US20120104105A1 - Barcoded indicators for quality management - Google Patents
Barcoded indicators for quality management Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20120104105A1 US20120104105A1 US13/321,467 US200913321467A US2012104105A1 US 20120104105 A1 US20120104105 A1 US 20120104105A1 US 200913321467 A US200913321467 A US 200913321467A US 2012104105 A1 US2012104105 A1 US 2012104105A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- barcode
- colorable
- areas
- unreadable
- threshold
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
- G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
- G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
- G06K19/06046—Constructional details
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01D—MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVERED IN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01D7/00—Indicating measured values
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01D—MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVERED IN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01D7/00—Indicating measured values
- G01D7/005—Indication of measured value by colour change
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01K—MEASURING TEMPERATURE; MEASURING QUANTITY OF HEAT; THERMALLY-SENSITIVE ELEMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01K11/00—Measuring temperature based upon physical or chemical changes not covered by groups G01K3/00, G01K5/00, G01K7/00 or G01K9/00
- G01K11/12—Measuring temperature based upon physical or chemical changes not covered by groups G01K3/00, G01K5/00, G01K7/00 or G01K9/00 using changes in colour, translucency or reflectance
- G01K11/14—Measuring temperature based upon physical or chemical changes not covered by groups G01K3/00, G01K5/00, G01K7/00 or G01K9/00 using changes in colour, translucency or reflectance of inorganic materials
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01K—MEASURING TEMPERATURE; MEASURING QUANTITY OF HEAT; THERMALLY-SENSITIVE ELEMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01K3/00—Thermometers giving results other than momentary value of temperature
- G01K3/08—Thermometers giving results other than momentary value of temperature giving differences of values; giving differentiated values
- G01K3/10—Thermometers giving results other than momentary value of temperature giving differences of values; giving differentiated values in respect of time, e.g. reacting only to a quick change of temperature
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
- G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
- G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
- G06K19/06018—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking one-dimensional coding
- G06K19/06028—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking one-dimensional coding using bar codes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
- G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
- G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
- G06K19/06037—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking multi-dimensional coding
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
- G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
- G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
- G06K19/06046—Constructional details
- G06K19/0614—Constructional details the marking being selective to wavelength, e.g. color barcode or barcodes only visible under UV or IR
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K19/00—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings
- G06K19/06—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
- G06K19/06009—Record carriers for use with machines and with at least a part designed to carry digital markings characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code with optically detectable marking
- G06K19/06046—Constructional details
- G06K19/0615—Constructional details the marking being of the rewritable type, e.g. thermo-chromic barcodes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
- G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
- G06K7/14—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light
- G06K7/1404—Methods for optical code recognition
- G06K7/1408—Methods for optical code recognition the method being specifically adapted for the type of code
- G06K7/1413—1D bar codes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06K—GRAPHICAL DATA READING; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS
- G06K7/00—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns
- G06K7/10—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
- G06K7/14—Methods or arrangements for sensing record carriers, e.g. for reading patterns by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light
- G06K7/1404—Methods for optical code recognition
- G06K7/1408—Methods for optical code recognition the method being specifically adapted for the type of code
- G06K7/1417—2D bar codes
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/08—Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
- G06Q10/087—Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q30/00—Commerce
- G06Q30/06—Buying, selling or leasing transactions
Definitions
- the present invention relates to quality management and to indicators useful in quality management.
- the present invention seeks to provide improved indicators useful in quality management systems and methodologies.
- a barcoded indicator operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter
- the barcoded indicator including at least a first barcode including at least a first set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of the first barcode when the first barcode is in a first barcode readable state prior to exceedance of the at least one threshold, and at least a second barcode including at least a second set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of the second barcode which appear only when the second barcode is in a second barcode readable state following exceedance of the at least one threshold, the at least a second barcode being in a second barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of the at least one threshold wherein as the result of the at least a second set being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing
- the barcode indicator includes a coloring agent located at a first location on the indicator and a coloring agent pathway operative to allow the coloring agent to move, at a rate which is at least partially a function of time, from the first location to the first and second sets of colorable areas for coloring thereof.
- the coloring agent pathway is operative to allow the coloring agent to move by diffusing from the first location to the first and the second sets of colorable areas.
- the first set of colorable areas continues to be colored following exceedance of the at least one threshold.
- the at least one threshold includes at least one time threshold.
- the at least one threshold includes at least one time and temperature threshold.
- the quality indicator is operative to provide indications of exceedance of several different thresholds.
- At least one colorable area forming part of one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas has a width of a single narrow barcode bar.
- colorable areas forming part of at least one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas become colored sequentially.
- At least one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas. Additionally, each of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas.
- the barcoded indicator further including at least a third barcode including at least a third set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of the third barcode which appear only when the third barcode is in a third barcode readable state following exceedance of the at least one additional threshold, the at least a third barcode being in a third barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of the at least one additional threshold wherein as the result of the third set of colorable areas being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the at least a third barcode, the at least a second barcode including at least a fourth set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of the at least a second barcode when the at least a second barcode is in the second barcode readable state prior to exceedance of the at least one additional threshold, and upon exceedance of the at least one additional threshold the at least a second barcode becoming unreadable as the result
- FIGS. 1A-1K together are a simplified illustration of the structure and operation of an example of the quality indicator constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention for indicating elapsed time in temperature history;
- FIGS. 2A-2K together are a simplified illustration of the structure and operation of another example of the quality indicator constructed and operative in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention for indicating elapsed time in temperature history;
- the present invention provides changeable barcode indicators operative to provide a readable, preferably barcode-reader-readable, indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter.
- Barcode readers operative to read the barcode indicators and to provide output indications, and product type responsive indication interpreters operative to receive the output indications and to provide human sensible, product quality status outputs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,811 and in the publications WO/2007/129316, WO/2008/135962, WO/2009/063464 and WO/2009/063465.
- barcode is used herein to refer to a machine-readable optical code.
- linear, or one-dimensional barcodes are illustrated. It is appreciated that the invention may be applicable to two dimensional barcodes as well.
- Each barcode standard includes rules which govern the proper reading of the barcode.
- a typical barcode includes start indicia representing the start of the barcode, stop indicia representing the end of the barcode and digital indicia representing digits positioned therebetween.
- Each digit of the barcode is indicated by a series of bars and spaces each having a predetermined width. For example, in the 2 of 5 Interleaved barcode standard, each digit is indicated by two wide bars and three narrow bars.
- the UPC and the EAN128 barcode standards include middle indicia with different rules for indicating digits on either side of the middle indicia. Additionally, some barcode standards employ a checksum digit, which is calculated according to a mathematical formula based on the barcode symbol digits and is used as a control for the validity of the barcode.
- a readable barcode can be rendered unreadable in several different ways.
- the series of bars forming the start or the stop indicia can be changed by adding or deleting bars or spaces, or by changing the width thereof. Such a change can cause the barcode reader not to recognize the start or the end of the barcode symbol resulting in the barcode not being readable.
- Another possibility is adding or deleting bars or spaces of the digital indicia or changing the width thereof so that a series of bars and spaces indicating a digit no longer indicate a digit according to the standard employed.
- Yet another possibility is making the above changes to a series of one or more bars and spaces indicating a digit such that a different digit is indicated after the change and calculating the checksum digit including the changed digit results in a checksum digit different from the checksum digit indicated in the barcode, thereby causing the barcode to become invalid.
- a similar change causing invalidity of the barcode can also be made to the bars indicating the checksum digit itself.
- an unreadable barcode can be rendered readable by adding or deleting bars or spaces or changing the width thereof.
- bars forming the start or the stop indicia in a barcode where the start or the end are not properly indicated can be changed as explained above in order to properly form start or stop indicia.
- an unreadable series of bars can be made to indicate a digit by adding or deleting bars or spaces or changing the width thereof.
- each digit is indicated by two wide bars and three narrow bars. If, for example, a readable barcode was rendered unreadable by changing a wide bar into a narrow bar, then changing a narrow bar into a wide bar can render the barcode readable. Similarly, if a barcode is unreadable because the checksum digit does not match the other barcode digits, then the bars indicating one of the digits or the checksum digit can be changed as explained above to restore barcode validity.
- the quality indicator may incorporate a product code such as an EAN (European Article Number) or a UPC code (Universal Product Code).
- EAN European Article Number
- UPC code Universal Product Code
- the quality indicator may incorporate a 2 of 5 interleaved barcode or any other suitable barcode or readable methodology. It is appreciated that bars of one dimensional barcodes correspond to cells in Data Matrix two dimensional barcodes and instead of the “start” and “stop” indicia of one dimensional barcodes, two adjacent borders defining a “finder pattern” are used in the Data Matrix two dimensional barcodes to locate and orient the symbol.
- the quality indicator includes barcodes complying with GS1 (General Specifications) standards, which are outlined at www.gs1.org.
- GS1 General Specifications
- the three left-most digits are usually assigned to a country.
- Israel the seven, nine or ten left-most digits, including the country code, represent the supplier's code and the remaining right-most digits are used by each supplier.
- the three left-most digits are 729, the GS1 country code assigned to Israel.
- the ten left-most digits, including the country code represent a supplier's code and the three right-most digits are changeable by the supplier and combinations thereof are used in this application for indicating exceedance of thresholds.
- a short time period means a time period of less than fifteen minutes.
- the quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 includes at least two variable barcodes, such as a first barcode and a second barcode, preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement.
- Each of the at least two variable barcodes includes at least one colorable area and has at least two visible states.
- One of the colorable areas in the first barcode is operative to become colored or uncolored at the same time as one of the colorable areas of the second barcode.
- the coloring or the uncoloring occurs, for example, upon exceedance of a time in temperature threshold.
- the coloring of the colorable common area which forms part of the first and the second barcodes in a quality indicator causes the visible state of the first barcode, which is initially readable, to become unreadable and, at the same time, causes the visible state of the second barcode, which is initially not readable, to become readable. Accordingly, the quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 presents a single readable barcode both before and after exceedance of a threshold.
- the colorable common areas disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 preferably include a single colorable area per barcode and preferably have the width of a single barcode bar. Accordingly, the difference between the readable state and the unreadable state of the barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 is preferably a single barcode bar.
- a problem may occur if a barcode is read by a barcode reader when the barcode is in an unreadable state.
- a barcode reader erroneously reads either the first or the second barcode in the quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 when that barcode is in an unreadable state, the barcode reader may read a barcode presenting incorrect information. This problem can occur in situations such as described below, with reference to the embodiment disclosed on page 14, paragraph [0051] of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309:
- the second barcode which is not readable prior to exceedance of a threshold, is erroneously read by a barcode reader notwithstanding that the colorable common area has not yet become colored.
- the first barcode remains readable because the first barcode becomes unreadable only upon coloring of the colorable common area.
- the barcode reader reads a barcode presenting incorrect information.
- the first barcode which is readable prior to exceedance of a threshold, is erroneously still read by a barcode reader following exceedance of the threshold, notwithstanding that the colorable common area became colored and rendered the first barcode unreadable.
- the second barcode becomes readable by virtue of the coloring of the colorable common area.
- the common colorable region preferably has a width of a single narrow barcode bar.
- the common colorable region is wider than a single narrow barcode bar.
- the present application provides an improvement to the quality indicator described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. This improvement alleviates the above problem by preferably including as part of a barcode at least one additional set of colorable areas, in addition to the common colorable region.
- Each additional set of colorable areas preferably includes at least one colorable area, forms part of a single barcode and is configured to reduce the barcode readability level of the barcode of which it forms a part.
- an additional colorable region includes more than one colorable area.
- an additional colorable region includes a single colorable area.
- barcode readability level or “BCR level” of a barcode in an unreadable state reflects the likelihood that a barcode reader will erroneously read the barcode when it is in that unreadable state. Accordingly, an unreadable barcode having a low BCR level is not likely to be erroneously read by a barcode reader.
- the additional colorable region forms part of the initially unreadable second barcode, and includes an initially uncolored set of colorable areas.
- the initially uncolored set of colorable areas is preferably positioned at location of barcode bars which appear in the second barcode in its readable state.
- more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the second barcode.
- the BCR level of the unreadable second barcode decreases and becomes lower than the BCR level of the unreadable second barcode in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, wherein only a single barcode bar is missing.
- “more than a single narrow barcode bar” means more than one barcode bar, the barcode bars being narrow or wide.
- “more than a single narrow barcode bar means more than a portion of a wide barcode bar, the portion being at the same width as a narrow barcode bar.
- portions of barcode bars can be missing as a result of set of colorable areas not being colored.
- the additional colorable region forms part of the initially readable first barcode and includes an initially uncolored set of colorable areas.
- the initially uncolored set of colorable areas is preferably positioned in spaces between barcode bars which form part of the first barcode in its readable state, and when uncolored do not interfere with the readability of the first barcode.
- colorable areas forming part of the common colorable region and of the additional colorable region become colored, thereby causing the first barcode to become unreadable.
- the coloring of the additional colorable region results in multiple spaces between bars of the first barcode becoming filled in, thereby decreasing the BCR level of the first barcode and causing it to be lower than that of the unreadable state of the first barcode described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, which has only a space having a width of a single barcode bar filled in relative to the readable state thereof.
- the colorable areas forming part of the additional colorable region and the common colorable region become colored sequentially.
- the colorable areas forming part of the additional colorable region and of the common colorable region become colored generally simultaneously.
- a plurality of spaces between barcode bars which become filled in as a result of coloring of a set of colorable areas can include spaces which are partially filled in.
- a colorable area can be initially colored and become uncolored.
- barcode bars or portions thereof appear and spaces between barcodes or portions thereof become filled in.
- barcode bars or portions thereof disappear and spaces or portions thereof form between barcode bars.
- the quality indicator may be operative to provide an indication of exceedance only following actuation thereof.
- the quality indicator may be operative to provide an indication of exceedance without actuation.
- barcodes forming part of a quality indicator are each capable of indicating any numerical or alphanumerical sequence. Additionally or alternatively, barcodes forming part of a quality indicator are each capable of complying with any suitable barcode standard, including but not limited to EAN, UPC, 2 of 5 Interleaved, code39, code 39 extended, code 93, code 93 extended, code 128, code 128 A, B and C, ISBN, Code bar and Data Matrix. Accordingly, different barcodes forming part of the same quality indicator can comply with different barcode standards.
- a quality indicator can include a first barcode complying with the EAN13 standard and a second barcode complying with the 2 of 5 Interleaved standard.
- the barcode reader of a checkout scanner is operative to read only the EAN13 barcode standard, then, once the first barcode becomes unreadable, the indicator no longer presents a readable barcode to the checkout scanner. However, the indicator is still readable by a barcode reader operative to read the 2 of 5 Interleaved standard.
- FIGS. 1A-1K are a simplified illustration of the construction and operation of one embodiment of a quality indicator for indicating a combination of elapsed time and temperature.
- the quality indicator described in FIGS. 1A-1K is operative to provide separate indications of exceedance of two different time durations, one hour, and three and a half hours, at a temperature of at least 21 degrees Celsius.
- the quality indicator 100 appears both in an exploded view at the top left portion of the drawing and in a planar view at the bottom right portion of the drawing.
- the quality indicator preferably includes a barcode defining layer 102 , which is preferably printed on a transparent substrate.
- the printing on the transparent substrate preferably defines a background area 103 , which is preferably printed with black ink and overprinted with white ink, a plurality of bars 104 forming part of barcodes I, II and III which are preferably printed with black ink, and a plurality of transparent areas 105 , which are preferably printed with light blue ink, such as Pantone No. 645, which has a visual appearance similar to that of the black ink overprinted with white ink.
- the background area 103 and the plurality of bars 104 are printed in such colors so as to define high contrast therebetween.
- transparent areas is defined so as to include within its scope areas that are either transparent or translucent.
- the barcodes I, II and III are preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement and the transparent areas 105 preferably form part of six regions: a common colorable region 110 forming part of barcodes I and II, an additional colorable region 111 forming part of barcode I, an additional colorable region 112 forming part of barcode II, a common colorable region 113 forming part of barcodes II and III, an additional colorable region 114 forming part of barcode II and an additional colorable region 115 forming part of barcode III.
- barcodes I, II and III need not be positioned on the indicator in any particular order.
- the common colorable region 110 includes two transparent areas, transparent area 116 forming part of barcode I and transparent area 117 forming part of barcode II.
- the common colorable region 113 includes two transparent areas, transparent area 118 forming part of barcode II and transparent area 119 forming part of barcode III.
- the additional colorable region 111 forming part of barcode I, appears to the right of the transparent area 116 .
- the transparent area 116 and the transparent areas 105 which form part of the additional colorable region 111 are preferably positioned in spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode I in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 140 in FIG. 1A .
- the transparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region 111 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 121 and 122 , as illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1K .
- the additional colorable region 112 forming part of barcode II appears to the left of the transparent area 117 .
- the transparent area 117 and the transparent areas 105 which form part of the additional colorable region 112 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode II is in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 163 in FIG. 1E .
- the transparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region 112 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 124 and 125 , as illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1K .
- the additional colorable region 114 forming part of barcode II, appears to the right of the transparent area 118 .
- the transparent area 118 and the transparent areas 105 which form part of the additional colorable region 114 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode II in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 163 in FIG. 1E .
- the additional colorable region 115 forming part of barcode III appears to the left of the transparent area 119 .
- the transparent area 119 and the transparent areas 105 which form part of the additional colorable region 115 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode III is in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 175 in FIG. 1J .
- a colorable element 130 Disposed behind the barcode defining layer 102 and preferably adhered thereto is a colorable element 130 , such as Whatman No. 3 filter paper commercially available from Whatman International [CAT#: 1003917], which until colored is normally white.
- the colorable element 130 preferably extends behind the common colorable regions 110 and 113 and the additional colorable regions 111 , 112 , 114 and 115 .
- a back layer 135 Disposed behind the barcode defining layer 102 and behind the colorable element 130 is a back layer 135 .
- a temperature responsive coloring element 136 Preferably adhered to the back layer 135 rearwardly of the colorable element 130 is a temperature responsive coloring element 136 , such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in Coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8].
- a coloring agent such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5]
- barcode I is initially in a readable state indicated by reference numeral 140 , which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804115 and barcodes II and III are in unreadable states indicated by reference numerals 141 and 142 , respectively.
- the transparent area 117 and the transparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region 112 forming part of barcode II are initially uncolored.
- a plurality of bars which appear when barcode II in its readable state are missing from barcode II.
- the missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode II in the initial unreadable state 141 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing.
- the transparent area 119 and the additional colorable region 115 forming part of barcode III are initially uncolored.
- a plurality of bars which appear when barcode III in its readable state are missing from barcode III.
- the missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode III in the initial unreadable state 142 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing.
- the coloring agent indicated by reference number 150 begins to melt and be released from the coloring element 136 and begins to diffuse through the colorable element 130 .
- the colored portions of the colorable element 130 cannot be seen through the plurality of the transparent areas 105 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes I, II and III remain unchanged.
- FIG. 1C as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 25 degrees, for example 30 minutes, the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 .
- portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated by reference number 124 , resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars indicated by reference numeral 152 forming part of barcode II, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode I remains in the readable state 140
- barcode III remains in the unreadable state 142
- the changed unreadable state of barcode II is indicated by reference number 153 .
- This missing plurality of barcode bars results in the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 153 being still lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIG. 1D as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 25 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 .
- portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated by reference number 125 , resulting in the appearance of an additional plurality of bars 154 forming part of barcode II, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode I remains in the readable state 140
- barcode III remains in the unreadable state 142
- the changed unreadable state of barcode II is indicated by reference number 155 .
- barcode II in the unreadable state 155 has a BCR level similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIG. 1E when a threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 21 degrees Celsius for at least a predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 25 degrees Celsius for a total of at least one hour, the coloring agent 150 diffuses through the colorable element 130 , such that portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the common colorable region 110 , including the transparent areas indicated by reference numerals 116 and 117 .
- a space indicated by reference numeral 160 which is located between bars of barcode I in its readable state, is filled in, thereby causing barcode Ito assume an unreadable state 161 , as can be seen in the planar view.
- the BCR level of barcode I in the unreadable state 161 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 155 described in FIG. 1D above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode I in the unreadable state 161 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 , such that portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the transparent areas indicated by reference numeral 121 .
- a plurality of spaces indicated by reference numeral 165 located between the bars of barcode I in its readable state is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode II remains in the readable state 163
- barcode III remains in the unreadable state 142
- barcode I assumes a further unreadable state, indicated by reference number 166 .
- the BCR level of barcode I in the unreadable state 166 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes I or III in their current state than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- more spaces are filled in between bars of barcode I in the unreadable state 166 than in the unreadable state 161 . Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode I is lower in the unreadable state 166 than in the unreadable state 161 .
- the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 , such that portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the transparent areas indicated by reference number 122 .
- an additional plurality of spaces indicated by reference numeral 167 located between the bars of barcode I in its readable state, appears colored, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode II remains in the readable state 163
- barcode III remains in the unreadable state 142
- barcode I assumes a further unreadable state 168 .
- the BCR level of barcode I in the unreadable state 168 further decreases and continues to be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 .
- the additional colored portions of the colorable element 130 are not seen through the plurality of the transparent areas 105 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes I, II and III remain unchanged.
- the transparent area 119 and the additional colorable region 115 forming part of barcode III are still uncolored.
- a plurality of bars which appear when barcode III in its readable state indicated by reference numeral 175 in FIG. 1J , are still missing from barcode III.
- the missing barcode bars result in barcode III in the unreadable state 142 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing.
- FIG. 1I as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 25 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 .
- portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated by reference number 115 , resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars 170 forming part of barcode III, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode I remains in the unreadable state 168
- barcode II remains in the readable state 163 and the changed unreadable state of barcode III is indicated by reference number 171 .
- barcode III in the unreadable state 171 has a high BCR level, which is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIG. 1J when a second threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 21 degrees Celsius for at least a second predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 25 degrees Celsius for a total of at least three and a half hours, the coloring agent 150 diffuses through the colorable element 130 , such that portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the common colorable region 113 , including the transparent areas indicated by reference numerals 118 and 119 .
- a space indicated by reference numeral 172 which is located between bars of barcode II in its readable state, is filled in, thereby causing barcode II to assume an unreadable state 173 , as can be seen in the planar view.
- barcode III assumes a readable state 175 , as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804122.
- the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 173 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode III in the unreadable state 171 described in FIG. 1I above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 173 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIG. 1K as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 , such that portions of the colorable element 130 are visible through the transparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated by reference number 114 .
- a plurality of spaces 176 located between the bars of barcode II in its readable state, is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode I remains in the unreadable state 168 , barcode III remains in the readable state 175 and barcode II assumes a further unreadable state, indicated by reference numeral 177 .
- the plurality of spaces 176 becoming filled in causes the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 177 to decrease and be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 130 . If, after the temperature reaches 21 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 17 degrees Celsius, then the coloring agent 150 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through the colorable element 130 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 21 degrees Celsius.
- FIGS. 2A-2K are a simplified illustration of the construction and operation of one embodiment of a quality indicator for indicating a combination of elapsed time and temperature.
- the quality indicator described in FIGS. 2A-2K is operative to provide separate indications of exceedance of two different temperatures: 12 degrees Celsius and 21 degrees Celsius, for a time duration of at least one hour at each temperature.
- the quality indicator 200 appears both in an exploded view at the top left portion of the drawing and in a planar view at the bottom right portion of the drawing.
- the quality indicator preferably includes a barcode defining layer 202 , which is preferably printed on a transparent substrate.
- the printing on the transparent substrate preferably defines a background area 203 , which is preferably printed with black ink and overprinted with white ink, a plurality of bars 204 forming part of barcodes IV, V and VI which are preferably printed with black ink, and a plurality of transparent areas 205 , which are preferably printed with light blue ink, such as Pantone No. 645, which has a visual appearance similar to that of the black ink overprinted with white ink.
- the background area 203 and the plurality of bars 204 are printed in such colors so as to define high contrast therebetween.
- the barcodes IV, V and VI are preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement and the transparent areas 205 preferably form part of six regions: a common colorable region 210 forming part of barcodes IV and V, an additional colorable region 211 forming part of barcode IV, an additional colorable region 212 forming part of barcode V, a common colorable region 213 forming part of barcodes V and VI, an additional colorable region 214 forming part of barcode V and an additional colorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI.
- barcodes IV, V and VI need not be positioned on the indicator in any particular order.
- the common colorable region 210 includes two transparent areas, transparent area 216 forming part of barcode IV and transparent area 217 forming part of barcode V.
- the common colorable region 213 includes two transparent areas, transparent area 218 forming part of barcode V and transparent area 219 forming part of barcode VI.
- the additional colorable region 211 forming part of barcode IV, appears to the right of the transparent area 216 .
- the transparent area 216 and the transparent areas 205 which form part of the additional colorable region 211 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode IV in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 240 in FIG. 2A .
- the transparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region 211 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 221 and 222 , as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2K .
- the additional colorable region 212 forming part of barcode V appears to the left of the transparent area 217 .
- the transparent area 217 and the transparent areas 205 which form part of the additional colorable region 212 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode V is in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 263 in FIG. 2E .
- the transparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region 212 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 224 and 225 , as illustrated in FIGS. 2A-2K .
- the additional colorable region 214 forming part of barcode V, appears to the left of the transparent area 218 .
- the transparent area 218 and the transparent areas 205 which form part of the additional colorable region 214 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode V in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 263 in FIG. 2E .
- the additional colorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI appears to the right of the transparent area 219 .
- the transparent area 219 and the transparent areas 205 which form part of the additional colorable region 215 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode VI is in its readable state, which is indicated by reference numeral 275 in FIG. 2J .
- a colorable element 230 Disposed behind the barcode defining layer 202 and preferably adhered thereto is a colorable element 230 , such as Whatman No. 3 filter paper commercially available from Whatman International [CAT#: 1003917], which until colored is normally white.
- the colorable element 230 preferably extends behind the common colorable region 210 and the additional colorable regions 211 and 212 .
- an additional colorable element 232 is disposed behind the barcode defining layer 202 and preferably adhered thereto.
- the colorable element 232 is preferably adjacent the colorable element 230 and preferably extends behind the common colorable region 213 and the additional colorable regions 214 and 215 .
- an indicator according to the present invention can include a single colorable element separated into two portions by a separator made of a material which is impermeable to ink, such as varnish.
- a back layer 235 Disposed behind the barcode defining layer 202 and behind the colorable elements 230 and 232 is a back layer 235 .
- a temperature responsive coloring element 236 such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in a solution of 74.25% Coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8], 24.75% Oleic acid [CAS: 112-80-1] and 1% Hexanoic acid [CAS: 142-62-1].
- a coloring agent such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5]
- a temperature responsive coloring element 238 such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8].
- a coloring agent such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5]
- barcode IV is initially in a readable state indicated by reference numeral 240 , which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804115 and barcodes V and VI are in unreadable states indicated by reference numerals 241 and 242 , respectively.
- the transparent area 217 and the transparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region 212 forming part of barcode V are initially uncolored.
- a plurality of bars which appear when barcode V in its readable state are missing from barcode V.
- the missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode V in the initial unreadable state 241 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single barcode bar is missing.
- the transparent area 219 and the additional colorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI are initially uncolored.
- a plurality of bars which appear when barcode VI in its readable state are missing from barcode VI.
- the missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode VI in the initial unreadable state 242 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing.
- the coloring agent indicated by reference numeral 250 begins to melt and be released from the coloring element 236 and begins to diffuse through the colorable element 230 .
- the colored portions of the colorable element 230 cannot be seen through the plurality of the transparent areas 205 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes IV, V and VI remain unchanged.
- FIG. 2C as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 15 degrees, for example 30 minutes, the coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 230 .
- portions of the colorable element 230 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated by reference numeral 224 , resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars indicated by reference numeral 252 forming part of barcode V, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode IV remains in the readable state 240
- barcode VI remains in the unreadable state 242
- the changed unreadable state of barcode V is indicated by reference number 253 .
- This missing plurality of barcode bars results in the BCR level of barcode II in the unreadable state 253 being still lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIG. 2D as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 15 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, the coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 230 .
- portions of the colorable element 230 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated by reference numeral 225 , resulting in the appearance of an additional plurality of bars 254 forming part of barcode V, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode IV remains in the readable state 240
- barcode VI remains in the unreadable state 242
- the changed unreadable state of barcode V is indicated by reference number 255 .
- barcode V in the unreadable state 255 has a BCR level similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 250 diffuses through the colorable element 230 , such that portions of the colorable element 230 are visible through the common colorable region 210 , including the transparent areas indicated by reference numerals 216 and 217 .
- barcode V As a result of portions of the colorable element 230 being visible through the transparent area indicated by reference numeral 217 , a single barcode bar indicated by reference numeral 262 appears in barcode V, thereby causing barcode V to assume a readable state 263 , as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804139.
- the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 261 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode V in the unreadable state 255 described in FIG. 2D above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 261 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 230 , such that portions of the colorable element 230 are visible through the transparent areas indicated by reference numeral 221 .
- a plurality of spaces indicated by reference numeral 265 located between the bars of barcode IV in its readable state are filled in, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode V remains in the readable state 263
- barcode VI remains in the unreadable state 242
- barcode IV assumes a further unreadable state, indicated by reference number 266 .
- the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 266 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- FIGS. 2E and 2F As can be seen from the planar view of FIGS. 2E and 2F , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode IV in the unreadable state 266 than in the unreadable state 261 . Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode IV is lower in the unreadable state 266 than in the unreadable state 261 .
- FIG. 2G As can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 12 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 15 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, the coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 230 , such that portions of the colorable element 230 are visible through the transparent areas indicated by reference number 222 .
- an additional plurality of spaces indicated by reference numeral 267 located between the bars of barcode IV in its readable state, are filled in, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode V remains in the readable state 263
- barcode VI remains in the unreadable state 242
- barcode IV assumes a further unreadable state 268 .
- the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 268 further decreases and continues to be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 230 . If, at any time after the temperature reaches 12 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 7 degrees Celsius, then the coloring agent 250 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through the colorable element 230 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 12 degrees Celsius.
- FIG. 2H as can be seen in the exploded view, when the temperature at the quality indicator exceeds 21 degrees Celsius, such as when the temperature reaches 25 degrees Celsius, the coloring agent, indicated by reference number 269 begins to melt and be released from the coloring element 238 and begins to diffuse through the colorable element 232 .
- the colored portions of the colorable element 232 cannot be seen through the plurality of the transparent areas 205 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes IV, V and VI remain unchanged.
- barcode VI As can be seen in the exploded view of FIG. 2H , the transparent area 219 and the additional colorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI are still uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode VI in its readable state, indicated by reference numeral 275 in FIG. 2J , are still missing from barcode VI.
- the missing barcode bars result in barcode VI in the unreadable state 242 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing.
- FIG. 2I as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 25 degrees, for example 55 minutes, the coloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 232 .
- portions of the colorable element 232 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated by reference number 215 , resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars 270 forming part of barcode VI, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode IV remains in the unreadable state 268
- barcode V remains in the readable state 263 and the changed unreadable state of barcode VI is indicated by reference number 271 . Only a single narrow barcode bar, which appears at the location of the transparent area 219 when barcode VI in its readable state, is still missing from barcode VI, and the missing barcode bar renders barcode VI in state 271 unreadable.
- barcode VI in the unreadable state 271 has a high BCR level, which is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 269 diffuses through the colorable element 232 , such that portions of the colorable element 232 are visible through the common colorable region 213 , including the transparent areas indicated by reference numerals 218 and 219 .
- barcode VI As a result of portions of the colorable element 232 being visible through the transparent area indicated by reference numeral 219 , a single narrow barcode bar indicated by reference numeral 274 appears in barcode VI, thereby causing barcode VI to assume a readable state 275 , as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804122.
- the BCR level of barcode V in the unreadable state 273 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode VI in the unreadable state 271 described in FIG. 2I above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode V in the unreadable state 273 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the common colorable region 213 and the coloring element 238 are at least equal to the distance between the common colorable region 210 and the coloring element 236 , the common colorable region 213 will not become colored prior to the coloring of the common colorable region 210 .
- the colorable elements 230 and 232 are made from different materials such that diffusion along the colorable element 232 is slower than diffusion along the colorable element 230 .
- the second threshold may be exceeded before the first threshold is exceeded, for example, by the second threshold including a temperature higher than that of the first threshold and a time duration shorter than that of the first threshold, an additional colorable area is added in barcode IV such that both barcodes IV and V become unreadable in response to exceedance of the second threshold.
- the first threshold is exceeded only following exceedance of the second threshold, exceedance of the first threshold will not be indicated.
- the colorable element is not separated into two portions, and indication of exceedance of the second threshold can also result from exceedance of a second time duration at or above the predetermined temperature of the first threshold.
- the coloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 232 , such that portions of the colorable element 232 are visible through the transparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated by reference number 214 .
- a plurality of spaces 276 located between the bars of barcode V in its readable state, is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view.
- Barcode IV remains in the unreadable state 268
- barcode VI remains in the readable state 275
- barcode V assumes a further unreadable state, indicated by reference numeral 277 .
- the BCR level of barcode V in the unreadable state 277 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- the coloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through the colorable element 232 . If, after the temperature reaches 21 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 17 degrees Celsius, then the coloring agent 269 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through the colorable element 232 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 21 degrees Celsius.
- the coloring agent 269 moves along the coloring element 232 from right to left and therefore the additional colorable region 214 , forming part of barcode V, appears to the left of the transparent area 218 and the additional colorable region 215 , forming part of barcode VI, appears to the right of the transparent area 219 .
- the coloring agent 269 can move along the coloring element 232 from left to right, and then the additional colorable region 214 would appear to the right of the transparent area 218 and the additional colorable region 215 would appear to the left of the transparent area 219 , as illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1K .
- the coloring agent responsive to the second predetermined temperature melts and starts to be released from the corresponding coloring element before coloring of the common colorable region which is operative to indicate the exceedance of the first threshold.
- the coloring agent 269 melts and starts to be released from the coloring element 232 , before coloring of the common colorable region 210 .
- an indicator according to the present invention can include more than three barcodes, wherein only one barcode is readable generally at any given time and as a result of exceedance of a threshold the readable barcode becomes unreadable and one of the unreadable barcodes becomes readable.
- the background of the barcode defining layer of the indicator may be printed in a dark color and the bars of the barcode may be printed in a light color.
- the melting of the coloring agent may be caused by a change in ambient parameters other than temperature, such as pH, humidity or the presence of certain chemicals, thereby enabling the use of the indicators described in the present invention for indicating exceedance of thresholds relating to such parameters.
Landscapes
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Finance (AREA)
- Economics (AREA)
- Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
- General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Strategic Management (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Development Economics (AREA)
- Artificial Intelligence (AREA)
- Computer Vision & Pattern Recognition (AREA)
- Toxicology (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Electromagnetism (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Quality & Reliability (AREA)
- Operations Research (AREA)
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
- Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
- Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
- General Factory Administration (AREA)
- Measuring Temperature Or Quantity Of Heat (AREA)
- Credit Cards Or The Like (AREA)
- Details Of Rigid Or Semi-Rigid Containers (AREA)
- Management, Administration, Business Operations System, And Electronic Commerce (AREA)
- Cash Registers Or Receiving Machines (AREA)
- Automatic Analysis And Handling Materials Therefor (AREA)
Abstract
Providing an indication of threshold exceedance, including a first barcode including a first set of areas including an uncolored area, positioned between bars of the first barcode when the first barcode is in a first readable state prior to exceedance of the threshold, and a second barcode including a second set of areas including an uncolored area, positioned at locations of bars of the second barcode which appear only when the second barcode is in a second readable state following exceedance of the threshold, the second barcode in a second unreadable state prior to exceedance of the threshold. As the second set being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the at least a second barcode. Upon exceedance the first barcode becoming unreadable and the second barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of the second set of areas.
Description
- Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,811, filed Sep. 10, 2007 and entitled “System And Method For Improved Quality Management In A Product Logistic Chain”, to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL07/000,547, filed May 6, 2007 and entitled “A System And Method For Improved Quality Management In A Product Logistic Chain”, to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL07/01411, filed Nov. 14, 2007 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators”, to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL2008/001495, filed Nov. 13, 2008 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators”, to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL2008/001494, filed Nov. 13, 2008 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators”, to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL2009/000503, filed May 20, 2009 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators” to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/469,309, filed May 20, 2009 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators” and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/231,799, filed Aug. 6, 2009 and entitled “Barcoded Indicators For Quality Management”, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
- Priority is hereby claimed under 37 CFR 1.78(a) (1) and (2)(i) from PCT Patent Application No. PCT/IL2009/000503, filed May 20, 2009 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators” and from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/469,309, filed May 20, 2009 and entitled “A System And Method For Quality Management Utilizing Barcode Indicators”, and under 37 CFR 1.78(a) (4) and (5)(i) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/231,799, filed Aug. 6, 2009 and entitled “Barcoded Indicators For Quality Management”.
- The present invention relates to quality management and to indicators useful in quality management.
- The following U.S. Pat. Nos. relate generally to the subject matter of the present application: 6,758,397, 6,009,400, 6,685,094, 7,157,048, 7,156,597 and RE 39,226.
- The present invention seeks to provide improved indicators useful in quality management systems and methodologies.
- There is thus provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention a barcoded indicator operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter, the barcoded indicator including at least a first barcode including at least a first set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of the first barcode when the first barcode is in a first barcode readable state prior to exceedance of the at least one threshold, and at least a second barcode including at least a second set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of the second barcode which appear only when the second barcode is in a second barcode readable state following exceedance of the at least one threshold, the at least a second barcode being in a second barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of the at least one threshold wherein as the result of the at least a second set being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the at least a second barcode, and upon exceedance of the at least one threshold the at least a first barcode becoming unreadable as the result of coloring of at least a portion of at least one colorable area forming part of the at least a first set of colorable areas and generally simultaneously the at least a second barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of the at least a second set of colorable areas.
- Preferably, the barcode indicator includes a coloring agent located at a first location on the indicator and a coloring agent pathway operative to allow the coloring agent to move, at a rate which is at least partially a function of time, from the first location to the first and second sets of colorable areas for coloring thereof.
- Additionally, the coloring agent pathway is operative to allow the coloring agent to move by diffusing from the first location to the first and the second sets of colorable areas.
- Preferably, the first set of colorable areas continues to be colored following exceedance of the at least one threshold.
- Preferably, the at least one threshold includes at least one time threshold.
- Preferably, the at least one threshold includes at least one time and temperature threshold.
- Preferably, the quality indicator is operative to provide indications of exceedance of several different thresholds.
- Preferably, at least one colorable area forming part of one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas has a width of a single narrow barcode bar.
- Preferably, colorable areas forming part of at least one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas become colored sequentially.
- Preferably, at least one of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas. Additionally, each of the first set of colorable areas and the second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas.
- Preferably, the barcoded indicator further including at least a third barcode including at least a third set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of the third barcode which appear only when the third barcode is in a third barcode readable state following exceedance of the at least one additional threshold, the at least a third barcode being in a third barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of the at least one additional threshold wherein as the result of the third set of colorable areas being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the at least a third barcode, the at least a second barcode including at least a fourth set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of the at least a second barcode when the at least a second barcode is in the second barcode readable state prior to exceedance of the at least one additional threshold, and upon exceedance of the at least one additional threshold the at least a second barcode becoming unreadable as the result of coloring of at least a portion of at least one colorable area forming part of the at least a fourth set of colorable areas and generally simultaneously the at least a third barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of the at least a third set of colorable areas.
- The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
-
FIGS. 1A-1K together are a simplified illustration of the structure and operation of an example of the quality indicator constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention for indicating elapsed time in temperature history; -
FIGS. 2A-2K together are a simplified illustration of the structure and operation of another example of the quality indicator constructed and operative in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention for indicating elapsed time in temperature history; - The present invention provides changeable barcode indicators operative to provide a readable, preferably barcode-reader-readable, indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter.
- Barcode readers operative to read the barcode indicators and to provide output indications, and product type responsive indication interpreters operative to receive the output indications and to provide human sensible, product quality status outputs are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,811 and in the publications WO/2007/129316, WO/2008/135962, WO/2009/063464 and WO/2009/063465.
- The term “barcode” is used herein to refer to a machine-readable optical code. In the examples in the specification, linear, or one-dimensional barcodes are illustrated. It is appreciated that the invention may be applicable to two dimensional barcodes as well.
- Each barcode standard includes rules which govern the proper reading of the barcode. A typical barcode includes start indicia representing the start of the barcode, stop indicia representing the end of the barcode and digital indicia representing digits positioned therebetween. Each digit of the barcode is indicated by a series of bars and spaces each having a predetermined width. For example, in the 2 of 5 Interleaved barcode standard, each digit is indicated by two wide bars and three narrow bars. The UPC and the EAN128 barcode standards include middle indicia with different rules for indicating digits on either side of the middle indicia. Additionally, some barcode standards employ a checksum digit, which is calculated according to a mathematical formula based on the barcode symbol digits and is used as a control for the validity of the barcode.
- Accordingly, a readable barcode can be rendered unreadable in several different ways. For example, the series of bars forming the start or the stop indicia can be changed by adding or deleting bars or spaces, or by changing the width thereof. Such a change can cause the barcode reader not to recognize the start or the end of the barcode symbol resulting in the barcode not being readable.
- Another possibility is adding or deleting bars or spaces of the digital indicia or changing the width thereof so that a series of bars and spaces indicating a digit no longer indicate a digit according to the standard employed. Yet another possibility is making the above changes to a series of one or more bars and spaces indicating a digit such that a different digit is indicated after the change and calculating the checksum digit including the changed digit results in a checksum digit different from the checksum digit indicated in the barcode, thereby causing the barcode to become invalid. A similar change causing invalidity of the barcode can also be made to the bars indicating the checksum digit itself.
- Similarly, an unreadable barcode can be rendered readable by adding or deleting bars or spaces or changing the width thereof. For example, bars forming the start or the stop indicia in a barcode where the start or the end are not properly indicated can be changed as explained above in order to properly form start or stop indicia.
- Similarly, an unreadable series of bars can be made to indicate a digit by adding or deleting bars or spaces or changing the width thereof. For example, according to the 2 of 5 Interleaved barcode standard, each digit is indicated by two wide bars and three narrow bars. If, for example, a readable barcode was rendered unreadable by changing a wide bar into a narrow bar, then changing a narrow bar into a wide bar can render the barcode readable. Similarly, if a barcode is unreadable because the checksum digit does not match the other barcode digits, then the bars indicating one of the digits or the checksum digit can be changed as explained above to restore barcode validity.
- The quality indicator may incorporate a product code such as an EAN (European Article Number) or a UPC code (Universal Product Code). The examples shown in the description which follows illustrate the use of an EAN code. Alternatively, the quality indicator may incorporate a 2 of 5 interleaved barcode or any other suitable barcode or readable methodology. It is appreciated that bars of one dimensional barcodes correspond to cells in Data Matrix two dimensional barcodes and instead of the “start” and “stop” indicia of one dimensional barcodes, two adjacent borders defining a “finder pattern” are used in the Data Matrix two dimensional barcodes to locate and orient the symbol.
- According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the quality indicator includes barcodes complying with GS1 (General Specifications) standards, which are outlined at www.gs1.org. According to GS1 standards, the three left-most digits are usually assigned to a country. In Israel, the seven, nine or ten left-most digits, including the country code, represent the supplier's code and the remaining right-most digits are used by each supplier. For example, as seen in the illustrated embodiments of the present application, the three left-most digits are 729, the GS1 country code assigned to Israel. The ten left-most digits, including the country code, represent a supplier's code and the three right-most digits are changeable by the supplier and combinations thereof are used in this application for indicating exceedance of thresholds.
- Applicant's U.S. application Ser. No. 12/469,309, filed May 20, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a quality indicator which is intended to present a single readable barcode generally at any given time.
- The phrase “generally at any given time”, as defined in this application, means at all times except possibly for short time periods.
- The phrase “generally simultaneously”, as defined in this application, means within a short time period.
- Preferably, in normal operation, a short time period means a time period of less than fifteen minutes.
- The quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 includes at least two variable barcodes, such as a first barcode and a second barcode, preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement. Each of the at least two variable barcodes includes at least one colorable area and has at least two visible states. One of the colorable areas in the first barcode is operative to become colored or uncolored at the same time as one of the colorable areas of the second barcode. The coloring or the uncoloring occurs, for example, upon exceedance of a time in temperature threshold.
- In U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, a group of colorable areas which are operative to become colored or uncolored at the same time is referred to as a colorable common area.
- According to an embodiment disclosed on page 14, paragraph [0051] of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, the coloring of the colorable common area which forms part of the first and the second barcodes in a quality indicator causes the visible state of the first barcode, which is initially readable, to become unreadable and, at the same time, causes the visible state of the second barcode, which is initially not readable, to become readable. Accordingly, the quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 presents a single readable barcode both before and after exceedance of a threshold.
- The colorable common areas disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 preferably include a single colorable area per barcode and preferably have the width of a single barcode bar. Accordingly, the difference between the readable state and the unreadable state of the barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 is preferably a single barcode bar.
- A problem may occur if a barcode is read by a barcode reader when the barcode is in an unreadable state. The more similar the unreadable state of a barcode is to the readable state thereof, the higher is the probability that the unreadable barcode will be erroneously read by a barcode reader. If a barcode reader erroneously reads either the first or the second barcode in the quality indicator of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 when that barcode is in an unreadable state, the barcode reader may read a barcode presenting incorrect information. This problem can occur in situations such as described below, with reference to the embodiment disclosed on page 14, paragraph [0051] of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309:
- In a first situation, the second barcode, which is not readable prior to exceedance of a threshold, is erroneously read by a barcode reader notwithstanding that the colorable common area has not yet become colored. At the same time, the first barcode remains readable because the first barcode becomes unreadable only upon coloring of the colorable common area. As a result, by reading the second unreadable barcode, the barcode reader reads a barcode presenting incorrect information.
- In a second situation, the first barcode, which is readable prior to exceedance of a threshold, is erroneously still read by a barcode reader following exceedance of the threshold, notwithstanding that the colorable common area became colored and rendered the first barcode unreadable. At the same time, the second barcode becomes readable by virtue of the coloring of the colorable common area. As a result, by reading the first unreadable barcode, the barcode reader reads a barcode presenting incorrect information.
- A group of colorable areas corresponding to the colorable common area disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309 and which are operative to become colored or uncolored at the same time, is hereinafter referred to as a common colorable region.
- The common colorable region preferably has a width of a single narrow barcode bar. Alternatively, the common colorable region is wider than a single narrow barcode bar.
- The present application provides an improvement to the quality indicator described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. This improvement alleviates the above problem by preferably including as part of a barcode at least one additional set of colorable areas, in addition to the common colorable region.
- Each additional set of colorable areas, hereinafter referred to as an additional colorable region, preferably includes at least one colorable area, forms part of a single barcode and is configured to reduce the barcode readability level of the barcode of which it forms a part. Preferably, an additional colorable region includes more than one colorable area. Alternatively, an additional colorable region includes a single colorable area.
- The phrase “barcode readability level” or “BCR level” of a barcode in an unreadable state reflects the likelihood that a barcode reader will erroneously read the barcode when it is in that unreadable state. Accordingly, an unreadable barcode having a low BCR level is not likely to be erroneously read by a barcode reader.
- In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the first situation described above, the additional colorable region forms part of the initially unreadable second barcode, and includes an initially uncolored set of colorable areas. The initially uncolored set of colorable areas is preferably positioned at location of barcode bars which appear in the second barcode in its readable state. As a result, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from the second barcode. It is appreciated that as a result of more than a single narrow barcode bars being missing, the BCR level of the unreadable second barcode decreases and becomes lower than the BCR level of the unreadable second barcode in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, wherein only a single barcode bar is missing.
- Preferably, “more than a single narrow barcode bar” means more than one barcode bar, the barcode bars being narrow or wide. Alternatively, “more than a single narrow barcode bar means more than a portion of a wide barcode bar, the portion being at the same width as a narrow barcode bar.
- It is appreciated that portions of barcode bars can be missing as a result of set of colorable areas not being colored.
- In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the second situation described above, the additional colorable region forms part of the initially readable first barcode and includes an initially uncolored set of colorable areas. The initially uncolored set of colorable areas is preferably positioned in spaces between barcode bars which form part of the first barcode in its readable state, and when uncolored do not interfere with the readability of the first barcode.
- Preferably, following exceedance of a threshold, colorable areas forming part of the common colorable region and of the additional colorable region become colored, thereby causing the first barcode to become unreadable. The coloring of the additional colorable region results in multiple spaces between bars of the first barcode becoming filled in, thereby decreasing the BCR level of the first barcode and causing it to be lower than that of the unreadable state of the first barcode described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, which has only a space having a width of a single barcode bar filled in relative to the readable state thereof.
- It is appreciated that instead of multiple spaces becoming filled in between bars of the first barcode, a space which is wider than a single narrow barcode bar can become filled in.
- According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 1A-2K , the colorable areas forming part of the additional colorable region and the common colorable region become colored sequentially. Alternatively, the colorable areas forming part of the additional colorable region and of the common colorable region become colored generally simultaneously. - It is appreciated that a plurality of spaces between barcode bars which become filled in as a result of coloring of a set of colorable areas can include spaces which are partially filled in.
- It is appreciated that instead of being initially uncolored and becoming colored, a colorable area can be initially colored and become uncolored.
- Preferably, as colorable areas become colored, barcode bars or portions thereof appear and spaces between barcodes or portions thereof become filled in.
- Alternatively, as colorable areas become colored, barcode bars or portions thereof disappear and spaces or portions thereof form between barcode bars.
- It is further appreciated that the quality indicator may be operative to provide an indication of exceedance only following actuation thereof. Alternatively, as illustrated in the description and drawings of this application, the quality indicator may be operative to provide an indication of exceedance without actuation.
- According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention barcodes forming part of a quality indicator are each capable of indicating any numerical or alphanumerical sequence. Additionally or alternatively, barcodes forming part of a quality indicator are each capable of complying with any suitable barcode standard, including but not limited to EAN, UPC, 2 of 5 Interleaved, code39, code 39 extended, code 93, code 93 extended, code 128, code 128 A, B and C, ISBN, Code bar and Data Matrix. Accordingly, different barcodes forming part of the same quality indicator can comply with different barcode standards. For example, a quality indicator can include a first barcode complying with the EAN13 standard and a second barcode complying with the 2 of 5 Interleaved standard. Consequently, if the barcode reader of a checkout scanner is operative to read only the EAN13 barcode standard, then, once the first barcode becomes unreadable, the indicator no longer presents a readable barcode to the checkout scanner. However, the indicator is still readable by a barcode reader operative to read the 2 of 5 Interleaved standard.
- Reference is now made to
FIGS. 1A-1K , which together are a simplified illustration of the construction and operation of one embodiment of a quality indicator for indicating a combination of elapsed time and temperature. The quality indicator described inFIGS. 1A-1K is operative to provide separate indications of exceedance of two different time durations, one hour, and three and a half hours, at a temperature of at least 21 degrees Celsius. - In each of
FIGS. 1A-1K , thequality indicator 100 appears both in an exploded view at the top left portion of the drawing and in a planar view at the bottom right portion of the drawing. - As seen in the exploded view in
FIGS. 1A-1K , the quality indicator, here indicated byreference number 100, preferably includes abarcode defining layer 102, which is preferably printed on a transparent substrate. The printing on the transparent substrate preferably defines abackground area 103, which is preferably printed with black ink and overprinted with white ink, a plurality ofbars 104 forming part of barcodes I, II and III which are preferably printed with black ink, and a plurality oftransparent areas 105, which are preferably printed with light blue ink, such as Pantone No. 645, which has a visual appearance similar to that of the black ink overprinted with white ink. Alternatively, thebackground area 103 and the plurality ofbars 104 are printed in such colors so as to define high contrast therebetween. - For the purposes of the present specification and claims, the phrase “transparent areas” is defined so as to include within its scope areas that are either transparent or translucent.
- The barcodes I, II and III are preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement and the
transparent areas 105 preferably form part of six regions: a commoncolorable region 110 forming part of barcodes I and II, an additionalcolorable region 111 forming part of barcode I, an additionalcolorable region 112 forming part of barcode II, a commoncolorable region 113 forming part of barcodes II and III, an additionalcolorable region 114 forming part of barcode II and an additionalcolorable region 115 forming part of barcode III. - It is appreciated that barcodes I, II and III need not be positioned on the indicator in any particular order.
- It is also appreciated that the spaces which appear
FIGS. 1A-1K between barcode I and barcode II and between barcode II and barcode III may be obviated. - Preferably, the common
colorable region 110 includes two transparent areas,transparent area 116 forming part of barcode I andtransparent area 117 forming part of barcode II. - Preferably, the common
colorable region 113 includes two transparent areas,transparent area 118 forming part of barcode II andtransparent area 119 forming part of barcode III. - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 1A-1K , the additionalcolorable region 111, forming part of barcode I, appears to the right of thetransparent area 116. Thetransparent area 116 and thetransparent areas 105 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 111 are preferably positioned in spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode I in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 140 inFIG. 1A . - For the purpose of the explanation which follows, the
transparent areas 105 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 111 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 121 and 122, as illustrated inFIGS. 1A-1K . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 1A-1K , the additionalcolorable region 112 forming part of barcode II appears to the left of thetransparent area 117. Thetransparent area 117 and thetransparent areas 105 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 112 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode II is in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 163 inFIG. 1E . - For the purpose of the explanation which follows, the
transparent areas 105 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 112 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 124 and 125, as illustrated inFIGS. 1A-1K . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 1A-1K , the additionalcolorable region 114, forming part of barcode II, appears to the right of thetransparent area 118. Thetransparent area 118 and thetransparent areas 105 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 114 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode II in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 163 inFIG. 1E . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 1A-1K , the additionalcolorable region 115 forming part of barcode III appears to the left of thetransparent area 119. Thetransparent area 119 and thetransparent areas 105 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 115 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode III is in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 175 inFIG. 1J . - Disposed behind the
barcode defining layer 102 and preferably adhered thereto is acolorable element 130, such as Whatman No. 3 filter paper commercially available from Whatman International [CAT#: 1003917], which until colored is normally white. Thecolorable element 130 preferably extends behind the commoncolorable regions colorable regions - Disposed behind the
barcode defining layer 102 and behind thecolorable element 130 is aback layer 135. Preferably adhered to theback layer 135 rearwardly of thecolorable element 130 is a temperatureresponsive coloring element 136, such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in Coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8]. - Turning now to
FIG. 1A , as can be seen in the planar view, barcode I is initially in a readable state indicated byreference numeral 140, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804115 and barcodes II and III are in unreadable states indicated byreference numerals - As can be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 1A , thetransparent area 117 and thetransparent areas 105 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 112 forming part of barcode II are initially uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode II in its readable state are missing from barcode II. The missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode II in the initialunreadable state 141 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing. - As can also be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 1A , thetransparent area 119 and the additionalcolorable region 115 forming part of barcode III are initially uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode III in its readable state are missing from barcode III. The missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode III in the initialunreadable state 142 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes II or III in their current state than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- Turning to
FIG. 1B , as can be seen in the exploded view, when the temperature at the quality indicator exceeds 21 degrees Celsius, such as when the temperature reaches 25 degrees Celsius, the coloring agent, indicated byreference number 150 begins to melt and be released from thecoloring element 136 and begins to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. The colored portions of thecolorable element 130 cannot be seen through the plurality of thetransparent areas 105 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes I, II and III remain unchanged. - Turning to
FIG. 1C , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 25 degrees, for example 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated byreference number 124, resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars indicated byreference numeral 152 forming part of barcode II, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode I remains in thereadable state 140, barcode III remains in theunreadable state 142, and the changed unreadable state of barcode II is indicated byreference number 153. - The barcode bars which appear at the locations of the
transparent area 117 and of the plurality oftransparent areas 125 when barcode II in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 163 inFIG. 1E , are still missing from barcode II. This missing plurality of barcode bars results in the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 153 being still lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is still less likely to read the unreadable barcodes II or III in their current state than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 1B and 1C , less barcode bars are missing when barcode II is in theunreadable state 153 than when it is in theunreadable state 141. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 153 is higher than the BCR level thereof in theunreadable state 141. - Turning to
FIG. 1D , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 25 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated byreference number 125, resulting in the appearance of an additional plurality ofbars 154 forming part of barcode II, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode I remains in thereadable state 140, barcode III remains in theunreadable state 142 and the changed unreadable state of barcode II is indicated byreference number 155. Only a single narrow barcode bar which appears at the location of thetransparent area 117 when barcode II in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 163 inFIG. 1E , is still missing from barcode II, and the missing barcode bar renders barcode II instate 155 unreadable. - It is appreciated that because only a single narrow barcode bar is missing in the
unreadable state 155, the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 155 is higher than that of barcode II in theunreadable states FIGS. 1A-1C above. It is further appreciated that barcode II in theunreadable state 155 has a BCR level similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 1E , as can be seen in the exploded view, when a threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 21 degrees Celsius for at least a predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 25 degrees Celsius for a total of at least one hour, thecoloring agent 150 diffuses through thecolorable element 130, such that portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the commoncolorable region 110, including the transparent areas indicated byreference numerals - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 130 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 116, a space indicated byreference numeral 160, which is located between bars of barcode I in its readable state, is filled in, thereby causing barcode Ito assume anunreadable state 161, as can be seen in the planar view. - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 130 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 117, a single narrow barcode bar indicated byreference numeral 162 appears in barcode II, thereby causing barcode II to assume areadable state 163, as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804139. - It is appreciated that because a space preferably having a width of a single narrow barcode bar located between the bars of barcode I in its readable state is filled in, the BCR level of barcode I in the
unreadable state 161 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 155 described inFIG. 1D above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode I in theunreadable state 161 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 1F , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130, such that portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the transparent areas indicated byreference numeral 121. As a result, a plurality of spaces indicated byreference numeral 165 located between the bars of barcode I in its readable state is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode II remains in thereadable state 163, barcode III remains in theunreadable state 142 and barcode I assumes a further unreadable state, indicated byreference number 166. As a result of the coloring of the plurality ofspaces 165, the BCR level of barcode I in theunreadable state 166 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes I or III in their current state than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 1E and 1F , more spaces are filled in between bars of barcode I in theunreadable state 166 than in theunreadable state 161. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode I is lower in theunreadable state 166 than in theunreadable state 161. - Turning to
FIG. 1G , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130, such that portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the transparent areas indicated byreference number 122. As a result, an additional plurality of spaces indicated byreference numeral 167, located between the bars of barcode I in its readable state, appears colored, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode II remains in thereadable state 163, barcode III remains in theunreadable state 142 and barcode I assumes a furtherunreadable state 168. As a result of the coloring of the additional plurality ofspaces 167, the BCR level of barcode I in theunreadable state 168 further decreases and continues to be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes I or III in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 1F and 1G , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode I in theunreadable state 168 than in theunreadable state 166. Accordingly, the BCR level of barcode I is lower in theunreadable state 168 than in theunreadable state 166. - Turning to
FIG. 1H , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional one hour, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. The additional colored portions of thecolorable element 130 are not seen through the plurality of thetransparent areas 105 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes I, II and III remain unchanged. - As can be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 1H , thetransparent area 119 and the additionalcolorable region 115 forming part of barcode III are still uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode III in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 175 inFIG. 1J , are still missing from barcode III. The missing barcode bars result in barcode III in theunreadable state 142 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes I or III in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- Turning to
FIG. 1I , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 25 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the plurality oftransparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated byreference number 115, resulting in the appearance of a plurality ofbars 170 forming part of barcode III, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode I remains in theunreadable state 168, barcode II remains in thereadable state 163 and the changed unreadable state of barcode III is indicated byreference number 171. Only a portion of a barcode bar which appears at the location of thetransparent area 119 when barcode III in its readable state, the portion having a width of a single narrow barcode bar, is still missing from barcode III, and the missing barcode bar portion renders barcode III instate 171 unreadable. - It is appreciated that because only a portion of a barcode bar is missing in the
unreadable state 171, the portion having a width of a single narrow barcode bar, the BCR level of barcode III in theunreadable state 171 is higher than that of barcode III in theunreadable state 142 described inFIG. 1A-1H above. It is further appreciated that barcode III in theunreadable state 171 has a high BCR level, which is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 1J , as can be seen in the exploded view, when a second threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 21 degrees Celsius for at least a second predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 25 degrees Celsius for a total of at least three and a half hours, thecoloring agent 150 diffuses through thecolorable element 130, such that portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through the commoncolorable region 113, including the transparent areas indicated byreference numerals - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 130 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 118, a space indicated byreference numeral 172, which is located between bars of barcode II in its readable state, is filled in, thereby causing barcode II to assume anunreadable state 173, as can be seen in the planar view. - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 130 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 119, a portion of a barcode appears in barcode III, the portion being indicated byreference numeral 174 and having a width of a single narrow barcode bar. As a result, barcode III assumes areadable state 175, as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804122. - It is appreciated that because a space preferably having a width of a single narrow barcode bar located between the bars of barcode II in its readable state is filled in, the BCR level of barcode II in the
unreadable state 173 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode III in theunreadable state 171 described inFIG. 1I above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 173 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 1K , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130, such that portions of thecolorable element 130 are visible through thetransparent areas 105 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated byreference number 114. As a result, a plurality ofspaces 176, located between the bars of barcode II in its readable state, is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode I remains in theunreadable state 168, barcode III remains in thereadable state 175 and barcode II assumes a further unreadable state, indicated byreference numeral 177. The plurality ofspaces 176 becoming filled in causes the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 177 to decrease and be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes I or II in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 1J and 1K , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode II in theunreadable state 177 than in theunreadable state 173. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode II is lower in theunreadable state 177 than in theunreadable state 173. - It is appreciated that if the temperature drops below 21 degrees Celsius the
coloring agent 150 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 130. If, after the temperature reaches 21 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 17 degrees Celsius, then thecoloring agent 150 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through thecolorable element 130 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 21 degrees Celsius. - Reference is now made to
FIGS. 2A-2K , which together are a simplified illustration of the construction and operation of one embodiment of a quality indicator for indicating a combination of elapsed time and temperature. The quality indicator described inFIGS. 2A-2K is operative to provide separate indications of exceedance of two different temperatures: 12 degrees Celsius and 21 degrees Celsius, for a time duration of at least one hour at each temperature. - In each of
FIGS. 2A-2K , thequality indicator 200 appears both in an exploded view at the top left portion of the drawing and in a planar view at the bottom right portion of the drawing. - As seen in the exploded view in
FIGS. 2A-2K , the quality indicator, here indicated byreference number 200, preferably includes abarcode defining layer 202, which is preferably printed on a transparent substrate. The printing on the transparent substrate preferably defines abackground area 203, which is preferably printed with black ink and overprinted with white ink, a plurality ofbars 204 forming part of barcodes IV, V and VI which are preferably printed with black ink, and a plurality oftransparent areas 205, which are preferably printed with light blue ink, such as Pantone No. 645, which has a visual appearance similar to that of the black ink overprinted with white ink. Alternatively, thebackground area 203 and the plurality ofbars 204 are printed in such colors so as to define high contrast therebetween. - The barcodes IV, V and VI are preferably arranged in a stacked arrangement and the
transparent areas 205 preferably form part of six regions: a commoncolorable region 210 forming part of barcodes IV and V, an additionalcolorable region 211 forming part of barcode IV, an additionalcolorable region 212 forming part of barcode V, a commoncolorable region 213 forming part of barcodes V and VI, an additionalcolorable region 214 forming part of barcode V and an additionalcolorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI. - It is appreciated that barcodes IV, V and VI need not be positioned on the indicator in any particular order.
- It is also appreciated that the spaces which appear
FIGS. 2A-2K between barcode IV and barcode V and between barcode V and barcode VI may be obviated. Preferably, the commoncolorable region 210 includes two transparent areas,transparent area 216 forming part of barcode IV andtransparent area 217 forming part of barcode V. - Preferably, the common
colorable region 213 includes two transparent areas,transparent area 218 forming part of barcode V andtransparent area 219 forming part of barcode VI. - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 2A-2K , the additionalcolorable region 211, forming part of barcode IV, appears to the right of thetransparent area 216. Thetransparent area 216 and thetransparent areas 205 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 211 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode IV in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 240 inFIG. 2A . - For the purpose of the explanation which follows, the
transparent areas 205 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 211 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 221 and 222, as illustrated inFIGS. 2A-2K . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 2A-2K , the additionalcolorable region 212 forming part of barcode V appears to the left of thetransparent area 217. Thetransparent area 217 and thetransparent areas 205 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 212 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode V is in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 263 inFIG. 2E . - For the purpose of the explanation which follows, the
transparent areas 205 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 212 are grouped into two pluralities of transparent areas: 224 and 225, as illustrated inFIGS. 2A-2K . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 2A-2K , the additionalcolorable region 214, forming part of barcode V, appears to the left of thetransparent area 218. Thetransparent area 218 and thetransparent areas 205 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 214 are preferably positioned in the spaces between barcode bars forming part of barcode V in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 263 inFIG. 2E . - According to the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 2A-2K , the additionalcolorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI appears to the right of thetransparent area 219. Thetransparent area 219 and thetransparent areas 205 which form part of the additionalcolorable region 215 are positioned at locations of bars which appear when barcode VI is in its readable state, which is indicated byreference numeral 275 inFIG. 2J . - Disposed behind the
barcode defining layer 202 and preferably adhered thereto is acolorable element 230, such as Whatman No. 3 filter paper commercially available from Whatman International [CAT#: 1003917], which until colored is normally white. Thecolorable element 230 preferably extends behind the commoncolorable region 210 and the additionalcolorable regions - Also disposed behind the
barcode defining layer 202 and preferably adhered thereto is an additionalcolorable element 232, such as Whatman No. 3 filter paper commercially available from Whatman International [CAT#: 1003917], which until colored is normally white. Thecolorable element 232 is preferably adjacent thecolorable element 230 and preferably extends behind the commoncolorable region 213 and the additionalcolorable regions - It is appreciated that instead of including two separate colorable elements, an indicator according to the present invention can include a single colorable element separated into two portions by a separator made of a material which is impermeable to ink, such as varnish.
- Disposed behind the
barcode defining layer 202 and behind thecolorable elements back layer 235. - Preferably adhered to the
back layer 235 rearwardly of thecolorable element 230 is a temperatureresponsive coloring element 236, such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in a solution of 74.25% Coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8], 24.75% Oleic acid [CAS: 112-80-1] and 1% Hexanoic acid [CAS: 142-62-1]. - Preferably also adhered to the
back layer 235 rearwardly of thecolorable element 232 is a temperatureresponsive coloring element 238, such as a pad, for example, K-R; 210/34/28, commercially available from Noam-Urim of Kibbutz Urim, Israel, impregnated with a coloring agent, such as Sudan Black, a black color dye [CAS: 4197-25-5], dissolved at a ratio of 1 gram per 1 kg in Coconut oil [CAS: 8001-31-8]. - Turning now to
FIG. 2A , as can be seen in the planar view, barcode IV is initially in a readable state indicated byreference numeral 240, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804115 and barcodes V and VI are in unreadable states indicated byreference numerals - As can be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 2A , thetransparent area 217 and thetransparent areas 205 forming part of the additionalcolorable region 212 forming part of barcode V are initially uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode V in its readable state are missing from barcode V. The missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode V in the initialunreadable state 241 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single barcode bar is missing. - As can also be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 2A , thetransparent area 219 and the additionalcolorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI are initially uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode VI in its readable state are missing from barcode VI. The missing plurality of barcode bars results in barcode VI in the initialunreadable state 242 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes V or VI in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- Turning to
FIG. 2B , as can be seen in the exploded view, when the temperature at the quality indicator exceeds 12 degrees Celsius, such as when the temperature reaches 15 degrees Celsius, the coloring agent, indicated byreference numeral 250 begins to melt and be released from thecoloring element 236 and begins to diffuse through thecolorable element 230. The colored portions of thecolorable element 230 cannot be seen through the plurality of thetransparent areas 205 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes IV, V and VI remain unchanged. - Turning to
FIG. 2C , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 15 degrees, for example 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 230. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 230 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated byreference numeral 224, resulting in the appearance of a plurality of bars indicated byreference numeral 252 forming part of barcode V, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode IV remains in thereadable state 240, barcode VI remains in theunreadable state 242, and the changed unreadable state of barcode V is indicated byreference number 253. - The barcode bars which appear at the locations of the
transparent area 217 and of the plurality oftransparent areas 225 when barcode V in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 263 inFIG. 2E , are still missing from barcode V. This missing plurality of barcode bars results in the BCR level of barcode II in theunreadable state 253 being still lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes V or VI in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 2B and 2C , less barcode bars are missing when barcode V is in theunreadable state 253 than when it is in theunreadable state 241. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode V in theunreadable state 253 is higher than the BCR level thereof in theunreadable state 241. - Turning to
FIG. 2D , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of an additional amount of time at 15 degrees, for example another 25 minutes, thecoloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 230. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 230 are visible through the plurality of transparent areas indicated byreference numeral 225, resulting in the appearance of an additional plurality ofbars 254 forming part of barcode V, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode IV remains in thereadable state 240, barcode VI remains in theunreadable state 242 and the changed unreadable state of barcode V is indicated byreference number 255. Only a single narrow barcode bar which appears at the location of thetransparent area 217 when barcode V in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 263 inFIG. 2E , is still missing from barcode V, and the missing barcode bar renders barcode V instate 255 unreadable. - It is appreciated that because only a single barcode bar is missing in the
unreadable state 255, the BCR level of barcode V in theunreadable state 255 is higher than that of barcode V in theunreadable states FIGS. 2A-2C above. It is further appreciated that barcode V in theunreadable state 255 has a BCR level similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 2E , as can be seen in the exploded view, when a threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 12 degrees Celsius for at least a predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 15 degrees Celsius for a total of at least one hour, thecoloring agent 250 diffuses through thecolorable element 230, such that portions of thecolorable element 230 are visible through the commoncolorable region 210, including the transparent areas indicated byreference numerals - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 230 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 216, a space indicated byreference numeral 260, which is located between bars of barcode IV in its readable state, is filled in, thereby causing barcode IV to assume an unreadable state 261, as can be seen in the planar view. - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 230 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 217, a single barcode bar indicated byreference numeral 262 appears in barcode V, thereby causing barcode V to assume areadable state 263, as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804139. - It is appreciated that because a space preferably having a width of a single narrow barcode bar located between the bars of barcode IV in its readable state is filled in, the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 261 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode V in the
unreadable state 255 described inFIG. 2D above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 261 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 2F , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 12 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 15 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 230, such that portions of thecolorable element 230 are visible through the transparent areas indicated byreference numeral 221. As a result, a plurality of spaces indicated byreference numeral 265 located between the bars of barcode IV in its readable state are filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode V remains in thereadable state 263, barcode VI remains in theunreadable state 242 and barcode IV assumes a further unreadable state, indicated by reference number 266. As a result of the plurality ofspaces 265 becoming filled in, the BCR level of barcode IV in the unreadable state 266 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes IV or VI in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 2E and 2F , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode IV in the unreadable state 266 than in the unreadable state 261. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode IV is lower in the unreadable state 266 than in the unreadable state 261. Turning toFIG. 2G , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 12 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 15 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 230, such that portions of thecolorable element 230 are visible through the transparent areas indicated byreference number 222. As a result, an additional plurality of spaces indicated byreference numeral 267, located between the bars of barcode IV in its readable state, are filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode V remains in thereadable state 263, barcode VI remains in theunreadable state 242 and barcode IV assumes a furtherunreadable state 268. As a result of the additional plurality ofspaces 267 becoming filled in, the BCR level of barcode IV in theunreadable state 268 further decreases and continues to be lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes IV or VI in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 2F and 2G , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode IV in theunreadable state 268 than in the unreadable state 266. Accordingly, the BCR level of barcode IV is lower in theunreadable state 268 than in the unreadable state 266. - It is appreciated that if the temperature drops below 12 degrees Celsius, the
coloring agent 250 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 230. If, at any time after the temperature reaches 12 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 7 degrees Celsius, then thecoloring agent 250 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through thecolorable element 230 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 12 degrees Celsius. - Turning to
FIG. 2H , as can be seen in the exploded view, when the temperature at the quality indicator exceeds 21 degrees Celsius, such as when the temperature reaches 25 degrees Celsius, the coloring agent, indicated byreference number 269 begins to melt and be released from thecoloring element 238 and begins to diffuse through thecolorable element 232. The colored portions of thecolorable element 232 cannot be seen through the plurality of thetransparent areas 205 and, as can be seen in the planar view, barcodes IV, V and VI remain unchanged. - As can be seen in the exploded view of
FIG. 2H , thetransparent area 219 and the additionalcolorable region 215 forming part of barcode VI are still uncolored. As a result, as can be seen in the planar view, a plurality of bars which appear when barcode VI in its readable state, indicated byreference numeral 275 inFIG. 2J , are still missing from barcode VI. The missing barcode bars result in barcode VI in theunreadable state 242 having a BCR level lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, in which only a single narrow barcode bar is missing. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes IV or VI in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- Turning to
FIG. 2I , as can be seen in the exploded view, following the elapse of a certain amount of time at 25 degrees, for example 55 minutes, thecoloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 232. As a result, portions of thecolorable element 232 are visible through the plurality oftransparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated byreference number 215, resulting in the appearance of a plurality ofbars 270 forming part of barcode VI, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode IV remains in theunreadable state 268, barcode V remains in thereadable state 263 and the changed unreadable state of barcode VI is indicated byreference number 271. Only a single narrow barcode bar, which appears at the location of thetransparent area 219 when barcode VI in its readable state, is still missing from barcode VI, and the missing barcode bar renders barcode VI instate 271 unreadable. - It is appreciated that because only a single narrow barcode bar is missing in the
unreadable state 271, the BCR level of barcode VI in theunreadable state 271 is higher than that of barcode VI in theunreadable state 242 described inFIG. 2A-2H above. It is further appreciated that barcode VI in theunreadable state 271 has a high BCR level, which is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes II, III and IV in FIG. 4A of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - Turning to
FIG. 2J , as can be seen in the exploded view, when a second threshold is exceeded by the temperature at the indicator being at least 21 degrees Celsius for at least a predetermined cumulative amount of time, such as 25 degrees Celsius for a total of at least one hour, thecoloring agent 269 diffuses through thecolorable element 232, such that portions of thecolorable element 232 are visible through the commoncolorable region 213, including the transparent areas indicated byreference numerals - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 232 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 218, a space indicated byreference numeral 272, which is located between bars of barcode V in its readable state, is filled in thereby causing barcode V to assume anunreadable state 273, as can be seen in the planar view. - As a result of portions of the
colorable element 232 being visible through the transparent area indicated byreference numeral 219, a single narrow barcode bar indicated byreference numeral 274 appears in barcode VI, thereby causing barcode VI to assume areadable state 275, as can be seen in the planar view, which is typically readable by a barcode reader as 7290003804122. - It is appreciated that because a space preferably having a width of a single narrow barcode bar located between the bars of barcode V in its readable state is filled in, the BCR level of barcode V in the
unreadable state 273 is high, similar to the BCR level of barcode VI in theunreadable state 271 described inFIG. 2I above. It is further appreciated that the BCR level of barcode V in theunreadable state 273 is similar to the BCR level of the unreadable barcodes described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309, for example barcodes I, II and III in FIG. 4E of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - It is appreciated that since the distance between the common
colorable region 213 and thecoloring element 238 is at least equal to the distance between the commoncolorable region 210 and thecoloring element 236, the commoncolorable region 213 will not become colored prior to the coloring of the commoncolorable region 210. Alternatively, thecolorable elements colorable element 232 is slower than diffusion along thecolorable element 230. - According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the second threshold may be exceeded before the first threshold is exceeded, for example, by the second threshold including a temperature higher than that of the first threshold and a time duration shorter than that of the first threshold, an additional colorable area is added in barcode IV such that both barcodes IV and V become unreadable in response to exceedance of the second threshold. In accordance with this embodiment, if the first threshold is exceeded only following exceedance of the second threshold, exceedance of the first threshold will not be indicated.
- In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, the colorable element is not separated into two portions, and indication of exceedance of the second threshold can also result from exceedance of a second time duration at or above the predetermined temperature of the first threshold.
- Turning to
FIG. 2K , as can be seen in the exploded view, if the temperature is at least 21 degrees Celsius for an additional amount of time, for example 25 degrees Celsius for an additional 30 minutes, thecoloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 232, such that portions of thecolorable element 232 are visible through thetransparent areas 205 forming part of the additional colorable region indicated byreference number 214. As a result, a plurality ofspaces 276, located between the bars of barcode V in its readable state, is filled in, as can be seen in the planar view. Barcode IV remains in theunreadable state 268, barcode VI remains in thereadable state 275 and barcode V assumes a further unreadable state, indicated byreference numeral 277. As a result of the plurality ofspaces 276 becoming filled in, the BCR level of barcode V in theunreadable state 277 decreases and becomes lower than that of the unreadable barcodes disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309. - As a result, a barcode reader is less likely to read the unreadable barcodes IV or V in their current unreadable states than read the unreadable barcodes of U.S. Ser. No. 12/469,309.
- As can be seen from the planar view of
FIGS. 2J and 2K , more spaces are filled in between barcode bars of barcode V in theunreadable state 277 than in theunreadable state 273. Accordingly, it is appreciated that the BCR level of barcode V is lower in theunreadable state 277 than in theunreadable state 273. - It is appreciated that if the temperature drops below 21 degrees Celsius the
coloring agent 269 continues to diffuse through thecolorable element 232. If, after the temperature reaches 21 degrees Celsius, the temperature drops below 17 degrees Celsius, then thecoloring agent 269 becomes solid and diffusion thereof through thecolorable element 232 is suspended until the temperature again reaches 21 degrees Celsius. - In the embodiment described in
FIGS. 2A-2K above, thecoloring agent 269 moves along thecoloring element 232 from right to left and therefore the additionalcolorable region 214, forming part of barcode V, appears to the left of thetransparent area 218 and the additionalcolorable region 215, forming part of barcode VI, appears to the right of thetransparent area 219. Alternatively, thecoloring agent 269 can move along thecoloring element 232 from left to right, and then the additionalcolorable region 214 would appear to the right of thetransparent area 218 and the additionalcolorable region 215 would appear to the left of thetransparent area 219, as illustrated inFIGS. 1A-1K . - It is appreciated that if the temperature increases above a second predetermined temperature before exceedance of a first threshold, which includes a first predetermined time duration at a first predetermined temperature, the coloring agent responsive to the second predetermined temperature melts and starts to be released from the corresponding coloring element before coloring of the common colorable region which is operative to indicate the exceedance of the first threshold. For example, in the embodiment illustrated in
FIGS. 2A-2K above, if the temperature exceeds 21 degrees Celsius before the exceedance of one hour at a temperature of at least 12 degrees Celsius, thecoloring agent 269 melts and starts to be released from thecoloring element 232, before coloring of the commoncolorable region 210. - It is appreciated that an indicator according to the present invention can include more than three barcodes, wherein only one barcode is readable generally at any given time and as a result of exceedance of a threshold the readable barcode becomes unreadable and one of the unreadable barcodes becomes readable.
- It is appreciated that the background of the barcode defining layer of the indicator may be printed in a dark color and the bars of the barcode may be printed in a light color.
- It is appreciated that the melting of the coloring agent may be caused by a change in ambient parameters other than temperature, such as pH, humidity or the presence of certain chemicals, thereby enabling the use of the indicators described in the present invention for indicating exceedance of thresholds relating to such parameters.
- It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and sub-combinations of various features of the invention and modifications thereof which may occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art.
Claims (20)
1. A barcoded indicator operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter, said barcoded indicator comprising:
at least a first barcode including at least a first set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of said first barcode when said first barcode is in a first barcode readable state prior to exceedance of said at least one threshold; and
at least a second barcode including at least a second set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of said second barcode which appear only when said second barcode is in a second barcode readable state following exceedance of said at least one threshold,
said at least a second barcode being in a second barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of said at least one threshold wherein as the result of said at least a second set being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from said at least a second barcode, and
upon exceedance of said at least one threshold said at least a first barcode becoming unreadable as the result of coloring of at least a portion of at least one colorable area forming part of said at least a first set of colorable areas and generally simultaneously said at least a second barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of said at least a second set of colorable areas.
2. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a coloring agent located at a first location on said indicator; and
a coloring agent pathway operative to allow said coloring agent to move, at a rate which is at least partially a function of time, from said first location to said first and second sets of colorable areas for coloring thereof.
3. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein said coloring agent pathway is operative to allow said coloring agent to move by diffusing from said first location to said first and said second sets of colorable areas.
4. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein said first set of colorable areas continues to be colored following exceedance of said at least one threshold.
5. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein said at least one threshold includes at least one time threshold.
6. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein said at least one threshold includes at least one time and temperature threshold.
7. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein said quality indicator is operative to provide indications of exceedance of several different thresholds.
8. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein at least one colorable area forming part of one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas has a width of a single narrow barcode bar.
9. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein colorable areas forming part of at least one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas become colored sequentially.
10. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 and wherein at least one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas.
11. A barcoded indicator according to claim 10 and wherein each of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas.
12. A barcoded indicator according to claim 1 , operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one additional threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter, said barcoded indicator further comprising:
at least a third barcode including at least a third set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of said third barcode which appear only when said third barcode is in a third barcode readable state following exceedance of said at least one additional threshold,
said at least a third barcode being in a third barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of said at least one additional threshold wherein as the result of said third set of colorable areas being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from said at least a third barcode,
said at least a second barcode including at least a fourth set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of said at least a second barcode when said at least a second barcode is in said second barcode readable state prior to exceedance of said at least one additional threshold, and
upon exceedance of said at least one additional threshold said at least a second barcode becoming unreadable as the result of coloring of at least a portion of at least one colorable area forming part of said at least a fourth set of colorable areas and generally simultaneously said at least a third barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of said at least a third set of colorable areas.
13. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein said first set of colorable areas continues to be colored following exceedance of said at least one threshold.
14. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein said at least one threshold includes at least one time threshold.
15. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein said at least one threshold includes at least one time and temperature threshold.
16. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein said quality indicator is operative to provide indications of exceedance of several different thresholds.
17. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein at least one colorable area forming part of one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas has a width of a single narrow barcode bar.
18. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein colorable areas forming part of at least one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas become colored sequentially.
19. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 and wherein at least one of said first set of colorable areas and said second set of colorable areas includes at least two colorable areas.
20. A barcoded indicator according to claim 2 , operative to provide a machine-readable indication of exceedance of at least one additional threshold by at least one product quality affecting parameter, said barcoded indicator further comprising:
at least a third barcode including at least a third set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations of bars of said third barcode which appear only when said third barcode is in a third barcode readable state following exceedance of said at least one additional threshold,
said at least a third barcode being in a third barcode unreadable state prior to exceedance of said at least one additional threshold wherein as the result of said third set of colorable areas being uncolored, more than a single narrow barcode bar is missing from said at least a third barcode,
said at least a second barcode including at least a fourth set of initially uncolored, colorable areas including at least one initially uncolored colorable area, positioned at locations between bars of said at least a second barcode when said at least a second barcode is in said second barcode readable state prior to exceedance of said at least one additional threshold, and
upon exceedance of said at least one additional threshold said at least a second barcode becoming unreadable as the result of coloring of at least a portion of at least one colorable area forming part of said at least a fourth set of colorable areas and generally simultaneously said at least a third barcode becoming readable as the result of coloring of said at least a third set of colorable areas.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US13/321,467 US20120104105A1 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-12-09 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
Applications Claiming Priority (11)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US13164408P | 2008-06-10 | 2008-06-10 | |
PCT/IL2008/001494 WO2009063464A2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | A system and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
ILPCT/IL2008/001494 | 2008-11-13 | ||
ILPCT/IL2008/001495 | 2008-11-13 | ||
PCT/IL2008/001495 WO2009063465A2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | A system and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
PCT/IL2009/000503 WO2009150641A1 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-05-20 | A system and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12/469,309 US8091776B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-05-20 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
ILPCT/IL2009/000503 | 2009-05-20 | ||
US23179909P | 2009-08-06 | 2009-08-06 | |
PCT/IL2009/001167 WO2010134061A1 (en) | 2009-05-20 | 2009-12-09 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US13/321,467 US20120104105A1 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-12-09 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
Related Parent Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US12/469,309 Continuation US8091776B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-05-20 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20120104105A1 true US20120104105A1 (en) | 2012-05-03 |
Family
ID=40639264
Family Applications (31)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US12/742,650 Active 2030-03-03 US8540156B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12/743,209 Active 2029-03-10 US8500014B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12/469,309 Active 2030-01-17 US8091776B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-05-20 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US13/321,467 Abandoned US20120104105A1 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-12-09 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US13/321,477 Active US8579193B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2010-03-10 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US13/323,906 Active 2029-06-08 US8960534B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2011-12-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US13/958,893 Active 2029-03-22 US9135544B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2013-08-05 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US14/055,422 Active US9317794B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2013-10-16 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US14/528,186 Active US9384435B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2014-10-30 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US14/595,954 Active US9396423B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2015-01-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US14/823,702 Active US9558439B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2015-08-11 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/063,804 Active US9710743B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-03-08 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/169,851 Active US9646237B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-06-01 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/183,465 Active US9626610B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-06-15 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/398,951 Active US9836678B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-01-05 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/486,906 Active US9996783B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-04-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/587,684 Active US10089566B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-05-05 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/632,916 Active US10049314B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-06-26 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/800,660 Active US10262251B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-11-01 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/978,759 Active US10303992B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-05-14 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/036,401 Active US10417543B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-07-16 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/124,107 Active US10572785B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-09-06 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/364,618 Active US10719749B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2019-03-26 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/409,209 Active US10776680B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-05-10 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/534,603 Active US10789520B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-08-07 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/775,005 Active US10885414B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-01-28 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US17/000,078 Active US11238323B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-08-21 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US17/134,946 Active US11341387B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-12-28 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US17/493,026 Active US11449724B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2021-10-04 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US17/932,034 Active US12033013B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2022-09-14 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US18/345,219 Active US12067437B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2023-06-30 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
Family Applications Before (3)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US12/742,650 Active 2030-03-03 US8540156B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12/743,209 Active 2029-03-10 US8500014B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2008-11-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12/469,309 Active 2030-01-17 US8091776B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2009-05-20 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
Family Applications After (27)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US13/321,477 Active US8579193B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2010-03-10 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US13/323,906 Active 2029-06-08 US8960534B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2011-12-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US13/958,893 Active 2029-03-22 US9135544B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2013-08-05 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US14/055,422 Active US9317794B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2013-10-16 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US14/528,186 Active US9384435B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2014-10-30 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US14/595,954 Active US9396423B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2015-01-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US14/823,702 Active US9558439B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2015-08-11 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/063,804 Active US9710743B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-03-08 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/169,851 Active US9646237B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-06-01 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/183,465 Active US9626610B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-06-15 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/398,951 Active US9836678B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-01-05 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/486,906 Active US9996783B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-04-13 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/587,684 Active US10089566B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-05-05 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/632,916 Active US10049314B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-06-26 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US15/800,660 Active US10262251B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-11-01 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US15/978,759 Active US10303992B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-05-14 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/036,401 Active US10417543B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-07-16 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/124,107 Active US10572785B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-09-06 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/364,618 Active US10719749B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2019-03-26 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/409,209 Active US10776680B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-05-10 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US16/534,603 Active US10789520B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-08-07 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US16/775,005 Active US10885414B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-01-28 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US17/000,078 Active US11238323B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-08-21 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US17/134,946 Active US11341387B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-12-28 | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US17/493,026 Active US11449724B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2021-10-04 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US17/932,034 Active US12033013B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2022-09-14 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US18/345,219 Active US12067437B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2023-06-30 | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (31) | US8540156B2 (en) |
EP (3) | EP2218042B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP5563565B2 (en) |
IL (1) | IL205687A (en) |
WO (3) | WO2009063464A2 (en) |
Cited By (16)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8579193B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2013-11-12 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US8807422B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2014-08-19 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US8950664B2 (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2015-02-10 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9646277B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2017-05-09 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
US9716711B2 (en) * | 2011-07-15 | 2017-07-25 | Pagemark Technology, Inc. | High-value document authentication system and method |
USD848434S1 (en) * | 2017-04-13 | 2019-05-14 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Management card for digital slides |
USD848433S1 (en) * | 2017-04-13 | 2019-05-14 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Management card for digital slides |
US10445678B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2019-10-15 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
USD866555S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2019-11-12 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD886830S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-06-09 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
US10697837B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2020-06-30 | Varcode Ltd. | Electronic quality indicator |
USD892811S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-08-11 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD893505S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-08-18 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD897351S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-09-29 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Digital slide scanner |
US11060924B2 (en) | 2015-05-18 | 2021-07-13 | Varcode Ltd. | Thermochromic ink indicia for activatable quality labels |
US11704526B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2023-07-18 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
Families Citing this family (53)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8520069B2 (en) | 2005-09-16 | 2013-08-27 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Vehicle-mounted video system with distributed processing |
US7865264B2 (en) * | 2007-06-01 | 2011-01-04 | Microblend Techologies, Inc. | Method and apparatus for matching amount and type of paint component in a paint manufacturing system |
US8503972B2 (en) | 2008-10-30 | 2013-08-06 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Multi-functional remote monitoring system |
US9053616B2 (en) | 2010-04-20 | 2015-06-09 | Temptime Corporation | Computing systems and methods for electronically indicating the acceptability of a product |
US9224120B2 (en) | 2010-04-20 | 2015-12-29 | Temptime Corporation | Computing systems and methods for electronically indicating the acceptability of a product |
US8424765B2 (en) * | 2010-07-22 | 2013-04-23 | Oxfordian, Llc | MEMS barcode device for monitoring medical systems at point of care |
US8870453B2 (en) * | 2010-11-09 | 2014-10-28 | Shockwatch, Inc. | System, method and computer program product for monitoring temperature |
CN102133952A (en) * | 2011-01-18 | 2011-07-27 | 刘普合 | Identifying method for realizing non-separation with object by applying shrink film |
US8636212B2 (en) | 2011-08-24 | 2014-01-28 | Metrologic Instruments, Inc. | Decodable indicia reading terminal with indicia analysis functionality |
US9010653B2 (en) * | 2012-05-03 | 2015-04-21 | Ananya Rajagopal | Erasable barcode |
WO2014052898A1 (en) | 2012-09-28 | 2014-04-03 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Portable video and imaging system |
US10272848B2 (en) | 2012-09-28 | 2019-04-30 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Mobile video and imaging system |
US20160078333A1 (en) * | 2013-07-24 | 2016-03-17 | Hewlet-Packard Development Company, L.P. | Encoding an information object |
US9253452B2 (en) | 2013-08-14 | 2016-02-02 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Computer program, method, and system for managing multiple data recording devices |
US9159371B2 (en) | 2013-08-14 | 2015-10-13 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Forensic video recording with presence detection |
US10075681B2 (en) | 2013-08-14 | 2018-09-11 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Dual lens camera unit |
US20150186764A1 (en) * | 2014-01-02 | 2015-07-02 | Caterpillar Inc. | Machine-readable codes |
EP3100031A4 (en) | 2014-01-27 | 2017-09-20 | Jp Laboratories, Inc. | Indicating devices based on lateral diffusion of a mobile phase through a non-porous stationary phase |
US10801900B2 (en) * | 2014-07-11 | 2020-10-13 | Ford Global Technologies, Llc | Inspection aid |
JP6494359B2 (en) | 2015-03-25 | 2019-04-03 | 株式会社日立産機システム | Logistics management system |
US10546172B2 (en) * | 2015-03-30 | 2020-01-28 | Temptime Corporation | Two dimensional barcode with dynamic environmental data system, method, and apparatus |
JP2018517199A (en) * | 2015-03-30 | 2018-06-28 | テンプタイム コーポレーション | Two-dimensional barcode, method and apparatus having a dynamic environment data system |
US9841259B2 (en) | 2015-05-26 | 2017-12-12 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Wirelessly conducted electronic weapon |
US10013883B2 (en) | 2015-06-22 | 2018-07-03 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Tracking and analysis of drivers within a fleet of vehicles |
WO2016208051A1 (en) | 2015-06-26 | 2016-12-29 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Item having barcode, data processing device, data processing method, and merchandise quality management method |
WO2017009884A1 (en) * | 2015-07-10 | 2017-01-19 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Sensor-function-equipped barcode and mark, product displaying these, and packaging for product |
US9646236B1 (en) | 2015-12-14 | 2017-05-09 | International Business Machines Corporation | Encoding and decoding data in two-dimensional symbology |
WO2017114665A1 (en) | 2015-12-30 | 2017-07-06 | Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. | Methods and apparatuses for packaging quality assurance |
EP3397560B1 (en) | 2015-12-30 | 2020-05-06 | Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance S.A. | Methods and apparatuses for guided quality control of a packaging system |
WO2017136646A1 (en) | 2016-02-05 | 2017-08-10 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Comprehensive video collection and storage |
WO2017156067A1 (en) | 2016-03-09 | 2017-09-14 | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. | Predictive shopping |
US10684177B2 (en) | 2016-06-02 | 2020-06-16 | Hitachi, Ltd. | Environment history display object, data processing method using same, data processing device, and quality management method |
US10520367B2 (en) * | 2016-06-15 | 2019-12-31 | Walmart Apollo, Llc | Systems and methods of alerting customers to changes in product temperatures during delivery |
WO2018030025A1 (en) * | 2016-08-09 | 2018-02-15 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Quality control system and quality control method |
CN106447427A (en) * | 2016-09-09 | 2017-02-22 | 浪潮软件股份有限公司 | Capital safety management method for cold chain industry |
US10521675B2 (en) | 2016-09-19 | 2019-12-31 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Systems and methods of legibly capturing vehicle markings |
US10911725B2 (en) | 2017-03-09 | 2021-02-02 | Digital Ally, Inc. | System for automatically triggering a recording |
CA3164681C (en) * | 2017-03-20 | 2024-01-16 | Temptime Corporation | A two dimensional barcode with dynamic environmental data system, method, and apparatus |
US10592861B2 (en) * | 2017-12-09 | 2020-03-17 | Elizabeth Kemp | Active shooter response system for initiating silent alert and deploying tactical tools |
JP2019148929A (en) * | 2018-02-26 | 2019-09-05 | 株式会社オプトエレクトロニクス | Two-dimensional code, system and method for outputting two-dimensional code, system and method for reading two-dimensional code, and program |
JP2019148930A (en) | 2018-02-26 | 2019-09-05 | 株式会社オプトエレクトロニクス | Two-dimensional code, system and method for outputting two-dimensional code, system and method for reading two-dimensional code, and program |
WO2019245717A1 (en) * | 2018-06-18 | 2019-12-26 | Walmart Apollo, Llc | Temperature-sensitive cold-chain compliance indicators |
US11295265B2 (en) | 2018-07-02 | 2022-04-05 | mPedigree Technologies B.V. | Method and system for cold chain quality control and security |
CN108830628B (en) * | 2018-07-28 | 2022-03-22 | 深圳市倍诺通讯技术有限公司 | Food quality anti-fake two-dimensional code traceability system |
CN109002876B (en) * | 2018-07-28 | 2021-07-30 | 湖北金三峡印务有限公司 | Two-dimensional code label and two-dimensional code label printing method |
US11024137B2 (en) | 2018-08-08 | 2021-06-01 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Remote video triggering and tagging |
EP3870018A1 (en) | 2018-10-23 | 2021-09-01 | Ecolab USA, Inc. | Verification of cleaning processes with electronically readable coded coupon |
US11982576B2 (en) | 2019-07-08 | 2024-05-14 | Valentina PASQUI | Monitoring system for perishable products |
US10839185B1 (en) * | 2019-10-30 | 2020-11-17 | Cyberark Software Ltd. | Multi-context encoding and secure communication of data |
US11734539B2 (en) | 2021-04-05 | 2023-08-22 | Temptime Corporation | Dynamic optical property windows in indicia with sensors |
DE102021003109A1 (en) | 2021-06-17 | 2022-12-22 | Hans-Jörg von Lücken | Auto-Ident self-tester, individualizing self-testing with inherent, time-limited (dynamic) certification function as immediately available proof to third parties |
US11950017B2 (en) | 2022-05-17 | 2024-04-02 | Digital Ally, Inc. | Redundant mobile video recording |
US12020097B1 (en) | 2023-01-31 | 2024-06-25 | Temptime Corporation | 2D bar code using active overlays |
Family Cites Families (247)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JPS519695B1 (en) | 1970-10-29 | 1976-03-29 | ||
JPS56470B2 (en) | 1972-04-17 | 1981-01-08 | ||
US4057029A (en) * | 1976-03-08 | 1977-11-08 | Infratab Corporation | Time-temperature indicator |
US4059407A (en) | 1976-04-14 | 1977-11-22 | Becton, Dickinson And Company | Disposable chemical indicators |
JPS53281A (en) | 1976-06-24 | 1978-01-05 | Okura Ind Co Ltd | Adhesive composition |
USRE31586E (en) | 1977-01-21 | 1984-05-15 | Altex Scientific, Inc. | Liquid chromatography pump |
JPS5759293A (en) | 1980-09-26 | 1982-04-09 | Hitachi Ltd | Bar code |
JPS58112565A (en) | 1981-12-26 | 1983-07-05 | ニツタン株式会社 | Foamable fire fighting agent for petroleum and polar organic solvent |
US4674065A (en) | 1982-04-30 | 1987-06-16 | International Business Machines Corporation | System for detecting and correcting contextual errors in a text processing system |
JPS60234534A (en) | 1984-05-09 | 1985-11-21 | 日清デイ−・シ−・エ−食品株式会社 | Production of yeast doughnut |
JPS618301U (en) | 1984-06-21 | 1986-01-18 | 横河電機株式会社 | Analog tracking circuit |
JPH056470Y2 (en) | 1985-09-10 | 1993-02-18 | ||
JPH07104904B2 (en) | 1986-10-08 | 1995-11-13 | 日本電装株式会社 | Bar code reader |
JPS63118894A (en) | 1986-11-06 | 1988-05-23 | Nippon Denso Co Ltd | Bar code label |
JPS63118894U (en) | 1987-01-28 | 1988-08-01 | ||
US5146405A (en) | 1988-02-05 | 1992-09-08 | At&T Bell Laboratories | Methods for part-of-speech determination and usage |
JPH0519695Y2 (en) | 1988-04-27 | 1993-05-24 | ||
US5600119A (en) * | 1988-10-21 | 1997-02-04 | Symbol Technologies, Inc. | Dual line laser scanning system and scanning method for reading multidimensional bar codes |
US5053339A (en) * | 1988-11-03 | 1991-10-01 | J P Labs Inc. | Color changing device for monitoring shelf-life of perishable products |
CA1329263C (en) * | 1989-03-01 | 1994-05-03 | Mark Krichever | Bar code scanner |
JPH0353281A (en) | 1989-07-21 | 1991-03-07 | Nakanishi Kinzoku Kogyo Kk | Temperature display label and abnormal overheating control device using the label |
US5254473A (en) * | 1990-03-16 | 1993-10-19 | Jp Laboratories | Solid state device for monitoring integral values of time and temperature of storage of perishables |
JPH056470A (en) | 1990-10-29 | 1993-01-14 | Fujita Corp | Bar code |
JPH0567253A (en) | 1990-10-29 | 1993-03-19 | Fujita Corp | Bar code |
US5202677A (en) | 1991-01-31 | 1993-04-13 | Crystal Images, Inc. | Display apparatus using thermochromic material |
US5085802A (en) | 1991-01-31 | 1992-02-04 | Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation | Time temperature indicator with distinct end point |
US5369577A (en) | 1991-02-01 | 1994-11-29 | Wang Laboratories, Inc. | Text searching system |
US5084143A (en) | 1991-03-19 | 1992-01-28 | Alcan International Limited | Color change devices incorporating areas of contrasting appearance |
JPH0519695A (en) * | 1991-07-17 | 1993-01-29 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Merchandise label and pos system |
JPH0567253U (en) | 1992-02-21 | 1993-09-07 | ニチモウ株式会社 | Stationary net |
US5451932A (en) | 1993-02-25 | 1995-09-19 | Maytag Corporation | Method and means for indicating an appliance condition |
FR2704947B1 (en) | 1993-05-06 | 1995-07-28 | Lepeudry | COLORIMETRIC ASSAY PROCEDURE FOR ENALDEHYDES AS LIPID PEROXIDATION INDICES, SUBSTITUTED INDOLES FOR USE IN THIS PROCESS AND THEIR PREPARATION. |
US20030113228A1 (en) | 1993-05-19 | 2003-06-19 | Goldsmith Robert M. | Contamination detection system |
CA2161435C (en) | 1993-05-19 | 2006-01-10 | Robert M. Goldsmith | Detection of contaminants in food |
US6190610B1 (en) | 1993-05-19 | 2001-02-20 | California South Pacific Investors | Detection of contaminants in food |
US7157048B2 (en) * | 1993-05-19 | 2007-01-02 | Sira Technologies, Inc. | Detection of contaminants |
CA2185455A1 (en) | 1994-04-22 | 1995-11-02 | David Brian Edwards | Security label |
SE513456C2 (en) | 1994-05-10 | 2000-09-18 | Telia Ab | Method and device for speech to text conversion |
US5485372A (en) | 1994-06-01 | 1996-01-16 | Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. | System for underlying spelling recovery |
JP3260979B2 (en) | 1994-07-15 | 2002-02-25 | 株式会社リコー | Character recognition method |
US5499597A (en) | 1994-11-01 | 1996-03-19 | Kronberg; James W. | Optical temperature indicator using thermochromic semiconductors |
US5617488A (en) | 1995-02-01 | 1997-04-01 | The Research Foundation Of State University Of New York | Relaxation word recognizer |
US5634195A (en) | 1995-03-27 | 1997-05-27 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson | System and method for setting of output power parameters in a cellular mobile telecommunication system |
US5659771A (en) | 1995-05-19 | 1997-08-19 | Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America, Inc. | System for spelling correction in which the context of a target word in a sentence is utilized to determine which of several possible words was intended |
US5828991A (en) | 1995-06-30 | 1998-10-27 | The Research Foundation Of The State University Of New York | Sentence reconstruction using word ambiguity resolution |
US6006221A (en) | 1995-08-16 | 1999-12-21 | Syracuse University | Multilingual document retrieval system and method using semantic vector matching |
US5822728A (en) | 1995-09-08 | 1998-10-13 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Multistage word recognizer based on reliably detected phoneme similarity regions |
US6173261B1 (en) | 1998-09-30 | 2001-01-09 | At&T Corp | Grammar fragment acquisition using syntactic and semantic clustering |
CA2166847C (en) | 1995-09-19 | 2000-09-05 | Frederick Davis | Multilayered dispersed thermochromic liquid crystal |
KR100551001B1 (en) | 1995-09-22 | 2006-07-06 | 퍼시픽 커뮤니케이션 싸이언스 인코포레이티드 | A cellular communication system with multiple code rates |
DE69517705T2 (en) | 1995-11-04 | 2000-11-23 | International Business Machines Corp., Armonk | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING THE SIZE OF A LANGUAGE MODEL IN A VOICE RECOGNITION SYSTEM |
US6009400A (en) | 1996-03-05 | 1999-12-28 | Blackman; Seymour | Method and arrangement for alerting customers from purchasing perished items using bar codes with changeable properties when subjected to factors causing perishability |
US6098034A (en) | 1996-03-18 | 2000-08-01 | Expert Ease Development, Ltd. | Method for standardizing phrasing in a document |
US5776371A (en) | 1996-04-16 | 1998-07-07 | Avery Dennison Corporation | Conductive composition for fuse state indicator |
US5882116A (en) | 1996-04-25 | 1999-03-16 | Backus; Alan | Tamper indication device |
US6085206A (en) | 1996-06-20 | 2000-07-04 | Microsoft Corporation | Method and system for verifying accuracy of spelling and grammatical composition of a document |
US5956739A (en) | 1996-06-25 | 1999-09-21 | Mitsubishi Electric Information Technology Center America, Inc. | System for text correction adaptive to the text being corrected |
USRE39266E1 (en) | 1996-07-01 | 2006-09-05 | Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Limited | Heterocyclic compounds, process for their preparation and pharmaceutical compositions containing them and their use in the treatment of diabetes and related diseases |
US5907839A (en) | 1996-07-03 | 1999-05-25 | Yeda Reseach And Development, Co., Ltd. | Algorithm for context sensitive spelling correction |
NZ334955A (en) | 1996-09-30 | 2000-09-29 | California South Pacific Investors | Food contamination detector for use with a container of a food product which produces juices comprising an indicator printed on a substrate |
US6495368B1 (en) * | 1996-11-05 | 2002-12-17 | Grouptek, Inc. | Methods and devices for detecting microbial spoilage in food products |
US6335922B1 (en) | 1997-02-11 | 2002-01-01 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Method and apparatus for forward link rate scheduling |
US5929422A (en) | 1997-04-04 | 1999-07-27 | National Medical Review Office Inc. | On-site Machine readable assaying system |
US5902982A (en) * | 1997-04-04 | 1999-05-11 | National Medical Review Office Inc. | Changeable machine readable assaying indicia |
USRE39226E1 (en) | 1997-04-04 | 2006-08-08 | Escreen, Inc. | Changeable machine readable assaying indicia |
SE9701612D0 (en) | 1997-04-29 | 1997-04-29 | Johan Asplund | Smartcard and method for its manufacture |
US6181909B1 (en) | 1997-07-22 | 2001-01-30 | Educational Testing Service | System and method for computer-based automatic essay scoring |
US5841285A (en) | 1997-07-25 | 1998-11-24 | Eveready Battery Company, Inc. | Temperature-compensated thermochromic battery tester |
UA57812C2 (en) | 1997-11-04 | 2003-07-15 | Джорджія Тек Ресерч Корпорейшн | System and method for transmitting digital video signals and data over a communication link |
WO1999030268A1 (en) * | 1997-12-06 | 1999-06-17 | Jon Cameron | Thermochromic bar code |
US6154722A (en) | 1997-12-18 | 2000-11-28 | Apple Computer, Inc. | Method and apparatus for a speech recognition system language model that integrates a finite state grammar probability and an N-gram probability |
GB9801137D0 (en) | 1998-01-20 | 1998-03-18 | Eastman Kodak Co | Time-temparature indicator devices |
FI108181B (en) | 1998-02-13 | 2001-11-30 | Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd | A power control method |
JPH11248552A (en) | 1998-02-26 | 1999-09-17 | Toshiba Tec Corp | Member and method for control of temperature |
US6737257B2 (en) | 1998-05-18 | 2004-05-18 | Board Of Regents Of The University Of Nebraska | Hyperthermophilic enzymes for industrial chemical redox reactions: a method for biofuel ethanol production |
US6424983B1 (en) | 1998-05-26 | 2002-07-23 | Global Information Research And Technologies, Llc | Spelling and grammar checking system |
CN1652107A (en) | 1998-06-04 | 2005-08-10 | 松下电器产业株式会社 | Language conversion rule preparing device, language conversion device and program recording medium |
DE19842404A1 (en) | 1998-09-16 | 2000-03-23 | Philips Corp Intellectual Pty | Procedure for estimating probabilities of occurrence for language vocabulary elements |
EP1116221B1 (en) | 1998-09-30 | 2003-07-23 | Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. | Graphic user interface for navigation in speech recognition system grammars |
US6917291B2 (en) | 1998-10-26 | 2005-07-12 | Identec Solutions Inc. | Interrogation, monitoring and data exchange using RFID tags |
US6317707B1 (en) | 1998-12-07 | 2001-11-13 | At&T Corp. | Automatic clustering of tokens from a corpus for grammar acquisition |
US7189318B2 (en) | 1999-04-13 | 2007-03-13 | Semitool, Inc. | Tuning electrodes used in a reactor for electrochemically processing a microelectronic workpiece |
US7030863B2 (en) | 2000-05-26 | 2006-04-18 | America Online, Incorporated | Virtual keyboard system with automatic correction |
DE60043008D1 (en) | 1999-05-27 | 2009-11-05 | Tegic Comm Inc | KEYBOARD SYSTEM WITH AUTOMATIC CORRECTION |
JP2003505778A (en) | 1999-05-28 | 2003-02-12 | セーダ インコーポレイテッド | Phrase-based dialogue modeling with specific use in creating recognition grammars for voice control user interfaces |
US20020032564A1 (en) | 2000-04-19 | 2002-03-14 | Farzad Ehsani | Phrase-based dialogue modeling with particular application to creating a recognition grammar for a voice-controlled user interface |
US6214673B1 (en) | 1999-07-09 | 2001-04-10 | Intersil Corporation | Process for forming vertical semiconductor device having increased source contact area |
ZA200201566B (en) | 1999-09-15 | 2003-05-26 | Edward A Devlin | Method and system for redeeming products marketing rebates. |
US6848080B1 (en) | 1999-11-05 | 2005-01-25 | Microsoft Corporation | Language input architecture for converting one text form to another text form with tolerance to spelling, typographical, and conversion errors |
US7165019B1 (en) | 1999-11-05 | 2007-01-16 | Microsoft Corporation | Language input architecture for converting one text form to another text form with modeless entry |
JP2001194248A (en) | 2000-01-11 | 2001-07-19 | Fukaya Yukio | Temperature indicating seal for food |
US6544925B1 (en) | 2000-03-02 | 2003-04-08 | Lifelines Technology, Inc. | Activatable time-temperature indicator system |
TW472232B (en) | 2000-08-11 | 2002-01-11 | Ind Tech Res Inst | Probability-base fault-tolerance natural language understanding method |
US7254773B2 (en) | 2000-12-29 | 2007-08-07 | International Business Machines Corporation | Automated spell analysis |
US6951596B2 (en) | 2002-01-18 | 2005-10-04 | Avery Dennison Corporation | RFID label technique |
US7269545B2 (en) | 2001-03-30 | 2007-09-11 | Nec Laboratories America, Inc. | Method for retrieving answers from an information retrieval system |
US7117144B2 (en) | 2001-03-31 | 2006-10-03 | Microsoft Corporation | Spell checking for text input via reduced keypad keys |
US6758397B2 (en) | 2001-03-31 | 2004-07-06 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Machine readable label reader system for articles with changeable status |
US20030017877A1 (en) | 2001-04-24 | 2003-01-23 | Masazumi Kobayashi | Constant velocity universal joint |
FR2824978B1 (en) | 2001-05-15 | 2003-09-19 | Wavecom Sa | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING AN AUDIO SIGNAL |
CN1391180A (en) | 2001-06-11 | 2003-01-15 | 国际商业机器公司 | Auxiliary foreign language writing methods and tools |
GB2376335B (en) | 2001-06-28 | 2003-07-23 | Vox Generation Ltd | Address recognition using an automatic speech recogniser |
US7295965B2 (en) | 2001-06-29 | 2007-11-13 | Honeywell International Inc. | Method and apparatus for determining a measure of similarity between natural language sentences |
US7003444B2 (en) | 2001-07-12 | 2006-02-21 | Microsoft Corporation | Method and apparatus for improved grammar checking using a stochastic parser |
FR2829854B1 (en) | 2001-09-17 | 2005-05-13 | Renaud Vaillant | PROCESS FOR CONTROLLING A PRODUCT WHOSE CONSERVATION IMPLEMENTS A COLD CHAIN |
US7152125B2 (en) | 2001-09-25 | 2006-12-19 | Intel Corporation | Dynamic master/slave configuration for multiple expansion modules |
US20030097243A1 (en) | 2001-10-23 | 2003-05-22 | Mays Thomas Gilmore | Method and system for operating a hydrocarbon production facility |
US7296019B1 (en) | 2001-10-23 | 2007-11-13 | Microsoft Corporation | System and methods for providing runtime spelling analysis and correction |
US20030080191A1 (en) | 2001-10-26 | 2003-05-01 | Allen Lubow | Method and apparatus for applying bar code information to products during production |
NO316480B1 (en) | 2001-11-15 | 2004-01-26 | Forinnova As | Method and system for textual examination and discovery |
EP1466297A4 (en) | 2001-12-17 | 2005-10-19 | Int Barcode Corp | Double-sided bar code doubling as a single bar code |
JP2003203210A (en) * | 2002-01-07 | 2003-07-18 | Canon Electronics Inc | Bar code |
AUPR986502A0 (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2002-01-31 | Helmer, Jonathon Charles | Identification system |
US7969306B2 (en) | 2002-01-11 | 2011-06-28 | Sap Aktiengesellschaft | Context-aware and real-time item tracking system architecture and scenarios |
US6801245B2 (en) | 2002-01-18 | 2004-10-05 | Imageid Ltd. | Method for automatic identification and data capture |
US7340388B2 (en) | 2002-03-26 | 2008-03-04 | University Of Southern California | Statistical translation using a large monolingual corpus |
US20030187632A1 (en) | 2002-04-02 | 2003-10-02 | Menich Barry J. | Multimedia conferencing system |
US7020338B1 (en) | 2002-04-08 | 2006-03-28 | The United States Of America As Represented By The National Security Agency | Method of identifying script of line of text |
US20030204569A1 (en) | 2002-04-29 | 2003-10-30 | Michael R. Andrews | Method and apparatus for filtering e-mail infected with a previously unidentified computer virus |
US20030210249A1 (en) | 2002-05-08 | 2003-11-13 | Simske Steven J. | System and method of automatic data checking and correction |
US20040002849A1 (en) | 2002-06-28 | 2004-01-01 | Ming Zhou | System and method for automatic retrieval of example sentences based upon weighted editing distance |
US7386442B2 (en) | 2002-07-03 | 2008-06-10 | Word Data Corp. | Code, system and method for representing a natural-language text in a form suitable for text manipulation |
US20040030540A1 (en) | 2002-08-07 | 2004-02-12 | Joel Ovil | Method and apparatus for language processing |
ATE508455T1 (en) | 2002-09-27 | 2011-05-15 | Callminer Inc | METHOD FOR STATISTICALLY ANALYZING LANGUAGE |
US7057495B2 (en) | 2002-10-17 | 2006-06-06 | Paksense, Llc | Perishable product electronic label including time and temperature measurement |
EP1560009A4 (en) | 2002-10-24 | 2007-08-15 | Chromic Co Ltd | Temperature indicating display device |
US7092567B2 (en) | 2002-11-04 | 2006-08-15 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Post-processing system and method for correcting machine recognized text |
US6982640B2 (en) * | 2002-11-21 | 2006-01-03 | Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. | RFID system and method for tracking food freshness |
WO2004050506A1 (en) | 2002-12-03 | 2004-06-17 | Henry Norrby | s PACKAGE FOR STORING GOODS IN A PRESERVATIVE STATES, A METHOD FOR MARKING SUCH A PACKAGE, AS WELL AS A TEMPERATURE INDICATOR FOR THE PACKAGE |
SE524448C2 (en) | 2002-12-03 | 2004-08-10 | Henry Norrby | Packaging for storing goods in a preservative state, method for labeling such packaging, and temperature indicator for the packaging |
JP2004184920A (en) | 2002-12-06 | 2004-07-02 | Mitsubishi Paper Mills Ltd | Temperature indicating label |
FR2848688A1 (en) | 2002-12-17 | 2004-06-18 | France Telecom | Text language identifying device for linguistic analysis of text, has analyzing unit to analyze chain characters of words extracted from one text, where each chain is completed so that each time chains are found in word |
DE20219911U1 (en) | 2002-12-23 | 2003-03-13 | BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, 81669 München | Temperature display element for a refrigerator |
US6698272B1 (en) | 2002-12-30 | 2004-03-02 | International Business Machines Corporation | Device for indicating exposure to an impact, adverse temperature and/or humidity |
WO2004092697A1 (en) | 2003-04-16 | 2004-10-28 | NYGÅRDH, Mats | A temperature indicator, a package for goods and a method of monitoring the freshness of goods kept in packages |
US20050043940A1 (en) | 2003-08-20 | 2005-02-24 | Marvin Elder | Preparing a data source for a natural language query |
US7475015B2 (en) | 2003-09-05 | 2009-01-06 | International Business Machines Corporation | Semantic language modeling and confidence measurement |
US20050053900A1 (en) | 2003-09-05 | 2005-03-10 | Steven Kaufmann | Method of teaching a foreign language to a student providing measurement in a context based learning system |
US20050120002A1 (en) | 2003-10-02 | 2005-06-02 | Hassan Behbehani | Automated text generation process |
US20050083413A1 (en) | 2003-10-20 | 2005-04-21 | Logicalis | Method, system, apparatus, and machine-readable medium for use in connection with a server that uses images or audio for initiating remote function calls |
WO2005043314A2 (en) * | 2003-10-22 | 2005-05-12 | Peterson Stanley K | Method of selecting and storing airline ticket data |
US7447627B2 (en) | 2003-10-23 | 2008-11-04 | Microsoft Corporation | Compound word breaker and spell checker |
US7720675B2 (en) | 2003-10-27 | 2010-05-18 | Educational Testing Service | Method and system for determining text coherence |
US7813916B2 (en) | 2003-11-18 | 2010-10-12 | University Of Utah | Acquisition and application of contextual role knowledge for coreference resolution |
WO2005057524A1 (en) | 2003-11-28 | 2005-06-23 | Kotobanomori Inc. | Composition evaluation device |
JP2007519095A (en) | 2003-12-08 | 2007-07-12 | インターナショナル バーコード コーポレイション | Method for identifying and authenticating products using codes, barcodes and RFID |
US20060027662A1 (en) | 2004-02-27 | 2006-02-09 | Baradi Adnan S | Color-coding system |
US20050188910A1 (en) | 2004-03-01 | 2005-09-01 | Mccorkle Polly D. | Single-use biotherm for reducing foodborne illnesses |
US7166345B2 (en) | 2004-03-08 | 2007-01-23 | Tri-State Hospital Supply Corporation | Destructible privacy label |
US7478033B2 (en) | 2004-03-16 | 2009-01-13 | Google Inc. | Systems and methods for translating Chinese pinyin to Chinese characters |
US7254774B2 (en) | 2004-03-16 | 2007-08-07 | Microsoft Corporation | Systems and methods for improved spell checking |
US7779354B2 (en) | 2004-05-13 | 2010-08-17 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and data processing system for recognizing and correcting dyslexia-related spelling errors |
WO2006009727A2 (en) | 2004-06-16 | 2006-01-26 | Harcourt Assessment, Inc. | Language disorder assessment and associated methods |
US8321786B2 (en) | 2004-06-17 | 2012-11-27 | Apple Inc. | Routine and interface for correcting electronic text |
JP2006018782A (en) | 2004-06-30 | 2006-01-19 | Koichi Debuchi | Two-dimensional bar code having visual information |
NZ553231A (en) | 2004-08-10 | 2009-04-30 | Intellimats Llc | Electronic floor display with alerting |
EP1794004A4 (en) | 2004-08-13 | 2012-05-09 | Examples Inc 5 | The one-row keyboard and approximate typing |
US20060048055A1 (en) | 2004-08-25 | 2006-03-02 | Jun Wu | Fault-tolerant romanized input method for non-roman characters |
US20060057022A1 (en) * | 2004-09-13 | 2006-03-16 | Williams John R | Food quality indicator |
WO2006031199A1 (en) | 2004-09-17 | 2006-03-23 | Alex Poh Teck Choong | System and method for batch conversion of rfid tag to rfid label |
US7392187B2 (en) | 2004-09-20 | 2008-06-24 | Educational Testing Service | Method and system for the automatic generation of speech features for scoring high entropy speech |
US20060081711A1 (en) | 2004-09-30 | 2006-04-20 | Junxiang Zhao | Color-identifying system for colored barcode and a method thereof |
EP1645856A1 (en) | 2004-10-06 | 2006-04-12 | 3M Innovative Properties Company | Microstructured time dependent indicators |
JP2006134795A (en) | 2004-11-09 | 2006-05-25 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Alkaline storage battery |
US7401293B2 (en) | 2004-11-19 | 2008-07-15 | Spelldoctor, Llc | System and method for teaching spelling |
JP2008522332A (en) | 2004-12-01 | 2008-06-26 | ホワイトスモーク,インク. | System and method for automatically expanding documents |
US7457808B2 (en) | 2004-12-17 | 2008-11-25 | Xerox Corporation | Method and apparatus for explaining categorization decisions |
US7630980B2 (en) | 2005-01-21 | 2009-12-08 | Prashant Parikh | Automatic dynamic contextual data entry completion system |
US7805300B2 (en) | 2005-03-21 | 2010-09-28 | At&T Intellectual Property Ii, L.P. | Apparatus and method for analysis of language model changes |
DE502005004110D1 (en) | 2005-04-12 | 2008-06-26 | Straumann Holding Ag | Packaging for a product of dental technology with a label associated with the product |
US7584093B2 (en) | 2005-04-25 | 2009-09-01 | Microsoft Corporation | Method and system for generating spelling suggestions |
WO2006134795A1 (en) | 2005-06-06 | 2006-12-21 | Katsuhide Asanuma | Product evaluation information delivering system and product evaluation information delivering method |
US8131746B2 (en) | 2005-06-23 | 2012-03-06 | International Business Machines Corporation | Dynamic language checking |
US20070067177A1 (en) * | 2005-08-31 | 2007-03-22 | Temptime Corporation | Quality assurance system and methods of use |
DE102005051470A1 (en) | 2005-10-21 | 2007-04-26 | Bizerba Gmbh & Co. Kg | Activating device for activatable indicators for labeling, device for providing activated indicators and methods for activating indicators |
US20070094024A1 (en) | 2005-10-22 | 2007-04-26 | International Business Machines Corporation | System and method for improving text input in a shorthand-on-keyboard interface |
JP2007121017A (en) | 2005-10-26 | 2007-05-17 | Jiikuesuto:Kk | Temperature indicating label changing with passage of time |
JP2007122509A (en) | 2005-10-28 | 2007-05-17 | Rozetta Corp | Device, method and program for determining naturalness of phrase sequence |
US7747427B2 (en) | 2005-12-05 | 2010-06-29 | Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute | Apparatus and method for automatic translation customized for documents in restrictive domain |
US8608477B2 (en) | 2006-04-06 | 2013-12-17 | Vantage Technologies Knowledge Assessment, L.L.C. | Selective writing assessment with tutoring |
US7528737B2 (en) | 2006-04-10 | 2009-05-05 | Rosemount Inc. | Temperature responsive indicators for process control instruments |
US7562811B2 (en) | 2007-01-18 | 2009-07-21 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
JP2009537038A (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2009-10-22 | バーコード リミティド | System and method for improving quality control in a product logistic chain |
US20070265831A1 (en) | 2006-05-09 | 2007-11-15 | Itai Dinur | System-Level Correction Service |
US7558725B2 (en) | 2006-05-23 | 2009-07-07 | Lexisnexis, A Division Of Reed Elsevier Inc. | Method and apparatus for multilingual spelling corrections |
EP2055146B1 (en) | 2006-07-10 | 2013-11-20 | Goji Limited | Food preparation |
DE102006034810A1 (en) | 2006-07-27 | 2008-01-31 | Bizerba Gmbh & Co. Kg | Method for checking a time and / or temperature-sensitive indicator |
EP1955036A2 (en) | 2006-08-16 | 2008-08-13 | Sira Technologies, Inc. | Identification and condition detection system |
US8271266B2 (en) | 2006-08-31 | 2012-09-18 | Waggner Edstrom Worldwide, Inc. | Media content assessment and control systems |
US7689408B2 (en) | 2006-09-01 | 2010-03-30 | Microsoft Corporation | Identifying language of origin for words using estimates of normalized appearance frequency |
JP2008089673A (en) | 2006-09-29 | 2008-04-17 | Sato Corp | Thermally active label |
US7590626B2 (en) | 2006-10-30 | 2009-09-15 | Microsoft Corporation | Distributional similarity-based models for query correction |
US20100050074A1 (en) | 2006-10-30 | 2010-02-25 | Cellesense Technologies Ltd. | Context sensitive, error correction of short text messages |
US7702680B2 (en) | 2006-11-02 | 2010-04-20 | Microsoft Corporation | Document summarization by maximizing informative content words |
US20100020970A1 (en) * | 2006-11-13 | 2010-01-28 | Xu Liu | System And Method For Camera Imaging Data Channel |
EP1936606B1 (en) | 2006-12-21 | 2011-10-05 | Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH | Multi-stage speech recognition |
US20080154600A1 (en) | 2006-12-21 | 2008-06-26 | Nokia Corporation | System, Method, Apparatus and Computer Program Product for Providing Dynamic Vocabulary Prediction for Speech Recognition |
US7957955B2 (en) | 2007-01-05 | 2011-06-07 | Apple Inc. | Method and system for providing word recommendations for text input |
MX2009008015A (en) | 2007-02-02 | 2009-09-04 | Interdigital Tech Corp | Method and apparatus for enhancing rlc for flexible rlc pdu size. |
US9465791B2 (en) | 2007-02-09 | 2016-10-11 | International Business Machines Corporation | Method and apparatus for automatic detection of spelling errors in one or more documents |
US7991609B2 (en) | 2007-02-28 | 2011-08-02 | Microsoft Corporation | Web-based proofing and usage guidance |
US7600912B2 (en) | 2007-03-20 | 2009-10-13 | Xerox Corporation | Temperature sensitive label for detecting temperature changes to a temperature sensitive item |
US8005664B2 (en) | 2007-04-30 | 2011-08-23 | Tachyon Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | System, method to generate transliteration and method for generating decision tree to obtain transliteration |
JP2010526386A (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2010-07-29 | バーコード リミティド | Quality control system and method using bar code signs |
WO2010013228A1 (en) | 2008-07-31 | 2010-02-04 | Ginger Software, Inc. | Automatic context sensitive language generation, correction and enhancement using an internet corpus |
WO2009016631A2 (en) | 2007-08-01 | 2009-02-05 | Ginger Software, Inc. | Automatic context sensitive language correction and enhancement using an internet corpus |
US7917355B2 (en) | 2007-08-23 | 2011-03-29 | Google Inc. | Word detection |
US8229732B2 (en) | 2007-08-31 | 2012-07-24 | Google Inc. | Automatic correction of user input based on dictionary |
WO2009040790A2 (en) | 2007-09-24 | 2009-04-02 | Robert Iakobashvili | Method and system for spell checking |
CN201159676Y (en) | 2007-10-10 | 2008-12-03 | 万宸霞 | Temperature-time indication label |
WO2009063464A2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2009-05-22 | Varcode Ltd. | A system and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US8085285B2 (en) | 2007-12-19 | 2011-12-27 | Applied Minds, Llc | Thermal marking system |
US20090198671A1 (en) | 2008-02-05 | 2009-08-06 | Yahoo! Inc. | System and method for generating subphrase queries |
US8706474B2 (en) | 2008-02-23 | 2014-04-22 | Fair Isaac Corporation | Translation of entity names based on source document publication date, and frequency and co-occurrence of the entity names |
KR101491581B1 (en) | 2008-04-07 | 2015-02-24 | 삼성전자주식회사 | Correction System for spelling error and method thereof |
CN102016955A (en) | 2008-04-16 | 2011-04-13 | 金格软件有限公司 | A system for teaching writing based on a user's past writing |
US20100275118A1 (en) | 2008-04-22 | 2010-10-28 | Robert Iakobashvili | Method and system for user-interactive iterative spell checking |
CL2009001115A1 (en) | 2008-05-07 | 2010-09-24 | The Board Of Governors For Higher Ed Education State Of Rhode Island And Prividence Plantations | Compound derived from polythiophene; thermochromic compositions comprising it; thermochromic indicator comprising said composition; method for preparing said composition; method of preparing said indicator; and method of monitoring a stored subject without exposure to a predetermined condition. |
US11704526B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2023-07-18 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
JP5623394B2 (en) | 2008-06-17 | 2014-11-12 | ナショナル リサーチ カウンシル オブ カナダ | Atomistic quantum dots |
WO2010009441A2 (en) | 2008-07-18 | 2010-01-21 | Segan Industries, Inc. | Co-topo-polymeric compositions, devices and systems for controlling threshold and delay activation sensitivities |
US8473278B2 (en) | 2008-07-24 | 2013-06-25 | Educational Testing Service | Systems and methods for identifying collocation errors in text |
TWI485093B (en) | 2008-11-21 | 2015-05-21 | Yuyama Mfg Co Ltd | Lozenge delivery device |
WO2010061134A2 (en) | 2008-11-26 | 2010-06-03 | Jean Pierre Viguie | Device capable of indicating that at least one temperature threshold has been reached and/or exceeded |
JP4904371B2 (en) | 2009-01-29 | 2012-03-28 | 日本サーモスタット株式会社 | Temperature sensitive indicator |
US20100269454A1 (en) | 2009-04-22 | 2010-10-28 | Brad Reddersen | Systems and methods for activating thermochromic ink labels |
CA2762891C (en) | 2009-05-20 | 2017-05-23 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9073675B2 (en) | 2009-10-26 | 2015-07-07 | Lg Innotek Co., Ltd. | Chipless RFID structure, cap, can and packaging material, stacked film for preventing forgery, method for fabricating the same; RFID tag, RFID system and method for controlling the same; certificate for chipless RFID and method for authenticating the same |
US8868402B2 (en) | 2009-12-30 | 2014-10-21 | Google Inc. | Construction of text classifiers |
US9070269B2 (en) | 2010-11-23 | 2015-06-30 | Battle Sports Science, Llc | Impact sensing device and helmet incorporating the same |
JP5594120B2 (en) | 2010-12-17 | 2014-09-24 | 富士通株式会社 | Data conversion program, data conversion apparatus, and data conversion method |
US20140210201A1 (en) | 2011-08-22 | 2014-07-31 | Chromatic Technologies Inc. | Variable printing of thermochromic codes |
US9127963B2 (en) | 2011-09-13 | 2015-09-08 | General Electric Company | Selection of bellwether smart grid meters |
FR2986324A1 (en) | 2012-01-30 | 2013-08-02 | Gem Innov | RESPECT INDICATOR OF A TEMPERATURE RANGE |
EP2629245A3 (en) | 2012-02-16 | 2013-08-28 | Acreo Swedish ICT AB | Datamatrix code arrangement including a display and method for manufacturing the same |
US8807422B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2014-08-19 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
EP2810717B1 (en) | 2013-06-06 | 2018-10-17 | F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG | Acceleration sensitive indicator |
CA2866025A1 (en) | 2013-10-03 | 2015-04-03 | Quiang Song | Sensor unit for a functional electrical stimulation (fes) orthotic system |
GB201322460D0 (en) | 2013-12-18 | 2014-02-05 | Chesapeake Ltd | Temperature monitor |
CN204176727U (en) | 2014-10-03 | 2015-02-25 | 北京中科联众科技股份有限公司 | A kind of infrared induction heater of changeable colour |
WO2016089923A1 (en) | 2014-12-01 | 2016-06-09 | Chromatic Technologies, Inc. | Thermochromic efficiency indicator |
US10546172B2 (en) | 2015-03-30 | 2020-01-28 | Temptime Corporation | Two dimensional barcode with dynamic environmental data system, method, and apparatus |
JP2018517199A (en) | 2015-03-30 | 2018-06-28 | テンプタイム コーポレーション | Two-dimensional barcode, method and apparatus having a dynamic environment data system |
US11060924B2 (en) | 2015-05-18 | 2021-07-13 | Varcode Ltd. | Thermochromic ink indicia for activatable quality labels |
WO2016208051A1 (en) | 2015-06-26 | 2016-12-29 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Item having barcode, data processing device, data processing method, and merchandise quality management method |
JP6898298B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2021-07-07 | バーコード リミティド | Electronic quality display index |
WO2017009884A1 (en) | 2015-07-10 | 2017-01-19 | 株式会社日立製作所 | Sensor-function-equipped barcode and mark, product displaying these, and packaging for product |
-
2008
- 2008-11-13 WO PCT/IL2008/001494 patent/WO2009063464A2/en active Application Filing
- 2008-11-13 EP EP08848845.7A patent/EP2218042B1/en active Active
- 2008-11-13 US US12/742,650 patent/US8540156B2/en active Active
- 2008-11-13 US US12/743,209 patent/US8500014B2/en active Active
- 2008-11-13 WO PCT/IL2008/001495 patent/WO2009063465A2/en active Application Filing
- 2008-11-13 EP EP08849330.9A patent/EP2218055B1/en active Active
-
2009
- 2009-05-20 EP EP09762166.8A patent/EP2307997B1/en active Active
- 2009-05-20 JP JP2011513110A patent/JP5563565B2/en active Active
- 2009-05-20 US US12/469,309 patent/US8091776B2/en active Active
- 2009-05-20 WO PCT/IL2009/000503 patent/WO2009150641A1/en active Application Filing
- 2009-12-09 US US13/321,467 patent/US20120104105A1/en not_active Abandoned
-
2010
- 2010-03-10 US US13/321,477 patent/US8579193B2/en active Active
- 2010-05-11 IL IL205687A patent/IL205687A/en active IP Right Grant
-
2011
- 2011-12-13 US US13/323,906 patent/US8960534B2/en active Active
-
2013
- 2013-08-05 US US13/958,893 patent/US9135544B2/en active Active
- 2013-10-16 US US14/055,422 patent/US9317794B2/en active Active
-
2014
- 2014-10-30 US US14/528,186 patent/US9384435B2/en active Active
-
2015
- 2015-01-13 US US14/595,954 patent/US9396423B2/en active Active
- 2015-08-11 US US14/823,702 patent/US9558439B2/en active Active
-
2016
- 2016-03-08 US US15/063,804 patent/US9710743B2/en active Active
- 2016-06-01 US US15/169,851 patent/US9646237B2/en active Active
- 2016-06-15 US US15/183,465 patent/US9626610B2/en active Active
-
2017
- 2017-01-05 US US15/398,951 patent/US9836678B2/en active Active
- 2017-04-13 US US15/486,906 patent/US9996783B2/en active Active
- 2017-05-05 US US15/587,684 patent/US10089566B2/en active Active
- 2017-06-26 US US15/632,916 patent/US10049314B2/en active Active
- 2017-11-01 US US15/800,660 patent/US10262251B2/en active Active
-
2018
- 2018-05-14 US US15/978,759 patent/US10303992B2/en active Active
- 2018-07-16 US US16/036,401 patent/US10417543B2/en active Active
- 2018-09-06 US US16/124,107 patent/US10572785B2/en active Active
-
2019
- 2019-03-26 US US16/364,618 patent/US10719749B2/en active Active
- 2019-05-10 US US16/409,209 patent/US10776680B2/en active Active
- 2019-08-07 US US16/534,603 patent/US10789520B2/en active Active
-
2020
- 2020-01-28 US US16/775,005 patent/US10885414B2/en active Active
- 2020-08-21 US US17/000,078 patent/US11238323B2/en active Active
- 2020-12-28 US US17/134,946 patent/US11341387B2/en active Active
-
2021
- 2021-10-04 US US17/493,026 patent/US11449724B2/en active Active
-
2022
- 2022-09-14 US US17/932,034 patent/US12033013B2/en active Active
-
2023
- 2023-06-30 US US18/345,219 patent/US12067437B2/en active Active
Cited By (58)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US9646277B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2017-05-09 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
US10037507B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2018-07-31 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
US10445678B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2019-10-15 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
US10726375B2 (en) | 2006-05-07 | 2020-07-28 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for improved quality management in a product logistic chain |
US10504060B2 (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2019-12-10 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US8950664B2 (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2015-02-10 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10176451B2 (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2019-01-08 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10776752B2 (en) | 2007-05-06 | 2020-09-15 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10719749B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2020-07-21 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9135544B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2015-09-15 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10262251B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2019-04-16 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9558439B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-01-31 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9836678B2 (en) | 2007-11-14 | 2017-12-05 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10303992B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-05-28 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10417543B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2019-09-17 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9710743B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-07-18 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9646237B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-05-09 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US10789520B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-09-29 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9996783B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-06-12 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10776680B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-09-15 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10049314B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-08-14 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US10089566B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2018-10-02 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9626610B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2017-04-18 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US11238323B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2022-02-01 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US11341387B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2022-05-24 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US12067437B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2024-08-20 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12039386B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2024-07-16 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US8579193B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2013-11-12 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US10885414B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2021-01-05 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9396423B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-07-19 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US12033013B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2024-07-09 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9384435B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-07-05 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US8960534B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2015-02-24 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US10572785B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2020-02-25 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US11704526B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2023-07-18 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US11449724B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2022-09-20 | Varcode Ltd. | System and method for quality management utilizing barcode indicators |
US9317794B2 (en) | 2008-06-10 | 2016-04-19 | Varcode Ltd. | Barcoded indicators for quality management |
US9716711B2 (en) * | 2011-07-15 | 2017-07-25 | Pagemark Technology, Inc. | High-value document authentication system and method |
US10552719B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2020-02-04 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US9400952B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2016-07-26 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US10242302B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2019-03-26 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US9633296B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2017-04-25 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US8807422B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2014-08-19 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US9965712B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2018-05-08 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US10839276B2 (en) | 2012-10-22 | 2020-11-17 | Varcode Ltd. | Tamper-proof quality management barcode indicators |
US11060924B2 (en) | 2015-05-18 | 2021-07-13 | Varcode Ltd. | Thermochromic ink indicia for activatable quality labels |
US11781922B2 (en) | 2015-05-18 | 2023-10-10 | Varcode Ltd. | Thermochromic ink indicia for activatable quality labels |
US11009406B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2021-05-18 | Varcode Ltd. | Electronic quality indicator |
US10697837B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2020-06-30 | Varcode Ltd. | Electronic quality indicator |
US11614370B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2023-03-28 | Varcode Ltd. | Electronic quality indicator |
US11920985B2 (en) | 2015-07-07 | 2024-03-05 | Varcode Ltd. | Electronic quality indicator |
USD897351S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-09-29 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Digital slide scanner |
USD893505S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-08-18 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD892811S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-08-11 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD886830S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2020-06-09 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD866555S1 (en) | 2017-04-13 | 2019-11-12 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Cassette for a digital slide scanner |
USD848433S1 (en) * | 2017-04-13 | 2019-05-14 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Management card for digital slides |
USD848434S1 (en) * | 2017-04-13 | 2019-05-14 | Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. | Management card for digital slides |
Also Published As
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US11341387B2 (en) | Barcoded indicators for quality management | |
CA2762891C (en) | Barcoded indicators for quality management | |
US11704526B2 (en) | Barcoded indicators for quality management | |
JP6430455B2 (en) | Product quality control system, product unit specific labeling and method for product quality control |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: VARCODE LTD., ISRAEL Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:NEMET, YARON;BRAND, EPHRAIM;REEL/FRAME:027541/0332 Effective date: 20120108 |
|
STCB | Information on status: application discontinuation |
Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION |