Tire Passport

Abstract

An apparatus for generating a tire passport is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes and one or more computer-readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to perform the following steps: - receiving a request to provide tire data and a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner; - in response to the request, providing the decentralized identifier and generating a tire passport including data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service under the control of or controlled by a data provision service associated with the data owner; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for generating a tire passport, a computer-implemented method for generating a tire passport, a method for using the tire passport, and computer program elements. [Background technology]

[0002] Technology background Vehicle tires contain a very complex mixture of materials because they are designed to withstand many strains during use. Due to the strains during use, vehicle tires may only be usable for a limited time. As a result, tires are periodically discarded, leading to the accumulation of a considerable amount of tire waste. Because tires are made of different materials that must be separated, the recycling rate of tires remains low.

[0003] Different methods can be applied to reuse waste tires, such as regrooving, retreading, or recycling. Recycling allows rubber and fillers to be recovered. Such recycled materials can be used to produce new tires or other products. In this way, tire materials can be used multiple times, achieving circularity of the material flow. To improve the handling of used tires, including their reuse and recycling, standardized information about used tires that are reused or recycled is needed. Such data can be provided, for example, through the International Materials Data System (IMDS), which is used in the automotive supply chain. Such a system allows data to be collected along the entire automotive supply chain. Participants in the automotive supply chain register with the IMDS service and maintain product entries in a centralized database provided and hosted by a third-party provider.

[0004] Systems like IMDS are static in terms of data, prone to errors, and cumbersome to handle or maintain. Due to the highly specific and centralized setup of such systems, exchanging and sharing tire data is a labor-intensive task. Therefore, there is a need to simplify the exchange and sharing of tire data to increase reuse and recycling rates of used tires. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] Summary of the Invention In one aspect, an apparatus for generating a tire passport associated with a tire is disclosed, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: - receiving a request to provide a decentralized identifier associated with a data owner and tire data associated with the tire; - generating, in response to the request, a tire passport including the decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service under the control of or controlled by a data provision service associated with the data owner; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

[0006] In one aspect, an apparatus for generating a tire passport associated with a tire is disclosed, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: - receiving a request to provide a decentralized identifier associated with a data owner and at least a portion of tire data associated with the tire; - generating, in response to the request, a tire passport including the decentralized identifier and data related to at least a portion of the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service under the control of or controlled by a data provision service associated with the data owner; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

[0007] In one aspect, an apparatus for generating a tire passport associated with a tire is disclosed, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: - providing a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner and tire data associated with the tire; - generating a tire passport comprising a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

[0008] In one aspect, an apparatus is disclosed for generating a tire passport associated with a tire, the tire passport including, among other things, a decentralized identifier associated with tire data and data related to the tire data associated with the tire, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: - receiving a request to provide tire data associated with a decentralized identifier tire associated with a data owner; - in response to the request, providing the decentralized identifier and generating a tire passport including data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service controlled by or under the control of a data providing service associated with the data owner, in particular the data providing service including computer executable instructions for providing and / or processing tire data associated with the data owner, for example for access and / or processing by the data consumption service; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

[0009] In one aspect, an apparatus is disclosed for generating a tire passport associated with a tire, the tire passport including, among other things, a decentralized identifier associated with tire data and data related to the tire data associated with the tire, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: - providing a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner and tire data associated with the tire; - generating a tire including a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service controlled by or under the control of a data providing service associated with the data owner, in particular the data providing service including computer executable instructions for providing and / or processing tire data associated with the data owner, for example for access and / or processing by the data consumption service; and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the system to perform the steps of the method.

[0010] In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for generating a tire passport associated with a tire is disclosed, the method comprising: - receiving a request to provide a decentralized identifier associated with a data owner and tire data associated with the tire; - generating, in response to the request, a tire including a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner; Includes:

[0011] In another aspect, a computer-implemented method for generating a tire passport associated with a tire is disclosed, the method comprising: - providing a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner and tire data associated with the tire; - generating a tire passport comprising a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data; - providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner; Includes:

[0012] In yet another aspect, a computer-implemented method for using a tire passport, preferably for determining tire characteristics and / or treatments associated with the tire passport, is disclosed, the method comprising: - receiving a request to access tire data associated with a decentralized identifier of a tire passport generated according to the method disclosed herein or by the apparatus disclosed herein; - optionally authenticating and / or authorising requests to access tire data; - optionally based on authentication and / or authorization, providing access to tire data associated with the decentralized identifier of the tire passport; Includes:

[0013] In yet another aspect, a computer-implemented method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for reuse and / or recycling of the tire or a component thereof is disclosed, the method comprising: - collecting tire data of the tire or a component thereof in connection with the production of the tire or a component thereof, in particular tire data relating to characteristics important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or a component thereof, wherein the collected tire data includes data associated with one or more production inputs used in the production of the tire or a component thereof; - optionally collecting tire data regarding the use of the tire, in particular tire data related to characteristics important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or its components; - providing one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or a component thereof and one or more decentralized identifiers associated with one or more production inputs; - generating at least one dataset comprising at least a portion of the collected tire data and, optionally, a relational dataset specifying relationships between the provided decentralized identifiers; - generating one or more access elements comprising one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or its components and access data related to at least one of the generated data sets, and optionally one or more relational access elements comprising one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or its components and access data related to the generated relational data sets; - providing one or more access elements to the decentralized network for access to the dataset by one or more data consuming network nodes of the decentralized network under control of the data providing network node; Includes:

[0014] In yet another aspect, an apparatus for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire important to the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or a component thereof is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: a data collection interface, o collecting tire data of tires or components thereof in connection with the production of tires or components thereof, in particular tire data related to characteristics that are important for the reuse and / or recycling of tires or components thereof, and the collected tire data includes data associated with one or more production inputs used in the production of tires or components thereof; Optionally, collect tire data regarding the use of tires, in particular tire data related to characteristics important for the reuse and / or recycling of tires or their components. a data collection interface configured to - a decentralized identifier providing interface configured to provide one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or a component thereof and one or more decentralized identifiers associated with one or more production inputs; - a dataset generator configured to generate at least one dataset comprising at least a portion of the collected tire data and, optionally, a relational dataset specifying relationships between the provided decentralized identifiers; - an access element generator configured to generate one or more access elements comprising one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or its components and access data related to at least one of the generated datasets, and optionally one or more relational access elements comprising one or more decentralized identifiers associated with the tire or its components and access data related to the generated relational datasets; - a decentralized network interface configured to provide one or more access elements to the decentralized network for access to the dataset by one or more data consuming network nodes of the decentralized network under the control of the data providing network node; Equipped with.

[0015] In yet another aspect, a computer-implemented method for accessing at least one characteristic of a tire that is important to tire reuse and / or recycling is disclosed, the method comprising: - providing a decentralized identifier associated with the tire or component thereof to be recycled or reused; - collecting access data related to decentralized identifiers associated with tires or components thereof based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided according to the method or by the device disclosed herein, in particular collecting access data recursively for each production stage of the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, the recursive collection being based on one or more relational data sets provided by one or more participants in the tire production chain; - requesting access to tire data from one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or tire use chain based on the collected access data, in particular requesting recursively access to tire data from one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, in particular for each participant, based on the collected access data; Includes:

[0016] In yet another aspect, an apparatus for accessing at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for tire reuse and / or recycling is disclosed, the apparatus comprising: - an identifier providing interface configured to provide a decentralized identifier associated with a tire or component thereof to be recycled or reused; - an access data retriever configured to collect access data related to decentralized identifiers associated with tires or components thereof based on one or more access elements generated and / or provided according to the method or by the device disclosed herein, in particular to recursively collect access data for each production stage of the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, the recursive collection being based on one or more relational data sets provided by one or more participants in the tire production chain; - an access requester configured to request access to tire data from one or more participants of the tire production chain and / or tire use chain based on the collected access data, in particular to recursively request access to tire data from one or more participants of the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, in particular for each participant, based on the collected access data; Equipped with.

[0017] Use of a tire passport generated for a tire according to the method or by the apparatus described herein to determine the characteristics and / or treatments of the tire associated with the tire passport.

[0018] In yet another aspect, a tire associated with a tire passport is disclosed, wherein a tire passport including data related to a decentralized identifier and tire data is generated for the tire by the method or apparatus described herein.

[0019] In yet another aspect, a system is disclosed that includes a tire associated with a tire passport, wherein the tire passport includes data related to a decentralized identifier and tire data, and is generated in association with the tire according to a method or by an apparatus described herein.

[0020] In yet another aspect, a tire passport is disclosed that includes data related to a decentralized identifier and tire data, the tire passport being generated for a tire according to the methods described herein or by the apparatus described herein.

[0021] In yet another aspect, a computer element, particularly a computer program product or computer readable medium, is disclosed having instructions configured, when executed on one or more computing nodes, to perform any of the steps of the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatus disclosed herein.

[0022] Any disclosures and embodiments described herein relate to methods, devices, systems, tires, tire passports, uses, and computer elements described above or below, and vice versa. Benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples apply equally to all other embodiments and examples.

[0023] Embodiment The methods, devices, systems, tires, tire passports, uses, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient, secure, and robust manner for sharing or exchanging tire data between different participant nodes in the tire value chain, thereby enabling increased reuse and / or recycling rates of used tires, for example, by using tire data and / or data related to the production of tires or their components and / or data related to the use of tires or their components to determine appropriate disposition of used tires. The appropriate disposition may be determined based on access. In particular, by a) attaching a decentralized identifier to the data owner and associated tire data, and b) providing access by data consumption services controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner, tire data may be securely exchanged and shared under the sovereignty of the data owner. Thus, the data owner may control access to the tire data by participant nodes or data consumption services in the decentralized network. This enables simplified and customizable data sharing or exchange across the tire ecosystem, including tire manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, tire distributors, tire plants, vehicle owners, fleet operators, vehicle lessors, tire collectors, tire retreaders, and tire recyclers. In this manner, reliable and efficient handling of tires and end-of-life tires by upstream participants in the tire ecosystem can be achieved, with tire data remaining the property of the respective data owners. Directly combining tire-related data with a decentralized identifier and, optionally, one or more authentication mechanisms can provide more reliable and secure data sharing and exchange. Further including one or more authorization mechanisms can enable more flexible data sharing or exchange, with multiple data consuming services from different participants in the tire ecosystem accessing tire data.Additionally, by making data related to the production of tires or their components and / or data related to the use of tires, e.g., characteristic data, accessible across tire ecosystem participants, more efficient and reliable monitoring of characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse can be ensured through access to such data in a controlled and targeted manner. The monitoring concept enables reliable monitoring of characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse of tires.

[0024] In particular, collecting characteristic data during the production stage of a tire or its components and / or collecting characteristic data during tire use and providing access to such data via access elements over a decentralized network allows for the sharing of such characteristic data among participants in a tire chain or loop. Furthermore, by identifying, in particular, the relationships between production inputs and outputs for each production step in the tire production chain and using decentrally stored relational data sets for each participant in the tire chain or loop, a bill of materials can be recursively reconstructed for only those portions of the characteristic data relevant to the reuse or recycling process. Furthermore, by making relevant data available only to selected participants, such as recyclers and / or reusers, tire producers and further participants in the tire production chain are provided with the necessary control over sensitive tire information. Furthermore, providing data related to characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse, in particular, allows for more targeted monitoring of such characteristics, thereby determining appropriate reuse and / or recycling processes and increasing reuse and / or recycling of used tires.

[0025] By providing a decentralized identifier and a relational access element associated with access data for each stage of the production chain, the depth of the characteristics or characteristic data available via the decentralized network can be increased without disclosing the entire bill of materials. Through the relational access element, controlled and targeted access to inputs and outputs is possible depending on the participants in the production and / or recycling and / or reuse chains. In this way, reuse and / or recycling processes consistent with the characteristic data accessed via the decentralized network can be determined. This also ensures higher quality tires resulting from retreading and / or recycling operations. Higher quality recyclates can be supplied to chemical production chains, avoiding adverse effects on production facilities during chemical production due to critical substances present in the recyclates.

[0026] Several embodiments of the present disclosure are described below as examples, and it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments and / or examples.

[0027] In one embodiment, the decentralized identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and / or the tire data. The decentralized identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the tire or its component manufacturer and the tire or its component. The decentralized identifier may include one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) and / or digital identifiers (DIDs). The decentralized identifier may be associated with a digital twin of the tire, the digital twin including the tire data. The decentralized identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the tire or its component. Any combination of UUIDs and DIDs may be possible. The decentralized identifier may be issued by a centralized or decentralized identity issuer. The decentralized identifier may be generated by or on behalf of the data owner. The decentralized identifier may be generated by or on behalf of the tire or its component manufacturer. A decentralized identifier may include one or more identifiers used in a decentralized network to enable data exchange over the decentralized network. Data exchange may include discovery of decentralized identifiers of participant nodes of the decentralized network, authentication of participant nodes of the decentralized network, and / or authorization of data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes of the decentralized network. A decentralized identifier may be associated with any participant in the tire ecosystem, including raw material suppliers, intermediate product manufacturers, tire manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers, tire distributors, tire plants, vehicle owners, vehicle fleets, vehicle lessors, tire recyclers, and tire recyclers. A decentralized identifier may be associated with a machine, system, or device, or a collection of such machines, devices, and / or systems, used for tire production and tire recycling. An identifier element may be associated with or linked to a tire or a component thereof. An identifier element may be associated with or linked to a tire or a component thereof, at least with respect to the production of the tire or component thereof.Through the identifier element, the digital twin of the tire or its component may be accessible through a decentralized network. The identifier element may be uniquely associated with the tire or its component. The identifier element may be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier associated with the tire or its component. The decentralized identifier may be uniquely associated with the tire or its component. In this way, tire data or characteristic data may be provided per tire / component or for individual tires / components. The decentralized identifier may be a digital identifier of the decentralized network or a digital identifier related to the decentralized network. The decentralized identifier may be a digital identifier provided to the decentralized network and participant nodes of the decentralized network. Thus, such a decentralized identifier may refer to the physical entity of the tire or its component in the decentralized network, and the participant nodes may be able to interpret the relationship between the decentralized identifier and the physical entity of the tire or its component. The decentralized identifier may include authentication information. Through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the tire data, access to the tire data can be controlled by the data owner. Through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the tire data, access to the characteristic data can be controlled by the data owner. This is in contrast to a centralized authority scheme, in which the identifier is provided by, and access to the data is controlled by, such a centralized authority. In this context, decentralized refers to the use of an identifier in an embodiment that is controlled by the data owner.

[0028] In one embodiment, the tire passport may further include a data owner's public key and / or a tire identifier associated with the tire. The tire identifier may include a batch number, a tire name, a tire ID, a part number, a lot number, or a combination thereof. The lot number may be assigned to the tire at the time of production or after production. The tire identifier may uniquely identify the physical entity of each tire, and thus all data associated with said identifier, such as tire data and a decentralized identifier, may be linked to the physical entity of the tire.

[0029] In one embodiment, the tire may be a vehicle tire. The vehicle may be a motor vehicle, such as a car, van, minivan, bus, SUV (sport utility vehicle); truck; large truck, semi-truck; tractor; motorcycle; trailer; ATV (all-terrain vehicle); pickup truck; heavy-duty mover, such as a bulldozer, mobile crane, and earth mover; airplane; and other transportation means typically equipped with one or more tires. The tire may be produced from chemical products. The chemical products may be chemical raw materials or intermediate chemical products. The chemical raw materials may include water glass and monomers used to produce rubber, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, styrene, and polyisobutene. The intermediate chemical products may include rubber, such as natural rubber and / or synthetic rubber, oil, steel, fillers (such as carbon black and silica), polymers, tackifiers, antioxidants, accelerators, and antiozonants. The tire may have a synthetic rubber inner liner. The tire may have a layer on an inner liner (also called a ply) that includes a thin fire wire or cable embedded in the rubber. The tire may have a layer on a ply (also called a casing ply) that includes a thin steel cable embedded in the rubber. The tire may have a layer on a casing ply (also called a cap ply) that includes a reinforced nylon-based cable embedded in a layer of rubber. The tire may have bead wires at the edges of the tire that include or consist of steel. The tire may have a rubber tread and a rubber sidewall. The rubber tread may have a profile. The tire may be produced through a production process that includes one or more production steps. The tire may be used throughout its life. The life of the tire may be extended through a recycling process. Recycling may include retreading or regrouting to extend the life of the tire. Regrouting may include cutting a second tread layer into a used tire when the first layer has worn away due to tire use. Retreading can involve applying new tread to a tire to extend the life of the tire.

[0030] In one embodiment, a component may be a chemical component or individual component of a tire.

[0031] In one embodiment, tire data may be associated with a tire. The tire data may include data related to tire characteristics and / or data related to tire use. Such characteristics may be static or dynamic characteristics. Static characteristics may be characteristics that remain constant over time, such as EU label information or time of production. Dynamic characteristics may be characteristics that change over time, such as kilometers mileage, tire age, or tire weight. Data related to tire characteristics may include EU label information, tire specifications (such as tire width, aspect ratio, construction, rim diameter, load index, rated speed, and usage conditions), weight of tires produced, raw materials used to produce the tires, tire production data, tire age, and / or approved uses. Data related to tire use may include kilometers traveled, an average lifespan determined from the distance the tire was actually used and the time the tire was used, the type of vehicle on which the tire was installed, the manufacturer of the vehicle on which the tire was installed, tire wear, the current weight of the tire, data related to the factory where the tire was installed, loss of microplastics into the environment, the tire's usage condition, the tire's intended use, repair data, reuse data, and / or weather conditions in which the tire was used. Intended use may include long-distance use, urban use, and transportation service use. Data related to tire use may be determined using data acquired during the tire's use. For example, loss of microplastics into the environment may be determined from the weight of a new tire and the current weight of a used tire. In another example, tire data may relate to or include characteristics of chemicals associated with the use of chemicals to produce the tire. The tire data may relate to a tire identifier associated with the tire, performance data associated with chemicals used to produce the tire, the use of chemicals to produce the tire, or a combination thereof. The tire data may include application characteristics of tires manufactured with or from chemicals. The tire data may be generated or collected before, during, or after the production of the tire. The tire data may be collected before, during, or after the life of the tire.The tire data may be generated by any participant in the tire ecosystem, such as a chemical supplier, a tire manufacturer, a vehicle manufacturer, a tire distributor, a user or owner or renter of a vehicle on which the tire is mounted, a tire warehouse, a retreading company, a collection center, a return point, and a recycling facility. The tire data may be associated with a produced tire. The tire data may be updated using data acquired during the tire's use on a vehicle. For example, a sensor may capture real-time (or near real-time) data from the physical tire, such as tire in-use data, which is used to update the tire data. The data acquired during the tire's use may be added to the tire data. The tire data may be associated with a produced vehicle. The tire data may be associated with a characteristic of a chemical product used to produce the tire or at least one characteristic related to the use of a chemical product used to produce the tire. The tire data may include chemical composition data, emissions data, recycle content, bio-based content, and / or production data. The tire data may be stored in a database of a data owner or a database associated with the data owner. The tire data may be stored in a database accessible by the data owner.

[0032] In one embodiment, data related to the production of a tire or its component may be collected by a tire or component manufacturer during the production of the tire or its component. Data related to the production of a tire or its component may be collected in connection with the production of the tire or its component. Data related to the production of a tire or its component may be collected before, during, during, or after the production of the tire or its component. Data related to the production of a tire or its component may be collected for each production stage of the tire or its component. A production stage may include any production step in the tire material chain. For example, a production stage may include the production of monomer or rubber. Further, for example, a production stage may include the production of steel. Further, for example, a production stage may include the production of nylon, reinforced nylon, and / or polyester used as a liner. Further, for example, a production stage may include the production of a monomer to produce rubber. Further, for example, a production may include the production of a tire or its component using rubber, steel, nylon, reinforced nylon, or polyester.

[0033] In one embodiment, the recycled content data and / or bio-based content data may include any data related to the recycled content or bio-based content used to provide or manufacture the tire physical entity. The recycled content may include content associated with materials, such as pyrolysis oil, obtained by chemically recycling waste materials, such as tires or their components, that are used to provide or manufacture the tire physical entity.

[0034] In one embodiment, the emission data may include any data related to an environmental footprint. The environmental footprint may refer to a tire and its associated environmental footprint. The environmental footprint may be tire-specific. For example, the environmental footprint may be related to the tire, the company that produces the tire, a process such as a tire manufacturing process, or raw materials or base materials or chemicals used to produce the tire. The emission data may include data related to the tire's carbon footprint or product carbon footprint (PCF). The emission data may include, for example, data related to greenhouse gas emissions released in the production of the tire. The emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, methane (CH4) emissions, nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) emissions, perfluorocarbon (PFC) emissions, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) emissions, combinations thereof, and additional emissions. Emissions data may include data related to the greenhouse gas emissions of an entity's or company's own activities (production, powering factories, and waste incineration). Scope 2 may include emissions from externally supplied energy production. Scope 3 may include all other emissions along the tire value chain. Specifically, this may include the greenhouse gas emissions of materials used to produce tires. A product carbon footprint (PCF) may sum up greenhouse gas emissions and removals from consecutive, interlinked process steps related to a specific tire. A cradle-to-gate PCF may sum up greenhouse gas emissions based on selected process steps, for example, from resource extraction to the factory gate where the tire leaves the company. Such a PCF may be referred to as a partial PCF. To achieve such aggregation, each company providing tires may provide a scope 1 and scope 2 contribution to each tire's PCF.

[0035] In one embodiment, the production data may include any data related to the production of tires. The production data may include any data related to the production of tire components. The production data may include tire production data from the production of tires. The production data may include component production data from the production of tire components. The production data may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of tires. The production data may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of tire components. The production data may include measurement data related to the quality of tires. The production data may include measurement data related to the quality of tire components.

[0036] In one embodiment, the characteristic data may relate to one or more characteristics of a tire or a component thereof or a used tire. The characteristics may be related to, associated with, or correspond to the tire data described above. Characteristic data related to the production of a tire or a component thereof may correspond to the production data described above. Characteristic data related to the use of a tire may correspond to tire data collected during the life of the tire, as described above.

[0037] In one embodiment, a data owner may include any entity that generates tire data or a portion thereof. A data generating node may be coupled to an entity that owns a tire for which tire data is generated. A data generating node may be coupled to an entity that produces a tire for which tire data is generated. A data generating node may be coupled to an entity that produces or owns a vehicle on which the tire is mounted. The tire data may be generated by a third party entity on behalf of an entity that owns a tire for which tire data is generated. The tire data may be generated by a third party entity on behalf of an entity that produces a tire for which tire data is generated. The data owner may be a tire manufacturer. The data owner may be a vehicle manufacturer. The data owner may be a vehicle owner. The tire data or a portion thereof may be accessible to the data owner. Thus, the data owner may directly or indirectly own the tire data or a portion thereof. The tire data or a portion thereof may be stored in the data owner's database or a database associated with the data owner. The tire data or a portion thereof may be stored in a database accessible by the data owner. The tire data or a portion thereof may be stored in the data owner's database or in a database under the control of the data owner. The tire data or a portion thereof may be associated with the data owner. A data owner may be an owner of the tire data or a portion thereof. In this sense, a data owner should be broadly construed as an entity that has access to the tire data or a portion thereof and that controls access to the tire data or a portion thereof by a decentralized network data consumption service. Through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the tire data or a portion thereof, access to the tire data or a portion thereof may be controlled by the data owner through the data providing service.

[0038] In one embodiment, a tire production chain may include any participants involved in the production of a tire or its components. Such production may relate to a production process. A tire production chain may include a production chain. A tire use chain may include any participants involved in the use of tires, such as vehicle manufacturers and vehicle users.

[0039] In one embodiment, a tire use chain may include any participant involved in the use of tires. Such use may be related to the manufacture of a product that includes tires, such as a vehicle. Such use may be related to the recycling and / or reuse process associated with used tires. Such use may be related to the manufacture of a product and / or the recycling and / or reuse process.

[0040] The one or more important characteristics for recycling and / or reuse may be one or more characteristics of a tire. The one or more important characteristics may impede the recycling process and / or reuse process. For example, the one or more important characteristics may impair the quality of the recyclate produced by a recycling process performed on scrap or used tires. In another example, the one or more important characteristics may impede the reuse of used tires, e.g., used tires may not be reused due to recycling, disposal, or incineration. In yet another example, the one or more important characteristics may impede the recycling of scrap or used tires, such that the scrap tires must be disposed of or reconstituted. Such characteristics may be related to the reuse process. For example, retreading may not be possible for certain types of tires and / or may only be repeated a limited number of times on a single tire. Such characteristics may be related to substances present in the tire that are important for recycling and / or reuse. The substances important for recycling may impair the quality of the recyclate produced by the recycling process. The substances important for recycling may be related to the recycling process. Materials important for recycling may be related to the use of the recyclate. Materials important for recycling may be related to the recycling process and the use of the recyclate. Materials important for reuse may be an obstacle to reuse. Materials important for reuse may be related to the reuse process. Materials important for recycling and / or reuse may include materials specific to one or more recycling processes and / or one or more reuse processes. Materials important for recycling may be related to chemical recycling processes or mechanical recycling processes. Materials important for recycling may be related to a specific thermal recycling process, for example a thermal recycling process for producing pyrolysis oil. Materials important for recycling may include materials specific to one or more uses of the recyclate produced by the recycling process. Materials important for recycling may be related to a chemical recycling process for producing recyclate for petrochemical processes.The petrochemical process may include at least one process configured to at least partially decompose saturated hydrocarbons into unsaturated hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon recyclates may be produced by pyrolysis. Materials of interest for recycling may include sulfur, halogens, oxygen, phosphorus, metals and inorganics (such as aluminum, antimony, barium, calcium chromium, copper, iron, potassium, sodium, lead, silicon, titanium, zinc, arsine, mercury, nickel, vanadium, etc.), or combinations thereof.

[0041] A tire or its component may be associated with an access element for the decentralized network, and the access element may include access data associated with at least one generated dataset. The access element may be associated with one or more datasets including at least a portion of the collected tire data. The access element may be associated with one or more relationship datasets specifying relationships between the tire or its component and production inputs used to produce the tire or its component. The datasets may be provided to the decentralized network via the respective access elements. The datasets may be provided by a decentralized network node associated with dedicated storage of a producer of the tire or its component. The access data may include a representation for accessing the dataset. The access element may further include authentication information. The access data may include a locator or pointer to a dedicated storage address associated with the producer of the tire or its component. The access data may include a locator or pointer that identifies or points to dedicated storage associated with a production participant in the production chain that produces the tire or its component and that stores tire data related to the production of the tire or its component. The access data may include one or more digital links that point to tire data, such as tire data related to characteristics important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or its component. The digital representation may include a locator or pointer, such as a url or uri, that identifies or points to a dedicated storage address associated with a production participant in the production chain that produces the tire or its component and that stores tire data related to the production of the plastic product or its component.

[0042] In one embodiment, the decentralized network may include one or more decentralized network nodes configured to perform data transactions. The decentralized network nodes may be associated with participants in the tire ecosystem, particularly the tire loop. The data transactions may be based on a transaction protocol including an authentication mechanism and / or an authorization mechanism. Based on the authentication mechanism and / or authorization mechanism, a peer-to-peer network may be established between the decentralized network nodes of the decentralized network. One or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to a decentralized identifier. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier may be provided to the decentralized network node. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with a decentralized identifier may be accessible by the decentralized network node. The decentralized configuration enables more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by each data owner of the decentralized network. One or more decentralized identifiers may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of a produced tire or its components. An access element may include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and access data. The access element may be associated with one or more authorization mechanisms and one or more data sets associated with a decentralized identifier. The one or more authorization mechanisms may include authorization rules that determine whether access to the one or more data sets is permitted. The one or more authorization mechanisms may be associated with a data-providing network node associated with a tire or tire manufacturer. The one or more authorization mechanisms may be provided per production stage in the tire production chain or per manufacturer.

[0043] In one embodiment, a data consuming service may include computer-executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data, such as tire data, associated with a data owner. A data consuming service or data consuming network node may be configured to request access to data stored in dedicated storage associated with a data providing network node. A data consuming network node may be associated with a participant in the recycling or reuse chain of tires or their components, such as a sorter or recycler of tires or their components or a retreader of used tires. Data generated by producers of tires or their components by production stage may be accessed by the data consuming network node once authenticated and / or authorized.

[0044] In embodiments, recycling may refer to any collection operation in which waste tires, such as used tires (e.g., tires that a holder discards, intends to discard, or is required to discard), are reprocessed into products, materials, or substances, whether for their original purpose or for another purpose. Recycling may include intermediate processing steps such as sorting, recovery, mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, solvent-based recycling, or separation or purification.

[0045] In one embodiment, recycling may refer to any operation in which a reusable tire is used again for the same purpose as originally conceived. Recycling may include preparing the tire for reuse, for example, by retreading. Recycling may include recovery, sorting, and retreading.

[0046] In one embodiment, a data providing service may include computer-executable instructions for providing and / or processing data, such as tire data and / or characteristic data, associated with a data owner for access and / or processing by a data consuming service. The data providing service or data providing network node may be configured to provide access to data stored in dedicated storage associated with the respective data providing network node. The data providing network node may be associated with a participant in the production chain of tires or their components, such as a producer of tires or their components. Data generated by the producer of tires or their components by each production stage may be provided from the data providing network node to a decentralized network specifically for access by the data consuming network node. Access to the data may be under the control of the data providing network node. The data providing network node may be configured to authenticate the data consuming network node and / or authorize access to the tire data by the data consuming network node.

[0047] In one embodiment, the physical entity may relate to the physical embodiment of a tire. The physical entity may relate to the physical embodiment of a tire component.

[0048] In one embodiment, a "processor" may refer to a circuit configured to perform the basic operations of a computer or system, and / or generally to a device configured to perform computations or logical operations. In particular, a processor, or computer processor, may be configured to process the basic instructions that run a computer or system. It may also be a semiconductor-based processor, a quantum processor, or any other type of processor configured to process instructions. By way of example, a processor may be or comprise a central processing unit ("CPU"). The processor may be a ("GPU") graphics processing unit, ("TPU") tensor processing unit, ("CISC") complex instruction set computing microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing ("RISC") microprocessor, very long instruction word ("VLIW") microprocessor, or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing combinations of instruction sets. The processing means may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices, such as an application-specific integrated circuit ("ASIC"), a field-programmable gate array ("FPGA"), a complex programmable logic device ("CPLD"), a digital signal processor ("DSP"), a network processor, or the like. The methods, systems, and devices described herein may be implemented as software in a DSP, microcontroller, or any other side processor, or as hardware circuitry in an ASIC, CPLD, or FPGA. It should be understood that the term "processor" may also refer to one or more processing devices, such as a distributed system of processing devices located across multiple computer systems (e.g., cloud computing), and is not limited to a single device unless otherwise specified. Processors may be considered subparts of a processor, which subparts may be in the form of threads, containers, and / or virtual machines that perform the methods disclosed herein.

[0049] In one embodiment, a "computing node" may refer to any device or system that includes at least one physical, tangible processor and physical, tangible memory capable of having computer-executable instructions executed by the processor. A computing node may be, for example, a handheld device, production equipment, a sensor, a monitoring system, a control system, a home appliance, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a mainframe, a data center, or even a wearable (e.g., eyeglasses, wristwatch, etc.), devices not traditionally considered computing nodes. The memory may be in any form, depending on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0050] In one embodiment, distributed computing may be implemented. "Distributed computing" may refer to any computing that utilizes multiple computing resources. Such use may be achieved through virtualization of physical computing resources. One example of distributed computing is cloud computing. "Cloud computing" may refer to a model that enables on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). When distributed, a cloud computing environment may be distributed within an organization, internationally, and / or across multiple organizations. In one embodiment, distributed computing may be achieved in a federated network.

[0051] In one embodiment, memory may refer to physical system memory, which may be volatile, nonvolatile, or a combination thereof. Memory may include nonvolatile mass storage such as a physical storage medium. Memory may be a computer-readable storage medium such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, non-magnetic disk storage such as solid-state disks, or any other physical and tangible storage medium usable for storing desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and accessible by a computing system. Furthermore, memory may be a computer-readable medium (also referred to as a transmission medium) that carries computer-executable instructions. Furthermore, program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures may be automatically transferred from a transmission medium to a storage medium (or vice versa) once they reach various computing system elements. For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link may be buffered in RAM in a network interface module (e.g., a "NIC") and then eventually transferred to the computing system's RAM and / or a less volatile storage medium in the computing system. Thus, it should be understood that storage media may be included in computing elements that also (or even primarily) utilize transmission media.

[0052] In one embodiment, a wireless communication protocol may be used. The wireless communication protocol may include any known network technology, such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), EDGE (Extended Data Rates for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) / HSPA (High Speed ​​Packet Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology using standards such as 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G. The wireless communication protocol may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN), such as Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi).

[0053] In one embodiment, the request to provide the decentralized identifier includes an owner identifier or tire identifier associated with the tire data and / or the data owner or tire, respectively. The owner identifier / tire identifier may be a string identifier associated with the data owner's name or tire name. The owner identifier or tire identifier may be provided by a physical identifier provider, such as an RFID tag or a barcode or tag like a QR code. Such communication may be completed via ad-hoc WIFI, BLE beacon, and / or NFC. Communication between wallet apps may be performed via any available communication channel, including, but not limited to, a web server, ad-hoc WIFI, BLE beacon signals, NFC, barcode or QR code scanning, etc. Through the owner identifier, the generated tire passport may be associated with the tire data owner by including the owner identifier. The owner identifier may be used for data transactions, such as sharing or exchanging tire data. The owner identifier may be provided to a transaction manager. Providing the decentralized identifier and the data owner's owner identifier to a transaction manager or data consumption service may simplify tracking of data transactions. Any transaction in the data ecosystem can be associated with, for example, the explicit name of the data owner.

[0054] The request may further include an authentication mechanism, such as a public-private key pair, and / or an identifier associated with the decentralized identifier providing unit, so that the request can be routed to a specific decentralized identifier provider. The authentication mechanism may be retrieved from an authentication data storage, such as a vault, depending on the requested decentralized identifier.

[0055] The request to provide a decentralized identifier may be associated with a tire production that produces a tire. The request to provide a decentralized identifier may be generated by a computing system, such as a tire production operations system that produces a tire. The request may be triggered upon a predetermined occurrence. For example, a detector may detect a produced tire. Based on such recognition, a computing device, such as the tire production operations system, may generate a request to provide a decentralized identifier. The generated request may be provided to a decentralized identifier generator included in an apparatus for generating tire passports. In response to receiving the request, the decentralized identifier generator may generate a decentralized identifier and provide the generated decentralized identifier.

[0056] In one embodiment, the decentralized identifier is provided by a central node or one or more decentralized nodes. The decentralized identifier generated by the central node or one or more decentralized nodes may be provided to a node that generates tire passports and / or digital access elements and to at least one authenticated data registry node, preferably accessible by a data providing service and / or a data consuming service. This enables customized data sharing or exchange regarding tires and the tire value chain in which the tires are used. In particular, the data providing service and / or the data consuming service may customize a data sharing or exchange protocol based on anchoring the decentralized identifier to tire data. The authenticated data registry node may be a central registry node, such as a centralized file system, a centralized distributed database, and / or a centralized peer-to-peer network. A centralized configuration allows for greater control and standardization via the central node. The authenticated data registry node may be a decentralized registry, such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network. A decentralized architecture allows for more efficient use of computing resources and provides greater control to data owners. Additionally, a decentralized architecture is independent of centralized nodes, thus increasing the reliability and flexibility of the system.

[0057] In one embodiment, generating the tire passport includes providing a decentralized identifier associated with the physical entity of the tire. In this regard, the physical entity may be related to the physical tire associated with the decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the tire with which the tire data or tire passport is associated. For example, the decentralized identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the tire. The decentralized identifier may be associated with the tire via a physical identifier. The physical identifier may include or correspond to an identifier element contained in or attached to the tire. The physical identifier may refer to, for example, a tire identifier. The identifier element may include a passive or active element, such as, for example, a barcode, a QR code embossed code, or an RFID tag. The decentralized identifier may be assigned to the physical identifier. Assigning may include generating a code that embeds the provided decentralized identifier. Assigning may include associating the provided decentralized identifier with the physical identifier of the tire. For example, the identifier element may be physically attached to or contained within the tire, and the identifier element may include or correspond to a physical identifier. Determining or obtaining the physical identifier may be considered as triggering the provision of a decentralized identifier and, possibly, the subsequent assignment between the physical identifier and the decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with a physical entity to which the tire is supplied and to which tire data is associated. For example, the decentralized identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the vehicle to which the tire is mounted. The decentralized identifier may be associated with two or more physical entities to which the tire is supplied and to which tire data is associated. Associating the decentralized identifier with different physical entity stages in the tire value chain allows for virtually tracking the tire in the tire value chain. In this way, the tire, along with its associated tire data, may be tracked, for example, until end of life or recycling.

[0058] In one embodiment, the tire passport includes one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and the tire data or portions thereof. The authentication mechanism may be directly or indirectly associated with data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data. In one example of an indirect association, the authentication mechanism may be associated with a certificate mechanism. For example, upon an access request by a data consumption service, a dynamic access token may be generated based on the certificate mechanism. Such a dynamic access token may be used to open a peer-to-peer communication channel between the data consumption service associated with the tire passport and the data providing service. The authentication mechanism may include tokens such as private key and public key infrastructure, certificate mechanisms, or biometric mechanisms such as fingerprint, facial recognition, or voice recognition. One common public key certificate is, for example, an X.509 certificate. Through the authentication mechanism, access by the data consumption service can be securely controlled and the integrity of the data providing service can be ensured. This enables more reliable, controlled, and secure data exchange or sharing.

[0059] One or more authentication mechanisms associated with decentralized identifiers generated by a central node or one or more decentralized nodes may be provided to the node generating the tire passport and to at least one decentralized authentication data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and / or the data consuming service. The authentication data registry may be a centralized registry, such as a centralized file system, a centralized distributed database, and / or a centralized peer-to-peer network. A centralized configuration allows for a higher degree of control and standardization via the central node. The authentication data registry may be a decentralized registry, such as a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network. A decentralized configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and provides greater control to data owners.

[0060] In one embodiment, the tire passport is associated with or includes one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data. The authorization mechanism may include authorization rules including data transaction instructions or data transaction protocols, such as data usage policies, smart data contracts, or more complex data processing instructions associated with the data providing service and / or data consuming service. Through the authorization mechanism, access to and use of the tire data or portions thereof by the data consuming service can be securely controlled. The one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier generated by a central node or by one or more decentralized nodes can be provided to nodes that generate or process the tire passport or nodes that access the tire data or portions thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the one or more authorization mechanisms can be provided in at least one centralized or decentralized authorized data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and / or data consuming service.

[0061] In one embodiment, one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifiers generated by one or more decentralized nodes may be provided in the nodes generating or processing the tire passports and in at least one of a centralized file system, a centralized distributed database, a centralized peer-to-peer network, a distributed ledger, a decentralized file system, a distributed database, and / or a peer-to-peer network that are preferably accessible by the data providing service and / or the data consuming service.

[0062] In one embodiment, the data related to the tire data includes the tire data or a portion thereof. In one embodiment, the data related to the tire data includes one or more digital representations pointing to the tire data or a portion thereof. In this context, pointing refers to any network representation or address suitable for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof. Thus, the digital representations may be considered access data, and a tire passport may represent a digital data structure that allows a third party to access the tire data or a portion thereof. The data related to the tire data may include multiple digital representations pointing to separate portions of the tire data. The data related to the tire data may include multiple digital representations pointing to different portions of the tire data. Such different portions may overlap at some data points. The digital representations may include access points to the tire data or a portion thereof, links to the tire data or a portion thereof, endpoints for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof, or service endpoints for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof. In this way, the tire data and portions thereof may be maintained and controlled by the data owner. Because there is no need to check and control access to multiple distributed data points, access may be provided via representations of access points, which simplifies data validation, integrity checks, or quality checks and access control. The tire data, or portions thereof, may be stored in a database of the data owner or a database associated with the data owner. The tire data, or portions thereof, may be stored in a database accessible by the data owner. A digital representation pointing to the tire data, or portions thereof, may be associated with or related to any such database associated with or accessible by the data owner. For added security, a digital representation pointing to the tire data, or portions thereof, may be indirectly related to any such database associated with or accessible by the data owner.

[0063] The digital representation, in combination with a decentralized identifier, can be used to access the tire data or a portion thereof. For example, the decentralized identifier and corresponding digital representation can be used by a data consumption service to request the tire data or a portion thereof. Data related to the tire data can correspond to a DID document associated with or including a decentralized identifier (e.g., a DID), a digital representation that points to the tire data or a portion thereof, and a public key. The DID document or a portion thereof can be propagated to a distributed ledger. The DID document or a portion thereof can be used to obtain a digital representation using the DID, as described below.

[0064] In one embodiment, the tire data, or portions thereof, may include a tire manufacturer, a tire identifier, data regarding chemicals used in tire production, labeling data, data regarding retreading, recycled content of the tire, bio-based content of the tire, tire emissions data, data regarding hazardous chemicals contained in the tire, tire specification data, data related to tire characteristics, data related to tire use, production data, or combinations thereof. The data related to tire characteristics, data related to tire use, and production data may include the data described above. The tire data may be updated using data obtained during tire use, as described above. The data obtained during tire use may be added to already existing tire data, for example, using a decentralized identifier.

[0065] In one embodiment, the tire data may include one or more classes of tire data. At least one class of tire data may be associated with or include data required by tire regulations or regulatory data, such as labeling information and / or chemical safety data associated with the hazards of chemicals used to produce the tire. The chemical safety data may be associated with associated raw materials and chemicals used to produce the tire. At least one class of tire data may be associated with data related to tire characteristics. At least one class of tire data may be associated with data related to tire use. At least one class of tire data may be associated with production data. At least one class of tire data may be associated with life data. Such data may be updated accordingly to reflect the current status of the tire. For example, kilometers traveled may be updated to reflect tire use. The life data may include data related to tire use as described above. The life data may be acquired by sensors present in the tire and / or the vehicle equipped with the tire. The life data may be calculated from characteristic data, such as the tire's original weight, and data acquired during tire use. For example, the loss of microplastics into the environment due to use of a tire may be calculated from the original weight of the tire and the current weight of the tire. At least one class of tire data may include emission data, recycled content data, biobased content data, and / or production data associated with the physical entity of the tire. The emission data, recycled content data, biobased content data, and / or production data may be associated with two or more raw materials or chemical products, such as those used to manufacture the tire. The emission data, recycled content data, biobased content data, and / or production data may be associated with two or more raw materials or chemical products, such as those used to manufacture multiple components for assembling the tire.

[0066] Access to the tire data may be controlled based on the classes. At least one class of tire data may be associated with or include restricted-access tire data associated with the tire physical entity. For example, access may be restricted to emissions data, recyclable content data, biobased content data, production data, the composition of chemicals used to produce the tire, or a combination thereof. Such access restrictions may be provided by an authorization mechanism. For example, the authorization mechanism may include rules specifying which data consumption services are accessible and under what conditions. At least one class of tire data may include unrestricted-access tire data associated with the tire physical entity. For example, labeling information and / or chemical safety data associated with the tire physical entity may not be restricted or unrestricted. Such access may be provided by an authorization mechanism. For example, the authorization mechanism may include rules specifying that certain regulatory data regarding tires is accessible.

[0067] In one embodiment, the tire passport further includes a decentralized identifier associated with a chemical or ingredient used to produce the tire and / or a decentralized identifier associated with the production of the tire (referred to herein as a second decentralized identifier). The second decentralized identifier may be included with a relationship between the decentralized identifier associated with the tire and the decentralized identifier of the chemical used to produce the tire and / or the decentralized identifier associated with the production of the tire. The second decentralized identifier may be used to generate a concatenation of the decentralized identifier of the tire passport (hereinafter referred to as the first decentralized identifier) ​​according to a relationship expression that associates the first digital identifier with the second identifier. The relationship expression may be associated with a relationship between the tire and each chemical used in its production. The relationship expression may specify that a chemical may be used to produce the tire and / or that the tire may be produced by using a chemical. One or more hash values ​​may be generated based on the relationship expression. The hash value may be generated based on a concatenation of the decentralized identifiers. A hash value can be generated for the concatenation of decentralized identifiers. The hash value can refer to the concatenation of decentralized identifiers. The hash value can be generated based on data associated with the first decentralized identifier and the second decentralized identifier. The hash value can be generated based on a combined data set associated with the first decentralized identifier and the second decentralized identifier. By concatenating decentralized identifiers associated with chemicals used in the production of tires, it is possible to virtually track and trace tires and tire recycling, chemicals involved in the production of tires, and chemicals resulting from the recycling of tires. This allows the decentralized identifier associated with a tire to be linked to the decentralized identifier associated with the chemicals used to produce the tire. In this way, the relationship between tires and chemicals used to produce tires can be reflected in the tire passport.

[0068] The request to provide the decentralized identifier can include a second identifier. The request to provide the decentralized identifier can include tire data or a portion thereof. Based on the tire data or a portion thereof, data associated with chemicals producing the tire and / or data associated with the production of the tire can be determined and used to obtain a respective second decentralized identifier.

[0069] A decentralized identifier associated with a chemical used to produce a tire may be associated with chemical data indicating whether the chemical is virgin or recycled material, its environmental impact, and / or the origin of the chemical. The decentralized identifier associated with a chemical may be determined based on a physical identifier attached to the chemical's packaging. The chemical may be a raw material, including virgin or recycled material. The raw material may include water glass and monomers used to produce rubber, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, styrene, and polyisobutene. The chemical may be an intermediate product made from raw materials and / or other intermediate products. The intermediate products may include dispersants, tackifiers, polymers (such as rubber, natural rubber, and polyamides), oils, steel, textiles, fillers (such as carbon black and silica), antioxidants, accelerators, and antiozonants. Tires may be produced from raw materials and / or intermediate products. Chemicals may be used directly or indirectly in the production of tires. That is, some of the chemicals may be used in the production of one or more intermediate products, from which tires are manufactured.

[0070] In one embodiment of a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or its components, tire data is collected in association with the production of the tire or its components by participants in a tire production chain. Tire data associated with one or more production inputs used to produce the tire or its components, particularly associated decentralized identifiers associated with the one or more production inputs, may be collected. The tire data associated with the one or more production inputs used to produce the tire or its components may be collected for each production stage of the tire production chain. The tire data associated with the one or more production inputs used in the production stage of the tire or its components is collected for each production stage and / or participant of the tire production chain. Collecting input data may associate production inputs with production outputs for each production stage of the tire, which may enable tracking of material flows between participants in the tire production chain. This also enables tracking of characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse between participants in the tire production chain.

[0071] In one embodiment of the method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or its components, a relational access element is provided for accessing a relational data set that specifies a relationship between the tire or its components at a production stage of the tire or its components and one or more production inputs used in said production stage. The one or more relational access elements may be configured for access to the tire data from one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or the tire use chain. The one or more relational access elements may be configured for access to the tire data by production stage of the tire production chain by one or more participants that use the tire or its components.

[0072] In one embodiment of a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for the reuse and / or recycling of tires or components, one or more access elements may be configured to recursively access tire data for each production stage of a tire production chain. The recursive access may be based on access data provided by one or more participants in the tire production chain. The access data may be provided to the decentralized network by one or more participants in the tire production chain. The access data may be recursively accessed by one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, in particular sorters, reclaimers, and / or recycler system and / or reuse system participants. The tire data may be recursively accessed by one or more participants in the tire production chain, in particular tire and tire component producers, for each production stage of a tire or its components.

[0073] Thus, the generated dataset can be accessed by one or more participants in the tire production chain or tire use chain, particularly chemical manufacturers and / or tire producers and / or recyclers and / or retreaders, via one or more access elements generated according to the methods disclosed herein. The dataset can be accessed by one or more participants in the tire production chain, particularly tire and / or component producers, for each production stage of a tire or its components. The dataset can be accessed by one or more participants in the tire use chain, particularly retreaders and / or recyclers, for each production stage of a tire. The dataset can be recursively accessed based on one or more related access elements provided by one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, particularly tire or tire component producers. One or more related access elements provided to the decentralized network by one or more participants in the tire production chain, particularly tire or component producers, can be recursively accessed by one or more participants in the tire use chain or production chain, particularly reclaimers, sorters, retreaders, and / or recyclers.

[0074] In one embodiment of a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for the reuse and / or recycling of the tire or component, the relationship access element may be associated with an authorization rule that provides access to the relationship data set in response to a decentralized participant identifier. The decentralized participant identifier may be associated with an entity operating a data consuming network node requesting access to the relationship data set. The decentralized participant identifier may be associated with a data consuming network node associated with a recycling system that provides decentralized identifiers for tires being recycled. The decentralized participant identifier may be associated with a data consuming network node associated with a retreading system that provides decentralized identifiers for tires being retreaded. In this way, in order to control and / or monitor the recycling and / or reuse process, access to sensitive data related to the bill of materials of tires in the production chain can be restricted to specific network nodes to which the data access is relevant, such as tire data related to characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse. Additionally, data access may assist participants in the tire production chain in detecting important characteristics, such as materials important for recycling and / or reuse.

[0075] In one embodiment of the method for monitoring at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for reuse and / or recycling of the tire or component thereof, at least a portion of the generated dataset relates to or specifies a characteristic that is important for recycling and / or reuse of the tire or component thereof via a chemical recycling process (e.g., to produce hydrocarbon recyclates for petrochemical processes). The generated dataset may include materials that are important for recycling in connection with one or more recycling processes. The generated dataset may further relate to the recyclate content used to produce the tire or its component, reuse or repair operations performed on the tire, type of tire, and / or allowable reuse operations performed on the tire.

[0076] In one embodiment of the method for monitoring at least one characteristic of tires important for reuse and / or recycling of tires or components, the generated datasets relate to characteristics important for recycling per recycling process or reuse process, per recycle use, and / or per decentralized participant identifier. The participant identifier may be associated with an entity operating a data consuming network node requesting access to the dataset. The recycling process may be indicated by a recycling process identifier. The reuse process may be indicated by a reuse process identifier. The recycle use may be indicated by a recycle type. The decentralized participant identifier may be provided by the data consuming network node requesting access to the respective dataset. The recycling process identifier or reuse process identifier and / or recycle type may be provided by the data consuming network node requesting access to the respective dataset. The recycling process identifier or reuse process identifier and / or recycle type may be provided by the data providing network node providing access to the respective dataset. The recycling process identifier or reuse process identifier and / or recycled rate type may be provided by authorization rules associated with a decentralized participant identifier associated with the data consuming network node requesting access to the respective dataset. The authorization rules may be associated with one or more datasets related to characteristics important to recycling for each recycling process, recycled rate use, and / or decentralized participant identifier. The recycling process may be related to a mechanical recycling process and / or a chemical recycling process (e.g., solvent-based recycling). The recycled rate use may be related to the reuse of recyclates produced by such recycling processes. The recycled rate use may be related to hydrocarbon recycled rates for petrochemical or refining processes.For each reuse process, the authorization rules may be associated with one or more data sets relating to characteristics important to the reuse. A reuse process may be associated with a retread process or another reuse process.

[0077] In one embodiment of a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of tires important for reuse and / or recycling of tires or components, an access element is provided by one or more data consuming network nodes associated with one or more recyclers performing one or more recycling processes to access a generated dataset including the characteristics important for recycling as a function of the recycling process, recycle use, and / or participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to the dataset as a function of the recycling process, recycle use, and / or participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to the dataset related to the characteristics important for recycling as a function of a decentralized participant identifier, a recycling process identifier associated with the decentralized participant identifier, and / or a recycle type identifier associated with the decentralized participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to the dataset related to the characteristics important for recycling to selected participants in the tire ecosystem, in particular sorters, reclaimers, and / or recycler system participants.

[0078] In one embodiment of a method for monitoring at least one characteristic of tires important for reuse and / or recycling of tires or components, an access element is provided by one or more data consuming network nodes associated with one or more recyclers performing one or more reuse processes for accessing a generated dataset including the characteristics important for reuse as a function of the reuse process and / or participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to the dataset as a function of the reuse process and / or participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to the dataset related to the characteristics important for reuse as a function of a decentralized participant identifier, a reuse process identifier associated with the decentralized participant identifier. The access element may be associated with authorization rules providing access to selected participants in the tire ecosystem, in particular sorters, recyclers, and / or recycler system participants, to the dataset related to the characteristics important for reuse.

[0079] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present disclosure will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers in the drawings and the disclosure are intended to refer to the same or similar elements, components, and / or parts. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0080] [Figure 1] 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example tire. [Figure 2] 1 shows a schematic representation of an example of the layers of material that make up a tire tread. [Figure 3] An example of a tire ecosystem is shown below. [Figure 4] 1 shows an example of a tire production controlled by an operational system that includes a device for generating tire passports. [Figure 5] 1 illustrates an example of a production system that provides tires associated with a Tire Passport. [Figure 6A]1 illustrates generally an example of a method or apparatus for providing data associated with tire production, tire usage, and end-of-life tire handling across a tire value chain via a decentralized network. [Figure 6B] 1 illustrates generally an example of a method or apparatus for providing data associated with tire production, tire usage, and end-of-life tire handling across a tire value chain via a decentralized network. [Figure 6C] 1 illustrates generally an example of a method or apparatus for providing data associated with tire production, tire usage, and end-of-life tire handling across a tire value chain via a decentralized network. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for generating a tire passport. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an exemplary system and associated method for generating a tire passport associated with a produced tire and for providing access to the generated tire passport. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for using a tire passport to further process tire data associated with the tire passport. [Figure 10A] An example of an authentication protocol is shown below. [Figure 10B] An example of an authentication protocol is shown below. [Figure 11] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for authorizing access to tire data. [Figure 12] 1 shows a schematic diagram of using a data consumption service associated with a data user to provide access to a tire passport associated with a tire via a data provision service associated with a data owner. [Figure 13] 1 shows examples of ID-based owner data, ID-based tire passport data, and a decentralized identity infrastructure. [Figure 14] 1 shows an example of a tire passport that includes certificate-based data, ID-based tire passport data, and a decentralized identity infrastructure. [Figure 15A] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 15B] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 16A] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 16B] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 17A] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 17B] 1 shows different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a decentralized identifier; [Figure 18A] 1 shows an example of a relational expression that can be used to generate a link. [Figure 18B] 1 shows an example of a relational expression that can be used to generate a link. [Figure 19] 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a circular tire loop including participants connected via a decentralized network with decentralized network nodes associated with the participants. [Figure 20] 1 illustrates an exemplary method for monitoring, by at least one participant in a decentralized network, at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for reuse and / or recycling of the tire or component. [Figure 21] 1 illustrates an exemplary system for obtaining production and / or use related tire data based on a decentralized tire identifier. [Figure 22] 1 illustrates a relationship dataset that specifies relationships between a tire or portion thereof and production inputs used to produce the tire or portion thereof. [Figure 23] A method is presented for obtaining tire data related to the production of a tire or a component thereof and / or tire data related to the use of a tire based on a decentralized product identifier and a relational access element. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0081] Detailed Description The following embodiments should be considered merely as examples and limitations for implementing the methods, apparatus, systems, and tire passports disclosed herein.

[0082] 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example tire. The tire may be a tire for a vehicle. The vehicle may include automobiles such as cars, vans, minivans, buses, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), trucks, large trucks, semi-trucks, tractors, motorcycles, trailers, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), pickup trucks, heavy-duty movers such as bulldozers, mobile cranes, and earth movers, airplanes, and other transportation means that are typically provided with one or more tires.

[0083] As shown generally in Figure 1, the tire 100 may include a tread section 106 and a sidewall section 108. The sidewall section 108 may include beads that connect to the rim 104. The tread section 106 may include a layer structure (see Figure 2) having a different liner and tread 102.

[0084] One of the main materials used in tires is rubber, such as natural or synthetic rubber. Another main material is fillers, such as carbon black or silica. Other materials include oil, steel, or textiles (such as polyester, nylon, aramid, or rayon cord). Additional materials include chemical components, such as antioxidants, accelerators, accelerator decomposition products, sulfur, zinc oxide, or antiozonants.

[0085] FIG. 2 illustrates, in schematic form, one example of the layers of material that make up a tire tread section, such as tread section 106 of FIG.

[0086] 2 shows a cross section 110 of the tire 100 shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate the layer structure of the tread section 106. The first layer 208 may include a synthetic rubber inner liner. The second layer 206 may include a ply of rubber with fiber wires embedded in it. The third layer 204 may include a casing ply of rubber with steel wires embedded in it. The fourth layer 202 may include nylon wires embedded in it. The outermost layer may include a tread 102 including rubber, carbon black, and silica.

[0087] Figure 3 illustrates an example of a tire ecosystem. The tires may be vehicle tires as described in connection with Figure 1. Steps 306 in the tire ecosystem may include production of tires at tire production 304. The tires may be produced in one or more production steps. The tire production may be connected to an operations system (see, for example, Figure 4). The operations system may control the production of the tires.

[0088] A tire may be produced, for example, from one or more chemicals 302. The chemicals 302 may include, for example, chemical feedstocks or intermediate chemicals. The chemical feedstocks may include water glass and monomers used to produce rubber, such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene, styrene, and polyisobutene. The intermediate chemicals may include rubber, such as natural rubber and / or synthetic rubber, oil, steel, fillers (such as carbon black and silica), polymers, tackifiers, antioxidants, accelerators, and antiozonants. The chemicals 302 may be supplied by one or more chemical suppliers, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 6A.

[0089] The tire may include a tread section and a sidewall section as described in connection with Figure 1. The tread section may include a layer structure as described in connection with Figure 2.

[0090] The produced tires may be supplied from tire production 304 to a vehicle manufacturer. The produced tires may be supplied from tire production 304 to a factory. The produced tires may be supplied from tire production 304 to a tire dealer (not shown). The tire dealer may supply the tires to a factory and / or a tire owner (not shown). The supply of tires may be done using one or more distribution centers (not shown). The vehicle manufacturer may produce vehicles fitted with tires produced by tire production 304, e.g., new tires. The produced vehicles may be provided to an end user who may use the vehicles, and thus the tires fitted to the vehicles, in a use phase 308.

[0091] The use phase 308 may include repairing tires. The use phase 308 may include replacing tires present on a vehicle. Tire repair and / or tire replacement may occur at a factory. For example, a factory may replace used tires installed on a vehicle with new tires produced by tire production 304. For example, a factory may repair a flat tire to extend the tire's use. For example, a factory may replace a used tire with a used tire that can be reused.

[0092] The tire value chain may further include collection 310 of used and used tires. The used and used tires may be collected at a return point. The used and used tires may be provided to the return point by a factory. The used and used tires may be provided to the return point by a tire dealer (not shown). The used and used tires may be collected from a factory and / or a tire dealer and stored at the return point. The return point may be an initial collection center. The initial collection center may provide the collected used and used tires to a centralized return point. The return point may be a centralized return point.

[0093] The collected tires may be inspected, and further handling may be determined. Further handling may depend on the condition of the tire, tire characteristics (e.g., type, age, size), and / or the presence of harmful chemicals. If the collected tires meet certain quality criteria, such as not exceeding a certain age, not being damaged, remaining profile on the tread, and degree of wear, they may be reused (e.g., secondhand tires) without any further processing, such as regrooving or retreading. Reusing as secondhand tires may include providing the used tires to a factory or tire dealer. If the collected tires meet certain quality criteria, such as not exceeding a certain age, not being damaged, a tire size suitable for retreading, and not being damaged by chemicals or oils, they may be retreaded. If the collected tires do not contain harmful chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic compounds, dioxins, chlorine, bromine, and / or mercury, above specified thresholds, they may be recycled. If collected tires cannot be reused, regrooved, reprocessed, or recycled, they may be provided to an incineration facility or disposed of in a landfill. For example, tires received may be incinerated or disposed of in a landfill if they contain hazardous chemicals above a specified threshold.

[0094] The tire value chain may further include recycling, reuse, or disposal 312 of used tires. Reuse, recycling, or disposal may depend on the condition of the tire, tire characteristics, and / or the presence of hazardous chemicals, as described above. Reuse of used tires may include reusing the tire without further processing or reusing with further processing. Further processing may include regrooving or retreading. Reusing without further processing may include using the entire tire or parts thereof, for example, as fenders on ships, as playgrounds, or in the cement industry. Reusing without further processing may include use as a used tire. Regrooving may involve cutting a second layer of tread into the tire when the first tread wears away. Regrooving may be performed on tires marked as regroovable. Regrooving may enable the tire's lifespan to be extended by up to 25%. Retreading can involve removing the tread from a used tire, applying a new tread, and vulcanizing the tire to attach the new tread. Retreading can save up to 80% of the cost of a tire. Retreading can be done once or multiple times. Retreaded tires can be provided to factories and / or tire dealers for further use in vehicles. Tires that are not retreaded can be provided by retreading companies to recycling companies for recycling.

[0095] Recycling can include mechanical recycling and chemical recycling (e.g., chemcycling). Mechanical recycling can involve shredding used tires at tire recycling companies. The shredded tires can be used for different purposes depending on their size. For example, coarse pieces between 50 and 250 mm in size can be used as drainage material and as a substitute for natural gravel. Fine pieces between 15 and 50 mm in size can be used as a base for flatbeds for water purification and as a substitute for natural gravel. Granular pieces up to 6 mm in size can be used as rubber asphalt, foundry return dust, or infill for artificial turf. The powder can be mixed into paints to dampen sound or used as a secondary ingredient in the production of new tires and other molded products.

[0096] Chemical recycling can include devulcanization of used tires. Devulcanization can be done at tire recycling companies. Devulcanization can be done using the treads of used tires. Devulcanization can be done using mechanical, microwave, chemical, or biological processes to break the sulfur bonds formed during vulcanization. The recycled material can be blended (at a low percentile) into new tires and other rubber products that can be used for sound, vibration, and impact absorption.

[0097] Chemical recycling can include pyrolysis of used tires. Pyrolysis can be carried out at a tire recycling company. Used tires can be crushed and heated in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Prior to heating, metal cords and tire cords can be separated. The resulting products of pyrolysis can include pyrolysis oil, recovered carbon black, and non-condensable gases. From a single tire, approximately 15% by weight is steel, 30-40% is pyroblack (carbon black with additives), and the remainder is pyrolysis oil / gas. Tire pyrolysis systems can include indirectly fired rotary kilns, stirred tank reactors, fluidized bed reactors, moving bed reactors, steel recovery, char processing, crushing and pelletizing circuits, oil condensation systems, and gas scrubbing systems.

[0098] A portion of the products obtained from recycling may be provided to tire production 304 and used to produce new tires. For example, carbon black obtained during pyrolysis and / or materials obtained from desulfurization may be provided to tire production 304. Scrap tire material resulting from recycling may be provided to an incineration center or a landfill.

[0099] Used tires or portions of used tires that are not reused or recycled may be incinerated. Tire incineration may include burning used tires and recovering the energy resulting from incineration, or supplying tire or rubber chips to cement plants. Incineration may occur if retreading, regrooving, or recycling is not possible. Scrap used tires may be incinerated.

[0100] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a tire production 304 that produces one or more tires 404 from one or more input materials 302 in association with an operations system 402 that includes an apparatus for generating tire passports for the tires. The operations system 402 may be used to operate the tire production 304, for example, by managing different production chains that exist within the tire production. The tire production 304 may produce tires from one or more chemicals, for example, by reacting one or more of the chemicals and / or physically processing one or more chemicals. The chemicals may include the raw materials described in association with FIGS. 1 and 3. The chemicals may include the intermediate products described in association with FIGS. 1 and 3. The chemicals may be supplied to the tire production 304 from one or more suppliers, such as chemical companies that produce the chemicals, as described in association with FIG. 6A.

[0101] To produce one or more tires 404, different materials 302 (hereinafter also referred to as input materials 302) may be provided as physical inputs from material providers or suppliers. The physical inputs to tire production 304 may include chemicals such as chemical feedstocks, intermediate products, or combinations thereof. The feedstocks may be virgin or recycled raw materials, as described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 3.

[0102] Tire production 304 may convert input materials 302 through chemical and / or physical transformation into one or more tires 404 that exit tire production 304. The transformation may be performed via an intermediate product or component. The transformation may be a chemical reaction or any other processing step. Input materials 302 may be provided to tire production 304 at any entry point. Input materials 302 may be provided to tire production 304 at the start of tire production 304. Input materials may be considered inputs to tire production 304.

[0103] Tire production 304 may include multiple production steps. The production steps included in tire production 304 may be defined by a system boundary for tire production 304. The system boundary may be defined by location or control over the production process. The system boundary may be defined by the location of tire production 304. The system boundary may be defined by a production process controlled by one entity or multiple entities jointly. The system boundary may be defined by a value chain with staggered production processes leading up to the final product, and these processes may be controlled separately by multiple entities.

[0104] The operations system 402 of the tire production 304 may monitor and / or control the tire production 304 based on operational parameters associated with different processes performed by the tire production 304. One process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the supply of input materials or the shipping of produced tires. Another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the generation of tire passports associated with the tires produced by the tire production 304, using an apparatus for generating tire passports, such as the apparatus associated with FIG. 8 . The operations system 402 may include such an apparatus for generating tire passports. The operations system 402 may be configured to generate tire passports associated with the tires produced by the tire production 304, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8 . The operations system 402 may be communicatively coupled to such an apparatus for generating tire passports, or, for example, the operations system 402 and the apparatus for generating tire passports may be separate units.

[0105] The operational system 402 may further include a requester, which may be communicatively coupled to such a requester, which may be configured to generate a request to generate a tire passport, for example, as described in connection with FIG.

[0106] The operation system 402 may further include an ID assigner. The operation system may be communicatively coupled to such an ID assigner. The ID assigner may be configured to assign a decentralized identifier and associated information included in the tire passport to a physical identifier of the produced tire, for example, as described in connection with Figures 5 and 8. For example, the ID assigner may generate a physical identifier that embeds the decentralized identifier and provide the physical identifier to a labeling device that attaches the physical identifier to the produced tire.

[0107] The ID assigner, requestor, and / or device for generating tire passports may be configured as a decentralized service or application running over a decentralized network.

[0108] 5 illustrates an example for providing tires associated with a tire passport. The tires may be produced by a tire production 304 that includes an operations system 402, for example, as described in connection with FIG.

[0109] To produce a tire, intermediate products and raw materials may be provided as physical inputs. The intermediate products may include precursor materials. The precursor materials and raw materials may include virgin materials or recycled materials. The raw materials may be associated with a decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with a raw material passport for the raw material, which may be generated as described below in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8. The decentralized identifier may be associated with raw material data including, for example, raw material name, raw material composition, raw material chemical and / or physical properties, raw material emissions data, raw material recycled content data, raw material biobased content data, raw material renewable content data, raw material production data, raw material declaration data, raw material safety data, certificate of analysis data associated with the raw material, certificate associated with the raw material, or combinations thereof.

[0110] Tire production may include a two-step process: 1) production of an intermediate product; and 2) production of a tire from the intermediate product and, optionally, additional raw materials (not shown). To produce the intermediate product, raw materials may be used as physical inputs. An operational system, such as an intermediate product production operational system, may access data related to the raw materials based on a decentralized identifier, such as a decentralized identifier from a raw material provider. Such data may be used to operate the intermediate product production. For example, if the raw materials are recycled materials, a production step to purify the recycle may be included. For example, if the raw materials are virgin materials, the purification step may be omitted. The intermediate product may be formed by chemically reacting the raw materials or physically processing the raw materials. Chemical reactions may include polymerization, precipitation, and other commonly known chemical reactions. Physical processing may include mixing, grinding, extrusion, etc. As described below in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8, an intermediate product passport may be generated for the produced intermediate product. The intermediate product data may include data from the intermediate product production and the additional data previously mentioned in connection with tire data (data on the physical properties of the intermediate product, certificate of analysis data, material safety data, product declaration data, emissions data, etc.). The produced intermediate product may be packaged, and the packaging may include a physical identifier such as a QR code, an embossed code, or an optical holographic code (such as a zero-order diffraction microstructure). The physical identifier may be assigned to a decentralized identifier in the intermediate product passport in connection with Figures 6 and 7.

[0111] In a second step, the intermediate product may be provided to a tire production that produces tires, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 4 . Apart from the intermediate product, further raw materials may be provided to the tire production (not shown). Production data from the intermediate product production may be used by an operational system, such as operational system 402 described in connection with FIG. 4 , of the tire production that produces tires, as described above. The intermediate product may include recycled materials or materials produced by a different entity. Such intermediate products may be associated with a decentralized identifier, through which the intermediate product data may be accessible. An ID reader may be used to read a physical identifier associated with the decentralized identifier, as described above in connection with FIG. 4 . The intermediate product data may be obtained using the decentralized identifier, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 12 .

[0112] As described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8, a tire passport may be generated for a produced tire, the tire passport including a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data. The decentralized identifier in the tire passport may be associated with the tire via a physical identifier. For example, the tire may include a physical identifier (e.g., a QR code, an embossed code, an optical holographic code, etc.) physically attached to the tire. Such physical identifier elements may be assigned to the decentralized identifier. The assignment of physical identifier elements and decentralized identifiers may be performed in a decentralized and / or distributed system through an ID assigner (see FIG. 4) running locally. For example, a packaging line may include a labeling device that detects produced tires. Based on such recognition, a requester may generate a request to generate a tire passport, and the decentralized identifier included in the generated tire passport may be assigned to the physical identifier by, for example, the ID assigner (see also FIGS. 7 and 8 below). The assigning may include encoding the decentralized identifier into the physical identifier and providing the physical identifier, such as a code, to a labeling device configured to attach the physical identifier to the tire. The ID assigner may be part of the labeling device or may be a separate device.

[0113] The generated tire passport may include data related to the decentralized identifier and tire data. The generated tire passport may further include a tire identifier associated with the produced tire. The data related to the tire data may include tire data. The tire data may be recorded before, during, and / or after tire production and / or while the tire is in use. The tire data may include emissions data such as CO2 footprint, PCF data, or recycled content data. For example, the tire data may specify a recycled content for a tire's components or may specify raw materials and / or intermediate products used to produce the tire. Such recycled content may be directly associated with the tire's decentralized identifier or indirectly associated with the tire's decentralized identifier, for example, via the decentralized identifier of the raw materials or intermediate products. The tire data may include data related to tire characteristics, such as EU label information, tire specifications (such as tire width, aspect ratio, construction, rim diameter, load index, rated speed, and usage conditions), the weight of the tire produced, raw materials used to produce the tire, tire production data, the age of the tire, and / or approved usage. The tire data may include data related to tire usage, such as kilometers driven, an average lifespan determined from the distance the tire was actually used and the time the tire was used, the type of vehicle the tire was installed on, the manufacturer of the vehicle the tire was installed on, tire wear, the current weight of the tire, data related to the factory where the tire was installed, loss of microplastics to the environment, the tire usage condition, the intended use of the tire, repair data, and / or weather conditions in which the tire was used. The tire data may include data related to production conditions provided by the operational system 402 of the tire production 304. The tire data may include data related to operating conditions provided by the operational system 402 of the tire production 304. The tire data may include data related to the manufacturer, such as the manufacturer name, manufacturer brand, or manufacturer identifier. The tire data may include a tire name, a tire brand, or a tire identifier.

[0114] The data related to the tire may include a digital representation pointing to the tire data or a portion thereof. The data related to the tire data may include multiple digital representations pointing to separate portions of the tire data or a portion thereof. The data related to the tire data may include multiple digital representations pointing to different portions of the tire data or a portion thereof. Such different portions may overlap at some data points. The representation may include an access point to the tire data or a portion thereof, a link for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof, an endpoint for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof, or a service endpoint for accessing the tire data or a portion thereof.

[0115] The generated tire passport may include a further decentralized identifier associated with chemicals, such as intermediate products and raw materials, used to produce the tire. The further decentralized identifier (also referred to as a second decentralized identifier) ​​may be included along with a relationship between the decentralized identifier of the tire passport and the second decentralized identifier. This allows the decentralized identifier associated with the tire to be linked to the decentralized identifier associated with the chemicals used to produce the tire. Thus, the relationship between the tire and the chemicals used to produce the tire can be reflected in the tire passport.

[0116] 6A-6C illustrate generally an example of a method or apparatus for providing tire data associated with tire production and tire use, as well as tire recycling data associated with handling of used tires across a tire value chain via a decentralized network.

[0117] Figure 6A illustrates a portion of a tire ecosystem including tire production and the use of produced tires, for example, to manufacture vehicles. In this example, input material providers, tire producers, and tire consumers may be connected in a decentralized network, for example, as described in connection with Figure 12. Data regarding input materials and produced tires may be provided in the form of passports associated with the physical entities of the input materials, tires, or vehicles fitted with the produced tires, via an ID-based schema as described in connection with Figures 8 and 12.

[0118] An input material provider may provide input materials 302. The input materials 302 may include raw materials or intermediate products, such as dispersants, fillers, monomers, and polymers, as described above in connection with FIGS. 1 and 3. Input material data for the input materials 302 may be provided through a data provider (also referred to as a data providing service) 602 associated with the input material provider and connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12. A tire producer may produce tires 404 from the input materials 302 provided for tire production, as described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 5, for example. The tire producer may access the input material data associated with the input materials 302 through a data consumer (also referred to as a data consuming service) 606 connected to the decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12. The input material data may be obtained from the data provider 602 associated with each input material provider. The tire producer may generate tire passports associated with the produced tires 404, as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8, for example. A tire manufacturer may provide the tire passport and tire data contained in the passport through a data provider 602 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with Figure 12. A tire consumer, such as a vehicle manufacturer or factory, may access the tire data associated with produced tires 404, or portions thereof, through a data consumer 606 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with Figure 12.

[0119] Respective data owners in this example may be an input material producer, a tire producer, and a tire consumer. A data owner may include any entity that generates data. A data generating node may be coupled to a data owner or an entity that owns or produces the physical product from or for which the data is generated. Data may be generated by a third-party entity on behalf of the entity that owns the physical product from or for which the data is generated.

[0120] In the example of FIG. 6A , a tire passport decentralized identifier may be associated with the tire. Such a decentralized identifier may be provided to value chain participants. Through the tire's unique decentralized identifier, data associated with the tire may be collected throughout the production chain and during use of the tire assigned to the tire's unique decentralized identifier. For example, one or more environmental attributes associated with the tire may be derived from environmental attributes associated with the input materials 302 or any other product entity present in the tire's value chain. Tire data collected during production may include static or dynamic characteristics, as described above. Tire data may relate to or include chemical characteristics associated with the use of chemicals to produce the tire, as described above. Through the tire's unique decentralized identifier, data associated with the tire may be collected during use of the tire mounted on a vehicle. For example, such data may be collected by a factory or by sensors mounted on the tire. The decentralized identifier associated with the tire may be used to update the tire data using data collected during the use of the tire, such as life data or repair data, for example, by updating the tire data associated with the decentralized identifier or by adding the collected data to the tire data associated with the decentralized identifier. Such data may include data related to the use of the tire, such as mileage, life expectancy, the type of vehicle the tire is mounted on, the manufacturer of the vehicle the tire is mounted on, tire wear, the current weight of the tire, repair data, and / or weather conditions. The usage data may be used to determine the current condition of the tire, the life expectancy of the tire, or the loss of microplastics to the environment, for example, by comparing the weight of a new tire with the current weight of the tire.

[0121] In this way, tire data can represent a digital twin of the tire, including the tire's production history and its current condition. By including data related to the tire's use, the digital twin of the tire can be updated to reflect the tire's current condition. Furthermore, environmental attributes or hazardous contents in the tire can be tracked so that the flow of information can be controlled by supply chain participants, while making the information transparent across the value chain. Data regarding the components used to produce the tire and data regarding the tire's use can be used by return points, retread companies, and / or recyclers to determine the appropriate handling of used tires based on the data. For example, a tire recycler (see, e.g., FIG. 6B) can determine the appropriate recycling operation based on the data.

[0122] As described in connection with FIG. 3 , used tires may be provided to a tire recycler. The used tires may correspond to input materials 302 at a tire recycler 608, as shown in FIG. 6B . Used tire data for the used tires 302 may be provided through a data provider 602 associated with a tire producer and / or vehicle manufacturer connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12 . The tire recycler 608 may recycle the used tires provided to the tire recycler, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 3 . The tire recycler may access the used tire data associated with the used tires 302 through a data consumer (also referred to as a data consumption service) 606 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12 . The used tire data may be obtained from the data provider 602 associated with a tire producer and / or vehicle manufacturer. The tire recycler may generate a recycled product passport associated with products obtained from the recycling, such as pyrolysis oil or carbon black 404, as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8 . Pyrolysis oil may be formed by pyrolyzing shredded tires, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 3. The pyrolysis oil may contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons having 5 to 46 carbon atoms. The hydrocarbons may be saturated or unsaturated. The unsaturated hydrocarbons may include aromatic hydrocarbons. Examples of aromatic hydrocarbons include single-ring mono-, double-, and triple-ring aromatic compounds, as well as polycyclic aromatic compounds. Examples of non-aromatic compounds include paraffins, single-ring naphthenes, double-ring naphthenes, and cycloalkanes. The pyrolysis oil may contain up to 30% by weight of hydrocarbons having 5 to 10 carbon atoms, up to 60% by weight of hydrocarbons having 11 to 20 carbon atoms, up to 10% by weight of hydrocarbons having 21 to 30 carbon atoms, and less than 10% by weight of hydrocarbons having 31 to 46 carbon atoms.

[0123] The tire recycler 608 may provide the recycled product data, or portions thereof, included in the recycled product passport through a data provider 602 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with Figure 12. The respective data owners in this example may be the tire producer 304 and / or vehicle manufacturer, and the tire recycler 608.

[0124] In the example of FIG. 6B, a decentralized identifier may be associated with the recycled product. Such a decentralized identifier may be provided to a value chain participant. Via the decentralized identifier, data associated with the recycling of the tire may be collected and assigned to the decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with a tire-specific decentralized identifier. In this manner, data regarding the tires used to produce the recycled product may be derived from the decentralized identifier included in the recycled product passport. For example, a recycled material passport may include data regarding the decentralized identifier included in the tire passport and the relationship between the decentralized tire identifier and the decentralized identifier included in the recycled material passport.

[0125] Products obtained from recycled tires, such as carbon black, may be provided to a tire producer 304 and used as input materials 302 to produce new tires (see, for example, FIG. 3). Data regarding such products may be obtained by the tire producer 304 via data consumers 606 from data providers 602 associated with a tire recycler 608, as described in connection with FIG. 12. Thus, input material providers at the tire producer 304 may correspond to raw material suppliers, intermediate product producers, and tire recyclers.

[0126] Products obtained from recycled tires, such as pyrolysis oil, can be provided to chemical producers that produce chemicals, such as raw materials and intermediate products, using the pyrolysis oil as one input 302 to produce raw materials, such as ethylene, propylene, and polyisobutene, as well as intermediate products. Additional inputs 302 may be used along with the pyrolysis oil to produce chemical products. Thus, pyrolysis oil produced by a tire recycler 608 can correspond to one input 302 of a chemical producer operating a chemical production network 610, as shown in FIG. 6C, for example. Pyrolysis oil data for the pyrolysis oil 302 can be provided through a data provider 602 associated with the tire recycler 608 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12. The chemical production network 610 can produce one or more raw materials and / or intermediate products 404, such as the raw materials and intermediate products described in connection with FIG. 3. Examples of raw materials include monomers used to prepare synthetic rubber. Examples of intermediate products include dispersants, fillers, and polymers (such as synthetic rubber). A chemical producer operating a chemical production network 610 can access pyrolysis data associated with pyrolysis oil 302 through a data consumer 606 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12 . The pyrolysis oil data can be obtained from a data provider 602 associated with a tire recycler 608. The chemical producer can generate chemical product passports associated with produced chemical products, such as monomers, polymers, fillers, and dispersants, as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8 . The chemical producer can provide chemical product data, or portions thereof, included in the chemical product passport through a data provider 602 connected to a decentralized network, as described in connection with FIG. 12 . The chemical product data can include environmental attributes associated with the chemical product, such as recycled content from the use of pyrolysis oil obtained from recycled tires. The respective data owners in this example can be the tire recycler 608 and the chemical producer operating the chemical production network 610.

[0127] In the example of FIG. 6C , a decentralized identifier may be associated with a chemical product. Such a decentralized identifier may be provided to a value chain participant. Via the decentralized identifier, data associated with the produced chemical product may be collected and assigned to the decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with a pyrolysis oil-specific decentralized identifier and / or a tire-specific decentralized identifier. In this way, data regarding tires indirectly used to produce the chemical product may be derived from the decentralized identifier included in the chemical product passport. Furthermore, environmental attributes associated with the pyrolysis oil may be derived from a decentralized identifier included in the recycled material passport associated with the pyrolysis oil produced by the tire recycler 608.

[0128] Chemical products produced by the chemical production network 610 may be provided as inputs 302 to a tire production 304, as shown in FIG. 6A, for example. The tire producer 304 may obtain chemical product data provided by a data consumer 606 associated with the chemical production network 610 via a data consumer 606, as described in connection with FIG. 12. The decentralized identifier of the chemical product passport may be associated with the decentralized identifier of the tire passport associated with the tire produced from the chemical product. In this manner, the environmental attributes of the chemical product and the tire produced from the chemical product 302 may be traced through the value chain to the tire. Tracking the environmental attributes of the tire in this manner allows the flow of information to be controlled by the supply chain participants, while making the information transparent throughout the value chain. Additionally, the environmental attributes may be handled according to the needs of each individual participant by a production operations system, such as that described in connection with FIG. 4. Overall, such tracking enables tracking of positive environmental impacts by individual tire value chain participants, which makes positive environmental impacts transparent and attributable to each individual tire value chain participant.

[0129] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary method for generating a tire passport. The tire passport may be generated for tires 404 produced by a tire production 304 from one or more input materials 302, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 4 through 6A. The tire passport may be generated by an operations system 402 of the tire production 304. The tire passport may be generated by an operations system of a vehicle production. The operations system may include an apparatus for generating the tire passport, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 8.

[0130] At block 702, a request to generate a tire passport for a produced tire may be received. The request may include a data owner identifier and / or a tire identifier. The data owner may be a data owner of the collected data and / or data contained in a distributed data source. The data owner may be a chemical manufacturer. The data owner may be a data owner as described above. The tire identifier may be a batch number, a lot number, a tire name, and / or a tire ID. The request may be generated by a requester, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 7. The request may be received at a computing node (acting as a DID owner management module, a user agent, an ID hub, and / or a certificate issuer). A decentralized identifier may be requested from a central node or a non-centralized node.

[0131] In block 704, an authentication mechanism may be provided or selected, although this block is generally optional. The authentication mechanism may include a private-public key pair. If the decentralized identifier to be generated includes a DID, an authentication mechanism may be selected or provided.

[0132] At block 706, a decentralized identifier associated with the tire data and the data owner may be generated or provided. The decentralized identifier may include one or more DIDs and / or UUIDs. Data related to the decentralized identifier and an authentication mechanism may be generated or provided.

[0133] At block 708, data related to the tire data may be provided. The data related to the tire data may include, for example, the tire data described above in connection with FIGS. 4 through 6C. The tire data may be collected before, during, or after production of the tire and / or during use. The tire data may be stored in a data storage medium, such as one or more databases. Providing the tire data may include obtaining the tire data based on a tire identifier, such as the tire identifier included in the request received at block 702. The data related to the tire data may include, for example, a digital representation of the tire data described above in connection with FIGS. 4 through 6C or portions thereof.

[0134] At block 710, a tire passport may be generated based on the provided or generated decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data. The tire passport may include the provided or generated decentralized identifier at block 706 and data related to the tire data provided at block 708. The tire passport may correspond to a DID document associated with the decentralized identifier, which is a DID. The DID document may include a digital representation pointing to the tire data or a portion thereof. The tire passport may further include a tire identifier. The tire identifier may be the tire identifier included in the received request. The generated tire passport may be stored in a database. The generated tire passport or a portion thereof may be provided for access by a data consumption service controlled by a data providing service associated with the data owner, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 8 and 12.

[0135] In block 714, a physical identifier may be assigned to a decentralized identifier included in the tire passport, although this block is generally optional. Assigning a decentralized identifier to a physical identifier may include generating a physical identifier with an embedded decentralized identifier. The physical identifier may be generated by an ID assigner, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 5, and attached to the tire using, for example, a labeling device.

[0136] The generated tire passport can simplify and customize data sharing or exchange of tire data associated with produced tires from the tire industry to vehicle manufacturers and further participants in the tire value chain, such as retreading and recycling companies, etc. The tire data can be used to increase recycling rates of used tires, for example, by using the tire data to determine appropriate recycling processes for used tires.

[0137] FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system and associated method for generating a tire passport associated with a produced tire and for providing access to the generated tire passport.

[0138] Tire production 304 may produce tires 404 from one or more input materials (also referred to as precursor materials) 302. The input materials may include chemical raw materials and / or intermediate products, such as those described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6A. Tire production 304 may be tire production as described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6A. The input materials 302 may enter a system boundary 804 of tire production 304. Tires 404 may be produced using the input materials 302, for example, as described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6A. Tires 304 may exit a system boundary 804 of tire production 304.

[0139] Upon production of the tire 404 or upon release of the tire 404 from the tire production 304, a tire passport associated with the produced tire 404 may be generated. A tire passport associated with the produced tire may be generated upon production of a vehicle equipped with the respective tire. The tire passport may be generated by an apparatus 802 for generating tire passports. The apparatus 802 may be configured to generate a tire passport according to the method described in connection with FIG. 7 . The apparatus 802 may be configured to receive a request to provide a decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be associated with tire data and a data owner. The data owner may include any entity that generates tire data or a portion thereof. The data owner may be the data owner of the tire data or a portion thereof. The data owner may be a tire manufacturer. The data owner may be a vehicle manufacturer. The tire data or a portion thereof may be accessible to the data owner. Thus, the data owner may directly or indirectly own the tire data or a portion thereof. The decentralized identifier may be associated with the tire passport and the data owner. The apparatus 802 may be configured to generate a tire passport in response to the received request.

[0140] The requester 806 may be configured to generate a request for a decentralized identifier. The request may be triggered by a labeling system, such as a QR code generator. The request may be triggered by a code reading system, such as a QR code reader. The request to provide a decentralized identifier may be provided to a decentralized ID generator 808 configured to generate a decentralized identifier. The decentralized ID generator 808 may be configured to generate a decentralized identifier associated with the tire data and the data owner. The decentralized identifier generator 808 may provide the generated decentralized identifier to a decentralized ID provider 810. Although the decentralized ID generator 808 and the decentralized ID provider 810 are shown as separate units in FIG. 8 , their functionality may be combined in a single unit such that the device 802 comprises a decentralized ID providing unit configured to generate or obtain a decentralized identifier and to provide the generated decentralized identifier.

[0141] The decentralized ID provider 810 may provide the decentralized identifier received from the decentralized ID generator 808 to the requester 806. The requester 806 may be configured to associate the received decentralized identifier with the produced tire 404. Accordingly, the requester 806 may include an ID assigner as described in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5. Such association may include encoding the decentralized identifier into a code and providing the code for labeling the tire 404. Such association may include correlating the decentralized identifier with a physical identifier of the tire. In this manner, a physical identifier may be provided that associates the physical entity of the tire with the provided decentralized identifier and, therefore, the tire passport with which the decentralized identifier is associated.

[0142] The decentralized ID provider 810 may provide the decentralized identifier to a tire passport generator 812 configured to generate a tire passport that includes data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data received from the decentralized ID provider 810. The tire passport generator 812 may generate the tire passport, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 7. The tire data, or a portion thereof, may be provided to the tire passport generator 812 from a data storage medium, such as a database (not shown). A digital representation referring to the tire data, or a portion thereof, may be generated by the tire passport generator 812. The generated tire passport may be stored in a data storage medium (not shown).

[0143] The generated tire passport may be provided to a tire passport provider 814. The tire passport provider 814 may be configured to provide the tire passport for access by a data consumption service 818. The data consumption service 818 may be part of a decentralized network 816. The data consumption service 818 may be associated with a tire recipient, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 6B . The tire passport provider 814 may control access by the data consumption service 818. The tire passport provider 814 may be a data providing service associated with the tire production 304. The tire passport provider 814 may be associated with or under the control of a data owner of the tire data associated with the generated tire passport. The tire data, or portions thereof, included in the tire passport may be provided to a data consumption service 818, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 12 . This allows for the transfer of or access to the tire passport and tire data, or portions thereof, in a controlled and secure manner.

[0144] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary method for using the tire passport to further process tire data associated with the tire passport.

[0145] At block 902, instructions may be received to access tire data associated with a decentralized identifier in a tire passport for use in the tire passport. The tire passport may be structured as described in Figures 13 and 14. The tire passport may be generated as described in Figures 7 and 8.

[0146] Before access to the tire data can be provided, the request can be authenticated at block 904. In particular, the data consuming service requesting access to the tire data and / or the data providing service providing access to the chemical process data can be authenticated. Such authentication can be based on data associated with a decentralized identity and authentication mechanism. Authentication can be performed through different communication patterns detailed in Figures 10A and 10B.

[0147] If authentication fails, access to the tire data may be denied (see block 908). If authentication is valid, an authorization step may follow in block 910. Such authorization may be based on data related to a decentralized identifier and authorization rules. The data may be associated with the decentralized identifier.

[0148] If authorization fails, access to the tire data may be denied (see block 914) or access may be adapted. In particular, the requested authorization may be adapted to comply with applicable authorization rules. If authorization is valid, access to the tire data may be granted as requested in accordance with the authorization rules, and the requested tire data may be provided in accordance with the authorization rules in block 916. Such access to tire data associated with the decentralized identifier may be provided using a digital representation included in the tire passport.

[0149] The received tire data may be processed at block 918. For example, the received tire data may be used to determine the handling of the used tire, such as whether the tire can be reused, regrooved, retreaded, or recycled.

[0150] 10A and 10B illustrate an exemplary method for authentication to access tire data associated with a Tire Passport. During the authentication process, various communication patterns may be implemented to verify identity.

[0151] 10A illustrates one exemplary communication pattern that may occur between a data providing service 602 and a data consuming service 606. In this case, the data providing service 602 may act as a validating entity, and no separate service is used for authentication.

[0152] The data consuming service 606 may request a service from the data providing service 602 (see step [1]). The request may include a decentralized identifier of the data consuming service, such as a decentralized identifier (DID) or verifiable credentials.

[0153] In response to the request, the data providing service may access a registry, such as a centralized or decentralized authentication registry, to obtain data related to the authentication mechanism associated with the decentralized identifier. For example, a centralized authentication registry may provide the data related to the authentication mechanism via an authentication service that issues access tokens. Further, for example, a decentralized authentication registry may provide the data related to the authentication mechanism by generating a request token. The data related to the authentication mechanism may include the public key of the data consuming service.

[0154] Based on the obtained data related to the authentication mechanism, the data providing service may generate an authentication request (e.g., corresponding to an authentication request token or a dynamic attribute token) (see step [2]). The authentication request may be generated based on the data consumption service's public key and / or the data providing service's 602 private key. The generated authentication request may be sent to the data consumption service 606 (see step [3]).

[0155] Based on the received authentication request, the data consuming service 606 may generate authentication data to respond to the authentication request (step [4]), which may be sent back to the data providing service 602 (step [5]).

[0156] Upon receiving a response including the authentication data from the data consuming service 606, the data providing service 602 may then verify the validity of the authentication data (see step [6]). In response to verifying the validity, the data providing service 602 may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service 606 (step [7]).

[0157] FIG. 10B illustrates yet another communication pattern that may occur between the data providing service 602, the authentication service 1004, and the data consuming service 606.

[0158] First, the data consuming service 606 may request a service or initiate communication with the data providing service 602 (step [1]). The request may include a decentralized identifier of the data consuming service, such as a decentralized identifier (DID) or verifiable credentials.

[0159] Upon receiving the request, the data providing service 602 may access the distributed ledger to obtain one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier. Based on the obtained authentication mechanisms, the authentication service 1004 may generate an authentication request.

[0160] Here, at least one of the obtained authentication mechanisms may be provided via the authentication service 1004. Thus, in some embodiments, the generated authentication request may be sent directly to the authentication service 1004 (steps [2], [3]). Upon receiving the authentication request from the data provider service 602, the authentication service 1004 may generate authentication data (step [4]). The authentication data generated by the authentication service 1004 may be sent to the data consumption service 606 (step [5]).

[0161] The data consuming service 606 may then pass the authentication data to the data provider service 602 (step [6]). Upon receiving the authentication data, the data providing service 602 may then verify the validity of the authentication data (step [7]). In response to verifying the validity, the data providing service may grant or deny the service request of the data consuming service 606 (step [8]).

[0162] Alternatively, in some embodiments, after the data providing service 602 is able to generate the authentication request, it may send the authentication request to the data consuming service 602. The data consuming service may pass the authentication request to the authentication service 1004 (not shown).

[0163] Furthermore, after the authentication service 1004 is able to generate the authentication data, in some embodiments, the authentication service simply contacts the data consumer service 606 to acknowledge receipt of the authentication request and obtain consent. Once the data consumption service 606 receives the notification, it may consent and send the consent to the authentication service 1004. Upon receiving consent, the authentication service 1004 may then send the authentication data directly to the data providing service 602.

[0164] Finally, in many transactions, authentication may be performed mutually by both parties. In such mutual authentication situations, each party involved may be both the subject entity and the verifying entity. The data consuming service 606 and the data providing service 602 may control their respective decentralized identifiers. Initially, the services may exchange their decentralized identifiers. Next, each of the services may access the distributed ledger to obtain each other's authentication mechanisms. Each service may then generate its own authentication request based on the authentication method of the other's identity. The generated authentication data may then be sent to the other service. Upon receiving each other's authentication data, each service may verify the validity of the received authentication data. Based on the results of the verification of validity, the services may then perform additional communications; for example, one service may grant or deny the other service's service request.

[0165] 10A and 10B merely illustrate an example of an authentication protocol, and although the communication arrows are discussed or shown in a particular order, no particular order is required unless otherwise specified or unless a particular order is required because one communication is dependent on another communication being completed before sending the communication.

[0166] 11 illustrates an exemplary method for authorizing access to tire data. The tire data may be associated with a tire passport that includes a decentralized identifier and data related to the tire data. The tire passport may be generated as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8.

[0167] In block 1102, a set of authorization rules may be provided for the tire passport's decentralized identifier (hereinafter referred to as the decentralized tire identifier) ​​and the tire data associated with the decentralized identifier. The set of authorization rules may include usage instructions that define a usage policy for entities accessing the tire data associated with the decentralized identifier. The set of rules may include one or more local rules specific to a particular location. The one or more local rules may be based on the location where the decentralized identifier was generated, the location where the data providing service was performed, the location where the data consuming service was performed, or a combination thereof.

[0168] The set of one or more local rules may be based on a location or a data providing service provided by a data providing service. The location may refer to a jurisdiction, and the local rules may be associated with legal requirements related to tire production, supply, and end-of-life processing. For example, access to tires may be provided through authorization rules, which may include jurisdictional rules or local rules. The tire data may include data described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6C. The set of authorization rules may include at least one regulatory instruction configured to provide access to tire data related to regulatory requirements for tires. The provided set of authorization rules may relate to access to an entity decentralized identifier. The authorization rules may include computer-executable instructions to allow access to tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier, deny access to tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier, modify access to tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier, or modify tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier. The authorization rules may be associated with each data point or class of tire data, and a selected authorization rule may be bound to tire data, a class of tire data, an individual data point, or a combination thereof. The set of authorization rules may include one or more prescribed rules related to the obligations of a data consumption service associated with the accessing entity decentralized identifier. The set of authorization rules may include one or more prescribed rules related to discharge data, production data, recycle content data, biobased content data, origin data, working condition data, or a combination thereof. The set of authorization rules may include one or more processing rules related to the processing of discharge data, production data, recycle content data, biobased content data, origin data, working condition data, or a combination thereof by a data consumption service associated with the accessing entity decentralized identifier.

[0169] At block 1104, a decentralized identifier or data related to an access entity decentralized identifier (hereinafter referred to as an access entity decentralized identifier) ​​may be provided.

[0170] In block 1106, an authorization rule for tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier may be selected based on the access entity decentralized identifier or data associated with the access entity decentralized identifier. The authorization rule may include computer-executable instructions to allow, deny, or modify the tire data. The authorization rule may be associated with each data point of the tire data or a set or class of tire data. The selected authorization rule may be stored for application to the tire data. Such an authorization rule may be applied before or during a data transaction. The selected authorization rule may be bound to the tire data, an individual data point, or a class of tire data for application to the tire data.

[0171] At block 1108, the selected authorization rule may be applied to the tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier. The selected authorization rule may be applied prior to accessing the tire data. The selected authorization rule may be applied at runtime when accessing the tire data.

[0172] At block 1110, tire data associated with the decentralized tire identifier may be provided according to selected authorization rules.

[0173] FIG. 12 shows a schematic diagram of using a data consumption service associated with a tire consumer via a decentralized network to provide access to a tire passport associated with a tire via a data provision service associated with a data owner.

[0174] Tires 402 produced by tire production 304 may be provided associated with a tire passport. The tire passport may be generated as described in connection with FIGS. 7 and 8. The tire passport may include tire data and a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner. The tire passport may include data related to the tire data. The data related to the tire data may include a digital representation that points to the tire data or a portion thereof (see, for example, FIG. 13).

[0175] The tire passport may further include or be associated with authentication and / or authorization information linked to the decentralized identifier. The authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of the data providing service 602 and / or the data consuming service 606. The decentralized identifier may include a universally unique identifier (UUID) and / or a decentralized identifier (DID). The decentralized identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and / or the tire data and / or the tire. The data owner may be a tire producer. The data owner may own or have access to the tire data or a portion thereof. Through the decentralized identifier and its unique association with the data owner and / or the tire, access to the tire data may be controlled by the data owner. The data owner may include any entity that generates the data. A data generating node may be coupled to the data owner or an entity that owns or produces the chemical product from or for which the data is generated. The data may be generated by a third party entity on behalf of the entity that owns the tire from which or for which the data is generated relates.

[0176] The tire 404 may be physically delivered to a tire consumer, such as a vehicle manufacturer, dealer, and / or factory. The tire 404 may include a code, such as a QR code, that encodes a decentralized identifier. The tire 404 consumer may read the code through a code reader 1202. The decentralized identifier may be provided to a database 1204 associated with the tire 404 consumer. In other embodiments, the tire 404 consumer may obtain the decentralized identifier through a registry 1206. For example, the tire identifier encoded in the code may be used to obtain the decentralized identifier from the registry 1206. The registry 1206 may store the decentralized identifier associated with the tire passport. The registry 1206 may further store access data associated with the decentralized identifier. The access data may include a digital representation that points to the tire data or a portion thereof. Thus, the access data may enable identification of a data providing service 602 that provides the tire data or a portion thereof.

[0177] Based on the received decentralized identifier, a request to access tire data associated with the decentralized identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service 606, as indicated by arrow 1210. The decentralized identifier may be associated with or provided to a data providing service 602 of a manufacturer of the tire 404. Additionally, authentication and / or authorization information may be provided.

[0178] The request may be authenticated (see FIGS. 10A and 10B) and / or authorized to access tire data associated with the decentralized identifier. Based on successful authorization and / or authentication, access may be granted to the tire associated with the decentralized identifier.

[0179] The data providing service 606 may use the received data to obtain tire data, or portions thereof, associated with the produced tires 404, as indicated by arrows 1212 and 1214. The tire data, or portions thereof, associated with the tires 404 obtained by the data providing service 602 may be provided to the data consuming service 606, as indicated by arrow 1216. The received tire data, or portions thereof, may be stored in a database 1204 associated with the consumer of the tires 404, as indicated by arrow 1218.

[0180] Through a decentralized identifier, tire data or portions thereof can be uniquely associated with a tire. Through a decentralized network, tire data or portions thereof can be transferred in a standardized and secure manner between tire producers and tire consumers, as well as further participants in the tire value chain. In this way, tire data or portions thereof can be shared directly between value chain players without a centralized intermediary, with a unique association to the tire. This provides transparency of tire datasets across the value chain. Thus, the Tire Passport allows tire data to be shared under simplified and customizable conditions without compromising data security and data sovereignty.

[0181] While FIG. 12 has been described with respect to tire manufacturers and tire consumers, the exchange of tire data can also occur between tire manufacturers and additional participants in the value chain, such as factories, retreading companies, and / or recycling companies.

[0182] FIG. 13 shows an example of ID-based owner data, ID-based passport data, and a decentralized identity manager.

[0183] The decentralized identifier may be a decentralized ID (DID). A tire passport may be a DID document associated with a DID. ID-based owner data may include a DID associated with a subject, such as tire data, and may include an authentication mechanism. ID-based owner data may include owner data electronically owned and controlled by a DID owner. In this context, electronically owned may refer to data stored in an owner repository or wallet. Such data may be securely stored and / or managed on an organized server or client device. ID-based owner data may include a DID, a private key, and a public key. An ID-based owner may own and control a DID representing an identity associated with a DID subject, and a private and public key pair associated with the DID. A DID may be understood as an identifier and authentication information associated with or uniquely linked to the identifier.

[0184] The DID subject can be a tire. The DID subject can be a machine, system, or device used to produce a tire, or a collection of such machines, devices, and / or systems. The DID owner can be a tire producer. The DID owner can be an upstream actor in the tire value chain of the tire producer, such as a supplier that provides feedstock chemicals or precursors to produce the tire. The DID owner can be a downstream actor in the tire value chain of the tire producer, such as a customer that consumes the tire. The DID owner can be any actor in the tire supply chain, including a feedstock chemical supplier, intermediate chemical manufacturer, tire producer, vehicle manufacturer, factory, reclaimer, retreader, or recycler.

[0185] A DID can be any identifier associated with a DID subject and / or DID owner. Preferably, the identifier is unique to the DID subject and / or DID owner. The identifier can be unique at least within the scope of the DID's expected use. The identifier can be a local or global unique identifier of any participant in the tire value chain, including a tire; a machine, system, or device used to produce the tire, or a collection of such machines, devices, and / or systems; a chemical manufacturer producing a chemical, a tire producer, a downstream participant in the tire producer's tire value chain, or a collection thereof; a chemical supplier, an intermediate chemical manufacturer, a tire producer, a vehicle manufacturer, a factory, a reclaimer, a retread company, or a recycler, or a collection thereof.

[0186] A DID can be a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A DID can be an Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI). A DID can be a random string of numbers and letters for increased security. In one embodiment, a DID can be a string of 128 letters and numbers with the scheme "did:method name:method-specific did", such as "did:example:ebfeb1f712ebc6f1c276e12ec21". A DID can be decentralized and under the control of the DID owner, independent of a centralized third-party management system.

[0187] The DID document 1304 may be associated with a DID. Thus, the DID document 1304 may include a reference to a DID, which may be associated with the DID subject described by the DID document. The DID document 1304 may include authentication information, such as a public key. The public key may be used by a third-party entity authorized by the DID owner / subject to access information and data owned by the DID owner / subject. The public key may be used to verify that the DID owner actually owns or controls the DID. The DID document 1304 may include authentication information and authorization information, for example, to authorize a third-party entity to read the DID document or certain portions of the DID document 1304, for example, without granting the third party the right to prove ownership of the DID.

[0188] The DID document 1304 may include additional identifiers, such as identifiers associated with different portions or classes of tire data. The DID document 1304 may further include one or more representations digitally linked to the tire data, for example, by a service endpoint. A service endpoint may include a network address at which a service operates on behalf of the DID owner. In particular, a service endpoint may refer to a DID owner's service that provides access to the tire data or portions thereof. Such services may include services that read or analyze the tire data or portions thereof. The tire data may include the data described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6C. The DID document 1304 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the DID document 1304 was created, when it was last modified, and / or when it expires.

[0189] The DID and DD documents 1340 may be associated with a data registry node, such as a decentralized data service system or decentralized data service system 1306 (e.g., a distributed ledger or blockchain or a decentralized file system). The distributed ledger or blockchain may be used to store representations of DIDs that point to DID documents 1304. Representations of DIDs may be stored on distributed computing nodes of the distributed ledger or blockchain 1306. For example, a DID hash may be stored on multiple computing nodes of the distributed ledger and may point to the location of the DID document 1304. In some embodiments, the DID document 1304 may be stored on the distributed ledger 1306. Each computing node may store a copy of the distributed ledger 1306. In this way, each DID hash can be stored redundantly, thereby increasing data security. DIDs associated with multiple different DID documents 1304 may be included in the distributed ledger 1306.

[0190] In some embodiments, the DID document 1304 may be stored in the distributed ledger 1306, i.e., in addition to or instead of the associated DID representation stored in the distributed ledger 1306. In other embodiments, the DID document 1304 may be stored in data storage (not shown) associated with the distributed ledger or blockchain or a decentralized file system.

[0191] The distributed ledger or blockchain 1306 may be any decentralized, distributed network that includes various computing nodes in communication with each other. For example, the distributed ledger 1306 may include a first distributed computing node, a second distributed computing node, a third distributed computing node, and any number of additional distributed computing nodes (not shown). The distributed ledger or blockchain 1306 may include known technology stacks such as Bitcoin (see, e.g., Bitcoin documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / en.bitcoin.it / wiki / Protocol_documentation), Ethereum (see, e.g., Ethereum documentation published on August 15, 2022 at https: / / ethereum.org / en / developers / docs / ), Solana (see, e.g., Solana documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / spl.solana.com / ), Polygon (see, e.g., Polygon documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / wiki.polygon.technology / ), or other implementations with varying degrees of data transactions performed on the distributed ledger. The description of the exemplary framework is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered limiting.

[0192] FIG. 14 shows an example of ID-based certificate data, ID-based tire passport data, and an identity information manager.

[0193] In contrast to the example of FIG. 13, the example of FIG. 14 is certificate-based. Certificate data 1402 may include authentication data for a subject and a certificate issuer. The subject may be a data owner or a data providing service 602 operated by or under the control of the data owner. Certificate data 1402 may further include the name of a subject to whom the certificate was issued, such as a data owner name, a data owner ID, a data provider name, a data provider ID, or a combination thereof. The certificate may be an X.509 certificate, such as X509v3. Certificate data 1402 may be associated with an IDS infrastructure 1406, including, for example, a certificate issuing service (CA) 1408 and / or a dynamic provisioning service (DAPS) 1410 that provides dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens). Certificate data 1402 may further include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the certificate was created, when it was last modified, and / or when it expires. The information required to verify the certificate data 1402 may be provided via an authentication registry associated with a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, April 2019, Version 3.0, a data providing service 602, a certificate authority (CA) 1408, a dynamic attribute provisioning service (DAPS) 1410, and a data consuming service (not shown) associated with or under the control of the data owner are used to verify the identity prior to the data exchange (see, e.g., Figures 10A and 10B).

[0194] The certificate data 1402 and tire passport data 1404 may be stored within the data providing service 602. The data providing service 602 may be associated with or under the control of the data owner of the tire data.

[0195] The tire passport data 1404 may include a decentralized identifier, authorization data, and endpoints associated with the tire data or portions thereof. The decentralized identifier may be a universally unique identifier (UUID), such as a UUIDv4. The UUIDv4 may follow the following format: [0-9a-fA-F]{8}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{4}-[0-9a-fA-F]{12}. The authorization information may be used to control access to the tire data or portions thereof, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 9. The endpoints may include any digital representation that refers to the tire data or portions thereof. The tire data may include the data described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6C.

[0196] The tire passport data 1404 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the tire passport was created, when it was last modified, and / or when it expires.

[0197] 15-17 show different exemplary configurations of a tire passport based on a digital identifier, including different relationships of the generated passport in the tire value chain up to the vehicle. The passport can be generated, for example, using the method described in connection with FIG. 7.

[0198] FIG. 15A illustrates individual configurations for different passports generated in the tire value chain, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 3. Individual passports can be generated for multiple product stages in the tire value chain. Passport generation can include providing a decentralized identifier for each of the multiple product stages and data related to the respective product data. Passport generation can further include providing an authentication mechanism. Passports for multiple product stages can be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, passports for multiple product stages can be linked through hash values ​​based on different data sets. As shown in FIG. 15A, hash 1 can be based on raw material passport data, hash 2 can be based on chemical passport data, and hash 3 can be based on raw material passport data and chemical passport data. Similarly, hash 4 can be based on tire passport data, and hash 5 can be based on chemical passport and tire passport data. Further linking can be performed for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which can link a tire passport and a vehicle passport. The hashes can be used to generate a hash chain that enables determining the raw materials and chemicals used to produce the tire and the tire installed on the vehicle. The sequence of hashes from Hash 1 to Hash 7 reflects the relationships between each passport and can therefore be seen as a "mirror" of the value chain from raw materials to the vehicle. Linking via hashes of cryptographic signatures is just one example of linking. Other examples include allowed aggregations with different ranges of data that may be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregations with different links.

[0199] FIG. 15B illustrates a different passport containing a link associated with multiple digital identifiers based on relational representations for different products associated with product stages of the tire value chain, where one passport is associated with a tire. In this particular example, a hash value is used to link the multiple decentralized identifiers. The data set for generating the hash value is shown schematically in FIG. 15A.

[0200] The raw material passport may be provided to an intermediate product producer that uses raw materials to produce intermediate products. The raw materials and intermediate products may include those described in connection with FIGS. 3 through 6C. The raw material passport may be associated with a hash value "Hash1." The hash value "Hash1" may be generated via a hashing algorithm such as MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3, or any other suitable algorithm based on a one-way function that cannot be reverse-engineered. The hash value "Hash1" may be generated based on data contained in or associated with the raw material passport. The data for hash generation may include a decentralized identifier and data related to the raw material data. The data for hash generation may include a decentralized identifier associated with the raw material, data related to the raw material, and / or cryptographic information associated with the digital identifier. The hash value "Hash1" may be used by participant nodes in the tire value chain to check the integrity of a data package transferred from a raw material supplier, for example, to an intermediate product producer.

[0201] Similar to raw material passports, intermediate product passports may be provided to tire manufacturers that use intermediate products to produce tires. The tire passports may be generated based on the intermediate product passports provided to tire manufacturers that use intermediate products to produce tires. The tire passports may be associated with one or more hash values ​​“Hash4” and “Hash5.” The hash values ​​“Hash4” and “Hash5” may be generated via a hash algorithm such as MD5, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-3, or any other suitable algorithm based on a one-way function that cannot be reverse-engineered. The hash values ​​“Hash4” and “Hash5” may be generated based on data included in or associated with the intermediate product passport and / or raw material passport. The hash values ​​“Hash4” and “Hash5” may be generated based on the clear data itself or based on a hash value generated from the clear data. For example, Hash5 may be generated based on intermediate product passport data and tire passport data, or based on hashed intermediate product data and hashed tire passport data. The data for generating the hash may include a decentralized identifier associated with an intermediate product used in the production of the tire, a decentralized identifier associated with the tire, data related to the intermediate product, and / or data related to the tire.

[0202] The linkage associated with the plurality of decentralized identifiers may relate to the decentralized identifiers associated with the vehicle, the tire, and the precursor materials used to produce the tire. Such linkage may be provided by hashing data associated with or contained in each passport. Data for hash generation may include the data described in connection with FIG. 15A. A hash value "Hash4" may be generated in connection with the tire passport, as shown in FIG. 15A. A hash value "Hash5" may be generated in connection with the intermediate product passport and the tire passport, as shown in FIG. 15A. The hash values ​​may be used by the tire value chain participant nodes to check the integrity of the transferred data package. The combined hash value may be further used by the tire value chain participant nodes to determine the relationship between products at different stages and check the integrity of that relationship.

[0203] As shown in Figures 15A and 15B, the hash value can be linked to a passport associated with one or more product stages in the tire value chain.

[0204] FIG. 16A illustrates anchor configurations for different passports generated in the tire value chain. For a vehicle, a vehicle passport may be generated. For multiple additional product stages in the tire value chain, individual passports may be generated and embedded or linked to the vehicle passport. Passport generation may include providing a decentralized identifier for each of the multiple product stages and data related to the respective product data. Passport generation may further include providing an authentication mechanism. Passports for multiple product stages may be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, passports for multiple additional product stages may be linked through hash values ​​based on different data sets. As shown in FIG. 16A , hash 1 may be based on data from the raw material passport, hash 2 may be based on data from the chemical product passport, and hash 3 may be based on data from the raw material passport and the chemical product passport. Similarly, hash 4 may be based on data from the tire passport, and hash 5 may be based on data from the chemical product passport and the tire passport. Further linking may be performed for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, which may link the tire passport and the vehicle passport. Further linking may be performed for other combinations of passports up to hash 7, so that all passports up to the vehicle passport may be linked. The sequence of hashes from Hash 1 to Hash 7 reflects the relationships between each passport and can therefore be seen as a "mirror" of the value chain from raw materials to the vehicle. Linking via hashes of cryptographic signatures is just one example of linking. Other examples include allowed aggregations with different ranges of data that may be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregations with different links.

[0205] FIG. 16B illustrates a different passport containing a link associated with multiple decentralized identifiers based on relational representations for different products associated with product stages of the tire value chain, where one passport is associated with a tire. In this particular example, a hash value is used for the link associated with the multiple decentralized identifiers. The data set for generating the hash value is shown schematically in FIG. 16A.

[0206] An intermediate product passport may be provided to a tire manufacturer that uses the intermediate product to produce a tire, and the intermediate product passport may be linked to a hash value Hash2, which may be generated as described in connection with FIG.

[0207] Similar to the intermediate product passport, the tire passport can be provided to the vehicle manufacturer that will use the tire on the vehicle. Hash values ​​can be generated as described in connection with Figure 16A. Hash values ​​can be generated similarly for passports up to the vehicle passport.

[0208] In an anchor configuration, a vehicle passport may include a hash value associated with a passport associated with a product used to produce the vehicle, such as a tire. The linkage associated with multiple decentralized identifiers may, in this case, relate to the decentralized identifiers associated with raw materials, intermediate products, and tires. Such linkage may be provided by hashing data associated with or contained in each passport. The data for generating the hash may include any data contained in each passport. A hash value "Hash6" may be based on at least the decentralized identifier associated with the vehicle passport and data related to the vehicle data. A hash value "Hash7" may be generated in association with a passport associated with a product at a different product stage, as shown in FIG. 16A. The combined hash value "Hash7" may be used by participant nodes in the tire value chain to determine the relationship between products at different stages and check the integrity of the relationship.

[0209] As shown in Figures 16A and 16B, the hash value can be linked to a passport associated with one or more product stages in the tire value chain.

[0210] FIG. 17A illustrates a fully embedded configuration of different product passports generated in the tire value chain. Individual passports can be generated for multiple product stages in the tire value chain. Passport generation can include providing a decentralized identifier for each of the multiple product stages and data related to the respective product data. Passport generation can further include providing an authentication mechanism. Passports for multiple product stages can be based on cryptographic signatures. For example, passports for multiple product stages can be linked through hash values ​​based on different data sets. As shown in FIG. 17A, hash 1 can be based on data from the raw material passport. hash 2 can be based on data from the raw material passport and the intermediate product passport. Further linking can be performed on other combinations of passports up to hash 7, resulting in linking of products up to the vehicle passport. Linking via hashes of cryptographic signatures is just one example of linking. Other examples include allowed aggregations with different ranges of data that can be embedded in child passports, public key aggregations with different cryptographic signatures, or service endpoint aggregations with different links.

[0211] FIG. 17B shows a different passport containing a linkage associated with multiple decentralized identifiers based on relational representations for different products associated with product stages of the tire value chain. Within the passport, one digital access element is associated with the tire. In this particular example, a hash value is used for the linkage associated with the multiple decentralized identifiers. The dataset for generating the hash value is shown schematically in FIG. 17A.

[0212] An intermediate product passport may be provided to a tire manufacturer that uses the intermediate product to produce a tire. The intermediate product passport may be linked to a hash value Hash2, which may be generated as described in connection with FIG. 17A. Similar to the intermediate product passport, a tire passport may be provided to a vehicle manufacturer that uses the tire to produce a vehicle. The hash value may be generated as described in connection with FIG. 17A. Hash values ​​may be similarly generated for passports up to and including a vehicle passport.

[0213] In a fully embedded configuration, a combined hash value can be generated from passports associated with all products preceding a respective product, such as a vehicle. The linkage associated with multiple decentralized identifiers can, in this case, relate to the decentralized identifiers associated with raw materials, intermediate products, and all preceding products, such as tires. Such linkage can be provided by hashing data associated with or contained in each passport. The data for hash generation can include any data contained in each passport. For example, the hash value "Hash5" can be based on decentralized identifiers associated with products up to and including the tire passport. For example, the hash value "Hash7" can be based on decentralized identifiers associated with products up to and including the vehicle. The combined hash values ​​"Hash3," "Hash5," and "Hash7" can be used by participant nodes in the tire value chain to determine the relationships between products at different stages and check the integrity of those relationships. As shown in Figures 17A and 17B, hash values ​​can be linked to passports associated with one or more product stages in the tire value chain.

[0214] The configurations shown in Figures 15A to 17B relate to passports generated in the tire value chain up to the vehicle. Similarly, passports generated in the recycling chain from the tire to the recycler can be linked. Furthermore, passports generated in the tire value chain up to the vehicle and the recycling chain from the tire to the recycler can be linked. In this way, the circularity of products including tires can be virtually represented and tracked.

[0215] 18A and 18B show examples of relational expressions that can be used to create linkages, such as those described above in connection with FIGS. 15A-17B.

[0216] The relationship representations may relate to different stages of a tire value chain, such as the tire value chain described in connection with FIG. 3. Passports at different stages of the tire value chain may be linked to the relationship representations. The relationship representations may be associated with products produced at each stage of the tire value chain and at least one product used in the production of each product. The relationship representations may be associated with products produced at each stage of the tire value chain and at least one product produced at a previous stage of the tire value chain. The relationship representations may specify relationships between physical entities. The relationship representations may specify that a second physical entity can be used to produce a first physical entity, as shown in FIG. 18A, and / or that a first physical entity can be produced by using a second physical entity, as shown in FIG. 18B. The relationship representations may relate to at least one intermediate product used to produce a tire. The relationship representations may relate to a tire produced by using at least one intermediate product.

[0217] Figure 19 illustrates an example embodiment of a circular tire loop 1934 including participants 1902-1918 connected via a decentralized network 1934 having non-centralized network nodes 1920-1932 associated with the participants 1902-1918. The example embodiment illustrated in Figure 19 may include a portion of the tire ecosystem illustrated in Figures 6A-6C.

[0218] The participant network shown in FIG. 19 may be a material chain network. The material chain network may include one or more linear material chains, such as a production chain and / or a use chain. The linear material chain may include a material production chain, in which tires or their components are produced by tire producer 1902 and used to produce tires by tire producer 1908. The linear material chain may include a material recycling chain, in which used tires are collected, sorted, and recycled to recycler 1918, and the recycles are used to produce new materials by material producer 1902. The material chain may include one or more production chains and / or use chains. The use chain may include one or more recycling chains and / or one or more reuse chains. The material chain may include one or more connected production chains and / or use chains. One or more linear material chains may be connected to material loop 1934.

[0219] The material chain network may include a material loop network 1934 that includes the use of recycled materials to produce new materials. One or more material loops 1934 may allow materials resulting from the recycling of used tires to be used to produce new products, such as chemical products or materials, associated with one or more material chains. A material chain network, preferably material loops 1934, may include the production, use, reuse, and / or recycling of physical materials or products containing such materials. A product may be a material, a chemical product, an intermediate chemical product, an individual component containing a material, an assembly of individual components, a final product, a used product, a recycled product, a recycled product, or a recycle. As used herein, terms such as processed, produced, recycled, etc., refer to one of the next production steps in the production chain of an output material. For example, as used herein, a recycled material means that the next production step in the production chain of an output material is a recycling step. In some embodiments, the material is processed in the next step.

[0220] A material or chemical product may refer to a chemical compound, chemical element, chemical molecule, chemical composition, chemical mixture, chemical formulation, intermediate chemical product, or chemical base material that can be used to produce a discrete product. A chemical or product stream may include a non-discrete material stream that can be further processed to produce a discrete product or component. A chemical or product stream may include liquids, pellets, beets, powders, etc. A discrete product may refer to a discrete component, an assembly of discrete components, a final product, a used product, a product to be recycled, or a recycled discrete product.

[0221] Chemicals or products may be produced using raw materials and / or recyclates. Recyclates may refer to materials that have been mechanically or chemically recycled. Recycled or recycled material streams may include non-discrete material streams that can be further processed to produce new materials or chemical products. Recycled or recycled material streams may include liquids, pellets, beets, powders, etc. Raw materials may refer to starting materials used to produce materials or chemical products, such as raw raw materials. Raw raw materials may be unused raw materials that have not undergone any processing other than their production.

[0222] An end product may refer to a product that is the result of a material chain. An end product may refer to a product that is used by an end product user. An end-of-life (EOL) product may refer to a product that has been used by an end product user. A used product may refer to a product that no longer fulfills the requirements of its use. A used product may refer to a product that is no longer needed. A used product may be a product that has been discarded as waste, such as plastic waste. A recycled product may refer to any product or material produced using a used product. A recycled product may refer to a new product or material produced using a used product.

[0223] The material loop 1934 shown in FIG. 19 may include multiple participants 1902-1918 forming the material loop 1934. The material loop 1934 may include all stages of a material, from material production through material use to material reuse. Thus, materials may flow in a closed loop from component production, through production and use of a final product, to reuse. Reuse may include repurposing end-of-life products, refurbishment of end-of-life products, and / or recycling of end-of-life products to feed recyclates back into material production.

[0224] The material loop participants 1902-1918 may be associated with the production of any material or product and / or the recycling of any material or product. The material loop 1934 participants may include input material producers 1906, chemical producers 1906, tire producers 1908, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) 1912, end product users 1914, EOL recyclers / sorters 1916, recyclers 1918, or combinations thereof. The participants may include various participants in a material chain or loop not shown in FIG. 19 .

[0225] The participants 1902-1918 of the material loop 1934 may be linked through material flow 134. Material flow 1940 may correspond to the flow of product or material from one participant 1902-1918 of the material loop to a respective downstream participant 1902-1918 of the material loop 1934. Material flow 1940 may refer to a continuous or discontinuous flow of product or material. The product or material flow may include any transportation means suitable for transporting product from one participant 1902-1918 to another downstream participant 1902-1918. The transportation means may include the use of packaging materials. Material flow 134 may be a unidirectional flow, such as directional material flow 1940. Material flow 1940 may flow from upstream participants 1902-1918 to downstream participants 1902-1918 in material loop 1940, such as material flow 1940 from recycler 1918 to chemical producer 1902. Material flow may also include reverse material flow 1940 from downstream participants 1902-1918 to upstream participants 1902-1918 in material loop 1934. For example, material flow 1940 may flow from chemical producer 1902 to recycler 1918 if the recycled product or recycle does not meet quality specifications and requires further processing.

[0226] Material stream 1940 may be associated with raw materials used to produce materials or chemicals, such as raw materials. Material stream 1940 may include recycled materials instead of or in addition to raw materials. Raw materials and recycled materials may be provided to chemical producers (not shown) for producing materials, chemicals, and / or intermediate chemicals.

[0227] The material loop 1934 shown in Figure 19 may be based on an example tire and its circulation loop. Examples of such tires are shown, for example, in Figures 1 and 2. The participants may include input material producers 1906, chemical producers 1902, tire producers 1908, OEMs 1912, end product users 1914 such as consumers, waste collectors and / or sorters 1916, recyclers 1918 such as recyclers, or reuse operators such as retreaders (not shown).

[0228] Tires may be produced by a tire producer 1908. They may be produced from a raw material stream and / or from a loop material stream 1944. They may be produced from chemical products received from a chemical producer 1902. They may be produced from input materials received from an input material supplier 1906 (not shown). The produced tires may be provided to an OEM 1912. The OEM 1912 may use the supplied tires to produce an end product, such as a vehicle comprising the tires. The end product produced by the OEM 1912 may be provided to an end product user 1914. The user uses the end product comprising the tire and, in turn, the tire. During use, the tire may be serviced, for example, by a vehicle repair shop. If the tire can no longer be used on a vehicle, it may be removed from the vehicle and offered to a waste collector and / or sorter 1916. Recovered used tires may be sorted by an EOL collector / sorter 1916. The sorter may sort the used tires into different fractions. A portion of the sorted tires may include reusable tires, such as tires that can be retreaded. Another portion of the sorted tires may include recyclable tires. Such sorted portions may be provided to a recycler 1918 for recycling of scrap tire portions. Loop material flow 1944 may close the loop between the participants.

[0229] In addition to being connected via material flow 1940, participants 1902-1918 in a circulating material loop 1934 may be connected via a decentralized network 1938 through data flow 1936. The decentralized network 1938 may include one or more non-centralized network nodes 1920-1932 associated with participants 1902-1918 in the material loop 1934. In a decentralized network 1938, in contrast to a centralized network, the non-centralized network nodes 1920-1932 are not solely dependent on a central network node. In other words, no single entity has exclusive authority over the network. The decentralized network 1938 may include non-centralized network nodes and a central network node. The decentralized network 1938 may include a central network node that may control and / or monitor the non-centralized network nodes 1920-1932. For example, a central network node may provide authentication information that enables at least two non-central network nodes 1920-1932 to establish a peer-to-peer communication channel between the respective non-central network nodes 1920-1932.

[0230] The network nodes 1920-1932 may be computing nodes. A "computing node" may be any device or system that includes at least one physical, tangible processor and physical, tangible memory capable of having computer-executable instructions executed by the processor. Computing nodes currently take an increasingly diverse range of forms. Computing nodes may be, for example, handheld devices, monitoring systems, control systems, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes, and / or data centers. The memory may be of any type, depending on the nature and type of computing node. The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be connected via wired and / or wireless connections, such as one of Ethernet, USB, LAN, WLAN, etc. Wireless communication may use, for example, WLAN, Wi-Fi, cellular, and / or Bluetooth. The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be configured to perform peer-to-peer data transactions, as indicated by arrow 1936 indicating data flow.

[0231] The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be configured as data consuming and / or providing network nodes. The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be configured to provide data to and / or consume data from other network nodes of the decentralized network 1938. For example, the non-central network node 1924 associated with the tire producer 1908 may be configured to provide tire data to downstream participants, such as the OEM 1912 or the recycler 1918. Further, the non-central network nodes 1930, 1932 associated with the EOL recycler / sorter 1916 or the recycler 1918, for example, may be configured to access data from network nodes 1920-1932 associated with upstream participants, such as the tire producer 1908.

[0232] The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may include computer-executable instructions configured to provide, consume, and / or process data, such as data associated with machinery produced or processed in the machine fluid or circulating material loop 126. A network node may operate a data providing service configured to provide data to other non-central network nodes 1920-1932 of the decentralized network 1938. The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 configured to provide data may be associated with data owners or data generating nodes associated with materials or products produced or processed in the circulating loop 1934. The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be connected to one or more dedicated data storages that store data associated with the materials or products produced or processed in the circulating loop 1934 (see, e.g., FIG. 12 ). The dedicated data storage may be under the control of the data owners or data generating nodes associated with the materials or products produced or processed in the circulating loop 1934. A data owner may be each participant 1902-1918 in the circular loop 1934 with which a data generating node 1920-1932 is associated. The data generating nodes 1920-1932 may have access to dedicated data storage. Thus, access to data associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 1934 may be under the control of the data owner with which each non-central network node 1920-1932 is associated. This allows the data owner to maintain complete control over the data associated with the materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 1934. At the same time, this allows sharing of data associated with materials or products produced or processed within the circular loop 1934 under controlled conditions, for example, by using appropriate protocols including authorization or authentication mechanisms or schemes for establishing peer-to-peer communications.

[0233] The non-central network nodes 1920-1932 configured to consume data may be associated with materials produced or processed in the circulating loop 1934 and may include computer-executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data in the decentralized network 1938, such as data provided by the non-central data providing network nodes 1920-1932. The non-central data consuming network nodes 1920-1932 may be controlled or owned by, or associated with, upstream or downstream participants in the circulating material loop 126.

[0234] The decentralized network 1938 may include additional non-central network nodes. The additional non-central network nodes may not be associated with additional participants in the circular loop 1934. The additional nodes may be non-central infrastructure service nodes (not shown in FIG. 1 ). The non-central infrastructure service nodes may provide services to the non-central participant nodes 1920-1932, such as verifying the identities of the non-central participant network nodes 1920-1932 before performing data exchanges. The non-central network participant nodes 1920-1932 may be associated with or include certificates, such as X.509 certificates. The certificates may be associated with an identity manager, including, for example, a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service that provides dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens). In this manner, the non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be associated with or tied to unique identifiers embedded in X.509 certificates that identify the respective non-central network nodes 1920-1932. The information required for certificate validation may be provided via an authentication registry associated with a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, Version 3.0, April 2019, a decentralized data providing network node associated with a data owner, a certification authority (CA), a dynamic attribute provisioning service (DAPS), and a decentralized data consuming network node associated with a data consumer are used to validate identity information prior to the execution of a data exchange (not shown).

[0235] Materials or products produced by participants 1902-1918 in circular loop 1934 may be associated with tire data associated with characteristics of tires or components thereof produced by participants 1902-1908 in circular loop 1934. The tire data may be provided for access by non-central data providing network nodes 1924 associated with tire producers. Access to the tire data may be controlled by non-central data providing network nodes 1920-1932 associated with further participants 1902-1918 in loop 1934, such as any downstream participants 1902-1918.

[0236] Data flows 1936 between non-central network nodes 1920-1932 may be directly or indirectly associated with material flows 1940 between participants 1902-1918 in material loop 1934. For example, data flows 1936 may be directly associated with material flows 1940 when tire data associated with tires provided by tire producer 1908 to OEM 1912 is accessed by non-central data consuming network node 1926 associated with said OEM 1912. For example, data flows 1936 may be indirectly associated with material flows 1940 when tire data associated with tires produced by tire producer 1908 is accessed by non-central data consuming network node 1932 associated with recycler 1918.

[0237] Data transactions between decentralized network nodes 1920-1932 may be based on a decentralized identifier associated with the accessed material or product data. The decentralized identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The decentralized identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the material or product. The decentralized identifier may uniquely identify the material or product within the decentralized network 1938. The decentralized identifier may be associated with further decentralized identifiers, such as the decentralized identifier of a material or product used to produce an end product. This may enable tracking of the material or product used to produce a product, such as an end product. The decentralized identifier may be included in an access element associated with the material or product, as described in more detail in connection with FIG. 13.

[0238] In particular, the creation of access elements related to the production and / or use of tires or their components and associated with data generated at each stage of the tire production chain allows for monitoring characteristics important to the recycling and / or reuse of used tires through a decentralized network, by providing access to tire data, as detailed, for example, in Figures 20-23 below.

[0239] FIG. 20 illustrates an exemplary method for monitoring, by at least one participant in a decentralized network, at least one characteristic of a tire that is important for reuse and / or recycling of the tire or its components.

[0240] Tire data related to the production of a tire or its components may be collected. Tire data may be collected before, during, during, and / or after the production of a tire or its components. Components in this context may include any discrete or non-discrete component produced by any participant in the tire production chain, such as monomers, polymers, steel, fillers, components produced using monomers or polymers, tires produced using monomers, polymers, or components. A tire may refer to the end product of the tire production chain. A component may refer to any stage in the tire production chain. The tire production chain may include stages such as raw materials or recyclates that produce monomers and / or polymers, intermediate materials or components, discrete components, or assembly of discrete components to produce a tire.

[0241] The data may be associated with one or more network nodes 1920-1924 associated with each producer 1902-1908 and generated, for example, in association with a data generating node. The data may relate to different stages of a tire production chain. The data may relate to the production of a monomer, a polymer, the use of a polymer and / or a monomer in the production of a component, or a tire produced by using the produced monomer or polymer and / or component. The data may be specific to the produced monomer, the produced polymer, any produced non-discrete or discrete component, or a produced tire produced by using the produced monomer, polymer, or non-discrete or discrete component. The data may be specific to an individual entity or batch of the produced monomer, the produced polymer, any produced non-discrete or discrete component, or a produced tire produced by using the produced monomer or non-discrete or discrete component.

[0242] The tire data may include data associated with at least one characteristic important to the recycling and / or reuse of used tires. The characteristic may indicate a component or substance important in relation to one or more recycling processes and / or one or more reuse processes. The important component or substance may be a component or substance that affects the quality of the recycle product that can be produced by the recycling process. For example, in the case of pyrolysis oil produced for use in a steam cracker, the important component may interfere with the operation of the steam cracker. The component may include a contaminant associated with pyrolysis oil for use in a steam cracker. The contaminant may include sulfur, halogens, oxygen, phosphorus, metals and inorganics (aluminum, antimony, barium, calcium chromium, copper, iron, potassium, sodium, lead, silicon, titanium, zinc, arsine, mercury, nickel, vanadium, etc.), or a combination thereof. The presence of these contaminants in the pyrolysis oil may adversely affect the operation of the steam cracker. The characteristic may indicate a characteristic important to the reuse operation. Such a characteristic may be related to a substance important to reuse. Such a characteristic may indicate a type of tire that is important to reuse. Such characteristics may indicate the number of retread operations that are acceptable.

[0243] The data may include decentralized identifiers associated with one or more production inputs used to produce the tire or its components. The data may relate to one or more production inputs used to produce each entity in the tire production chain. Collecting data related to the production of the tire or its components may include collecting decentralized identifiers associated with one or more production inputs used to produce the tire or its components. The decentralized identifiers associated with one or more production inputs used to produce the tire or its components may be collected by reading an identifier element, such as a barcode or QR code, associated with the production input.

[0244] The tire data may include characteristic data. The characteristic data may relate to or include properties of the plastic product or its components. The properties of the plastic product or its components may include performance properties, chemical properties (flammability, toxicity, acidity, reactivity, heat of combustion, etc.), and / or physical properties (density, color, hardness, melting point, boiling point, conductivity, etc.).

[0245] By collecting tire data related to the production and / or use of a tire or its components at each production stage in the production chain, a digital twin of each entity produced by one or more production participants in the tire production chain can be created. In this way, entities can be tracked in the tire production chain from raw materials or recyclates to the tire.

[0246] The data related to the production and / or use of the tire or its components may be stored in dedicated storage associated with each production participant in the tire production chain that produces the tire or its components. The data related to the production of the tire or its components may include different datasets related to the production and / or use of the tire or its components. Such datasets may be referred to as the datasets mentioned above.

[0247] One or more decentralized identifiers associated with the produced tire or its components may be provided. One or more decentralized identifiers associated with production inputs used to produce the tire may be provided. The one or more decentralized identifiers may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the produced tire or its components. The one or more decentralized identifiers may be uniquely associated with any entity produced by any participant in the production chain. The one or more decentralized identifiers may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the tire or its components, the production participants in the production chain that produce the entity, and / or data related to the production of the tire or its components. The decentralized identifiers may include or relate to one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) or digital identifiers (DIDs). Through the decentralized identifiers and their unique association with the plastic product or its components, the producer and / or data access to the data may be controlled by the producer. This is in contrast to a central authority scheme, in which identifiers are provided by such a central authority and access to the data is controlled by such a central authority. In this context, decentralized refers to the use of identifiers in an implementation that is controlled by the data owner.

[0248] A decentralized identifier may include one or more identifiers used in a decentralized network to enable data exchange or peer-to-peer communication over the decentralized network. Data exchange may include discovery of decentralized identifiers of participant nodes of the decentralized network, authentication of participant nodes of the decentralized network, and / or authorization of data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes of the decentralized network. A decentralized identifier may be associated with any participant in a production chain and with each entity produced by such participant.

[0249] The collected tire data may be used to generate one or more data sets. The one or more data sets may include at least a portion of the collected tire data. The one or more data sets may include a data point or collection of data points included in the collected tire data. The one or more data sets may be associated with a provided decentralized identifier associated with the tire.

[0250] One or more relational data sets may be generated. The relational data sets may include decentralized tire identifiers and decentralized production input identifiers. The relational data sets may include relationships specifying relationships between the decentralized identifiers. For example, each decentralized tire identifier may be assigned a parent identifier and each decentralized production input identifier may be assigned a child identifier.

[0251] Access data associated with one or more datasets may be generated. Access data may be generated for each dataset. The access data may point to each dataset. The access data may be associated with a production participant in the production chain that produces the tire or its component and related to dedicated storage that stores the respective dataset. The access data may include a locator or pointer that identifies or points to dedicated storage that is associated with a production participant in the production chain that produces the tire or its component and stores the respective dataset. The access data may include one or more digital links that point to the generated datasets. The access data may include a locator or pointer (such as a URL or URI) to a dedicated storage address that is associated with a production participant in the production chain that produces the tire or its component and stores the respective dataset. The access data may include at least one interface to a data-providing network node or a data-providing service. The access data may include at least one interface to a data-consuming network node or a data-consuming service. The interface may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint), which may be uniquely identified via a data transaction protocol. The access data pointing to the generated datasets may be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier. The decentralized identifier may be linked to the access data of the generated data set.

[0252] An access element may be generated that includes one or more decentralized identifiers and access data. An access element that includes access data associated with a relational dataset may be referred to as a relational access element. The access element may be associated with a tire or its components. The access data may be provided to a data consuming network node or a data consuming service. The access data may be provided by a decentralized network database, a database associated with the data consuming network node, a data providing network node associated with the manufacturer of the respective entity, or a combination thereof. The access data may include a locator or pointer for accessing the respective dataset.

[0253] The access element may further include one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier and the data set. The one or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to a decentralized identifier, such as a decentralized producer identifier, a decentralized tire identifier, a decentralized component identifier, a decentralized polymer identifier, or a decentralized monomer identifier. The one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier may be accessible by a decentralized participant network node. The digital access element may further be associated with authorization information linked to the decentralized identifier. The authorization information may be associated with the decentralized identifier and the data set. The authorization information may include access rules depending on the data set being accessed and the role of the accessing data consuming network node.

[0254] The access elements may be provided for access to the data set by one or more data consuming network nodes under the control of a data providing network node associated with a tire or component thereof producer. The access elements may be provided to a non-central registry node, for example, as described in more detail below. The non-central registry node may store the non-central access elements.

[0255] FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary system for obtaining production and / or use-related tire data based on a decentralized tire identifier. The system of FIG. 21 may be used to recursively collect access data for each production stage of a tire production chain and / or tire use chain, the recursive collection being based on one or more relational data sets provided by one or more participants in the tire production chain. The system of FIG. 21 may be used to recursively request access to tire data from one or more participants in the tire production chain and / or tire use chain, particularly for each participant, based on the collected access data. The system of FIG. 21 may be used to implement the method illustrated in FIG. 23.

[0256] The tire may be provided in association with a digital access element. The tire 404 may be linked to tire identification information as described in connection with FIG. 3 . The tire identification information may be read through an ID provider 2114. The ID provider 2114 may be a smartphone running a tire identification application. Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine a decentralized access element identifier (hereinafter referred to as DID1) as described in connection with FIG. 12 . Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine a decentralized tire identifier (hereinafter referred to as UUID1) as described in connection with FIG. 12 . The ID provider 2114 may be configured to perform an authentication step with the non-central registry node 2102. For example, the ID provider 2114 may access a non-central IAM network node (not shown), which may be configured to provide the ID provider 2114 with an access token upon successful authentication. This access token may be used by the ID provider 2114 to access the non-central registry node 2102. The ID provider 2114 may provide a decentralized participant identifier associated with a participant in the tire ecosystem to a decentralized IAM network node for authentication.

[0257] The ID provider 2114 may be configured to provide a decentralized tire identifier (e.g., UUID1) to the non-centralized network node 2104. The ID provider 2114 may be configured to provide authentication data, such as a decentralized participant identifier, and optionally, authentication data, such as an access token, to the non-centralized network node 2104.

[0258] The non-central network node 2104 may be configured to verify the authentication data received from the ID provider 2114 with the non-central IAM network node 1 2106. Referring to FIG. 23 , and upon successful authentication, the non-central network node 2104 may be configured to access the decentralized registry node 2102 using the decentralized machine identifier received from the ID provider 2114 to access an access element associated with the decentralized tire identifier. The access element may include the decentralized identifier and access data pointing to a respective relevant data set. The access data may point to a non-central data-providing network node associated with the respective relevant data set. For example, the access element associated with the tire may include access data pointing to a non-central data-providing network node associated with the tire data for the tire. The non-central network node 2104 or a non-central data-consuming network node (not shown) associated with said non-central network node 2104 may be configured to access a respective non-central data-providing network node associated with the access data and request the relevant data set associated with the decentralized identifier from said non-central data-providing network node, for example, as shown in FIG. 12 .

[0259] 22, a relationship dataset 2204 associated with a tire may include a decentralized tire identifier and decentralized identifiers associated with production inputs (such as rubber, steel, and monomers) used to produce the tire. The production inputs are then associated with the digital twin.

[0260] The relationship dataset may be included in the tire digital twin 2202. The relationship dataset 2210 associated with the rubber may include a decentralized rubber identifier and decentralized production input identifiers associated with production inputs (such as monomers) used in the production of the rubber. The relationship dataset may be included in the rubber digital twin 2208.

[0261] 21 with continued reference to Figure 22, the non-centralized network node 2104 may be configured to determine a decentralized production input identifier included in the relationship data set. The non-centralized network node 2104 may be configured to use the determined decentralized production input identifier to access the non-centralized registry node 2102 to determine access data associated with the decentralized production input identifier. The non-centralized network node 2104 or a non-centralized data consuming network node (not shown) associated with the non-central network node 2104 may be configured to access production input data using the respective non-centralized production input identifier, access data, and optionally a decentralized participant identifier provided by the identity provider 2114 from the respective non-central data providing network node.

[0262] In this example, the non-centralized network node 2104 may receive a decentralized tire identifier associated with the tire from the ID provider 2114. The non-centralized network node 2104 may use the decentralized tire identifier to access the non-centralized registry node 2102 to determine an access element associated with the decentralized tire identifier. The determined access element may include access data pointing to a non-centralized data-providing network node associated with the tire data. The tire data may be stored in a storage environment associated with the non-centralized data-providing network node 124 (1208). The tire data may include a relational data set indicating a decentralized production input identifier associated with a production input used to produce the tire (see also FIG. 22 ). The non-centralized network node 2104 or a non-centralized data-consuming network node associated with the non-centralized network node 2104 may be configured to access the relational data set from the non-centralized data-providing network node 124. The non-centralized network node 2104 or a non-centralized data-consuming network node associated with the non-centralized network node 2104 may be configured to access the tire data from the non-centralized data-providing network node 124. Access to the tire data may be authorized based on a decentralized participant identifier provided by the ID provider 2114. Access to the tire data may be controlled by the decentralized data providing network node 124 associated with the tire data, ensuring that the tire data is only accessible to authorized participants in the tire ecosystem and preventing uncontrolled access to the tire data.

[0263] The non-central network node 2104 may be configured to obtain, from the accessed relational dataset, a decentralized production input identifier associated with a production input used to produce the tire. The non-central network node 2104 may be configured to use the determined decentralized production input identifier to access an access element associated with the decentralized production input identifier from the non-central registry node 2102. The non-central network node 2104 or a non-central data consuming network node may be configured to access the relational dataset, for example, from a non-central data providing network node 2108-2112 associated with the production input. The production input data may be stored in a storage environment (DT Storage 2-4, 2116-2120) associated with the non-central data providing network node 1 202 108-2112. The non-central network node 2104 or a non-central data consuming network node may be configured to access the production input data as described above.

[0264] The non-central network node 2104 may be configured to obtain, from the accessed relational dataset, a decentralized material identifier associated with a material used to produce a production input, such as a monomer. The non-central network node 2104 may be configured to use the determined decentralized identifier to access an access element associated with said decentralized identifier from the non-central registry node 2102. The non-central network node 2104 or a non-central data consuming network node may be configured to access the relational dataset.

[0265] Thus, the decentralized network node 2104 may be configured to determine a bill of materials tree associated with the tire based on the accessed relational dataset and the links between the decentralized identifiers of the starting materials and the resulting / intermediate products. The bill of materials tree may represent the relationships between all materials used to produce the tire. Thus, by recursively determining the decentralized identifiers using the relational representation, tire data and characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse of used tires may be obtained.

[0266] Material data collected by the non-central network node 2104 may be provided to an identity provider 2114. The identity provider 2114 may provide the collected data to a system configured to monitor characteristics important to recycling and / or reuse and / or to a system configured to generate reuse and / or recycling instructions based on characteristics important to recycling and / or reuse included in the collected tire data.

[0267] Figure 23 illustrates a method for obtaining tire data based on decentralized product identifiers and relationships. The method may be implemented in a decentralized network, such as that described in connection with Figure 19. The method may be implemented by the system of Figure 22.

[0268] The decentralized identifier associated with the decentralized network participant may be provided to a decentralized network node providing access to the data, such as a tire chain producer, as shown in FIG. 19 . The decentralized network participant may be a production participant in the tire production chain. The decentralized network participant may be any participant in the material loop (e.g., including the production and recycling chains) shown in the example of FIG. 19 . The decentralized identifier associated with the decentralized network participant requesting access may include a string of characters and / or numbers. The decentralized identifier associated with the decentralized network participant requesting access may be associated with an authentication scheme, such as a private-public key scheme. Use of the decentralized identifier associated with the decentralized network participant requesting access may improve security regarding access to the tire data, as access to the tire data may be limited and only defined decentralized network participants may be granted access to such data. The decentralized identifier associated with the decentralized network participant requesting access may be provided to a decentralized identity management access node of the decentralized network. The non-central identity management access node may be configured to perform an authentication step with a provider of the decentralized participant identifier. If authorization is successfully performed, the non-central identity management access node may provide an access token. This access token may be presented to the non-centralized network node providing access to the data. The authentication ensures that the collection of data related to the production of a plastic product or its components using the non-centralized network node requesting access can only be initiated by an authenticated decentralized network participant. This can improve security by preventing unauthorized entities from obtaining the entire bill of materials tree of a product or part thereof, which may contain sensitive data related to supply chain information.

[0269] A non-centralized network node requesting access may obtain an access element based on a decentralized identifier associated with the tire, one or more components of the tire, or a combination thereof, provided to the non-centralized registry node. The non-centralized registry node may store the decentralized identifier associated with the access element, for example, as described in connection with FIG. 20.

[0270] A decentralized network node requesting access may access the decentralized registry using a decentralized identifier associated with a tire or component thereof, as described in connection with FIG. 22, to determine an access element associated with the decentralized identifier.

[0271] A non-central network node requesting access to data may be configured to access a relationship dataset based on an access element obtained from a non-central registry node, as described in connection with FIG. 22 . The digital relationship dataset may specify a relationship between a tire or its components and production inputs, such as materials, used to produce the tire or its components, as shown in FIG. 22 . The relationship dataset may be directly or indirectly associated with a decentralized identifier associated with the tire or its components. This allows the decentralized identifier associated with the tire or its components to be used to determine the respective relationship dataset. The relationship dataset may specify that a production input, such as a material, was used to produce the tire or its portion, and / or that the tire or its portion was produced using a material. The relationship dataset may be associated with a relationship between a tire or its portion and each production input, such as a material, used to produce the tire or its portion, using, for example, a decentralized identifier associated with the tire and material identifiers associated with all production inputs, such as materials, used to produce the tire or its portion. Accordingly, such relationship dataset may also specify raw materials and intermediate products used in the production of the tire or its portion. The relational dataset may be associated with the relationships between input and output materials of a single production step or stage of the production chain. Such relationships may be linked to mirror the entire product production chain. An example of a relational dataset that may be used to determine decentralized material identifiers is shown, for example, in FIG. 22. Using the relational dataset to determine the decentralized identifiers associated with a tire or its components may enable the construction of a bill of material tree structure for the tire or its components.

[0272] A decentralized child identifier associated with the decentralized tire identifier may be determined based on the obtained relational dataset. The decentralized tire identifier may be considered a decentralized parent identifier. The decentralized child identifier may correspond to a material identifier associated with a material used to produce the tire or a portion thereof. The relational dataset may include one or more decentralized child identifiers. The relational dataset may include the decentralized tire identifier, thereby linking the decentralized tire identifier to each child identifier.

[0273] Depending on whether the decentralized child identifier has further child identifiers, it may be determined whether to acquire data associated with the decentralized child identifier. For example, if the child identifier is associated with tire data related to characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse of tires or their components, the data may be acquired. If the child identifier is not associated with tire data related to characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse of tires or their components, the data may not be acquired. The determination may be made based on data provided to the decentralized network node. For example, data associated with a defined dataset (hereinafter also referred to as an asset) may be provided, and this data may be used to determine whether to acquire further data. The dataset may be associated with tire data related to characteristics important for recycling and / or reuse of tires or their components. The tire data may include one or more datasets related to properties important for recycling for each recycling process, recycle rate usage, and / or decentralized participant identifier associated with the data consuming network node requesting access to the tire data. The tire data may include one or more datasets related to properties important for reuse for each reuse process and / or decentralized participant identifier associated with the data consuming network node requesting access to the tire data. Based on such information provided to the registry node and / or data providing network node, it may be determined whether data is provided. If tire data related to characteristics important to the recycling and / or reuse of tires or their components is obtained, the method obtains the data. Otherwise, the method proceeds to check for decentralized child identifiers.

[0274] Based on the determined decentralized child identifier, data related to the production, such as tire data, can be obtained. Data related to the production, such as tire data, can be obtained from a decentralized data-providing network node associated with the data related to the production. Each decentralized data-providing network node can be determined by the decentralized network node using the determined decentralized child identifier. For example, the decentralized child identifier can be associated with access data that points to data related to the production or a portion thereof. The access data can correspond to an endpoint address associated with each decentralized data-providing network node. The access data can be stored in a decentralized registry node and can be determined using the previously determined decentralized child identifier. The access data can be used to access tire data at a decentralized data-providing network node associated with the digital representation. The decentralized data-providing network node can be associated with a storage environment that stores the tire data. The decentralized data-providing network node can be associated with a data owner of the tire data. The decentralized data-providing network node can be associated with a producer of each tire or its component. Data exchange can be performed after respective authentication and authorization processes. Authorization can be based on the decentralized participant identifier. For example, the non-centralized data-providing network node may use authorization or access rules associated with the provided decentralized participant identifier to determine whether the tire data may be accessed, and the accessed tire data may be transferred to and stored in a storage environment associated with the non-centralized network node requesting access to the data.

[0275] It may be determined whether a relationship exists for the determined decentralized child identifier. To this end, a non-centralized network node requesting data may access a non-centralized registry node and determine whether an access element associated with the determined decentralized child identifier exists in said registry. If present, the method proceeds to determine the child identifier. If not, the method proceeds to access and obtain the data.

[0276] The access element associated with the determined decentralized child identifier may be obtained from a decentralized registry network node, as described above. The access data may be used to access the associated relationship data set, as described above. The determined decentralized child identifier may be considered a decentralized parent identifier. The method may return to such determination and repeat steps using the determined decentralized child identifier until no further decentralized child identifiers exist, for example, until a leaf node of the bill of materials tree is reached. By recursively determining the decentralized child identifiers associated with the decentralized material identifier, a complete bill of materials tree structure associated with a tire or portion thereof may be obtained, and for example, relationships between materials used to produce the tire or portion thereof may be determined.

[0277] In a final step, the collected tire data may be provided. The collected data may include all tire data collected based on child identifiers from different participant network nodes. The collected tire data may be provided to a storage environment associated with the network node requesting the data. The network node requesting the tire data may be part of a decentralized network, for example, a decentralized data consuming network node.

[0278] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples. However, other variations can be understood and implemented by those skilled in the art and those practicing the claimed invention upon studying the drawings, the disclosure, and the claims. In particular, any steps presented may be performed in any order, i.e., the present invention is not limited to a particular order of these steps. Furthermore, it is not required that different steps be performed at a particular location or at one node of a distributed system, i.e., each of the steps may be performed at a different node using different equipment / data processing units.

[0279] In the description as well as in the claims, the term "comprises" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite articles "a" or "an" do not exclude a plurality. The words "can" or "may" refer to an optional feature. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items referred to in a claim. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage in an implementation.

[0280] Although this disclosure has been described in conjunction with embodiments and examples, other variations can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the claims.

[0281] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to any particular order of these steps. It is also not required that different steps be performed at a particular location or on a particular computing node of a distributed system; i.e., each of the steps may be performed on a different computing node using different equipment / data processing.

[0282] As used herein, "determining" also includes "initiating or causing a determination," "generating" also includes "initiating generation and / or causing generation," and "providing" also includes "initiating or causing determination, generation, selection, transmission, and / or reception." "Initiating or causing the performance of an action" includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0283] All terms and definitions used herein are to be broadly understood and have their ordinary meaning.

Claims

1. 1. An apparatus for generating a tire passport, said apparatus comprising: one or more computing nodes; and one or more computer-readable media that, when executed by the one or more computing nodes, causes the apparatus to perform the following steps: receiving a request to provide tire data and a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner; generating the tire passport in response to the request, the tire passport including data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data; providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service under the control of or controlled by a data provision service associated with the data owner; one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions configured to cause the An apparatus comprising:

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the decentralized identifier is provided by a central node or by one or more non-centralized nodes.

3. 3. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the decentralized identifier is provided to a node that generates the tire passport and to at least one authentication data registry, preferably accessible by the data providing service and / or the data consuming service.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said generating said tire passport comprises providing said decentralized identifier associated with the physical entity of the tire.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tire passport includes one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the data relating to the decentralized identifier and the tire data.

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the tire passport is associated with one or more authorization mechanisms associated with the data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data.

7. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the data related to the tire data comprises one or more digital representations that refer to the tire data or portions thereof.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the tire passport is associated with data relating to different classes of tire data.

9. 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the tire passport is associated with at least one class of tire data including data related to the characteristics of the tire and / or data related to the use of the tire and / or production data.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the tire passport is associated with at least one class of tire data including restricted access tire data associated with the physical entity of the tire.

11. 1. A computer-implemented method for generating a tire passport, said method comprising: receiving a request to provide tire data and a decentralized identifier associated with the data owner; generating the tire passport in response to the request, the tire passport including data related to the decentralized identifier and the tire data; providing the tire passport for access by a data consumption service under the control of or controlled by a data provision service associated with the data owner; 20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

12. Use of the tire passport generated according to the method of claim 11 or by the device of any one of claims 1 to 10 to determine the characteristics and / or treatment of the tire associated with said tire passport.

13. A tire associated with said tire passport, wherein said tire passport containing data related to said decentralized identifier and said tire data is generated according to the method of claim 11 or by the device of any one of claims 1 to 10.

14. A tire passport comprising data relating to said decentralized identifier and said tire data, said tire passport being generated according to the method of claim 11 or by the device of any one of claims 1 to 10.

15. A computer element comprising instructions, the instructions being configured, when executed on one or more computing nodes, to perform the steps of the method of claim 11 or to be performed by the apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 10.

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