Customizing objects and materials with digital identifiers

A method of tracking a finished mined object, comprising the steps of:

• processing a rough mined object into one or more finished mined objects;
• for each of the finished mined objects,
• storing data relating to a history of the rough mined object from which the finished mined object was cut to a data store;
• encoding the history data in the data store into a unique digital identifier, and
• marking the finished mined object with the unique digital identifier.

A method of associating owner-specific information with a finished gemstone cut from a rough gemstone, comprising the steps of:

• processing the rough gemstone into one or more finished gemstones;
• for each of the finished gemstones,
• storing owner-specific data to a data store;
• encoding the owner-specific data in the data store into a unique digital identifier;
• and marking the finished gemstone with the encoded unique digital identifier.

A method of identifying an object extracted by mining, comprising the steps of:

• encoding source and transaction data relating to the mined object data into a data matrix with a data matrix encoder, wherein the data matrix encoder
• converts a set of data related to the mined object into a digital file, and
• converts the digital file into data represented by the data matrix;
• applying the data matrix to the mined object;
• and
• decoding the data matrix with a data matrix reader, wherein the data matrix reader
• converts the data matrix data into a digital file, and
• converts the digital file into the data relating to the mined object.

A system for reading data encoded in a mined object, comprising:

• a database network configured to store data relating to the mined object;
• an encoder configured to represent the mined object data stored in the database network as a matrix;
• a marking device configured to apply the matrix generated by the encoded to the mined object;
• and
• a decoder configured to read the matrix which references the mined object data in the database network.