes to ascertain its authenticity. To this end, perform the procedure that will be the most commonly used:

â 'brings a smartphone close to the DAF / PIK label which, with a free APP, reads the â € œcodeâ € inserted in the label and sends a message to the DAF System website with the indication of the DAF / PIK number of the The object and the place where the purchase is taking place, using the GPS coordinates of the phone.

â ’Since the action is voluntary, there is no violation of privacy for the place and for the customerâ € ™ s email address.

∠’The DAF System according to the invention receives the message and performs the following operations:

â € ¢ Searches the database for the received DAF / PIK and compares it with those issued;

â € ¢ Compare the location of the transaction with that recorded in the database by tracking the deliveries. It adapts to send messages in the language of the country of the indicated location;

â € ¢ If it is a correct code, it sends a validation message and starts a transaction modulated according to the communication strategy of Company X;

As an example, the normal procedure is the following:

â ’Sending of an initial message confirming the verification of the Identity;

â ’Sending a photo illustrating some specific features of the product;

â ’Proposal to activate broader communication on the spot to send more information (laboratory analyzes for food intolerances, recipes, etc.); ∠’Sending a message with an e-mail address where the one-to-one communication can be continued later (see Fig. 5).

∠’If it is an unidentifiable product, it is advisable to take another one and repeat the check procedure.

∠’If the lack of authenticity is repeated, a control message is sent to the Quality Manager of Company X, to the Director of the Store etc. to report the anomaly according to the procedures defined by Company X.

â ’Subsequent actions are outside the procedure and concern Company X and possibly the competent judicial authorities.

In the foregoing the preferred embodiments have been described and variants of the present invention have been suggested, but it is to be understood that those skilled in the art will be able to make modifications and changes without thereby departing from the relative scope of protection, as defined by claims attached.

Claims (7)

CLAIMS 1) Object identification label, in particular for the management of intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, comprising identification information, expressed in a suitable format readable by a reading device and including an object identification code, the object identification label being characterized by the fact that said identification code includes: ∠’a first string of characters identifying the country of production of the object; ∠’a second string of characters identifying the company that produced the object; ∠’a third string of characters identifying the year of production in which the object was produced; ∠’a fourth string of characters identifying the product code of that company; ∠’a fifth string of characters not necessarily sequential that serves as the identifier of the progressive serial number of the object; and by the fact that said identification code is encrypted through an encryption function such as to pseudorandomize identification codes of distinct objects. 2) Label according to claim 1, characterized in that said first, second, third, fourth and fifth string of characters is composed of alphanumeric characters. 3) Label according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is printed on a paper support, with suitable coding. 4) Label according to claim 3, characterized in that said suitable coding is that of the QR code, said reading device being a bar code reading device. 5) Structure of object identification data, comprising an identification information and a personalization information, characterized by the fact that said identification information is the identification information defined in claim 1 or 2, and by the fact that said information customization includes: ∠’a string of values that encode product information; - at least one identification code as defined in claim 1 and relating to at least one respective semi-finished product from a different company in the production chain of said object; ∠’one or more strings of triples containing an event identifier, one or more event triggers, one or more actions determined by said trigger and related to said object. 6) Method of managing intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, characterized by the fact that a label as defined in claims 1 to 4 is affixed to said intelligent objects, by the fact that on a management server of intelligent objects it is there is a data structure relating to said objects as defined in claim 5, and by carrying out the following steps: â ’reading of said identification information on said identification label through said reading device; â ’sending of said identification information to said intelligent object management server, via a communication network, in particular the Internet; Said intelligent object management server, based on said one or more strings of triples, performs said one or more actions by coming into contact and / or operating with one or more devices associated with said intelligent objects. 7) Management system of intelligent objects or â € œsmart objectsâ €, characterized by the fact of including: ∠’an intelligent object management server on which there is a data structure relating to said objects as defined in claim 5; ∠’one or more devices for reading said identification information on said identification label; ∠’a communication network, in particular the Internet, for sending said identification information to said intelligent object management server; ∠’one or more devices associated with said intelligent objects provided with means for communication with said intelligent object management server, the system being configured for the implementation of the method according to claim 6.