Patent ID: 7258266

Claim:
A method for managing automatic identification of items using an executable computer-implemented framework for defining and administering standardized item identifiers, the method comprising: providing a flexible data model for storing information defining one or more standardized identification schemes, wherein configured to define the one or more standardized identification schemes during execution of the computer-implemented framework by virtue of being configured to define a first data structure component, the first data structure component is configured to define multiple automatic identification code standards, and each instance of the first data structure component defines a distinct automatic identification code standard or a subset of a distinct automatic identification code standard; and providing a second data model for storing information associated with items that are identifiable using the executable computer-implemented framework, wherein the second data model is configured to facilitate defining the one or more standardized identification schemes during execution of the computer-implemented framework by virtue of being configured to define a second data structure component, the second data structure component is configured to define multiple automatic identification code segments, each instance of the second data structure component is linked to an instance of the first component, and each instance of the second data structure component defines at least one identifiable segment of an automatic identification code.