Patent ID: 9633579
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: A24D,D01D,D01F,D01G,D02G,D06M,D06P,G01N,G06K,G06M,G07D,G09F

Claim:
1. A method of characterizing a fiber sample wherein the fiber sample comprises fibers, wherein the fibers comprise identification fibers and standard fibers, wherein each of the identification fibers exhibits at least one distinct feature, wherein the at least one distinct feature comprises at least one taggant optical properties, wherein the identification fibers consist of one or more groups of distinguishable identification fibers, each group of the distinguishable identification being formed by the identification fibers having the same distinct feature or a same combination of the distinct features, the method comprising, (1) applying imaging technology to the fiber sample to generate stitched image data of the fiber sample, (2) detecting the groups of the distinguishable identification fibers based on the stitched image data, (3) determining a number of each of the distinguishable identification fibers for each detected group, wherein the number of the identification fibers in each detected group of the distinguishable identification fibers is defined as a fiber count, wherein at least one of the fiber counts corresponds to a taggant fiber count, and wherein (i) the at least one taggant optical properties, (ii) the distinct features in each group of the distinguishable identification fibers and (iii) the one or more taggant fiber counts are representative of at least one supply chain component of the fiber sample, and (4) generating, based on the detection and determination, supply chain information correlating at least one group of the distinguishable fibers and at least one of the taggant fiber counts to the at least one SUM* chain component of the fiber sample.