The Standard
How UTID works
A UTID’s key is a fixed-width, 7-digit numeric code that identifies a rapid diagnostic test kit — the specific combination of a manufacturer and a test type. It is short enough to print on a cassette label and simple enough for any reader, laboratory system, or catalog to parse without special tooling.
The 7-digit key names the kit, not the individual unit — so it is intentionally the same on every piece of that kit. To make each physical unit unique (across days and sites), a label extends the key with an optional, recommended manufacturing date and serial: V-MMM-TTT-YYMMDD-XXXX. Only the first 7 digits are required and read to identify the kit; the rest is traceability — see Labeling & encoding.
Version
1 digit — system generation of the key format itself.
Manufacturer
3 digits (000–999) — the registered manufacturer code.
Test Type
3 digits (000–999) — the registered test-type code.
Worked example
The code 1-014-071 decomposes as:
- V = 1 — current-generation key format.
- MMM = 014 — manufacturer code 014 (“Acme Diagnostics” in the sample catalog).
- TTT = 071 — test-type code 071 (“C-Reactive Protein”).
Together, 1-014-071 unambiguously identifies “Acme Diagnostics' C-Reactive Protein kit” — independent of catalog number, packaging, or lot.
Why a catalog identity, not a measurement
A UTID identifies what kit this is — manufacturer and test type. It carries no measurement, calibration, or detection information: no regions of interest, thresholds, reference curves, or algorithms. Those live in a separate, private detection profile that a reader manufacturer can request access to once a kit is cataloged here.
This separation lets the identity of a kit be published openly — so any system can agree on what “1-014-071” means — while the proprietary work of calibrating a specific reader against that kit stays independently licensed.
A note on the manufacturer code space
The manufacturer segment (MMM) is a 3-digit code, giving room for up to 1,000 registered manufacturers (000–999). Codes in the 100–999 range are the current-generation manufacturer format understood by current-generation readers. Earlier, narrower manufacturer numbering schemes predate this catalog and are mapped forward by the registry rather than reused, so a given 3-digit code always refers to the same manufacturer.