Technical field
The present invention relates to genealogy tracking and tracing techniques and more particularly to a system and method for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain.
Background
Agricultural products may include grains, oilseeds and other crops. In the past, agricultural products have often been regarded as commodities. For example, corn from different suppliers was typically mixed at a local grain elevator regardless of a genetic content, nutritional value or variety of the particular corn. Technological advances in plant science and testing make it possible to introduce desirable traits into agricultural products through genetic modification, environmental influence or otherwise. Differentiated traits may include enhanced nutrition, special protein profiles, and pharmaceutical properties of agricultural products, among other characteristics. Certain processors and consumers of agricultural products may desire agricultural products with certain characteristics or traits to produce various end products based on one or more agricultural products.
Agricultural products may be stored at grain elevators, farms, storage facilities at processors, and other storage infrastructure. In addition to the above, food safety has emerged as an issue for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry with reports of several food poisoning outbreaks traced to E. coli. Although these outbreaks generate a great deal of attention, probably many more fresh food contamination instances go undetected. In fresh produce given the nature of produce being subject to different process and transfers to many locations, consumers and the law are demanding greater assurances of food quality and safety.

Therefore, a need exists to track agricultural product to facilitate the flow of information from the grower to the processor and to any recipient of the agricultural product or a derivative thereof from the processor. Further, tracking back to the field alone is not sufficient, we need to able to track forward and identify where the product from that field have ended up and stops they took along the way. In short there should be an effecting mechanism to build genealogy information that should provide access to the details related to each and every step in the supply chain in unique and rapid way.
However, existing traceability systems is not custom tailored to a particular database configuration, and fail to provide interoperability between multiple layers of data provided from disparate sources. What is needed is a method to quickly generate traceability searches on supplier data (e.g., detailed lot and shipment information), manufacturing data (e.g., detailed bill of material listings), and customer related data (e.g., locations of finished goods), and present detailed traceability search results to the user, in addition to issuing failure analysis-driven responses and warnings to interested parties.
There are various systems and methods devised for tracking and tracing the product in a supply chain.
US 7397374 discloses a traceability arrangements for managing an individual article distributed through a plurality of sites with a form thereof changed at least one of the plurality of sites, the traceability arrangements including: receiving, from information processing apparatuses installed at each of the plurality of sites, both identification information read from a tag attached to each individual article for identifying the article, and index information including change information indicating a change in distribution situation and form of a predetermined individual article; associating and storing the received change information with one another in accordance with the identification information; accepting an input of search condition information including the identification information; and specifying a distribution route of the each individual article based on the accepted search condition information.

US 2005/0004682 discloses a raw material which is stored in a storage container. The stored raw material is physically processed in the storage container to obtain a processed material based on the raw material. Link data is recorded for associating the raw material with the processed material across any transformation between the raw material and the processed material.
US 2009/0254535 provides an improved method of handling product recall activities through traceability. One embodiment of the present invention involves gathering data in a multi-layered database architecture containing supply, process, test, and customer layers. The data is supplied to a traceability module which contains a search engine to link and access the data. The search engine enables a search by part number, lot number, serial number, time stamp, and date/time frame. A traceability analysis is generated from the search, allowing failure analysis of the data. This analysis is performed through an event list over the entire supply, manufacturing, and customer data, facilitating backward and forward traceability of parts and components of the parts. This failure analysis further facilitates automatic response such as automatic warning and automatic recall to manufacturers and customers.
Above-mentioned systems and methods allow the retrieval of information either one level above or one level below in the supply chain. There is no direct retrieval of data from any level in the supply chain which results in slow processing and increased manual intervention. The existing system and method provide information about immediate customer and supplier and won't track back to exact location where the contamination occurred. The automation of verification achieved by current tools in the market is partial and involves huge effort as they tend to have custom scripts written, which again needs to be subjected to quality tests.
Objects and Summary
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for genealogy tracking and tracing techniques.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the time involved in accessing and processing genealogy information.
Yet another object of the present invention is to determine the cause of contamination of the product efficiently and quickly.
In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain comprising the steps of:
* receiving supplier lot information along with parent lot information during
shipment at each level in the supply chain;
■ assigning supplier lot Id as parent lot Id;
■ determining if one or more parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot;
■ associating one or more parent lot Ids with the received lots ;
* creating a data store for saving the parent lot Ids along with transformation
details in a data structure; and
■ retrieving the parent lot Id and/or transformation detail directly without
iterating through each level.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a system is provided for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain comprising of:
■ means for receiving supplier lot information along with parent lot information during shipment at each level in the supply chain;
■ means for assigning supplier lot Id as parent lot Id;
■ means for determining if one or more parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot;
■ means for associating one or more parent lot Ids with the received lots ;

■ means for creating a data store for saving the parent lot Ids along with transformation details in a data structure; and
■ means for retrieving the parent lot Id and/or transformation detail directly without iterating through each level.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a computer program product for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain comprising one or more computer readable media configured to perform said method.
Brief description of the drawings
Fig. 1 illustrates exemplary traceability architecture according to an embodiment of the instant invention
Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for generating genealogy information of a product according to the present invention
Fig.3 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for retrieving parent lot genealogy information in the forward and backward direction according to the present invention
Fig.4 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram for retrieving the genealogy relation of child lot information according to the present invention
Figs.5a, 5b and 5c illustrates a traceability process performed to retrieve parent lot genealogy information according to the present invention
Figs. 6a and 6b illustrates a traceability process performed to retrieve child lot genealogy information according to the present invention
Detailed description
System and method for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain is described. The system and method is not intended to be restricted to any particular form or arrangement, or any specific embodiment, or any specific use,

disclosed herein, since the same may be modified in various particulars or relations without departing from the spirit or scope of the claimed invention herein shown and described. The system and/or method shown is intended only for illustration and disclosure of an operative embodiment and not to show all of the various forms or modifications in which this invention might be embodied or operated.
The instant invention allows traceability to be performed across an entire supply chain in the forward as well as backward direction. The main objective of performing traceability is to identify entire genealogy information in case of contamination or any problem with the product to know exactly the location where the problem occurred. The products which can be traced using the instant invention include foods, medical products, apparel products, electronic devices, raw materials etc. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, system and method supports the management of storage containers used for agricultural products. The instant invention supports the management of raw materials as they are stored, combined and transferred among storage locations within a farm, ingredient processing facility such as flour mill or a final processing facility such as bakery. Lots can be associated with bins or storage containers to track trace elements from one shipment to another shipment. A lot is a unique, defined quantity of an agricultural product with presumed homogenous qualities. A lot has one or more of the characteristics such as crop class, traits and various grade factors. When a lot is transferred from one bin to another or shipped, a new lot is created by a traceability system. Each lot has a lot Id associated with it and it is an identifier assigned for a specific production lot or batch and used in subsequent material transactions and tracing activities. Lot Id is preserved as product is transformed during any bin management operation. In one embodiment, the lot Id can be barcode or RFID, a slip number or a random number written or attached to the product to be traced.
The techniques described herein may be used in many different operating environments and systems. An exemplary environment that is suitable for practicing various implementations is discussed in the following section with respect to the accompanying figures.

EXEMPLARY SYSTEM
Fig. 1 illustrates exemp41ary traceability architecture according to an embodiment of the instant invention
The traceability system 100 comprises of various entities that are involved in managing an agricultural product. The traceability system can be configured as a standalone or in a network environment. The network environment can be server-client user network environment, a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The entities can be farm, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor and retailer depending upon the type of product. Each of the entity transfers the shipment data to the trade item genealogy builder that interfaces with the traceability data pool. The shipment data may include Lot Id, GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number), Shipped date, Supplier GLN (Global location number), Customer(Receiver) GLN, Shipped date, Packed date, Expiry date, Package Type (PAL for Palette CAS for Case), Shipment code (Example -SSCC (Serial shipment container code )), Item description, Quality certificates for the shipment items.
Each of the entity posses a data reading means to read the Id written in the barcode or RFID attached to the product when it is received and shipped from one entity to another.
In a network deployment, the trade item genealogy builder can be a server which collects the data from various entities, validates and builds the linkage between them using the lot Ids of each product. The server can be general purpose computer system having a fast running processor, volatile and non-volatile memory, a display, an input/output interface and a communication interface for communicating with outside network. The trade item genealogy builder stores and retrieves all the data from a database shown as traceability data pool. The database can be relational, hierarchal or network database. The relational database can be maintained as a multi-dimensional data structure or any other data structure such as trees, graphs, stacks, queues etc. The data pool may include master data and transaction data. The master data may include Party information (GLN, Name, address, email, phone no, VIN No (for logistics provider), Product information (GTIN, Name, description, quantity, price), Account information( User id, password, role). The

Transaction data may include Purchase order information(Buyer, seller id, Item Id, Quantity), Sale order information (Buyer, seller id, Item Id, Quantity, price), Bill of lading information (Transporter Id, Item Id, Lot Id), Advance shipment Notification information and Shipment information as mentioned above, Quality certificates, Recall information (Recalled product Id(GTIN), Lot Id, Recalled user, Recall reason).
The traceability system also comprises a graphical user interface that can generate traceability reports based on the data retrieved during backward and forward iteration in the supply chain. The graphical user interface may comprise a display, a keyboard, a pointing device, a processor or a combination of these items. The user interface can be workstation, laptop, palm top, tablet pc or a mobile device. The traceability reports may provide drill down information from lot to pallet to case to item level and may include Lot Id, Unique Product Id (Example :GTIN), Product Name, Supplier Id, Customer(Receiver) Id, Logistics provider Id, Package type, PO,SO,ASN,BOL receipt Id, Quantity. The data from the traceability reports can be exported to excel for offline viewing.
Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 200 for generating genealogy information of a product according to the present invention
At 202, the supplier lot information is received during shipment in a supply chain. Along with the supplier lot information, parent lot information is also supplied by the supplier. The parent lot information includes lot Id, lot index and other quality parameters associated with the product. The quality parameters may include temperature, pH value, % glucose, % Moisture, % Protein, % Fat, % about various chemicals/pesticides, Other customer defined quality attributes and Quality certificates such as COA (Certificate of analysis and Inspection) records.
At 204, the supplier lot Id is assigned as parent lot Id for the entity receiving the information.

At 206 to 212, it is determined if one or more parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot in the supply chain. It is determined by searching the database in the traceability system and looping through each parent lot and the corresponding Ids in the database.
At 214 to 220, if multiple parent lot Ids exists for the supplied lot they are stored in the database in a multidimensional data structure format for efficient retrieval at later stage. In other words, it means that parent lot Ids are stored in a single row.
At 222, if it is determined that only one parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot then it is stored against the receiving lot.
At 224 to 228, if no parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot, the parent lot Id is assigned as NULL and the information is stored in traceability data pool.
The above stated method results in the creation of genealogy information of a product in the supply chain. The storage of parent lot genealogy information in a multidimensional data structure enables to trace back the multiple sources for a particular lot vide a single iteration. Therefore, the user can quickly retrieve the information from fourth level (distributor) to a first level (farm) directly without iterating through each level.
Fig.3 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 300 for retrieving parent lot genealogy information in the forward and backward direction according to the present invention. This is further illustrated by referring to Figs. 5a to 5c that depicts a traceability process performed to retrieve parent lot genealogy information.
At 302, the parent lot collection is retrieved from the database for the lot Id entered into the graphical user interface of the traceability system. The processor of the graphical user interface includes a search module for executing the search and retrieving the desired information. This can be clearly illustrated by referring to Fig. 5a in which the user enters lot index as 3061 which is an index of the product (potato chips). On receiving the input,

the search module retrieves the parent lot index collection from the database using search criteria. The parent lot indexes retrieved are 3058, 3063 and 3060.
At 304, for each of the parent lot collection or index, multiple parent lot Ids are retrieved from the multidimensional data structure for the lot Id 3061 as depicted in Fig. 5b.
At 306, for each of the parent lot Ids retrieved the transformation details, product details and various other quality parameters are retrieved from the traceability data pool.
Fig.4 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 400 for retrieving the genealogy relation of child lot information according to the present invention
This is further illustrated by referring to Figs. 6a to 6c that depicts a traceability process performed to retrieve parent lot genealogy information.
At 402, parent lot Ids are searched depending upon the user input entered in the graphical user interface. The parent lot Ids can be specified by the user for which he wants to identify child lot Id. The processor of the graphical user interface includes a search module for executing the search and retrieving the desired information. This can be clearly illustrated by referring to Fig. 6a in which the user searches for parent lot Ids 3056, 3057, 3058, 3059, 3060 and 3063 which is the genealogy information of the product (potato chips).
At 404, after receiving the input the search module retrieves the child lot Ids from the database using search criteria. The child lot Id retrieved is 3062 as depicted in Fig. 6b.

At 406, using the child lot Id, information such as transformation details, product details and various other quality parameters are retrieved from the traceability data pool.
The embodiments described above and illustrated in the figures are presented by way of example only and are not intended as a limitation upon the concepts and principles of the present invention. Elements and components described herein may be further divided into additional components or joined together to form fewer components for performing the same functions. As such, it will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art that various changes in the elements and their configuration and arrangement are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We Claim:
1. A method for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a
supply chain comprising the steps of:
■ receiving supplier lot information along with parent lot information during shipment at each level in the supply chain;
■ assigning supplier lot Id as parent lot Id;
■ determining if one or more parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot;
■ associating one or more parent lot Ids with the received lots ;
■ creating a data store for saving the parent lot Ids along with transformation details in a data structure; and
■ retrieving the parent lot Id and/or transformation detail directly without iterating through each level.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein parent lot Id and/or transformation detail can be retrieved from forward direction, backward direction or bidirectional in the supply chain.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the data structure is a multidimensional data structure.
4. The method as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein the step of retrieving comprises of:

• providing unique product Id for which the genealogy information has to be retrieved;
• retrieving the lot Id from the unique product Id; and
• obtaining the parent lot genealogy information from the lot Id.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising the step of obtaining the genealogy relation of child lot information.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein obtaining the parent lot genealogy information comprises the steps of:
o obtaining parent lot collection for the lot Id;
o retrieving all the parent lot Ids for the parent lot collection from multidimensional data store for the lot Id; and

o retrieving the transformation details, product supplier, quality details associated with the parent lot Ids.
7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein obtaining the genealogy relation of the
child lot information comprises the steps of:
o search forward the parent lot Ids saved in multi dimensional data store to
identify the child lots; o obtaining the index of all the child lots of the parent lot Ids; and o obtaining the transformation details, product supplier, quality record
information using the child lot index.
8. The method as claimed in claims 6 or 7, wherein the retrieval of parent lot genealogy information or child lot genealogy information can be performed in one iteration.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said method is enabled based on data and independent of applications or platform.
10. A system for generating and retrieving genealogy information of a product in a supply chain comprising of:

■ means for receiving supplier lot information along with parent lot information during shipment at each level in the supply chain;
■ means for assigning supplier lot Id as parent lot Id;
" means for determining if one or more parent lot Id exists for the supplied lot;
■ means for associating one or more parent lot Ids with the received lots ;
■ means for creating a data store for saving the parent lot Ids along with transformation details in a data structure; and
■ means for retrieving the parent lot Id and/or transformation detail directly without iterating through each level.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein parent lot Id and/or transformation detail can be retrieved from forward direction, backward direction or bidirectional in the supply chain.
12. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the data structure is a multidimensional data structure.

13. The system as claimed in claims 10 or 11, wherein retrieving comprises of:
• means for providing unique product Id for which the genealogy
information has to be retrieved;
• means for retrieving the lot Id from the unique product Id; and
• means for obtaining the parent lot genealogy information from the lot Id.
14. The system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising the means for obtaining the
genealogy relation of child lot information.
15. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein obtaining the parent lot genealogy
information comprises of:
o means for obtaining parent lot collection for the lot Id;
o means for retrieving all the parent lot Ids for the parent lot collection from
multidimensional data store for the lot Id; and o means for retrieving the transformation details, product supplier, quality
details associated with the parent lot Ids.
16. The system as claimed in claim 14, wherein obtaining the genealogy relation of
the child lot information comprises of:
o means for searching forward the parent lot Ids saved in multi dimensional
data store to identify the child lot; o means for obtaining the index of all the child lots of the parent lot Ids; and o means for obtaining the transformation details, product supplier, quality
record information using the child lot index.
17. The system as claimed in claims 15 or 16, wherein the retrieval of parent lot genealogy information or child lot genealogy information can be performed in one iteration.
18. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said system is adapted based on data and independent of applications or platform.
19. A computer program product for generating and retrieving genealogy information
of a product in a supply chain comprising one or more computer readable media
configured to perform said method.