Purpose of Registry.  The registry provides the means for the orderly issue of unique numbers to client-systems.

Method of Operation.  The design, construction and operation of the registry is novel patents have been applied for.  The number has a range of 0 to 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 .  Unlike other systems of allocation, such as GS1, the dPId system does not segment the number range into groups or categories.  Doing so invariably results in largescale wastage of numbers in the range.  Instead, the dPId number is simply used to access a record within a computer system and that record then provides access to any amount of information on the entity being identified.

Allocation of Numbers.  Users of the dPId registry may have as many different systems as they wish.  These individual systems are referred to as being "client-systems".  The number allocation for a client-system begins from the middle of the largest available remaining space in the registry.  If a client-system requires more numbers at a later date, these are provided from the point where the last number allocated to that client-system was made.  In this manner:

• All numbers allocated to a client-system are serial sequential as shown in Figure 1 above.
  
• The first number of the first allocation to a client-system is the number by which that particular client-system is henceforth identified.
• Administration of the allocation of numbers from the registry for all client-systems is greatly simplified because one only needs to record, for any client system, the first and the last number allocated to any particular client-system.

Universality. This system of unique item identification can co-exist with any other system of generic or individual identification, such as GS1, manufacturer's parts numbers, transport tracking numbers or wholesale product numbers.  It points to a computer record and from this record any amount of information about that entity may be obtained.
Efficiency.  Unlike other systems of unique item identification, such as GS1, this system has been found, in the field during trials, to require around 60% less labour than, say GS1, to label or tag items for the purposes of identification.  This is because the tag or label does not have to be matched up to a specific item.  Instead, the item is tagged or labelled with any number and then, using a hand-held reader, the number is associated with the entity when its displayed on a list within the database.