Technology & Patent Portfolio

The architecture behind execution control.

Eleven USPTO provisional patents pending, covering the full workflow-gated execution stack from production order through FSMA 204 traceability. The foundational nine filings (January–April 2026) cover mechanisms validated in two-plus years of production use across ten Anu Sushi sites; the two most recent filings (May 2026) extend the estate into the next-generation shift and order-scoping layer currently in development.

The Protected Mechanisms → Talk to the Team
11
USPTO Provisionals
2+ yrs
Production Validated
1M+
Execution Events / Year
2027
Utility Conversion Window
Standard Framing

Eleven USPTO provisional patents pending, covering the full workflow-gated execution stack from production order through FSMA 204 traceability. The foundational nine filings (January–April 2026) cover mechanisms validated in two-plus years of production use across ten Anu Sushi sites; the two most recent filings (May 2026) extend the estate into the next-generation shift and order-scoping layer currently in development.

The Three Protected Mechanisms

What the patent portfolio
actually covers.

Shrink Manager's architecture is built on three protected mechanisms. Each one is a specific operational pattern, not a generic feature claim. Each is validated by the way the foundational platform runs in production today.

01 / GATING
Workflow-gated task completion
Each step in a compliance sequence must be verifiably executed before the next can begin. Operators cannot skip ahead, backfill out of order, or close a record that depends on uncompleted prior work. The sequence is enforced by the system, not by training.
Floor-level enforcement
02 / TEMPORAL
Temporal authenticity enforcement
Timestamps cannot be retroactively backfilled. Records reflect what actually happened when. Edits leave audit trails, identities are logged, and system-generated timestamps cannot be substituted with operator-entered ones. The record of work and the work itself share the same provenance.
Audit-defensible by design
03 / DUAL-SOURCE
Dual-source corroborative verification
Human attestation is corroborated by independent machine-generated evidence. A receiving log entry is matched against the device, time, and location it was created on. A cooling cycle attestation is matched against the temperature data stream that ran underneath it. Two sources must agree.
Independent corroboration
The Patent Estate

Eleven provisionals.
Filed across three waves.

The patent portfolio was assembled deliberately. The first wave established the foundational execution-control claims. The second wave extended coverage across adjacent workflows and operational patterns. The third wave anchors execution control to the highest-frequency operational events on the production floor.

Wave 1 · Foundational execution-control claims
4 provisionals · Q1 2026
The foundational filings establish the workflow-gated execution pattern itself: the requirement that compliance-relevant steps execute in a verifiable sequence, that records be generated as a byproduct of the work, and that the architecture coexists with ERP rather than replacing it.
  • Workflow-gated task completion across compliance sequences
  • Compliance artifacts as byproducts of operational work
  • Temporal authenticity for floor-level execution records
  • Dual-source verification of attestation and machine evidence
Wave 2 · Expansion across adjacent workflows
5 provisionals · Apr 2026
The expansion filings extend the foundational claims into the specific workflow surfaces where regulated production actually breaks down: lot transformation, label generation, multi-site operations, and the interface between operator attestation and downstream traceability.
  • Real-time lot linkage across transformation events
  • Production-driven label generation with embedded traceability
  • Multi-site execution coordination and reconciliation
  • Operator authentication tied to workflow-step authority
  • Compliance-record portability across regulatory frameworks
Wave 3 · Production-anchored execution claims
2 provisionals · May 2026
The third wave anchors execution control to the highest-frequency operational events on a regulated production floor: the shift boundary and the customer order itself. These filings cover the algorithmic intersection between scheduling, authority, and workflow scoping — the operational layer adjacent systems cannot reach.
  • Production Shift Anchor — execution authority bound to shift state
  • Order-Driven Workflow Scoping — workflow definition derived from order intersection

The complete filing record is published below.

The Filings

A verifiable record.

Every application below is searchable in USPTO Patent Center. Filing numbers are public; the underlying provisional specifications are not. Diligence-stage partners receive the full specifications under NDA.

Wave 1 · Foundational
Q1 2026 · 4 filings
Workflow-Gated Traceability
63/967,312
Jan 2026
Label Generation
63/967,322
Jan 2026
Temporal Authenticity
63/969,654
Feb 2026
Dual-Source Verification
63/988,663
Feb 2026
Wave 2 · Expansion
Apr 2026 · 5 filings
Compliance Artifacts
64/043,178
Apr 2026
Recipe Compilation
64/043,192
Apr 2026
Yield Variance
64/043,197
Apr 2026
KDE Interoperability
64/043,200
Apr 2026
Franchise Standards
64/043,202
Apr 2026
Wave 3 · Forward-Looking
May 2026 · 2 filings · In development
Production Shift Anchor
64/075,646
May 2026
Order-Driven Workflow Scoping
64/075,661
May 2026
Inventors Tim Schierbeek, Daniel Bradish, Bradley Oostindie · Assignee Shrink Software LLC · Status Provisional applications under 35 USC 111(b); utility conversion planned for the 2027 statutory window. Validation scope: Wave 1 and Wave 2 (the first nine filings) cover mechanisms running in production across ten Anu Sushi sites for two-plus years. Wave 3 (Patents 10 and 11, filed May 2026) extends the patent estate into next-generation shift and order-scoping capabilities currently in development. Application numbers are public record at USPTO Patent Center.
Why The Architecture Matters

Not features. Mechanisms.

Most software in the FSMA 204 market competes on feature lists. Shrink Manager's portfolio is structured differently. Each filing covers a specific operational mechanism — a way the production floor actually has to behave — and the claims attach to those mechanisms, not to generic capabilities.

The practical implication is that the architecture is hard to design around. A competitor who wants to produce workflow-gated, temporally authentic, dual-source-verified execution records has to navigate around mechanism claims rather than feature claims. The defensibility is structural.

A
Operationally validated
Nine of the eleven filings attach to workflow patterns that have been running in production for over two years across ten institutional food sites. The two most recent filings (May 2026) extend the estate into next-generation shift and order-scoping capabilities currently in development.
B
Vertically extensible
The same mechanisms apply to pharmaceutical compounding, regulated packaging, medical device production, and international trade compliance. The portfolio was filed accordingly.
C
Buyer-visible value
The mechanisms produce records that pass institutional buyer audits. Compliance is not the framing — it is the byproduct of how the work is structured.
D
Acquirer-relevant
For a strategic acquirer, mechanism claims are durable assets. They survive product roadmap changes and continue to apply across the verticals the architecture extends into.
Architectural Validation

Two years in production.
Ten sites. Over a million events.

Shrink Manager has been running in live production for more than two years at Anu Sushi LLC across 10 institutional food production sites, processing more than one million verified execution events per year. Compliance output reaches 200+ institutional accounts through partner distribution channels including Aramark, Sodexo, and Compass Group. The foundational architecture protected by the first nine filings already works at scale; the May 2026 filings extend that proven pattern forward.

10
Production Sites
1M+
Verified Events / Yr
200+
Institutional Accounts
15%
Avg Shrink Reduction
Portfolio Roadmap

From provisional
to utility.

The provisional filings establish priority dates and protect the operational mechanisms. The 2027 statutory window is when those filings convert into utility applications.

Filed · 2026
Provisional applications
Eleven USPTO provisional patents filed across three waves between January and May 2026. Each filing covers a specific operational mechanism, with claims grounded in production use.
In Progress · 2026–2027
Production hardening
Continued operational validation of each mechanism inside live production environments. Refinement of claims language ahead of utility conversion. International filing strategy under review.
Planned · 2027
Utility conversion
Conversion of provisional filings into utility applications during the 2027 statutory window. PCT filing for international protection in markets aligned with channel partner expansion.
Where The Architecture Goes
Two doors into the rest of the platform.

An execution-control architecture
built for the long horizon.

If you're evaluating Shrink Manager — as an operator, a channel partner, an acquirer, or an investor — the technology and patent portfolio is the part of the story most worth understanding directly.

Investor inquiries: hello@shrinksoftware.com · Channel partner inquiries welcome

Patent status reflects USPTO provisional application filings as of May 2026. Provisional applications establish a priority date and do not by themselves grant patent rights; utility conversion is planned for the 2027 statutory window. "Patent pending" is used here in accordance with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office conventions. All third-party trademarks referenced elsewhere on this site are the property of their respective owners.