Method of linking a food source with a food product

A method of linking a source unit of food with one or more product items derived from the source unit, where a conversion process produces a plurality of product items from a plurality of source units, the method comprising:

• creating a conversion algorithm that estimates within a desired confidence level a range of the amount of time required by the conversion process to process a source unit of food into one or more product items;
• recording the time of entry into the conversion process for each source unit within a desired time period;
• recording the time of exit from the conversion process for each product item within the desired time period;
• selecting a source unit to be linked, wherein the source unit has a given time of entry into the conversion process;
• estimating a range of an amount of conversion time required to process the selected source unit by applying the conversion algorithm;
• adding the estimated range amount of conversion time for processing the selected source unit to the time of entry for the selected source unit to generate an estimated time range of exit;
• and
• identifying each product item having a time of exit within the estimated time range of exit.

A method of linking a product item to a plurality of product items, where a conversion process produces a plurality of product items from a plurality of source units, the method comprising:

• creating a conversion algorithm that estimates within a desired confidence level a range of the amount of time required by the conversion process to produce a product item from one or more of the source units of food;
• recording the time of entry into the conversion process for each source unit within a desired time period;
• recording the time of exit from the conversion process for each product item within the desired time period;
• selecting a target product item, wherein the target product item has a given time of exit from the conversion process;
• estimating a range of an amount of conversion time required to produce the target product item by applying the conversion algorithm using a first desired confidence level;
• subtracting the estimated range amount of conversion time for the target product item from the time of exit for the target product item to generate an estimated time range of entry;
• identifying each source unit having a time of entry within the estimated time range of entry;
• applying the conversion algorithm using a second desired confidence level to estimate for each identified source unit a range of an amount of process conversion time;
• adding the estimated amount of process conversion time for each identified source unit to the time of entry for each identified source unit to generate one or more estimated time ranges of exit;
• and
• identifying each product item having a time of exit within the one or more estimated time ranges of exit.

A method of linking a source unit of food with a product item that includes at least a portion of the source unit of food, where a conversion process produces a plurality of product items from a plurality of source units, the method comprising:

• creating a conversion algorithm that estimates a most likely amount of time required by the conversion process to produce a product item from at least one source unit of food;
• recording the time of entry into the conversion process for each source unit within a desired time period;
• recording the time of exit from the conversion process for each product item within the desired time period;
• selecting a product item to be linked, wherein the selected product item has a given time of exit from the conversion process;
• estimating a most likely amount of conversion time required to produce the selected product item by applying the conversion algorithm;
• subtracting the estimated most likely amount of conversion time from the time of exit for the selected product item to generate an estimated time of entry;
• and
• identifying the source unit having a time of entry closest to the estimated time of entry.

A method of linking a source unit of food with one or more product items derived from the source unit, where a conversion process produces a plurality of product items from a plurality of source units, the method comprising:

• creating a conversion algorithm that estimates a most likely amount of time required by the conversion process to process a source unit of food into at least one product item;
• recording the time of entry into the conversion process for each source unit within a desired time period;
• recording the time of exit from the conversion process for each product item within the desired time period;
• selecting a source unit to be linked, wherein the source unit has a given time of entry into the conversion process;
• estimating a most likely amount of conversion time required to process the selected source unit by applying the conversion algorithm;
• adding the estimated most likely amount of conversion time to the time of entry for the selected source unit to generate an estimated time of exit;
• and
• identifying each product item having a time of exit corresponding to the estimated time of exit.