Patent Description:
There presently exists a need in the art to identify pairs of functional devices or system elements for use with one another. Such identification may be a simple authentication, or may include higher level functionality based on identification and characteristics, such as a modified operation of a first device based on the identity and/or characteristics of a second device or element, and/or automated replenishment based on element characteristics.

By way of non-limiting example, presently-marketed coffee machines may receive coffee pods, diagnostic devices may receive diagnostic cassettes, water coolers may receive jugs filled with water or other beverages, and so on, and in each such instance, there may be a preference or need to identify, or identify the characteristics of, the one device or element in light of its prospective use with the other. For example, and in a variety of smart-packaging contexts such as those mentioned above, there may be a need to identify not only the presence of a coffee pod in a coffee machine, but further to identify what type of coffee pod has been placed into the machine. This pod type recognition may allow for modifications to brewing methods executed by the machine in accordance with precisely which pod is placed into the brewing machine, such as variable brewing for a dark roast, a French vanilla, tea, or hot chocolate.

Similarly, there may be a desire in a smart packaging context to provide a label on smart packaging, such as on the aforementioned water jug, such that, when the label is associated with a device, such as a dispenser that dispenses the water from the jug, the characteristics of the packaged element (such as the water jug) may be read by the device in order to execute particular functionality. For example, the level of fullness of the jug may need to be sensed while the jug resides in the dispenser, such as to allow for an indication of the need to replenish the water jug based on a predetermined level of emptiness.

The presently-provided solutions to the aforementioned problems in the known art are both expensive and inadequate. For example, present identification or authentication technologies typically include the use of so-called "RFID" (Radio Frequency IDentification) technology associated with one of the elements, and an RFID reader associated with the other device/element. By way of non-limiting example, a coffee pod may have associated therewith a RFID label which, when read by the RFID reader of the brewing machine, indicates the desired brewing method for that particular coffee pod.

RFID technologies are typically expensive, such as in the range of $<NUM> per label or more, and require significant integration technologies, such as printed electronics, adhesives, active electronics, or the like, for the RFID label, all of which may further add to the expense of the use of RFID technologies. Moreover, RFID techniques necessitate the inclusion of an expensive active RFID reader in the system. Further, RFID and other known technologies are typically inadequate at least in that the simple identification available through the use of RFID, absent the use of significant active electronics circuits, does not afford the ability to assess characteristics of the packaging associated with the RFID smart label beyond its identification, such as the fullness or temperature of a water jug.

Yet further, present identification and authentication technologies, such as the aforementioned RFID, may add significantly to the size, profile, and weight of the system element with which the RFID label is associated. Accordingly, these variations in physical characteristics of, for example, a coffee pod, must be accounted for by the manufacturer of the device that will mate with the device having the smart label. For example, not only must a brewing machine be designed so as to accommodate the inclusion of a RFID reader, a greater mechanical height, greater mechanical weight support, and the like must be provided in a coffee machine to accommodate the bulkier smart labels typically associated with RFID coffee pods.

Conventional systems of identifying and authenticating the characteristics of smart packaged elements are disclosed in <CIT>.

Therefore, the need exists for an apparatus, system and method of identifying and authenticating the characteristics of smart packaged elements.

The present invention is directed to subject matter as defined in the appended set of claims.

The disclosure includes at least an apparatus, system and method for authenticating a physical element suitable for electromechanical association with a receiving device. The apparatus, system and method may include at least a printable substrate associated with the physical element; a first circuit printed on the printable substrate and suitable to receive at least one electrical characteristic of the physical element; an incomplete circuit associated with the receiving device, wherein an interface of the first circuit to the receiving device completes the incomplete circuit to form a functional circuit; at least one sensor within the incomplete circuit and suitable for sensing the at least one electrical characteristic via the functional circuit upon completion of the incomplete circuit; and at least one comparative listing stored within a non-transitory memory of the receiving device, wherein the at least on sensed electrical characteristic is compared to the at least one comparative listing to provide the authentication, and wherein the authentication provided is indicative of a unique action.

Thus, the disclosure provides at least an apparatus, system and method of identifying and authenticating the characteristics of smart packaged elements.

The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which:.

The figures and descriptions provided herein may have been simplified to illustrate aspects that are relevant for a clear understanding of the herein described devices, systems, and methods, while eliminating, for the purpose of clarity, other aspects that may be found in typical similar devices, systems, and methods. Those of ordinary skill may recognize that other elements and/or operations may be desirable and/or necessary to implement the devices, systems, and methods described herein. But because such elements and operations are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure, a discussion of such elements and operations may not be provided herein. However, the present disclosure is deemed to inherently include all such elements, variations, and modifications to the described aspects that would be known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the exemplary embodiments.

Processor-implemented modules, systems and methods of use are disclosed herein that may provide communicative and/or networked access to a plurality of types of digital content, including but not limited to video, image, text, audio, metadata, algorithms, interactive and document content, and so on, which may track, deliver, manipulate, compute, transform and/or report the accessed content. Described embodiments of these modules, systems and methods are intended to be exemplary and not limiting. As such, it is contemplated that the herein described systems and methods may be adapted and may be extended to provide enhancements and/or additions to the exemplary modules, systems and methods described. The disclosure is thus intended to include all such extensions.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the term "module" as used herein does not limit the functionality to particular physical modules, but may include any number of tangibly-embodied software and/or hardware components having a transformative effect on at least a portion of a system. In general, a computer program product in accordance with one embodiment comprises a tangible computer usable medium (e.g., standard RAM, an optical disc, a USB drive, or the like) having computer-readable program code embodied therein, wherein the computer-readable program code is adapted to be executed by a processor (which may work in connection with an operating system) to implement one or more functions and methods as described below. In this regard, the program code may be implemented in any desired language, and may be implemented as machine code, assembly code, byte code, interpretable source code or the like (e.g., via C, C++, C#, Java, Actionscript, Objective-C, Javascript, CSS, XML, etc.).

Embodiments may include an apparatus, system, and method of confirming and authenticating the presence, identity and/or characteristics of physical elements designed for electrical, mechanical and/or electromechanical association with other devices or elements, such as through the use of completion or closure of functional circuits. The embodiments may include a first physical element, such as a beverage pod, that is distinct from the one or more second physical elements or devices, such as a beverage machine designed to receive such beverage pods for the purpose of automatically brewing a beverage dependent upon the presence or type of beverage pod.

The first and/or second physical element may include one or more printed circuit boards, firmware, network communication capabilities, user interfaces and indicators, connective power, or additional elements as would be apparent to the skilled artisan, some aspects of which are discussed herein. The first physical element may be or be associated with one or more consumables or similar packages, such as may be formed of plastic or glass, and which may have associated there with one or more smart label aspects, such as active or passive electronically responsive labels, or containers or package covers having active or passive electronically responsive aspects.

More particularly, embodiments may accordingly provide a cost-effective solution for authentication and identification of, and/or characteristics of, smart-packaged elements associated with "paired systems", i.e., those electrical, mechanical, or electromechanical systems having multiple components mated together to impart operation after manufacture. The embodiments may employ printed electronics, functional inks, and printed circuit design and processing to allow for the disclosed smart packaging and labels, in conjunction with the other aspect(s) of the paired system, to form functional response circuits which, when associated with one or more in-circuit sensor modules within the receiving device, allow the receiving device to detect and/or assess the characteristics of the smart-packaged elements such that the functionality of the receiving device may be varied in accordance with the detection and/or the identified characteristics.

The disclosed printed circuit smart package labels of the embodiments are low-cost, low weight, and low-profile, and may be fully passive in that they may be activated by physical, proximity, and/or electrical association with the paired aspect of the functional circuit within a receiving device. That is, the disclosed smart label functional circuit portion may be activated only in combination with the sensor system portion of the functional circuit on-board the receiving device. The sensor system portion of the functional circuit, and particularly the sensing module/unit of the receiving device, may then allow for authentication and identification of characteristics of the received element (also referred to herein as the device or the element "under test").

Yet more specifically, and as illustrated in <FIG>, embodiments may include a functional response circuit <NUM> having at least two aspects, namely a smart element aspect <NUM> and a receiving device aspect <NUM>, and in which at least the smart element aspect may be constructed of functional inks 12a. The functional inks 12a may provide conductive, inductive, capacitive, and/or resistive circuits and behavior, by way of non-limiting example. The functional inks 12a may be printed using any known methodologies, including, but not limited to, screen printing.

The printed smart element aspect <NUM> of the functional response circuit <NUM> may communicate via an interface <NUM>, such as via electromechanical or electrical contact, or wirelessly, to a sensor <NUM> that may be included in a sensor module circuit <NUM> aspect of the functional circuit <NUM> within the receiving device <NUM>. The functional circuit <NUM> may provide a specific function once the smart package circuit portion <NUM> is associated with the sensor module circuit portion <NUM>, and this specific function may be sensed by the sensor device/module <NUM> included in the sensor module circuit portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM>. That is, the smart element circuit <NUM> may complete or close the receiving device circuit portion <NUM> to form the functional response circuit <NUM>.

The functions provided by the completed functional circuit <NUM> may include, but are not limited to, identification of a device under test, authentication of a device under test, or assessment of the characteristics of the device under test (also collectively referred to herein as "authentication"). This identification, authentication, or assessment may include receipt of the characteristics of the device under test <NUM> by the sensor device <NUM>, which may in turn cause the sensor device <NUM> to modify an action of the receiving device <NUM>, and/or cause the receiving device <NUM> to relay the received data elsewhere. By way of non-limiting example, the specific functions sensed by the completed functional circuit <NUM> may be application-specific, such as identification of a type of coffee pod, a type of diagnostic cassette, or the like, or may be application non-specific, such as sensing of a temperature, a liquid or gas level, a humidity, vibration, or the like.

As mentioned above, various electrical behaviors may be provided by the functional inks 12a that form at least the smart package portion <NUM> of the functional response circuit <NUM>. Such behaviors may be as a resistive circuit, a resistive/capacitive circuit (RC), or a resistive/inductive/capacitive circuit (RLC), by way of non-limiting example. More particularly, the printed aspect of the functional response circuit <NUM> may provide any electrical function that may be detected by the sensor device <NUM> once associated with the sensor module circuit portion <NUM>, and such electrical functions may be, but are not limited to, resistance ladder, capacitive ladder, frequency-filtering, frequency-passing, oscillation, or frequency emission, by way of non-limiting example.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary embodiment in which the smart package portion <NUM> of a functional circuit <NUM> is printed on a substrate <NUM> which may form part of smart packaging <NUM>. Also illustrated in <FIG> are the receiving/host device <NUM> that receives the device under test <NUM>, which includes a sensor <NUM> within a sensor module circuit portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM>, wherein the functional circuit <NUM> is completed and thus "activated" once the smart package portion <NUM> and the sensor module circuit portion <NUM> are "mated".

In the illustration, the receiving/host device <NUM>, which includes the sensor <NUM>, interrogates the smart package portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM> (which is printed on the substrate) once the functional circuit <NUM> is completed via at least one of an electromechanical contact, a wired electrical contact, or wireless interface <NUM>. Once the smart package portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM> is interfaced to the sensor module circuit <NUM>, the functional circuit <NUM> is complete and the sensor <NUM> may interrogate the smart package <NUM> for the purposes of: authentication, such as wherein an assessment is made whether the functional circuit is as completed as expected; type assessment, wherein the type of functional circuit is assessed, such as wherein various levels of resistance may correspond to various flavors, for example; orientation, wherein the functional circuit value indicates an orientation of the smart packaged element, such as wherein an assessment is made as to whether the smart packaged element is inserted upside down, backwards, or as expected, by way of non-limiting example; age, wherein the functional circuit value corresponds to a production date of the smart packaging; and/or package or content characteristics, such as wherein the completed functional circuit provides electronic characteristics of the smart package that change as the characteristics of the contents of the smart packaging change.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary interface <NUM> between the portion of the functional circuit <NUM> associated with the smart packaged element <NUM>, such as the portion of the functional circuit printed on the package <NUM> or on a substrate <NUM> associated with the package <NUM>, and the sensor module circuit portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM>. As shown, the sensor module circuit <NUM> may interact with the smart package circuit <NUM> via contact or noncontact methodologies known to those skilled in the art. By way of example, contact interface <NUM> may include metal spring contacts, "bump" contacts <NUM>, and/or leads/lead wires <NUM>, by way of non-limiting example. Wireless interfaces may include, by way of non-limiting example, wireless conductivity at any wireless frequency, such as including optical interfaces.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary smart element circuit portion <NUM> associated with a substrate <NUM> that may be placed upon a smart package <NUM>. Of note, in certain circumstances the printed smart element circuit <NUM> may be printed directly upon the smart package <NUM>. The exemplary substrate <NUM> provided for receiving the printed circuit portion <NUM> may be a substrate of any type or makeup presently known in the art such as may be associated with product packaging, labels, clothing, food or food containers, disposable coffee pods, diagnostic cassettes, and the like. The substrate <NUM> may be conformable, and/or may be formed of paper, thin film, metallic, plastic, PVC, PET, Polyimide, or the like.

With reference now particularly to <FIG> and <FIG>, the substrate <NUM> provided may be adhered by an adherent <NUM> to the smart package <NUM>, such as by an adhesive, epoxy, or curing. The substrate <NUM> shown may thus be an adhesive-backed substrate, and, as shown, may have atop thereof an interface <NUM> for communicatively associating with the sensor module circuit portion <NUM>, such as when placed into a receiving device <NUM>. In an embodiment, the interface <NUM> may include two conductive contact pads <NUM>, <NUM> for interfacing with the sensor module circuit portion <NUM>. Printed in electrical association with these conductive contact pads <NUM>, <NUM> may be, for example, lead wires in communication with the remainder of the printed circuit portion, such that, when physically associated with the receiving device <NUM>, the functional circuit <NUM>, from the smart packaged element circuit portion <NUM>, through the lead wires <NUM>, through the contact pads <NUM>, <NUM>, and via the sensor module circuit portion <NUM> in the receiving device <NUM>, is electrically completed.

The functional circuit <NUM> may contain a variety of elements, such as resistive elements, capacitive elements, inductive elements, and optical/light emitting elements, by way of non-limiting example. These elements may be exclusively or partially present in the smart packaged element circuit <NUM>, and when associated through the lead wires <NUM> and contact pads <NUM>, <NUM> with the sensing module circuit portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM> (which may provide an activation voltage and current), the functional circuit <NUM> may be configured in any known manner that provides for sensing by the sensing device <NUM> of the receiving device <NUM>, such as but not limited to the configurations illustrated in <FIG>.

In embodiments, the smart label of <FIG> and <FIG> may be affixed to the top of a smart package such as a disposable coffee pod <NUM>, such as is illustrated in <FIG>. As such, once the coffee pod is placed into a beverage machine, the sensor module circuit portion <NUM> within the machine <NUM> may make electrical contact with the conductive contact pads <NUM>, <NUM> of <FIG>, and may, therethrough, provide an electrical current that causes a behavior by the functional circuit portion <NUM> on the smart label <NUM>. The sensor module circuit portion <NUM> of the functional circuit <NUM> may include a sensor <NUM> as discussed herein, and that sensor <NUM> may assess the feedback provided from the smart packaged element circuit portion <NUM> via a completed functional circuit <NUM>.

Once the behavior of the functional circuit <NUM> is assessed, the receiving machine <NUM> may have, either stored at the machine or stored, for example, in the cloud, one or more listings <NUM> of characteristics or behaviors of the functional circuit <NUM> and the actions indicated thereby. By way of non-limiting example, and with respect to <FIG>, the receiving device <NUM> may have stored in association therewith, such as in an on-board memory <NUM>0a, a listing <NUM>, such as in a relational database, of different coffee flavors and the correspondent brew times for each type of pod. Thus, the pod <NUM> of <FIG> may be received at the receiving device <NUM>, and the response/feedback of the functional circuit <NUM> once placed within the receiving device <NUM> may provide an identification of the type of coffee pod placed into the machine. This identification may, in turn, indicate to the coffee machine, based on the listing, the brew time and temperature for that particular pod.

Of course, the embodiments are not limited to the foregoing exemplary embodiment, as the sensor may sense <NUM> any of myriad characteristics of the functional circuit <NUM> once the smart package <NUM> is placed into the receiving device <NUM>, and these characteristics may lead to any type of conclusion by the receiving machine <NUM> based on comparison of the characteristics senses to the listing <NUM>. For example, the characteristics sensed may dictate a conclusion from the listing <NUM> that a product expiration has been reached, that a new product must be ordered, that an improper level or orientation has occurred, that a product is an ineligible knock-off, and so on.

Further, the listing <NUM> may, as referenced above, be stored on-board the receiving device <NUM>. Alternatively, the listing <NUM> may be stored off-board, such as in the cloud to which the receiving device is wireless connected. In the case of an off-board listing, the receiving device <NUM> may receive and/or request batched updates to the listing periodically, or may "call out" for a listing comparison upon each new reception of a smart packaged element <NUM>.

<FIG> provides an additional example of the use of the illustrated embodiments. In the example of <FIG>, a plurality of smart element circuits 12a, 12b, 12c. is printed on each of a number of liquid dispensing canisters <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. These liquid dispensing canisters <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> are placed in physical association with a soft drink dispensing machine <NUM>.

The soft drink dispensing machine <NUM> includes therein a sensor <NUM> and a sensor module circuit <NUM> which, when interfaced to the smart packaged element circuit 12a, 12b, 12c on one of the canisters <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, completes the functional circuit <NUM> and allows for an assessment by the sensor <NUM> of the behavior of the functional circuit <NUM> in association with each canister <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Accordingly, the soft drink machine <NUM> may interrogate the beverage concentrate container <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> to assess the flavor of liquid associated with that concentrate container (based on a comparison of the sensor outcome to the aforementioned listing). By way of non-limiting example, flavors may include cola, diet cola, decaffeinated cola, fruit flavor additive, and so on. Thereby, in the example of <FIG>, human error in misplacing (so that the wrong soft drinks are provided by the soda machine) the concentrate containers is no longer of concern, as the host soft drink machine may interrogate (upon or without an interrogation request) one or more concentrate containers before dispensing any beverage to insure that the liquid being dispensed as coming from the correct concentrate container <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>.

Further assessments may be made by the sensor module <NUM> in the illustration of <FIG>, as indicated herein above in accordance with the embodiments. By way of non-limiting example, the functional circuit <NUM> on the substrate associated with each concentrate container <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may provide characteristics that reflect, for example, the level of liquid within the concentrate container. Thereby, the host device, such as soda machine <NUM>, may gain information as to when new concentrate containers should be ordered, such as when the level of concentrate container in a given container falls below <NUM>% of container volume. This reorder information may be present in the listing, and the <NUM>% threshold may be indicated based on the capacitance of the smart packaged element circuit, by way of example.

<FIG> and <FIG> illustrate additional embodiments of the disclosure. More particularly, <FIG> illustrates a medical analytical host device <NUM> suitable for accepting ones of a plurality of diagnostic cartridges <NUM>, each capable of completing a functional circuit <NUM>. As shown and by way of non-limiting example, the value returned from the functional circuit <NUM> to the sensor may correspond, for example, to a particular date and time, which may be indicative of the acceptability of the inserted diagnostic cartridge <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flow diagram illustrating an operation of the hand-held medical device <NUM> of <FIG>. Of note, the flow of <FIG> is provided by way of example, and it will be appreciated in light of the flow of <FIG> the manner of flow of other similar embodiments. In the flow diagram at step <NUM>, the user may insert a cartridge containing a smart packaged element circuit portion into the medical device. At step <NUM>, the sensor module circuit portion in the medical device may complete a functional circuit once electrically connected to the smart packaged circuit portion, and may then read a value from the functional circuit.

At step <NUM>, the medical device may make a comparison of the value from the functional circuit to a stored listing that includes at least an acceptable range of characteristics for the diagnostic cartridge inserted. And at step <NUM>, the medical device may take an appropriate action based on the comparison of the value provided from the functional circuit to the stored listing. Such appropriate actions may include, by way of non-limiting example, accepting or rejecting the inserted cartridge.

Further included in the embodiments may be firmware and software interfaces to provide the functionality discussed throughout. For example, firmware in the functional circuit may sense the liquid level, and may use this information to indicate dosing or auto replenishment. And the auto replenishment threshold may be information provided remotely from cloud-based software algorithms. Additionally, the disclosed communication capabilities may include communication software for communication with one or more smartphone apps or similar computing applications. Further, a cloud-based software backend may store and serve received data to and from the app or application. Some or all of the processing discussed throughout may be performed at the cloud based backend, such as alerts or email confirmations for auto replenishment. Communication methodologies may include BLE, Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular, and the like.

Claim 1:
A system for authenticating a physical element (<NUM>) suitable for electromechanical association with a receiving device (<NUM>), comprising:
a printable substrate (<NUM>) associated with the physical element (<NUM>);
a first circuit (<NUM>) printed on the printable substrate (<NUM>) and suitable to receive at least one electrical characteristic of the physical element (<NUM>);
an incomplete circuit (<NUM>) associated with the receiving device (<NUM>), wherein an interface (<NUM>) of the first circuit to the receiving device (<NUM>) completes the incomplete circuit to form a functional circuit (<NUM>);
at least one sensor (<NUM>) within the incomplete circuit (<NUM>) and suitable for sensing the at least one electrical characteristic via the functional circuit (<NUM>) upon completion of the incomplete circuit (<NUM>); and
at least one comparative listing (<NUM>) stored within a non-transitory memory (<NUM>0a) of the receiving device (<NUM>), wherein the at least on sensed electrical characteristic is compared to the at least one comparative listing (<NUM>) to provide the authentication, and wherein the authentication provided is indicative of a unique action.