Digital twin generation using streaming chemical product data

Abstract

This disclosure relates to apparatus and systems for generating digital twins of physical entities of chemical products, computer implementations and computer program elements, methods for providing chemical products associated with such digital twins and each respective apparatus, system and computer program element, use of digital twins, chemical products associated with such digital twins, such digital twins, and computer implementations, apparatus and computer program elements for generating digital access elements associated with such digital twins.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and system for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, a computer-implemented method and a computer program element, a method for providing a chemical product associated with such a digital twin and each apparatus, system and computer program element, the use of a digital twin, a chemical product associated with such a digital twin, such a digital twin, and a computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer program element for generating a digital access element associated with such a digital twin.

Background Art

[0002] Background Art In the supply of chemical products, it is necessary to meet many different regulatory requirements depending on the chemical products. For example, in the automotive supply chain, chemical companies use the International Material Data System (IMDS) to provide standardized information. In such a system, it is possible to collect data along the entire automotive supply chain. Participants in the automotive supply chain register with the IMDS service and maintain product entries in a central database provided and hosted by a third-party provider.

[0003] Systems such as IMDS are static with respect to data, prone to errors, and cumbersome to handle or maintain. Due to the highly specific and centralized setup of such systems, the generation, exchange, and sharing of digital twins of chemical products is a laborious task. Therefore, there is a need to simplify the generation, exchange, and sharing of digital twins of chemical products.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] Summary of the Invention In one embodiment, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, the apparatus is a) A data processing system comprising one or more input nodes configured to collect data associated with a chemical product from one or more distributed data sources, each containing one or more data instances related to a chemical product, optionally transform the collected data, and provide the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product. b) A digital twin generator including one or more downstream nodes, Equipped with, the downstream node, - Consume collected or transformed data associated with chemical products provided by one or more input nodes, based on received data related to chemical products. - To provide consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner. - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model. - For each retrieved behavioral model, a digital twin dataset is generated by applying that respective retrieved behavioral model to the consumed data. - To generate a digital twin of a chemical product, including a provided decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset. It was configured to perform the following actions.

[0005] In yet another aspect, the disclosure relates to a system for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, wherein the system a) A data source layer configured to provide data associated with chemical products from one or more distributed data sources, b) A service layer comprising a data processing device comprising one or more input nodes configured to collect data provided by one or more distributed data sources, which include one or more data instances related to a chemical product, optionally transform the collected data, and provide the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product, c) A consumer layer including a digital twin generator which includes one or more downstream nodes, where the downstream nodes are - Consumption of collected or transformed data associated with chemical products provided by the service layer, based on received data related to chemical products. - To provide consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner. - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model. -By applying each searched behavioral model to the consumed data, a digital twin dataset is generated for each searched behavioral model, and - To generate a digital twin of a chemical product, including the provided decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset. A consumer group configured to perform d) A connector layer optionally configured to provide access to the generated digital twin and / or at least one chemical product dataset contained in the generated digital twin. It is equipped with.

[0006] In yet another aspect, the disclosure relates to a computer-aided method for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, wherein the method e) Collecting data associated with a chemical product from one or more distributed data sources, including one or more data instances related to the chemical product, by one or more input nodes, optionally transforming the collected data, and providing the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product, and providing the collected or transformed data. f) By one or more downstream nodes, - Consume collected or transformed data associated with chemical products provided by one or more input nodes, based on received data related to chemical products. - To provide consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner, and - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model. - For each retrieved behavioral model, a digital twin dataset is generated by applying the respective acquired behavioral model to the consumed data. - To generate a digital twin of a chemical product, including a provided decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset. Includes.

[0007] In yet another aspect, the disclosure relates to a method for providing chemical products related to digital twins, wherein the method is - The process of producing chemical products from one or more input materials through chemical production, -Generating a digital twin in accordance with a computer implementation method for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein, or by an apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein, - Assigning the physical identifier associated with the produced chemical product to the decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin, Includes.

[0008] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for providing chemical products associated with a digital twin, the apparatus is - A requester configured to generate a request for generating a digital twin of the physical entity of a chemical product, wherein the request includes data related to the chemical product and data related to at least one aspect model associated with the chemical product, - Apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein, - An assignment device configured to assign physical identifiers associated with chemical products to decentralized digital twin identifiers included in a digital twin, It is equipped with.

[0009] In yet another aspect, the disclosure relates to a system for providing chemical products associated with a digital twin, the system is - A production line configured to produce chemical products from one or more input materials through chemical production. - A collector configured to collect data associated with the chemical products produced. - A data layer configured to store collected data associated with chemical products in one or more distributed data sources. - A requester configured to generate a request for generating a digital twin of the physical entity of a chemical product, wherein the request includes data related to the chemical product and data related to at least one aspect model associated with the chemical product, - Apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein, - An assignment device configured to assign a physical identifier associated with a manufactured chemical product to a decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin. comprises.

[0010] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus for providing a chemical product associated with a digital twin, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform a method for providing a chemical product associated with a digital twin as disclosed herein.

[0011] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for using a digital twin, preferably for processing a chemical product associated with the digital twin, the method comprising: - receiving, by at least one non-central data consumption network node, a request to access a digital twin or a portion thereof, the digital twin being generated in accordance with a computer-implemented method for generating a digital twin of a chemical product as disclosed herein in a non-central data providing network node associated with the digital twin, or being generated by an apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product as disclosed herein; - optionally, authenticating and / or authorizing, by the non-central data providing network node, the request to access the digital twin or the portion thereof; - providing, by the non-central data providing network node, access to the digital twin or the portion thereof based on the non-central digital twin identifier and optionally based on authentication and / or authorization. includes.

[0012] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to the use of a digital twin generated in accordance with a computer-implemented method for generating a digital twin of a chemical product as disclosed herein or by an apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product as disclosed herein.

[0013] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to chemical products associated with a digital twin, the digital twin being generated according to a computer-implemented method for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein or by an apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein.

[0014] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to chemical products associated with a digital twin, the chemical products associated with the digital twin being provided according to a method for providing chemical products associated with a digital twin disclosed herein or by an apparatus or system for providing chemical products associated with a digital twin disclosed herein.

[0015] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a digital twin generated according to a computer-implemented method for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein or by an apparatus or system for generating a digital twin of a chemical product disclosed herein.

[0016] In yet another aspect, the present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for generating a digital access element associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, the method comprising: - generating a digital twin associated with a chemical product according to a computer-implemented method for generating a digital twin disclosed herein or by an apparatus for generating a digital twin disclosed herein or by a system for generating a digital twin disclosed herein; - receiving a request to provide a decentralized access element identifier associated with the digital twin of the chemical product; - in response to the request, providing the decentralized access element identifier and generating a digital access element including the provided decentralized access element identifier associated with the digital twin and access data. -Optionally, provide digital access elements generated for accessing the digital twin or a portion thereof by a decentralized data consumption network node service, under the control of a decentralized data serving network node associated with the data owner of the digital twin or a portion thereof. Includes.

[0017] In yet another aspect, the Disclosure relates to an apparatus for or for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, the apparatus comprising one or more computing nodes and one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by one or more computing nodes, cause the apparatus to execute a method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product.

[0018] In another aspect, the disclosure discloses computer elements such as computer-readable storage media, computer programs, or computer program products, which, when executed by a computing node or computing system, include instructions that instruct the computing node or computing system to perform steps of a computer-implemented method disclosed herein.

[0019] In another aspect, the disclosure discloses computer elements such as computer-readable storage media, computer programs, or computer program products that, when executed by an apparatus or system disclosed herein, include instructions that instruct the apparatus or system to perform steps configured to be performed by the apparatus or system disclosed herein.

[0020] Any disclosures, embodiments, and examples described herein relate to the methods, systems, apparatus, digital twins, chemical products, uses, digital access elements, and computer elements described above and below. Advantageously, any benefits derived from any embodiment or example are equally applicable to all other embodiments and examples.

[0021] Embodiment The methods, apparatus, systems, digital twins, chemical products, uses, digital access elements, and computer elements disclosed herein provide an efficient, secure, and robust method for generating digital twins of chemical products having a highly defined data structure from various data associated with the chemical product, enabling the sharing and exchange of the digital twins among different stakeholders in the chemical value chain. Availability, integrity, and confidentiality are ensured by generating the digital twins using a hierarchical approach. In particular, the digital twin may be generated from data contained in multiple distributed data sources, such as different distributed databases, by collecting and processing data from the distributed data sources using stream processing. The digital twin may correspond to a digital representation of the physical entity of the chemical product. The digital twin may be linked to the chemical product via a link between a decentralized identifier contained in the digital twin and a physical identifier physically connected to the chemical product, thus enabling the sharing of chemical product data in a virtual world using the decentralized digital twin identifier contained in the digital twin. For example, a chemical product containing a physical identifier may be provided from a chemical producer to a chemical consumer, while a digital twin of the chemical product may be shared with the chemical consumer within a decentralized network by a decentralized data consumption network node associated with the chemical consumer, which requests access to the digital twin or a portion thereof at a decentralized data delivery network node associated with the chemical producer, using a decentralized digital twin identifier linked to the physical identifier. Sharing of the digital twin or a portion thereof may be controlled by the data owner of the digital twin or a portion thereof, such as the chemical producer, via the decentralized data delivery network node. The decentralized data delivery network node may implement one or more authentication mechanisms to allow for more flexible sharing or exchange of the digital twin or a portion thereof with multiple decentralized data consumption network nodes from different stakeholders in the chemical supply chain accessing the digital twin or a portion thereof.

[0022] Therefore, data owners can control access to the digital twin or a portion thereof by participant nodes or data consumption services in a decentralized network. In this way, the digital twin or a portion thereof can be securely shared under the sovereignty of the data owner within the decentralized network. Thus, it is possible to achieve more reliable and efficient further processing of chemical products supplied by upstream participants in the chemical supply chain, while keeping the digital twin or a portion thereof within the ownership of the chemical supplier supplying the upstream participants.

[0023] The object of the present invention is to provide a digital twin of chemical products having a highly defined data structure that can be shared in a simplified and flexible manner from the chemical industry to those involved in the chemical supply chain. These and other objects will become clear from reading the following description and are resolved by the subject matter set forth in the independent claims. Dependent claims refer to preferred embodiments of the present invention.

[0024] The following describes several embodiments of this disclosure as examples. Please understand that this disclosure is not limited to the above embodiments and / or examples.

[0025] In one embodiment, a digital twin of a chemical product may be a digital representation of the physical entity of the chemical product, having a defined semantic description of the physical entity of the chemical product. Thus, a digital twin of the physical entity of a chemical product is a digital version of the physical entity. Once created, the digital twin can be used to represent the physical entity of a chemical product in a real-world system in a digital representation. The digital twin may be uniquely linked to the physical chemical product, at least via a decentralized digital twin identifier. The digital twin may be created to be identical to the form and behavior of the corresponding chemical product. In addition, the digital twin may reflect the characteristics of the chemical product throughout its lifespan. For example, a sensor may capture real-time (or near real-time) data, such as transport or usage data, from the physical chemical product and relay it to a remote digital twin. The digital twin may then be updated to maintain its correspondence with the physical entity of the chemical product. Thus, the digital twin may represent the current state of the physical entity of the chemical product at any given time. The digital twin may contain one or more digital twin datasets. At least one digital twin dataset may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of a chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product. Each digital twin dataset may include defined chemical product data. Each digital twin dataset may be associated with a decentralized digital twin identifier. Each digital twin dataset may be further associated with a digital twin dataset identifier. This makes it possible to uniquely identify each digital twin dataset included in the digital twin by using the digital twin dataset identifier associated with the digital twin dataset. A digital twin may include a decentralized digital twin identifier, digital twin datasets, and digital twin dataset identifiers associated with the digital twin datasets. A digital twin may further include chemical product identifiers.

[0026] In one embodiment, a chemical product may be a chemical product obtained from at least one chemical reaction. A chemical product may include a natural chemical product. A natural chemical product may include any chemical product produced naturally without human interaction or intervention, i.e., any untreated chemical substance found in nature, such as chemicals from plants, microorganisms, animals, the earth, and the sea, or any chemical substance found in nature and extracted using a process that does not alter its chemical composition. A natural chemical product may include biological products such as enzymes and naturally occurring inorganic or organic chemical products. A natural chemical product may be separated and purified before use, or may be used in an unseparated and / or unpurified form. A chemical product may be a synthetic chemical product. A synthetic chemical product may include a chemical product produced by human interaction or intervention. A synthetic chemical product may be produced using the same chemical reactions that occur in nature, or using different chemical reactions. A chemical product may be any inorganic or organic chemical product obtained by the reaction of inorganic and / or organic chemical reactions. Inorganic and organic chemical reactants may be natural chemical products or synthetic chemical products. A chemical reaction can include any chemical reaction generally known in the art in which reactants are converted into one or more different chemical products. A chemical reaction can include the use of catalysts, enzymes, bacteria, etc., to achieve the chemical reaction between reactants. A chemical product can be produced from one or more input materials by chemical production. A chemical product can include raw materials. A chemical product can include chemical materials produced by reacting at least two raw materials. A chemical product can include components. A chemical product can include component assemblies. A chemical product can include the final product.

[0027] In one embodiment, a physical entity may relate to a physical embodiment of a chemical product. A physical entity may be any chemical product in a chemical supply chain. A physical entity of a chemical product may be a raw material or basic substance, a chemical product, a chemical material, a chemical composition, a chemical mixture, a component, a component assembly, a finished product, or a combination thereof.

[0028] In one embodiment, data associated with a chemical product may be distributed across several data sources, hereafter referred to as distributed data sources. A distributed data source can be a collection of data stored at different sites on a computer network. Each site may exhibit a degree of autonomy, not only providing services for the execution of local applications but also participating in the execution of global applications. For example, a distributed data source can be a distributed database. A distributed database can be created by dividing and distributing the data of an existing database across different sites, or by merging several existing databases together. Each data source may contain only fragments of data associated with a chemical product. This leads to the data fragmentation described above. Two common types of data fragmentation are horizontal fragmentation, where (possibly overlapping) subsets of data tuples are stored at different sites, and vertical fragmentation, where (possibly overlapping) subtuples of data tuples are stored at different sites. More generally, data associated with a chemical product may be fragmented into a set of relationships (tables in a relational database distributed across multiple sites).

[0029] In one embodiment, an input node may represent a compute node that collects data from one or more distributed data sources. One or more input nodes may be configured to transform the collected data. The collected or transformed data may be transmitted downstream from the input node to one or more downstream nodes. An input node may be configured to receive data requests from downstream nodes and, in response to receiving a request, may collect and transform data from the distributed data sources. An input node may be configured to collect data from the distributed data sources at predetermined time intervals. Downstream nodes may be configured to retrieve data provided by the input node. Downstream nodes may be configured to receive data provided by the input node. An input node may be configured to provide data to a persistent log or a non-persistent log. Downstream nodes may be configured to retrieve data provided to the persistent log or a non-persistent log. Downstream nodes may be configured to receive data provided to the persistent log or a non-persistent log. An input node may be part of a decentralized network. An input node may be associated with a decentralized network. For example, an input node may be associated with a decentralized data provision network node that is part of a decentralized network.

[0030] In one embodiment, a downstream node may refer to a compute node that consumes data from compute nodes that are upstream with respect to the data flow. Consuming data may include receiving or retrieving data from input nodes or persistent or non-persistent logs. For example, data "flows" downstream from input nodes to downstream nodes. A downstream node may be considered an output node. A request for data may be sent upstream from a downstream node to an input node. A downstream node may be configured to receive a request to generate a digital twin of a chemical product. In response to the request, the downstream node may retrieve or receive collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product from the input node and generate the digital twin. A downstream node may be part of a decentralized network. A downstream node may be associated with a decentralized network. For example, a downstream node may be associated with a decentralized data-serving network node that is part of a decentralized network.

[0031] In one embodiment, the decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized access element identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with the digital twin and / or digital twin dataset, and optionally the data owner. The decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized access element identifier may link the physical entity of a chemical product to the digital twin. The decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized access element identifier may include one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) or digital identifiers (DIDs). One or more DIDs and / or UUIDs may be associated with the digital twin and / or digital twin dataset. One or more DIDs and / or UUIDs may be further associated with a chemical product. The decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier may be issued by a central or decentralized ID issuer. The decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier may be generated by the data owner or on behalf of the data owner of the digital twin data. The decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier may include authentication information. Access to the digital twin generated from the data or to parts of the digital twin, such as digital twin datasets included in the digital twin, may be controlled by the data owner, via a decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier, and the digital twin (and by extension, the chemical product) and optionally its unique association with the data owner. This is in contrast to a centralized authorization scheme, in which identifiers are provided by such central authorization and access to data is controlled by such central authorization. In this context, decentralized refers to the use of decentralized identifiers in embodiments controlled by the data owner. Decentralized digital twin identifiers and decentralized passport identifiers may include or be associated with one or more identifiers used in a decentralized network that enable data exchange over the decentralized network.For example, a decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier may include or be associated with a digital twin dataset identifier of a digital twin dataset, such as a UUID of the digital twin dataset. Any combination of UUIDs and DIDs is possible. For example, the decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier may be a DID, while the digital twin data identifier may be a UUID. In another example, the decentralized digital twin identifier and / or decentralized passport identifier and the digital twin data identifier may be UUIDs. Data exchange may include the discovery of a decentralized identifier and, optionally, identifiers associated with the decentralized identifier of participant nodes in a decentralized network, authentication of participant nodes in a decentralized network, and / or authorization of data transfer via peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes in a decentralized network. A decentralized identifier may be associated with any involvement in the supply chain, including chemical raw material suppliers, intermediate chemical product manufacturers, intermediate product manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, or final product manufacturers. Decentralized identifiers may be associated with machines, systems, or devices used in the manufacture of raw materials, basic substances, chemical products, intermediate products, components, component assemblies, or final products, or with collections of such machines, devices, and / or systems.

[0032] In one embodiment, the embodiment model may include a semantic description of each digital twin dataset associated with the digital twin. The semantic description may include the structure of at least some of the digital twin datasets and / or the properties of the digital twin datasets. The properties of the digital twin dataset may include the data type. The properties of the digital twin dataset may include possible or acceptable values ​​and / or value ranges. The properties of the digital twin dataset may be the physical units of parameters described by the values ​​contained in the digital twin dataset.

[0033] In one embodiment, a digital twin dataset may correspond to a data structure obtained by applying a respective embodiment model to collected data associated with the physical entity of a chemical product. The digital twin dataset may include values ​​and / or value ranges defined in the embodiment model used to generate the digital twin dataset. Thus, each digital twin dataset includes the data structure and data defined by the embodiment model used to generate it. This ensures that each digital twin dataset has a defined structure and includes defined data, thus simplifying data exchange and the processing of exchanged data regarding chemical products.

[0034] In one embodiment, stream processing (hereinafter also referred to as "streaming") may refer to receiving or collecting a stream of data, processing the data, and streaming the processed data out as a single flow. The data may be received or collected from one or more distributed data sources, for example, by an input node. The data may be processed by an intermediate computing node and provided to downstream nodes. The data may be stored in a persistent or non-persistent log before being provided to the downstream nodes.

[0035] In one embodiment, chemical properties may be properties of a chemical product that become apparent during or after a chemical reaction. Therefore, chemical properties may be any quality that can only be established by altering the chemical identity of a chemical product. Examples of chemical properties include heat of combustion, enthalpy of formation, toxicity, chemical stability in a given environment, flammability, oxidation state, corrosiveness, combustibility, acidity and basicity, chemical product composition, recyclable content used to produce or manufacture the chemical product, biobase content used to produce or manufacture the chemical product, renewable content used to produce or manufacture the chemical product, and pH value.

[0036] In one embodiment, physical properties can be any measurable property. Therefore, the values ​​of physical properties describe the state of a chemical product. Examples of physical properties include absorption, brittleness, boiling point, capacitance, color, concentration, density, ductility, distribution, effectiveness, elasticity, charge, conductivity, electrical impedance, potential, flow rate, fluidity, hardness, heat capacity, inductance, intrinsic impedance, brightness, luminescence, gloss, mass, melting point, opacity, transmittance, dielectric constant, plasticity, pressure, radiance, resistivity, reflectance, refractive index, solubility, specific heat, strength, stiffness, temperature, tension, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, viscosity, volume, and wave impedance.

[0037] In one embodiment, the measured at least one physical and / or chemical property is acquired by a sensor configured to measure the physical and / or chemical property. The sensor may be included in a measuring device. The sensor may correspond to a measuring device. For example, the physical and / or chemical property may include properties provided by a sensor of a mobile device such as a camera, or a measuring device configured to measure at least one physical and / or chemical property.

[0038] In one embodiment, data associated with the production of a chemical product is collected before, during, and / or after the production of the chemical product. The collected chemical product data may be used to determine at least one physical and / or chemical property of the produced chemical product. For example, chemical product emission data may be determined based on chemical product data collected during the production of the chemical product. Data associated with the production of a chemical product may include chemical production data from the production of the chemical product. Data associated with the production of a chemical product may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of the chemical product.

[0039] In one embodiment, data associated with the use of a chemical product is collected via at least one identifier associated with the chemical product. The data may be collected before, during, or after use of the chemical product. The collected data may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the used chemical product. The measured physical and / or chemical property may include the aforementioned chemical and / or physical property. The data may be collected using a suitable sensor configured to measure the chemical and / or physical property. The sensor data may be correlated with identifiers associated with the chemical product. The chemical and / or physical property determined from the sensor data may be correlated with identifiers associated with the chemical product. The identifier may be a chemical product identifier. The identifier may be a decentralized digital twin identifier. The decentralized digital twin identifier may be linked to other decentralized product identifiers according to the physical relationship between the chemical product entity and other physical entities, for example, things produced using the chemical product or things produced from the chemical product. Thus, participant nodes in a decentralized network may be able to interpret the relationships of decentralized digital twin identifiers corresponding to the physical relationships of the physical chemical product entity to other physical entities. By linking decentralized digital twin identifiers with other decentralized product identifiers, it becomes possible to determine decentralized participant nodes that store collected data associated with the use of a chemical product or determined physical and / or chemical properties. The collected data and / or determined chemical and / or physical properties may be provided by the decentralized participant nodes and stored in the digital twin. For example, a new dataset may be generated by applying a mode model associated with the use of a chemical product, and this new dataset may be used to update the digital twin.

[0040] In one embodiment, a digital twin is generated by a decentralized engagement network node of a decentralized network. A decentralized engagement node may communicate with a decentralized data-providing network node that provides access to the digital twin. A decentralized engagement node may be associated with a decentralized data-providing network node that provides access to the digital twin. The decentralized network may be a decentralized peer-to-peer communication network. The decentralized network may include engagement network nodes associated with stakeholders of the decentralized network, which may be configured to perform data transactions. A decentralized engagement node may include network nodes of the decentralized network. Network nodes associated with stakeholders in a chemical supply chain may be associated with raw material chemical suppliers, intermediate chemical manufacturers, intermediate component manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, or final product manufacturers. Data transactions may be based on a transaction protocol that includes an authentication mechanism and / or authorization mechanism. Peer-to-peer communication may be established between decentralized network nodes associated with stakeholders of the decentralized network based on the authentication and / or authorization mechanism. One or more authentication mechanisms may be associated with or linked to decentralized identifiers contained in the digital twin and / or digital access elements. One or more authentication mechanisms associated with decentralized identifiers contained in the digital twin and / or digital access elements may be accessible by decentralized data serving network nodes and / or decentralized data consumption network nodes. Decentralized configurations enable more efficient use of computing resources and enhance control by data owners. Decentralized data serving network nodes that provide access to the digital twin or a portion thereof, and one or more decentralized data consumption network nodes that access the digital twin or a portion thereof, may be part of a decentralized network. Decentralized data consumption network nodes and decentralized data serving network nodes may be considered decentralized participant nodes in a decentralized network.

[0041] In one embodiment, a decentralized data-serving network node and one or more decentralized data-consuming network nodes may be part of a decentralized network. The decentralized data-consuming network node and the decentralized data-serving network node may be considered decentralized participant nodes of the decentralized network.

[0042] Chemical products may be produced by chemical production from one or more input materials. Materials may include raw materials, intermediate chemicals, or chemical products received from suppliers. Chemical production may be a chemical production network comprising multiple interconnected processing steps. A chemical production network may be an integrated chemical production network having interrelated production chains. A chemical production network may include multiple different production chains sharing at least one intermediate. A chemical production network may include multiple stages of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network may include multiple production chains that output chemical products from one or more input materials as inputs. A chemical production network may include multiple layers of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network may include a configuration of physically interconnected production sites. Production sites may be in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, production sites may be interconnected by dedicated transport systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles such as trucks, supply chain vessels, or other means of freight transport. Chemical production may be controlled by an operating system. An operating system may be configured to perform the methods disclosed herein. An operating system may include the apparatus and systems disclosed herein. Chemical products may include physical identifiers. These physical identifiers may be present on the packaging of the manufactured chemical products. The physical identifiers may also be codes such as QR codes (registered trademarks) or embossed codes, or NFT tags. The physical identifiers may be assigned to the decentralized identifier of the digital twin in order to associate the generated digital twin and the chemical product dataset contained therein with the physical entity of the chemical product.

[0043] In one embodiment, data associated with a chemical product includes one or more chemical product identifiers associated with the chemical product. This may allow the data to identify the chemical product to which it is associated. One or more chemical product identifiers may include a batch number, chemical product name, chemical product ID, part number, lot number, or a combination thereof. The lot number may be assigned to the chemical product at the time of production. The chemical product identifiers enable the unique identification of the physical entity of each chemical product, and thus link all data associated with the identifiers to the physical entity of the chemical product.

[0044] In one embodiment, data associated with a chemical product includes chemical product data. Chemical product data may include data relating to the properties of the physical entity of the chemical product and / or data relating to the use of the physical entity of the chemical product and / or data relating to the production of the chemical product. The properties of the physical entity of the chemical product may be static or dynamic properties. Static properties may be properties that remain constant over time, such as melting point, boiling point, density, hardness, flammability, etc. Dynamic properties may be properties that change over time, such as shelf life, pH value, color, reactivity, etc. The properties of a chemical product may include performance properties, chemical properties such as flammability, toxicity, acidity, reactivity, and heat of combustion, and / or physical properties such as density, color, hardness, melting point, and boiling point, conductivity, etc. Data relating to the use of a chemical product may include, for example, data relating to further processing of the chemical product by using the chemical product as a reactant in further chemical reactions and / or data relating to the use of the chemical product, such as data relating to the use of the chemical product in processing processes and / or within manufacturing processes. Chemical product data may include chemical data, emission data, recyclable content, bio-based content, and / or production data. Data related to the production of chemical products may include any data related to the production of chemical products at any stage in the chemical supply chain. The above data includes chemical production data from the production of chemical products. Production data may include monitoring and / or control data associated with the production of chemical products. Production data may include measurement data related to product quality, preferably the quality of the chemical product, at any stage in the chemical supply chain.

[0045] Chemical product data may include chemical product name, chemical product composition, measured and / or determined chemical and / or physical properties, chemical product emission data, chemical product recycling content, chemical product bio-based content, chemical product production data, chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, certificates of analytical data associated with the chemical product, or a combination thereof. Emission data may include any data related to the environmental footprint. The environmental footprint may refer to an entity and its associated environmental footprint. The environmental footprint may be entity-specific. For example, the environmental footprint may relate to a product, a company, a process such as a manufacturing process, raw materials or basic substances, chemical products or materials, components, component assemblies, final products, combinations thereof, or additional entity-specific relationships. Emission data may include data related to the carbon footprint or product carbon footprint (PCF) of a chemical product. Emission data may include, for example, data related to greenhouse gas emissions released in the production of a chemical product. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), combinations thereof, and additional emissions. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions from the activities of the entity or company itself (production, power supply to plants, and waste incineration). Scope 2 may include emissions from externally supplied energy production. Scope 3 may include all other emissions along the value chain. Specifically, this may include greenhouse gas emissions from raw materials obtained from suppliers. The product carbon footprint (PCF) may sum up greenhouse gas emissions and removals from a series of interconnected processes related to a particular product. Cradle-to-gate plant-climate emissions (PCFs) can be the sum of greenhouse gas emissions based on selected process stages, from resource extraction to the factory gate where the product leaves the company. Such PCFs may be called partial PCFs.To achieve such aggregation, each company offering any product may provide Scope 1 and Scope 2 contributions to the PCF for each product.

[0046] Recycled content data, bio-based content data, and renewable content data may include any data related to the recycled content, bio-based content, or renewable content used to produce or manufacture the physical entity of a chemical product.

[0047] Chemical product data may include different classes of chemical product data. At least one class of chemical product data may include chemical substance data, e.g., data required by regulations or regulatory data for chemical substances. Chemical substance data may include certificates of chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, and analytical data. At least one class of chemical product data may include emission data, recyclable content data, bio-based content data, and / or production data associated with the physical entity of the chemical product. Access rules can be associated with each class. The access rules for each class may differ from one another. This makes it possible to define access to the digital twin at a more granular level, thus improving security and preventing unwanted access by unauthorized decentralized data consumption services to classes containing more sensitive information, such as the composition of chemical products.

[0048] A chemical production process that produces chemical products from one or more input materials may be associated with one or more distributed data sources. The one or more distributed data sources contain data instances related to the chemical products. In one embodiment, the data instances relate to chemical product data. For example, a data instance relating to a chemical product may include the chemical product name. The distributed data sources may include a master database, an operational database, a data warehouse, or other data sources used to store data associated with chemical products. Using distributed data sources to store data associated with chemical products enables improved tunability, platform autonomy, fault tolerance, scalability, location transparency, field autonomy, and enhanced security.

[0049] In one embodiment, data is collected from one or more distributed data sources at predefined time intervals. For example, data may be collected hourly or daily. This makes it possible to collect data at regular, predefined time intervals that can match the production frequency. In another embodiment, data is collected from one or more distributed data sources when a trigger is detected. For example, an input node may be configured to receive a trigger, and such data may indicate the production of a batch of chemical products, and the input node may also collect data associated with the chemical products from one or more distributed data sources in response to the reception of the trigger. This makes it possible to collect data as needed and thus avoid situations where necessary data has not yet been collected.

[0050] In one embodiment, transforming collected data involves applying one or more rules to unify the different data structures contained in the collected data into a predefined data structure. A uniform data structure ensures that the aspect model can be efficiently applied by downstream nodes without requiring prior data transformation operations. Thus, the predefined data structure can ensure that the aspect model can be applied to the data structure. At least one transformation operation may include applying filtering rules, semantic rules, data type rules, mapping rules, join rules, reduction rules, aggregation rules, flattening rules, analysis rules, sorting rules, stringi-finding rules, cast rules, windowing rules, or a combination thereof. For example, data associated with chemical products may be filtered according to business segments or according to chemical products. Semantic rules can ensure that data structures from different data sources are unified, and thus ensure that the aspect model can be applied without errors resulting from inaccurate data or data types.

[0051] In one embodiment, the collected or transformed data is stored in a database before being provided to one or more downstream nodes. Storing the collected or transformed data in a database may include: - Determining whether the collected or transformed data is already included in the database, or whether the collected or transformed data is an update to data already included in the database. -Storing collected or transformed data in the database based on the determination that the collected or transformed data is not included in the database, or updating data stored according to the collected or transformed data based on the determination that the collected or transformed data is an update.

[0052] This may enable providing only updated or newly collected data to downstream nodes, thus reducing the amount of data provided to downstream nodes. This may reduce data traffic and ensure that only the data necessary for generating the chemical product dataset is provided to downstream nodes. Consequently, overall data traffic may decrease, and the stability and availability of the entire system may improve.

[0053] In one embodiment, providing collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes includes providing the collected or transformed data to a persistent or non-persistent log and providing one or more downstream nodes with access to the persistent or non-persistent log. The use of a non-persistent log may reduce the amount of storage required to store the collected or transformed data. The use of a persistent log makes it possible to maintain a history of the collected data. The persistent or non-persistent log may be part of a stream storage system in a stream processing system and may enable the storage of streams of data. Data may be provided to one or more persistent and / or non-persistent logs. For example, data may be provided to several persistent and / or non-persistent logs. This may enable scaling of data consumption from persistent or non-persistent logs by allowing more downstream nodes to be allocated to the logs.

[0054] Providing collected or transformed data to a persistent or non-persistent log may include retrieving the collected or transformed data from a database and providing the retrieved data to the persistent or non-persistent log. This may be done in particular when the collected or transformed data is stored in a database as described above.

[0055] Providing one or more downstream nodes with access to collected or transformed data may involve sending the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes based on their assignment to persistent or non-persistent logs. Thus, data residing in persistent or non-persistent logs can be retrieved or received by each downstream node from its associated persistent or non-persistent log. This may allow for scaling data consumption from persistent or non-persistent logs and assigning more downstream nodes to each log. Furthermore, this avoids downtime issues, as data can be consumed by another downstream node if one downstream node fails to function as desired. To avoid unnecessary data traffic between logs and downstream nodes, data may be retrieved or received at predefined time intervals.

[0056] A downstream node may be configured to store data provided by one or more input nodes in a database, such as data retrieved from persistent and / or non-persistent logs based on chemical product identifiers, before applying at least one aspect model. This may make it possible to collect all data associated with chemical products in the database before applying the aspect model, and thus avoid applying the aspect model to incomplete data consumed by one or more input nodes.

[0057] In one embodiment, data related to a chemical product and data related to at least one embodiment model associated with the chemical product are included in a request to generate a digital twin associated with the chemical product, received by one or more downstream nodes. The data related to the chemical product may include one or more chemical product identifiers associated with the chemical product. One or more chemical product identifiers may include a batch number, chemical product name, chemical product ID, part number, lot number, or a combination thereof. The lot number may be assigned to the chemical product at the time of production or after production. The chemical product identifiers enable the unique identification of the physical entity of each chemical product, and thus link all data associated with the identifiers to the physical entity of the chemical product. The data may be consumed on request based on the data related to the chemical product included in the received request. For example, the request may include data related to the chemical product, such as chemical product identifiers, and based on the data, one or more chemical product identifiers associated with the chemical product may be determined, and the data provided by the input node may be consumed based on the determined chemical product identifiers. Determining one or more chemical product identifiers based on the data included in the received request may include searching for the identifiers from the received request data. For example, the request may include one or more chemical product identifiers, such as a batch number associated with the chemical product. Determining the above identifier may involve searching for the identifier based on the received request data. For example, the request may include the name of a chemical product, and one or more chemical product identifiers may be searched from the database based on the received name.

[0058] Data associated with at least one aspect model may include an identifier associated with that aspect model. The identifier allows for the unique identification of each aspect model. The identifier may include an ID, a name, or a combination thereof. Each aspect model can be retrieved from data storage using data associated with at least one aspect model. For example, data associated with at least one aspect model may include an identifier associated with the aspect model to which the consumed data applies, and each aspect model can be retrieved based on the above identifier.

[0059] In one embodiment, the data owner includes an entity that generates data associated with a chemical product, and / or the data owner is the data owner of the data and / or digital twin dataset associated with the chemical product. The data generation node may be coupled to the data owner or an entity that owns or produces the chemical product from which the data is generated or for which it is generated. The data, in particular the chemical product data, may be generated by a third-party entity acting on behalf of the entity that owns the physical product from which the data is generated or to which the generated data relates. The data owner may be a chemical product manufacturer. Thus, the data owner may directly or indirectly own the chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset. The chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset may be stored in the data owner's database or a database associated with the data owner. The chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset may be stored in the data owner's database or a database under the data owner's control. The chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset may be stored in a database accessible to the data owner. The data owner may control access to the chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset, for example, through a data provisioning service associated with the data owner. The chemical product data and / or digital twin dataset may be associated with the data owner. A data owner may be the owner of chemical product data or a chemical product data owner. A data owner may be the owner of a digital twin dataset or a digital twin dataset owner. In this sense, a data owner should be broadly interpreted as an entity that can access chemical product data and / or digital twin datasets and controls access to chemical product data and / or digital twin datasets by data consumption services on a decentralized network.

[0060] In one embodiment, decentralized identifiers are provided by one central network node or one or more decentralized nodes. One central network node or one or more decentralized network nodes may be part of a decentralized network that includes multiple decentralized participant nodes. Decentralized identifiers generated by one central network node or one or more decentralized network nodes may be provided to the decentralized network node that generates the digital twin and to at least one authenticated data registry network node, which is preferably accessible by decentralized data providing network nodes and / or decentralized data consuming network nodes. This enables customized data sharing or exchange regarding chemical products and the chemical supply chains in which they are supplied. In particular, decentralized data providing network nodes and / or decentralized data consuming network nodes may customize data sharing or protocol exchange based on the anchoring of decentralized identifiers to chemical product datasets. The authenticated data registry network node may be a central registry network node such as a centralized file system, a centrally managed distributed database, and / or a centrally managed peer-to-peer network. A centralized configuration allows for greater control and standardization via the central network node. Authentication data registry network nodes can be decentralized registries such as distributed ledgers, decentralized file systems, distributed databases, and / or peer-to-peer networks. Decentralized configurations enable more efficient use of computing resources and enhance control by data owners. In addition, decentralized configurations are independent of centrally managed nodes and therefore increase the reliability and flexibility of the system.

[0061] In one embodiment, a decentralized identifier is provided upon receiving a request to provide the decentralized identifier. The request may include the chemical product data owner or an owner or product identifier associated with the chemical product, respectively. The request may be generated by a requester and provided to a decentralized identifier generator. The requester may be associated with chemical production, such as a chemical production network that produces the chemical product. The request may be triggered when a packaged unit of the produced chemical product is detected. For example, a packaging line may include a labeling device that detects each packaged unit. Based on such detection, the requester may generate and transmit a request to provide a decentralized identifier to a decentralized identifier generator. The owner identifier may be a string identifier associated with the data owner name. The product identifier may be a batch number, lot number, chemical product ID, or a combination thereof. The owner identifier or product identifier may be provided by a physical identifier provider, such as a barcode or tag, such as an RFID tag, via a barcode or QR code. Such communication may be completed via ad-hoc Wi-Fi, BLE beacons, and / or NFC. Communication can be performed via any available communication channel, including but not limited to web servers, ad-hoc Wi-Fi, BLE beacon signals, NFC, and barcode or QR code scanning. Owner or product identifiers may be provided by an ERP system that controls the chemical production that produces the chemical products. Through the owner identifier, the generated digital twin can be associated with the owner of the chemical product data by including the owner identifier. The owner identifier can be used in data transactions such as sharing or exchanging chemical product datasets. The owner identifier can be provided to a transaction manager. Tracking data transactions can be simplified by providing decentralized identifiers and data owner identifiers to the transaction manager or data consumption service. Any transaction in the data ecosystem can be associated with, for example, the explicit name of the data owner.

[0062] In one embodiment, a decentralized digital twin identifier is associated with the physical entity of a chemical product. A decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product from which the digital twin is generated. A decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the chemical product to which the generated chemical product dataset is associated. A decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with the physical entity to which the chemical product is supplied and to which the collected data / chemical product dataset is associated. For example, a decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with physical entities such as components, component assemblies, and final products. A decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with two or more physical entities to which the chemical product is supplied and to which the collected data / chemical product dataset is associated. For example, a decentralized digital twin identifier may be associated with the physical entities of components, component assemblies, and final products. By associating decentralized digital twin identifiers with different physical entity stages in the chemical supply chain, it becomes possible to virtually track supplied chemical products in the supply chain. In this way, chemical products to which a chemical product dataset is associated can be tracked, for example, until the end of the final product's lifecycle.

[0063] In one embodiment, the decentralized digital twin identifier is a physical identifier associated with a chemical product, or is assigned to a physical identifier. The association of the physical identifier with the chemical product may be provided by a physical association with a physical product or physical entity. For example, the physical identifier may be associated with a physical entity of a chemical product. The physical entity may be a raw material or an intermediate product. The physical identifier may correspond one-to-one with a virtual identity or a physical identity by physical association with a physical entity. In one embodiment, the physical identifier is physically attached to the chemical product via an identifier element. The physical identifier or physical identifier element may refer to any virtual or physical configuration that associates the decentralized identifier with the chemical product. The physical identifier may be any identifier of a manufactured chemical product, such as a batch number or part number. The physical identifier element may include, but is not limited to, passive or active elements, such as a QR code or an RFID tag. The physical identifier element may be a physical identifier physically associated with the chemical product. Identifier elements may include markers embedded in materials, barcodes, QR codes, tags such as RFID tags, or similar physical configurations that enable the digital identification of chemical products.

[0064] In one embodiment, an identifier element, including a physical identifier, is physically attached to a chemical product. The physical identifier may be supplied by a sensor that reads the physical identifier element, and the physical identifier element is physically linked to the chemical product. A decentralized identifier may be supplied by a sensor that reads the physical identifier element, and the physical identifier element is physically linked to the chemical product. An identification element can be physically linked to a chemical product to uniquely identify the chemical product. An identification element can be physically linked to any component of a chemical product, such as the packaging of the chemical product, to uniquely identify the chemical product.

[0065] In one embodiment, at least one retrieved embodiment model relates to an environmental attribute associated with a chemical product. The chemical product may be a chemical product produced by a chemical production company that produces chemical products. The chemical product may be a chemical product commonly produced by the chemical industry. The environmental attribute may relate to the recyclate content of the chemical product, the renewable content of the chemical product, the bio-based content of the chemical product, emission data associated with the chemical product, and / or certificates associated with the chemical product. For example, one embodiment model may relate to the recyclate content associated with a chemical product, and for example, that embodiment model may include the structure and characteristics of the recyclate content data and the chemical product data. By using embodiment models related to environmental attributes, it becomes possible to generate a digital twin dataset that reflects each environmental attribute of a chemical product, and thus it becomes possible to share the above attributes in a secure and efficient manner via the generated digital twin. One embodiment model may relate to strictly one environmental attribute. This may enable a higher level of granularity regarding the environmental attributes associated with chemical products in the generated digital twin, and thus, each environmental attribute can be requested separately (e.g., via its corresponding chemical product dataset) without the need to acquire the complete digital twin or a complete digital twin dataset containing two or more environmental attributes—for example, by a decentralized data consumption network node. One embodiment model may be associated with at least two different environmental attributes. This may reduce the number of digital twin datasets that need to be generated.

[0066] In one embodiment, each digital twin dataset is generated by applying the respective retrieved aspect model to the collected data. Therefore, the number of retrieved aspect models is equal to the number of digital twin datasets resulting from the application of the retrieved aspect models. For example, if three different aspect models are retrieved and applied to the collected data, three different digital twin datasets are generated. Each generated digital twin dataset includes a data structure and data defined by the respective aspect model used to generate it. The use of different aspect models allows for a higher level of granularity with respect to the digital twin datasets included in the digital twin. Therefore, it is not necessary to retrieve the complete digital twin containing all relevant data; data retrieval can be minimized by retrieving each digital twin dataset. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred when data included in the digital twin is requested by a third party. The use of at least one aspect model ensures reliable data transfer and compliance with the respective decentralized data standards. The generated digital twin datasets can be stored in a data storage medium such as a database. This makes it possible to retrieve the generated digital twin datasets, avoiding the need to regenerate them. For example, the generated digital twin datasets can be retrieved to generate a digital twin of a chemical product, as described below.

[0067] In one embodiment, each digital twin dataset is associated with a corresponding mode model used to generate the digital twin dataset. Each digital twin dataset may include a mode model identifier associated with the mode model used to generate the respective digital twin dataset. Each digital twin dataset may be stored in a collection or partition associated with the corresponding mode model used to generate the digital twin dataset. For example, each digital twin dataset may be stored in a collection or partition associated with the mode model used to generate it. This makes it easy to identify the mode model used to generate each digital twin dataset, and therefore the structure and data of each digital twin dataset.

[0068] In one embodiment, the digital twin dataset includes at least one chemical product identifier. The chemical product identifier included in the digital twin dataset may correspond to a chemical product identifier included in an received request and / or a chemical product identifier included in chemical product data. By using at least one chemical product identifier within the chemical product dataset, it becomes possible to associate the dataset with the physical entity of the chemical product to which the chemical product identifier is associated.

[0069] In one embodiment, generating a digital twin involves assigning a decentralized identifier to at least a portion of the generated digital twin datasets. The decentralized identifier may be linked to each of the at least portions of the digital twin datasets. If the decentralized identifier includes a digital twin dataset identifier, each digital twin dataset identifier may be linked to a digital twin dataset contained within the digital twin (e.g., each digital twin dataset used to generate the digital twin). Thus, the use of a combination of decentralized digital twin identifiers and digital twin dataset identifiers makes it possible to retrieve each digital twin dataset (e.g., a portion of the generated digital twin), thus avoiding a search of the entire digital twin when access to only a specific digital twin dataset of the digital twin is requested. Furthermore, this allows for control of access at the dataset level of the digital twin, thus enabling more granular control over access to the digital twin. Therefore, decentralized identifiers may be used for sharing the digital twin or a portion thereof, such as a set of digital twins contained within the digital twin, via decentralized data provision network nodes, for example, as described later. Decentralized digital twin identifiers may be linked to data owners, in particular to owner identifiers associated with the data owners of the digital twin. This makes it possible to identify the data owners associated with the digital twin and its corresponding digital twin datasets. By providing decentralized identifiers and data owner identifiers to the transaction manager or decentralized data consumption network node, the tracking of data transactions can be simplified as described above.

[0070] In one embodiment, generating a digital twin involves assigning a decentralized digital twin identifier to a digital twin dataset identifier, the digital twin dataset identifier being associated with the digital twin datasets included in the digital twin. Therefore, the use of a combination of decentralized digital twin identifiers and digital twin dataset identifiers makes it possible to search for individual digital twin datasets (e.g., parts of the generated digital twin), thus avoiding the need to search the entire digital twin when access to only specific digital twin datasets of the digital twin is requested. Furthermore, this allows for more granular control over access to the digital twin, as access can be controlled at the dataset level.

[0071] In one embodiment, generating a digital twin includes generating access data and assigning the generated access data to a decentralized digital twin identifier. The access data may include a digital representation pointing to the digital twin. The access data may include a digital twin dataset identifier, such as a UUID. The access data may include a digital representation pointing to the digital twin dataset. The digital representation may directly or indirectly point to the storage location of the digital twin / digital twin dataset. The access data may be included in the digital twin. Access data assigned to a decentralized digital twin identifier. The access data and the interrelated decentralized identifiers may be stored on a data storage medium. The access data—in combination with the decentralized digital twin identifier—may be used to access the digital twin or a portion thereof. For example, a digital twin dataset identifier and the corresponding access data may be used by a decentralized data consumption network node to request the respective digital twin dataset using the decentralized digital twin identifier and associated access data, e.g., the digital twin dataset identifier and the digital representation pointing to the digital twin dataset. Thus, generating a digital twin may include generating a DID document containing a decentralized digital twin identifier (e.g., DID) and access data. A DID document or part thereof can be propagated to a distributed ledger. A DID document or part thereof can be used to retrieve access data using the DID, as described below.

[0072] In one embodiment, the digital twin is generated by the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product. The data owner of the data associated with the chemical product may be a chemical production that produces the chemical product. The data owner of the data associated with the chemical product may be a legal entity that operates the chemical production that produces the chemical product. The data owner of the data associated with the chemical product may be a natural person that operates the chemical production that produces the chemical product. In one embodiment, the digital twin is generated on behalf of the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product. For example, the digital twin may be generated by a third party based on services provided to the data owner by the third party.

[0073] In one embodiment, at least one digital twin dataset included in the digital twin includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of a chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the manufacture and / or use of the chemical product. At least one measured physical and / or chemical property of a chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product may correspond to at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of a chemical product included in the data associated with the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product.

[0074] In one embodiment, the digital twin includes at least two different measured and / or determined physical and / or chemical properties present in different datasets. Data points in different datasets may overlap. The datasets may correspond to data structures obtained when the aspect model is applied to collected data associated with the physical entities of a chemical product, as described above. The datasets may include values ​​and / or value ranges defined in the aspect model used to generate the datasets. Thus, each dataset contains data structures and data defined by the aspect model used to generate it. This ensures that each dataset has a defined structure and contains defined data, thus simplifying data exchange and the processing of exchanged data regarding chemical products.

[0075] In one embodiment, the digital twin further includes an embodiment model identifier associated with each digital twin dataset. This makes it possible to determine the embodiment model used to generate the digital twin datasets included in the digital twin. Thus, the data structure of the digital twin can be easily identified based on the embodiment model identifier included in the digital twin.

[0076] In one embodiment, the digital twin further includes a digital twin dataset identifier associated with the digital twin dataset. The identifier may include a UUID, a DID, or a combination thereof. The identifier may be generated during or after the generation of the digital twin. The identifier may enable the retrieval of each digital twin dataset from its respective data storage by a data delivery service, as described below.

[0077] In one embodiment, the generated digital twin is stored in data storage. The data storage may be a database associated with the data owner. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner, for example, via a decentralized data-serving network node associated with the data owner. The data storage may function as an intermediate layer between data collection and digital twin consumption by, for example, a decentralized data-consuming network node. By separating data collection and consumption between the generated digital twin or associated digital twin dataset, high and stable availability of the digital twin dataset within the decentralized network can be achieved as a result.

[0078] In one embodiment of a method for generating a digital twin, the digital twin is generated via a user interface. This may include: - To provide a user interface configured to display data associated with the physical entities of chemical products. -Detecting user input indicating the selection of data associated with the physical entity of a chemical product, and - To generate a digital twin of a chemical product associated with data selected by the user, in response to user input.

[0079] Data associated with the physical entity of a chemical product may include the name of the chemical product and / or a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product. The user interface may be a graphical user interface. The user interface may include a list of available data associated with the physical entity of a chemical product. The user interface may include fields that allow the user to enter at least some of the data associated with the physical entity of a chemical product. The user interface may include a search function that allows the user to search for a specific chemical product based on keywords.

[0080] User input indicating data selection may include selecting a chemical product from a displayed list of available chemical products. User input indicating data selection may include entering at least some of the data associated with the physical entity of the chemical product and selecting data that appears on the user interface in response to the user input. User input indicating data selection may include selecting at least some of the data displayed on the user interface in response to a search performed by the user.

[0081] User input can trigger the generation of a request to generate a digital twin, the request including data related to a chemical product and data related to at least one aspect model associated with the chemical product. In response to the request, a digital twin may be generated as described above.

[0082] In one embodiment, the method further includes the step of providing the generated digital twin or a portion thereof (e.g., a digital twin dataset included in the digital twin) to a decentralized data-providing network node for access by a decentralized data-consuming network node. Access to the digital twin or a portion thereof may be controlled by the decentralized data-providing network node. The decentralized data-providing network node may include computer executable instructions for providing and / or processing data, such as a chemical product dataset, by a data-consuming service. The decentralized data-providing network node may be connected to one or more dedicated data storages that store the digital twin datasets referenced in or included in the digital twin. The dedicated data storage may be under the control of the data owner of the digital twin dataset. The data owner may have access to the dedicated data storage.

[0083] A decentralized data consumption network node may include computer executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data within a decentralized network, such as chemical product datasets, provided by a decentralized data provision network node. A decentralized data consumption network node may be controlled, owned, or associated with a consumer or user of a chemical product. A consumer may be any entity that processes a chemical product. A consumer may be any entity that operates a production configured to process a chemical product. Processing may include using a chemical product to produce further chemical products, components, assemblies, or final products. A consumer may be a downstream participant in the chemical value chain to which the produced chemical product is associated or used, for example. For example, a consumer may be an individual product processor, such as an individual product producer or a participant in an individual product recycling process. An individual product may be a finished product, which is a distinct item easily identifiable by count, for example. Examples of individual products include automobiles, airplanes, and shoes. An individual product may be disassembled at the end of its lifecycle so that its components can be recycled. A consumer may receive a chemical product from an entity that produces a chemical product, such as a chemical product producer. Through decentralized data consumption network nodes, consumers of chemical products can access a digital twin or a portion thereof associated with the supplied chemical product, and thus improve production or recycling by using the accessed data. For example, the accessed data can be used to improve the characteristics of the resulting further chemical products, components, or individual products, or to improve overall production efficiency. In another example, the accessed data associated with the supplied chemical product can be used to control production involving the supplied chemical product. In yet another example, the accessed data can be used to reliably determine the chemical composition of components to be recycled, and thus improve recycling efficiency by determining the correct recycling process, recycling parameters, recycling plant, etc.

[0084] Access to a digital twin or a portion thereof may be controlled by a decentralized data delivery network node. This node may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin dataset. Therefore, access to a digital twin or a portion thereof may be under the control of the data owner associated with the decentralized data delivery network node. This allows the data owner to maintain complete control over access to the digital twin or a portion thereof, while simultaneously enabling the sharing of the digital twin or a portion thereof under controlled conditions, for example, by using appropriate authentication and authorization mechanisms or schemes.

[0085] Providing the generated digital twin to decentralized data delivery network nodes is - To provide access data associated with the generated digital twin and - Provide access data and decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the generated digital twin to decentralized data delivery network nodes. It may include.

[0086] Access data associated with a generated digital twin may include a digital representation that points to the generated digital twin. A digital representation that points to a digital twin may include at least one interface to a decentralized data serving network node. Furthermore, it may include at least one interface to a decentralized data consuming network node. A digital representation that points to product data or a portion thereof may include data exchange or sharing endpoints (resource endpoints) or service interaction endpoints (service endpoints) that are uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Thus, a digital representation that points to a digital twin may be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier. A digital representation that points to a digital twin may be considered a locator indicating the location or dedicated data storage where each digital twin is stored.

[0087] Access data associated with a digital twin may include a digital twin dataset identifier and a digital representation that points to each digital twin dataset. The digital twin dataset identifier may be one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs). A digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset may include at least one interface to a decentralized data consumption network node. Furthermore, it may include at least one interface to a decentralized data consumption network node. A digital representation that points to product data or a portion thereof may include a data exchange or sharing endpoint (resource endpoint) or a service interaction endpoint (service endpoint) that is uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Thus, a digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset may be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier and a digital twin dataset identifier. A digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset may be considered a locator indicating the location where each digital twin dataset is stored or a dedicated data storage device.

[0088] Providing access data and decentralized identifiers to decentralized data serving network nodes may include, for example, sending POST requests containing the aforementioned data as a payload to the decentralized data serving network nodes via their respective APIs. Decentralized data serving network nodes may store the received data in a database associated with them. By providing access data and decentralized digital twin identifiers to decentralized data serving network nodes, when a decentralized data serving network node receives a request for the above data from a decentralized data consumption network node, it becomes possible to retrieve the respective digital twin using access data from one or more downstream databases. This makes it possible to store the digital twin separately from the decentralized data serving network node, and therefore ensures a higher level of security by enabling appropriate authentication and authorization schemes for communication between downstream databases and decentralized data serving network nodes. Furthermore, only a minimal amount of data is stored in the database associated with the decentralized data serving network node, thus reducing the risk of undesirable data leakage in the event of unauthorized access to the contents of the decentralized data serving network node's database.

[0089] In one embodiment of a method for generating a digital access element, the digital access element includes a decentralized access element identifier and access data. The digital access element may represent a DID document associated with a decentralized identifier, such as a decentralized identifier (DID). The DID document may be generated at the time of DID generation. The DID document may also be generated after DID generation, for example, when a digital twin is generated. The DID document may include the DID, further identifiers associated with the DID, such as a chemical product dataset identifier, and access data. Access data may refer to any data necessary to access a digital twin or a part thereof, such as a chemical product dataset contained in the digital twin. Access data may be essential, i.e., essential for accessing the chemical product dataset. Alternatively, while access data may be suitable for accessing the chemical product dataset, the chemical product dataset can also be accessed in a different way without the access data from which the digital access element is generated. Access data may include endpoints for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoints) or endpoints for service interaction (service endpoints) that are uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Access data may include authorization schemes and / or cryptographic information. For example, access data may include public keys, such as the public key required to decrypt a chemical product dataset. Access data may include authentication schemes associated with decentralized identifiers. Access data may be uniquely associated with decentralized identifiers. Access data may be provided to data consumption services. Access data may be provided by decentralized network databases, databases associated with data consumption services, data provision services associated with data owners, or a combination thereof. Because appropriate authorization and authentication are required to access the data contained in the above sets, data owners can maintain control of their digital twins by using access data within the digital access elements.This makes it possible to openly share the contents of a digital access element, for example, on a public web platform, without having to disclose the digital twin or part thereof associated with the digital access element via a decentralized identifier. Therefore, it is possible to provide transparency about existing digital access elements while simultaneously ensuring the necessary level of confidentiality of the data contained in the digital twin associated with the digital access element.

[0090] In one embodiment of a method for generating digital access elements, access data includes a digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset associated with the digital twin. The access data may further include a digital twin dataset identifier associated with the digital twin dataset contained in the digital twin. The digital twin dataset identifier may be one or more universally unique identifiers (UUIDs) or one or more decentralized identifiers (DIDs). The digital twin dataset identifier may be requested from an ID generator before providing the generated digital twin to a decentralized data serving network node. The digital twin dataset identifier may be retrieved from the digital twin. The digital twin dataset identifier may be retrieved from a digital access element, such as a DID document, generated when generating the digital twin, as described later. The digital representation may be indirectly associated with a database that stores the digital twin dataset and is associated with or accessible by the data owner associated with the digital twin dataset. This may enhance security. The digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint), which is uniquely identified via a communication protocol as described above. Therefore, a digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset can be uniquely associated with a decentralized identifier. A digital representation that points to at least one digital twin dataset can be considered a locator that indicates the location or dedicated data storage device where each digital twin dataset is stored.

[0091] In one embodiment of a method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, a request providing a decentralized access element identifier associated with the digital twin may include, as described above, a product identifier and / or owner identifier and / or access data. The request may be generated by a requester, as described above.

[0092] In one embodiment of a method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, providing a decentralized access element identifier may include searching for a decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin and providing the retrieved decentralized digital twin identifier. This may make it possible to avoid generating further decentralized identifiers and linking such further decentralized identifiers to decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the digital twin. For example, a DID or UUID included in the digital twin may be searched and provided as a decentralized access element identifier.

[0093] In another embodiment of a method for generating a digital access element associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, providing a decentralized access element identifier may include generating a further decentralized identifier and providing the generated further decentralized identifier. In this case, a request may be received by a decentralized ID generator, which may generate a further decentralized identifier upon request. The generated further decentralized identifier may be provided to a decentralized identifier provider. The decentralized identifier provider may provide the further decentralized identifier to an assigner configured to assign the further decentralized identifier to a physical identifier associated with the chemical product, for example, by generating a code in which the decentralized identifier is embedded. This makes it possible to link the digital access element to the chemical product. The assigner may also be configured to link the received further decentralized identifier to a decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin. The decentralized identifier provider may provide the further decentralized identifier to a digital access element generator configured to generate a digital access element containing the received further decentralized identifier and access data. The further decentralized identifier may be a DID, as described above. Apart from the decentralized identifier of the digital twin, the use of further decentralized identifiers allows for the use of different access methods associated with different decentralized identifiers. For example, the decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin may be a UUID, and the further decentralized identifier required when generating the digital access element may be a DID. The use of a DID makes it possible to obtain the digital representation and chemical product dataset identifiers that point to the digital twin dataset of the digital twin via the DID document associated with the DID. Therefore, only the DID needs to be provided to the chemical product consumer, as it enables the retrieval of the associated DID document. The chemical product consumer can then retrieve the associated DID document and determine the digital representation and digital twin dataset identifiers.Each digital twin set associated with a DID can be accessed via decentralized data consumption network nodes using the DID, the digital twin dataset identifier, and the respective digital representation contained in the DID document. Using different access methods can improve security for accessing chemical product datasets contained within the digital twin.

[0094] In one embodiment of a method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, the digital access elements are generated for each digital twin dataset included in the digital twin. This allows for finer granularity in accessing data such as digital twin datasets included in the digital twin, and avoids the need to search for the complete data of the digital twin whenever only a portion of the digital twin, such as one or more digital twin datasets, is provided through a data delivery service.

[0095] The use of digital access elements makes it possible to separate external endpoint addresses, such as those associated with decentralized data serving network nodes, from internal endpoint addresses, such as those associated with databases storing digital twins of chemical products. This improves data security and prevents unnecessary data access to internal endpoints, as external parties, such as data consumption services, are only provided with external endpoints, decentralized identifiers, and digital twin dataset identifiers. Therefore, the use of digital access elements makes it possible to share digital twins of chemical products, or portions thereof, within a decentralized network in a secure and reliable manner, under the control of the digital twin data owner.

[0096] A brief explanation of some of the figures in the drawing. The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the attached drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings and in this disclosure refer to the same or similar elements, components, and / or parts. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0097] [Figure 1A] An example of a central computing environment (Figure 1A) is shown. [Figure 1B] An example of an embodiment of a decentralized computing environment (Figure 1B) is shown. [Figure 1C] An example of an embodiment of a distributed computing environment (Figure 1C) is shown. [Figure 2A] This example illustrates chemical production controlled by an operational system that includes equipment for generating digital twins and equipment for optionally generating chemical product passports. [Figure 2B] This example illustrates chemical production controlled by an operational system to provide chemical products associated with a digital twin. [Figure 2C] This illustrates another example of chemical production controlled by an operational system to provide chemical products associated with a digital twin. [Figure 3] This example shows a production system that provides chemical products associated with one or more chemical product datasets. [Figure 4A] This shows an example of a device that generates digital twins associated with chemical products. [Figure 4B] An example of the data processing system described in relation to Figure 4A is shown. [Figure 4C] This example shows a layered system that generates digital twins associated with chemical products. [Figure 5] This document presents an example system and related methods for generating digital twins associated with chemical products produced through chemical manufacturing and providing access to the generated digital twins. [Figure 6] An example of an apparatus for generating a digital twin of the physical entity of a chemical product is shown, using at least two different embodiment models. [Figure 7A] A flowchart illustrating a method for generating a digital twin associated with a chemical product, according to exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, is shown. [Figure 7B] A flowchart illustrating a method for generating a digital twin associated with a chemical product, according to exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, is shown. [Figure 8] A flowchart of a method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, is shown. [Figure 9] This document presents an example of an apparatus and related method for generating digital twins associated with digital twins of chemical products produced by chemical manufacturing. [Figure 10] This figure shows an example of digital access elements, including DID owner data, DID document data, and a decentralized identification information infrastructure. [Figure 11] Examples of digital access elements include certificate-based data, ID-based digital access element data, and decentralized identity infrastructure. [Figure 12A] This shows the first example of a link between a digital twin, an associated chemical product dataset, and a digital access element via a decentralized identifier. [Figure 12B] This shows a second example of a link between a digital twin, an associated chemical product dataset, and a digital access element via a decentralized identifier. [Figure 13] This schematic diagram illustrates how to provide access to chemical product datasets linked to digital twins associated with chemical products, using data consumption services associated with data users, via data delivery services associated with data owners. [Figure 14A] This shows an example of an authentication protocol between a data consumption service and a data provision service. [Figure 14B] This shows an example of an authentication protocol between a data consumption service and a data provision service. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0098] Detailed explanation The present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the attached drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings and in this disclosure refer to the same or similar elements, components, and / or parts.

[0099] Figures 1A to 1C illustrate different computing environments: centralized, decentralized, and distributed. The methods, apparatus, systems, digital twins, chemical product passports, uses, and computer elements of this disclosure can be implemented in a decentralized or at least partially decentralized computing environment. Different challenges exist, particularly in data sharing or exchange within multi-stakeholder ecosystems. Data sovereignty may be considered a core issue. Data sovereignty can be defined as the ability of a natural or legal person to make holistic self-determinations regarding its own data. To enable this, certain capability-related aspects, including requirements for secure and reliable data exchange within business ecosystems, may be implemented across chemical value chains. In particular, the chemical industry needs adapted solutions to deliver chemical products in a more sustainable manner by utilizing digital ecosystems.

[0100] Figure 1A shows an exemplary embodiment of a centralized computing system 100a, which includes a central computing node (a solid circle in the center) and several peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N (shown as peripheral solid circles). The “computing system” may include one or more computing nodes, a system of nodes, or a combination thereof.

[0101] In this example, peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N may be connected to a single central computing system (or server). In another example, peripheral computing nodes 101.1 to 101.N may be connected to the central computing node via, for example, a terminal server (not shown). Most of the functions may be performed by or obtained from the central computing node (also called a remote centralized management location). A single peripheral computing node 101.N is enlarged to illustrate the complete set of elements present in a peripheral computing node. The central computing node 101 may contain the same elements as those described for peripheral computing node 101.N. Each computing node 101, 101.1 to 101.N may contain at least one hardware processor 102 and memory 104.

[0102] Computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N may contain program code that can be schematically represented as a plurality of structures 106. These plurality of structures 106 may be called executable components, executable instructions, computer executable instructions, or instructions. An executable component, or any equivalent thereof, may be a structure that is software, hardware, or a combination thereof, or a structure that can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof, as is well understood by those skilled in the art of computing. For example, when implemented in software, those skilled in the art will understand that the structure of an executable component includes software objects, routines, methods, etc., that are executed on computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N, whether such executable components reside in a large number of computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N or the executable component resides in a computer-readable storage medium. In such cases, a person skilled in the art will recognize that the structure of the executable component exists in a computer-readable medium so that, when interpreted by one or more processors of the computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N (for example, by processor threads), the computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N can perform functions. Such a structure may be directly computer-readable by the processor (as if the executable component were a binary). Alternatively, the structure may be structured to be interpretable and / or compiled (whether in one or more stages) to produce a binary that can be directly translated by the processor. Such an exemplary understanding of the structure of an executable component falls well within the scope of understanding of a person skilled in the art of computing. Examples of executable components implemented in hardware include hardcoded or hardwired logic gates that are implemented exclusively or nearly exclusively in hardware, such as in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or other arbitrary dedicated circuits. In this description, terms such as component, agent, manager, service, engine, module, and virtual machine are used synonymously with executable components.

[0103] The processor 102 of each computing node 101, 101.1...101.N may instruct the operation of each computing node 101, 101.1...101.N in response to executing computer executable instructions that constitute an executable component. For example, such computer executable instructions may be embodied in one or more computer-readable media that form a computer program product. Computer executable instructions may be stored in the memory 104 of each computing node 101, 101.1...101.N. Computer executable instructions include instructions and data that, when executed by processor 101, cause a general-purpose computing node 101, 101.1...101.N, a dedicated computing node 101, 101.1...101.N, or a dedicated processing device to perform a specific function or set of functions. Alternatively or additionally, computer executable instructions may configure the computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N to perform a specific function or set of functions. Computer executable instructions may be binary or instructional text that undergoes some form of translation (such as compilation) before being directly executed by the processor, such as assembly language or even intermediate format instructions like source code.

[0104] Each computing node 101, 101.1...101.N may include a communication channel 108 that enables each computing node 101.1...101.N to communicate with the central computing node 101, for example, a network that enables the transfer of electronic data between computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N, modules, and / or other electronic devices. When information is transferred to or provided to computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N via the network or another communication connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired and wireless), computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N may consider the connection as a transmission medium. The transmission medium can be used to carry desired program code means in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and may include networks and / or data links that can be accessed by general-purpose or dedicated computing nodes 101, 101.1...101.N. The above combination may also fall within the scope of a computer-readable medium.

[0105] Computation nodes 101, 101.1 to 101.N may further comprise a user interface system 110 used for interface with the user. The user interface system 110 may include an output mechanism 110A and an input mechanism 110B. The principles described herein are not limited to a precise output mechanism 110A or input mechanism 110B, for such a thing would depend on the nature of the device. However, the output mechanism 110A may include, for example, a display, speaker, haptic output, hologram, etc. Examples of the input mechanism 110B include, for example, a microphone, touchscreen, hologram, camera, keyboard, mouse or other pointer input, any type of sensor, etc.

[0106] Figure 1B shows an exemplary embodiment of a decentralized computing environment 100b having several computing nodes 101.1'~101.N', shown as solid circles. In contrast to the centralized computing environment 100a shown in Figure 1A, the computing nodes 101.1'~101.N' of the decentralized computing environment are not connected to a central computing node and are therefore not under its control. Instead, both hardware and software resources can be allocated to each individual computing node 101.1'...101.N' (local or remote computing system), and data can be distributed among the various computing nodes 101.1'...101.N' for task execution. Thus, in a decentralized system environment, program modules can reside on both local and remote memory storage devices. A magnified view of one computing node 101.N' provides an overview of the components present in computing node 101.N'. In this example, computing node 101.N' has the same components as those described in relation to Figure 1A.

[0107] Figure 1C shows an exemplary embodiment of a decentralized computing environment 100c. In this example, the decentralized cloud computing environment 100c may include the following computing resources: mobile devices 114, applications 116, a database 118, data storage 120, and a server 122. The cloud computing environment 100c may be deployed as a public cloud 124, a private cloud 126, or a hybrid cloud 128. The private cloud 126 may be owned by an organization, and only members of the organization with appropriate access may use the private cloud 126, and the data in the private cloud may be kept at least confidential. In contrast, the data stored in the public cloud 124 may be open to anyone via the internet. The hybrid cloud 128 may be a combination of the private cloud 124 and the public cloud 126, where some of the data may be kept confidential, while other data may be made public.

[0108] Figure 2A shows an example of a chemical production 204 that produces one or more chemical products from one or more input materials 202, in relation to an operational system 208 that includes a digital twin management system. The operational system 208 may be used to operate the chemical production 204, for example, by managing different production chains present within the chemical production. Different chemical materials 202 (hereinafter also referred to as input materials 202) may be provided as physical inputs from material providers or suppliers in order to produce one or more chemical products 206. Physical inputs to the chemical production 204 may include chemical substances such as raw materials, intermediate materials, or combinations thereof. Raw materials may be raw materials or recycled raw materials. Input materials 202 may be supplied to the chemical production 204 at any entry point. Input materials 202 may be supplied to the chemical production 204 at the start of the chemical production 204. Input materials can be considered as inputs to the chemical production 204.

[0109] Chemical production 204 can be a chemical production network that includes multiple interconnected processing steps. A chemical production network can be an integrated chemical production network having production chains that are related to one another. A chemical production network can include multiple different production chains that share at least one intermediate. A chemical production network can include multiple stages of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network can include multiple production chains that take one or more input materials as inputs and output chemical products as outputs. A chemical production network can include multiple layers of a chemical value chain. A chemical production network can include a configuration of physically interconnected production sites. Production sites can be in the same location or in different locations. In the latter case, production sites can be interconnected by dedicated transport systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles such as trucks, supply chain ships, or other means of freight transport.

[0110] Chemical production 204 may include multiple production processes. The production processes included in chemical production 204 may be defined by the system boundary of chemical production 204. The system boundary may be defined by location or control across the production process. The system boundary may be defined by the site of chemical production 204. The system boundary may be defined by a production process jointly controlled by one or more entities. The system boundary may be defined by a value chain with time-delayed production processes to the final product, and these processes may be independently controlled by multiple entities.

[0111] Chemical production 204 can convert input materials 202 into one or more chemical products 206 that exit chemical production 204. The conversion may be carried out via intermediate chemical products. The conversion may be a chemical reaction or any other processing step such as a physical treatment. Since the yield of a chemical reaction may be less than 100%, the chemical reaction may result in a mixture of different chemical products. Thus, a chemical reaction of one or more starting materials such as input materials 202 may result in a mixture of different chemical products. Thus, a chemical reaction may be characterized by a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship between the starting materials and the resulting reaction products. This is in contrast to discrete manufacturing, where a many-to-one relationship exists between parts / components and assemblies, for example, the result of a discrete manufacturing process is a specific and predictable assembly. Since the yield of a chemical reaction is not 100%, the amount of the desired chemical product 206 (e.g., a chemical product supplied to an upstream participant in the chemical ecosystem) is less than the theoretical amount of the above chemical product calculated from the amount of the starting materials. Such a mixture typically requires the separation of the different chemical products contained in the mixture. This makes it possible to avoid the adverse effects of impurities and unreacted input materials 202 on further processing of the chemical product 206. Separation may include distillation, washing, extraction, crystallization, and recrystallization. The resulting mixture may contain unreacted starting materials, such as unreacted input materials 202. Unreacted starting materials may be reintroduced into the chemical reaction to reduce the amount of starting materials required. The resulting mixture may contain the desired chemical product 206 supplied to upstream participants in the chemical ecosystem, such as chemical product consumers or chemical product processors. The resulting mixture may contain intermediate chemical products used as input materials in further chemical reactions carried out within the chemical production 204. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of waste associated with the disposal of the intermediate chemical products and / or the amount of energy associated with transporting these intermediate products to other chemical productions. The resulting mixture may contain waste chemical products, such as chemical products that cannot be used further and must be disposed of, for example, by incineration. Waste chemical products may be generated from undesirable chemical side reactions.

[0112] The chemical production system 204 may include a plurality of sensors 210a, 210b. Sensors 210a, 210b may measure at least one chemical and / or physical property of the chemical product 206 produced by the chemical production system 204. Sensors 210a, 210b may measure at least one chemical and / or physical property of the input material 202 supplied to the chemical production system 204. Sensors 210a, 210b may include a sensor 2010b configured to determine the amount of input material 202 and / or the chemical product produced. Examples of such sensors may include measuring instruments or flow meters. Sensors 210a, 210b may include a sensor 210a configured to measure at least one chemical and / or physical property of the input material 202. Measuring the chemical and / or physical properties of the input material 202 makes it possible to control the production process based on the measurement data. Sensors 210a and 210b may include sensor 210a configured to determine the chemical and / or physical properties of the produced chemical product 206. Sensor 210a configured to measure chemical properties may measure data associated with or corresponding to heat of combustion, enthalpy of formation, toxicity, chemical stability in a given environment, flammability, oxidation state, corrosiveness, combustibility, acidity and basicity, and pH value. Sensor 210a configured to measure physical properties may measure data associated with or corresponding to absorption, brittleness, boiling point, capacitance, color, concentration, density, ductility, distribution, effectiveness, elasticity, charge, conductivity, electrical impedance, potential, flow rate, fluidity, hardness, heat capacity, inductance, intrinsic impedance, brightness, luminescence, gloss, mass, melting point, opacity, transmittance, dielectric constant, plasticity, pressure, radiance, resistivity, reflectance, refractive index, solubility, specific heat, strength, stiffness, temperature, tension, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, viscosity, volume, and wave impedance. The data measured by sensors 210a and 210b may be stored in one or more databases, for example, the database included in the data source layer 420 in Figure 4B. These databases may be distributed databases. The stored data may be correlated with input material identifiers and / or chemical product identifiers, respectively.

[0113] The chemical production operation system 208 may monitor and / or control the chemical production 204 based on operational parameters associated with different processes performed by the chemical production 204. One of the process steps to be monitored and / or controlled may be the supply of input materials 202 or the shipment of the produced chemical product 206. Another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the separation of chemical products contained in mixtures resulting from chemical reactions carried out within the chemical production 204. Another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the determination of the chemical and / or physical properties of the produced chemical product 206 from data collected in connection with the production of the chemical product, such as data measured by sensors 210a, 210b before, during, and / or after the production of the chemical product 206. Another process step to be monitored and / or controlled may be the generation of a digital twin using equipment for generating a digital twin, such as the equipment and systems described with respect to Figures 4A to 4C. Another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the provisioning of the generated digital twin to a data provisioning service for access by a data consumption service, as described with respect to Figures 5 and 13, for example. Another process step that is monitored and / or controlled may be the generation of digital access elements related to the digital twin of a produced chemical product, using, for example, an apparatus for generating digital access elements, as described with respect to Figure 9.

[0114] The operating system 208 may be configured to determine the physical and / or chemical properties of a chemical product from collected data associated with the production of that chemical product. The operating system 208 may be configured to generate a digital twin of a chemical product, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 4A, 7A, and 7B. The operating system 208 may be configured to generate digital access elements, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 4A, 8, and 9.

[0115] Figure 2B shows another example of a chemical production 204 controlled by an operating system 208 to produce chemical products associated with digital twins and optionally digital access elements.

[0116] The process steps described with respect to Figure 2A may be performed in interaction with a requester, an ID assigner, and a device 212 that generates a digital twin of the chemical product via an operating system 208 of the chemical production 204. The operating system 208 may further interact with a device for generating a digital access element (not shown). In this embodiment, the operating system 208 may be communicably connected to the chemical production 204 and may include a requester, an ID assigner, and a device 212 that generates a digital twin of the chemical product.

[0117] An apparatus for generating a digital twin of a chemical product may include a data processing system 412 configured to collect data associated with the chemical product from one or more distributed data sources, each containing one or more data instances related to the chemical product. The data processing system 412 may be configured to transform the collected data. The data processing system may be configured to provide the collected or transformed data to a data consumer 414. The collected or transformed data may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product. The apparatus for generating a digital twin may further include a data consumer 414 configured to consume the data provided by the data processing system 412. The apparatus for generating a digital twin may further include a decentralized ID generator 418 (see, for example, Figures 4A and 5) configured to generate a decentralized digital twin identifier and provide the generated decentralized identifier. The apparatus for generating a digital twin may further include an aspect agent 422 configured to receive at least one aspect model associated with a chemical product and, for each received aspect model, generate a digital twin dataset from data associated with the chemical product and consumed by a data consumer 414, as described, for example, with respect to Figures 4A to 7, according to the received aspect model. The apparatus for generating a digital twin may further include a digital twin generator 416 configured to generate a digital twin that includes a decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the digital twin dataset described with respect to Figures 4A to 7. The at least one digital twin dataset included in the digital twin may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product.The apparatus for generating a digital twin may further include a digital twin provider 426, such as a decentralized data provider network node of a decentralized network, configured to provide the digital twin or a portion thereof, such as one of the digital twin products included in the digital twin, to decentralized data consumption network nodes (not shown, see, for example, Figure 5). The decentralized data consumption network nodes may be associated with consumers of chemical products (see, for example, Figure 13).

[0118] The requester may be configured to generate a request to generate a digital twin. The request may include data related to the chemical product, such as batch number, lot number, and / or chemical product ID, and data related to at least one embodiment model associated with the chemical product, as described above. The request may be received by a data consumer 414 of the apparatus for generating the digital twin, and the data consumer 414 may, upon request, initiate the generation of the digital twin by collecting data associated with the chemical product. The request may be received by a digital twin generator 416 of the apparatus for generating the digital twin, and the digital twin generator 416 may, upon request, initiate the consumption of data associated with the chemical product by the data consumer 414. The requester may be further configured to generate a request to generate a digital access element. The request may include, as described above, an owner identifier and / or a product identifier and / or access data. The request may be received by the apparatus for generating the digital access element. The apparatus for generating the digital access element may be configured to retrieve decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the digital twin, or to generate further decentralized identifiers. Further decentralized identifiers retrieved or generated may be provided to a digital access element generator of the device, which is configured to generate digital access elements.

[0119] The ID assigner may be configured to assign decentralized digital twin identifiers and / or decentralized access element identifiers associated with the digital twin, along with associated information, to a physical identifier of a produced chemical product, as described with respect to Figure 3. For example, the ID assigner may generate a physical identifier embedded with decentralized digital twin identifiers and / or digital access element identifiers, and provide the physical identifier to a labeling device.

[0120] The ID assigner, requester, device for generating digital twins, and / or device for generating digital access elements may be configured as a decentralized service or application executed over a decentralized network.

[0121] Figure 2C shows another example of a chemical production 204 controlled by an operating system 208 to produce chemical products associated with a digital twin and optionally with a digital access element.

[0122] The process steps described with respect to Figure 2A may be performed via the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204, in interaction with a requester, an ID assigner, and an apparatus for generating a digital twin of a chemical product. The operating system 208 may further interact with an apparatus for generating a digital access element (not shown). In this embodiment, the operating system 208 may be communicatively connected to the chemical production 204 and may include a requester and an ID assigner 214. The operating system 208 may be communicatively connected to an apparatus 216 for generating a digital twin.

[0123] The apparatus 216 for generating a digital twin may include a data processing system 412, a data consumer 414, an aspect agent 422, a decentralized ID generator 418, a digital twin generator 416, and a digital twin provider 426, as described with respect to Figures 2B and 4A.

[0124] The requester may be configured to generate requests to generate a digital twin, for example, as described in relation to Figure 2B. The requester may be further configured to generate requests to generate a digital access element, for example, as described in relation to Figure 2B.

[0125] The ID assigner may be configured to assign decentralized digital twin identifiers and / or decentralized access element identifiers, along with associated information, to the physical identifiers of the produced chemical products, as described with respect to Figures 2B and 3. The requester, ID assigner, apparatus for generating digital twins of chemical products, and / or apparatus for generating digital access elements may be configured as decentralized services or applications executed over a decentralized network.

[0126] Figures 2B and 2C show only two exemplary embodiments, and any combination of the system components shown in Figures 2B and 2C is possible. For example, the requester may be configured as part of the operating system 208, while the ID assigner may not be configured as part of the operating system 208.

[0127] Figure 3 shows an example of generating digital twins for different chemical products in a chemical ecosystem. Specifically, Figure 3 shows an example for generating digital twins of precursor materials (e.g., intermediate chemical products) and for generating digital twins of chemical products produced at least partially from the precursor materials. Chemical products such as chemical product 206 can be produced by a chemical production system 204, including an operational system 208, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 2A to 2C.

[0128] The production of a chemical product may involve a two-stage process, namely, 1) the production of an intermediate chemical product from one or more input materials and 2) the production of a chemical product from at least part of the intermediate chemical product. Input materials may be used as physical inputs to produce the intermediate product. Input materials may be supplied by a raw material provider. Input materials may include raw materials or recycled materials. Input materials may be provided to the production of the intermediate chemical product as input material 202. The production of the intermediate chemical product may be a chemical production 204 as described with respect to Figures 2A-2C. Input materials may include physical identifiers. Physical identifiers may be or be associated with decentralized input material identifiers. Decentralized input material identifiers may be associated with a digital twin of the input material. An operating system for the production of the intermediate chemical product, such as the operating system 208 described with respect to Figures 2A-2C, may include or communicate with an ID reader configured to read physical identifiers and determine the decentralized input material identifier associated with the physical identifier. Decentralized input material identifiers may be associated with a digital twin or a portion thereof of each input material. A digital twin of an input material may be generated as described in relation to Figures 7A and 7B. The digital twin may include measured physical and / or chemical properties and / or physical and / or chemical properties determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the input material. Physical and / or chemical properties may be measured using sensors as described in relation to Figures 2A to 2C. Physical and / or chemical properties may be determined from collected data as described in relation to Figures 2A to 2C. The digital twin may further include the input material name, input material producer, input material declaration data, input material safety data, emission data, recyclate content data, biobase content data, certificates of analytical data associated with the input material, certificates associated with the input material, or a combination thereof.

[0129] The operating system may be configured to access a digital twin or a portion thereof of the input materials provided to intermediate chemical production from, for example, a decentralized data provision network node associated with the input material provider (see, for example, Figure 13), based on the determined decentralized input material identifier. Such data may be used to operate the chemical production that produces the intermediate chemical products. For example, if the input material is recycled material, a production process to purify the recycled material may be performed. For example, if the input material is raw material, the purification process may be omitted. Intermediate chemical products may be formed by chemically reacting and / or physically processing the input materials. Chemical reactions may include polymerization, precipitation, and other commonly known chemical reactions. Physical processing may include mixing, grinding, extrusion, etc. Intermediate chemical production may include sensors such as sensors 210a, 210b that measure the physical and / or chemical properties of the intermediate chemical products produced by intermediate chemical production, as described with respect to Figures 2A to 2C. The operating system may be configured to determine the physical and / or chemical properties from collected data associated with the production of intermediate chemical products, for example, as described with respect to Figures 2A to 2C.

[0130] The operating system may be configured to generate digital twins of the produced intermediate chemical products, as described with respect to Figures 7A and 7B. Each digital twin may include a decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier and at least one chemical and / or physical property of each intermediate chemical product measured by sensors 210a, 210b and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property of each intermediate chemical product determined from the collected data. The digital twin may further include decentralized input material identifiers for the input materials used to produce each intermediate chemical product. This makes it possible to track the input materials used to produce each intermediate chemical product. The digital twin may further include the data described above in relation to the digital twins of the input materials. A digital access element for the intermediate chemical products may be generated, for example, as described with respect to Figures 8 and 9. The produced intermediate chemical products may be packaged, and the packaging may include physical identifiers such as a QR code, an embossed code, or an optical holographic code such as a zero-order diffraction microstructure. Physical identifiers can be assigned to each decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier in the digital twin and / or to each decentralized passport identifier of the intermediate chemical product digital access element. The assignment of physical identifier elements and decentralized intermediate chemical product identifiers can be performed in decentralized and / or distributed systems through a locally operating ID assigner. For example, a packaging line may include a labeling device that detects the packaging of the produced intermediate chemical product. Based on such recognition, a requester may generate a request to generate a digital twin, and each decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier included in the generated digital twin can be assigned to each physical identifier by, for example, an ID assigner (see also Figures 7A and 7B below). Assignment may include encoding each decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier into a physical identifier and providing the physical identifier, such as a code, to a labeling device configured to attach the physical identifier to each intermediate chemical product, such as the packaging of each intermediate chemical product. The ID assigner may be part of the labeling device or a separate device.

[0131] In the second step, the intermediate chemical products produced in step 1) may be provided to a chemical production as input material 202 to produce chemical product 206. The chemical production may be chemical production 204 as described in relation to Figures 2A-2C. The chemical production may be a chemical production that produces intermediate chemical products. The chemical production may differ from a chemical production that produces intermediate chemical products. In addition to the intermediate chemical products produced in step 1), further input materials may be provided to the chemical production and used to produce chemical product 206. The intermediate chemical products may include recycled intermediate chemical products and / or intermediate chemical products produced by intermediate chemical production different from the intermediate chemical production described with respect to step 1). Such intermediate chemical products may be associated with a physical identifier. The physical identifier may be associated with a decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier, and a digital twin or part thereof of each intermediate chemical product may be accessible through the decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier. An ID reader may be used to read the physical identifier associated with each decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier, as described above. As described above, the digital twin or a portion thereof can be retrieved via decentralized data consumption network nodes using decentralized intermediate chemical product identifiers.

[0132] Production data from the production of intermediate chemical products may be used by an operating system such as the operating system 208 described above in relation to the chemical production that produces chemical product 206 in Figures 2A to 2C. The chemical production may include sensors such as sensors 210a, 210b that measure the physical and / or chemical properties of the chemical products produced by the chemical production, as described in relation to Figures 2A to 2C. The operating system may be configured to determine the physical and / or chemical properties from the collected data associated with the production of the chemical product, for example, as described in relation to Figures 2A to 2C.

[0133] The operating system may be configured to generate a digital twin of a manufactured or packaged chemical product, as described above. The digital twin may include a decentralized chemical product identifier and at least one measured and / or determined physical and / or chemical property, as outlined above. The digital twin may also include a decentralized intermediate chemical product identifier, which allows for tracking of intermediate chemical products used to produce the chemical product, and indirectly allows for tracking of input materials used to produce the intermediate chemical product. The digital twin may include further data, as outlined above, such as producer name, producer brand, producer identifier, chemical product name, chemical product brand, and chemical product identifier.

[0134] Digital access elements associated with chemical products can be generated, for example, as described in relation to Figures 9 and 10. Decentralized chemical product identifiers and / or digital access elements can be associated with chemical products via physical identifiers as described above. Digital access elements may include decentralized access element identifiers and access data. Access data may include digital representations pointing to a digital twin or a portion thereof. Decentralized access element identifiers may correspond to or be associated with decentralized chemical product identifiers.

[0135] Figure 4A shows an exemplary apparatus 402 that generates a digital twin of the physical entity of a chemical product. The apparatus may be a decentralized participant node in a decentralized network. The apparatus 402 may be included in an operating system 208 of a chemical production 204 that produces a chemical product from one or more input materials (see, for example, Figures 2A and 2B). The apparatus 402 may be communicatively coupled to the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204 that produces the chemical product (see Figure 2C). The apparatus 402 may be configured to generate a digital twin of a chemical product using, for example, the method described with respect to Figures 7A and 7B.

[0136] The device 402 may be coupled to a data source layer 4004 which includes one or more distributed data sources 402, 404, 406. The device 402 may include a data source layer 404 (not shown). One or more distributed data sources may be distributed databases. A distributed data source may be a data lake containing chemical product data from multiple distributed data sources. Chemical product data may include chemical product name, chemical product composition, measured and / or determined chemical and / or physical properties, chemical product emission data, chemical product recyclate content, chemical product biobase content, chemical product production data, chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, certificates of analytical data associated with the chemical product, or a combination thereof. In this example, the system includes three distributed data sources. However, the device 402 may include fewer or more distributed data sources. One or more distributed data sources may include data associated with chemical products, such as chemical products produced by chemical production from one or more input materials, as described with respect to Figures 2A to 3. The data associated with a chemical product may include at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of each chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of each chemical product. The at least one physical and / or chemical property may be measured using sensors such as sensors 210a, 210b, and one or more measured chemical and / or physical properties may be stored in a distributed data source. The at least one physical and / or chemical property may be determined from data acquired from sensors such as sensors 210a, 210b before, during, and / or after production, and one or more determined chemical and / or physical properties may be stored in a distributed data source. At least one of the distributed data sources may include a data instance associated with a chemical product configured such that the device 402 generates a chemical product dataset. The data source layer 404 may be owned or controlled by the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product data. The data source layer 404 may be associated with the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product data.At least one of the distributed data sources may include data instances related to chemical product 206, which is configured for the device 402 to generate a digital twin.

[0137] The data source layer 404 may be connected to the data processing system 412 via a communication interface such as a network or API. The data processing system 412 may include one or more input nodes configured to collect data associated with chemical products produced by the chemical production 204 from the data source layer 404. Data associated with chemical products may be acquired before, during, and / or after production and provided to the data source layer 404 for storage. The data source layer 404 may be owned or controlled by the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product data. The data source layer 404 may be associated with the data owner of the data associated with the chemical product data. The input nodes may be further configured to transform the collected data. Transformation may be performed according to any of the data transformation operations described above. The input nodes may be configured to provide the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes. Providing the collected or transformed data may include providing the data to a database, such as DS / DT storage 420. Providing the collected or transformed data may include providing the data to a data consumer 414. The downstream nodes may be represented by a data consumer 414, a digital twin generator 416, a decentralized ID generator 418, and an embodiment agent 422. The data processing system 412 may be the data processing system 412 described with respect to Figure 4B.

[0138] The device 402 may further include a data consumer 414. The data consumer 414 may be configured to receive requests to generate a digital twin associated with a chemical product, for example, a chemical product 206 produced by chemical production 204 (see Figures 2A-2C). In response to a request, the data consumer 414 may be configured to consume collected or transformed data provided by the data processing system 412. Requests may be received at the data consumer 414. Requests may be received at the digital twin generator 416. Requests may include data related to a chemical product and data related to at least one embodiment model associated with the chemical product. Data related to a chemical product may include a chemical product identifier such as a batch number, lot number, ID, or a combination thereof. Data related to at least one embodiment model may include an embodiment model identifier. The data consumer 414 may be configured to consume collected or transformed data associated with a chemical product and provided by the data processing system 412 based on received data related to the chemical product. For example, along with a request, a chemical product identifier such as a batch number may be received, and the received chemical product identifier may be used by the data consumer 414 to consume collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product. In another example, a chemical product identifier may be received and used to determine further chemical product identifiers such as a chemical product number, lot number, or batch number. These further chemical product identifiers may then be used to collect data associated with the chemical product based on the determined further chemical product identifiers. In yet another example, a chemical product identifier may be received from a user via an input / output device 428. The input / output device 428 may be connected to the data consumer 414 via a communication interface such as a network and may be configured to display a graphical user interface that displays chemical product data associated with the chemical product, such as the chemical product name and associated chemical product identifiers. The input / output device 428 or the data consumer 414 may be configured to detect user input indicating a selection of chemical product data associated with a chemical product. The data consumer 416 may be part of a data processing system 412 (not shown).The data consumer 414 may be configured to consume collected or transformed data associated with chemical products from the DS / DT storage 420. That is, the data processing system 412 may be configured to provide the collected or transformed data to the DS / DT storage 420, and the data consumer 414 may be configured to consume the stored data.

[0139] The data consumer 414 may be configured to determine, upon receiving a request to generate a digital twin, whether a digital twin associated with the chemical product is already contained in the dataset (DS) / digital twin (DT) storage 420. For example, the data consumer 414 may use the chemical product identifier contained in the received request to determine whether a digital twin associated with the chemical product identifier is already contained in the DS / DT storage 420. This avoids generating a digital twin for a chemical product whose data is already contained in the DS / DT storage 420 (e.g., a digital twin has already been generated previously).

[0140] The device 402 may further include a digital twin generator 416 configured to generate a digital twin including a decentralized identifier, such as a decentralized identifier provided by a decentralized ID generator 418, and one or more chemical product datasets, such as a chemical product dataset generated by an embodiment agent 422. The decentralized identifier may include one or more DIDs and / or one or more UUIDs. One or more DIDs and / or UUIDs may be associated with the digital twin and / or digital twin datasets included in the digital twin. One or more DIDs and / or UUIDs may be further associated with chemical products. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate a digital twin in accordance with the methods described in relation to Figures 5, 7A, and 7B. The digital twin generator 418 may be configured to request a decentralized digital twin identifier. The request may include providing at least one authentication mechanism or selecting at least one of a plurality of authentication mechanisms. The request may include an owner identifier and / or a chemical product identifier and / or access data. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate access data. The access data may include a digital representation that points to a digital twin dataset. The access data may further include a chemical product dataset identifier. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to assign decentralized digital twin identifiers received from the decentralized ID generator 418 to at least a portion of the digital twin datasets generated by the mode agent 422. For example, the digital twin generator 416 may assign chemical product identifiers included in at least a portion of the digital twin datasets to the received decentralized digital twin identifiers such that at least a portion of the digital twin datasets of chemical products are associated with decentralized digital twin identifiers. The assignment may include relating decentralized digital twin identifiers to digital twin datasets associated with chemical products and stored in the DT storage 420, for example, at least a portion of the digital twin datasets stored in the DT storage 420 by the mode agent 422, as outlined below.The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to assign decentralized digital twin identifiers received from the decentralized ID generator 418 to digital twin dataset identifiers associated with at least a portion of the digital twin datasets generated by the mode agent 422. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to provide the generated digital twin or a portion thereof (for example, the digital twin dataset, also referred to below as the digital twin asset or mode) to the digital twin provider 426. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to provide the decentralized digital twin identifier and access data associated with the digital twin to the digital twin provider 426. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to provide the digital twin provider 426 with access rules associated with each digital twin or each digital twin dataset, as described later.

[0141] The apparatus 402 may further include a decentralized ID generator 418 configured to generate and provide data associated with chemical products and, optionally, decentralized digital twin identifiers associated with data owners such as data owners of the data associated with chemical products. The decentralized ID generator 420 may be configured to generate decentralized digital twin identifiers including or associated with further identifiers such as digital twin dataset identifiers. For example, the decentralized ID generator 420 may be configured to generate decentralized digital twin identifiers such as DIDs or UUIDs, and digital twin dataset identifiers such as DIDs and / or UUIDs. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be further configured to generate chemical product identifiers such as DIDs and / or UUIDs. The decentralized ID generator 418 may include components configured to generate decentralized identifiers (DIDs). The decentralized ID generator 418 may include components centrifuged to generate universally unique identifiers (UUIDs). The decentralized ID generator 418 may include components configured to provide decentralized digital twin identifiers. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to generate digital twin dataset identifiers separately from decentralized identifiers. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be communicatively coupled to device 402, for example, device 402 may not include the decentralized ID generator 418 (not shown). The decentralized digital twin identifiers may further include chemical product identifiers associated with chemical products. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be a central or decentralized node configured to generate decentralized IDs, such as DIDs or UUIDv4 as described in relation to Figures 10 and 11. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be a compute node that functions as a management module for DID owners, a user agent, an ID hub, and / or a certificate issuer. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to receive requests to provide decentralized digital twin identifiers associated with data associated with chemical products collected by the data acquisition unit 412 and optionally by the data owner.The above requirement may include providing at least one authentication mechanism or selecting at least one of multiple authentication mechanisms. The requirement may include, as described above, an owner identifier and / or a chemical product identifier and / or access data. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to generate decentralized digital twin identifiers and data related to authentication mechanisms and to provide the generated decentralized digital twin identifiers and data related to authentication mechanisms to the digital twin generator 418.

[0142] The morphology agent 422 may be configured to retrieve at least one morphology model from the morphology model database 424 connected to the morphology agent 422 via a communication interface, based on received data related to at least one morphology model. At least one morphology model may be retrieved by providing an identifier associated with each morphology model and retrieving the morphology model associated with the provided identifier from the morphology model database 424. The morphology agent 422 may be configured to use a predefined morphology model identifier associated with an available morphology model. The identifier may be determined by the morphology agent 422 based on data included in the request to generate a digital twin. The morphology agent 414 may be configured to use a predefined morphology model identifier associated with an available morphology model. Each morphology model may include at least some structure and / or characteristics of the digital twin dataset. The morphology model database 420 may include morphology models applicable to all chemical products produced. The morphology model database 420 may further include morphology models applicable to chemical products associated with environmental attributes. Environmental attributes may relate to emission data, such as CO2 footprint data, recyclable content, bio-based content, renewable content, certificates, or a combination thereof. By using different modeling approaches, it becomes possible to generate different digital twin datasets containing different data associated with chemical products. Different digital twin datasets allow data owners to structure the data associated with chemical products included in the digital twin at a more granular level, and thus control access and define access to the aforementioned data at a more granular level.For example, a digital twin dataset containing access-restricted data such as environmental characteristics, chemical product composition, and analytical data certificates may be associated with an access policy that strictly regulates the conditions for accessing the digital twin dataset. On the other hand, a digital twin dataset containing data required from a regulatory standpoint may not be associated with an access policy, or may be associated with an access policy that does not strictly permit access to such data.

[0143] The morphology agent 422 may be configured to generate a digital twin dataset associated with chemical products for each received morphology model by applying each retrieved morphology model to consumption data provided by the digital twin generator 416, retrieved from the DS / DT storage 420, or provided by the data consumer 414. For example, the morphology agent 422 can map the consumption data to the structure and / or characteristics of each morphology model. The morphology agent 422 may be configured to store at least a portion of the generated digital twin datasets in the DS / DT storage 420. This makes it possible to avoid unnecessary data transfer between the morphology agent 422 and the digital twin generator 416. Furthermore, this makes it possible to separate digital twin generation and digital twin access, thus improving the overall stability and availability of digital twin generation and provision. At least a portion of the digital twin datasets may include chemical product identifiers that enable linking of each chemical product in the generated chemical product datasets. For example, each generated chemical product dataset may include the same chemical product identifier. Each digital twin dataset associated with a decentralized digital twin identifier of a digital twin can be considered an asset or aspect of the digital twin. Each asset or aspect can be uniquely identified by a digital twin dataset identifier. Therefore, the combination of a decentralized digital twin identifier and a digital twin dataset identifier can make it possible to uniquely identify a digital twin dataset associated with a chemical product. Furthermore, the above combination also makes it possible to specifically retrieve such a digital twin dataset via a decentralized data consumption network node using the decentralized digital twin identifier, the decentralized digital twin dataset identifier, and access data, for example, as described with respect to Figure 13.

[0144] The device 402 may further include a DS / DT storage 420 configured to store digital twin datasets generated by the aspect agent 422. The DS / DT storage 420 may be configured to store data consumed by the data consumer 414. Chemical product datasets stored in the DS / DT storage 420 can be associated with decentralized digital twin identifiers provided by the decentralized ID generator 418 to enable retrieval of the digital twin datasets based on the decentralized digital twin identifiers. Digital twin datasets may be further associated with digital twin dataset identifiers in combination with digital twin dataset identifiers to enable retrieval of specific digital twin datasets based on decentralized digital twin identifiers. This makes it possible to retrieve specific assets or aspects of a digital twin without having to provide all the data contained in the digital twin. Furthermore, this makes it possible to define access rights at the asset / aspect level, and thus to have finer control over access to the data contained in each asset / aspect of the digital twin.

[0145] The device 402 may further include a digital twin provider 426 configured to provide a digital twin or a portion thereof generated by the digital twin generator 416 for access by, for example, a decentralized data consumption network node associated with a consumer of a chemical product (see also Figure 13). The digital twin provider may be a decentralized data consumption network node. The device 402 may be communicatively coupled to a digital twin provider 426 configured to provide the digital twin generated by the digital twin generator 416 for access (see, for example, Figure 4B, not shown). The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to receive a generated digital twin or a portion thereof (e.g., an asset or aspect of the digital twin) from the digital twin generator 416. The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to receive a decentralized digital twin identifier and access data associated with the digital twin from the digital twin generator 416. The digital twin provider 426 may store the received data in a database (not shown). This allows the digital twin provider 426 to retrieve a digital twin or a portion thereof from the DS / DT storage 420, for example, as described with respect to Figures 5 and 13, and provide the respective data to decentralized data consumption network nodes. For example, the database may store decentralized digital twin identifiers and access data associated with each digital twin. By storing access data for each digital twin dataset in combination with the decentralized digital twin identifier, it becomes possible to avoid unnecessary data traffic because, on demand, a decentralized data consumption network node only needs to retrieve the requested digital twin dataset contained in the digital twin, rather than the complete data contained in the digital twin. Based on the decentralized digital twin identifiers and the access data stored in the database, the digital twin provider 426 can retrieve a digital twin or a portion thereof from the DS / DT storage 420 and provide the retrieved data to decentralized data consumption network nodes.

[0146] The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to receive access rules associated with each digital twin or a portion thereof from the digital twin generator 416. The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to store the received access rules in its database. The access rules may include a list of decentralized participant identifiers associated with decentralized data consumption network nodes that are permitted to access the data contained in the digital twin or digital twin dataset. The access rules may include usage policies that define the processing, aggregation, or transfer of the data in the digital twin or digital twin dataset. The access rules may be associated with the decentralized digital twin identifier of the digital twin and / or the digital twin dataset of the digital twin. The access rules may be further associated with the digital twin dataset identifier.

[0147] Usage policies may be constrained by the data being exchanged, and enforcement of attached usage policies may be continuously controlled, for example, by a decentralized data consumption network node receiving the data, or by a decentralized data processing network node processing the received data. Usage policies may be instantiated on the target system. Usage policies may be data-dependent (also called sticky policies). Sticky policies are one way of dealing with the distribution of usage restrictions. In this approach, a machine-readable usage policy may be attached to the data during data exchange. Different implementations are also possible. For example, the data may be encrypted and can only be decrypted if attachment to usage restrictions is guaranteed.

[0148] The usage policy may include additional information provided by, for example, a policy information registry. This additional information may include information about contextual information such as the geographical location of previous data usage or entities, preconditions or postconditions that must be maintained before (e.g., integrity checks) and after (e.g., data items are deleted after use), and on-conditions that must be maintained during use (e.g., only during business hours). For example, the policy information registry may be used to resolve a supplier's ID to a postal address, and a postal address to GPS coordinates.

[0149] Usage control may be implemented by encrypting the data within a decentralized network node connected to the storage infrastructure before transferring the data to the storage infrastructure. Data usage is only possible by decrypting the data using the decentralized network node. Therefore, all usage is controlled by the decentralized network node. In such cases, usage restrictions, such as data lifetime or time constraints, can be implemented by deleting the encryption key material. Additionally or alternatively, the storage infrastructure may include usage control implementing components that monitor and / or control data usage.

[0150] Figure 4B shows an example of a data processing system, such as the data processing system 412 described in relation to Figure 4A. The data processing system 412 may be connected to a data source layer 404 and a data consumer 414. The data source layer 404 may include distributed data sources, as described in relation to Figure 4A. The data consumer 414 may be located upstream of the data processing system 412. Data may flow from the data source layer 404 through the data processing system 412 to the data consumer 414. Data requests may be sent from the data consumer 414 to the data processing system 412.

[0151] The data processing system 412 may include a data converter 430. The data converter 430 may be configured to collect a stream of data associated with chemical products from the data source layer 404. Such a stream may be an ordered series of records generated by or received from the data source layer 404, rather than in a relatively continuous manner, i.e., not in accumulated batches or chunks. The records may include real-time data, such as industrial sensor data. The records may include the aforementioned chemical product data. The records may include single element data values ​​from, for example, a table. For example, the records may be object representations using JSON, XML documents, images, or snippets. The records may be defined as data that can be delivered continuously in small chunks or increments. The records may or may not be in chronological order.

[0152] The data converter 430 may be configured to transform the collected data. For example, the data converter 430 may be configured to perform one or more of the aforementioned transformation operations on the collected data. The data converter 430 may include a plurality of processing elements connected in series, where the output of one element is the input of the next element. The elements may include data converters or other processing functions implemented in any suitable language such as Python, SQL, Java, or Scala. The processing elements may perform filtering operations on the collected data, for example, to reduce the amount of data provided to the stream storage system 434.

[0153] The data converter 430 may be configured to store the converted data in the database 432. The data converter 430 may be configured to determine whether the converted data is already contained in the database 434 or whether it is an update to data contained in the database 434. If the converted data is not contained in the database 434, the data converter 430 may be configured to store the data in the database 434. If the converted data is an update to data contained in the database 434, the data converter 428 may be configured to update the already stored data. The use of such a database 434 avoids providing an incomplete dataset to the stream storage system 434. The data converter 430 may be configured to provide the data stored in the database 434 to the stream storage system 434. For example, newly stored data in the database 434 and / or updated data in the database 434 can be marked, and the data converter 430 may be configured to provide the marked data to the stream storage system 434.

[0154] The data processing system 412 may include a stream storage system 434. The stream storage system 434 may be configured to store data collected or transformed by the data converter 430. The stream storage system 434 may be configured to provide the stored data to the data consumer 414. The stream storage system 434 may include one or more persistent or non-persistent logs 436, 438. In this embodiment, the stream storage system 434 includes two persistent or non-persistent logs 436, 438 (i.e., log 1:436 and log 2:434). Records stored in the logs may be ordered, for example, by using an ID. This makes it possible to identify records in a particular log.

[0155] The data converter 430 and the stream storage system 434 together may provide a streaming service or stream processing service between one or more streaming sources (e.g., data source layer 404) and one or more streaming sinks (e.g., log 1:436 and log 2:438). The stream storage system 434 may function as a persistent or non-persistent stream sink for the data converted by the data converter 430. For example, an open-source software system such as Apache Kafka ("Kafka") may function as a persistent stream sink, and Apache Flink ("Flink") or Azure Data Factory may implement the data converter 430 that performs the conversion (e.g., from data records moving from a stream source to a stream sink).

[0156] The data converter 430 may be configured to provide (e.g., push) the collected or converted data to the stream storage system 434 without storing the converted data in the database 432. For example, the data converter 430 may be configured to push the collected or converted data to the stream storage system 434. The stream storage system 434 may be configured to determine whether the provided data is already contained in one or more persistent or non-persistent logs (e.g., log 1:436 or log 2:438 in this embodiment). If the data is already contained in one or more persistent or non-persistent logs, the stream storage system 430 does not need to store the provided data in the logs. If the data is not contained in one or more persistent or non-persistent logs, or is an update, the stream storage system 434 may be configured to store the provided data in one or more persistent or non-persistent logs, or to update the data in the persistent or non-persistent logs using the data present in the database 432.

[0157] The stream storage system 434 may be configured to pull data converted from the data converter 430. For example, the stream storage system 434 may be configured to request data from the data converter 430 at regular time intervals. The stream storage system 434 may be configured to determine whether the requested data is already contained in one or more logs and to function accordingly as described above.

[0158] The stream storage system 434 may be configured to pull data stored in the database 432. For example, newly stored data in the database 432 and / or updated data in the database 432 may be marked, and the stream storage system 434 may be configured to pull the marked data from the database 432. Pushing data from the data converter 430 to the stream storage system 434 or having the stream storage system 434 pull data from the data converter 430 or the database 432 are merely exemplary embodiments, and any combination of these methods is possible.

[0159] The data consumer 414 may be connected to the stream storage system 434 of the data processing system 412. The data consumer 414 may be connected to the stream storage system, in particular to one or more persistent or non-persistent logs (e.g., log 1:436 and log 2:438 in this embodiment) in order to ingest and process the streamed data. The data consumer 414 may also be connected to the stream storage system 434 and the digital twin generator 416, for example, the data consumer 414 may be used to provide data from the stream storage system 434 to the digital twin generator 416 (not shown, see Figure 4A). The data consumer 414 may also be connected to the stream storage system 434 and the DS / DT storage 420, for example, the data consumer 414 may be used to provide data from the stream storage system 434 to the DS / DT storage 420, and the digital twin generator 416 may be configured to consume the data provided to the DS / DT storage 420 (not shown). The stream storage system 434 may have a publisher-subscriber relationship with the data consumer 414. The stream storage system 434 may be in a publisher-subscriber relationship with the DS / DT storage 420. For example, data in the log can be periodically read by the data consumer 414. The data consumer 414 may be configured to consume data provided by the data processing system 412, as described in relation to Figure 4A.

[0160] Figure 4C shows an example of a layered system for generating a chemical product dataset associated with chemical products. The layered system may be included in an operational system 208 of a chemical production 204 that produces chemical products from one or more input materials (see, for example, Figures 2B and 2C). The layered system may be communicatively coupled to the operational system 208 of the chemical production 204. At least a portion of the layered system may be included in the operational system 208, while another portion may be communicatively coupled to the operational system 208.

[0161] The layered system may include a data source layer 404, such as the data source layer 404 described with respect to Figure 4A. The data source layer 404 may include one or more distributed data sources 402, 406, 408. The distributed data sources may include data instances related to chemical products 206 produced by chemical production 204. The data instances may relate to instances of chemical product data, such as the chemical product data described with respect to Figures 3 and 4A.

[0162] The system may further include a service layer 440. The service layer 440 may include a data processing system 412, for example, the data processing system 412 described with respect to Figure 4B. The service layer 440 may be configured to collect data associated with chemical products from the data source layer 404. The service layer 440 may be configured to transform the collected data. The service layer 440 may be configured to provide the collected or transformed data to the consumer layer 440.

[0163] The system may further include a consumer layer 442. The consumer layer 442 may be configured to consume data associated with chemical products from the service layer 442, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A and 4B. The consumer layer 442 may include a data consumer 414, a digital twin generator 416, a decentralized ID generator 418, DS / DT storage 420, and an embodiment agent 422 as described in relation to Figure 4A. The consumer layer 442 may be configured to generate digital twins associated with chemical products from data consumed from the service layer 438, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A to 5. The consumer layer 442 may be connected to an input / output device (not shown), for example, the I / O device 428 in Figure 4A. The I / O device 428 may be used to trigger the generation of a chemical product dataset, as described in relation to Figure 4A.

[0164] The system may further include a connector layer 444. The connector layer 444 may be configured to provide a digital twin or a portion thereof generated in the consumer layer 442 for access. The connector layer 444 may include a digital twin provider 426, such as a decentralized data delivery network node as described with reference to Figures 5 and 13, configured to provide access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. Access may be controlled by the data owner of the digital twin or a portion thereof via the digital twin provider 426, by access rules associated with the digital twin or a portion thereof, as described, for example, with reference to Figure 4A. The digital twin provider 426 of the connector layer 444 may be configured to exchange data, such as data contained in the digital twin, with a decentralized data consumption network node. The decentralized data consumption network node may be associated with a consumer or processor of a chemical product (see, for example, Figure 13). The decentralized data delivery network node and the decentralized data consumption network node may perform an authentication step before data exchange, for example, as described with reference to Figures 14A and 14B. The digital twin provider 426 may apply access rules associated with the digital twin or a portion thereof requested by the decentralized data consumption network node before providing the data to the decentralized data consumption network node, as described, for example, with respect to Figure 4A. Based on the access rules, the digital twin provider 426 may deny access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. Based on the access rules, the digital twin provider 426 may grant access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. Based on the access rules, the digital twin provider 426 may modify access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. Access may be granted to all data contained in the digital twin (e.g., all data associated with the decentralized digital twin identifier) ​​or to a portion thereof, such as a specific digital twin dataset, contained in the digital twin.

[0165] A layered system makes it possible to achieve the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of data contained in a digital twin or digital twin dataset. The connector layer ensures that only predefined decentralized network stakeholders can access and retrieve data associated with the digital twin, and this can be technically guaranteed. For example, separating digital twin generation from the consumption of data contained in the digital twin makes it possible to achieve high and stable availability of data contained in the digital twin within a decentralized network.

[0166] Figure 5 shows an exemplary system and related methods for generating digital twins associated with chemical products produced by chemical production and providing access to the generated digital twins. The apparatus for generating the digital twins may be the apparatus 402 described in relation to Figure 4A. The apparatus for generating the digital twins may be included in the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204 (see, for example, Figures 2A and 2B). The apparatus for generating digital twins of chemical products may be communicatively coupled to the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204 (see, for example, Figure 2C). The digital twins may be generated as described in relation to Figure 4C.

[0167] Chemical production may be chemical production 204 as described in relation to Figures 2A-2C. Chemical production 204 may produce at least one chemical product 206 from one or more input materials 202. Input materials may be supplied to chemical production 204 as described in relation to Figures 2B and 2C, for example. Input materials may enter the system boundary of chemical production 204 at an inlet point such as a production plant or material storage facility associated with chemical production 204. The amount of input materials entering the system boundary 504 of chemical production 204 may be measured using, for example, a sensor 210b as described in relation to Figures 2A-2C. The chemical and / or physical properties of the input materials may be measured as they pass through the system boundary 504 of chemical production 204 using, for example, a sensor 210a as described in relation to Figures 2A-2C. The measurement data may be used to determine at least one chemical and / or physical property of the input materials.

[0168] Input materials may be used in chemical production 204 to produce one or more chemical products from the input materials, as described with respect to Figures 2A to 2C. The operating system 208 of chemical production 204 may monitor and / or control chemical production 204 based on the operating parameters of different processes. The operating system 208 may receive production demand data associated with the production plan of chemical production 204. The production demand data may be generated from the target production capacity of one or more chemical products to be produced by chemical production 204. The production demand data may be generated from a predefined production capacity or from a data-driven model that associates production capacity with market demand data or quantities consumed at the point of consumption. The production demand data may include the target capacity of the chemical products to be produced by chemical production 204. The operating system 208 may further receive a bill of materials associated with the chemical products to be produced. The bill of materials may include input material data associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical products, process data associated with the production chain for producing the chemical products, and / or chemical product data associated with the chemical products, such as chemical product specifications or the quantity of chemical products to be produced.

[0169] Material demand data may be determined based on received production demand data and bills of materials. Material demand data may include data on the amount of material needed to produce a target yield of a chemical product. Material demand data may include material identifiers associated with the materials needed to produce the chemical product, and data on the quantity of each material. For each material identifier, material demand data may include one or more material specifiers indicating the material specifications. For each material identifier, material demand data may include data on the quantity of material supplied. Material demand data may specify the production chain of chemical production 204. Material demand data may include bills of materials for one or more production chains of chemical production 204. Material demand data may include one or more recipes specifying one or more materials for the production process of chemical production 204. The determined material demand data may be provided for access by supplier systems associated with suppliers outside the physical system boundary of chemical production 204. Material supply may be triggered by the supplier system accessing the material demand data.

[0170] The amount of chemical products produced from processes carried out within chemical production 204, such as chemical reactions and / or physical treatments, can be measured using sensors such as sensor 210b, as described in Figures 2A to 2C. Since chemical reactions can produce two or more reaction products, for example, chemical reactions involve a many-to-many relationship between starting materials and the resulting reaction products (see also Figures 2A to 2C), and by measuring the amount of chemical products produced from each chemical reaction carried out within chemical production 204, it becomes possible to track the flow of materials within chemical production 204. The measured data can be stored in one or more databases associated with the operation system 208. Furthermore, chemical reactions and / or physical processes can be monitored using sensors such as sensor 210b, and the generated monitoring data can be stored in one or more databases associated with the operation system 208. The measured amount of produced chemical products and monitoring data can be used to generate a digital twin of each production process performed within chemical production 204. The measured amount of produced chemical products and monitoring data can be used to generate a digital twin of chemical production 204. This digital twin allows for reliable tracking and description of the flow of input materials, intermediate chemicals, and finished chemicals, even when there is a many-to-many relationship between the starting materials and reaction products associated with a chemical reaction. The physical and / or chemical properties of the produced chemicals may be measured by sensors such as sensor 210a and / or determined as described with respect to Figures 2A to 2C. The measured and / or determined chemical and / or physical properties of the produced chemicals 206 may be stored in one or more databases associated with the operating system 208.

[0171] The produced chemical product 206 may be delivered at one or more exit points of the chemical production. The chemical product 206 may leave the system boundary 502 of the chemical production 204. A digital twin may be generated when the chemical product 206 is produced or when the chemical product 206 leaves the chemical production 204. The apparatus 402 may be configured to generate a digital twin, as described with respect to Figures 4A and 7. A requester 504 may be configured to generate a digital twin generation request. The requester 504 may be included in a labeling device, as described, for example, with respect to Figure 3. The request may include data related to the chemical product, such as a batch number. The request may further include data associated with an embodiment model related to the chemical product, such as an embodiment model identifier. The digital twin generation request may be provided to a data consumer 414 of the apparatus 402. In response to the request, the data consumer 414 may be configured to consume data collected or transformed from the data processing system 412 based on the data included in the received request (see Figures 4A and 4B). The data consumer 414 may be configured to determine whether a digital twin associated with the produced chemical product 206 is already contained in the DS / DT storage 420 (see Figure 4A). A digital twin generation request may be provided to the digital twin generator 416 of the apparatus 402 (not shown). Upon request, the digital twin generator 416 may be configured to initiate consumption by the data consumer 414 of the collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product.

[0172] The data consumer 414 may provide the collected data to the digital twin generator 416. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to request the consumed data and optionally associated decentralized digital twin identifiers from the decentralized ID provider 506, for example, as described with respect to Figure 4A. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to retrieve the digital twin dataset from the mode agent 422. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate a digital twin, for example, as described with respect to Figures 4A, 7A, and 7B. The digital twin may include decentralized digital twin identifiers and at least a portion of the digital twin dataset generated by the mode agent 422. The decentralized digital twin identifiers may include one or more DIDs and / or UUIDs, for example, as described with respect to Figure 4A. The digital twin may further include chemical product identifiers. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to provide the generated digital twin to the digital twin provider 426.

[0173] The mode agent 422 may be configured to retrieve at least one mode model from mode model DB 424 (not shown, see, for example, Figure 4A) and generate a digital twin dataset for each retrieved mode model (see, for example, Figures 4A and 6). The mode agent 422 may be configured to store at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset in DS / DT storage 420 (see Figure 4A). The mode agent 422 may be configured to provide at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset to the digital twin generator 416.

[0174] The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to generate decentralized digital twin identifiers, for example, as described with respect to Figure 4A. The decentralized ID generator 418 may include components configured to generate decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and / or components configured to generate universally unique identifiers (UUIDs), as described with respect to Figure 4A. For example, a decentralized digital twin identifier may be requested by a digital twin generator 416. In another example, a decentralized digital twin identifier may be requested by a decentralized ID provider 506, for example, upon receiving a request from a digital twin generator 416 (not shown). The decentralized ID generator 418 may be part of a device 402. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be communicatively coupled to the device 402 (not shown). The decentralized ID generator 418 may be a central node or one or more decentralized nodes, as described with respect to Figure 4A. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to provide the generated digital twin to the decentralized ID provider 506. The decentralized ID generator 418 and the decentralized ID provider 506 may be separate devices, as shown in Figure 5. The decentralized ID generator 418 and the decentralized ID provider 506 may be contained within a single device configured to generate decentralized identifiers and provide the generated decentralized identifiers, for example, as shown in Figure 4A.

[0175] The decentralized ID provider 506 may be configured to provide a received decentralized digital twin identifier to a requester 504 configured to associate the received decentralized digital twin identifier with a chemical product. For this purpose, the requester 504 may include an ID assigner (see, for example, Figures 2B, 2C, and 3). The decentralized ID provider 506 may be configured to provide a received decentralized digital twin identifier to an ID assigner configured to associate the received decentralized digital twin identifier with a chemical product (not shown). Such association may include encoding the decentralized digital twin identifier into a code such as a barcode, QR code, embossed code, or optical holographic identifier, and providing a code generated for labeling the chemical product. Thus, a physical identifier may be provided that associates the physical entity of the chemical product with the decentralized digital twin identifier of the digital twin, and thus associates the digital twin with the physical entity of the chemical product.

[0176] The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to provide the digital twin or a portion thereof for access by the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be part of the decentralized network 508. The digital twin or a portion thereof may be accessed by the decentralized data consumption network node 510 using a decentralized digital twin identifier. Access to the digital twin or a portion thereof may be controlled by the digital twin provider 426 (see, for example, Figure 13). The digital twin provider 426 may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin dataset. The digital twin provider 426 may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin. The digital twin provider 426 may be associated with the operator of the chemical production 204.

[0177] Figure 6 shows an exemplary apparatus for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product using at least two different embodiment models. The apparatus may correspond to the apparatus 402 described with respect to Figure 4A. The apparatus may be included in an operating system 208 of a chemical production 204 that produces a chemical product 206 from one or more input materials 202 (see, for example, Figures 2A and 2B). The apparatus may be communicatively coupled to an operating system 208 of a chemical production 204 that produces a chemical product 206 from one or more input materials 202 (see, for example, Figure 2C). The apparatus may be configured to generate a digital twin 608, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A, 7A, and 7B. The apparatus in Figure 6 may be connected to a data source layer 404, as described with respect to Figure 4A.

[0178] The apparatus may include, for example, a data processing unit 412 configured to collect data associated with chemical products from a data source layer 404, optionally transform the collected data, and provide the transformed or collected data, as described with respect to Figures 4A, 5, and 7. The collected or transformed data may be provided to a data consumer 414. The collected or transformed data may be retrieved by the data consumer 414.

[0179] The apparatus may include a data consumer 414 configured to consume collected or transformed data provided by the data processing system 412 based on data related to chemical products, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 4A, 5, 7A, and 7B. The data consumer 414 may be configured to provide the consumed data to a digital twin generator 416 (see also Figure 4A). The data consumer 414 may be configured to provide the consumed data to a DS / DT storage 420 (see also Figure 4A).

[0180] The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to request decentralized digital twin identifiers from the decentralized ID generator 420, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A to 5. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to provide data received or retrieved from the data consumer 414 to the mode agent 422. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to retrieve or receive digital twin datasets generated by the mode agent 422. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to retrieve or receive digital twin datasets from the DS / DT storage 420. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate a digital twin of a chemical product from the received decentralized digital twin identifiers and at least a portion of the received or retrieved digital twin datasets, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A, 5, 7A, and 7B. For example, the digital twin generator 418 may generate a digital twin 608 by associating the received decentralized digital twin identifiers with each of the generated digital twin sets. Decentralized identifiers may include digital twins. Therefore, the decentralized digital twin identifier enables the identification of all digital twin datasets contained in the digital twin 608 of a chemical product. Each digital twin dataset can be uniquely identified by a digital twin dataset identifier in combination with the decentralized digital twin identifier. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate access data, for example, as described in relation to Figure 4A. The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to generate a DID document containing the decentralized digital twin identifier received from the decentralized ID provider 418 and access data such as the respective digital representations pointing to the digital twin datasets. The DID document may contain further identifiers such as a chemical product identifier and / or a digital twin dataset identifier. The chemical product identifier may be any unique identifier that uniquely identifies a chemical product within the decentralized network.The digital twin generator 416 may be configured to store the generated digital twin 608 in a DS / DT storage 420 (not shown), as described in relation to Figures 4A and 5. The digital twin generator 416 may also be configured to provide the generated digital twin 608 to a digital twin provider 426 (not shown), as described in relation to Figures 4A and 5.

[0181] The morphology agent 422 may be configured to retrieve at least two different morphology models from the morphology model DB 424, for example, as described with respect to Figure 4A. For example, the device 402 may use a predefined morphology model identifier, or it may use a morphology model identifier included in a request received by the data consumer 414 (see Figure 5). At least one of the retrieved morphology models may be associated with environmental attributes associated with chemical products, as described above. For each retrieved morphology model, the morphology agent 422 may be configured to generate a digital twin dataset from consumption data received from the digital twin generator 416 or retrieved from the DS / DT storage 420, according to the respective morphology model. For example, if two different morphology models are received, the morphology agent 422 may generate two digital twin datasets 604, 606. Each digital twin dataset may be associated with the respective morphology model used for its generation. The morphology agent 422 may be configured to store the generated digital twin datasets and associated data such as morphology model identifiers in the DS / DT storage 420 (see Figure 4A). The agent 422 may be configured to provide at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset to the digital twin generator 416.

[0182] The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to generate decentralized digital twin identifiers and provide them to the digital twin generator 416, as described with respect to Figures 4A and 5. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be a central node or a decentralized node, and may generate decentralized digital twin identifiers upon receiving a request from the digital twin generator 416 (see, for example, Figure 4A). The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to generate access data such as digital twin dataset identifiers.

[0183] Figure 7 shows a flowchart of a method for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The digital twin may be generated for a chemical product 206 produced by a chemical production 204 from one or more input materials 202. The chemical production may be chemical production 204, as described in relation to Figures 2A to 3. The digital twin may be generated by an operating system 208 of the chemical production 204. The operating system may include, for example, equipment for generating a digital twin 402, as described in relation to Figures 4A to 6. A digital twin generation request may be manually triggered by a user via a user interface, for example using an I / O device 428 (see Figure 4A). A digital twin generation request may be automatically triggered when packaging of the produced chemical product is detected, for example, as described in relation to Figures 3 and 5.

[0184] In block 702, data associated with a chemical product may be collected from one or more distributed data sources. This data may include the chemical product data described in relation to Figure 4A. The chemical product data may be collected before, during, or after the production of chemical product 206 by chemical production 204. The data associated with the produced chemical product may be stored in a data source layer, for example, the data source layer 404 described in relation to Figures 4A and 4C, which includes one or more distributed data sources. At least one of the distributed data sources may include at least one data instance related to the chemical product data of the chemical product from which the digital twin is generated. Therefore, the distributed data source may include chemical product data for further chemical products produced by chemical production 204, separate from the chemical product data of the chemical product from which the digital twin is generated. The chemical product data for the chemical product from which the digital twin is generated may be distributed across several data sources. Alternatively, the chemical product data for the chemical product from which the digital twin is generated may be stored together with a single data source. Data associated with the chemical products produced by chemical production 204 may be collected from one or more distributed data sources by a data processing system, such as the data processing system 412 described with respect to Figures 4A and 4B.

[0185] In block 704, a decision may be made as to whether to transform the data collected in block 702. The decision may be based on the collected data. The decision may be based on the programming of the routine that implements the method. For example, the collected data may always be transformable. In another example, the requirement for data transformation may be determined based on the collected data, such as data type and data structure, or based on the data source from which the data was collected. If the data is to be transformed, the method proceeds to block 706; otherwise, it proceeds to block 708.

[0186] In block 706, the collected data may be transformed. The transformation may involve applying one or more rules to unify the different data structures contained in the collected data into a predefined data structure. A uniform data structure ensures that the aspect model can be efficiently applied by downstream nodes without requiring prior data transformation operations. Thus, the predefined data structure can ensure that the aspect model can be applied to the above data structure. At least one transformation operation may involve applying filtering rules, semantic rules, data type rules, mapping rules, joining rules, reduction rules, aggregation rules, flattening rules, analysis rules, sorting rules, stringifying rules, casting rules, windowing rules, or a combination thereof.

[0187] In block 708, it can be decided whether to provide the collected or transformed data to the database. The decision may be based on the programming of the routine that performs the method. If the collected or transformed data is to be provided to the database, the method proceeds to block 710; otherwise, it proceeds to block 712.

[0188] In block 710, the collected or transformed data may be provided to a database. This may include determining whether the collected or transformed data is already contained in the database, or whether the collected or transformed data is an update to data contained in the database. If the collected or transformed data is not contained in the database, this may further include storing the collected or transformed data in the database. If the collected or transformed data is an update to data already contained in the database, this may further include updating the collected or transformed data in the database. This may enable providing only the updated or newly collected data to downstream nodes, thus reducing the amount of data provided to downstream nodes. This may reduce data traffic and ensure that only the data necessary for generating the digital twin is provided to downstream nodes. Thus, overall data traffic may be reduced, and the stability and availability of the entire system may be improved.

[0189] In block 712, the collected or transformed data may be provided to one or more downstream nodes. One or more downstream nodes may be part of a data consumer 414 or a digital twin generator 416, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A-4C. Providing the data may include storing the data in one or more persistent or non-persistent logs, for example, as described in relation to Figure 4B.

[0190] In block 714, a request to generate a digital twin associated with a chemical product may be received by one or more downstream nodes. The request may include data related to the chemical product, such as a product identifier as described in relation to Figure 3. The request may further include data related to at least one embodiment model associated with the chemical product, such as an embodiment model identifier. The request may be received by a data consumer 414 (see, for example, Figure 5). The request may be received by a digital twin generator 416 (see, for example, Figure 4A). The request may be generated by a requester upon detection of a chemical product packaging unit, as described in relation to Figure 5. The request may be generated by an I / O device 428 (see, for example, Figure 4A).

[0191] In block 716, it can be determined whether a digital twin of a chemical product already exists. Thus, it can be determined whether a digital twin has already been generated and stored, for example, in the DS / DT storage 420. This determination may be based on data related to the chemical product included in the received request, such as a chemical product identifier. For example, a chemical product identifier may be used to determine whether a digital twin associated with the chemical product identifier already exists, for example, whether it is already stored in the DS / DT storage 420. If a digital twin of a chemical product already exists, the method proceeds to block 718. Otherwise, the method proceeds to block 722, as described later.

[0192] In block 718, it can be determined whether the existing digital twin should be updated. This determination may be based on the data contained in the received request. For example, the request may contain data indicating that the digital twin should be updated. If the digital twin should be updated, the method proceeds to block 720. Otherwise, the method terminates or proceeds to block 702.

[0193] In block 720, the digital twin may be updated. Updating may include performing blocks 722, 726, 728, and 730 described later, for example, generating additional digital twin datasets. Updating may include modifying data contained in the existing digital twin or existing digital twin dataset, or adding data contained in the existing digital twin or existing digital twin dataset.

[0194] In block 722, the provided data associated with chemical products may be consumed based on the received data associated with the chemical products. The data may be consumed from the data processing system 412 using the data consumer 414, as described in relation to Figures 4A and 4B. The data may be consumed from the DS / DT storage 420, as described in relation to Figures 4A and 4B. The data may be consumed based on a product identifier, such as a batch number or product ID. For example, the product identifier may be retrieved from a request or identified based on data contained in a received request and may be used to retrieve data associated with chemical products from the data provided by the data processing system 412. This makes it possible to consume only the data necessary to generate the chemical product dataset and avoid consuming all data associated with chemical products collected by the data processing system 412. This improves the overall performance and stability of the method and avoids unnecessary data transfer operations.

[0195] In block 724, the consumed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner may be provided. The decentralized digital twin identifier may be provided, for example, in response to a request generated by the digital twin generator 416 of the device 402 (see Figures 4A and 5). The request may include a data owner identifier and / or a chemical product identifier. The data owner may be the data owner of the collected data and / or the data contained in the distributed data source. The data owner may be a chemical product manufacturer. The data owner may be a data owner as described above. The decentralized identifier may be requested from a central node or a decentralized node, for example, as described with respect to Figures 4A and 5. The decentralized identifier may be one or more DIDs and / or UUIDs, for example, as described with respect to Figure 4A. In one embodiment, block 718 may be executed after either block 726 or 728.

[0196] In block 726, for example, as described in relation to Figures 4A and 5, an embodiment model associated with a chemical product may be retrieved. At least a portion of the embodiment model may be associated with environmental attributes associated with the chemical product. The embodiment model may be retrieved based on an embodiment model identifier contained in the received request or based on data contained in the received request. The embodiment model may be retrieved from the embodiment model DB 416 (see, for example, Figure 4A).

[0197] In block 728, a digital twin dataset can be generated for each morphological model retrieved in block 720. The digital twin dataset can be generated, for example, by applying each morphological model retrieved in block 722 to the data consumed in block 716, as described with respect to Figures 4A to 6.

[0198] In block 730, a digital twin may be generated. The digital twin may include a decentralized digital twin identifier received in block 724 and at least a portion of the digital twin dataset generated in block 728. The decentralized digital twin identifier may be assigned to at least a portion of the digital twin dataset generated in block 722 (see, for example, Figure 6). The generated digital twin may include a digital twin dataset identifier. The digital twin dataset identifier may be generated by a digital twin generator 418 (see, for example, Figures 4A and 5). The digital twin may further include a chemical product identifier. The chemical product identifier may be a chemical product identifier included in the received request. The generated digital twin may be stored in the DS / DT storage 420 as described in relation to Figure 4A. Storing the digital twin in the DS / DT storage 420 may improve security regarding access to the digital twin, as appropriate authentication and authorization schemes may be implemented between the DS / DT storage 420 and the digital twin provider 426 that provides the digital twin or a portion thereof to authorized decentralized data consumption network nodes. The generated digital twin and / or the digital twin dataset contained therein may be provided to the digital twin provider 426, as described with respect to Figures 4A to 5.

[0199] In block 732, the generated digital twin may be provided to decentralized data consumption network nodes under the control of the digital twin provider 426, although this block is generally optional. The digital twin may be provided to decentralized data consumption network nodes as described with respect to Figure 13.

[0200] In block 734, a physical identifier may be assigned to a decentralized identifier included in the digital twin, although this block is generally optional. This block may be performed, for example, when a decentralized identifier included in the digital twin is used to generate a digital access element (see, for example, Figure 8). This makes it possible to link the decentralized identifier, and thus the digital twin, to the physical entity of the chemical product. 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, as described, for example, in relation to Figure 5, and may be attached to the chemical product, for example, using a labeling device.

[0201] Figure 8 shows a flowchart of a method for generating a digital access element associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the digital twin is associated with a physical entity of the chemical product, the digital access element is also associated with the physical entity of the chemical product, at least indirectly. The digital access element may enable indirect access to the digital twin or a portion thereof, i.e., access to the digital twin via the digital access element. Access to the digital access element itself may remain unrestricted while still allowing controlled access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. The chemical product may be produced by chemical production from one or more input materials. Chemical production may be a chemical production 204 as described in relation to Figures 2A-3. Chemical production may include or be associated with an operating system 208. The operating system may include, for example, a device for generating a digital twin, as described in relation to Figures 4A-5. The operating system may include, for example, a device for generating a digital access element, as described in relation to Figure 9. The operating system may be communicatively coupled to a device for generating a digital twin and / or generating a digital access element. A digital access element may correspond to a DID document associated with the DID used to generate the digital twin. Such a DID document may include the DID contained in the generated digital twin, a digital twin dataset identifier associated with the digital twin dataset contained in the digital twin, and access data. The access data may include a digital representation pointing to the digital twin dataset, as described with respect to Figure 4A. A digital access element may correspond to a DID document associated with a further decentralized identifier. A chemical digital access element may correspond to a data structure containing a decentralized digital twin identifier, a digital twin dataset identifier, and access data, for example, as shown in Figure 10.

[0202] In block 802, a digital twin of the physical entity of the chemical product may be generated. The digital twin may be generated, for example, using the method described in relation to Figures 7A and 7B. Block 802 may be performed using an apparatus for generating a digital twin, as described in relation to Figures 4A to 5. The generated digital twin may be stored in a data storage medium such as DS / DT storage 420.

[0203] In block 804, a request may be received to provide a decentralized access element identifier associated with the digital twin. The decentralized identifier may be further associated with a data owner. The data owner may be the data owner of the digital twin dataset included in the digital twin, as previously stated. The data owner may be a chemical producer, as previously stated. The decentralized access element identifier may be a DID. The decentralized access element identifier may be a UUID. The request may be generated by a requester, for example, as described in relation to Figure 9. The request may include an owner identifier and / or a chemical product identifier, as previously stated.

[0204] In block 806, the method may determine whether further decentralized identifiers should be provided. The determination may be based on data such as decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the digital twin generated in block 802. For example, if the decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin is a DID, the method may proceed to block 810. The use of decentralized digital twins makes it possible to avoid the generation of further decentralized identifiers, and thus enables more efficient generation of digital access elements. The determination may be based on the programming of the routine that implements the method. For example, the routine may be programmed to provide further decentralized identifiers. The use of further decentralized identifiers makes it possible to use different identifier schemes such as UUIDs and DIDs. This makes it possible to decentralize the storage of access data necessary to access the digital twin or a part thereof using a DID document (see, for example, Figure 10). If further decentralized identifiers should be provided, the method proceeds to block 808. Otherwise, the method proceeds to block 810.

[0205] In block 808, further decentralized identifiers may be provided. This may include, for example, generating further decentralized identifiers and providing the generated further decentralized identifiers, as described with respect to Figure 9. Further decentralized identifiers may be assigned to decentralized digital twin identifiers. This makes it possible to link the digital twin with digital access elements, and thus to access the digital twin or a portion thereof using the digital access elements. Further decentralized identifiers may be DIDs. Further decentralized identifiers may be assigned to decentralized digital twin identifiers. This may make it possible to link the digital twin with its respective digital access elements.

[0206] In block 810, decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the digital twin generated in block 802 can be retrieved. The retrieved decentralized digital twin identifiers can then be provided. For example, decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the generated digital twin can be retrieved from the digital twin storage 422. Each digital twin can be identified using a chemical product identifier included in a request received in block 804. For example, a chemical product identifier can be used to retrieve decentralized digital twin identifiers included in the digital twin associated with the chemical product identifier.

[0207] In block 812, a digital access element associated with the produced chemical product may be generated. The generated digital access element may include a decentralized digital twin identifier or further decentralized identifier contained in the digital twin, and access data. If the decentralized digital twin identifier is a DID, the generated digital access element may correspond to a DID document associated with the DID. Access data may refer to any data for accessing the digital twin or a part thereof, as described above. For example, access data may include endpoints for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoints) or endpoints for service interaction (service endpoints) that are uniquely identified via a communication protocol. Endpoints may be represented by the digital twin provider 426 (see, for example, Figures 5 and 9). Access data may include multiple digital representations, each digital representation referring to a different digital twin dataset contained in the digital twin. Each decentralized identifier and access data may be associated with one another. For example, the decentralized identifier that serves as the basis for generating the digital access element may be associated with authentication information used as the access data that serves as the basis for generating the digital access element.

[0208] In block 814, the physical identifier associated with the chemical product may be assigned to a decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier contained in the digital access element generated in block 812, although this block is generally optional. This makes it possible to link the digital twin, which is associated with the digital access element and therefore indirectly associated with the decentralized digital twin identifier or further decentralized identifier, to the physical entity of the chemical product. The physical identifier may correspond to a code such as a barcode, QR code, embossed code, optical holographic code such as zero-order diffraction microstructure, or a tag such as an RFID tag. The requirements may be generated by a labeling machine, as described, for example, in relation to Figure 9.

[0209] In block 816, the generated digital access element may be provided to a decentralized data consumption network node for access to the digital twin or a portion thereof, and this block is generally optional. The decentralized data consumption network node may be part of a decentralized network. For example, the digital access element may be provided to a passport registry (see, for example, Figure 9) accessible by the decentralized data consumption network node. The decentralized data consumption network node may use the data contained in the digital access element, such as the decentralized access element identifier and access data, to retrieve the digital twin or a portion thereof associated with the decentralized access element identifier from a decentralized data provision network node, such as the digital twin provider 426, as described with respect to Figure 13, for example. The decentralized data provision network node 416 may authorize access to the digital twin based on the decentralized digital twin identifier associated with the digital access element.

[0210] The generated digital access elements enable simplified, customizable data sharing or exchange of digital twin data associated with manufactured chemical products, from the chemical industry to stakeholders in the chemical supply chain.

[0211] Figure 9 shows an exemplary system and associated method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product produced by a chemical production, and for providing access to the digital twin or a portion thereof. The apparatus 902 for generating the digital access elements of the digital twin associated with the chemical product may be included in the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204 (see, for example, Figures 2A and 2B). The apparatus 902 for generating the digital access elements of the digital twin associated with the chemical product may be communicatively coupled to the operating system 208 of the chemical production 204 (see, for example, Figure 2C). The digital twin may be generated as described in relation to Figures 4A–5, 7A and 7B.

[0212] Chemical production 204 can produce at least one chemical product 206 from one or more input materials 202. Input materials may be provided to chemical production 204, for example, as described in relation to Figures 2B and 2C. Input materials may enter the system boundary 502 of chemical production 204 at an entry point such as a production plant or material storage facility associated with chemical production 204. Input materials may be used in chemical production 204 to produce one or more chemical products from the input materials, for example, as described in relation to Figures 2B and 2C. The operating system 208 of chemical production 204 may monitor and / or control chemical production 204 based on the operating parameters of different processes, as described in relation to Figure 5.

[0213] The produced chemical product 206 may be provided at one or more exit points of the chemical production. The chemical product 206 may exit the system boundary 502 of the chemical production 204. A digital access element may be generated when the chemical product 206 is produced or when the chemical product 206 exits the chemical production 204. The digital access element may be generated by a device 902 for generating digital access elements. The device 902 may be configured to generate digital access elements. The device 902 may be configured to receive requests to provide decentralized identifiers associated with a digital twin. The device 902 may be configured to generate a digital access element in response to the receipt of a request. In this embodiment, the device 902 may include a device for generating a digital twin, such as the device 402 described with respect to Figures 4A to 4C. In another embodiment (not shown), the device 902 may be communicably coupled to a device for generating a digital twin, such as the device 402 described with respect to Figures 4A to 4C.

[0214] In this embodiment, the device 902 may include a decentralized ID generator 418. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to retrieve decentralized identifiers from the digital twin stored in the DS / DT storage 420, or to generate further decentralized identifiers. Further decentralized identifiers may include one or more DIDs and / or one or more UUIDs, for example, as described with reference to Figure 8. In another embodiment (not shown), the decentralized ID generator 418 may be part of the device 402, and for example, the device 902 may not include a further decentralized ID generator 418. Instead, the decentralized ID generator 418 of the device 402 may be configured to generate decentralized identifiers associated with the digital twin (see, for example, Figure 4A).

[0215] In this embodiment, the device 902 may further include a decentralized identity provider 506. In another embodiment (not shown), the decentralized identity provider 506 may be part of the device 402, and for example, the device 902 may not include an additional decentralized identity provider 506. Instead, the decentralized identity provider 506 of the device 402 may be configured to generate additional decentralized identifiers (see, for example, Figure 4A). Although the decentralized identity generator 418 and the decentralized identity provider 506 are shown as separate units in Figure 9, their functions may be combined within a single unit so that the device 902 includes a decentralized identity providing unit configured to perform the functions of the decentralized identity generator 418 and the decentralized identity provider 506.

[0216] The requester 904 may be configured to generate a request for a decentralized identifier associated with the digital twin. The request may be triggered by a labeling system, such as a QR code generator, as described with respect to Figures 3 and 5. The request may include an owner identifier and / or a chemical product identifier, as previously described. The request for a decentralized identifier may be provided to a decentralized ID generator 418 configured to generate further decentralized identifiers, as described with respect to Figure 8. The decentralized ID generator 418 may be configured to retrieve decentralized identifiers included in the digital twin associated with the chemical product, as described with respect to Figure 8. For example, the decentralized ID generator 418 may have access to the DS / DT storage 420 and may retrieve decentralized identifiers associated with the digital twin based on the chemical product identifier included in the received request. The decentralized ID generator 418 may provide the generated further decentralized identifiers or the retrieved decentralized identifiers to the decentralized ID provider 506.

[0217] The decentralized ID provider 506 may provide the requester 904 with a decentralized digital twin identifier or a further decentralized identifier that has been generated. The decentralized ID provider 506 may associate the further decentralized identifier with the decentralized digital twin identifier. The requester 904 may be configured to associate the received decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier with a manufactured chemical product. Thus, the requester 506 may include an ID assigner configured to assign the decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier to a physical identifier. Such association may include encoding the decentralized identifier into a tag such as a barcode, QR code, embossed code, optical holographic code, or RFID tag, and providing the code or tag for labeling the chemical product. In this way, a physical identifier may be provided that associates the physical entity of the chemical product with the decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier received from the decentralized ID provider 506. Since a physical identifier is associated with a chemical product, its virtual digital access element, and its digital twin, the chemical product may be provided in association with the digital access element, thereby enabling further access to the digital twin or a portion thereof associated with the chemical product. Therefore, the chemical product associated with the physical identifier may be provided physically, while at least one digital access element and a portion thereof associated with the physical identifier may be provided virtually.

[0218] The decentralized identity provider 506 may provide the decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier to the digital access element generator 908, which is configured to generate a digital access element based on the decentralized digital twin identifier / further decentralized identifier and access data received from the decentralized identity provider 506. The digital access element generator 908 may generate a digital access element, as described, for example, in relation to Figure 8. The generated digital access element may include a decentralized access element, a decentralized identifier, and access data. The decentralized access element identifier may correspond to or be associated with a decentralized digital twin identifier contained in the digital twin. This makes it possible to link the digital twin to the digital access element, and thus the digital access element can be used as a means of communication to deliver digital assets, such as a digital twin or a portion thereof associated with the physical entity of a chemical product, to a chemical product consumer. The access data may include a digital representation that points to the digital twin or a portion thereof. The above representation may include the endpoint address of the decentralized data delivery network node associated with the digital twin (i.e., the data delivery service 426 associated with each DS / DT storage 420). The use of endpoint addresses of decentralized data delivery network nodes avoids the disclosure of internal endpoint addresses to the DS / DT storage 420, thus improving security and preventing unintended access or leakage of the digital twin or any part thereof. A digital access element may include or be associated with one or more authentication mechanisms linked to a decentralized access element identifier and access data. Authentication mechanisms may be used as described, for example, with respect to Figures 13, 14A, and 14B. An authorization mechanism may be used as described, for example, with respect to Figure 13.

[0219] The generated digital access elements can be provided to the DS / DT storage 420. This makes it possible to store the generated digital access elements, thus avoiding their regeneration.

[0220] The generated digital access elements may be provided to a digital twin provider 426 (not shown). The generated digital access elements may also be provided to an access element registry 908. The access element registry 908 may be part of a decentralized network 508. The access element registry 908 can be configured to store digital access elements and can function as a central or decentralized repository for existing digital access elements. For example, the access element registry 908 can store decentralized access element identifiers and associated access data. The access element registry 908 may be publicly available and thus enable transparency about existing digital access elements and associated digital twins of chemical products. However, access to the digital twin or a portion thereof associated with the digital access elements may be controlled by the data owner of the digital access element, for example, by using decentralized data provision network nodes that implement appropriate authentication and authorization schemes. This allows for retraining of data owners in controlling data access and use, while simultaneously enabling transparency about available digital twins and associated digital twin datasets.

[0221] The decentralized data consumption network node 510 can access the access element registry 908 and retrieve access data based on decentralized access element identifiers, for example, as described with respect to Figure 13. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be part of the decentralized network 508. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be associated with a chemical product consumer, for example, as described with respect to Figure 13. This enables controlled and secure transfer or access to digital twins and parts thereof.

[0222] The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to provide the digital twin or a portion thereof for access by the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The digital twin provider 426 may be configured to provide the digital twin or a portion thereof based on a decentralized digital twin identifier and optionally access data received from the data consumption service 510, as described, for example, with reference to Figure 13. Access to the digital twin or a portion thereof may be controlled by the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The digital twin provider 426 may be a decentralized data provision network node associated with the chemical production 204. The digital twin provider 426 may be associated with or under the control of the data owner of the digital twin. Digital access elements may be used to control access to the digital twin or a portion thereof, as described, for example, with reference to Figure 13.

[0223] The system and related methods described enable the generation of digital access elements associated with digital twins of chemical products. These generated digital access elements facilitate simplified and customizable data sharing or exchange of digital twin data associated with produced chemical products, from the chemical industry to stakeholders in the chemical supply chain.

[0224] Figure 10 shows an example of decentralized identifier-based owner data 1002, decentralized identifier-based digital access elements 1004, and a decentralized identity manager 1006.

[0225] A decentralized identifier may include a decentralized identifier (DID). In this case, a decentralized identifier-based digital access element may be a DID document 1004 associated with the DID. In addition to the DID document 1004 acting as a digital access element, Figure 10 shows a DID owner data element 1002 that includes decentralized identifier-based owner data. Generally, decentralized identifier-based owner data may include a decentralized identifier associated with an object such as a chemical product dataset, and may include one or more authentication mechanisms. Decentralized identifier-based owner data 1002 may include owner data that is electronically owned and controlled by the DID owner. In this regard, electronically owned may mean data stored in an owner repository or wallet. Such data may be securely stored and / or managed on an organized server or client device. Decentralized identifier-based owner data 1002 may include a DID, a private key, and a public key. A DID owner may own and control a DID representing the identification information associated with a DID subject, and a private key and public key pair associated with the DID. A DID can be understood as an identifier and the authentication information associated with or uniquely linked to that identifier.

[0226] A DID subject may be a raw material, a basic substance, a chemical product, or a finished product. A DID subject may be a machine, system, or device used to produce a raw material, a basic substance, a chemical product, an intermediate product, or a finished product, or a collection of such machines, devices, and / or systems. A DID owner may be a supplier or a manufacturer, such as a chemical manufacturer that produces a chemical. A DID owner may be an upstream supplier in a chemical manufacturer's supply chain, such as a supplier of raw chemicals or precursors for producing a chemical. A DID owner may be a downstream supplier in a chemical manufacturer's supply chain, such as a customer that consumes a chemical to produce an intermediate product, a component, a component assembly, or a finished product. A DID owner may be any supplier in the supply chain, including raw chemical suppliers, intermediate chemical manufacturers, intermediate component manufacturers, component manufacturers, component assembly manufacturers, or finished product manufacturers.

[0227] DID can be any identifier associated with the 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 to the extent that the DID is expected to be in use. The identifier can be a locally or globally unique identifier of any participant in the supply chain, including raw materials, precursors, basic substances, chemical products, intermediate products, components, component assemblies, final products, or collections thereof; machines, systems, or devices used in the production of raw materials, basic substances, chemical products, intermediate products, components, component assemblies, or final products, or collections of such machines, devices, and / or systems; chemical manufacturers producing chemicals; upstream participants in the supply chain of chemical manufacturers; downstream participants in the supply chain of chemical manufacturers, or collections thereof; or raw material chemical product suppliers; intermediate chemical product manufacturers; intermediate component manufacturers; component manufacturers; component assembly manufacturers; or final product manufacturers, or collections thereof.

[0228] DID can be any identifier associated with the DID subject and / or DID owner. Preferably, DID is unique to the DID subject and / or DID owner. DID can be unique at least to the extent that DID is expected to be in use. DID can be a locally or globally unique identifier for any of the possible DID subjects described above. DID can be a Unified Resource Identifier (URI), such as a Unified Resource Location Specifier (URL). Furthermore, DID can be an Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI). DID can be a Unified Resource Identifier (URI), such as a Unified Resource Location Specifier (URL). DID can be an Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI). For enhanced security, DID can be a random string of numbers and letters. In one embodiment, DID can be a sequence of 128 letters and numbers following the format did:method name:method-specific did, such as "did:example:ebfeb1f712ebc6f1c276e12ec21". DID can be a decentralized identity that is independent of a centralized third-party management system and under the control of the DID owner.

[0229] A digital access element as a DID document 1004 may be associated with a DID, i.e., a DID contained in decentralized identifier-based owner data 1002. Thus, a digital access element may include a reference to a DID associated with a DID subject described by the DID document 1004. The DID document 1004 may also 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 also be used to verify that the DID owner actually owns or controls the DID. The DID document may include authentication and authorization information, for example, to authorize a third-party entity to read the DID document or a portion of the DID document without, for example, granting the third party the right to prove ownership of the DID.

[0230] The digital access element 1004 may include one or more representations that digitally link to a chemical product dataset contained in a digital twin associated with the digital access element, for example, by a service endpoint. The service endpoint may include a network address on which the service operates on behalf of the DID owner. In particular, the service endpoint may refer to a service such as a data provision service of the DID owner that provides access to the chemical product dataset. Such a service may include a service that reads or analyzes the chemical product data contained in the chemical product dataset. The chemical product data may include chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, certificates of analytical data, emission data, product carbon footprint data, product environmental footprint data, chemical product specification data, product information, technology application data, production data, preference data associated with the chemical product, or a combination thereof.

[0231] The digital access element 1004 may include further identifiers such as a chemical product dataset identifier and a chemical product identifier.

[0232] The digital access element 1004 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the digital access element was created, when the last modification was made, and / or when it expires.

[0233] The DID and digital access element 1004 may be associated with a centralized or decentralized data service system 1006, for example, a distributed ledger or blockchain or a data registry node of a decentralized file system. The distributed ledger or blockchain may be used to store a representation of the DID that points to the digital access element 1004. The representation of the DID may be stored in the distributed computing nodes of the distributed ledger or blockchain 1006. For example, a DID hash may be stored in multiple computing nodes of the distributed ledger and may point to the location of the digital access element 1004. In some embodiments, the digital access element 1004 may be stored in the distributed ledger 1006. Each computing node may store a copy of the distributed ledger 1006. In this way, each DID hash can be stored redundantly, thereby increasing data security. Multiple DIDs associated with different digital access elements 1004 may be included in the distributed ledger 1006.

[0234] In some embodiments, the digital access element 1004 may be stored in the distributed ledger 1006, i.e., in addition to or alternative to the associated DID representation stored in the distributed ledger 1006. In other embodiments, the digital access element 1004 may be stored in data storage (not shown) associated with the distributed ledger or blockchain or a decentralized file system.

[0235] A distributed ledger or blockchain 1006 can be any decentralized network containing various computing nodes that communicate with one another. For example, a distributed ledger 1006 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). A distributed ledger or blockchain 1006 may include known technology stacks such as Bitcoin (see, for example, the Bitcoin documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / en.bitcoin.it / wiki / Protocol_documentation), Ethereum (see, for example, the Ethereum documentation published on August 15, 2022 at https: / / ethereum.org / en / developers / docs / ), Solana (see, for example, the Solana documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / spl.solana.com / ), Polygon (see, for example, the Polygon documentation published on November 11, 2022 at https: / / wiki.polygon.technology / ), or other embodiments with a different degree of data transactions performed on a distributed ledger. The description of exemplary frameworks is for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered limiting.

[0236] Figure 11 shows an example of certificate data 1102, digital access element data 1104, and the International Data Space (IDS) infrastructure 1108.

[0237] In contrast to the example in Figure 10, the example in Figure 11 is certificate-based. The certificate data 1102 may include subject and certificate issuer authentication data. The subject may be the data owner or an IDS connector 1106 operated by or under the control of the data owner. The certificate data 1102 may further include the subject name for which the certificate was issued, such as the data owner name, data owner ID, IDS connector name, IDS connector ID, or a combination thereof. The certificate may be an X.509 certificate, such as X509v3. The certificate data 1102 may be associated with an IDS infrastructure 1108, for example, a Certificate Issuing Service (CA) 1110 and / or a Dynamic Provisioning Service (DAPS) 1112 that provides dynamic attribute tokens (e.g., OAuth access tokens). The certificate data 1102 may further include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the certificate was created, when the last modification was made, and / or when it expires. The information required to validate certificate data 1102 may be provided through an authentication registry associated with a certificate issuing service and / or dynamic provisioning service. For example, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, version 3.0 as of April 2019, prior to the execution of data exchange (see, e.g., Figures 13-14B), an IDS connector 1106 associated with or under the control of the data owner, a Certificate Authority (CA) 1110, a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) 1112, and a decentralized data consumption network node (not shown) are used to validate the identity information.

[0238] Certificate data 1102 and digital access element data 1104 may be stored within the IDS connector 1106 (also referred to as the data provision service). The IDS connector 1106 may be associated with or under the control of a chemical product data owner.

[0239] The digital access element data 1104 may include a decentralized identifier, authentication data, and an endpoint associated with the chemical product data. The decentralized identifier may be a universally unique identifier (UUID), such as UUIDv4. The UUIDv4 may follow the following format, i.e., [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 chemical product data or a portion thereof, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 14A and 14B. The endpoint may include any digital representation that points to the chemical product data or a portion thereof (see, for example, Figures 8-10). The chemical product data may include the data described in relation to Figure 10.

[0240] The digital access element data 1104 may include various other information, such as metadata specifying when the digital access element was created, when the last modification was made, and / or when it expires.

[0241] Figure 12A shows a first example of a link between a digital twin dataset and a digital access element via a decentralized digital twin identifier. The digital twin 502 can be generated as described in relation to Figures 4A and 7. The digital twin 502 can be stored in DT storage 422. The digital access element 1210 associated with the physical entity of the chemical product can be generated as described in Figures 9 and 10. The datasets 1204 and 1206 associated with the digital twin 1202 are assigned to the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208, respectively. Thus, the use of the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 makes it possible to identify all existing datasets contained in the digital twin 1202. The decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 may include further identifiers, such as dataset identifiers for datasets 1204 and 1206. This makes it possible to uniquely identify the datasets contained in the digital twin using the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 and their respective dataset identifiers.

[0242] The digital access element 1210 includes a decentralized passport identifier 1212. The decentralized passport identifier 1212 may be a decentralized identifier linked to a decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 included in the digital twin. The decentralized passport identifier 1212 may correspond to a decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 included in the digital twin 1202. The latter avoids the generation of a new decentralized identifier and the linking of the newly generated decentralized identifier to a decentralized digital twin identifier included in the digital twin.

[0243] The digital access element further includes access data 1214. Access data 1214 may include digital representations that directly or indirectly point to a storage structure (e.g., datasets 1204, 1206) that stores a digital twin or a portion thereof, such as DT storage 422 (not shown). Access data 1214 may include digital representations that point to a decentralized data delivery network node associated with DT storage 422 (not shown).

[0244] The digital access element 1210 is linked to the digital twin 1202 via the decentralized passport identifier 1212, and therefore to the datasets contained in the digital twin, so that, as described with respect to Figure 13, it becomes possible to retrieve the digital twin or a portion thereof (e.g., datasets 1204, 1206) using the decentralized passport identifier 1212 and the access data 5112 contained in the digital access element 1210.

[0245] Figure 12B shows a second example of the links between the digital twin 1202, associated datasets 1204 and 1206, and digital access elements 1216 and 1222 via the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 and decentralized passport identifiers 1220 and 1226. The digital twin 1202 can be generated as described in relation to Figures 4A and 7. The digital access elements 1216 and 1222 associated with the physical entities of chemical products can be generated as described in Figures 9 and 10. The datasets 1204 and 1206 associated with the digital twin 1202 are assigned to the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208. Thus, the use of the decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 makes it possible to identify all existing datasets contained in the digital twin 1202.

[0246] In this example, a first digital access element 1216 is generated for dataset 12504, and a second digital access element 1222 is generated for dataset 1206. Digital access elements may be generated for each dataset, or for at least a portion of the datasets included in the digital twin. Each digital access element is linked to its respective dataset via decentralized digital twin identifier 1208 and decentralized passport identifiers 1220, 1226. Each digital access element 1216, 1222 contains access data 1218, 1224. The access data 1218, 1224 may include digital representations pointing to product datasets, as described with respect to Figure 12A.

[0247] Figures 12A and 12B show only two exemplary embodiments, and any number of digital access elements and any number of datasets in the digital twin may be possible. For example, a first digital access element may be generated for a first number of datasets, and a second digital access element may be generated for a second number of datasets. The number of datasets may include one or more datasets.

[0248] Figure 13 shows a schematic diagram of how a digital access element is used to provide access by a decentralized data delivery network node to a digital twin or a portion thereof associated with a chemical product. Access to the digital twin or a portion thereof may be requested by a decentralized data consumption service. The chemical product 206 may be produced by a chemical production such as the chemical production 204 described with respect to Figures 2A to 2C. The digital twin may include a decentralized digital twin identifier, as well as at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product, and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product.

[0249] Digital access elements may be generated during or after the production of a chemical product, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 8 and 9. Digital access elements may be associated with a digital twin or a portion thereof. A digital access element may include a decentralized access element identifier and access data. The decentralized access element identifier may correspond to or be associated with a decentralized digital twin identifier of the digital twin. Access data may include a digital representation that points to the digital twin or a portion thereof. Access data may include a digital twin data identifier associated with a digital twin dataset contained in the digital twin (see, for example, Figures 10 and 11). Examples of digital access elements are shown in Figures 10 and 11. A digital access element may further include or relate to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the decentralized access element identifier. Authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of the digital twin provider 426 and / or the decentralized data provision network node 510. A digital access element may be provided to a decentralized registry 908, as described, for example, in relation to Figure 10. The decentralized access element registry 908 can store decentralized access element identifiers and associated access data.

[0250] Chemical products 206 produced by the chemical production network 204 may be provided to consumers associated with a digital access element. Consumers may process the chemical products to produce further chemical products and / or separate products. Chemical products 206 may be associated with a code such as a barcode or QR code that encodes a decentralized passport identifier. Consumers of chemical products 206 may read the code through a code reader 1302. The code reader 1302 may be a smartphone running a code reading application such as a QR code reader app. Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the decentralized access element identifier. Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the decentralized digital twin identifier. Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the chemical product identifier. Data obtained by the code reading application may be used to determine the access data. The decentralized access element identifier, decentralized digital twin identifier, chemical product identifier, and access data may be determined by the code reader 1302. For example, the decentralized passport identifier determined by the code reader 1302 may be a DID, and the code reader 1202 may be configured to retrieve the associated DID document containing the digital twin identifier and access data, for example, using a DID resolver (see also Figure 10). In another example, a chemical product identifier is determined by the code reader 1302 and used to retrieve the decentralized access element identifier and associated access data from a database, for example, a decentralized registry 908. Thus, the code reader 1302 may be configured to retrieve the decentralized passport identifier and digital access elements containing digital twin location data from the decentralized registry 908. The code reader 1302 may be configured to provide the decentralized passport identifier and / or decentralized digital twin identifier to a database 1306 associated with consumers of the chemical product.The code reader 1302 may be configured to provide the determined decentralized access element identifier, decentralized digital twin identifier, and access data to the decentralized data consumption network node 510.

[0251] The code reader 1302 may be configured to display the determined / retrieved data on a user interface, as indicated by reference numeral 1304. The user interface can display the determined decentralized access element identifier (PP identifier), the determined decentralized digital twin identifier (DT identifier), and the determined access data (DT location). In this embodiment, the decentralized access element identifier and the decentralized digital twin identifier are different from each other. In another embodiment, the decentralized access element identifier is equal to the decentralized digital twin identifier. The user interface may further display the determined chemical product identifier (CP identifier). The user interface may also allow the user to initiate a retrieval of the digital twin or a portion thereof based on the decentralized access element identifier and access data, as described below. This process may be initiated by a button labeled "Access DT". When the above button is pressed, the code reader 1302 can send a request to the determined decentralized data consumption network node 510 to access the digital twin or a portion thereof.

[0252] A decentralized data consumption network node 510 associated with a consumer of a chemical product may generate requests to access a digital twin or a portion thereof. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may generate requests based on data received from a code reader 1302. For example, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may generate requests based on a decentralized digital twin identifier received from the code reader 1302. The data consumption network node 510 may generate requests based on a decentralized access element identifier and / or a decentralized digital twin identifier provided to the database 1306. For example, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be configured to retrieve a decentralized digital twin identifier and access data from a decentralized access element registry 908 based on a decentralized access element identifier stored in the database 1306. Requests generated by the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may include a decentralized digital twin identifier and a decentralized participant identifier associated with the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be configured to determine the digital twin provider 424 associated with the digital twin based on access data provided by the code reader 1302 or retrieved from the decentralized access element registry 908.

[0253] The decentralized data consumption network node 510 may send a request to access the digital twin or a portion thereof to the determined digital twin provider 424, as indicated by arrow 1308. The digital twin provider 424 may be associated with a chemical product producer. The digital twin provider 426 may be associated with a chemical production that produces chemical products. The digital twin provider 424 may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin. In addition to the request, authentication and / or authorization information may be provided by the decentralized data consumption network node 510, as described, for example, in relation to Figures 14A and 14B.

[0254] Requests can be authenticated (see Figures 14A and 14B). Requests can be validated by the digital twin provider 426, for example, by retrieving access rules from its database based on the decentralized digital twin identifier contained in the received request. At least some of the retrieved access rules can be applied to the received request. This makes it possible to filter decentralized data-consuming network nodes requesting access based on the decentralized participant identifier associated with the network node. If a request is invalid, for example, if a decentralized data-consuming network node is not authorized to access the digital twin data, the peer-to-peer communication channel is terminated by the digital twin provider 426, and the digital twin is not provided.

[0255] If the request is valid, the digital twin provider 426 can initiate contract negotiations with the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The digital twin provider 426 can provide the decentralized data consumption network node 510 with an electronic contract. The electronic contract may include access rules associated with the decentralized digital twin identifier. This allows data consumers to determine the access and usage conditions associated with the desired data. The digital twin provider 426 and the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may be configured to negotiate and sign the electronic contract. The use of the electronic contract ensures that the decentralized data consumption network node 510 and any further systems handling the digital twin or a portion thereof comply with the access rules associated with the digital twin. Once the electronic contract is signed, the digital twin provider 426 can retrieve or request a digital twin stored in the DS / DT storage 420 based on the decentralized digital twin identifier included in the received request, as indicated by arrows 1310 and 1312. The digital twin provider 426 can apply the determined access rules to the retrieved or received digital twin. Subsequently, the digital twin provider 426 may provide the digital twin or a portion thereof to the decentralized data consumption network node 510 in accordance with the applied access rules, as indicated by arrow 1314.

[0256] The digital twin provided by the digital twin provider 426 may be stored in a database 1306 associated with the decentralized data consumption network node 510, according to access rules, as indicated by arrow 1316.

[0257] Through a decentralized digital twin identifier, the digital twin can be uniquely associated with a chemical product. Through a decentralized network, the digital twin or a part thereof can be transferred between the producer and the consumer of the chemical product in a standardized and secure manner, enabling the producer of the chemical product to control access to the digital twin or a part thereof by a plurality of decentralized data consumption network nodes existing within the decentralized network. Thus, the digital twin or a part thereof can be shared directly among the participants in the chemical product ecosystem without a central intermediary through the unique association with the chemical product. This improves the transparency of the digital twin within the chemical product ecosystem.

[0258] The generation of the digital twin of the physical entity of the produced chemical product and the generation of the digital access element associated with the digital twin enable the sharing of the chemical product dataset included in the digital twin under simplified and customizable conditions without compromising data security and data sovereignty.

[0259] FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B respectively show exemplary methods of authentication for accessing a digital twin or a part thereof associated with a chemical product.

[0260] In the authentication process, various communication patterns can be implemented to verify the identification information. FIG. 14A shows an example of a communication pattern that can occur between a digital twin provider or a decentralized data providing network node 424 and a decentralized data consumption network node 510. In this case, the decentralized data providing network node 424 can function as a verification entity, and no separate service is required for authentication. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 can request a service from the decentralized data providing network node 424 (see step [1] in FIG. 14A). The request can include a decentralized identifier such as the DID or certificate of the data consumption network node 510.

[0261] In response to the request, non-central data providing network node 424 may access a registry such as a central or non-central authentication registry to search for data related to the authentication mechanism associated with the non-central identifier. For example, a central authentication registry may provide data related to the authentication mechanism via an authentication service that issues access tokens. Further for example, a non-central authentication registry may provide data related to the authentication mechanism by generating a request token. The data related to the authentication mechanism may include the public key of non-central data consuming network node 510.

[0262] Based on the retrieved data related to the authentication mechanism, non-central data providing network node 424 may generate an authentication request (e.g., corresponding to an authentication request token or a dynamic attribute token) (see step [2] in FIG. 14A). The authentication request may be generated based on the public key of non-central data consuming network node 510 and / or the private key of non-central data providing network node 424. The generated authentication request may be sent to non-central data consuming network node 510 (see step [3] in FIG. 14A).

[0263] Based on the received authentication request, non-central data consuming node 510 may generate authentication data for responding to the authentication request (see step [4] in FIG. 14A). The generated authentication data may be sent back to non-central data providing network node 424 (see step [5] in FIG. 14A).

[0264] Upon receiving a response containing authentication data from the decentralized data consumption network node 510, the decentralized data providing network node 424 may then verify the legitimacy of the authentication data (see step [6] in Figure 14A). In response to the legitimacy verification, the decentralized data providing network node 424 may permit or deny the service request from the decentralized data consumption network node 510 (see step [7] in Figure 14A). If access is permitted, for example as described in Figure 13, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may provide a decentralized digital twin identifier associated with the digital twin being retrieved, and the decentralized participant identifiers associated with the decentralized data consumption network node 510 and the decentralized data providing network node 424 may authenticate the received request and, if authenticated, provide the digital twin or a portion thereof.

[0265] Figure 14B shows another exemplary communication pattern that may occur between the digital twin provider or decentralized data delivery network node 424, the decentralized data consumption network node 510, and the authentication service 1404.

[0266] Firstly, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may request a service or initiate communication with the decentralized data provision network node 424 (see step [1] in Figure 14B). The request may include a decentralized identifier such as the DID of the decentralized data consumption network node 510, as described in relation to Figure 14A.

[0267] Upon receiving a request, the decentralized data provision network node 424 may access the distributed ledger to retrieve one or more authentication mechanisms associated with the decentralized identifier. Based on the retrieved authentication mechanisms, the decentralized data provision network node 424 may generate an authentication request (see step [2] in Figure 14B).

[0268] Here, at least one of the acquired authentication mechanisms may be provided via the authentication service 1404. Thus, in some embodiments, the generated authentication request may be sent directly to the authentication service 1404 (see step [3] in Figure 14B). Upon receiving an authentication request from the decentralized data provision network node 424, the authentication service 1404 may generate authentication data (see step [4] in Figure 14B).

[0269] The authentication data generated by the authentication service 1404 can be sent to the decentralized data consumption network node 510 (see step [5] in Figure 14B).

[0270] The decentralized data consumption network node 510 can then pass authentication data to the decentralized data provision network node 424 (see step [6] in Figure 14B). Upon receiving the authentication data, the decentralized data provision network node 424 can then verify the authentication data (see step [7] in Figure 14B). In response to the verification, the decentralized data provision network node 424 can permit or deny the service request from the decentralized data consumption network node 510 (see step [8] in Figure 14B). If access is permitted, for example as described in Figure 13, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may provide a decentralized digital twin identifier associated with the digital twin being retrieved, and the decentralized participant identifiers associated with the decentralized data consumption network node 510 and the decentralized data provision network node 424 may authenticate the received request, and if authenticated, may provide the digital twin or a portion thereof.

[0271] Alternatively, in some embodiments, after the decentralized data provision network node 424 generates an authentication request, the decentralized data provision network node 424 may send the authentication request to the decentralized data consumption network node 510. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 can then pass the authentication request to the authentication service 1404.

[0272] Furthermore, after the authentication service 1404 has been able to generate the authentication data, in some embodiments, the authentication service 1404 simply communicates with the decentralized data consumption network node 510 to notify it of the receipt of the authentication request and obtain consent. Upon receiving the notification, the decentralized data consumption network node 510 may consent and send the consent to the authentication service 1404. Upon receiving the consent, the authentication service 1404 may then directly send the authentication data to the decentralized data provision network node 424.

[0273] Finally, in many transactions, authentication can be performed mutually by both parties. In such a mutual authentication situation, each party involved is both a subject entity and a verification entity. The decentralized data consumption network node 510 and the decentralized data provision network node 424 have control over their decentralized identities. Initially, services may exchange their decentralized identities. Next, each service accesses the distributed ledger to obtain each other's authentication mechanisms. Each service then generates its own authentication request based on the other's identity authentication method. The generated authentication data is then sent to the other service. Upon receiving each other's authentication data, each service verifies the received authentication data. Based on the verification result, the services may then perform additional communication, for example, one service may permit or deny a service request from the other service.

[0274] Figures 14A and 14B simply illustrate examples of authentication protocols. Furthermore, while communication arrows are considered in a specific order or shown in a series of communications, unless otherwise noted, a specific order is not required, or a specific order is required because communications depend on the completion of other communications before they are sent.

[0275] This disclosure has been described in conjunction with embodiments and examples. However, a person skilled in the art who practices the claimed invention will be able to understand and implement other variations by examining the drawings, this disclosure, and the claims.

[0276] 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 not required that different steps be performed in a specific location or on a specific compute node of a distributed system; that is, each step may be performed on a different compute node using different equipment / data processing.

[0277] As used herein, “determining” also includes “initiating or causing a decision to be made,” “generating” also includes “initiating and / or causing a generation,” and “providing” also includes “initiating a decision, generation, selection, transmission, and / or reception, or causing a decision, generation, selection, transmission, and / or reception.” “Initiating or causing the execution of an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a compute node or device to perform the respective action.

[0278] In the claims and herein, the term “equipped with” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude plural. A single element or other unit may perform the function of several entities or items described in the claims. The mere fact that certain means are described in different dependent claims does not imply that a combination of these means cannot be used in a favorable implementation.

Claims

1. An apparatus for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media having stored computer-executable instructions, wherein, when the computer-executable instructions are executed by the one or more processors, the apparatus generates, a) A data processing system comprising one or more input nodes configured to collect data associated with a chemical product from one or more distributed data sources, each containing one or more data instances related to the chemical product, to optionally transform the collected data, and to provide the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product. b) A digital twin generator including one or more downstream nodes, wherein the downstream nodes are - Consume collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product, provided by one or more input nodes, based on received data related to the chemical product. - To provide the consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner, - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model, - For each retrieved behavioral model, a digital twin dataset is generated by applying each retrieved behavioral model to the consumed data, - To generate a digital twin of the chemical product, which includes the provided decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset. A digital twin generator, device, configured to perform the following actions.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the collected or transformed data is stored in a database before being provided to one or more downstream nodes.

3. Storing the collected or converted data in a database is, - Determining whether the collected or converted data is already included in the database or whether the collected or converted data is an update to the data included in the database. - Whether the collected or converted data is not included in the database or is updated, storing the collected or converted data in the database, or updating the stored data according to the collected or converted data. The apparatus according to claim 2, including the following:

4. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein providing the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes includes providing the collected or transformed data to a persistent log or a non-persistent log, and providing access to one or more downstream nodes to the persistent log or a non-persistent log.

5. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the digital twin further includes a digital twin dataset identifier associated with the digital twin dataset.

6. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one digital twin dataset included in the digital twin comprises at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or the at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product.

7. The apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the data associated with the chemical product includes chemical product data, in particular the chemical product data includes data relating to the use of the chemical product, data relating to the production of the chemical product, one or more chemical product identifiers, chemical product names, chemical product compositions, chemical and / or physical properties of the chemical product, emission data of the chemical product, recycling content data of the chemical product, bio-based content data of the chemical product, renewable content data of the chemical product, chemical product production data, chemical product declaration data, chemical product safety data, certificates of analytical data associated with the chemical product, certificates associated with the chemical product, or a combination thereof.

8. At least one retrieved embodiment model relates to the apparatus according to any one of the prior claims, relating to the environmental attributes associated with the chemical product.

9. A system for generating digital twins of the physical entities of chemical products, a) A data source layer configured to provide data associated with chemical products from one or more distributed data sources, b) A service layer comprising a data processing device including one or more input nodes configured to collect data provided by one or more distributed data sources including one or more data instances related to the chemical product, optionally transform the collected data, and provide the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product, c) A consumer group comprising a digital twin generator including one or more downstream nodes, wherein the downstream nodes are - Consume collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product provided by the service layer based on received data related to the chemical product. - To provide the consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized identifier optionally associated with the data owner, - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model, - By applying each retrieved mode model to the consumed data, a digital twin dataset is generated for each retrieved mode model, and - To generate a digital twin of the chemical product, which includes the provided decentralized identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset. A consumer group configured to perform, d) A connector layer optionally configured to provide access to the generated digital twin and / or at least one digital twin dataset included in the generated digital twin, A system that includes these features.

10. A computer-aided method for generating a digital twin of a physical entity of a chemical product, a) Collecting data associated with a chemical product from one or more distributed data sources, including one or more data instances related to the chemical product, by one or more input nodes, optionally transforming the collected data, and providing the collected or transformed data to one or more downstream nodes, wherein the collected or transformed data includes at least one measured physical and / or chemical property of the chemical product and / or at least one physical and / or chemical property determined from collected data associated with the production and / or use of the chemical product. b) By one or more downstream nodes, - Consume collected or transformed data associated with the chemical product, provided by one or more input nodes, based on received data related to the chemical product. - To provide the consumed collected or transformed data and a decentralized digital twin identifier optionally associated with the data owner, - To search for at least one embodiment model associated with a chemical product based on received data related to at least one embodiment model, - For each retrieved aspect model, a digital twin dataset is generated by applying the respective acquired aspect model to the consumed data. - To generate a digital twin of the chemical product, which includes the provided decentralized digital twin identifier and at least a portion of the generated digital twin dataset, A computer implementation method, including

11. A system for providing chemical products associated with a digital twin, - A production line configured to produce the chemical product from one or more input materials by chemical production, - A collector configured to collect data associated with the chemical products produced, - A data layer configured to store collected data associated with the chemical product in one or more distributed data sources, - A requester configured to generate a request for generating a digital twin of the physical entity of the chemical product, wherein the request includes data relating to the chemical product and data relating to at least one embodiment model associated with the chemical product, - A digital twin generator configured to generate the digital twin according to the computer implementation method described in claim 10, - An assignment device configured to assign the physical identifier associated with the produced chemical product to the decentralized identifier included in the digital twin, A system that includes these features.

12. To process the chemical product associated with the digital twin, use of a digital twin generated according to the apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 8, the system described in claim 9, or the computer implementation method described in claim 10.

13. A computer-aided method for generating digital access elements associated with a digital twin of a chemical product, - To generate a digital twin associated with the chemical product according to the apparatus described in any one of claims 1 to 8, the system described in claim 9, or the computer implementation method described in claim 10, - Receiving a request to provide a decentralized access element identifier associated with the digital twin of the chemical product, - In response to the request, provide the decentralized access element identifier and generate the digital access element, which includes the provided decentralized access element identifier, associated with the digital twin and access data. -Optionally, the generated digital access elements are provided to access the digital twin or a portion thereof by a decentralized data consumption network node service, under the control of a decentralized data provision network node associated with the data owner of the digital twin or a portion thereof. A computer implementation method, including

14. A computer element having an instruction that, when executed by a computing node or computing system, instructs the computing node or computing system to perform the steps of the computer implementation method described in claim 10, or, when executed by an apparatus or system described in claims 1 to 9, instructs the apparatus or system to perform the steps configured to be performed by the apparatus or system.

Images