Smart Package Sensor System for Dynamic Expiration Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Perishable products, such as drugs, often expire prematurely due to environmental factors like high temperatures and exposure, leading to discarding of still usable items and potential safety risks, as the nominal expiration dates are conservative and difficult to read or track.
Innovation Solution
A monitoring system with sensors and a control unit associated with the product package that tracks environmental conditions and usage events, transmitting information to a smart portable device to calculate an effective expiration date, ensuring safe usage while minimizing waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conservative nominal expiration dates are used on packages, then safety is improved, but product waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the expiration date based on actual environmental conditions experienced by the product. Sensors continuously monitor temperature, humidity, and other factors, and the expiration date is recalculated in real-time rather than using a fixed conservative nominal date. This allows the product to be used safely beyond the nominal expiration date when conditions have been favorable, reducing waste while maintaining safety standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where sensors monitor environmental conditions, the control unit processes this data, and the effective expiration date is updated accordingly. This feedback mechanism ensures that the expiration date reflects actual product condition rather than worst-case scenarios, allowing safe extension when conditions permit while automatically shortening the date when adverse conditions are detected, thus balancing safety and waste reduction.
2Loss of information
If nominal expiration dates are printed on packages, then information is provided, but readability and tracking become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from two-dimensional printed text on the package to multi-dimensional digital information storage and display. Expiration date information is stored electronically in the control unit and can be accessed, displayed, and tracked through multiple interfaces including mobile applications, web portals, and package-mounted displays. This dimensional shift enables easy readability, remote tracking, and centralized management of expiration dates without the limitations of physical printing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces intermediate devices such as mobile applications, web interfaces, and display units that mediate between the product's internal sensors and the user. These intermediaries present expiration date information in easily readable formats, provide tracking capabilities, and enable user interaction without requiring direct reading of small printed text on packages. The intermediary layer enhances accessibility and usability while maintaining accurate expiration date information.
3Measurement precision
If sensors and control units are added to packages, then effective expiration date tracking is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit and sensor system are designed to serve multiple functions beyond just expiration date tracking. The same hardware infrastructure monitors environmental conditions for product quality assessment, tracks storage conditions for compliance purposes, provides authentication and anti-counterfeiting verification, and enables inventory management. This multi-functionality justifies the added complexity by delivering multiple benefits from a single integrated system rather than requiring separate systems for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The package system is designed to be self-monitoring and self-reporting without requiring external intervention. Sensors automatically detect environmental conditions, the control unit independently processes data and calculates effective expiration dates, and the system autonomously communicates with users and supply chain stakeholders. This self-service capability reduces the need for manual monitoring and complex external infrastructure, making the added complexity worthwhile by automating what would otherwise require significant human resources.
Data Source
AI summary
A solution is proposed for controlling usage of one or more perishable products. A corresponding method comprises storing an indication of one or more package events that may affect a duration of the perishable product being sensed by one or more sensors associated with the package; receiving an interrogation signal from a smart portable device of a user of the perishable product; retrieving package information being stored in association with the control unit in response to the interrogation signal, the package information comprising the indication of at least part of the package events; and transmitting the package information to the smart portable device for use by the smart portable device to control the usage of the perishable product according thereto.