Authentication method, authentication system, and program

Abstract

To provide a novel technique for supporting recycling of resources.SOLUTION: The present invention is directed to an authentication method of a recycled article carried out by a computer system. The authentication method has a first acquiring step of acquiring information of a recycled resin inflow amount in a main body for manufacturing resin products, a second acquiring step of acquiring an outflow amount of the resin products using recycled resin in the manufacturing main body or another manufacturing main body, and an authentication step for giving authentication to the resin products if an authentication condition based on the information of the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5A

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an authentication method, an authentication system, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in recycling. In particular, there has been growing interest in the circular economy, which is an economic model that circulates resources in order to reuse them repeatedly. Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that supports the operation of the circular economy using a computer system. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-3429 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] With growing interest in the circular economy, novel technologies are required to support resource recycling.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has an object to provide a novel technique for supporting resource recycling. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention includes the following embodiments. [1] 1. A method for authenticating recycled goods, the method comprising: A first acquisition step of acquiring information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in a resin product manufacturer; A second acquisition step of acquiring information on the outflow amount of resin products using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity or a different manufacturing entity; a certification step of granting certification to the resin product when a certification condition based on information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied; , an authentication method, including [2] The certification conditions include that the outflow rate does not exceed the inflow rate. The authentication method described in [1] above. [3] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A1): Inflow amount ≧ Outflow amount × Recycle ratio including satisfying the following: The authentication method described in [1] or [2] above. [4] The certification method described in [1] or [2] above, wherein the inflow volume includes the amount of the recycled resin received by the manufacturer of the resin product, and the outflow volume includes the amount of the resin product shipped using the recycled resin. [5] The certification conditions include that the incoming amount does not exceed the outgoing amount. The authentication method described in [4] above. [6] The inflow amount further includes the amount of recycled resin used in processing the recycled resin; The certification conditions include that the usage amount does not exceed the arrival amount. The authentication method described in [4] or [5] above. [7] The first acquisition step acquires information on the amount of the recycled resin used as the inflow amount from a manufacturing device that processes the recycled resin to obtain a resin product. The authentication method described in [6] above. [8] The outflow amount further includes the production amount of the resin product after processing; The certification conditions include that the production volume does not exceed the usage volume. The authentication method described in [6] or [7] above. [9] The second acquisition step acquires information on the production volume of the resin product from a manufacturing device that processes the recycled resin to obtain the resin product. The authentication method described in [8] above.

[10] a product inventory acquisition step of acquiring information on a post-manufacture stock amount of the resin product; A shipping amount acquisition step of acquiring a shipping amount of the resin product, The certification condition further includes that the sum of the post-production stock amount and the shipping amount does not exceed the production amount. The authentication method described in [8] or [9] above.

[11] The method further includes a raw material inventory acquisition step of acquiring information on a raw material inventory amount, which is an inventory amount of recycled resin in a manufacturer of the resin product, The authentication method according to any one of the above [6] to

[10] , wherein the authentication conditions further include that the sum of the usage amount and the raw material inventory amount does not exceed the incoming amount.

[12] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A2): The incoming amount ≧ The outgoing amount × The recycling ratio including satisfying the following: 13. The authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[11] above.

[13] A fourth acquisition step of acquiring information on a post-manufacturing stock amount of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A3): The amount of incoming goods ≧ the amount of outgoing goods + the amount of stock after production including satisfying the following: 13. The authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[12] above.

[14] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product; A fourth acquisition step of acquiring information on a post-production stock amount of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A3-1): The incoming amount ≧ (the outgoing amount + the post-manufacturing stock amount) × the recycling ratio including satisfying the following: 1. An authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[13] above.

[15] A fifth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of waste of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A4): The incoming amount ≧ The outgoing amount + The discarded amount including satisfying the following: 1. An authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[14] above.

[16] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product; A fifth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of waste of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (A4-1): The incoming amount ≧ (the outgoing amount + the waste amount) × the recycling ratio including satisfying the following: 13. The authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[15] above.

[17] A sixth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of the recycled resin transferred from the first trader to the second trader, The inflow amount is an incoming amount of the recycled resin received by the second trader from the first trader, The certification conditions include that the amount of the recycled resin received by the second trader from the first trader does not exceed the amount of the transfer, 13. The authentication method according to any one of [4] to

[16] above.

[18] The authentication method described in any one of [4] to

[17] above, wherein the incoming amount is a cumulative incoming amount of the recycled resin associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin.

[19] The authentication method described in any one of [4] to

[18] above, wherein the shipping volume is the cumulative shipping volume of the resin products associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin.

[20] The authentication method described in

[17] above, wherein the transferred amount is a cumulative transferred amount of the recycled resin associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin. [twenty one] The authentication method according to any one of [1] to

[20] above, wherein acquiring the information includes acquiring the information from a terminal device capable of communicating with the computer system. [twenty two] The authentication method according to any one of the above [1] to

[21] , wherein the inflow volume is the amount of the recycled resin used, and the outflow volume is the amount of resin products produced using the recycled resin. [twenty three] The certification conditions include that the usage amount does not exceed the production amount. The authentication method described in

[22] above. [twenty four] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (B1): the amount used ≧ the amount produced × the recycling ratio including satisfying the following: The authentication method described in

[22] or

[23] above. [twenty five] A fifth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of waste of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (B2): the amount used ≧ the amount produced + the amount disposed including satisfying the following: An authentication method according to any one of

[22] to

[24] above.

[26] A third acquisition step of acquiring information on a recycling ratio of the resin product; A fifth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of waste of the resin product, The authentication condition is: Relational formula (B2-1): The amount used ≧ (the amount produced + the amount disposed of) × the recycling ratio including satisfying the following: An authentication method according to any one of

[22] to

[25] above.

[27] A sixth acquisition step of acquiring information on the amount of the recycled resin transferred from the first trader to the second trader, The inflow amount is the amount of the recycled resin received by the second trader from the first trader and used by the second trader, The certification conditions include that the amount of the recycled resin used by the second trader received from the first trader does not exceed the amount of the transferred amount. An authentication method according to any one of

[22] to

[26] above.

[28] The authentication method described in any one of

[22] to

[27] above, wherein the usage amount is a cumulative usage amount of the recycled resin associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin.

[29] The authentication method described in

[28] above, wherein the production volume is a cumulative production volume of the resin products associated with the same identification information.

[30] The authentication method described in

[27] above, wherein the transferred amount is a cumulative transferred amount of the recycled resin associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin.

[31] The authentication method according to any one of claims

[22] to

[30] above, wherein obtaining the information includes obtaining the information from a terminal device capable of communicating with the computer system.

[32] The computer system includes a plurality of node devices, each of which is A control unit performs a consensus building process for sharing the information with other node devices; storing the information agreed upon by the consensus building process in a storage unit; The authentication method according to any one of [1] to

[31] above,

[33] The authentication method according to

[32] above, wherein acquiring the information includes acquiring the information from the memory unit of at least some of the node devices of the plurality of node devices.

[34] In at least some of the node devices, The control unit performs the consensus building process on authentication information indicating that the resin product certified as a recycled product is a recycled product; storing the authentication information for which the consensus building process has been performed in the storage unit; The authentication method according to

[32] or

[33] above,

[35] The authentication method described in any one of [1] to

[34] above, wherein the computer system includes a blockchain network.

[36] 1. An authentication system comprising a processor, the processor comprising: A first acquisition step of acquiring information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in a resin product manufacturer; A second acquisition step of acquiring information on the outflow amount of resin products using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity or a different manufacturing entity; a certification step of granting certification to the resin product when a certification condition based on information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied; The authentication system that is configured to run

[37] The authentication system further includes a manufacturing device for processing recycled resin to obtain a resin product, The processor, As the first obtaining step, An incoming amount acquisition step of acquiring information on the incoming amount of recycled resin at the manufacturer of the resin product; a usage amount acquisition step of acquiring information on the usage amount of the recycled resin used in the processing from the manufacturing device; As the second obtaining step, A shipping volume acquisition step of acquiring information on the shipping volume of the resin product from the manufacturer of the resin product; The authentication step includes: a certification step of determining that the resin product satisfies the certification conditions when the resin product satisfies certification conditions including that the usage amount does not exceed the arrival amount and that the shipping amount does not exceed the arrival amount, based on information on the arrival amount, the usage amount, and the shipping amount; The authentication system according to

[36] above, configured to execute the following:

[38] The processor, The method is configured to execute a raw material inventory acquisition step of acquiring a raw material inventory amount, which is an inventory amount of recycled resin in a manufacturer of the resin product, The authentication system described in

[37] above, wherein the authentication conditions further include that the sum of the usage amount and the raw material inventory amount does not exceed the incoming amount.

[39] The processor, A production volume acquisition step of acquiring a production volume of the resin product in the resin product manufacturer; a product inventory acquisition step of acquiring a post-production stock amount, which is an inventory amount of the resin product at a manufacturer of the resin product; A shipping amount acquisition step of acquiring a shipping amount of the resin product is performed, The certification condition further includes that the sum of the post-production stock amount and the shipping amount does not exceed the production amount. An authentication system according to

[37] or

[38] above.

[40] The authentication system described in any one of

[37] to

[39] above, further comprising a sharing step of transmitting target data indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication condition from a first node device among a plurality of node devices to other node devices, on condition that the authentication condition is satisfied.

[41] Further comprising a plurality of node devices, A processor of a first node device among the plurality of node devices, The incoming amount acquisition step; The usage amount acquisition step; The shipping amount acquisition step; The authentication step; a sharing step of transmitting target data indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication condition to the other node devices, in order to share the target data with the other node devices, on condition that the resin product is determined to satisfy the authentication condition; The authentication system according to any one of claims

[37] to

[40] above, configured to execute the following:

[42] The manufacturing apparatus includes a weighing unit that is configured to be able to weigh the amount of the recycled resin used, The usage amount acquisition step acquires the usage amount based on a weighing result by the weighing unit. An authentication system according to any one of the above

[37] to

[41] .

[43] A first reading device is provided for reading a receipt of the recycled resin, The receiving amount acquisition step acquires information on the receiving amount based on a result of reading the receiving slip by the first reading device. An authentication system according to any one of the above

[37] to

[42] .

[44] A second reading device is provided for reading a shipping slip of the shipping amount of the resin product, The shipping amount acquisition step acquires information on the shipping amount based on a result of reading the shipping slip by the second reading device. An authentication system according to any one of the above

[37] to

[43] .

[45] 1. A certification application system comprising a processor, the processor comprising: A first acquisition step of acquiring information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in a resin product manufacturer; A second acquisition step of acquiring information on the outflow amount of resin products using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity or a different manufacturing entity; a certification application step of transmitting certification target data including the outflow amount and the inflow amount; a receiving step of receiving an authentication result indicating whether or not an authentication condition based on information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied; is configured to run A certification application system, including:

[46] The certification application system further includes a manufacturing device for processing recycled resin to obtain a resin product, The processor, As the first obtaining step, An incoming amount acquisition step of acquiring information on the incoming amount of recycled resin at the manufacturer of the resin product; a usage amount acquisition step of acquiring information on the usage amount of the recycled resin used in the processing from the manufacturing device; As the second obtaining step, A shipping volume acquisition step of acquiring information on the shipping volume of the resin product from the manufacturer of the resin product; The authentication application system according to

[45] above, configured to execute the following:

[47] The manufacturing apparatus includes a weighing unit that is configured to be able to weigh the amount of the recycled resin used, The usage amount acquisition step acquires the usage amount based on a weighing result by the weighing unit. The certification application system described in

[46] above.

[48] A first reading device is provided for reading a receipt of the recycled resin, The receiving amount acquisition step acquires information on the receiving amount based on a result of reading the receiving slip by the first reading device. A certification application system according to any one of

[46] to

[47] above.

[49] A second reading device is provided for reading a shipping slip of the shipping amount of the resin product, The shipping amount acquisition step acquires information on the shipping amount based on a result of reading the shipping slip by the second reading device. A certification application system according to any one of

[46] to

[48] above.

[50] In the computer system, A first acquisition step of acquiring information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in a resin product manufacturer; A second acquisition step of acquiring information on the outflow amount of resin products using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity; a certification step of granting certification to the resin product when a certification condition based on information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied; A program for executing.

[51] 1. A method for authenticating recycled goods, the method comprising: obtaining supply information indicative of information regarding a supply chain of a resin product; determining whether recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information; Certification will be granted to resin products if they meet the certification conditions, including the use of recycled resins. Authentication methods, including:

[52] obtaining supply information indicative of information regarding a supply chain of a resin product; determining whether recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information; Certification will be granted to resin products if they meet the certification conditions, including the use of recycled resins. The authentication method according to any one of [1] to

[35] above, further comprising:

[53] The step of determining includes determining whether or not a third-party certification has been obtained for the raw material resin of the resin product based on the supply information; The certification method according to

[51] or

[52] above, wherein the certification conditions include that a third-party certification has been obtained for at least one raw material resin in the supply chain of the resin product.

[54] The certification method described in

[53] above, wherein the certification conditions include that the recycled resin produced from the collected used resin products has been certified by the third-party organization.

[55] The authentication method described in any one of

[51] to

[54] above, wherein the supply information is information regarding the supply chain of resin products that use the recycled resin associated with identical identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of the recycled resin.

[56] The computer system includes a plurality of node devices, each of which is A control unit performs a consensus formation process for sharing the supply information with other node devices; storing the supply information agreed upon by the consensus building process in a storage unit; The authentication method according to any one of

[51] to

[55] above,

[57] The authentication method described in

[56] above, wherein acquiring the supply information includes acquiring the supply information from the memory unit of at least some of the node devices of the plurality of node devices.

[58] In at least some of the node devices, The control unit performs the consensus formation process on the authentication information for the resin product; storing the authentication information for which the consensus building process has been performed in the storage unit; The authentication method according to

[56] or

[57] above,

[59] The authentication method described in any one of

[51] to

[58] above, wherein obtaining the supply information includes obtaining the supply information from a terminal device capable of communicating with the computer system.

[60] 1. An authentication system comprising a processor, the processor comprising: obtaining supply information indicative of information regarding a supply chain of a resin product; determining whether recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information; Certification will be granted to resin products if they meet the certification conditions, including the use of recycled resins. The authentication system that is configured to run

[61] obtaining supply information indicative of information regarding a supply chain of a resin product; determining whether recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information; Certification will be granted to resin products if they meet the certification conditions, including the use of recycled resins. The authentication system according to any one of claims

[36] to

[44] , further configured to execute the following:

[62] In the computer system, obtaining supply information indicative of information regarding a supply chain of a resin product; determining whether recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information; If it is determined that recycled resin is used, the resin product will be certified as a recycled product. A program for executing.

[63] A method for determining whether or not a transaction of at least a resin product or a resin including a recycled resin is conducted in a supply chain in which a plurality of businesses participate, the method comprising: receiving shipping information from the first business via a first terminal device, the shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by the first business, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin; receiving, from a second business operator, arrival information regarding the resin that has arrived at the second business operator via a second terminal device; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; A determination method comprising:

[64] The method of determining whether the transaction is consistent with the shipping information and the receiving information, as described in

[63] above.

[65] The receiving information includes approval information indicating whether or not the shipping information is approved, The method of determining whether or not a shipment of the resin is valid based on the approval information corresponding to the arrival information, comprising the steps of:

[66] The method of any one of

[63] to

[65] above, wherein the transaction assessment includes making a assessment regarding the legitimacy of a plurality of transactions occurring in the supply chain between the first business operator and the second business operator in connection with the distribution of the resin.

[67] The computer system includes a plurality of node devices, each of which is performing a consensus formation process for sharing the shipping information and the arrival information with the other node devices by a control unit; storing the shipping information and the arrival information agreed upon by the agreement formation process in a storage unit; The method for determining whether or not a patient is a patient of any one of the above

[63] to

[66] .

[68] The computer system includes a plurality of node devices, each of which is performing a consensus building process for sharing transaction validity information indicating a result of the transaction determination with the other node devices by a control unit; storing the transaction legitimacy information agreed upon by the consensus building process in a storage unit; The method for determining whether or not a patient is a patient of any one of the above

[63] to

[67] .

[69] A determination system including a processor for implementing a determination method related to transactions of at least resin products or resins including recycled resins in a supply chain in which a plurality of business operators participate, receiving shipping information from the first business via a first terminal device, the shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by the first business, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin; receiving, from a second business operator, arrival information regarding the resin that has arrived at the second business operator via a second terminal device; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; The determination system is configured to:

[70] In order to execute the method for determining whether or not a transaction of at least a resin product or a resin including a recycled resin is made in a supply chain in which a plurality of business operators participate, a computer is provided with: receiving shipping information from the first business via a first terminal device, the shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by the first business, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin; receiving, from a second business operator, arrival information regarding the resin that has arrived at the second business operator via a second terminal device; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; A program for executing. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present invention, a novel technique for supporting the recycling of resins can be provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a computer system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of resin recycling in one embodiment. [Figure 4A] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of resin recycling in one embodiment. [Figure 4B] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of resin recycling in one embodiment. [Figure 4C] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining an overview of resin recycling in one embodiment. [Figure 5A] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a blockchain network in the first embodiment. [Figure 5B] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a data structure stored in a blockchain network in one embodiment. [Figure 5C] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a block structure according to an embodiment. [Figure 5D] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a resin product information database according to an embodiment. [Figure 6] 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow in the first embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a blockchain network in a second embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of an image displayed on a terminal device in the second embodiment. [Figure 9] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of a blockchain network in the third embodiment. [Figure 11] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing flow in the third embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information processing system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a configuration of a manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a process according to an embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a processing flow in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 16] 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of a manufacturing process for a resin product in one embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] An information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below is merely an example, and is not intended to exclude various modifications or application of techniques not specifically described below. In other words, the present invention can be implemented by modifying it in various ways or combining each embodiment within the scope of the gist of the present invention. In addition, in the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.

[0010] <System configuration> An example of the configuration of an information processing system in one embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The information processing system 1 is a system for supporting resource recycling. The information processing system 1 stores and manages information on some product or raw material, such as a resin product or resin raw material, and determines whether or not to certify the product as a recycled product, or whether or not the recycled resin has been transferred (for example, given away). The information processing system 1 includes terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c, and a blockchain network 20. The terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c, and the blockchain network 20 can communicate with each other via a network N. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 includes three terminal devices, but the number of terminal devices is set arbitrarily, and may be two or less or four or more. The terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c may each have the same configuration, or may have a different configuration. In one embodiment, when the terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c are referred to without distinction from each other, they are collectively referred to as the terminal device 10.

[0011] The terminal device 10 is an information processing device used by a user who uses a service provided by the information processing system 1. The terminal device 10 may be, for example, a personal computer, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), or a dedicated information processing device.

[0012] The blockchain network 20 is a platform for utilizing blockchain technology. The blockchain network 20 has a distributed system that is processed by a plurality of computers (hereinafter referred to as "node devices") present on the network. Communication between the node devices is typically performed by P2P (Peer to Peer). By adopting P2P, even if a malfunction occurs in some of the node devices, the entire system is unlikely to go down, and system continuity is maintained. In the blockchain, transaction information between participants is compiled as transactions in blocks. Each block is linked in a chain and stored and managed in each node device in chronological order. Approval of a new block is formed by a consensus formation process in the distributed network. Each block of the blockchain stores the hash value of the previous block. If each block is tampered with, the hash value also changes, so the hash value of the subsequent block also needs to be changed. Therefore, by adopting the blockchain technology, it is possible to build a highly secure system that is difficult to tamper with.

[0013] The blockchain network 20 includes node devices 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d. In the example shown in FIG. 1, four node devices are shown as node devices included in the blockchain network 20, but the number of node devices is set arbitrarily and may be three or less or five or more. The node devices 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d each have the same configuration. In one embodiment, when the node devices 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d are referred to without distinction from one another, they are collectively referred to as node devices 200.

[0014] As a modified example, the blockchain network 20 may be replaced with other configurations that store and process data, such as a server device, cloud computing, or edge computing. Also, instead of using the blockchain network 20 alone, a combination of any two or more of the blockchain network 20, the server device, cloud computing, or edge computing may be employed.

[0015] The network N is composed of a wireless network and a wired network. Examples of the network include the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a mobile phone network, a wireless LAN, 5G (5th Generation), 4G (4th Generation), LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiMax (registered trademark), infrared communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), a wired LAN, a telephone line, a power line network, and a network conforming to IEEE1394 or the like.

[0016] <Hardware configuration> 2, an example of a hardware configuration of a computer 100 for implementing information processing devices such as the terminal device 10 and the node device 200 included in the information processing system 1 in one embodiment will be described. Note that the functions of each device can also be implemented by multiple computers 100.

[0017] 2, the computer 100 includes a processor 101, a memory 103, a storage device 105, an input I / F 107, a communication I / F 109, and a display device 111. The computer 100 may not include some of the above components, or may include other components in addition to the above components.

[0018] The processor 101 is a control unit that executes various processes in the computer 100 by executing programs stored in the memory 103 , and controls each component in the computer 100 .

[0019] The memory 103 is a storage medium such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The memory 103 temporarily stores the program code of the program executed by the processor 101 and data required when the program is executed.

[0020] The storage device 105 is a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory, etc. The storage device 105 stores an operating system and various programs for implementing the above-mentioned configurations.

[0021] The input I / F 107 is a device for receiving input from a user. Specific examples of the input I / F 107 include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, various sensors, a wearable device, etc. The input I / F 107 may be connected to the computer 100 via an interface such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB).

[0022] The communication I / F 109 is a device for performing data communication via the Internet N, either wired or wirelessly, with an external device of the computer 100. The communication I / F 109 is realized by, for example, a network interface card (NIC) or the like.

[0023] The display device 111 is a device for displaying various types of information. Specific examples of the display device 111 include a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a display of a wearable device, and the like. The display device 111 may be provided outside the computer 100. In that case, the display device 111 is connected to the computer 100 via, for example, a display cable. In addition, when a touch panel is adopted as the input I / F 107, the display device 111 can be configured integrally with the input I / F 107.

[0024] <Recycling Overview> As an example of resource recycling, an overview of resin recycling in one embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. The information processing system 1 supports resource recycling and functions as, for example, a platform for circulating resources.

[0025] In the example shown in FIG. 3, recycling of resin involves recyclers, resin manufacturers, container manufacturers, manufacturers, and general consumers. Recyclers generate recycled resin (e.g., recycled pellets) by crushing and cleaning collected used resin products (e.g., containers such as plastic bottles). Resin manufacturers manufacture resin products using recycled resin obtained from recyclers. Examples of resin products manufactured by resin manufacturers include compounds. Here, compounds are resin compositions containing recycled resin. Container manufacturers manufacture new resin products (e.g., container molded bodies) using compounds obtained from resin manufacturers. Content manufacturers sell products that are filled with contents in container molded bodies obtained from container manufacturers. General consumers purchase the products sold by the content manufacturers. After the products are consumed or used by general consumers, the container molded bodies are collected and processed by recyclers.

[0026] With reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the meanings or overviews of terms used in this disclosure will be explained below. As shown in FIG. 4A, the information processing system 1 manages, for example, the inflow and outflow amounts of resin handled by a manufacturing entity. "Manufacturing entity": A manufacturing entity is an entity that manufactures a resin product using a resin (e.g., recycled resin) that flows in as a raw material, and that outputs the manufactured resin product. Examples of manufacturing entities include any entity that manufactures a resin product, such as a business entity that manufactures a resin product, or a manufacturing device that manufactures a resin product. The manufacture of a resin product also includes filling a container molded body with the contents.

[0027] "Inflow" and "Outflow": Inflow is resin that comes into the manufacturing entity. Outflow is resin products that leave the manufacturing entity. For example, if the manufacturing entity is a resin manufacturer, it is recycled resin, and if the manufacturing entity is a container manufacturer, it is a compound. Note that "inflow" and "outflow" may refer to inflow and outflow into a business operator, or inflow and outflow into a manufacturing device. The units of "amount" in the inflow and outflow amounts can be set arbitrarily. The unit of "amount" may be, for example, a unit of mass such as g, kg, or ton.

[0028] "Recycled resin" and "resin products": "Recycled resin" as a raw material for resin products and the "resin products" have a relative meaning relationship. For example, in the example shown in Figure 3, a recycler uses collected recycled resin products as "recycled resin" to manufacture recycled pellets as "resin products." A resin manufacturer uses recycled pellets manufactured by a recycler as "recycled resin" to manufacture compounds as "resin products." A container manufacturer uses compounds manufactured by the resin manufacturer as "recycled resin" to manufacture containers as "resin products."

[0029] "Business operator": A business operator is an entity that manufactures resin products using imported resin and ships the manufactured resin products, and is one aspect of a manufacturing entity. The recycler, resin manufacturer, container manufacturer, or manufacturer shown in FIG. 3 are referred to as business operators. However, for convenience, in this disclosure, the manufacturer may be referred to as a business operator. As shown in FIG. 4B, a business operator stocks resin products after manufacturing them and before shipping them. The amount of such resin products is referred to as the post-manufacturing stock amount. In addition, a business operator discards recycled resin or resin products for some reason, such as during the manufacturing of resin products. The amount of such discarded products is referred to as the discarded amount.

[0030] "Arrival" and "Shipping": The "inflow" of recycled resins into a business may be referred to as "arrival." Also, the "outflow" of resin products from a business may be referred to as "shipment."

[0031] "Manufacturing equipment": A manufacturing equipment is an entity that manufactures a resin product using recycled resin as a raw material, and is one aspect of a manufacturing entity. Examples of manufacturing equipment include equipment for mixing, equipment for molding, equipment for decomposing resin, equipment for polymerizing resin, or equipment that combines these functions. Examples of such mixing equipment include extruders such as single-screw extruders and twin-screw extruders, and mixers that stir pellets. Examples of molding equipment include injection molding machines, bottle molding machines (blow molding machines), laminators, film manufacturing equipment, biaxial stretching equipment, spinning equipment, and cutters that cut rod-shaped resin into pellets. Examples of equipment for decomposing resin include oiling equipment that oils recycled resin, and crackers that crack recycled resin. As shown in FIG. 4C, in the manufacturing equipment, recycled resin is discarded for some reason during the production of a resin product. The amount of such discarded material is also referred to as the discarded amount. For example, the manufacturing device may be a device used mainly by recyclers to manufacture recycled pellets from collected recycled resin products, or a device used mainly by resin manufacturers to manufacture compounds from recycled pellets. More specifically, the device for manufacturing recycled pellets includes extruders such as single-screw extruders and twin-screw extruders.

[0032] "Use" and "production": The "inflow" of recycled resins into a manufacturing facility may be referred to as "use." Also, the "outflow" of recycled resins into a manufacturing facility may be referred to as "production."

[0033] "Recycle ratio": The recycling ratio is the ratio of the amount of recycled resin to the total amount of resin products.

[0034] "Granting authentication": Granting authentication means granting certain information or authority when authentication conditions are met. The authentication may be a recycling authentication that indicates that the product is a recycled product on the screen and in the output destination of the report, or it may be authority to rewrite information on the blockchain network.

[0035] "Recycling": Recycling means reusing waste plastic materials. Recycling can be material recycling, in which waste plastic materials are reused as raw materials for plastic products, or chemical recycling, in which waste plastic materials are chemically decomposed and reused as raw materials for chemical products.

[0036] To determine whether the certification conditions are met, the mass balance approach applied in the biomass field may be adopted. The mass balance approach is a method in which the weight of the recycled raw materials input into the manufactured resin product is considered to be recycled resin. For example, if 10% of the raw materials of a manufactured resin product are recycled resin and the other raw materials are virgin resin, etc., the mass balance approach may be used to certify 10% of the manufactured resin product as certified recycled resin products made from 100% recycled resin, and the remaining 90% as uncertified resin products. In this case, the outflow volume is the outflow volume of certified recycled resin products, and the inflow volume is the inflow volume of recycled resin.

[0037] An example of information processing according to each embodiment will be described below. In the following description, the configurations shown in Figs. 1 to 4 will be referred to as appropriate.

[0038] 1. First embodiment In this embodiment, the blockchain network 20 acquires information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in a manufacturing entity of a resin product, and acquires information on the outflow amount of a resin product using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity. If the outflow amount of recycled resin does not exceed the inflow amount of the resin product, the blockchain network 20 certifies the resin product as a recycled product. In this embodiment, the information processing system 1, the blockchain network 20, or one node device 200 in the blockchain network 20 can be specified as the authentication system.

[0039] The information processing system 1 of this embodiment is a system for authenticating a resin product as a recycled product based on information on the inflow amount of recycled resin at the manufacturing entity of the resin product and information on the outflow amount of a resin product using recycled resin at the manufacturing entity. According to the information processing system 1, a resin product can be authenticated as a recycled product with a simple configuration. Furthermore, by referring to authentication information indicating that the resin product has been authenticated as a recycled product, a user of the resin product can confirm whether or not the resin product is a recycled product. In other words, a user who is highly interested in recycled products can easily purchase recycled products based on highly reliable information, and as a result, the circulation of recycled products is promoted.

[0040] <Functional configuration> An example of functions of the blockchain network 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 5A. In the example shown in Fig. 5A, each node device 200 in the blockchain network 20 includes, as main functional components, an inflow information acquisition unit 202, an outflow information acquisition unit 204, a manufacturing information acquisition unit 206, an authentication unit 208, a consensus formation processing unit 210, and a storage unit 212. These functions are realized, for example, by a control unit (processor 101) included in each node device 200 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105.

[0041] Fig. 5B shows a schematic diagram of a part of the data structure of the transaction information stored in the storage unit 212. Note that the data structure shown in Fig. 5B is an example, and the transaction information may have any data structure.

[0042] Transaction information includes inflow and outflow. Outflow is specified, for example, by date, outflow amount, resin product identification information (hereinafter also referred to as "resin product ID"), recycling ratio, recycling certification, and unlocking conditions. The unlocking conditions are conditions required when using the resin product being traded this time in another transaction information. Transaction information may also include either the inflow source or outflow destination. The inflow source or outflow destination may include other businesses or types of equipment. For example, when raw material stock, a mixer that mixes multiple recycled resin pellets, a kneading extruder, and a finished product stock are stored and processed in this order, raw material stock (inflow: from raw material manufacturer, outflow: to mixer, mixer (inflow: from raw material stock, outflow: to kneading extruder), kneading extruder (inflow: from mixer, outflow: to finished product stock (production amount)) may be recorded. The transaction information may include multiple inflows and outflows.

[0043] In addition, resin products that have been created as outflows based on certain transaction information and have not yet been referenced in the inflow of other transaction information may be stored as stock or waste. For example, the stock may include a date, a post-production stock amount, a resin product ID, a recycling ratio, a recycling certification, and an unlocking condition. For disposal, for example, the date, post-manufacturing stock amount, resin product ID, recycling rate, recycling certification, and unlocking conditions are specified.

[0044] Here, transaction information T01 has one inflow and two outflows. For the inflow, identification information of the recycled resin used in the resin product being traded this time (hereinafter also referred to as "recycled resin ID"), date, inflow amount, recycling certification, and unlocking conditions are specified. For the outflow, the resin product ID, inflow amount, recycling certification, and unlocking conditions are specified. As the unlocking conditions, a hash value of the public key of the trading partner may be specified. The hash value of the public key specified in the unlocking conditions may be the destination (address) of the resin product specified in the outflow.

[0045] Details will be described later, but transaction information is verified through a consensus process, and once approved, it is stored in a structure called a block.

[0046] In the transaction information T02, the resin product ID, the date, the amount of inflow, the recycle authentication, and the unlocking conditions are set for the inflow.

[0047] The structure of the transaction information is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 4, and may be any structure.

[0048] Next, Fig. 5C illustrates a part of the data structure of the block chain stored in the storage unit 212. Fig. 5C illustrates the structure of the (N+1)th block among the blocks arranged in chronological order.

[0049] The block's "header" may store, for example, the digest, timestamp, target, and nonce of the Nth block.

[0050] The "digest of the Nth block" stores, for example, identification information for each node device 200 and terminal 10 on the blockchain network to uniquely identify the Nth block. As the digest of the Nth block, for example, the hash value of the block can be used.

[0051] In the "timestamp" field, information regarding the timestamp or block number that is added when a block is created is stored.

[0052] The "target" and "nonce" are values ​​used when performing consensus processing using algorithms such as PBFT (Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance) or Endorsement-Ordering-Validation. The "target" is a value related to the difficulty of the consensus processing. The "nonce" is an arbitrary value created by the consensus processing when creating a block.

[0053] We will explain the consensus process in detail. In the consensus process, a nonce is found based on the digest (hash value) of the N+1th block, and if an appropriate nonce is found, the found nonce is stored and the N+1th block is created. The blockchain node performing the consensus process repeatedly calculates the digest of the block header while changing the nonce value in order to find this appropriate nonce.

[0054] Furthermore, if the blockchain is a private or consortium type, it may be configured not to perform consensus building processing.

[0055] The "body" of a block stores multiple pieces of transaction information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the "body" may store one piece of transaction information. The transaction information stored in a block has the same timestamp data.

[0056] The block structure is not limited to the example of FIG. 5C, and may be any structure.

[0057] Recycling certification is explained below.

[0058] The inflow information acquisition unit 202 acquires information on the inflow amount of recycled resin at a manufacturing entity of a resin product. The inflow amount of recycled resin is the inflow amount of recycled resin as a raw material for the manufacturing entity of a resin product. As described above, when the manufacturing entity is a business entity, the inflow amount is, for example, the amount of recycled resin received by the business entity. When the manufacturing entity is a manufacturing device, the inflow amount is, for example, the amount of recycled resin used by the manufacturing device.

[0059] The inflow information acquisition unit 202 may acquire inflow amount information transmitted from an external device (e.g., the terminal device 10) of the blockchain network 20, or may acquire inflow amount information stored in advance in at least a part of the storage units 212 of the multiple node devices 200 in the blockchain network 20. The inflow information acquisition unit 202 may acquire the "supply information" of the second embodiment and process it as inflow amount information.

[0060] For example, a person in charge of a recycling company may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of collected used resin products as the inflow amount of recycled resin for manufacturing recycled pellets. A person in charge of a resin manufacturer may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of recycled pellets received from a recycling company as the inflow amount of recycled resin for manufacturing a compound. A person in charge of a container manufacturer may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of compound received from a resin manufacturer as the inflow amount of recycled resin for manufacturing a container molded body. The inflow amount information input by the person in charge of each business through the terminal device 10 as described above is transmitted to the blockchain network 20 and acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202.

[0061] The information on the recycled resin acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may include identification information of the recycled resin associated with the recycled resin. The identification information of the recycled resin is, for example, information for identifying a predetermined unit of recycled resin. For example, one piece of identification information is associated with one lot of manufacturing a recycled product. For example, a recycler may associate one piece of identification information with one lot of manufacturing a recycled pellet. For example, a resin manufacturer may associate one piece of identification information with one lot of manufacturing a compound. The identification information of the recycled resin may be displayed, for example, on the package of the manufactured resin product or on a transaction document. In this case, a sticker on which a code image such as a two-dimensional code (for example, a QR code (registered trademark)) including the identification information and information on the amount of recycled resin is displayed may be attached to the package of the resin product. A person in charge of the resin manufacturer who purchased recycled pellets from the recycler may input the identification information of the recycled resin and the inflow amount of the recycled resin into the terminal device 10 by reading the two-dimensional code displayed on the package of the recycled pellet.

[0062] The information on the inflow amount of recycled resin acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may be the cumulative inflow amount (or cumulative arrival amount, cumulative usage amount) of recycled resin associated with the same identification information of the recycled resin. For example, the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may tally up inflow amount information acquired at different times and calculate (acquire) information on the cumulative inflow amount of recycled resin associated with the same identification information.

[0063] The outflow information acquisition unit 204 acquires information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resins from the manufacturing entity. As described above, when the manufacturing entity is a business, the outflow amount of resin products is, for example, the amount of resin products shipped by the business that uses recycled resins. The amount of resin products shipped (transferred) by a first business to a second business may also be referred to as the transferred amount. When the manufacturing entity is a manufacturing device, the outflow amount is, for example, the amount of resin products manufactured by the manufacturing device that uses recycled resins.

[0064] The outflow information acquisition unit 204 may acquire information on the outflow amount transmitted from a device external to the blockchain network 20 (e.g., terminal device 10), or may acquire information on the outflow amount pre-stored in the memory units 212 of at least some of the multiple node devices 200 in the blockchain network 20.

[0065] For example, a person in charge of a recycling company may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of recycled pellets shipped by the recycling company as the outflow amount of resin products. A person in charge of a resin manufacturer may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of compound shipped by the resin manufacturer as the outflow amount of resin products. A person in charge of a container manufacturer may operate the terminal device 10 to input the amount of container molded bodies shipped by the container manufacturer as the outflow amount of resin products. The outflow amount information input by the person in charge of each business through the terminal device 10 as described above is transmitted to the blockchain network 20 and acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204.

[0066] The information on the resin product acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 may include identification information of the recycled resin associated with the recycled resin used in the resin product. For example, when shipping a compound, a person in charge at a resin manufacturer may enter the shipping volume of the compound into the terminal device 10 in association with the identification information of the recycled resin used in the manufacture of the compound, and transmit the information to the blockchain network 20. The outflow information acquisition unit 204 acquires the identification information of the recycled resin transmitted from the terminal device 10 and the information on the shipping volume of the compound.

[0067] The information on the outflow amount of resin products acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 may be the cumulative outflow amount (or cumulative shipping amount, cumulative transfer amount, cumulative production amount) of resin products using recycled resins associated with the same identification information of recycled resins. For example, the outflow information acquisition unit 204 may tally up information on the outflow amount acquired at different times and calculate (acquire) information on the cumulative inflow amount of resin products associated with the same identification information.

[0068] The manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 acquires information on the manufacturing of the resin product by the manufacturing entity. The information on the manufacturing of the resin product includes, for example, information on the recycle ratio, information on the post-manufacturing stock amount, or information on the waste amount. The recycle ratio, the post-manufacturing stock amount, and the waste amount are as already described.

[0069] The information acquired by the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206, similar to the inflow information acquisition unit 202 or the outflow information acquisition unit 204, may be information transmitted from an external device (e.g., terminal device 10) to the blockchain network 20, or information pre-stored in at least a portion of the memory units 212 of the multiple node devices 200 in the blockchain network 20.

[0070] The information related to the production of the resin product acquired by the production information acquisition unit 206 may include identification information of the recycled resin associated with the recycled resin used in the resin product.

[0071] Furthermore, the information on the post-production stock amount and the waste amount acquired by the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 may be the post-production stock amount and the waste amount for the recycled resin associated with the same identification information of the recycled resin, or for the resin product using the recycled resin. For example, the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 may tally up the information on the post-production stock amount and the waste amount acquired at different times, and acquire the information on the post-production stock amount and the waste amount for the same identification information.

[0072] The blockchain network 20 may have a resin product information database that stores information acquired from the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, and the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206. As shown in FIG. 5D, the resin product information database may include information such as a resin product ID, a post-manufacturing stock amount of the resin product, a waste amount, a recycling ratio, a recycled resin ID used in the resin product, authentication information of the recycled resin, an amount of the recycled resin used, an additive type, and an additive amount. The data shown in FIG. 5D is expressed in a table format, but the data is stored using blockchain technology. By providing authentication based on the resin product information database, processing is simplified.

[0073] The authentication unit 208 certifies the resin product when the certification condition based on the information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied. The authentication unit 208 certifies the resin product based on, for example, information on the inflow amount of recycled resin acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 for the resin product to be certified and information on the outflow amount of the resin product using the recycled resin acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204. The authentication unit 208 may also certify the resin product based on information on the production of the resin product by the manufacturing entity acquired by the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 for the resin product to be certified. The authentication unit 208 generates authentication information indicating that the resin product certified as a recycled product is a recycled product. Below are examples of conditions for authenticating a resin product as a recycled product. The values ​​used in the following conditions are values ​​indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, or the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206. In order to authenticate a resin product as a recycled product, one of the conditions shown below may be used alone, or multiple conditions may be used.

[0074] (1) Conditions that do not specify the type of manufacturer The manufacturing entity may be a business operator, manufacturing equipment, or other entity, but the applicable certification conditions are shown below without specifying which entity it is. In the case of (Condition 1-1), the outflow amount may be determined based on the weight of the recycled resin in the resin product, or it may be determined using the mass balance approach described above. When the mass balance approach is adopted, the outflow amount of the resin product shall be the outflow amount of the certified recycled resin product. In the case of (Condition 1-2), the outflow amount of the resin product shall be the weight of the resin product itself, and consistency with the inflow amount of recycled resin shall be determined by multiplying it by the recycling ratio.

[0075] (Condition 1-1) The outflow amount of resin products indicated by the information acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 does not exceed the inflow amount of recycled resin indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202.

[0076] (Condition 1-2) The inflow amount, outflow amount, and recycle ratio indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, and the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational formula (A1). Relational formula (A1): Inflow amount ≧ Outflow amount × Recycle ratio

[0077] (2) Conditions when the manufacturing entity is a business operator The applicable certification conditions are shown below when the manufacturing entity is a business operator, and the inflow is the incoming amount of recycled resin, and the outflow is the shipped amount of resin products that use recycled resin. In the cases of (Condition 2-2) and (Condition 2-4) below, the outflow may be determined based on the weight of the recycled resin in the resin product, or may be determined by the mass balance approach described above.

[0078] (Condition 2-1) The following relation (A2) is satisfied. Relational formula (A2): The incoming amount ≧ The outgoing amount × The recycling ratio

[0079] (Condition 2-2) The incoming amount, the outgoing amount, and the post-production stock amount indicated by the information acquired by the production information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational expression (A3). Relational formula (A3): The amount of incoming goods ≧ the amount of outgoing goods + the amount of stock after production

[0080] (Condition 2-3) The incoming amount, the shipped amount, the post-production stock amount, and the recycle ratio satisfy the following relational formula (A3-1). Relational formula (A3-1): The amount of incoming goods ≧ (the amount of outgoing goods + the amount of stock after manufacturing) × recycling ratio

[0081] (Condition 2-4) The incoming amount, the outgoing amount, and the waste amount indicated by the information acquired by the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational expression (A4). Relational formula (A4): The incoming amount ≧ The outgoing amount + The discarded amount

[0082] (Condition 2-5) The incoming amount, the outgoing amount, the waste amount, and the recycle ratio satisfy the following relational formula (A4-1). Relational formula (A4-1): The incoming amount ≧ (the outgoing amount + the waste amount) × the recycling ratio

[0083] (Condition 2-6) Of the outflow amounts indicated by the information acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204, the shipping amount of recycled resin shipped (transferred) by a first trader (e.g., a recycler) to a second trader (e.g., a resin manufacturer) is defined as the first transfer amount. Also, of the inflow amounts indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the arrival amount of recycled resin received by the second trader from the first trader is defined as the first arrival amount. At this time, in the case where the first arrival amount does not exceed the first transfer amount.

[0084] (3) Conditions when the manufacturing entity is a manufacturing device The following certification conditions are applicable when the manufacturing entity is a manufacturing device, and the inflow amount indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 is the amount of recycled resin used, and the outflow amount indicated by the information acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 is the amount of resin products manufactured using recycled resin. In the case of the following (Condition 3-2), the outflow amount may be determined based on the weight of the recycled resin in the resin product, or may be determined by the mass balance approach described above.

[0085] (Condition 3-1) The usage amount, the production amount, and the recycling ratio indicated by the information acquired by the production information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational formula (B1). Relational formula (B1): the amount used ≧ the amount produced × the recycling ratio

[0086] (Condition 3-2) The usage amount, the production amount, and the waste amount indicated by the information acquired by the production information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational expression (B2). Relational formula (B2): the amount used ≧ the amount produced + the amount disposed

[0087] (Condition 3-3) The usage amount, the production amount, the waste amount, and the recycling ratio indicated by the information acquired by the production information acquisition unit 206 satisfy the following relational expression (B2-1). Relational formula (B2-1): The amount used ≧ (the amount produced + the amount disposed of) × the recycling ratio

[0088] (Condition 3-4) Of the outflow amount indicated by the information acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204, the shipping amount of the recycled resin shipped (transferred) by the first trader to the second trader is set as the second transferred amount. Also, of the inflow amount indicated by the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the usage amount of the recycled resin received by the second trader from the first trader and used in production is set as the second usage amount. In this case, the second usage amount does not exceed the second transferred amount.

[0089] (4) Conditions when the manufacturing entity is a business operator and manufacturing equipment The following conditions are applicable when the manufacturing entity is a business operator and a manufacturing device, the inflow is the incoming amount of recycled resin and the amount of recycled resin used, and the outflow is the shipped amount of resin products that use recycled resin. In the cases of (Condition 4-1) and (Condition 4-2) below, the outflow may be determined based on the weight of the recycled resin in the resin product, or may be determined using the mass balance approach described above.

[0090] (Condition 4-1) The amount of incoming goods and the amount of usage satisfy the following relational formula (C1). Relational formula (C1): The amount of incoming goods ≧ the amount of use

[0091] (Condition 4-2) The amount of incoming goods and the amount of accumulated usage satisfy the following relational formula (C'1). Relational formula (C'1): The amount of incoming goods ≧ the amount of accumulated usage

[0092] (Condition 4-3) The usage amount, the shipping amount, the post-production stock amount, the waste amount, and the recycle rate satisfy the following relational formula (C2). Relational formula (C2): (the shipping amount + the post-manufacturing stock amount + the waste amount) × the recycling ratio ≧ the usage amount

[0093] (Condition 4-4) When the authentication unit 208 certifies a resin product in which two or more recycled resins that have been assigned different identification numbers are used, if all of the recycled resins satisfy the above-mentioned condition 4-1 or condition 4-2, and if the amount used, the amount shipped, the amount stocked after manufacture, the amount discarded, and the recycling ratio satisfy the following relational formula (C3). Relational formula (C3): (the shipping amount + the post-manufacturing stock amount + the waste amount) × the recycling ratio ≧ the total amount of all the recycled resins used

[0094] The consensus formation processing unit 210 transmits the target data to the other node devices 200 in order to share the data, and performs a predetermined consensus formation process. The consensus formation algorithm in the consensus formation process may be any algorithm in the blockchain, such as PBFT or Endorsement-Ordering-Validation. The consensus formation processing unit 210 verifies the validity of the target data through the consensus formation process. When a consensus is formed through the consensus formation process by the consensus formation processing unit 210, the target data is transmitted to the other node devices 200, and the data is stored in the storage unit 212 of the node device itself and the other node devices 200. As a result, the data for which consensus has been formed is shared and stored in a distributed manner in the multiple node devices 200.

[0095] The consensus formation processing unit 210 may perform a consensus formation process on the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, and the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206, and when an agreement is formed, may control the information to be stored in the storage units 212 of the own device and the other node devices 200. The consensus formation processing unit 210 may also perform a consensus formation process on authentication information generated by the authentication unit 208, and when an agreement is formed, may control the information to be stored in the storage units 212 of the own device and the other node devices 200.

[0096] The storage unit 212 stores data on which consensus has been reached by the consensus-building processing unit 210. The storage unit 212 stores information on which consensus has been reached, for example, among the information acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, and the manufacturing information acquisition unit 206, and the authentication information generated by the authentication unit 208.

[0097] <Processing flow> An example of a processing flow executed by the blockchain network 20 will be described with reference to Fig. 6. This processing is realized by the processor 101 of the node device 200 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105. Note that detailed explanations of each processing step in this processing will be omitted here for those that have already been explained in detail.

[0098] First, in step S101, the processor 101 acquires information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the manufacturing entity for the target resin product. The inflow amount information is acquired from the storage device 105 that stores the information in advance, or from information received from the terminal device 10. The same information is acquired in the following steps.

[0099] In step S102, the processor 101 acquires information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resins from the manufacturing entity for the target resin product.

[0100] In step S103, the processor 101 determines whether or not the target resin product satisfies the authentication conditions based on the information on the inflow and outflow amounts acquired in steps S101 and S102.

[0101] If it is determined in step S103 that the authentication condition is not satisfied (No in step S104), the process shown in FIG. 6 ends, and if it is determined that the authentication condition is satisfied (Yes in step S104), the process proceeds to step S105.

[0102] In step S105, the processor 101 authenticates the target resin product as a recycled product, and generates authentication information indicating that the target resin product is a recycled product.

[0103] In step S106, the processor 101 performs a consensus building process on the authentication information generated in step S105. The contents of the consensus building process are as described above.

[0104] In step S107, the processor 101 stores the authentication information agreed upon in the agreement building process in step S106 in the storage device 105, and ends the process shown in FIG.

[0105] <Modification> The program for implementing the information processing system 1 (or the terminal device 10, the blockchain network 20, or the node device 200) in this embodiment can be installed or loaded into a computer through various recording media such as optical disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories, or by downloading via a communication network, etc.

[0106] Furthermore, the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment may be replaced with other configurations that store and process data, such as a server device, cloud computing, or edge computing. In this case, the server device, cloud computing, or edge computing (hereinafter referred to as "server device, etc.") has a configuration similar to the inflow information acquisition unit 202, outflow information acquisition unit 204, manufacturing information acquisition unit 206, authentication unit 208, and storage unit 212 shown in FIG. 5A. In this embodiment, the information on which the consensus is formed by the consensus formation processing unit 210 is stored in the storage unit 212, but in this modified example, the information is stored in the storage unit 212 without consensus formation.

[0107] 2. Second embodiment In this embodiment, the blockchain network 20 determines whether or not recycled resin is used in the target resin product based on information about the supply chain of the target resin product. If the certification conditions, including the use of recycled resin, are met, the target resin product is given certification.

[0108] According to this embodiment, the target resin product can be certified as a recycled product based on information about the supply chain of the target resin product.

[0109] The contents of this embodiment described below can be appropriately applied to each of the other embodiments. In this embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are appropriately designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

[0110] <Functional configuration> An example of the functions of the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7. The blockchain network 20 in this embodiment includes node devices 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d. The node devices 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d each have the same configuration. In this embodiment, when the node devices 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d are referred to without distinction from one another, they are collectively referred to as node devices 220. In the example shown in FIG. 7, each node device 220 in the blockchain network 20 includes a supply information acquisition unit 222, a use determination unit 224, an authentication unit 226, a consensus formation processing unit 228, and a storage unit 230 as main functional components. These functions are realized, for example, by a control unit (processor 101) included in each node device 220 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105.

[0111] The supply information acquisition unit 222 acquires supply information indicating information related to the supply chain of resin products. The supply chain of resin products refers to a series of processes such as procurement of raw materials, manufacturing, inventory management, logistics, and sales for resin products. In particular, in this embodiment, the supply chain of resin products refers to a series of processes in which collected used resin products are procured by recyclers, and then the resin flows to resin manufacturers, container manufacturers, manufacturers, and general consumers, as shown in FIG. 3.

[0112] The supply information indicating information on the supply chain of a resin product includes, for example, information on resin products manufactured by each business such as a recycler, a resin manufacturer, and a container manufacturer as shown in Fig. 3. Specifically, the supply information indicating information on the supply chain of a resin product may include information on the resin products manufactured by each of the above-mentioned businesses, such as identification information of the resin products, identification information of the raw resin, whether or not the product has been certified as a recycled product, the name of the business that manufactured the resin product, the recycling ratio of the resin product, the certification conditions that have been met, and the composition of the recycled resin.

[0113] The identification information of the resin product is, for example, information for identifying a predetermined unit of the resin product. For example, one piece of identification information is associated with one production lot of the resin product.

[0114] The identification information of the raw resin (if the resin product is a recycled pellet, the identification information of the recycled resin; the same applies below) is, for example, information that identifies a predetermined unit of raw resin. For example, one piece of identification information is associated with one production lot of raw resin. The identification information of the raw resin may be displayed, for example, on the packaging of the manufactured resin product or on transaction documents. In this case, a sticker displaying a code image such as a two-dimensional code containing the identification information and other supply information may be affixed to the packaging of the resin product. For example, a person in charge at a resin manufacturer who purchases recycled pellets from a recycler may be able to input supply information including the identification information of the raw resin into terminal device 10 by reading a two-dimensional code or the like displayed on the packaging of the recycled pellets.

[0115] Whether or not a product has been certified as a recycled product is information that indicates whether or not the resin product in question has been certified by the authentication method described later in this embodiment, the authentication method described in other embodiments, or other methods such as authentication by a third-party organization.

[0116] The satisfied certification conditions are information indicating the certification conditions satisfied in the certification when the target resin product is certified as a recycled product. The certification conditions include the certification conditions described later in this embodiment, the certification conditions described in other embodiments (for example, the certification conditions shown in the explanation of the authentication unit 208 in the first embodiment), or other certification conditions.

[0117] The recycled resin composition is information indicating the composition of the recycled resin contained in the target resin product. The recycled resin composition is indicated, for example, by the name of the recycled resin contained in the target resin product and the proportion of the recycled resin contained.

[0118] The supply information acquisition unit 222 can acquire supply information indicating information related to the supply chain of the resin product from any location. The supply information acquisition unit 222 may acquire the supply information from, for example, an external device (for example, the terminal device 10) of the blockchain network 20, or may acquire the above supply information stored in advance in at least a part of the storage units 230 of the multiple node devices 220 in the blockchain network 20. When the supply information is acquired from the storage unit 230 of the blockchain network 20, it is possible to acquire information whose reliability is ensured by blockchain technology. Also, when the supply information is acquired from the terminal device 10, it is possible to acquire information whose reliability is ensured by acquiring information obtained by scanning the transaction documents that are the source of the supply information, for example.

[0119] The supply information indicating information on the supply chain of the resin product acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222 may include identification information of the raw resin associated with the raw resin used in the resin product. The identification information of the raw resin is, for example, information for identifying a predetermined unit of raw resin. For example, one piece of identification information is associated with one production lot of the raw resin. The identification information of the raw resin may be displayed, for example, on the package of the manufactured resin product. In this case, a sticker showing a code image such as a two-dimensional code including the identification information and information on the amount of the raw resin may be affixed to the package of the resin product. For example, a person in charge of a resin manufacturer who purchases pellets from a recycler may be able to input the supply information including the identification information of the recycled resin into the terminal device 10 by reading the two-dimensional code or the like displayed on the package of the pellets.

[0120] The use determination unit 224 determines whether or not recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the supply information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222. For example, the use determination unit 224 may determine that recycled resin is used in the resin product when the supply information includes information indicating the use of recycled resin or information suggesting the use of recycled resin. The use determination unit 224 determines whether or not recycled resin is used in the resin product based on the highly reliable supply information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222, and therefore is able to make a highly reliable determination.

[0121] The use determination unit 224 may also determine whether or not a third-party certification has been obtained for the raw resin of the resin product based on the supply information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222. The third-party certification for the raw resin of the resin product is a third-party certification that the raw resin is a recycled resin. For example, a raw resin manufactured by a business entity certified by a third-party may be considered to be certified by a third-party. The use determination unit 224 may determine that a third-party certification has been obtained for the raw resin of the resin product when the supply information of the product resin includes information indicating that the raw resin is a recycled resin. The use determination unit 224 may determine that a recycled resin is used in the resin product when it is determined that the third-party certification has been obtained based on the supply information.

[0122] The authentication unit 226 certifies the resin product when the use determination unit 224 satisfies authentication conditions including that recycled resin is used. That is, the authentication unit 226 certifies the target resin product as a recycled product based on a highly reliable determination result by the use determination unit 224. The authentication unit 226 generates authentication information indicating that the resin product certified as a recycled product is a recycled product.

[0123] The certification conditions may include that at least one raw resin in the supply chain of the resin product is certified by a third party based on the supply information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222, and may include that the recycled resin produced from the collected used resin products is certified by the third party. The third party certification of the raw resin is a third party certification that the raw resin is a recycled resin. Note that the recycled pellets produced from the collected used resin products by a recycler certified by a third party may be designated as a raw resin certified by a third party.

[0124] The consensus formation processing unit 228 transmits the target data to the other node devices 220 to share the data, and performs a predetermined consensus formation process. The consensus formation algorithm in the consensus formation process may be any algorithm in the blockchain, such as PBFT or Endorsement-Ordering-Validation. The consensus formation processing unit 228 verifies the validity of the target data through the consensus formation process. When a consensus is formed through the consensus formation process by the consensus formation processing unit 228, the target data is transmitted to the other node devices 220, and the data is stored in the storage unit 230 of the node device itself and the other node devices 220. As a result, the data for which consensus has been formed is shared and stored in a distributed manner among the multiple node devices 220.

[0125] The consensus formation processing unit 228 may, for example, perform consensus formation processing on the information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222 and the authentication information generated by the authentication unit 226, and when an agreement is formed, may control the information to be stored in the memory unit 230 of its own device and other node devices 220.

[0126] The storage unit 230 stores data on which a consensus has been reached by the consensus-building processing unit 228. The storage unit 230 stores information on which a consensus has been reached, for example, among the supply information acquired by the supply information acquisition unit 222 and the authentication information generated by the authentication unit 226.

[0127] The supply information indicating information on the supply chain of the resin product may be stored in the storage unit 230 in response to an input by the business operator to the terminal device 10 each time a transaction or transfer of the recycled resin or resin product between the business operators shown in FIG. 3 is made. In addition, the supply information is stored in the storage unit 230 so as to be able to trace the supply chain of the resin product. For example, the supply information is stored in the storage unit 230 so as to be able to trace the transaction or transfer of the recycled resin or resin product between the business operators by the identification information of the recycled resin. In this case, the supply information acquisition unit 222 can acquire the supply information, which is information on the supply chain of the resin product using the recycled resin associated with the same identification information of the recycled resin, from the storage unit 230. The supply information acquired from the storage unit 230 by the supply information acquisition unit 222 may be transmitted to the terminal device 10 so as to be able to be displayed on the terminal device 10.

[0128] An example of supply information showing information related to the supply chain of a resin product displayed on the terminal device 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 8. An image 80 shown in Fig. 8 is an image showing the supply information displayed on the display device of the terminal device 10. In the image 80, resin product information 81, raw resin information 82, and supply chain information 83 are shown.

[0129] The resin product information 81 includes information on the product ID (identification information of the resin product), the overall certification (whether the resin product is certified or not), and the resin composition (composition of the resin product). The raw resin information 82 is information on the raw resin indicated by the resin composition included in the resin product information 81. The raw resin information 82 may include the resin ID (identification information of the raw resin), the certification (information on whether the raw resin is certified or not), the resin manufacturer (manufacturer of the raw resin), the recycling ratio (the ratio of recycled resin contained in the raw resin), the certification conditions for recycled products satisfied by the raw resin, information on the recycled pellet composition of the raw resin, and the third-party certification (information on whether the recycled pellets are certified by a third-party). The supply chain information 83 shows the supply chain of the resin product (resin 1). According to the supply chain information 83, it is shown that the resin manufacturer B manufactured a resin product using the raw resin received from the recycler A1 and the recycler A2, and shipped the resin product to the finished product manufacturer C. The certification status in each supply chain may be shown.

[0130] To refer to a screen such as that shown in FIG. 8, a user may obtain an address for accessing the above supply information by reading a code such as a two-dimensional code displayed on the resin product or its packaging via a camera (not shown) of the terminal device 10 or the like.

[0131] According to this embodiment, the user can check information regarding the supply chain of a resin product via the terminal device 10, and can therefore easily check whether the resin product is a recycled product and information regarding recycled resin.

[0132] <Processing flow> An example of a processing flow executed by the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 9. This processing is realized by the processor 101 of the node device 220 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105. Note that detailed explanations of each processing step in this processing will be omitted here for those that have already been explained in detail.

[0133] First, in step S201, the processor 101 acquires supply information indicating information related to the supply chain of the target resin product. The supply information is acquired from the storage device 105 that stores the information in advance, or from information received from the terminal device 10.

[0134] In step S202, the processor 101 determines whether or not recycled resin is used in the target resin product based on the supply information acquired in step S201. For example, the processor 101 determines that recycled resin is used in the resin product when the supply information includes information indicating the use of recycled resin or information suggesting the use of recycled resin.

[0135] If it is determined in step S202 that the card is in use (Yes in step S203), the process proceeds to step S204; otherwise, the process shown in FIG. 9 ends.

[0136] In step S204, the processor 101 authenticates the target resin product as a recycled product, and generates authentication information indicating that the target resin product is a recycled product.

[0137] In step S205, the processor 101 performs a consensus building process on the authentication information generated in step S204. The contents of the consensus building process have already been described.

[0138] In step S206, the processor 101 stores the authentication information agreed upon in the agreement building process in step S205 in the storage device 105, and ends the process shown in FIG.

[0139] <Modification> The program for implementing the information processing system 1 (or the terminal device 10, the blockchain network 20, or the node device 220) in this embodiment can be installed or loaded into a computer through various recording media such as optical disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories, or by downloading via a communication network, etc.

[0140] Furthermore, the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment may be replaced with other configurations that store and process data, such as a server device, cloud computing, or edge computing. In this case, the server device, cloud computing, or edge computing (hereinafter referred to as "server device, etc.") has a configuration similar to the supply information acquisition unit 222, the use determination unit 224, the authentication unit 226, and the storage unit 230 shown in FIG. 7. Note that, in this embodiment, the information on which a consensus is formed by the consensus formation processing unit 228 is stored in the storage unit 230, but in this modified example, the information is stored in the storage unit 230 without consensus being formed.

[0141] 3. Third embodiment In this embodiment, the blockchain network 20 makes a judgment regarding a transaction of at least resin products or resins including recycled resins (hereinafter, resin products or raw resins are also referred to as "resin") in a supply chain in which multiple businesses participate. More specifically, it receives shipping information (e.g., information including at least a part of resin identification information, resin shipping destination information, resin shipping amount information, or resin shipping timing information) regarding resin shipped by a first business from the first business, and receives arrival information regarding resin that has arrived at a second business from the second business. A judgment regarding the legitimacy of the transaction is made based on the shipping information and the arrival information.

[0142] According to the present embodiment, since the legitimacy of a transaction is determined based on information from a plurality of business operators, it is possible to perform a more reliable determination, and as a result, it is possible to prevent receiving erroneous information about the transaction from the business operators.

[0143] The contents of this embodiment described below can be appropriately applied to each of the other embodiments. In this embodiment, the same components as those in the other embodiments are appropriately designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

[0144] <Functional configuration> With reference to FIG. 10, an example of the functions of the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment will be described. The blockchain network 20 in this embodiment includes node devices 240a, 240b, 240c, and 240d. The node devices 240a, 240b, 240c, and 240d each have the same configuration. In this embodiment, when the node devices 240a, 240b, 240c, and 240d are referred to without distinction from each other, they are collectively referred to as node devices 240. In the example shown in FIG. 10, each node device 240 in the blockchain network 20 includes a shipping information acquisition unit 242, a receiving information acquisition unit 244, a transaction determination unit 246, a consensus formation processing unit 248, and a storage unit 250 as main functional components. These functions are realized, for example, by a control unit (processor 101) of each node device 240 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105.

[0145] The shipping information acquisition unit 242 receives shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin (including resin product or raw resin as described above) shipped by the first business operator, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, shipping timing information of the resin, or identification information of the transaction related to the shipment of the resin from the first business operator via the first terminal device in a supply chain in which multiple business operators participate. The shipping information may be stored in the storage unit 250 after a consensus formation process described later.

[0146] In this embodiment, the supply chain in which multiple businesses participate refers to a series of processes in which multiple businesses participate, such as procurement of raw materials for resin, production, inventory management, logistics, and sales. In particular, in this embodiment, the supply chain in which multiple businesses participate refers to a series of processes in which collected used resin products are procured by recyclers, and then the resin flows to resin manufacturers, container manufacturers, manufacturers, and general consumers, as shown in Fig. 3.

[0147] In this embodiment, the resin shipped by the first business operator is, for example, resin (e.g., pellets) shipped by one of the multiple business operators shown in FIG. 3 (e.g., a recycler) to another business operator (e.g., a resin manufacturer).

[0148] The first terminal device is a terminal device 10 (for example, terminal device 10a) that can be used by a person in charge of the first business. For example, the person in charge of the first business operates the terminal device 10a to input shipping information including identification information of the target resin shipped by the first business, shipping destination information of the resin (for example, information identifying the business of the shipping destination), shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin (for example, date and time of shipping the resin), and transmits the shipping information to the blockchain network 20. As an example of a method of inputting the shipping information, the person in charge of the first business may input the shipping information to the terminal device 10a by reading an image code such as a two-dimensional code displayed on the package of the resin to be shipped or on the transaction document with the terminal device 10a. Alternatively, the shipping information stored in the storage unit of the terminal device 10a may be transmitted to the blockchain network 20 in response to an operation by the person in charge of the first business. The shipping information transmitted to the blockchain network 20 is acquired by the shipping information acquisition unit 242.

[0149] The arrival information acquisition unit 244 receives arrival information on the resin that the second business operator has arrived at from the second business operator via the second terminal device. The arrival information may be stored in the storage unit 250 after a consensus formation process described later. The resin that the second business operator has arrived at is, for example, a resin (e.g., recycled pellets) that an operator (e.g., a resin manufacturer) different from the first business operator described above among the multiple businesses shown in FIG. 3 has arrived at from another business operator (e.g., a recycler).

[0150] The second terminal device is a terminal device 10 (for example, terminal device 10b) that can be used by a person in charge of the second business. For example, the person in charge of the second business operates the terminal device 10b to input arrival information regarding the resin that has arrived at the second business.

[0151] The arrival information on the resin received by the second business includes, for example, at least a part of the identification information of the resin received by the second business, the shipper information of the resin (information of the business that shipped the resin received by the second business), the arrival amount information of the resin, the arrival timing information of the resin, or the identification information of the transaction related to the arrival of the resin. Since the information corresponds to the shipping information acquired by the shipping information acquisition unit 242, the information is also referred to as "corresponding information" in the following description. For example, the person in charge of the second business operates the terminal device 10b to input the above-mentioned correspondence information of the target resin received by the second business as arrival information, and transmits the arrival information to the blockchain network 20. As an example of a method of inputting the above-mentioned correspondence information, the person in charge of the first business may input the correspondence information as arrival information to the terminal device 10b by reading an image code such as a two-dimensional code displayed on the package of the received resin by the terminal device 10b. The arrival information transmitted to the blockchain network 20 is acquired by the arrival information acquisition unit 244.

[0152] In addition, the arrival information on the resin that the second business has arrived at includes, as another example, information indicating whether or not to approve the shipping information of the first business acquired by the shipping information acquisition unit 242. In the following description, this information is also referred to as "approval information." For example, in response to an operation by a person in charge of the second business, the terminal device 10b receives the shipping information of the first business acquired by the arrival information acquisition unit 244 from the blockchain network 20 and displays it on the display unit. The person in charge of the second business checks the shipping information displayed on the display unit, determines whether the shipping information is valid in light of the arrival information by the second business, and transmits approval information indicating whether or not to approve the shipping information to the blockchain network 20 via the terminal device 10b. The approval information transmitted to the blockchain network 20 is received as arrival information by the arrival information acquisition unit 244.

[0153] If the arrival information of the second business received by the arrival information acquisition unit 244 indicates that the shipping information of the first business is not approved, the blockchain network 20 notifies the first business of that effect via the terminal device 10. In response to the notification, the first business can correct the shipping information of the first business and transmit the corrected shipping information to the blockchain network 20. The corrected shipping information is acquired by the shipping information acquisition unit 242.

[0154] The transaction determination unit 246 performs transaction determination, which is a determination regarding the legitimacy of a transaction, based on the shipping information received from the first business by the shipping information acquisition unit 242 and the receiving information received from the second business by the receiving information acquisition unit 244. The determination regarding the legitimacy of a transaction includes, for example, a determination as to whether the shipping information and the receiving information are consistent (or correspond) or not, or a determination as to whether a transaction has actually occurred or not. In addition, the transaction determination unit 246 generates transaction legitimacy information indicating the result of the transaction determination. The shipping information and receiving information used in the transaction determination may be obtained from the storage unit 250 in which the information is stored in advance.

[0155] When the arrival information acquisition unit 244 receives the corresponding information as arrival information, the transaction determination unit 246 first determines whether or not the shipping information received by the shipping information acquisition unit 242 is consistent with the arrival information received by the arrival information acquisition unit 244. For example, it is assumed that the following information is received as the shipping information and arrival information. Shipping Information a1: Identification information of the resin shipped by the first business operator (identification information of the resin product or raw resin) A2: Resin shipping destination information A3: Resin shipping volume information A4: Resin shipping timing information A5: Identification information of the transaction related to the shipment of resin Arrival information b1: Identification information of the resin received by the second business operator (identification information of the resin product or raw resin) b2: Resin shipper (information of the business that shipped the resin received by the second business) b3: Resin stock volume information b4: Resin arrival timing information B5: Identification information of the transaction related to the receipt of resin

[0156] In this example, when making a transaction judgment regarding a transaction between a recycler (first business operator) and a resin manufacturer (second business operator) in FIG. 3, the transaction judgment unit 246 judges the consistency between the shipping information a1 to a4 and the arrival information b1 to b4. As a specific example, the consistency is judged based on the following judgment results. It is judged whether the identification information (a1) of the shipped resin corresponds to the identification information (b1) of the arrived resin. It is judged whether the shipping destination information (a2) corresponds to the shipper information (b2) of the resin. It is judged whether the shipping amount information (a3) ​​corresponds to the arrival amount information (b3). It is judged whether the shipping timing information (a4) corresponds to the arrival timing information (b4) or whether the difference is within a reasonable range taking into account the delivery period, etc. It is judged whether the identification information (a5) of the transaction related to the shipment corresponds to the identification information (b5) of the transaction related to the arrival. If the transaction judgment unit 246 judges that there is consistency, it judges the transaction to be valid.

[0157] When the arrival information acquisition unit 244 receives the above-mentioned approval information as arrival information, the transaction determination unit 246 determines that the transaction corresponding to the shipping information is legitimate if it indicates that the shipping information acquired by the shipping information acquisition unit 242 is approved.

[0158] The shipping information and receipt information used in the determination by the transaction determination unit 246 does not have to be the shipping information and receipt information of a business that directly trades in the supply chain (for example, the shipping information of the recycler and the receipt information of the resin manufacturer in FIG. 3). The transaction determination unit 246 can also use the shipping information and receipt information of two businesses that do not directly trade (for example, the shipping information of the recycler and the receipt information of the container manufacturer in FIG. 3) to determine the legitimacy of multiple transactions associated with the distribution of resin occurring between two businesses that do not directly trade. In this case, for example, the transaction determination unit 246 may compare the resin shipment amount information (a3) ​​indicated by the shipping information of the first business (recycler) with the resin arrival amount information (b3) indicated by the arrival information of the second business (container manufacturer), and if the resin arrival amount information (b3) does not exceed the resin shipment amount information (a3), determine that the resin transaction occurring between the first business (recycler) and the second business (container manufacturer) in the supply chain (i.e., the transaction between the recycler and the resin manufacturer, and the transaction between the resin manufacturer and the container manufacturer) is valid. Also, even when the above-mentioned approval information is used, the transaction determination unit 246 may determine the validity of multiple transactions associated with the distribution of resin occurring between two business operators in the supply chain that do not directly trade with each other, based on the shipping information and arrival information of the two business operators.

[0159] In the supply chain, the determination on the legitimacy of a transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information of a first business that directly trades with each other and the determination on the legitimacy of a transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information of two business operators that do not directly trade with each other have been described. The transaction determination unit 246 may determine the legitimacy of a transaction based on the first determination for each of the multiple transactions involved in the distribution of resin between the two business operators that do not directly trade with each other, in addition to the second determination, instead of determining the legitimacy of the multiple transactions involved in the distribution of resin between the two business operators that do not directly trade with each other based only on the second determination. In this case, when the results of the first determination and the second determination indicate that the transaction is legitimate, the transaction determination unit 246 may determine that the multiple transactions involved in the distribution of resin between the two business operators that do not directly trade with each other are legitimate as a whole.

[0160] The consensus formation processing unit 248 transmits the target data to the other node devices 240 to share the data, and performs a predetermined consensus formation process. The consensus formation algorithm in the consensus formation process may be any algorithm in the blockchain, such as PBFT or Endorsement-Ordering-Validation. The consensus formation processing unit 248 verifies the validity of the target data through the consensus formation process. When a consensus is formed through the consensus formation process by the consensus formation processing unit 248, the target data is transmitted to the other node devices 240, and the data is stored in the storage unit 250 of the node device itself and the other node devices 240. As a result, the data for which consensus has been formed is shared and stored in a distributed manner among the multiple node devices 240.

[0161] The consensus formation processing unit 248 may, for example, perform consensus formation processing on the shipping information received by the shipping information acquisition unit 242, the arrival information received by the arrival information acquisition unit 244, and the transaction legitimacy information generated by the transaction determination unit 246, and when an agreement is formed, control the information to be stored in the memory unit 250 of its own device and other node devices 220.

[0162] The storage unit 250 stores data for which an agreement has been reached by the agreement reaching processing unit 248. The storage unit 250 stores information for which an agreement has been reached, for example, out of shipping information, arrival information, and transaction legitimacy information.

[0163] The shipping information, the arrival information, and the transaction legitimacy information may be stored in the storage unit 250 in response to input by the business operator to the terminal device 10 each time a transaction or transfer of a recycled resin or a resin product between business operators shown in FIG. 3 is made. The information stored in the storage unit 250 is stored in the storage unit 250 so as to enable tracing of the supply chain of the raw resin or the resin product. For example, the shipping information, the arrival information, and the transaction legitimacy information are stored in the storage unit 250 so as to enable tracing of the transaction or transfer of the recycled resin or the resin product between business operators by the identification information of the recycled resin. In this case, the supply information, which is information about the supply chain of the resin product using the recycled resin associated with the same identification information of the recycled resin, may be acquired from the storage unit 250, transmitted to the terminal device 10, and displayed on the terminal device 10.

[0164] <Processing flow> An example of a processing flow executed by the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 11. This processing is realized by the processor 101 of the node device 240 reading and executing a computer program stored in the storage device 105. Note that detailed explanations of each processing step in this processing will be omitted here for those that have already been explained in detail.

[0165] First, in step S301, with regard to a transaction of resin including at least a resin product or raw resin in a supply chain in which multiple businesses participate, the processor 101 receives shipping information from the first business via the first terminal device, the shipping information including at least a portion of the identification information of the resin shipped by the first business, the shipping destination information of the resin, the shipping quantity information of the resin, or the shipping timing information of the resin.

[0166] In step S302, the processor 101 receives arrival information regarding resin received by the second business operator via the second terminal device, the arrival information corresponding to the shipping information of the first business operator received in step S301.

[0167] In step S303, the processor 101 performs a transaction determination, which is a determination regarding the legitimacy of the transaction, based on the shipping information and the receiving information received in steps S301 and S302.

[0168] If the transaction is determined to be valid (Yes in step S304), the process proceeds to step S305; otherwise (No in step S304), the process shown in FIG. 11 ends.

[0169] In step S305, the processor 101 generates transaction validity information indicating the result of the transaction determination in step S303.

[0170] In step S306, the processor 101 performs a consensus building process on the transaction legitimacy information generated in step S305. The contents of the consensus building process have already been described.

[0171] In step S307, the processor 101 stores the transaction legitimacy information agreed upon in the agreement building process in step S306 in the storage device 105, and ends the process shown in FIG.

[0172] In the process shown in FIG. 11, transaction legitimacy information is stored in storage device 105 only when it is determined in step S303 that the transaction is legitimate; however, this is not limited to the above, and even if the transaction is determined to be invalid, transaction legitimacy information indicating this may be stored in storage device 105.

[0173] <Modification> The program for implementing the information processing system 1 (or the terminal device 10, the blockchain network 20, or the node device 240) in this embodiment can be installed or loaded into a computer through various recording media such as optical disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories, or by downloading via a communication network, etc.

[0174] Furthermore, the blockchain network 20 in this embodiment may be replaced with other configurations that store and process data, such as a server device, cloud computing, or edge computing. In this case, the server device or the like has a configuration similar to the shipping information acquisition unit 242, the arrival information acquisition unit 244, the transaction determination unit 246, and the storage unit 250 shown in FIG. 10. Note that, in this embodiment, the information on which the consensus is reached by the consensus reaching processing unit 248 is stored in the storage unit 250, but in this modified example, the information is stored in the storage unit 250 without consensus being reached.

[0175] 4. Fourth embodiment This embodiment is related to the first embodiment and is implemented in combination with the first embodiment. This embodiment applies other authentication conditions to authenticate recycled products, for example, in addition to or instead of the authentication conditions described in the first embodiment.

[0176] The contents of this embodiment described below can be appropriately applied to each of the other embodiments. In this embodiment, the same components as those in the other embodiments are appropriately designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified.

[0177] In this embodiment, the information processing system described with reference to FIG. 1 may be applied, but the information processing system according to this embodiment may include a manufacturing device for manufacturing a resin product.

[0178] With reference to FIG. 12, an information processing system 2 applicable to this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 12, the information processing system 2 includes terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c, a block chain network 20, a manufacturing device 30, and a storage 190. That is, the information processing system 2 includes a manufacturing device 30 in addition to the configuration of the information processing system 1 shown in FIG. 1. The terminal devices 10a, 10b, and 10c and the block chain network 20 can communicate with each other via a network N. The terminal device 10a, the manufacturing device 30, and the storage 190 can communicate with each other via a network. It is also possible to communicate between the block chain network 20 and the manufacturing device 30 without going through the terminal device 10.

[0179] The manufacturing apparatus 30 is an apparatus for manufacturing a resin product from raw materials including recycled resin. A method for manufacturing a resin product using the manufacturing apparatus 30 includes, for example, a process of kneading and extruding raw materials including recycled resin. The raw materials may include virgin resin in addition to recycled resin.

[0180] An example of a schematic configuration of the manufacturing apparatus 30 will be described with reference to Fig. 13. The manufacturing apparatus 30 includes a mixer 150, an extruder 160, a cutter 170, and a product container 180. The manufacturing apparatus 30 is communicatively connected to a storage 190. As a modified example, the manufacturing apparatus 30 may include the storage 190.

[0181] The mixer 150 includes an agitator blade 151 and a weighing sensor 152 (not shown) in its housing. The weighing sensor 152 is provided in the manufacturing device 30 so as to be able to weigh the weight of the recycled resin fed into the mixer 150 (i.e., the amount of recycled resin used in the manufacture of a resin product). The manufacturing device 30 transmits information on the amount of recycled resin used weighed by the weighing sensor 152 to the storage 190. The recycled resin used in the manufacture of a resin product may be from one lot or from multiple lots. When multiple lots of recycled resin are fed and used, after each lot of recycled resin is fed, the total weight of the fed recycled resin is weighed, and the weight information is transmitted to the storage 190. The storage 190 stores the received information on the weight of the recycled resin in association with the lot information of the recycled resin (or other identification information for identifying the recycled resin). The storage 190 is a storage device configured with a storage medium such as a hard disk.

[0182] The extruder 160 includes a housing 161, a screw 162, and a hopper 163. The screw 162 is provided in the housing 161. The hopper 163 is provided so that raw materials can be introduced into the housing 161 from the outside. The housing 161 is provided with a heater (not shown) and configured to heat the inside of the housing 161 to a high temperature so that the recycled resin can be dissolved. The hopper 163 includes a weighing sensor 1631 (not shown) that weighs the raw materials to be introduced into the housing 161. The extruder 160 includes a die 164 that processes the kneaded resin into a rod shape. The recycled resin stirred by the above-mentioned mixer 150 is introduced into the hopper 163, and the weighing sensor 1631 measures the amount of recycled resin introduced into the hopper 163. Information on the measured amount is transmitted to the storage 190. The storage 190 stores the received information on the measured amount in association with identification information of the recycled resin, such as lot information of the corresponding recycled resin.

[0183] The recycled resin introduced into the housing 161 is kneaded by the screw 162, extruded through the die 164, and processed into a rod shape. The rod-shaped recycled resin is sent to the cutter 170, which will be described later.

[0184] The cutter 170 has a cutting blade for cutting the rod-shaped recycled resin (not shown). The rod-shaped recycled resin is cut into short pieces and formed into pellets. The recycled resin pellets obtained through the above steps are stored in a product container 180 as a resin product.

[0185] The storage 190 may store information on the amount of recycled resin input (used amount) to the mixer 150 and the hopper 163, as well as information on the amount of resin products produced and the amount of recycled resin discarded during the production of resin products.

[0186] In this case, the weight of the resin product stored in the product container 180 may be measured by a weighing sensor 1801 (not shown) provided in the product container 180, and the production amount of the resin product may be measured. Information on the measured production amount may be transmitted from the weighing sensor 1801 to the storage 190 and stored in the storage 190 together with identification information of the recycled resin that was the raw material of the resin product.

[0187] Furthermore, in the manufacturing apparatus 30, a weighing sensor 1801 (not shown) may be provided at a position such as the product container 180 where the amount of recycled resin discarded during the manufacturing of a resin product by the manufacturing apparatus 30 can be measured, and the weighing sensor 1801 may measure the amount of recycled resin discarded. Information on the measured discard amount may be transmitted from the weighing sensor 1801 to the storage 190 and stored in the storage 190 together with identification information of the recycled resin used as a raw material for the resin product. Examples of recycled resin to be discarded include resin products that are out of spec and resin remaining in the housing 161 when the manufacturing apparatus 30 is stopped.

[0188] The information stored in the storage 190 or the node device 200 is used, for example, to determine whether or not the authentication condition described below is satisfied. The information stored in the storage 190 may be transmitted from the storage 190 or the manufacturing device 30 to the blockchain network 20 and stored in the storage unit 212 of any of the node devices 200.

[0189] Here, in this embodiment, the certification of the resin product is given in the same manner as in the first embodiment. For example, in the information processing system 2, the inflow information acquisition unit 202 acquires information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the manufacturing entity of the resin product, and the outflow information acquisition unit 204 acquires information on the outflow amount of the resin product using the recycled resin in the manufacturing entity or a different manufacturing entity from the storage 190. If the target resin product satisfies the certification condition based on the information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount acquired above, the authentication unit 208 grants certification to the resin product. Moreover, the authentication method of the recycled product in this embodiment includes processing steps by each functional configuration including the inflow information acquisition unit 202, the outflow information acquisition unit 204, and the authentication unit 208.

[0190] In addition, the inflow volume acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 includes the amount of recycled resin received by the resin product manufacturer, and the outflow volume acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 includes the amount of resin products shipped using recycled resin.

[0191] <Outline of the process from receiving recycled resin to shipping resin products> With reference to FIG. 14, in this embodiment, an example of a flow from when a business that manufactures resin products receives recycled resin to when it ships the resin products will be outlined. Business A receives recycled resin to be used in manufacturing resin products. The received recycled resin is fed into manufacturing equipment 30 and used to manufacture resin products. Of the received recycled resin, any unused recycled resin is managed as inventory. The manufactured resin products are shipped. Of the manufactured resin products, any unshipped resin products are managed as post-manufacture stock (inventory of resin products).

[0192] The information on each of the above-mentioned amounts of arrival, inventory, use, production, stock after production, and shipment is stored and managed in the storage 190 or the node device 200 in units of lots of the corresponding recycled resin (or other units of identification information for identifying recycled resin or resin products, the same applies to other descriptions in this disclosure). That is, the information on each of the amounts of arrival, inventory, use, production, stock after production, and shipment is stored and managed in the storage 190 or the node device 200 in units of lots as arrival amount, inventory amount, usage amount, production amount, stock amount after production, or shipment amount.

[0193] In addition, after the arrival of the recycled resin, waste may occur for some reason before the shipment of the resin product. For example, some recycled resin may be disposed of after arrival without being used in production. In addition, some raw materials containing recycled resin used by being fed into the production device 30 may be disposed of during the production of the resin product. Furthermore, after the resin product is produced, some of the resin product may be disposed of without being shipped. The amount of the waste is stored and managed in the storage 190 or the node device 200 as waste amount information in the lot unit of the corresponding recycled resin (or other unit of identification information of the recycled resin). When the above-mentioned discarded recycled resin or resin product is recycled (reworked) and used as a raw material for the resin product, the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may acquire the amount of recycled resin that is received or used as the raw material in the amount of the waste as the inflow amount.

[0194] For example, information on the amount of recycled resin discarded after arrival and before production of a resin product may be input via the input I / F 107 of the terminal device 10 or the like, transmitted from the terminal device 10 to the node device 200, and stored and managed. Raw materials including recycled resin discarded during production of a resin product by the production device 30 may be measured by a weighing sensor in the production device 30, and information on the identified weight may be transmitted to the node device 200, and stored and managed. Information on the amount of recycled resin discarded after arrival and production may be input via the input I / F 107 of the terminal device 10, transmitted from the terminal device 10 to the node device 200, and stored and managed.

[0195] In this embodiment, the above-mentioned incoming amount, inventory amount, usage amount, production amount, post-production stock amount, shipped amount, or discarded amount may be the cumulative incoming amount, cumulative inventory amount, cumulative usage amount, cumulative production amount, cumulative post-production stock amount, cumulative shipped amount, or cumulative discarded amount of recycled resin associated with the same identification information that identifies a predetermined unit of recycled resin.

[0196] <Authentication conditions> In the present embodiment, examples of conditions (certification conditions) for certifying a resin product as a recycled product and the prerequisites thereof are described below. The certification conditions in the present embodiment can be used alone for the certification, or can be used in combination with the certification conditions described in other embodiments.

[0197] The information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the resin product manufacturing entity acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may include information on the usage amount of recycled resin used in processing the recycled resin. The information on the usage amount of recycled resin acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may be based on the weighing result by the above-mentioned weighing sensor provided in the manufacturing equipment 30 so as to be able to weigh the usage amount of recycled resin. The above authentication condition may include that the usage amount does not exceed the incoming amount. The usage amount of recycled resin used in processing the recycled resin includes, for example, the amount input into the manufacturing equipment 30 of recycled resin for the production of resin products.

[0198] The inflow information acquisition unit 202 may acquire information on the amount of use of the recycled resin for manufacturing a resin product from the manufacturing apparatus 30 as the information on the inflow amount. As described above, the manufacturing apparatus 30 is an apparatus that processes recycled resin to obtain a resin product. The inflow information acquisition unit 202 acquires, as the inflow amount, information on the amount of use transmitted to the blockchain network 20, for example, directly from the manufacturing apparatus 30 via the storage 190 or the memory unit 212.

[0199] The information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resin in the manufacturing entity, acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204, may include information on the production amount of resin products after processing. The production amount of resin products after processing may be the production amount of resin products produced by processing recycled resin in the manufacturing device 30. The certification condition may include that the production amount does not exceed the usage amount.

[0200] The outflow information acquisition unit 204 may acquire information on the production volume of resin products from the manufacturing device 30 as the outflow volume. As described above, the manufacturing device 30 is a device that processes recycled resin to obtain resin products. The outflow information acquisition unit 204 acquires, as the outflow volume, information on the production volume transmitted from the manufacturing device 30 directly to the blockchain network 20 via the storage 190 or the memory unit 212, for example.

[0201] The information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the resin product manufacturer acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may include information on the raw material inventory amount, which is the inventory amount of recycled resin. The inventory amount of recycled resin is, for example, the inventory amount of recycled resin used in the manufacture of resin products. The authentication condition may include that the sum of the usage amount and the raw material inventory amount does not exceed the incoming amount of recycled resin.

[0202] The information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resin in the manufacturing entity, acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204, may include information on the post-manufacturing stock amount of the resin products. Furthermore, the information on the outflow amount acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 may include information on the manufacturing amount of the resin products in the manufacturing entity. Furthermore, the information on the outflow amount acquired by the outflow information acquisition unit 204 may include information on the shipping amount of the resin products. The above certification condition may include that the sum of the post-manufacturing stock amount and the shipping amount does not exceed the manufacturing amount.

[0203] The information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the manufacturing entity of the resin product acquired by the inflow information acquisition unit 202 may include information on the shipping amount of the manufacturing entity that shipped the recycled resin instead of the incoming amount of recycled resin. The shipping amount may be a value stored in the blockchain network. By treating the shipping amount from other manufacturing entities as the incoming amount, it is possible to prevent fraudulent input of the incoming amount.

[0204] When the above certification conditions are applied in combination, the following combination may be used. As a premise, the inflow information acquisition unit 202 acquires information on the incoming amount of recycled resin at a business that manufactures resin products and information on the amount of recycled resin used in processing for manufacturing resin products from the manufacturing device 30. The outflow information acquisition unit 204 acquires information on the shipping amount of resin products at a business that manufactures resin products. The authentication unit 208 may determine whether or not a resin product satisfies the certification conditions based on the information on the incoming amount, the usage amount, and the shipping amount. If it is determined that the certification conditions are satisfied, the authentication unit 208 grants certification to the target resin product (for example, a resin product to be shipped). For example, information indicating that the target resin product has been certified as a recycled product by the authentication unit 208 granting certification to the target resin product is stored in the storage unit 212.

[0205] The authentication conditions may further include at least one of the following conditions, or at least a combination of these conditions: (Condition A) The above incoming amount ≧ the above outgoing amount + the above raw material inventory amount + the above waste amount before, during and after production (Condition B) The above usage amount ≧ the above production amount + the above waste amount during production (Condition C) The above incoming amount ≧ the above usage amount + the above raw material inventory amount + the above waste amount before production (Condition D) The above production volume ≧ the above shipping volume + the above post-production stock volume + the above post-production waste volume

[0206] <Processing flow> An example of a process flow executed in the information processing system 2 from receipt of recycled resin to authentication of a resin product in this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 15. This process is realized by the processor of each device included in the information processing system 2 reading and executing a computer program stored in a storage unit. Note that detailed explanations of each processing step in this process will be omitted here for those that have already been explained in detail.

[0207] In step S401, the terminal device 10 performs a process for receiving recycled resin. For example, the terminal device 10 obtains information on the amount of received recycled resin together with identification information (for example, lot information) of the recycled resin by reading an arrival slip attached to a package or the like of the received recycled resin. For example, the terminal device 10 obtains information on the amount of received recycled resin together with identification information (for example, lot information) of the recycled resin by reading an arrival slip attached to a package or the like of the received recycled resin. The terminal device 10 may include a reading device such as an image sensor or a signal sensor, and the reading device may obtain information on the amount of received recycled resin and identification information of the recycled resin from the arrival slip. Reading by the reading device may be performed automatically or in response to a user operation. The terminal device 10 transmits the obtained information on the amount of received recycled resin and identification information of the recycled resin to the storage 190. The obtained information on the amount of received recycled resin is used in an authentication process in the blockchain network 20, which will be described later.

[0208] In step S402, the storage 190 stores the information on the incoming amount and the identification information of the recycled resin received from the terminal device 10 in association with each other.

[0209] In step 403, the manufacturing equipment 30 measures the amount of recycled resin input into the manufacturing equipment 30 as a usage amount using a weighing sensor, and transmits information on the usage amount to the storage 190. In addition, the manufacturing equipment 30 measures the amount of resin products manufactured by the manufacturing equipment 30 as a production amount using a weighing sensor, and transmits information on the production amount to the storage 190.

[0210] In step S404, the storage 190 stores the information on the usage amount and the production amount received from the manufacturing apparatus 30.

[0211] In step S405, the terminal device 10 performs processing for shipping the resin product. For example, the terminal device 10 acquires information on the shipping amount of the resin product together with the identification information of the resin product (for example, lot information of the resin product) by reading a shipping slip attached to the package of the resin product manufactured by the manufacturing device 30 and shipped. For example, the terminal device 10 acquires information on the shipping amount of the resin product together with the identification information of the resin product by reading a shipping slip attached to the package of the resin product to be shipped. As described above, the terminal device 10 includes a reading device such as an image sensor or a signal sensor, and the reading device may acquire information on the shipping amount and the identification information of the resin product from the shipping slip. Reading by the reading device may be performed automatically or in response to a user operation. The terminal device 10 transmits the acquired information on the shipping amount and the identification information of the resin product to the storage 190. The acquired information on the shipping amount is used by an authentication process in the blockchain network 20, which will be described later.

[0212] In step S406, the storage 190 identifies information including the shipping amount information and the identification information of the resin product as product-related amount data based on the information received from the terminal device 10. The storage 190 stores the received shipping amount information and the identification information of the resin product in association with each other. The storage 190 also stores the identification information of the recycled resin used in the manufacture of the resin product in association with the identification information of the resin product. The recycled resin used in the manufacture of the resin product may be identified by any method. For example, in the shipping process in step S405, a correspondence between the identification information of the resin product and the identification information of the recycled resin may be identified based on information acquired from a shipping slip, and the information on the correspondence may be transmitted to the storage 190.

[0213] In step S407, the storage 190 transmits information necessary for authentication of the resin product as product-related quantity data to the terminal device 10. The information necessary for authentication of the resin product includes, for example, information used to determine authentication conditions for whether or not to authenticate the resin product as a recycled product. The product-related quantity data transmitted in step S407 includes, for example, information on the amount of recycled resin used and the amount of resin product produced stored in the storage 190, and identification information of the resin product.

[0214] In step S408, the terminal device 10 generates authentication target data based on the product-related quantity data received from the storage 190. The authentication target data is data related to a resin product to be determined as a recycled product or not. The authentication target data includes, for example, identification information of the resin product and information for determining whether the authentication condition is satisfied (for example, information on the incoming amount, the usage amount, and the shipping amount).

[0215] In step S409, the terminal device 10 transmits the authentication target data generated in step S408 to the block chain network 20. The transmission is performed in response to, for example, a user operation of the terminal device 10.

[0216] In step S410, the block chain network 20 executes authentication processing based on the authentication target data. The authentication processing is executed by the node device 200 included in the block chain network 20. For example, the authentication processing is executed as follows.

[0217] Of the multiple node devices 200, the node device 200a acquires information (e.g., information on the amount of recycled resin received, the amount of recycled resin used, and the amount of resin products shipped) contained in the authentication target data received from the terminal device 10. The node device 200a executes authentication processing for the target resin product by determining whether the target resin product satisfies a predetermined authentication condition based on the acquired information. On the condition that the resin product is determined to satisfy the authentication condition, the node device 200a transmits data (target data) indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication condition to the other node devices 200 in order to share the data with the other node devices 200. In order to share the target data, the above-mentioned consensus formation processing is performed, but since it has already been explained, an explanation of the consensus formation processing will be omitted here.

[0218] In step S411, the block chain network 20 transmits the result of the authentication process in step S410 to the terminal device 10. The result of the authentication process includes information indicating whether or not the target resin product satisfies the authentication conditions.

[0219] In step S412, the terminal device 10 receives the result of the authentication process transmitted from the block chain network 20 (i.e., from the node device 200).

[0220] In step S413, the terminal device 10 outputs the received result of the authentication process. The output of the result of the authentication process includes, for example, outputting and displaying the result on the display device 111, or transmitting the result to an external device.

[0221] The result of the authentication process or data indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication conditions may be issued as a token, output as a hash value, or output as an image (badge) indicating that the resin product has been authenticated. The result of the authentication process or data indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication conditions may be printed out as an authentication mark or the like on a document related to the resin product, such as a delivery note, slip, or label of the resin product, so that the result of the authentication process can be understood. The result of the authentication process or data indicating that the resin product satisfies the authentication conditions may be electronically output to an RFID tag, email, code image (e.g., barcode), or the like so that the result of the authentication process can be understood.

[0222] According to the process shown in FIG. 15 as described above, the system including the terminal device 10 functions as an authentication application system. In detail, the terminal device 10 acquires information on the incoming amount of recycled resin (S401) and information on the usage amount of recycled resin (S408) as information on the inflow amount of recycled resin in the manufacturing entity of the resin product. The terminal device 10 acquires information on the shipping amount of resin products (S405) as information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resin in the manufacturing entity (business entity). The terminal device 10 acquires information on the manufacturing amount of resin products as information on the outflow amount of resin products using recycled resin in a manufacturing entity (e.g., manufacturing device 30) different from the manufacturing entity (S407). The terminal device 10 transmits authentication target data including the outflow amount and the inflow amount to the block chain network 20 (S409). The terminal device 10 receives an authentication result indicating whether or not the authentication condition based on the information on the outflow amount and the inflow amount is satisfied from the block chain network 20 (S412).

[0223] <Modification> The program for implementing the information processing system 1 or 2 in this embodiment, or the device included in the system, can be installed or loaded into a computer through various recording media such as optical disks, magnetic disks, and semiconductor memories, or by downloading via a communication network, etc.

[0224] In the present embodiment, the example in which the resin product is manufactured by one manufacturing device has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The information processing system 2 may include a plurality of manufacturing devices 30, and the resin product may be manufactured by the plurality of manufacturing devices 30.

[0225] With reference to Fig. 16, the inflow and outflow amounts when a resin product is manufactured by a plurality of manufacturing apparatuses 30 will be described. Fig. 16 shows an example of a manufacturing process in which raw materials X1, X2, Y1, Y2, and Z1 are input and a resin product Z is manufactured by manufacturing apparatuses 30a, 30b, and 30c.

[0226] At least a part of the raw materials X1, X2, Y1, Y2, and Z1 contains recycled resin. A part of the raw materials X1, X2, Y1, Y2, and Z1 may contain virgin resin or additives. In the example shown in FIG. 16, the amount of recycled resin input from the raw materials X1, X2, Y1, Y2, and Z1 input into the manufacturing equipment 30a, 30b, and 30c is the amount of recycled resin used for the production of the resin product Z. The amount of recycled resin used is calculated based on the amount of each raw material used and the content of recycled resin in each raw material. The amount of the resin product Z produced by the manufacturing equipment 30c is the amount of the resin product produced. That is, in this example, in the manufacturing process of the resin product, the total amount of recycled resin in the raw materials input into each manufacturing equipment is specified as the amount of recycled resin used, and the amount of the resin product finally produced is specified as the amount of production.

[0227] In the example shown in FIG. 16, raw materials X1 and X2 are fed into a manufacturing apparatus 30a to produce resin X'. Next, resin X' and raw materials Y1 and Y2 are fed into a manufacturing apparatus 30b to produce resin Y'. Next, resin Y' and raw material Z1 are fed into a manufacturing apparatus 30c to produce resin Z. In this example, raw materials X1 and X2 may be resins, raw materials Y1 and Y2 may be additives, and raw material Z1 may be a resin. In this case, a laminate may be produced in which raw material Z1, which is a resin, is laminated onto resin Y' obtained by adding raw materials Y1 and Y2 to resin X'.

[0228] In this embodiment, an example of authentication of recycled products in the case of manufacturing resin products by processing recycled resin, etc. has been described, but this is not limited to this, and the processing in this disclosure may also be applied to authentication of recycled products in the manufacture of chemical recycled products. For example, when 100% recycled naphtha, which is oil made from waste plastic materials in chemical recycling, is used, the recycle ratio is 100%, and when 10% recycled naphtha and 90% petroleum naphtha are used, the recycle ratio is 10%. Also, a monomer obtained by depolymerization from 100% recycled naphtha or 100% waste recycled materials is considered to be a monomer with a 100% recycle ratio. A resin polymerized from a monomer with a 100% recycle ratio is considered to be a recycled resin with a 100% recycle ratio. If the yield during polymerization is not 100%, for example, when the yield is 60-70%, the loss of 30-40% is treated as waste.

[0229] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be embodied in various other forms without departing from the scope of the present invention. The above-described embodiment is merely illustrative in all respects and should not be construed as being restrictive. [Explanation of symbols]

[0230] 1 Information processing system, 10 Terminal device, 20 Blockchain network, 200 Node device, N network

Claims

1. A method for determining whether or not a transaction of at least a resin product or a resin including a recycled resin is conducted in a supply chain in which a plurality of businesses participate, the method comprising: receiving shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by a first business operator, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin from the first business operator via a first terminal device capable of communicating with the computer system; receiving arrival information on the resin that has arrived at a second business from the second business via a second terminal device capable of communicating with the computer system; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; In a determination method comprising: Making a transaction determination, which is a determination regarding the legitimacy of the transaction, A transaction determination unit of the computer system Whether or not the identification information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the identification information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping destination information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping source information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping amount information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping amount information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping timing information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the arrival timing information of the resin received by the second business operator as the arrival information; and Depending on whether the receiving information indicates that the second business approves or does not approve the shipping information of the first business, performing a transaction determination to determine the legitimacy of the transaction; Judgment method.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction determination includes making a determination regarding the legitimacy of two transactions occurring in the supply chain related to the distribution of the resin: a transaction between the first business operator and a third business operator that directly receives the resin shipped by the first business operator, and a transaction between the first business operator and the second business operator that directly receives the resin shipped by the third business operator.

3. The computer system includes a blockchain network including a plurality of node devices, each of the plurality of node devices being: A control unit performs a consensus formation process in a blockchain for sharing the shipping information and the arrival information with other node devices; storing the shipping information and the arrival information agreed upon by the agreement formation process in a storage unit; The method of claim 1 or 2, comprising:

4. The computer system includes a blockchain network including a plurality of node devices, each of the plurality of node devices being: performing a consensus formation process in a blockchain by a control unit to share transaction legitimacy information indicating a result of the transaction determination with other node devices; storing the transaction legitimacy information agreed upon by the consensus building process in a storage unit; The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

5. A determination system including a processor for implementing a determination method related to transactions of at least resin products or resins including recycled resins in a supply chain in which a plurality of business operators participate, receiving shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by a first business operator, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin from the first business operator via a first terminal device capable of communicating with the determination system; receiving arrival information on the resin that has arrived at a second business operator from the second business operator via a second terminal device capable of communicating with the determination system; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; [0023] The present invention is configured to Making a transaction determination, which is a determination regarding the legitimacy of the transaction, The processor: Whether or not the identification information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the identification information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping destination information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping source information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping amount information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping amount information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping timing information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the arrival timing information of the resin received by the second business operator as the arrival information; and Depending on whether the receiving information indicates that the second business approves or does not approve the shipping information of the first business, performing a transaction determination to determine the legitimacy of the transaction. Including, Judging system.

6. In order to execute the method for determining whether or not a transaction of at least a resin product or a resin including a recycled resin is made in a supply chain in which a plurality of business operators participate, a computer is provided with: receiving shipping information including at least a part of identification information of the resin shipped by a first business operator, shipping destination information of the resin, shipping amount information of the resin, or shipping timing information of the resin from the first business operator via a first terminal device capable of communicating with the computer; receiving arrival information on the resin that has arrived at a second business from the second business via a second terminal device capable of communicating with the computer; making a transaction determination as to the legitimacy of the transaction based on the shipping information and the receiving information; A program for executing Making a transaction determination, which is a determination regarding the legitimacy of the transaction, The computer Whether or not the identification information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the identification information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping destination information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping source information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping amount information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the shipping amount information of the resin received by the second business operator as the receiving information, or Whether or not the shipping timing information of the resin shipped by the first business operator as the shipping information corresponds to the arrival timing information of the resin received by the second business operator as the arrival information; and Depending on whether the receiving information indicates that the second business approves or does not approve the shipping information of the first business, performing a transaction determination to determine the legitimacy of the transaction; program.

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