Document Validation System and Method

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to the field of self-validating documents in supply chain management, documentation services and method for creating the same.

1 . A product validation system for a product or material for at least one of validating product or material conformance with certification requirements and determining whether the product or material is subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine, comprising:
 a certification document including at least one of a certification statement certifying compliance with at least one of (i) a material or product property and a regulatory, customer, supplier and a commercial requirement for said product or material, and (ii) a statement identifying the produce or material as subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine,   a unique identifier for at least one of a shipment, container or item of said product or material, the unique identifier being carried by an identifier holder;   wherein the unique identifier carried by the identifier holder is accessible by at least one identifier interrogator, and   wherein the at least one identifier interrogator is configured to receive validation and/or recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine information associated with said certification document from a dynamic source of validation information in response to reading of the unique identifier from the identifier holder.   
     
     
         2 . The product validation system of  claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier accompanies the product or material. 
     
     
         3 . The product validation system of  claim 2 , wherein the unique identifier is affixed to the at least one of the shipment, container or item of the product or material. 
     
     
         4 . The product validation system of  claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier is maintained at a location remote from the at least one of the shipment, container or item, and the dynamic source of validation information is configured to return said validation and/or recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine information associated with said certification document from the dynamic source of validation information in response to receipt of the unique identifier from the remote location. 
     
     
         6 . The product validation system of  claim 2 , wherein the identifier holder may be interrogated by a non-contact identifier reading device. 
     
     
         7 . The product validation system of  claim 6 , wherein the non-contact identifier holder is an RFID tag and the non-contact identifier reading device is an RFID tag reader. 
     
     
         8 . The product validation system of  claim 6 , wherein the non-contact identifier holder is a machine-readable label and the non-contact identifier reading device is an optical reader. 
     
     
         9 . The product validation system of  claim 6 , wherein the non-contact identifier holder is configured to, in response to interrogation of the identifier holder, transmit the identifier to the dynamic source of validation information and to receive the retrieved validation and/or recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine information. 
     
     
         10 . The product validation system of  claim 6 , wherein the non-contact identifier reading device is configured to transmit at least location information of the non-contact identifier reading device with the transmission of the identifier to the dynamic source of validation information. 
     
     
         11 . The product validation system of  claim 6 , wherein the retrieved validation and/or recall, restriction or quarantine information transmitted to the non-contact identifier reading device is accessible at the reading device in a preferred language of the reading device user. 
     
     
         12 . The product validation system of  claim 1 , wherein said dynamic source of validation information is located on at least one secure web server. 
     
     
         13 . The product validation system of  claim 1 , wherein said certification document is one of a document containing certification statements of the compliance or properties of the product or material, a purchase order, an advance shipment notice, a notice of product recall, restriction, quarantine, warning or alert, a material safety data sheet, an import notification, a customer notice, and a bill of lading. 
     
     
         14 . A method for, during and after receipt of a shipment of a product or material, at least one of validating product conformance with certification requirements and determining whether the shipment is subject to recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine, comprising:
 providing a unique identifier for the shipment of said product or material on or in an identifier holder configured to accompany the product or material during the shipment;   interrogating the identifier holder with a non-contact identifier reading device to retrieve the unique identifier;   transmitting the unique identifier to a dynamic source of validation information; and   retrieving at least one of validation information and recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine information associated with the unique identifier from the dynamic source of validation information to the non-contact identifier reading device.   
     
     
         15 . The method for shipment validation of  claim 14 , wherein the non-contact identifier holder is an RFID tag and the non-contact identifier reading device is an RFID tag reader. 
     
     
         16 . The method for shipment validation of  claim 14 , wherein the non-contact identifier holder is a machine-readable label and the non-contact identifier reading device is an optical reader. 
     
     
         17 . The method for shipment validation of  claim 14 , wherein the retrieved information transmitted to the non-contact identifier reading device is accessible at the reading device in a preferred language of the reading device user. 
     
     
         18 . The method for shipment validation of  claim 14 , wherein the certification document is one of a document containing certification statements of the compliance or properties of the product or material, a purchase order, an advance shipment notice, a notice of product recall, restriction, quarantine, warning or alert, a material safety data sheet, an import notification, a customer notice, and a bill of lading. 
     
     
         19 . The method for shipment validation of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 storing unique identifiers obtained by interrogation of at least one shipment identifier holder in a unique identifier database;   transmitting at least one of the unique identifiers stored in the unique identifier database to the dynamic source of validation information; and   retrieving at least one of validation information and recall, restriction, alert, warning or quarantine information associated with the at least one of the unique identifiers from the dynamic source of validation information to a device associated with the unique identifier database.