METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORAGE OF DATA FOR TRACKING MANUFACTURED ITEMS

摘要

The invention provides a method for the generation and storage of data for manufactured items in a batch of manufactured items that reduces data storage requirements. The method may comprise the steps of: at a production line generating a unique identifier for each item the unique identifier comprising production details and a counter value of an incremental counter; at a production line associating each item with the corresponding unique identifier or an encrypted version of the unique identifier; reading at least some of the unique identifiers associated with items in the batch of the items to provide a list of read identifiers wherein at least some counter values of the incremental counter are not in the list of read identifiers; generating a plurality of ranges of read identifiers each range comprising a number of read identifiers having common production details and sequential counter values; and storing the plurality of ranges of read identifiers having common production details as a single data record in an electronic database the single data record comprising the production details and an indication of each of the ranges of sequential counter values.