Patent ID: 8196807

Claim:
Method of marking a container ( 1 ) for identification purpose for medical or diagnostic use, intended to hold a product ( 10 ) of interest, the said container ( 1 ) being obtained by a process characterized in that it comprises at least the following steps during which: (B) a two-dimensional or three-dimensional marking zone ( 4 ), the temperature of which is maintained at a first temperature, is provided in or on the substrate of a blank ( 2 ) intended to constitute the said container ( 1 ) and, in the said marking zone ( 4 ), an identification code ( 5 ) is reproduced by illumination ( 6 ) of the said marking zone ( 4 ) with at least one beam ( 7 ) of coherent monochromatic localized electromagnetic radiation to which the substrate is at least partially transparent, the said beam ( 7 ) being operated and controlled in order to remove or modify the constituent substrate of the wall ( 3 ) and to leave the identification code ( 5 ), in positive or negative form, in the said wall so that the said code is readable; and (C) at least the said marking zone ( 4 ) is annealed, by a heat source separate from the said at least one beam ( 7 ), by heating it to a second temperature strictly above the said first temperature so as at least to reduce the differences in internal tension in the substrate between the said marking zone ( 4 ) and the rest of the said wall ( 3 ).