Patent ID: 8079517

Claim:
A method of maintaining a status of a product item, the product item including an associated interface surface, the interface surface having disposed thereon or therein coded data including a plurality of coded data portions, each coded data portion being indicative of an unique identity of the product item, the product item identity being associated with an unique identity of a container, the container including an associated interface surface having coded data indicative of the identity of the container, the method including, in a sensing device: sensing the coded data of the container; generating, using the sensed coded data, indicating data indicative of the container identity; and transferring the indicating data to a computer system, the computer system being responsive to the indicating data to update product status information stored in a data store, wherein the method includes, in the computer system: receiving the indicating data; determining the product item identity associated with the container identity; determining a current product item status from the product status information stored in the data store; and updating the product status information in accordance with the indicating data.