Traceability of packaged consumer products

Abstract

A Packaging System comprising: a Packaging Line producing and packing Primary Packages to form Secondary Packages, Secondary Packages being produced in a sequential order and formed with Primary Packages in a sequential order; and a Package Tracing System allowing Primary Packages to be traced; wherein the Package Tracing System is configured to: compute, for each Secondary Package, a Primary Package Sequence Number for the first Primary Package in the Secondary Package and a Primary Package Sequence Number for the last Primary Package in the Secondary Package; compute, for each Secondary Package, a Primary Package Production Time for the first Primary Package and a Primary Package Production Time for the last Primary Package, based on the corresponding Primary Package Sequence Numbers; and store in a repository Primary Package Production Times for the first and the last Primary Packages in the Secondary Packages, along with associated Secondary Package Identifiers.

1 . A Packaging System comprising:
 a Packaging Line configured to produce and pack Primary Packages to form Secondary Packages, Secondary Packages being produced in a sequential order and formed with Primary Packages provided in a sequential order; and   a Package Tracing System configured to allow Primary Packages to be traced;   wherein the Package Tracing System is configured to:   compute, for each Secondary Package, a Primary Package Sequence Number for the first Primary Package in the Secondary Package and a Primary Package Sequence Number for the last Primary Package in the Secondary Package;   compute, for each Secondary Package, a Primary Package Production Time for the first Primary Package in the Secondary Package and a Primary Package Production Time for the last Primary Package in the Secondary Package, based on the corresponding Primary Package Sequence Numbers; and   store in a repository Primary Package Production Times for the first and the last Primary Packages in the Secondary Packages, along with associated Secondary Package Identifiers.   
     
     
         2 . The Packaging System of  claim 1 , wherein the Package Tracing System is configured to compute the Primary Package Sequence Numbers for the first and the last Primary Packages in a Secondary Package based on the following formulas: 
       
         
           
             
               
                 PPSN 
                 
                   ( 
                   FIRST 
                   ) 
                 
               
               = 
               
                 1 
                 + 
                 
                   
                     ∑ 
                     
                       i 
                       = 
                       1 
                     
                     
                       FP 
                       - 
                       1 
                     
                   
                    
                   
                       
                   
                    
                   
                     PPISP 
                     i 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
         
           
             
               
                 PPSN 
                 
                   ( 
                   LAST 
                   ) 
                 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   ∑ 
                   
                     i 
                     = 
                     1 
                   
                   FP 
                 
                  
                 
                     
                 
                  
                 
                   PPISP 
                   i 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
       wherein:
 PPSN is a Primary Package Sequence Number; 
 FP is a Secondary Package Sequence Number; 
 i is a Secondary Package Sequence Index; and 
 PPISP i  is a number of Primary Packages in a Secondary Package with Secondary Package Sequence Index equal to i. 
 
     
     
         3 . The Packaging System of  claim 1 , wherein the Package Tracing System is configured to compute the Primary Package Production Times for the first and the last Primary Packages in a Secondary Package based on the following formulas: 
       
         
           
             
               
                 PPSN 
                 
                   ( 
                   FIRST 
                   ) 
                 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   ∫ 
                   BST 
                   
                     PPPT 
                     
                       ( 
                       FIRST 
                       ) 
                     
                   
                 
                  
                 
                   
                     FSM 
                      
                     
                       ( 
                       t 
                       ) 
                     
                   
                    
                   
                       
                   
                    
                   
                      
                     t 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
         
           
             
               
                 PPSN 
                 
                   ( 
                   LAST 
                   ) 
                 
               
               = 
               
                 
                   ∫ 
                   BST 
                   
                     PPPT 
                     
                       ( 
                       LAST 
                       ) 
                     
                   
                 
                  
                 
                   
                     FSM 
                      
                     
                       ( 
                       t 
                       ) 
                     
                   
                    
                   
                       
                   
                    
                   
                      
                     t 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
       
       wherein:
 PPSN is a Primary Package Sequence Number; 
 PPPT is a Primary Package Production Time; 
 BST is a Production Batch Start Time; and 
 FSM(t) represents a number of Primary Packages produced per time unit during a Production Batch. 
 
     
     
         4 . The Packaging System of  claim 3 , wherein the Package Tracing System is configured to compute a Primary Package Production Time by:
 identifying in a Production Batch successive Time Sections such that in each Time Section the number of Primary Packages produced per time unit is constant;   computing the number of Primary Packages produced from the beginning of the Production Batch to the end of a Time Section based on the following formula:   
       
         
           
             
               ACCNP 
               = 
               
                 
                   ∑ 
                   
                     i 
                     = 
                     1 
                   
                   TSSN 
                 
                  
                 
                     
                 
                  
                 
                   NP 
                   i 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
       where:
 ACCNP is the number of Primary Packages produced from the beginning of the Production Batch to the end of a Time Section, 
 TSSN is a Time Section Sequence Number, and 
 NP i  is the number of Primary Packages produced during a Time Section with Time Section Sequence Number equal to i;
 identifying the first Time Section in the Production Batch for which the following relation is satisfied:
   ACCNP≧PPSN
 
 
 computing the Primary Package Production Time based on the following formula: 
 
 
       
         
           
             
               PPPT 
               = 
               
                 AT 
                 - 
                 
                   
                     ACCNP 
                     - 
                     PPSN 
                   
                   S 
                 
               
             
           
         
       
       where AT is a Start Time of the identified Time Section. 
     
     
         5 . Package Tracing System configured to allow Primary Packages produced by a Packaging System to be traced, as claimed in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         6 . Software loadable into a Package Tracing System of configured to allow Primary Packages produced by a Packaging System to be traced, and configured to cause, when executed, the Package Tracing System to become configured as claimed in  claim 1 .