The present invention relates to object tagging in general, and in particular to tag identification management.
Identification tags, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, printed labels displaying a visual code such as a bar code or a Quick Response (QR) code, and the like, are typically attached to objects for information and/or tracking purposes, where information may be written to a tag and later read by an external reader. Information stored on a tag may include an object identifier (ID) that distinguishes the object from other objects. For example, a medical laboratory may attach tags to vials containing patient blood samples, where each tag includes a unique object ID identifying the vial to which it is attached, which object ID may then be recorded and mapped to the patient from whom the sample was taken.
While tags may be used to provide information about individual objects, it may be desirable to associate objects with other objects. For example, where a patient blood sample in one “parent” vial is divided into several other “child” vials, each destined for a different type of analysis, the object ID of each child vial's tag may be recorded in a database together with the object ID of the parent vial's tag. However, where the contents of child vials are further distributed to several other “grandchild” vials, or when vials are sent outside of an organization, managing the hierarchy of object relationships using object IDs of otherwise unrelated tags may become cumbersome.
The present invention in embodiments thereof discloses a tag architecture and methods for managing tag object IDs that are particularly useful for expressing parent-child object relationships among tags.
There is thus provided in accordance with one aspect of the present invention a tag system including a parent tag having an object ID and a counter, and a reader/writer configured to read the object ID and the counter of the parent tag, combine values of the object ID and the counter, and write the combined value to an object ID of a child tag.
In another aspect of the present invention the reader/writer is configured to read a value of the counter, change the read value, and create a new parent tag having the object ID and the changed value.
In another aspect of the present invention the parent tag includes a visual representation of the object ID and counter.
In another aspect of the present invention the a visual representation is a QR code.
In another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for managing tags, the method including configuring a tag with an object ID, and configuring the tag with a counter.
In another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for managing tags, the method including reading values of an object ID and a counter of a parent tag, combining the values, and writing the combined value to an object ID of a child tag.
In another aspect of the present invention the method further includes changing the read value of the counter, and creating a new parent tag having the object ID and the changed value.
In another aspect of the present invention the method further includes reading values of the object ID and a counter of the child tag, combining the values, and writing the combined value to an object ID of a grandchild tag.
It is appreciated that the term “tag” as it is used throughout the specification and claims refers to any type of mechanism capable of bearing an identification, such as, but not limited to, an RFID tag or a printed label.
It is further appreciated that references throughout the specification and claims to “writing” information to a tag refer to storing information to magnetic or optical data storage on a tag, such as in the case of an RFID tag, or to printing information onto a tag, such as in the case of a printed label on which the information is visually represented.
Embodiments of the present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:
The present invention is now described within the context of one or more embodiments, although the description is intended to be illustrative of the invention as a whole, and is not to be construed as limiting the invention to the embodiments shown. It is appreciated that various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art that, while not specifically shown herein, are nevertheless within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
Reference is now made to
In accordance with the present invention, tag 100 may be used as a “parent” tag by reader/writer 106 to spawn a “child” tag 108, as is shown in
After parent tag 100 is used to spawn child tag 108, its counter is preferably changed by reader/writer 106, such as by adding 1 to the current value of counter 104 and writing the new value to counter 104. Thus, counter 104 changes from a value of 0 to a value of 1 as is shown in
Referring again to
Reference is now made to
It will be appreciated that the present invention is useful where it is desirable to associate objects with other objects. Thus, in the example above, where a patient blood sample in one parent vial is divided into several other child vials, each destined for a different type of analysis, the relationships among the vials may be expressed by their tags by tagging the parent and child vials with the tags of the present invention, where the object ID and counter of the parent vial's tag is combined to form the object ID of each child vial's tag.
It is appreciated that one or more of the steps of any of the methods described herein may be omitted or carried out in a different order than that shown, without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
While the methods and apparatus disclosed herein may or may not have been described with reference to specific computer hardware or software, it is appreciated that the methods and apparatus described herein may be readily implemented in computer hardware or software using conventional techniques.
This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/672,045, filed on Feb. 7, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11672045 | Feb 2007 | US |
Child | 12027282 | US |