Management system, program, device, and method

Abstract

To provide a system which contributes to providing a highly transparent secondary market related to articles such as art objects.SOLUTION: A system includes a user terminal and a plurality of ledger nodes. The user terminal acquires an object fingerprint of an article, and biological information on an owner of the article. The plurality of ledger nodes provide electronic bulletin boards. The user terminal writes an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the article and the biological information on the owner into the electronic bulletin board. The system further includes a server device. The user terminal may transmit an article registration request including at least the object fingerprint of the article and the biological information on the owner to the server device. The server device may generate the ownership certificate on the basis of information included in the article registration request, write a first transaction including the generated ownership certificate into the electronic bulletin board, and transmit a first transaction ID corresponding to the first transaction to the user terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention is based on a claim of priority from Japanese Patent Application: Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-137442 (filed on August 25, 2021), and the entire description of the application is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention relates to a system, a method for controlling a user terminal, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Various technical developments related to the distribution and management of goods have been carried out.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 describes providing a system capable of efficiently managing various information related to a subject of a transaction. Further, Patent Document 2 describes determining the authenticity of an article and its owner without attaching or fixing information to the article itself.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In transactions of artworks, jewelry, etc., it is important to verify whether the owner of the artwork, etc. is a person worthy of the transaction, or whether the artwork itself is an item worthy of the transaction. However, there is no system, etc. that can easily perform these verifications. For example, even if the technologies disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 are applied, it is not possible to confirm the legitimacy (authenticity) of the owner and the article.

[0006] The main object of the present invention is to provide a system, a control method for a user terminal, and a program that contribute to providing a highly transparent distribution market for articles such as artworks.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system including a user terminal that acquires an object fingerprint of an article and biometric information of the owner of the article, and a plurality of ledger nodes that provide an electronic bulletin board, wherein the user terminal writes a certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to the electronic bulletin board.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method for a user terminal, which acquires an object fingerprint of an article and biometric information of the owner of the article in the user terminal, and writes a certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to an electronic bulletin board.

[0009] According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program that causes a computer mounted on a user terminal to execute a process of acquiring an object fingerprint of an article and biometric information of the owner of the article, and a process of writing a certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to an electronic bulletin board.

Advantages of the Invention

[0010] According to each aspect of the present invention, there are provided a system, a control method for a user terminal, and a program that contribute to providing a highly transparent distribution market for articles such as artworks. Note that the effects of the present invention are not limited to the above. Instead of or together with the above effects, other effects may be achieved by the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] First, an overview of one embodiment will be described. Note that the reference numerals in the drawings appended to this overview are for convenience of each element as an example to assist understanding, and the description of this overview is not intended to be limiting in any way. Also, unless otherwise specified, the blocks described in each drawing represent a configuration of functional units rather than a configuration of hardware units. The connection lines between the blocks in each figure include both bidirectional and unidirectional ones. Regarding the one-way arrow, it schematically shows the flow of the main signal (data) and does not exclude bidirectionality. In this specification and the drawings, for elements that can be similarly described, duplicate description may be omitted by assigning the same reference numerals.

[0013] The system according to one embodiment includes a user terminal 101 and a plurality of ledger nodes 102 (see FIG. 1). The user terminal 101 acquires the object fingerprint of an article and the biometric information of the owner of the article. The plurality of ledger nodes 102 provide an electronic bulletin board. The user terminal 101 writes a certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to the electronic bulletin board.

[0014] In the above system, the biometric information of the owner who owns the art object and the object fingerprint of the art object are written to an electronic bulletin board (for example, an electronic bulletin board configured by a blockchain that cannot be forged). The biometric information is publicly available to everyone. A user participating in the transaction of an art object acquires the biometric information from the transaction partner in front of him / her and can confirm the legitimacy (authenticity) of the transaction partner by biometric authentication using the biometric information publicly available on the electronic bulletin board. Similarly, the user can acquire the object fingerprint from the art object in front of him / her and confirm the legitimacy (authenticity) regarding the art object to be transacted by object authentication using the object fingerprint publicly available on the electronic bulletin board. By such verification, it is guaranteed that the correct person owns the correct art object, and a highly transparent circulation market for articles such as art objects is provided.

[0015] Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0016] [First Embodiment] The first embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0017] [Configuration of the System] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of an art management system according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the art management system includes a server device 10 and a data management system 20.

[0018] The server device 10 is a device that realizes the main functions of the art management system. For example, the server device 10 has a function of publicly disclosing the rights relationship of artworks. Specifically, the server device 10 discloses (makes public to everyone) the owner of the artwork or discloses the transfer of ownership of the artwork.

[0019] The server device 10 may be installed in a building such as an operating company of the art management system or may be installed in a network (cloud).

[0020] The data management system 20 is a system operated by an organization or the like that is independent of the operator of the art management system and the users of the system. The data management system 20 is a system that provides an electronic bulletin board (bulletin board based on an electronic distributed ledger) that can be appended to and read by external parties (third parties).

[0021] More specifically, the data management system 20 provides an electronic bulletin board that allows any entity to append information, read the written information, and once the information is written, it cannot be deleted or tampered with. The data management system 20 provides an electronic bulletin board with the above characteristics by means of so-called blockchain technology.

[0022] The data management system 20 has at least two ledger nodes 21. The plurality of ledger nodes 21 provide the above electronic bulletin board. Each ledger node 21 holds a blockchain in which blocks for which an agreement has been formed among the ledger nodes 21 are linked. Each block includes a header and a body including at least one transaction. In the electronic bulletin board (bulletin board by electronic distributed ledger) provided by the data management system 20, hash calculation is performed on consecutive blocks, making it virtually impossible to falsify data (transactions).

[0023] As an identifier of the transaction included in each block, the hash value of the transaction is used. This identifier may be referred to as a transaction ID (TXID). The transaction ID is used when referring to past transactions recorded on the electronic bulletin board.

[0024] The owner of an item or the like discloses the rights relationship of an artwork or the like using the electronic bulletin board provided by the data management system 20. Since existing technologies can be applied to realize an electronic bulletin board using a blockchain, a more detailed description is omitted. Also, the electronic bulletin board in the present disclosure may be realized using a technology different from that of the blockchain. In the present disclosure, any electronic bulletin board can be used as long as it is accessible to anyone and it is virtually impossible to falsify data.

[0025] [Operation Outline] Subsequently, the operation outline of the artwork management system according to the first embodiment will be described.

[0026] The author who created the artwork or the owner who owns the artwork manages the artwork using the user terminal 30. The "artwork management application" is installed on the user terminal 30. The user manages the above artwork using the artwork management application.

[0027] When the art management application is launched, the user terminal 30 displays a menu screen as shown in FIG. 3. The user selects the items displayed on the menu screen to perform user registration with the art management system, manage the artworks they own, and so on.

[0028] Users who participate in the art management system need to register with the system. Specifically, the user presses the "User Registration" button shown in FIG. 3 and registers the information necessary to use the art management system with the server device 10.

[0029] The user operates the user terminal 30 to input their biometric information, personal information, identity verification documents, etc. into the server device 10. The user terminal 30 sends a user registration request including the user's biometric information, personal information (name, address, date of birth, email address, account information of encrypted assets, etc.), and identity verification documents (for example, a passport with biometric information) to the server device 10 (see FIG. 4).

[0030] The server device 10 verifies the identity (identity verification) of the user who wishes to register using the acquired biometric information and the biometric information described in the identity verification documents. Specifically, the server device 10 performs one-to-one authentication using the biometric information and the biometric information described in the identity verification documents, and determines that the identity verification is successful when the authentication is successful.

[0031] When the identity verification is successful, the server device 10 generates an ID for identifying the user (hereinafter referred to as the user ID). The server device 10 registers the user ID, biometric information, email address, encrypted asset account, etc. in the user information database in association with each other. The details of the user information database will be described later.

[0032] The server device 10 issues the generated user ID to the user (user terminal 30). The user terminal 30 stores the user ID internally.

[0033] Users who have completed user registration register the artworks they own or created in the system. Specifically, the owner (creator) of the artwork publicly announces the fact that they own the artwork via an electronic bulletin board. In this case, the owner operates the user terminal 30 and selects "Artwork Registration" on the menu screen shown in Fig. 3.

[0034] When registering an artwork, the user terminal 30 sends an "Artwork Registration Request" to the server device 10 (step S01 in Fig. 5).

[0035] Here, when registering an artwork, the user terminal 30 acquires the user's biometric information and the object fingerprint of the artwork.

[0036] Examples of the user's biometric information include data (feature quantities) calculated from personal physical characteristics unique to an individual, such as the face, fingerprint, voiceprint, vein, retina, and pattern of the iris of the pupil. Alternatively, the biometric information may be image data such as a face image or fingerprint image. The biometric information only needs to include the user's physical characteristics as information.

[0037] In the present disclosure, the case of using biometric information (face image or feature quantity generated from the face image) regarding a person's "face" will be described. The user terminal 30 photographs the user and acquires a face image. The user terminal 30 generates a feature quantity from the acquired face image.

[0038] Biometric information is unique to each individual and can be said to be information that does not change throughout a person's life. Therefore, biometric information functions as an ID (owner ID) that can uniquely identify the owner of the artwork, etc.

[0039] The user terminal 30 acquires the object fingerprint of the artwork. For example, the user terminal 30 photographs a predetermined location of the artwork to acquire the object fingerprint. For example, in the example of Fig. 5, the user terminal 30 images the upper left region (the region surrounded by the dotted line; object fingerprint acquisition region) of painting A1 and generates an object fingerprint from the obtained image data.

[0040] Note that the object fingerprint is a unique pattern (graphic pattern, pattern pattern) for each work of art. More specifically, the object fingerprint is not the design of the work of art, etc., but rather uneven coloring, unevenness, or minute scratches unique to each individual work of art. As described above, since the object fingerprint is unique information for each work of art, the object fingerprints obtained from the same work of art match (substantially match). That is, the object fingerprint functions as an artwork ID that can uniquely identify the work of art.

[0041] Also, since the object fingerprint functions as an ID that can uniquely identify the work of art, it is desirable for it to be unchanged for a long period of time (ideally permanently). Therefore, it is desirable for the user to obtain the object fingerprint from a location where the object fingerprint does not easily change. For example, it is preferable to obtain the object fingerprint from the back or bottom of a sculpture, or from a metal plate attached to a painting.

[0042] The object fingerprint is obtained by photographing an enlarged image under appropriate lighting conditions. For example, the user connects the user terminal 30 to a microscope with a camera (not shown) to obtain the object fingerprint. Regarding the acquisition of the object fingerprint, existing technologies can be used, so a more detailed explanation is omitted.

[0043] In this way, the user terminal 30 acquires the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner of the article. Then, the user terminal 30 directly or indirectly writes a "certificate of ownership" including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner on an electronic bulletin board. In the first embodiment, an explanation will be given of the user terminal 30 writing the certificate of ownership on the electronic bulletin board via the server device 10.

[0044] More specifically, first, the user terminal 30 transmits an "artwork registration request" including the biometric information of the user (owner of the artwork) and the object fingerprint of the artwork to the server device 10.

[0045] In response to the request, the server device 10 generates a certificate of ownership that publicly indicates that the user owns the artwork. Specifically, the server device 10 generates the certificate of ownership using the biometric information and object fingerprint included in the artwork registration request.

[0046] The server device 10 generates a transaction including the generated certificate of ownership, and writes the generated transaction to the electronic bulletin board (step S02 in FIG. 5). When the transaction is normally processed, the server device 10 pays out the transaction ID of the transaction (the transaction including the certificate of ownership) to the user terminal 30 of the user (step S03).

[0047] The user terminal 30 stores the acquired transaction ID. The user terminal 30 manages the paid-out transaction ID as the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership.

[0048] In this way, the server device 10 generates a certificate of ownership based on the information included in the artwork registration request, and writes the transaction including the generated certificate of ownership to the electronic bulletin board. Furthermore, the server device 10 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the transaction to the user terminal 30.

[0049] The user terminal 30 manages the artworks registered in the artwork management system and the transaction IDs acquired from the server device 10 using the artwork management database. Details of the artwork management database will be described later.

[0050] The user can confirm the transaction ID and the like paid out from the server device 10 by pressing the "Artwork Confirmation" button on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3. For example, in response to the pressing of the button, the user terminal 30 displays a list of a photo of the artwork, the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership of the artwork, and the like (see FIG. 6).

[0051] As described above, the information written on the electronic bulletin board is accessible to everyone. In the following description, a person who views the information (e.g., the certificate of ownership) posted on the electronic bulletin board is referred to as a "viewer". Also, the terminal used by the viewer is denoted as the viewer terminal 31. The viewer terminal 31 can read the certificate of ownership from the electronic bulletin board using the transaction ID.

[0052] Here, regarding the transaction of artworks, it is normal for the parties to the transaction (users considering purchasing artworks) to verify whether the counterparty and the artworks held by the counterparty are legitimate. That is, the purchaser considering the purchase verifies the counterparty and the legitimacy (authenticity) of the artworks. In this case, the purchaser considering the purchase receives a notification of the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership of the artwork that is the subject of the transaction from the counterparty (see Fig. 7).

[0053] The purchaser considering the purchase (viewer) operates the viewer terminal 31 and transmits the notified transaction ID to the electronic bulletin board. The viewer terminal 31 acquires the certificate of ownership corresponding to the transaction ID.

[0054] The purchaser considering the purchase operates the viewer terminal 31 to verify the legitimacy of the counterparty and the legitimacy of the artwork.

[0055] Specifically, the purchaser considering the purchase operates the viewer terminal 31 to acquire the biometric information of the counterparty, such as by photographing the counterparty. The viewer terminal 31 performs biometric authentication (one-to-one authentication) using the acquired biometric information and the biometric information included in the certificate of ownership.

[0056] If the authentication is successful, the purchaser considering the purchase determines that the counterparty in front of him / her is the legitimate owner of the artwork. In other words, if the authentication fails, the purchaser considering the purchase may determine that the counterparty may be a thief who stole the artwork and can reject the transaction.

[0057] Also, the purchaser candidate operates the viewer terminal 31 to obtain the object fingerprint of the artwork to be traded. The viewer terminal 31 performs object authentication using the obtained object fingerprint and the object fingerprint included in the certificate of ownership.

[0058] If the object authentication is successful, the purchaser candidate determines that the artwork to be traded is the same as the artwork with the registered ownership. On the contrary, if the object authentication fails, the purchaser candidate determines that the artwork to be traded is different from the artwork with the registered ownership and can reject the transaction.

[0059] In this way, the viewer terminal 31 performs object authentication using the object fingerprint obtained from the article to be verified and the object fingerprint described in the certificate of ownership. Also, the viewer terminal 31 performs biometric authentication using the biometric information obtained from the person to be verified and the biometric information described in the certificate of ownership. The viewer (viewer terminal 31) determines that the article and person to be verified are legitimate when the object authentication and biometric authentication are successful.

[0060] When the purchaser candidate succeeds in biometric authentication and object authentication, the purchaser candidate starts full-fledged price negotiation and the like. Note that the transfer registration of ownership when the transaction (sale and purchase) is concluded and the transfer of ownership occurs will be described later.

[0061] Subsequently, details of each device included in the artwork management system according to the first embodiment will be described.

[0062] [User Terminal] Examples of the user terminal 30 include mobile terminal devices such as smartphones, mobile phones, game machines, and tablets, and computers (personal computers, notebook computers).

[0063] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing module) of the user terminal 30 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 8, the user terminal 30 includes a communication control unit 201, a user registration request unit 202, an artwork registration unit 203, an artwork information providing unit 204, and a storage unit 205.

[0064] The communication control unit 201 is a means (communication unit) for controlling communication with other devices. For example, the communication control unit 201 receives data (packets) from the server device 10. Also, the communication control unit 201 transmits data to the server device 10. The communication control unit 201 delivers the data received from other devices to other processing modules. The communication control unit 201 transmits the data acquired from other processing modules to other devices. In this way, other processing modules perform data transmission and reception with other devices via the communication control unit 201. The communication control unit 201 has a function as a receiving unit for receiving data from other devices and a function as a transmitting unit for transmitting data to other devices.

[0065] The user registration request unit 202 is a means for requesting the above-mentioned user registration (system registration, membership registration) to the server device 10. For example, when the "User Registration" button on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, the user registration request unit 202 acquires the user's biometric information, personal information (e.g., name, date of birth, address, contact information, account information), identity verification documents, etc.

[0066] For example, the user registration request unit 202 acquires the above-mentioned biometric information, etc. using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) as shown in FIG. 9. The user registration request unit 202 transmits a user registration request including the biometric information, personal information, and identity verification documents, etc. acquired using the GUI to the server device 10.

[0067] The user registration request unit 202 acquires a response (positive response, negative response) to the user registration request from the server device 10. When a negative response is received, the user registration request unit 202 notifies the user that the user registration has failed. When a positive response is received, the user registration request unit 202 notifies the user that the user registration has succeeded and stores the user ID notified from the server device 10 in the storage unit 205.

[0068] The art registration department 203 is a means for performing initial registration of artworks. When the "Artwork Registration" button on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, for example, the art registration department 203 acquires at least the biometric information (e.g., face image) of the user and the object fingerprint of the artwork to be registered.

[0069] For example, the art registration department 203 acquires image data including the user's face image and image data including the object fingerprint of the artwork using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) as shown in FIG. 10.

[0070] Alternatively, the art registration department 203 may photograph the user (so-called self-photography) to acquire the biometric information of the user. Similarly, the art registration department 203 may photograph a predetermined area (object fingerprint acquisition area) of the artwork with a camera for acquiring the object fingerprint to acquire the object fingerprint.

[0071] Note that the biometric information (e.g., face image) at the time of artwork registration may be the same as or different from the biometric information at the time of user registration. However, when a long time has passed since user registration, it is preferable to use the latest biometric information at the time of artwork registration.

[0072] After acquiring the biometric information and the object fingerprint, the art registration department 203 transmits an artwork registration request including at least the biometric information and the object fingerprint to the server device 10.

[0073] Note that the art registration department 203 may transmit an artwork registration request including other information regarding the owner and the artwork in addition to the biometric information and the object fingerprint to the server device 10. For example, the art registration department 203 may transmit an artwork registration request including the name of the owner, a rough address (e.g., the name of the city, town, or village of residence), contact information (email address), the name of the artwork, the name of the author, and the production year, etc. to the server device 10.

[0074] The Artwork Registration Department 203 receives a response to an artwork registration request from the server device 10. When receiving a negative response indicating that the registration of the artwork has failed, the Artwork Registration Department 203 notifies the user to that effect. When receiving an affirmative response indicating that the registration of the artwork has succeeded, the Artwork Registration Department 203 registers the transaction ID included in the response in the artwork management database.

[0075] More specifically, the Artwork Registration Department 203 registers, in the artwork management database, the transaction ID obtained in the response to the artwork registration request as the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership.

[0076] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the artwork management database. As shown in FIG. 11, the artwork management database includes a work name field, an image data field, an object fingerprint field, a document name field, and a transaction ID (TXID) field. Note that the artwork management database shown in FIG. 11 is an example and is not intended to limit the items to be stored. For example, the appraised value of each artwork may be registered in the artwork management database. Alternatively, the object fingerprint may not be registered in the artwork management database.

[0077] The Artwork Registration Department 203 sets "certificate of ownership" in the document name field of the registered artwork and sets the transaction ID obtained from the server device 10 in the transaction ID field.

[0078] Note that the description regarding the generation of entries to be added to the artwork management database is omitted. When the user terminal 30 acquires the work name and image data of the artwork to be managed, a new entry may be added to the artwork management database. Alternatively, when registering the artwork in the system, the Artwork Registration Department 203 may acquire the work name, image data, and object fingerprint of the artwork and add a new entry to the artwork management database.

[0079] The Artwork Information Provision Unit 204 is a means for providing users with information on artworks managed by the artwork management system. When, for example, the "Artwork Confirmation" button on the menu screen shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, the Artwork Information Provision Unit 204 displays the information registered in the artwork management database.

[0080] For example, the Artwork Information Provision Unit 204 performs a display as shown in FIG. 6 in response to a user's operation. As shown in FIG. 6, the user terminal 30 displays information related to the artwork (e.g., the name of the work, the author, etc.) and the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership.

[0081] By checking this display, the user can know the various documents of the artworks they own and the corresponding transaction IDs.

[0082] The storage unit 205 is a means for storing information necessary for the operation of the user terminal 30. An artwork management database is constructed in the storage unit 205.

[0083] [Server device] FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing modules) of the server device 10 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 12, the server device 10 includes a communication control unit 301, a user registration unit 302, a certificate control unit 303, and a storage unit 304.

[0084] The communication control unit 301 is a means (communication unit) for controlling communication with other devices. For example, the communication control unit 301 receives data (packets) from the user terminal 30. Also, the communication control unit 301 transmits data to the user terminal 30. The communication control unit 301 delivers the data received from other devices to other processing modules. The communication control unit 301 transmits the data acquired from other processing modules to other devices. In this way, other processing modules perform data transmission and reception with other devices via the communication control unit 301. The communication control unit 301 has a function as a receiving unit for receiving data from other devices and a function as a transmitting unit for transmitting data to other devices.

[0085] The user registration unit 302 is a means for realizing user registration. The user registration unit 302 receives a user registration request from the user terminal 30. The user registration unit 302 verifies the identity of the user using the biometric information and identity verification documents included in the user registration request.

[0086] The user registration unit 302 generates feature quantities from the biometric information (face image) included in the user registration request. Since existing technologies can be used for the generation process of feature quantities, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted. For example, the user registration unit 302 extracts eyes, nose, mouth, etc. as feature points from the face image. Thereafter, the user registration unit 302 calculates the positions of each feature point and the distances between each feature point as feature quantities, and generates a feature vector (vector information characterizing the face image) composed of a plurality of feature quantities.

[0087] Similarly, the user registration unit 302 generates feature quantities from the face image described in the identity verification documents. Thereafter, the user registration unit 302 performs biometric authentication (one-to-one authentication) using the above two biometric information (feature quantities).

[0088] The user registration unit 302 calculates the similarity between each of the two feature quantities. For the similarity, the chi-square distance, Euclidean distance, etc. can be used. Note that the greater the distance, the lower the similarity, and the closer the distance, the higher the similarity.

[0089] If the calculated similarity is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, the user registration unit 302 determines that the biometric authentication has succeeded. On the contrary, if the calculated similarity is less than the predetermined threshold value, the user registration unit 302 determines that the biometric authentication has failed. If the biometric authentication succeeds, the user registration unit 302 determines that the identity verification has succeeded.

[0090] If the identity verification fails, the user registration unit 302 transmits a negative response indicating that the user registration has failed to the user terminal 30.

[0091] When the personal confirmation is successful, the user registration unit 302 generates a user ID for identifying the user. Also, the user registration unit 302 transmits an affirmative response indicating the successful user registration to the user terminal 30. At that time, the user registration unit 302 transmits an affirmative response including the generated user ID to the user terminal 30.

[0092] The user registration unit 302 associates the generated user ID, the user's biometric information, and personal information (e.g., name, email address, cryptocurrency account, etc.) and stores them in the user information database (see FIG. 13). In this way, the user information database is a database that stores the user ID, biometric information, personal information, etc. of each of a plurality of users for whom the personal confirmation has been completed.

[0093] Note that the user information database shown in FIG. 13 is an example and is not intended to limit the items to be stored. For example, the user's address or information for identifying the identity verification document (e.g., passport number, etc.) may be stored in the user information database.

[0094] The certificate control unit 303 is a means for controlling various certificates, right documents, etc. publicized by the art management system. For example, the certificate control unit 303 processes an art registration request received from the user terminal 30.

[0095] When receiving an art registration request, the certificate control unit 303 authenticates the user who made the request. Specifically, the certificate control unit 303 confirms that the art registration request is from a user for whom the user registration has been completed. By verifying that the applicant for the art registration is registered as a user, the certificate control unit 303 can prevent others from registering art by impersonation or thieves from registering art.

[0096] The certificate control unit 303 performs biometric authentication (1-to-N authentication; N is a positive integer, the same hereinafter) using the feature amount generated from the face image included in the fine art registration request and the feature amount registered in the user information database. Alternatively, when the certificate control unit 303 supports authentication using the login ID, the certificate control unit 303 may perform 1-to-1 authentication using the registered biometric information associated with the login ID. That is, the certificate control unit 303 may support multi-factor authentication.

[0097] When the biometric authentication fails, the certificate control unit 303 interrupts the processing of the fine art registration request and transmits a negative response indicating that the request has not been processed normally to the user terminal 30. When the biometric authentication succeeds, the certificate control unit 303 proceeds with the processing of the fine art registration request. In this way, when the authentication using the biometric information included in the fine art registration request and the biometric information stored in the user information database is successful, the certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate (starts generating the ownership certificate).

[0098] The certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate using the information included in the fine art registration request.

[0099] The certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate as shown in, for example, FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 14, the certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the fine art and the biometric information (feature amount) of the owner. Note that the ownership certificate shown in FIG. 14 is an example and is not intended to limit the ownership certificate generated by the certificate control unit 303. The ownership certificate only needs to include at least the object fingerprint of the fine art to be the subject of the ownership certificate and the biometric information of the owner.

[0100] The certificate control unit 303 calculates the hash value of the generated ownership certificate and generates a transaction (a transaction including the ownership certificate) using the calculated hash value as the transaction ID.

[0101] The certificate control unit 303 transmits the generated transaction to the data management system 20. When the transaction is approved by each ledger node 21 of the data management system 20 and written to the electronic bulletin board, the certificate control unit 303 transmits the generated transaction ID to the user terminal 30.

[0102] More specifically, the certificate control unit 303 transmits an affirmative response including the transaction ID to the user terminal 30. In addition, when the transaction cannot be written to the electronic bulletin board normally, or when the fine art registration request cannot be processed normally, such as when the transaction fails to be written to the electronic bulletin board, the certificate control unit 303 transmits a negative response indicating that to the user terminal 30.

[0103] The storage unit 304 is a means for storing information necessary for the operation of the server device 10. A user information database is constructed in the storage unit 304.

[0104] [Viewer Terminal] Examples of the viewer terminal 31 include portable terminal devices such as smartphones, mobile phones, game machines, tablets, and computers (personal computers, notebook computers).

[0105] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing modules) of the viewer terminal 31 according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 15, the viewer terminal 31 includes a communication control unit 401, a certificate verification unit 402, and a storage unit 403.

[0106] The communication control unit 401 is a means (communication unit) for controlling communication with other devices. For example, the communication control unit 401 receives data (packets) from the data management system 20. Also, the communication control unit 401 transmits data to the data management system 20. The communication control unit 401 delivers the data received from other devices to other processing modules. The communication control unit 401 transmits the data acquired from other processing modules to other devices. In this way, other processing modules perform data transmission and reception with other devices via the communication control unit 401. The communication control unit 401 has a function as a receiving unit for receiving data from other devices and a function as a transmitting unit for transmitting data to other devices.

[0107] The certificate verification unit 402 is a means for verifying various certificates regarding artworks. For example, the certificate verification unit 402 performs a verification operation regarding the ownership certificate in response to a predetermined operation by a viewer (e.g., an operation from a menu screen or the like).

[0108] While referring to FIG. 16, the operation of the certificate verification unit 402 will be described. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the certificate verification unit 402 according to the first embodiment.

[0109] The certificate verification unit 402 acquires a transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate to be verified by any means (step S101). For example, the certificate verification unit 402 may acquire the transaction ID by the viewer inputting the transaction ID presented by the owner of the artwork into the viewer terminal 31.

[0110] Alternatively, the certificate verification unit 402 may acquire the transaction ID via an email transmitted from the user terminal 30, or may acquire the transaction ID from a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory in which the transaction ID is stored.

[0111] When the transaction ID is obtained, the certificate verification unit 402 transmits the transaction ID to the data management system 20 (electronic bulletin board) and obtains the corresponding ownership certificate (step S102).

[0112] When the ownership certificate is obtained, the certificate verification unit 402 verifies the ownership certificate. Specifically, the certificate verification unit 402 obtains the biometric information (face image) of the owner who owns the artwork to be verified (step S103). For example, the certificate verification unit 402 takes a picture of the owner and obtains a face image according to the viewer's operation.

[0113] The certificate verification unit 402 performs biometric authentication using the obtained biometric information and the biometric information included in the ownership certificate (step S104).

[0114] When the biometric authentication fails (step S105, No branch), the certificate verification unit 402 notifies the viewer that the verification of the ownership certificate has failed (step S106).

[0115] When the biometric authentication is successful (step S105, Yes branch), the certificate verification unit 402 obtains an object fingerprint from the artwork to be verified (step S107). For example, the certificate verification unit 402 takes a picture of a predetermined area of the artwork and obtains an object fingerprint according to the viewer's operation.

[0116] The certificate verification unit 402 performs object authentication using the object fingerprint obtained from the artwork in front of it and the object fingerprint included in the ownership certificate. Note that since existing technologies can be applied to the object authentication by the certificate verification unit 402, detailed descriptions are omitted. However, the certificate verification unit 402 generally performs object authentication through the following processes.

[0117] The certificate verification unit 402 performs verification of the object fingerprint (image of the artwork) using an image matching method that uses local feature amounts and an algorithm that verifies the consistency of the geometric arrangement of feature points. First, the certificate verification unit 402 extracts, as feature points, locations in the object fingerprint image where the change in luminance is steep and the location is stably obtained. After that, the certificate verification unit 402 converts the local luminance pattern around the feature points into data as feature amounts. Further, the certificate verification unit 402 calculates, as pairs, the feature points with the smallest difference in feature amounts from both images to be matched. Finally, the certificate verification unit 402 verifies the geometric consistency of the overall arrangement of the feature points. The certificate verification unit 402 extracts a group of pairs whose relative positional relationship with other feature points does not conflict from the obtained group of pairs. The certificate verification unit 402 calculates the matching score of both images using the total number of feature points extracted from the two images to be matched and the number of feature point pairs with a correct geometric arrangement. If the matching score is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, the certificate verification unit 402 determines that the object authentication has succeeded. If the matching score is less than the predetermined threshold value, the certificate verification unit 402 determines that the object authentication has failed.

[0118] When the object authentication fails (No branch in step S109), the certificate verification unit 402 notifies the viewer that the verification of the ownership certificate has failed (step S106).

[0119] When the object authentication succeeds (Yes branch in step S109), the certificate verification unit 402 notifies the viewer that the verification of the ownership certificate has succeeded (step S110).

[0120] The storage unit 403 is a means for storing information necessary for the operation of the viewer terminal 31.

[0121] [Data Management System and Ledger Node] Detailed description of the data management system 20 and the ledger node 21 is omitted. The ledger node 21 can be realized by an existing technology for realizing cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and is obvious to those skilled in the art.

[0122] [Operation of the System] Next, the operation of the art management system according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the art management system according to the first embodiment. With reference to FIG. 17, the system operation regarding the registration of the certificate of title will be described.

[0123] The user terminal 30 transmits an art registration request including the object fingerprint of the art to be registered in the system and the biometric information of the owner to the server device 10 (step S11).

[0124] The server device 10 authenticates the applicant who applies for the registration of the art (step S12).

[0125] When the authentication is successful, the server device 10 generates a certificate of title using the biometric information and object fingerprint included in the art registration request (step S13).

[0126] The server device 10 generates a transaction including the generated certificate of title, and transmits the generated transaction to the electronic bulletin board (data management system 20) (step S14).

[0127] The electronic bulletin board stores the received transaction (step S15).

[0128] When the transaction is normally processed, the server device 10 transmits the transaction ID of the transaction corresponding to the certificate of title to the user terminal 30 (step S16).

[0129] The user terminal 30 stores the acquired transaction ID as the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of title (step S17).

[0130] Next, with reference to FIG. 18, the system operation regarding the viewing of the certificate of title will be described. FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the art management system according to the first embodiment.

[0131] The viewer terminal 31 transmits a transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate to be viewed to the electronic bulletin board (step S21).

[0132] The electronic bulletin board (data management system 20) identifies the transaction corresponding to the transaction ID and transmits the ownership certificate to the viewer terminal 31 (step S22).

[0133] The viewer terminal 31 performs biometric authentication using the biometric information of the owner of the artwork and the biometric information included in the ownership certificate (step S23).

[0134] The viewer terminal 31 performs object authentication using the object fingerprint of the artwork and the object fingerprint included in the ownership certificate (step S24).

[0135] The viewer terminal 31 notifies the viewer of the verification result (step S25). If both authentications are successful, the viewer terminal 31 notifies the user that the verification of the ownership certificate has been successful. If at least one of the two authentications fails, the viewer terminal 31 notifies the user that the verification of the ownership certificate has failed.

[0136] As described above, in the artwork management system according to the first embodiment, an ownership certificate consisting of the object fingerprint (artwork ID) of the artwork and the biometric information of the owner (owner ID) is written on the electronic bulletin board. Since the electronic bulletin board can be accessed by anyone, the owner of the artwork can publicly disclose the fact that they own the artwork. In addition, a third party such as a person considering purchasing the artwork can easily identify the transaction target using the object fingerprint and biometric information, and can verify its legitimacy. That is, the ownership of the artwork is registered on the electronic bulletin board (blockchain), and the registered ownership (ownership certificate) cannot be forged, so a person considering purchasing the artwork can know the correct history and background of the artwork.

[0137] [Second Embodiment] Subsequently, the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0138] In the second embodiment, it is explained that a work record including the details of the work performed on the artwork by a person other than the owner of the artwork is written on the electronic bulletin board.

[0139] The user terminal 30 according to the second embodiment acquires the work record from a person other than the owner of the item. The user terminal 30 directly or indirectly writes a "work certificate" including at least the biometric information of the owner of the artwork, the object fingerprint of the artwork, and the above work record on the electronic bulletin board.

[0140] More specifically, in the second embodiment, registering a certificate of appraisal and restoration of an artwork on the electronic bulletin board will be explained. When an appraisal of an artwork is performed, the result (details) of the appraisal work is proven by the work certificate. Similarly, when restoration of an artwork is performed, the result (details) of the restoration work is proven by the work certificate.

[0141] Hereinafter, the differences between the first embodiment and the second embodiment will be mainly explained.

[0142] FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing modules) of the user terminal 30 according to the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 19, an appraisal certificate registration unit 206 and a restoration certificate registration unit 207 are added to the configuration of the user terminal 30 according to the first embodiment.

[0143] [Appraisal of Artwork] The user requests an appraiser (assessor) to appraise the artwork in order to determine the authenticity and value of the owned artwork (see FIG. 20). As shown in FIG. 20, the appraiser uses the appraiser terminal 32. Since the basic operations of the appraiser terminal 32 can be the same as those of the viewer terminal 31 described in the first embodiment, detailed description will be omitted.

[0144] The user who wishes to have an appraisal brings the artwork to an appraiser or an appraisal institution and requests an appraisal. By performing an appraisal of the artwork, the user proves that the artwork is an original, and increases or confirms the value of the artwork.

[0145] Note that the appraisal of artworks is carried out at any timing. In other words, the appraisal may be carried out when the artwork is registered in the system, or the appraisal may be carried out after the artwork is registered in the system. That is, at the time of initial registration of the artwork, the authenticity of the artwork is not a problem. If the creator (author) of the artwork registers the artwork, there is no doubt that the genuine work has been registered in the system. Also, when an existing artwork is registered in the system, the appraisal may be carried out as necessary during the transaction.

[0146] The user submits a certificate of ownership of the artwork for which the appraisal is requested to the appraiser. Specifically, the user tells the appraiser the transaction ID corresponding to the artwork. The user may tell the appraiser the transaction ID orally, or submit a document on which the transaction ID is printed to the appraiser. Alternatively, the user may operate the user terminal 30 to send the transaction ID to the appraiser by e-mail, or submit a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or the like in which the transaction ID is stored to the appraiser.

[0147] The appraiser operates the appraiser terminal 32 to send the acquired transaction ID to the electronic bulletin board (data management system 20) (step S31 in FIG. 20). The appraiser acquires a certificate of ownership corresponding to the transaction ID from the electronic bulletin board (step S32).

[0148] The appraiser operates the appraiser terminal 32 to verify the legitimacy of the requester and the legitimacy of the artwork for which the appraisal is requested.

[0149] Specifically, the appraiser operates the appraiser terminal 32 to acquire biometric information (for example, a face image) of the requester. The appraiser terminal 32 performs biometric authentication using the acquired biometric information and the biometric information included in the certificate of ownership. If the authentication is successful, the appraiser determines that the appraisal request is made by a legitimate owner. In other words, if the authentication fails, the appraiser can reject the appraisal request.

[0150] Also, the appraiser operates the appraiser terminal 32 to obtain the object fingerprint of the commissioned artwork. The appraiser terminal 32 performs object authentication using the obtained object fingerprint and the object fingerprint included in the certificate of ownership.

[0151] If the object authentication is successful, the appraiser determines that the artwork for which the appraisal is requested is the same as the artwork for which the ownership is registered. On the other hand, if the object authentication fails, the appraiser determines that the artwork for which the appraisal is requested is different from the artwork for which the ownership is registered. In this way, by performing object authentication on the artwork for which the appraisal is requested, the appraiser can target for appraisal the artwork whose ownership has been correctly disclosed. In other words, by performing object authentication, the appraiser can reject an appraisal request for an artwork whose ownership has not been properly registered (for example, a stolen item).

[0152] The appraiser accepts the appraisal request from the requester when both the biometric authentication and the object authentication are successful. If either the biometric authentication or the object authentication fails, the appraiser rejects the appraisal request from the requester.

[0153] In this way, the appraiser terminal 32 obtains the certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the artwork and the biometric information of the owner. The appraiser terminal 32 performs object authentication using the object fingerprint obtained from the item to be appraised and the object fingerprint described in the certificate of ownership. Further, the appraiser terminal 32 performs biometric authentication using the biometric information obtained from the appraiser requester and the biometric information described in the certificate of ownership. The appraiser (appraiser terminal 32) determines that the artwork to be verified and the requester are legitimate when both the object authentication and the biometric authentication are successful.

[0154] When accepting an appraisal request from a requester, the appraiser determines the authenticity of the artwork through scientific analysis of the artwork's materials, characteristics of the work, paints used, etc. If the appraiser determines that the artwork to be appraised is genuine, the appraiser issues a certificate of appraisal (electronic certificate of appraisal; digital certificate of appraisal) proving that the artwork is genuine.

[0155] The appraisal report contains the appraisal results. Specifically, it includes the name of the artwork, the author (creator), size (dimensions), age, authenticity of the item being appraised, characteristics, appraisal date, information for identifying the appraiser (e.g., name (signature or seal), biometric information), etc. Alternatively, the appraisal report may be a text containing an appraisal amount such as "The artwork with object fingerprint OF01 is, as a result of the appraisal, a work by painter B1 in year Y1, and is assumed to have an appraisal value of 200 million yen at the current time." In addition to or in place of the information for identifying the appraiser, information for identifying the institution to which the appraiser belongs (e.g., association name) may also be described in the appraisal report.

[0156] The appraiser attaches an electronic signature to an electronic file containing the above information to create an appraisal report. The public key certificate (electronic certificate) corresponding to the private key used to generate the electronic signature is issued by an institution or organization that guarantees the identity of the appraiser.

[0157] The appraiser sends the generated appraisal report (appraisal report with electronic signature) to the requester. Specifically, the appraiser operates the appraiser terminal 32 to send the appraisal report to the user terminal 30 of the requester (step S33 in Figure 20).

[0158] The requester (owner of the artwork) registers the appraisal report on the electronic bulletin board using the artwork management application. Specifically, the user presses the "Appraisal Report Registration" button shown in Figure 3 and requests the server device 10 to register the appraisal report.

[0159] When the appraisal report registration button is pressed, the appraisal report registration unit 206 sends an appraisal report registration request including the transaction ID of the ownership certificate, the appraisal report obtained from the appraiser, the biometric information of the owner, and the object fingerprint of the artwork to the server device 10 (step S34). In this way, the user terminal 30 obtains an appraisal report with the signature of the appraiser who appraised the artwork and sends an appraisal report registration request including the appraisal report with the signature of the appraiser to the server device 10.

[0160] Note that the appraisal certificate registration unit 206 may reuse the biometric information and object fingerprints obtained at the time of registering the artwork, or may obtain biometric information and object fingerprints again at the time of registering the appraisal certificate.

[0161] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 verifies the electronic signature attached to the appraisal certificate included in the appraisal certificate registration request. By verifying the electronic signature, the certificate control unit 303 confirms the legitimacy of the appraiser who generated the appraisal certificate. When the server device 10 succeeds in verifying the signature of the appraiser, it can generate (start generating) an appraisal certificate to be publicly disclosed.

[0162] When the verification of the electronic signature is successful, the server device 10 confirms that the artwork to be appraised exists in the world. That is, the server device 10 confirms that it is not a request to register an appraisal certificate for a fictitious artwork. More specifically, the certificate control unit 303 confirms that the ownership certificate regarding the artwork to be appraised is registered on the electronic bulletin board. The certificate control unit 303 transmits the transaction ID included in the appraisal certificate registration request to the electronic bulletin board and obtains the corresponding ownership certificate.

[0163] The certificate control unit 303 verifies whether the biometric information of the obtained ownership certificate matches (substantially matches) the biometric information included in the artwork registration request. Similarly, the certificate control unit 303 verifies whether the object fingerprint of the obtained ownership certificate matches (substantially matches) the object fingerprint included in the artwork registration request.

[0164] If the certificate control unit 303 fails any of the verifications, it rejects the artwork registration request (sends a negative response to the user terminal 30). If the certificate control unit 303 succeeds in both verifications, it determines that the artwork to be appraised is an actual artwork supported by the ownership certificate.

[0165] When both verifications regarding the ownership certificate are successful, the certificate control unit 303 generates an appraisal certificate to be registered on the electronic bulletin board. In the following description, the appraisal certificate registered on the electronic bulletin board is referred to as the "public appraisal certificate".

[0166] For example, the certificate control unit 303 generates a public appraisal certificate as shown in FIG. 21. As shown in FIG. 21, the certificate control unit 303 generates a public appraisal certificate including the object fingerprint of the artwork to be appraised, the biometric information of the requester (owner of the artwork) who requested the appraisal, and the appraisal certificate (appraisal result) generated by the appraiser. The certificate control unit 303 generates a transaction including the public appraisal certificate. The certificate control unit 303 writes the generated transaction to the electronic bulletin board (step S35 in FIG. 20).

[0167] The certificate control unit 303 issues the transaction ID of the generated transaction to the user terminal 30 (step S36). The appraisal certificate registration unit 206 of the user terminal 30 manages the acquired transaction ID as the transaction ID of the registered appraisal certificate.

[0168] In this way, the user terminal 30 acquires an appraisal certificate including the appraisal result for the artwork. The user terminal 30 transmits an appraisal certificate registration request including at least the biometric information of the owner, the object fingerprint of the article, and the appraisal certificate to the server device 10. The server device 10 generates a public appraisal certificate including at least the biometric information of the owner, the object fingerprint of the article, and the appraisal result. The server device 10 writes the generated transaction including the public appraisal certificate to the electronic bulletin board and transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the transaction to the user terminal 30.

[0169] [Restoration of Artwork] The operation of the artwork management system regarding the restoration of the artwork is basically the same as the operation of the appraisal. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 22, the owner of the artwork entrusts the artwork to the restorer. The restorer uses the restorer terminal 33 to transmit the transaction ID to the electronic bulletin board and acquire the ownership certificate (steps S41, S42). The restorer verifies the legitimacy of the requester and the legitimacy of the artwork using the biometric information and object fingerprint included in the ownership certificate.

[0170] When biometric authentication and object authentication are successful, the restorer performs the restoration of the artwork. The restorer generates a restoration certificate (a restoration certificate with an electronic signature) that proves the restoration content and sends it to the requester (step S43). In this way, when the biometric authentication and object authentication are successful, the restorer (restorer terminal 33) determines that the item to be verified and the requester are legitimate. Note that the restoration certificate generated by the restorer includes information for identifying the restorer (e.g., name, biometric information).

[0171] The requester operates the user terminal 30 and requests the server device 10 to register the restoration certificate. Specifically, the restoration certificate registration unit 207 sends a restoration certificate registration request including the transaction ID of the ownership certificate, the restoration certificate obtained from the restorer, the biometric information of the user, and the object fingerprint of the artwork to the server device 10 (step S44). In this way, the user terminal 30 obtains a restoration certificate with the signature of the restorer who has restored the artwork and sends a restoration certificate registration request including the restoration certificate with the signature of the restorer to the server device 10.

[0172] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 verifies the electronic signature of the restoration certificate included in the restoration certificate registration request. When the server device 10 successfully verifies the signature of the restorer, it can generate a restoration certificate to be publicly disclosed (start generating the restoration certificate).

[0173] More specifically, when the verification of the electronic signature is successful, the certificate control unit 303 performs verification regarding the ownership certificate of the artwork to be restored (two verifications using biometric information and object fingerprint).

[0174] When the verification of the ownership certificate is successful, the certificate control unit 303 generates a public restoration certificate as shown in FIG. 23. The certificate control unit 303 generates a transaction including the public restoration certificate and adds it to the electronic bulletin board (step S45 in FIG. 22).

[0175] The server device 10 pays out the transaction ID of the generated transaction to the user terminal 30 (step S46). The repair certificate registration unit 207 of the user terminal 30 manages the acquired transaction ID as the transaction ID of the repair certificate.

[0176] In this way, the user terminal 30 acquires a repair certificate including the repair content for the artwork. The user terminal 30 transmits a repair certificate registration request including the biometric information of the owner, the object fingerprint of the artwork, and the repair certificate to the server device 10. The server device 10 generates a public repair certificate including the biometric information of the owner, the object fingerprint of the artwork, and the repair content. The server device 10 writes a transaction including the generated public repair certificate to the electronic bulletin board and transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the transaction to the user terminal 30.

[0177] [Overwriting of Object Fingerprint] Here, as a result of the restorer repairing the artwork, the object fingerprint of the artwork may change from the original object fingerprint. When such a change occurs, the object fingerprint described in the ownership certificate does not match the object fingerprint obtained from the actual artwork, which hinders the confirmation of the legitimacy of the artwork. Therefore, the server device 10 may generate a public repair certificate including the object fingerprint obtained from the repaired artwork.

[0178] Specifically, the restorer terminal 33 acquires the object fingerprint from the repaired artwork and transmits a repair certificate including the object fingerprint obtained from the repaired artwork to the user terminal 30. The user terminal 30 transmits a repair certificate registration request including the repair certificate (repair certificate including the object fingerprint obtained from the repaired item) to the server device 10. The server device 10 generates a public repair certificate including the object fingerprint obtained from the repaired item.

[0179] In addition, with respect to a work of art whose object fingerprint has been changed, the server device 10 regenerates the certificate of ownership that existed before the restoration of the work of art. Specifically, the server device 10 reads out the already registered certificate of ownership from the electronic bulletin board, and generates a new certificate of ownership by replacing the object fingerprint of the read certificate of ownership with the object fingerprint described in the public restoration certificate. The server device 10 writes the new certificate of ownership to the electronic bulletin board and publishes the certificate of ownership regarding the work of art with the new object fingerprint.

[0180] In addition, when the owner of a work of art has successfully authenticated an appraiser or restorer, the owner may commission the appraisal or restoration of the work of art. For example, the user operates the user terminal 30 to acquire the biometric information of the appraiser or the like. The user terminal 30 may transmit the acquired biometric information to a server managed by an organization (such as an appraisal association) to which the appraiser or the like belongs, and request biometric authentication. When the user has successfully authenticated biometrically, the user trusts the appraiser or the like in front of him / her and commissions an appraisal or the like.

[0181] As described above, in the art management system according to the second embodiment, the appraisal certificate and restoration certificate of a work of art are publicly disclosed by the electronic bulletin board. The appraisal certificate and restoration certificate written on the electronic bulletin board can objectively prove that a legitimate appraiser or the like has appraised or the like a genuine work by a legitimate requester. Specifically, the legitimacy of the requester and the work of art can be verified by whether or not the biometric information and object fingerprint described in the certificate of ownership of the work of art match the biometric information and object fingerprint described in the public appraisal certificate, respectively. Alternatively, the legitimacy of the requester and the work of art can be verified by whether or not the biometric information of the owner in front of him / her matches the biometric information described in the public appraisal certificate, and whether or not the object fingerprint of the work of art in front of him / her matches the object fingerprint described in the public appraisal certificate. In addition, since the electronic signature of the appraiser is verified when the public appraisal certificate is generated, the identity of the appraiser is guaranteed.

[0182] [Third Embodiment] Subsequently, the third embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0183] In the third embodiment, the transfer of ownership of artworks will be described. In the third embodiment, the transfer of artworks will mainly be described.

[0184] Hereinafter, the differences between the first embodiment and the third embodiment will be mainly described.

[0185] Registration regarding the transfer of ownership resulting from the sale and purchase of artworks is jointly carried out by the transferor and the transferee. That is, the transferor and the transferee jointly conduct the procedures for the transfer of ownership.

[0186] Since the transferee will become the owner of the artwork in the future, it is a prerequisite that the transferee is also registered as a user in the artwork management system. That is, the sale and purchase of artworks are conducted between users registered in the artwork management system.

[0187] Also, the transferor and the transferee use the user terminal 30 having the same functions. The user terminal 30 according to the third embodiment has the functions of the viewer terminal 31 described in the first embodiment. More specifically, the user terminal 30 has the same functions as the certificate verification unit 402 described in the first embodiment. That is, the transferor (the first user) uses the "first user terminal", and the transferee (the second user) uses the "second user terminal".

[0188] The transferee negotiates the purchase of the artwork with the owner of the artwork as the counterparty. At that time, the transferee verifies the legitimacy of the artwork to be purchased and the legitimacy of the owner. As described above, the transferee operates the user terminal 30 to send the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate to the electronic bulletin board and obtains the corresponding ownership certificate. The transferee conducts the above verification by performing biometric authentication of the transferor and object authentication of the artwork.

[0189] When there are an appraisal certificate (registered appraisal certificate) or a restoration certificate (registered restoration certificate) regarding the artwork to be sold and purchased, the transferor notifies the transferee of the transaction ID corresponding to these documents. Similar to the ownership certificate, the transferee obtains these documents from the electronic bulletin board, checks the content, and uses it as a reference for the transaction decision.

[0190] Furthermore, the transferee may verify the legitimacy of the target artwork and the counterparty using the object fingerprints and biometric information of the artwork included in the appraisal certificate and restoration certificate, similar to the ownership certificate. Note that since the verification of the object fingerprints and biometric information included in the registered appraisal certificate and registered restoration certificate can be the same as the verification of the object fingerprints and biometric information included in the ownership certificate, detailed description is omitted.

[0191] After verifying the legitimacy of the artwork and the transferor, the transferee negotiates the conditions for the purchase of the artwork (price, delivery method, etc.) with the transferor. Regarding the sale and purchase of the artwork, when the transferor and the transferee reach an agreement, the transferor generates a sales contract. More specifically, the transferor operates the user terminal 30 to generate a sales contract with an electronic signature.

[0192] The transferor transmits the generated sales contract to the server device 10 and requests the server device 10 to perform processing related to the transfer registration of ownership. Specifically, the user terminal 30 transmits a transfer registration request for ownership including the transaction ID of the ownership certificate for the artwork to be sold and purchased and the sales contract to the server device 10 (step S51 in FIG. 24).

[0193] The server device 10 requests the transferee to confirm the sales contract. Specifically, the server device 10 transmits a "sales contract confirmation request" including the sales contract with the electronic signature of the transferor to the user terminal 30 of the transferee (step S52).

[0194] The transferee confirms the content of the sales contract. If the content of the sales contract is the same as the content agreed upon with the transferor, the user terminal 30 attaches the electronic signature of the transferee to the sales contract and transmits it to the server device 10. More specifically, the user terminal 30 transmits a "confirmation result notification" to the server device 10 (step S53).

[0195] The server device 10 verifies the electronic signatures of the transferor and the transferee respectively, and if the verification is successful, it determines that the transaction has been concluded. In addition, the server device 10 uses the certificate of ownership of the artwork to verify the validity of the sales contract. The server device 10 confirms the existence of the artwork subject to the transaction through the verification. That is, the server device 10 determines that a sales contract regarding a non-existent fictitious artwork is invalid and rejects the processing related to the contract.

[0196] When the transaction is concluded and the verification of the sales contract is completed, the server device 10 generates a new certificate of ownership of the artwork and adds a transaction including the generated certificate of ownership to the electronic bulletin board (step S54).

[0197] The server device 10 transmits the transaction ID of the added transaction to the user terminals 30 of the transferor and the transferee (step S55). Each user terminal 30 manages the acquired transaction ID as the transaction ID of the new certificate of ownership.

[0198] Note that a first certificate of ownership, which is a certificate of ownership with the transferor as the owner of the item and includes the biometric information of the transferor and the object fingerprint of the artwork, has already been written on the electronic bulletin board. When the ownership of the artwork is transferred from the transferor to the transferee, the user terminal 30 of the transferor requests the server device 10 to register the transfer of ownership. When the transferor and the transferee agree to the transfer of ownership, the server device 10 generates a second certificate of ownership including at least the biometric information of the transferee and the object fingerprint of the artwork. The server device 10 writes a transaction including the generated second certificate of ownership to the electronic bulletin board and notifies the user terminal 30 of the transferee of the transaction ID corresponding to the transaction.

[0199] Subsequently, the details of each device that realizes the artwork management system according to the third embodiment will be described.

[0200] [User Terminal] FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing module) of the user terminal 30 according to the third embodiment. Referring to FIG. 25, a certificate verification unit 208 and a trading management unit 209 are added to the configuration of the user terminal 30 according to the second embodiment. As described above, since the operation of the certificate verification unit 208 can be the same as the operation of the certificate verification unit 402 described in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

[0201] The trading management unit 209 is a means for managing the trading of artworks. For example, when the "Sell Artwork" button shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, the trading management unit 209 displays a GUI for acquiring the information necessary for generating a sales contract (a sales contract regarding the sale between the transferor and the transferee).

[0202] For example, the trading management unit 209 generates a GUI as shown in FIG. 26 and acquires at least the information regarding the artwork to be sold (the name of the work in FIG. 26), the user ID of the transferee (buyer), and the selling price. Note that the transferor acquires the user ID of the transferee during the negotiation process with the transferee. Further, the trading management unit 209 may acquire the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate of the artwork instead of the name of the artwork that is the subject of the transaction.

[0203] The trading management unit 209 searches the art management database and reads out the object fingerprint regarding the artwork to be sold and the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate from the database. Thereafter, the trading management unit 209 generates a sales contract including the object fingerprint of the artwork, the user ID and biometric information of the transferor (seller), the user ID of the transferee (buyer), and the selling price. For example, the trading management unit 209 generates a sales contract including the content as shown in FIG. 27.

[0204] The trading management unit 209 assigns the electronic signature of the transferor to the generated sales contract. The trading management unit 209 transmits an ownership transfer registration request including the sales contract with the electronic signature and the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate of the artwork that is the subject of the transaction to the server device 10.

[0205] Note that the operation of the above sales management unit 209 is the operation on the transferor side (the operation of the user terminal 30 used by the transferor). The operation of the sales management unit 209 of the user terminal 30 used by the transferee side will be described after the description of the operation related to the server device 10.

[0206] Also, when generating a sales contract, the sales management unit 209 may acquire the biometric information of the transferor. Similarly, when generating a sales contract, the sales management unit 209 may photograph a predetermined area of the artwork with a camera for obtaining an object fingerprint and acquire the object fingerprint. Alternatively, the sales management unit 209 may record the biometric information or object fingerprint acquired in the past in the sales contract.

[0207] [Server device] FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing module) of the server device 10 according to the third embodiment. Referring to FIG. 28, a sales control unit 305 and a settlement unit 306 are added to the configuration of the server device 10 according to the first embodiment.

[0208] The sales control unit 305 is a means for performing control related to the sale and purchase of artworks between users. The operation of the sales control unit 305 will be described with reference to FIG. 29. FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the sales control unit 305 according to the third embodiment.

[0209] The sales control unit 305 searches the user information database using the user ID of the transferee included in the sales contract of the received ownership transfer registration request as a key, and identifies the corresponding user (entry) (identification of the transferee; step S201).

[0210] The sales control unit 305 requests confirmation regarding the sales contract of the artwork from the identified user. Specifically, the sales control unit 305 transmits a "sales contract confirmation request" including the sales contract acquired from the transferor (the sales contract with the transferor's electronic signature) to the email address of the identified user (step S202).

[0211] The transaction control unit 305 receives a confirmation result (confirmation result notification) for the request from the transferee's user terminal 30 (step S203). The confirmation result notification includes a sales contract with the transferee's electronic signature and the transferee's biometric information.

[0212] The transaction control unit 305 verifies two electronic signatures (the electronic signatures of the transferor and the transferee respectively) attached to the sales contract (step S204).

[0213] If the verification of at least one of the two electronic signatures fails (step S205, No branch), the transaction control unit 305 determines that the sale of the artwork is not established. In this case, the transaction control unit 305 rejects the ownership transfer registration request from the transferor. The transaction control unit 305 sends a negative response to the user terminal 30 (step S206).

[0214] If the verification of the two signatures is successful (step S205, Yes branch), the transaction control unit 305 determines that the sale of the artwork is established.

[0215] In this way, the transferor's user terminal 30 sends an ownership transfer registration request including a sales contract with the transferor's signature to the server device 10. The transferee's user terminal 30 sends a confirmation result notification including a sales contract with the transferee's signature to the server device 10. When the server device 10 successfully verifies the transferor's signature and the transferee's signature, it determines that the sales contract is established and generates (starts generating) a new ownership certificate.

[0216] The transaction control unit 305 verifies the validity of the sales contract (step S207). The transaction control unit 305 sends the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate to the electronic bulletin board and obtains the ownership certificate. If the biometric information and the object fingerprint described in the sales contract and the ownership certificate match, the transaction control unit 305 determines that the sales contract is valid. If either the biometric information or the object fingerprint does not match, the transaction control unit 305 determines that the sales contract is invalid.

[0217] If the sales contract is invalid (step S208, No branch), the sales control unit 305 rejects the request for transfer of ownership registration from the transferor (step S206).

[0218] If the sales contract is valid (step S208, Yes branch), the sales control unit 305 generates a new ownership certificate to be registered on the electronic bulletin board (step S209). The server device 10 generates a new ownership certificate (second ownership certificate) using the biometric information of the transferee.

[0219] In this way, the transferor's user terminal 30 generates a sales contract including the transferor's biometric information and the object fingerprint of the artwork. The server device 10 generates a new ownership certificate when the biometric information of the sales contract matches the biometric information of the existing ownership certificate (first ownership certificate), and the object fingerprint of the sales contract matches the object fingerprint of the existing ownership certificate.

[0220] For example, the sales control unit 305 rewrites the ownership certificate shown in FIG. 30A to the ownership certificate shown in FIG. 30B. In FIGS. 30A and 30B, the biometric information of the old owner is rewritten to the biometric information of the new owner (feature amount generated from the face image included in the confirmation result notification). The sales control unit 305 generates a feature amount from the biometric information (face image) of the transferee included in the confirmation result notification, and describes the feature amount as the biometric information of the new owner in the ownership certificate.

[0221] The sales control unit 305 generates a transaction including the generated ownership certificate and transmits it to the electronic bulletin board (step S210 in FIG. 29).

[0222] The sales control unit 305 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the generated ownership certificate to each of the transferor's and transferee's user terminals 30 (step S211). The sales control unit 305 transmits an affirmative response including the transaction ID to the user terminal 30.

[0223] The user terminal 30 of the user (especially the assignee) manages the acquired transaction ID as the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate.

[0224] Next, the operation of the buying / selling management unit 209 in the user terminal 30 on the assignee side will be described.

[0225] When the buying / selling management unit 209 receives a sales contract confirmation request from the server device 10, it displays the content of the contract and requests the user (assignee) to confirm it. For example, the buying / selling management unit 209 presents the content of the sales contract to the user through a GUI as shown in FIG. 31.

[0226] As shown in FIG. 31, the buying / selling management unit 209 acquires the biometric information (face image) of the assignee. Also, the buying / selling management unit 209 acquires a transaction ID (the transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate notified by the counterparty) for which the legitimacy of the artwork and the counterparty has been verified before negotiating with the counterparty. The buying / selling management unit 209 identifies the ownership certificate for which the above legitimacy has been verified based on the transaction ID.

[0227] The buying / selling management unit 209 verifies the consistency between the pre-confirmed ownership certificate and the sales contract. Specifically, the buying / selling management unit 209 confirms that the biometric information and object fingerprint of the ownership certificate match (substantially match) the biometric information and object fingerprint described in the sales contract.

[0228] If either the biometric information or the object fingerprint does not match, the buying / selling management unit 209 determines that information on an artwork or counterparty different from the pre-confirmed artwork and counterparty is described in the sales contract, and interrupts the transaction. If the verification of the consistency between the ownership certificate and the sales contract fails, the buying / selling management unit 209 may notify the user (assignee) that the content of the pre-confirmed ownership certificate is different from that of the sales contract.

[0229] When the verification of the consistency between the ownership certificate and the sales contract is successful and biometric information for recording in the new ownership certificate is obtained, the sales management department 209 generates a confirmation result notification. Specifically, the sales management department 209 attaches the transferee's electronic signature to the sales contract received from the server device 10 and generates a confirmation result notification including the sales contract and the transferee's biometric information.

[0230] The sales management department 209 transmits the generated confirmation result notification to the server device 10. Note that the sales contract transmitted from the user terminal 30 on the transferee side has the electronic signatures of both the transferor and the transferee attached thereto.

[0231] When the sales management department 209 receives a transaction ID (the transaction ID corresponding to the new ownership certificate) from the server device 10, it stores it in association with the artwork that is the subject of the sale.

[0232] Subsequently, a modification example of the artwork management system according to the third embodiment will be described.

[0233] <Modification Example 1> The owner of the artwork can also transfer a part of the ownership to others. Specifically, the owner can sell a part of the ownership and make the artwork jointly owned with another owner.

[0234] At that time, the transferor operates the user terminal 30 and inputs the ratio of the ownership to be sold (the selling ratio agreed upon with the transferee) together with the user ID of the counterparty to the transaction. For example, the sales management department 209 obtains the selling ratio using a GUI as shown in FIG. 32.

[0235] The user terminal 30 transmits a request for ownership transfer registration including the sales contract in which the selling ratio is described to the server device 10.

[0236] The server device 10 transmits the sales contract to the user terminal 30 of the transferee.

[0237] The transferee's user terminal 30 displays the content of the sales contract and obtains the transferee's confirmation result. When the transferee agrees to the content of the sales contract, the user terminal 30 attaches an electronic signature to the sales contract and transmits it to the server device 10.

[0238] When the sales control unit 305 of the server device 10 succeeds in verifying the two signatures, it determines that the sale has been concluded. Furthermore, after verifying the validity of the sales contract, the sales control unit 305 generates a new ownership certificate for the artwork to be traded.

[0239] When the sales control unit 305 grasps that as a result of the sale, one artwork has become jointly owned by multiple users, it generates an ownership certificate that reveals the biometric information and share ratio of each of the multiple owners.

[0240] The sales control unit 305 displays each owner's share using "tokens". For example, as in the above example, when 30% of the ownership is sold, the sales control unit 305 sets the transferor's ownership token to "70" and the transferee's ownership token to "30".

[0241] The sales control unit 305 rewrites the ownership certificate as shown in Fig. 33A into the ownership certificate as shown in Fig. 33B to create a new ownership certificate. The sales control unit 305 generates a transaction including the new ownership certificate and writes it on the electronic bulletin board.

[0242] The sales control unit 305 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the new ownership certificate to each owner. The user terminal 30 of each owner stores the ownership certificate and the transaction ID in association with each other.

[0243] In this way, the transferor's user terminal 30 transmits a request for title transfer registration including a sales contract for selling a part of the transferor's ownership to the transferee to the server device 10. When the server device 10 receives a confirmation result notification regarding the sales contract from the transferee's user terminal 30, it generates a new certificate of title including the biometric information of each of the transferor and the transferee, with both the transferor and the transferee being regarded as the owners of the artwork.

[0244] <Modification Example 2> The transferee can jointly purchase (co-own) the artwork with other users. Specifically, the transferee can purchase a part of the ownership and co-own the artwork with other owners.

[0245] Here, the case where the transferor sells all of the ownership is described. However, as described in Modification Example 1, the transferor can also sell a part of the ownership to a plurality of transferees.

[0246] The transferor operates the user terminal 30 and inputs the user IDs (two or more user IDs) of each transferee and the share ratio. For example, the sales management unit 209 acquires the user IDs and share ratios of each transferee using a GUI as shown in FIG. 34.

[0247] The user terminal 30 transmits a request for title transfer registration including a sales contract in which the share ratio is described to the server device 10.

[0248] The server device 10 transmits the sales contract to the user terminals 30 of each transferee. In the example of FIG. 34, the server device 10 transmits a sales contract confirmation request including the sales contract to the user terminals 30 of the user ID "uID21" and the user ID "uID31" respectively.

[0249] The user terminal 30 of each transferee displays the content of the sales contract and obtains the confirmation result of the transferee. For example, the user terminal 30 (sales management unit 209) of the user ID "uID21" obtains the content of the sales contract and the confirmation result by the transferee using a GUI as shown in FIG. 35.

[0250] In addition, the server device 10 may transmit the name corresponding to the user ID of each assignee to the user terminal 30 of the assignee. In this case, the user terminal 30 may display the name of the co-owner instead of the user ID of the other co-owner in FIG. 35. Further, the user terminal 30 may multiply the selling amount included in the sales contract by the share ratio of each user and display the amount to be paid by each assignee.

[0251] When the confirmation of the assignee is completed, the user terminal 30 attaches an electronic signature to the sales contract and transmits a confirmation result notification including the sales contract with the electronic signature attached and the biometric information of the assignee to the server device 10.

[0252] When the sales control unit 305 of the server device 10 succeeds in verifying the electronic signatures of the transferor side and the assignee side attached to the sales contract, it determines that the sale has been concluded. In the above example, when the sales control unit 305 succeeds in verifying the three electronic signatures, i.e., the electronic signature of the transferor and the electronic signatures of the two assignees, it determines that the sale has been concluded. Thereafter, after verifying the validity of the sales contract, the sales control unit 305 generates a new ownership certificate for the artwork subject to the sale.

[0253] The sales control unit 305 generates an ownership certificate in which the biometric information and share ratio of each of the plurality of assignees are described. For example, the sales control unit 305 rewrites the ownership certificate as shown in FIG. 36A into the ownership certificate as shown in FIG. 36B to generate a new ownership certificate. The sales control unit 305 generates a transaction including the new ownership certificate and writes it on the electronic bulletin board.

[0254] The sales control unit 305 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the new ownership certificate to each owner (each assignee). The user terminal 30 of each owner manages the received transaction ID as the transaction ID of the ownership certificate.

[0255] In this way, the user terminal 30 of the transferor transmits a request for title transfer registration including a sales contract for selling all or part of the ownership of the artwork to a plurality of transferees to the server device 10. When the server device 10 receives a confirmation result notification regarding the sales contract from each of the user terminals 30 of the plurality of transferees, it generates a new certificate of title including the biometric information of each of the plurality of transferees.

[0256] Further, as shown in FIGS. 33B and 36B, when the artwork becomes jointly owned by a plurality of owners, the server device 10 generates a new certificate of title in which the biometric information and share of each owner are described. More specifically, the server device 10 generates a new certificate of title in which the share of the owner of the artwork is indicated by a token.

[0257] Note that the ownership tokens and the total amount of tokens (the total value of the ownership tokens) shown in FIGS. 33B and 36B are examples and are not intended to limit the ownership tokens or the like. Any value can be used for the ownership tokens and their total as long as they can represent the share of each owner. For example, in FIG. 36B, the ownership token of owner 1 may be "7" and the ownership token of owner 2 may be "3", or the ownership token of owner 1 may be "700" and the ownership token of owner 2 may be "300".

[0258] <Modification Example 3> When the sale of the artwork is concluded and the ownership is transferred, the server device 10 may automatically settle the sale. The settlement unit 306 of the server device 10 is responsible for settling the sale (automatic settlement).

[0259] When the verification of the two electronic signatures attached to the sales contract and the verification of the validity of the sales contract are successful, the settlement unit 306 executes a settlement process of transferring the selling amount described in the sales contract from the transferee's account to the transferor's account.

[0260] The settlement department 306 searches the user information database and acquires the cryptocurrency accounts corresponding to the user ID of the transferor and the user ID of the transferee described in the sales and purchase contract. The settlement department 306 generates a transfer document with the transferee's cryptocurrency account as the transfer source, the transferor's cryptocurrency account as the transfer destination, and the selling amount as the transfer amount. When generating the transfer document, the settlement department 306 converts the currency agreed upon in the sales and purchase into cryptocurrency (virtual currency) as necessary. However, the intention is not to limit the means used for settlement to cryptocurrency, and the sales and purchase may be settled in legal tender such as yen or dollars. Note that the settlement regarding the sale and purchase of artworks by the server device 10 is optional, and the parties may settle by bank transfer or cash payment.

[0261] The settlement department 306 automatically conducts the settlement according to the generated transfer document. Alternatively, the settlement department 306 may send the generated transfer document to the blockchain that realizes the cryptocurrency (e.g., Bitcoin) and request the settlement. Since the settlement using the said cryptocurrency can be realized by so-called smart contracts, detailed explanations are omitted.

[0262] In addition, when the artwork is jointly owned by multiple transferees, the settlement department 306 may multiply the selling amount by the share ratio of each transferee to calculate the amount to be paid by each transferee. Alternatively, the settlement department 306 may calculate the amount to be paid to each transferee according to the ownership tokens described in the ownership certificate of the artwork. Specifically, the settlement department 306 calculates the total of the tokens owned by each owner and calculates the burden ratio of each transferee by dividing the ownership tokens of each transferee by the total token value (total token quantity). The settlement department 306 may calculate the amount to be paid by each transferee by multiplying the burden ratio of each transferee by the selling amount.

[0263] In this way, the server device 10 automatically conducts the settlement regarding the sale of the artwork described in the sales and purchase contract. At that time, when an artwork with multiple owners described in the ownership certificate is sold, the server device 10 may distribute the selling price regarding the said artwork to each owner based on the tokens of each owner described in the ownership certificate.

[0264] As described above, when the ownership of an artwork is transferred by sale or the like, the ownership certificate including the biometric information of the owner after the transfer is published. Further, when a plurality of owners are registered for one artwork, the server device 10 generates and publishes an ownership certificate including the biometric information of the plurality of owners. Furthermore, when a jointly-owned artwork is sold by a plurality of owners, the server device 10 can automatically distribute the proceeds to each of the plurality of owners. In addition, the server device 10 can also securitize the artwork by expressing the value of the artwork in tokens. That is, the share of each owner in the artwork is expressed by tokens. The owner of the artwork can obtain a profit (for example, a selling profit) according to the ownership ratio of the tokens. In this way, in the third embodiment, tokens are introduced to distribute the profit from the artwork among multiple persons, and the tokens are divided according to the share of each owner (the artwork is securitized).

[0265] [Fourth Embodiment] Subsequently, the fourth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0266] In the fourth embodiment, the case of setting a right of recourse for an artwork will be described. The right of recourse is a right that the author (or his successor) of a copyrighted work such as an artwork can receive a certain percentage of the resale price when the copyrighted work is resold after being transferred by the author. That is, the right of recourse is a right that the author can benefit when the artwork is resold after the author sells the artwork.

[0267] Hereinafter, the differences between the first embodiment to the fourth embodiment will be mainly described.

[0268] The author of the artwork uses the user terminal 30. When the author sets a right of recourse for the artwork, the user terminal 30 directly or indirectly writes an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the artwork and the biometric information of the author who is the right holder of recourse on an electronic bulletin board.

[0269] When registering a work of art in the art management system, the art registration unit 203 according to the fourth embodiment can set a right of pursuit. The art registration unit 203 displays a "right of pursuit setting" button in the GUI (such as the GUI shown in FIG. 10) when registering a work of art.

[0270] When the right of pursuit setting button is pressed, the art registration unit 203 displays a GUI as shown in FIG. 37. The art registration unit 203 obtains the reduction rate (collection rate) to be set for the work of art registered by the GUI as shown in FIG. 37.

[0271] The art registration unit 203 transmits an art registration request including the reduction rate of the right of pursuit set for the work of art to the server device 10. The art registration unit 203 transmits an "art registration request" including the biometric information of the author, the object fingerprint of the work of art, and the reduction rate of the right of pursuit to the server device 10.

[0272] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 according to the fourth embodiment generates an ownership certificate for the work of art with the right of pursuit set, using the information included in the art registration request. More specifically, when receiving the art registration request, the server device 10 generates an ownership certificate with the author as the owner and the right holder of the work of art, and the biometric information of the author as the biometric information of the owner and the right holder.

[0273] Also, when registering the ownership of a work of art with the right of pursuit set, the certificate control unit 303 determines the total amount of tokens (token total amount) to be assigned to the work of art. For example, the certificate control unit 303 determines the token total amount to be "100" or "1000". Note that the token total amount can be any value, but a value that can easily calculate the share of each right holder is preferred.

[0274] After that, the certificate control unit 303 determines the amount of tokens of the owner and the amount of tokens that the right holder can obtain according to the reduction rate of the right of pursuit (determination of pursuit tokens). In the above example, the certificate control unit 303 determines that the total tokens of the owner are "98" and the pursuit tokens are "2".

[0275] The certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate including the total token amount, the pursuer, and the pursuit token. For example, the certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate as shown in FIG. 38. As shown in FIG. 38, the certificate control unit 303 generates an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the artwork, the total token amount, information about the owner (biometric information and ownership tokens), and information about the pursuer (biometric information and pursuit tokens).

[0276] Note that at the time of initial registration of the artwork, since the owner and the pursuer of the artwork are the same person, the same biometric information is set.

[0277] The certificate control unit 303 generates a transaction including the generated ownership certificate. The certificate control unit 303 writes the generated transaction to the electronic bulletin board. The certificate control unit 303 transmits the transaction ID of the generated transaction to the user terminal 30.

[0278] In this way, the user terminal 30 obtains the reduction rate set for the right of pursuit from the author and transmits an artwork registration request including the reduction rate to the server device 10. The server device 10 generates an ownership certificate in which the biometric information of the pursuer and information related to the reduction rate (pursuit token) are described. The server device 10 determines the total amount of tokens assigned to the artwork and the amount of pursuit tokens assigned to the pursuer based on the reduction rate. The server device 10 generates an ownership certificate in which the total token amount is described and the biometric information of the pursuer and the amount of pursuit tokens are associated.

[0279] Subsequently, the operation of the artwork management system when the artwork with the right of pursuit set is sold will be described. The basic operation of the artwork management system in this case is the same as the operation of the artwork management system described in the third embodiment.

[0280] Note that the ownership and the right of recourse of an artwork are different rights, and the author can sell all or part of the ownership. When all or part of the author's ownership is sold, the server device 10 generates a certificate of ownership including the biometric information of the new owner, as described in the third embodiment.

[0281] When the trading control unit 305 of the server device 10 generates a new certificate of ownership from a certificate of ownership with the right of recourse set, it may rewrite the information of the old owner to the information of the new owner.

[0282] Similarly, the author of an artwork can also sell all or part of the right of recourse. When the right of recourse is sold, the server device 10 may generate a certificate of ownership including the biometric information of the new right of recourse holder.

[0283] In addition, when the server device 10 conducts a settlement regarding the sale (resale) of an artwork with the right of recourse set, it pays an amount corresponding to the amount of the recourse token of the right of recourse holder to the right of recourse holder (the creator of the artwork). For example, when the artwork in the certificate of ownership shown in FIG. 38 is resold, the settlement unit 306 pays 2% of the selling amount (the ratio of the recourse token to the total amount of tokens) to the right of recourse holder. Note that the settlement unit 306 can obtain the cryptocurrency account of the right of recourse holder by accessing the user information database and identifying the user corresponding to the biometric information of the right of recourse holder.

[0284] As described above, when an artwork with the right of recourse set is resold, the server device 10 calculates the amount to be paid to the right of recourse holder according to the total amount of tokens assigned to the artwork and the amount of recourse tokens, and conducts a settlement to transfer the calculated amount to the right of recourse holder.

[0285] Note that when an artwork is a work by multiple authors, each author can set the right of recourse. When multiple rights of recourse are set for an artwork, the server device 10 may generate a certificate of ownership in which the biometric information and recourse tokens of each of the multiple right of recourse holders are described.

[0286] As described above, in the art object management system according to the fourth embodiment, the author of an art object can set a right of recourse for the work. Note that the author does not have to set a right of recourse for the work. The author may or may not set a right of recourse. That is, the author can register an art object by selecting between a right (right of recourse; annuity-like right) to obtain a certain percentage of reduction when the art object is resold and a normal ownership without such a right of recourse. With such a configuration and operation of the art object management system, the author can obtain income every time the art object is circulated (resold), and can also obtain a capital gain by selling the ownership (token) of the art object with increased value. In other words, the art object management system provides a new right management system for users with respect to art objects.

[0287] In addition, when the author (artist) sets a right of recourse for a work, the author can obtain a profit (return) according to the reduction rate when the work is resold. However, in the conventional system, there is a problem that it is difficult for the author to obtain income at an arbitrary timing desired by the author. However, in the art object management system disclosed in the present application, the ownership and the right of recourse of the art object are handled separately, and the sale of only the ownership, the sale of only the right of recourse, etc. are realized. That is, the author of an art object can sell all or part of the ownership and the right of recourse held at an arbitrary timing and obtain income from the art object. For example, when 90% of the tokens assigned to an art object are assigned to the ownership and the remaining 10% are assigned to the right of recourse, the author can sell all (90%) of the ownership. Furthermore, the author can also sell 40% (4% of the whole) of the right of recourse. In addition, when the art object is resold, the author can obtain a capital gain of 60% (6% of the whole) of the right of recourse.

[0288] [Fifth Embodiment] Subsequently, the fifth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0289] In the fifth embodiment, the lending (loan) of artworks will be described. Famous artworks may be lent to art museums and the like. In the fifth embodiment, the disclosure of the lending of such artworks will be described.

[0290] Hereinafter, the differences between the first to fifth embodiments will be mainly described.

[0291] FIG. 39 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing modules) of the user terminal 30 according to the fifth embodiment. Referring to FIG. 39, a lending management unit 210 is added to the user terminal 30 according to the third embodiment. The lending management unit 210 is a means for managing the lending of artworks.

[0292] The owner of the artwork and the art museum (museum staff) negotiate about the lending of the artwork. When the negotiation about the lending is completed and the conditions (lending period, lending fee, etc.) are determined, the owner generates a lending contract. Thereafter, the owner requests the server device 10 to register the lending of the artwork.

[0293] For example, when the "Artwork Lending" button shown in FIG. 3 is pressed, the lending management unit 210 displays a GUI for acquiring the information necessary for generating a lending contract.

[0294] For example, the lending management unit 210 generates a GUI as shown in FIG. 40 and acquires information about the artwork to be lent (work name in FIG. 40), information about the lending destination, lending period, lending fee, etc.

[0295] The lending management unit 210 searches the art management database and reads out the object fingerprint of the artwork to be lent and the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership from the database. Thereafter, the lending management unit 210 generates a lending contract including the object fingerprint of the artwork and the lending conditions (lending destination, lending period, lending fee, etc.). For example, the lending management unit 210 generates a lending contract including the content as shown in FIG. 41.

[0296] The lending management department 210 assigns the owner's electronic signature to the lending contract. Furthermore, the lending management department 210 transmits a lending document registration request including the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership of the artwork and the lending contract to the server device 10 (step S61 in FIG. 42).

[0297] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 that has received the lending document registration request identifies the contact information (for example, the email address that the staff terminal 34 can receive) of the borrower (museum E in the examples of FIGS. 40 and 41). At that time, the certificate control unit 303 may obtain the contact information by referring to the table information that associates and stores the borrower and the contact information. Note that the staff terminal 34 is a terminal used by the staff of the artwork borrower.

[0298] The certificate control unit 303 requests confirmation regarding the lending contract of the artwork from the staff terminal 34. Specifically, the certificate control unit 303 transmits a "lending contract confirmation request" including the lending contract obtained from the owner (the lending contract with the owner's electronic signature) and the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership to the staff terminal 34 (step S62).

[0299] The staff receives the arrived artwork. The staff operates the staff terminal 34 to transmit the transaction ID corresponding to the certificate of ownership of the artwork to the electronic bulletin board and obtains the certificate of ownership.

[0300] FIG. 43 is a diagram showing an example of the processing configuration (processing module) of the staff terminal 34 according to the fifth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 43, the staff terminal 34 includes a communication control unit 501, a lending management unit 502, and a storage unit 503. The operations of the communication control unit 501 and the storage unit 503 can be the same as those of the corresponding modules of the other devices already described, so the description is omitted. The lending management unit 502 operates in tandem with the lending management unit 210 of the user terminal 30.

[0301] The lending management unit 502 performs object authentication using the object fingerprint of the arrived artwork and the object fingerprint described in the certificate of ownership according to the operation of the staff.

[0302] When the object authentication is successful, the lending management unit 502 determines that the legitimate art object agreed upon with the owner has arrived at the museum and notifies the staff of this fact. The staff accepts the art object in response to the notification. On the other hand, when the object authentication fails, the staff determines that an irregular art object has arrived at the museum and rejects the acceptance of the art object.

[0303] Also, the staff operates the staff terminal 34 to check the content of the lending contract received from the server device 10. If the content of the lending contract does not violate the pre-determined conditions, the staff notifies the server device 10 of the confirmation result of the lending contract. Specifically, the lending management unit 502 attaches the electronic signature of the museum to the lending contract and transmits a confirmation result notification including the lending contract with the attached electronic signature to the server device 10 (step S63 in FIG. 42).

[0304] In this way, the staff terminal 34 reads the ownership certificate from the electronic bulletin board using the transaction ID of the ownership certificate, and performs object authentication using the object fingerprint obtained from the lent item and the object fingerprint described in the ownership certificate. When the object authentication is successful, the staff terminal 34 transmits a confirmation result notification regarding the lending contract to the server device 10.

[0305] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 verifies the two electronic signatures attached to the lending contract included in the confirmation result notification. When the verification of the two electronic signatures is successful, the certificate control unit 303 determines that the lending contract is established and the art object has moved to the museum.

[0306] Also, the certificate control unit 303 obtains the ownership certificate regarding the art object to be lent using the transaction ID included in the lending registration request. The certificate control unit 303 determines the validity of the lending contract using the object fingerprint of the ownership certificate and the object fingerprint described in the lending contract.

[0307] Specifically, if the object fingerprints described in the two documents match, the certificate control unit 303 determines that it is a loan contract for existing artworks and determines that the loan contract is valid. If the object fingerprints described in the two documents do not match, the certificate control unit 303 determines that the loan contract is invalid.

[0308] If the loan contract is valid, the certificate control unit 303 generates a lending document (public lending document) to be published based on the loan contract. For example, the certificate control unit 303 generates a public lending document as shown in FIG. 44. As shown in FIG. 44, the public lending document includes the object fingerprint of the artwork, the biometric information of the owner, the lending destination of the artwork, the lending period, and the like. Since the registered lending document is a document to be published, the lending fee may not be included in the registered lending document.

[0309] The certificate control unit 303 generates a transaction including the generated public lending document and posts it on the electronic bulletin board (step S64 in FIG. 42).

[0310] The certificate control unit 303 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the public lending document to the owner (user terminal 30) and the art museum (staff terminal 34) (step S65).

[0311] The user terminal 30 and the staff terminal 34 manage the received transaction ID as the transaction ID of the lending document.

[0312] The owner who lent the artwork can prove the fact that the artwork was lent to the art museum by presenting the transaction ID of the public lending document to the trading partner during the sale and purchase negotiation of the artwork. The fact that the artwork was lent to a famous art museum can be an advantageous material in the sale negotiation.

[0313] In this way, the user terminal 30 generates a lease contract for the lending of artworks and transmits a lending registration request including the generated lease contract to the server device 10. In response to transmitting a lease contract confirmation request including the lease contract to the staff terminal 34, the server device 10 receives a confirmation result notification regarding the lease contract from the staff terminal 34 (receives the confirmation result of the staff). Thereafter, the server device 10 generates a public lending document for publicly lending the artworks based on the lease contract and writes a transaction including the generated public lending document to the electronic bulletin board.

[0314] The server device 10 transmits a transaction ID corresponding to the transaction of the public lending document to the user terminal 30 and the staff terminal 34.

[0315] Subsequently, the return of the lent artworks will be described.

[0316] When the lending period ends, the museum returns the artworks to the owner. At that time, the staff of the museum requests the server device 10 to register the return of the artworks.

[0317] The staff generates a return document for the artworks to be returned. For example, the lending management unit 502 of the staff terminal 34 generates a return document including the name of the borrowed artwork, the object fingerprint, the user ID of the owner as the return destination, the return date, the lending fee, etc. according to the operation of the staff (see Fig. 45).

[0318] Thereafter, the staff terminal 34 transmits a return registration request including the return document with the electronic signature of the museum and the transaction ID of the certificate of ownership to the server device 10 (step S71 in Fig. 46).

[0319] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 that has received the return registration request requests the user terminal 30 to confirm the lease contract of the artworks. Specifically, the certificate control unit 303 transmits a "return document confirmation request" including the return document obtained from the staff of the museum (the return document with the electronic signature of the museum) to the user terminal 30 (step S72).

[0320] The owner accepts the arrival of the artworks at his / her place. The owner operates the user terminal 30 to obtain the object fingerprints of the artworks. The lending management unit 210 of the user terminal 30 performs object authentication using the object fingerprints obtained at the time of lending the artworks and the object fingerprints of the returned artworks.

[0321] If the object authentication is successful, the lending management unit 210 determines that the lent artworks have been returned and notifies the owner to that effect. In response to the notification, the owner accepts the artworks. On the other hand, if the object authentication fails, the owner determines that an artwork different from the lent artwork has been returned and rejects the acceptance of the artwork.

[0322] Also, the lending management unit 210 displays the content of the return document received from the server device 10. If there is no doubt about the content of the return document, the owner notifies the server device 10 of the confirmation result of the return document. Specifically, the lending management unit 210 attaches the owner's electronic signature to the return document and transmits a confirmation result notification including the return document with the attached electronic signature to the server device 10 (step S73).

[0323] In this way, the user terminal 30 executes object authentication using the object fingerprints obtained from the returned artworks and the object fingerprints described in the ownership certificate corresponding to the lent artworks. When the object authentication is successful, the user terminal 30 transmits a confirmation result notification regarding the return document (the confirmation result of the return document by the owner) to the server device 10.

[0324] The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 verifies the two electronic signatures attached to the return document included in the confirmation result notification. When the verification of the two electronic signatures is successful, it is determined that the return of the artworks is complete. At that time, the certificate control unit 303 may verify the validity of the return document using the ownership certificate of the returned artworks.

[0325] Based on the obtained return form, the certificate control unit 303 generates a return form to be published (published return form). For example, the certificate control unit 303 generates a published return form including the object fingerprint of the art object, the biometric information of the owner, the return destination of the art object (biometric information of the owner), the return date, etc. The certificate control unit 303 generates a transaction including the generated published return form and posts it to the electronic bulletin board (step S74). Note that the certificate control unit 303 searches the user information database using the user ID (return destination of the art object) described in the return form and obtains the corresponding biometric information.

[0326] The server device 10 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the registered return form to the owner (user terminal 30) and the art museum (staff terminal 34) (step S75).

[0327] The user terminal 30 and the staff terminal 34 manage the received transaction ID as the transaction ID of the return form (registered return form).

[0328] In this way, in response to sending a return form confirmation request including the return form to the user terminal 30, the server device 10 receives a confirmation result notification regarding the return form from the user terminal 30. The server device 10 generates a published return form for publicly announcing the return of the art object based on the return form, and writes a transaction including the generated published return form to the electronic bulletin board.

[0329] The server device 10 transmits the transaction ID corresponding to the transaction of the published return form to the user terminal 30 and the staff terminal 34.

[0330] The server device 10 may perform settlement regarding the lending of the art object at the timing when the lending form or the return form is described on the electronic bulletin board. For example, the server device 10 may automatically perform settlement regarding the exhibition fee of the art object.

[0331] The settlement department 306 refers to the latest certificate of title corresponding to the lending document or the return document. When there is one owner described in the certificate of title, the settlement department 306 generates a transfer document for transferring the lending fee (display fee) described in the lending document etc. from the borrower (art museum) to the owner, and conducts the settlement (settles by means of a smart contract).

[0332] When there are multiple owners described in the certificate of title, the settlement department 306 refers to the certificate of title and acquires the total amount of tokens issued for the art object and the owned tokens assigned to each owner. The settlement department 306 calculates the share ratio of each owner using the total token amount and the owned tokens of each owner. The settlement department 306 generates a transfer document for the borrower to distribute and transfer the lending fee according to the share ratio of each owner, and conducts the settlement. Note that the settlement department 306 may settle the display fee using cryptocurrency. That is, the settlement department 306 may pay the display fee using the cryptocurrency held by the art museum. In this way, in the art object management system disclosed in the present application, the settlement of display fees etc. can be completed by means of a mechanism using a blockchain.

[0333] In this way, the server device 10 can equally distribute the display fee (income obtained from the art object) of the lent art object among each owner of the art object.

[0334] Note that in the fifth embodiment, the case of lending an art object to an art museum has been described. When a user lends another item to another person instead of an art object, the above description can also be applied. That is, when precious collectibles or antiques are lent, museums, archives, exhibitions, exhibition venues, bonded warehouses, auction venues, etc. become the borrowers of the above antiques.

[0335] As described above, the art object management system according to the fifth embodiment writes a lending document on an electronic bulletin board and discloses the fact of the lending when the art object is lent to an art museum etc. Similarly, when the art object is returned, a return document is written and disclosed on the electronic bulletin board. The location of the art object becomes clear by such lending documents and return documents. Also, the value of the art object is widely recognized by the disclosure of the lending document.

[0336] [Sixth Embodiment] Next, the sixth embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0337] In the sixth embodiment, the utilization of certificates and the like regarding artworks described on the electronic bulletin board will be described.

[0338] [Division of Object Fingerprints] In the above embodiment, the case where one object fingerprint is collected from one artwork and the object fingerprint is registered on the electronic bulletin board has been described. However, a plurality of object fingerprints may be collected from one artwork and registered on the electronic bulletin board.

[0339] For example, at the time of registering an artwork, the user terminal 30 may send a request to register an artwork including a plurality of object fingerprints (for example, object fingerprints obtained from the four corners of a painting) to the server device 10. In this case, the server device 10 (certificate control unit 303) may generate an ownership certificate in which a plurality of object fingerprints are described and register it on the electronic bulletin board.

[0340] Alternatively, the number of object fingerprints may change according to the change in the number of owners of the artwork. More specifically, the same number of object fingerprints as the number of owners may be described in the ownership certificate. In this case, a user who becomes a new owner in the sale or purchase of an artwork may obtain a dedicated object fingerprint and send it to the server device 10. Specifically, the user terminal 30 obtains an object fingerprint at the timing of confirming a sales contract as shown in FIG. 35 and sends it to the server device 10.

[0341] The server device 10 (transaction control unit 305) associates the obtained object fingerprint with the biometric information of the owner, generates an ownership certificate, and registers it on the electronic bulletin board. For example, the server device 10 generates an ownership certificate as shown in FIG. 47. That is, when an item is jointly owned by a plurality of owners, the server device 10 generates an ownership certificate in which the biometric information and object fingerprint of each owner are associated and described.

[0342] Alternatively, value may be assigned to object fingerprints. For example, the value of an object fingerprint may be determined according to the collection position of the object fingerprint on a work of art. For example, a high value (premium) may be assigned to an object fingerprint collected from a famous work of art at a location (part) that symbolizes the work of art. By assigning value to object fingerprints, the object fingerprints can be utilized as tokens. For example, in the sale and purchase of a work of art, the price of each object fingerprint may be determined according to the collection location of the object fingerprint, and the determined price may be recorded in the ownership certificate as the value of the image token. In this case, an ownership certificate as shown in FIG. 48 is generated. The example of FIG. 48 shows that the ownership of owner 1 is X3 yen and the fact that the ownership of owner 2 was sold at X4 yen.

[0343] When a work of art is jointly owned by multiple owners, the work of art cannot be divided and owned by each owner, but each owner can own the object fingerprint, so the ownership desire of each owner can be satisfied. In addition, since it is also possible to select an object fingerprint (image token) with a high value according to the amount borne by each owner, etc., the satisfaction of the owner with a large financial burden can be increased.

[0344] In addition, when a plurality of object fingerprints are set for one work of art, if the object authentication of each of the plurality of object fingerprints is successful, it may be determined that the object authentication of the work of art is successful, or it may be determined that the object authentication of the work of art is successful by the authentication of some of the object fingerprints.

[0345] [Export of Works of Art] For example, works of art designated as national treasures may be prohibited from being exported abroad. Therefore, the customs and logistics operators commissioned by the customs need to confirm whether the works of art to be exported correspond to the works of art whose export is prohibited.

[0346] In this case, the customs officer operates a customs terminal (not shown) to collect the object fingerprint from the art object subject to inspection. The customs terminal refers to table information including the object fingerprints of art objects prohibited from export, and determines whether the collected object fingerprint is listed in the table. That is, if the object fingerprint of the art object subject to inspection is listed in the list (blacklist), the customs terminal notifies the customs officer that the export of the art object is not possible. In this way, the customs officer or the person in charge of the logistics operator can determine whether the art object subject to inspection falls under the export-prohibited items by using the object fingerprint.

[0347] Alternatively, when the customs officer needs to know the details of the art object (name of the work, price, etc.), the customs officer can obtain the name of the work, price, etc. by transmitting the transaction ID of the certificate of ownership or appraisal certificate of the art object to the electronic bulletin board.

[0348] Note that the customs terminal may request an external server or the like to make a determination using the above blacklist. That is, the customs terminal may transmit the object fingerprint of the exported item to an external server and obtain whether the export is possible from the external server.

[0349] [Reference of history] The user can obtain the history information of the art object by inputting the transaction ID into the electronic bulletin board.

[0350] For example, the user uses a user terminal 30 or the like to input the object fingerprint of the art object for which the user wants to refer to the history information into the electronic bulletin board. The electronic bulletin board (data management system 20) searches the ledger (decentralized ledger) using the object fingerprint and extracts the corresponding transaction. The electronic bulletin board transmits the extracted transaction to the user terminal 30 or the like.

[0351] The user terminal 30 or the like provides the user with information regarding the transfer of rights of the art object by displaying the content of the obtained transaction. For example, the user terminal 30 can provide the user with the change history of the owner regarding a certain art object.

[0352] Next, the hardware of each device constituting the art management system will be described. FIG. 49 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the server device 10.

[0353] The server device 10 can be configured by an information processing device (so-called computer) and has the configuration illustrated in FIG. 49. For example, the server device 10 includes a processor 311, a memory 312, an input / output interface 313, a communication interface 314, and the like. The components such as the processor 311 are connected by an internal bus or the like and are configured to communicate with each other.

[0354] However, the configuration shown in FIG. 49 is not intended to limit the hardware configuration of the server device 10. The server device 10 may include hardware not shown, or may not include the input / output interface 313 if necessary. Also, the number of components such as the processor 311 included in the server device 10 is not intended to be limited to the example shown in FIG. 49. For example, a plurality of processors 311 may be included in the server device 10.

[0355] The processor 311 is, for example, a programmable device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). Alternatively, the processor 311 may be a device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). The processor 311 executes various programs including an operating system (OS; Operating System).

[0356] The memory 312 is a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), or the like. The memory 312 stores an OS program, an application program, and various data.

[0357] The input / output interface 313 is an interface for a display device and an input device (not shown). The display device is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like. The input device is a device that accepts user operations such as a keyboard and a mouse.

[0358] The communication interface 314 is a circuit, a module, or the like that communicates with other devices. For example, the communication interface 314 includes a NIC (Network Interface Card) or the like.

[0359] The functions of the server device 10 are realized by various processing modules. The processing modules are realized, for example, when the processor 311 executes a program stored in the memory 312. Also, the program can be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium can be non-transitory such as a semiconductor memory, a hard disk, a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, etc. That is, the present invention can also be embodied as a computer program product. Also, the above program can be downloaded via a network or updated using a storage medium storing the program. Further, the above processing module may be realized by a semiconductor chip.

[0360] Note that the hardware configurations of various terminals such as the user terminal 30 can be the same as that of the server device 10 and are obvious to those skilled in the art, so the description thereof is omitted.

[0361] The server device 10, which is an information processing device, is equipped with a computer, and the functions of the server device 10 can be realized by causing the computer to execute a program. Similarly, the user terminal 30 and the like are equipped with a computer, and the functions of the user terminal 30 can be realized by causing the computer to execute a program.

[0362] [Modification Example] Note that the configuration, operation, etc. of the art management system described in the above embodiments are examples and are not intended to limit the configuration of the system.

[0363] In the above embodiment, it was described that the right relationship of artworks is disclosed using an electronic bulletin board. However, the object for clarifying the right relationship is not limited to artworks. In the present disclosure, for example, the right relationship of corporeal objects for which object fingerprints can be obtained, such as jewelry, high-class used cars, collectibles, antiques (vintage items), and premium types such as high-class whiskey and wine, can be made the disclosure target. That is, in the present disclosure, at least, it is possible to target all articles that are few in number, maintain a long premium, and are traded at a relatively high price. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the "article" described above can be read as "article". For example, the user terminal 30 may transmit an "article registration request" to the server device 10 and request the server device 10 to perform initial registration of an article.

[0364] In the above embodiment, it was described that the position for collecting the object fingerprint from the artwork is predetermined. However, the position for collecting the object fingerprint may be described in the ownership certificate. In this case, the user terminal 30 transmits an artwork registration request including the position for collecting the object fingerprint (for example, information such as lower left, upper left, bottom surface, etc.) to the server device 10. The server device 10 may generate an ownership certificate including the position for collecting the object fingerprint and write it on the electronic bulletin board. Alternatively, the entity that collects the object fingerprint (for example, the transferee or appraiser) may inquire of the owner about the position for collecting the object fingerprint.

[0365] In the above-described embodiment, it has been explained that the certificate of ownership and the like are written on the electronic bulletin board via the server device 10. However, the user terminal 30 used by the owner of the artwork or the like may directly write the certificate of ownership and the like on the electronic bulletin board. Specifically, the user terminal 30 may generate a certificate of ownership as shown in FIG. 14 and write a transaction including the generated certificate of ownership on the electronic bulletin board. However, in this case, even a user for whom the identity verification by the server device 10 has not been completed can write the certificate of ownership and the like on the electronic bulletin board. Therefore, a user who views the certificate of ownership needs to carefully verify the transaction partner and the legitimacy. For example, the user needs to ask the transaction partner to present identity verification documents such as a passport and conduct transactions with a partner whose identity has been verified.

[0366] Alternatively, the certificate of ownership generated by the server device 10 and written on the electronic bulletin board and the certificate of ownership generated by the user and directly written on the electronic bulletin board may be configured to be distinguishable. In this case, the user (user terminal 30) who uses the certificate of ownership may select a verification method for the certificate of ownership according to the type of the certificate of ownership.

[0367] In the above embodiment, it has been described that a transaction including the user's biometric information (feature amount) is written on the electronic bulletin board. However, in practice, it is sufficient if information substantially equivalent to the biometric information is written on the electronic bulletin board. Specifically, the server device 10 or an external server different from the server device 10 may convert it into a unique ID (biometric information ID) determined from the user's biometric information, and a certificate of ownership or the like including the converted ID may be written on the electronic bulletin board. That is, the server device 10 may write the biometric information such as the above-described certificate of ownership on the electronic bulletin board by replacing it with a "biometric information ID". Further, in this case, when verifying the certificate of ownership on the viewer terminal 31 or the like, the viewer terminal 31 may transmit the biometric information ID obtained from the certificate of ownership or the like to the server device 10 or an external server and acquire the corresponding biometric information. The viewer terminal 31 may execute biometric authentication using the biometric information acquired from the server device 10 or the like and the biometric information acquired from the owner in front of it. By such correspondence, it is possible to prevent the biometric information, which is sensitive personal information, from being directly disclosed by the electronic bulletin board.

[0368] In the first embodiment, it has been described that the user registers before registering the ownership of the artwork. However, the user registration may not be performed. For example, when users whose identities have been confirmed in advance, such as employees of a company or residents of a municipality, are system users, the above user registration is unnecessary.

[0369] In the first embodiment, it has been described that the user (the applicant for registration of ownership) is authenticated when registering the ownership of the artwork. However, the authentication may not be performed. For example, at the time of an artwork transaction, the above authentication may be performed when verifying the legitimacy of the owner. For example, the transferee of an artwork may transmit the biometric information of the transferor to the server device 10 and, after succeeding in authentication using the biometric information, perform verification using the certificate of ownership (verification regarding the legitimacy of the transferor).

[0370] In the second embodiment, it was explained that the owner of the artwork writes a certificate of authenticity or a restoration certificate on the electronic bulletin board via the server device 10. However, an appraiser or restorer may generate a public certificate of authenticity or a public restoration certificate and write these documents on the electronic bulletin board.

[0371] Also, in the second embodiment, it was explained that the server device 10 verifies the existence of a certificate of ownership regarding the artwork to be appraised at the time of registering a public certificate of authenticity or the like. However, such verification may not be performed. Such verification may be performed by a subject (e.g., a transferee) who refers to the certificate of authenticity or the like. For example, the transferee (user terminal 30) may start a transaction when the three object fingerprints obtained from the artwork in front, the object fingerprint described in the certificate of ownership, and the object fingerprint described in the certificate of authenticity match.

[0372] In the second embodiment, it was explained that the object fingerprint of the artwork is included in the public certificate of authenticity or the public restoration certificate. However, if the object fingerprint is described in the appraisal result of the public certificate of authenticity or the restoration content of the public restoration certificate, the object fingerprint may not be described in the above public certificate of authenticity or the like.

[0373] In the second embodiment, it was explained that an electronic signature is attached to the certificate of authenticity using the private key corresponding to the electronic certificate issued by the organization for the qualification (appraiser qualification, etc.) recognized by the appraisal association or the like, and the certificate of authenticity is registered when the verification of the signature is successful. That is, it was explained that the certificate of authenticity is registered after verifying the qualification of an appraiser or the like with an electronic signature such as an association-approved card. However, in the artwork management system disclosed in the present application, the public key for verifying the electronic signature attached to the certificate of authenticity may be described on the electronic bulletin board so that anyone can determine the authenticity of the certificate of authenticity itself. That is, the artwork management system may guarantee the authenticity of the certificate of authenticity itself with the public key disclosed on the electronic bulletin board while guaranteeing the qualification of an appraiser or the like by biometric authentication.

[0374] In the third embodiment, it was explained that the server device 10 verifies the validity of the sales contract when buying and selling artworks. However, it is not necessary to perform such verification of the validity of the sales contract. For example, such verification may not be performed when buying and selling low-value artworks or the like.

[0375] In the third embodiment, the case where the ownership of an artwork is transferred by sale was explained. However, the ownership of an artwork may also be transferred by inheritance or gift. For example, when an artwork is gifted, similar to the sale of an artwork, the donor and the donee may jointly generate a gift contract and send it to the server device 10. The server device 10 may generate a certificate of ownership from the gift contract and write it on the electronic bulletin board. In the case of inheritance of an artwork, the decedent sends documents indicating that the inheritance was properly conducted (for example, a probate agreement), the decedent's biometric information, and the object fingerprint of the artwork to the server device 10. After verifying the probate agreement or the like, the server device 10 generates a certificate of ownership including the decedent's biometric information and writes it on the electronic bulletin board.

[0376] In the fourth embodiment, it was explained that the server device 10 generates a certificate of ownership including the total token amount. However, the total token amount does not have to be described in the certificate of ownership. That is, since the total token amount can be calculated by adding up the ownership tokens and the pursuit tokens described in the certificate of ownership. However, if the total token amount is predetermined, it is possible to easily calculate the share ratio of each owner or the like when the number of owners and pursuers is large. In the fifth embodiment, the case of generating a certificate of ownership that does not include the total token amount was explained. However, for the same reason as above, a certificate of ownership including the total token amount may be generated.

[0377] In the above fifth embodiment, the lending of artworks was described. The fact that an artwork has been lent to a famous art museum (especially the fact that it has been lent for a long period) has the effect of enhancing the value of the artwork. Therefore, the owner of the artwork publicly discloses the fact of the lending using an electronic bulletin board (blockchain). At that time, the art museum (the staff of the art museum) may provide the owner with information regarding the artwork (meta information; for example, the ID of a research paper created by the art museum). The owner (user terminal 30) may generate a lending document including the meta information and write it on the electronic bulletin board via the server device 10. Such meta information also contributes to the enhancement of the value of the artwork.

[0378] In the above embodiment, it was described that profits are distributed based on the ownership tokens of each owner of the artwork. The ownership tokens may be used to determine the cost bearing of the artwork. For example, the user terminal 30 of the owner who paid the cost transmits the cost spent on the artwork to the server device 10 together with the transaction ID of the ownership certificate. The settlement unit 306 of the server device 10 calculates the cost borne by each owner according to the share ratio of each owner described in the ownership certificate. Thereafter, the settlement unit 306 generates a transfer document for transferring the cost corresponding to the share of other owners to the owner who paid in advance, and performs the cost settlement.

[0379] The tokens described above may be treated as voting rights for artworks. For example, when deciding whether to lend an artwork to an art museum or the like, it may be determined according to the ownership tokens assigned to each owner. In this case, each owner (user terminal 30) of the artwork transmits a lending document registration request regarding the lending target to the server device 10. The server device 10 (certificate control unit 303) treats the owner who transmitted the lending document registration request as being in favor of the lending of the artwork, and calculates the total of the ownership tokens of those in favor. If the total value of the calculated ownership tokens exceeds a majority, the server device 10 determines that the lending of the artwork has been voted on, and performs subsequent processing (such as contract confirmation with the art museum).

[0380] Alternatively, the ownership certificate may record multiple types of tokens according to the purpose of use. For example, tokens such as decision tokens related to decision-making and revenue tokens for distributing revenue (expenses) may be recorded in the ownership certificate. In this case, the user (user terminal 30) may record the types of the above tokens (decision tokens, revenue tokens, etc.) and their shares (allocations) in the sales contract. The certificate control unit 303 of the server device 10 generates an ownership certificate according to the sales contract. Also, each processing module of the server device 10 may determine the cost burden, etc. according to the types of tokens recorded in the ownership certificate and their allocations. In this way, in the art management system disclosed in the present application, tokens for revenue distribution of artworks and tokens for making decisions regarding the handling of artworks can be set.

[0381] In the above embodiment, it has been described that a face image is transmitted from the user terminal 30 or the like to the server device 10, but a feature amount generated from the face image may be transmitted from the user terminal 30 to the server device 10.

[0382] The form of data transmission and reception between each device (server device 10, user terminal 30) is not particularly limited, but the data transmitted and received between these devices may be encrypted. Between these devices, biometric information and the like are transmitted and received, and in order to appropriately protect this information, it is desirable that encrypted data is transmitted and received.

[0383] In the above embodiment, the case where a user information database is configured inside the server device 10 has been described, but the database may be constructed in an external database server or the like. Also, some functions of the server device 10 may be implemented in another server or the like. More specifically, as long as the "certificate control unit (certificate control means)", "sales control unit (sales control means)", etc. described above are implemented in any device included in the system.

[0384] In the flowcharts (flowcharts, sequence diagrams) used in the above description, a plurality of steps (processes) are described in order, but the execution order of the steps executed in the embodiment is not limited to the order of the description. In the embodiment, for example, the order of the illustrated steps can be changed within a range that does not substantially affect the content, such as executing each process in parallel.

[0385] The above embodiments have been described in detail for the purpose of facilitating understanding of the present disclosure, and it is not intended that all the configurations described above are necessary. Also, when a plurality of embodiments are described, each embodiment may be used alone or in combination. For example, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, or to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, or replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of the embodiment.

[0386] From the above description, the industrial applicability of the present invention is clear, and the present invention is suitably applicable to, for example, a management system for artworks such as paintings and jewels.

[0387] Some or all of the above embodiments may be described as follows in the appended claims, but are not limited thereto. [Appendix 1] A user terminal that acquires an object fingerprint of an article and biometric information of the owner of the article; A plurality of ledger nodes that provide an electronic bulletin board; comprising The user terminal writes a certificate of ownership including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to the electronic bulletin board. [Appendix 2] further comprising a server device, The user terminal transmits at least an article registration request including the object fingerprint of the article and the biometric information of the owner to the server device. The server device generates the ownership certificate based on the information included in the article registration request, writes a first transaction including the generated ownership certificate to the electronic bulletin board, and transmits a first transaction ID corresponding to the first transaction to the user terminal, the system described in Supplementary Note 1. [Supplementary Note 3] The system further includes a viewer terminal that reads out the ownership certificate corresponding to the first transaction ID from the electronic bulletin board, The viewer terminal performs object authentication using the object fingerprint acquired from the article to be verified and the object fingerprint described in the ownership certificate, and biometric authentication using the biometric information acquired from the person to be verified and the biometric information described in the ownership certificate, and determines that the article and person to be verified are legitimate when the object authentication and the biometric authentication are successful, the system described in Supplementary Note 2. [Supplementary Note 4] The server device includes a user information database that stores the biometric information of each of a plurality of users for whom identity verification has been completed, and generates the ownership certificate when authentication using the biometric information included in the article registration request and the biometric information stored in the user information database is successful, the system described in Supplementary Note 2 or 3. [Supplementary Note 5] The user terminal displays information about the article and the first transaction ID corresponding to the ownership certificate, the system described in any one of Supplementary Notes 2 to 4. [Supplementary Note 6] The system further includes a staff terminal used by the staff of the borrower of the article, The user terminal generates a loan contract for the loan of the article, transmits a loan registration request including the generated loan contract to the server device, The server device receives a confirmation result notification regarding the loan contract in response to transmitting a loan contract confirmation request including the loan contract to the staff terminal, Generate a public lending document for publicizing the lending of the article based on the loan contract, and write a second transaction including the generated public lending document to the electronic bulletin board. The system according to any one of Appendices 2 to 5. [Appendix 7] The server device transmits a second transaction ID corresponding to the second transaction to the user terminal and the staff terminal. The system according to Appendix 6. [Appendix 8] The user terminal Transmits the loan registration request including the loan contract and the first transaction ID to the server device. The server device transmits the loan contract confirmation request including the loan contract and the first transaction ID to the staff terminal. The staff terminal reads the ownership certificate corresponding to the first transaction ID from the electronic bulletin board, and when the object authentication using the object fingerprint obtained from the lent article and the object fingerprint described in the ownership certificate is successful, transmits a confirmation result notification regarding the loan contract to the server device. The system according to Appendix 6 or 7. [Appendix 9] The staff terminal Generates a return document regarding the return of the article, and transmits a return document registration request including the generated return document to the server device. The server device Receives a confirmation result notification regarding the return document in response to transmitting a return document confirmation request including the return document to the user terminal, generates a public return document for publicizing the return of the article based on the return document, and writes a third transaction including the generated public return document to the electronic bulletin board. The system according to any one of Appendices 6 to 8. [Appendix 10] The server device transmits a third transaction ID corresponding to the third transaction to the user terminal and the staff terminal. The system according to Appendix 9. [Appendix 11] The user terminal When object authentication is successful using the object fingerprint obtained from the returned item and the object fingerprint described in the ownership certificate corresponding to the lent item, a confirmation result notification regarding the return slip is transmitted to the server device. The system according to Supplementary Note 9 or 10. [Supplementary Note 12] The plurality of ledger nodes provide the electronic bulletin board in which any entity can add information, can read the written information, and the information once written is not erased or tampered with. The system according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 11. [Supplementary Note 13] At the user terminal, Obtain the object fingerprint of the item and the biometric information of the owner of the item, A control method for a user terminal that writes an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the item and the biometric information of the owner to an electronic bulletin board. [Supplementary Note 14] On the computer mounted on the user terminal, A process of obtaining the object fingerprint of the item and the biometric information of the owner of the item, A process of writing an ownership certificate including the object fingerprint of the item and the biometric information of the owner to an electronic bulletin board, A program for executing the above.

[0388] Note that each disclosure of the above-cited prior art documents is incorporated herein by reference. As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that these embodiments are merely illustrative and that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. That is, the present invention naturally includes all disclosures including the claims, various modifications and corrections that can be made by those skilled in the art according to the technical idea.

Explanation of Signs

[0389] 10 Server device 20 Data management system 21 Ledger node 30 User terminal 31 Viewer terminal 32 Appraiser terminal 33 Restorer terminal 34 Staff terminal 101 User terminal 102 Ledger node 201 Communication control unit 202 User registration request unit 203 Artwork registration unit 204 Artwork information providing unit 205 Memory unit 206 Appraisal certificate registration unit 207 Restoration certificate registration unit 208 Certificate verification unit 209 Buying and selling management unit 210 Leasing management unit 301 Communication control unit 302 User registration unit 303 Certificate control unit 304 Memory unit 305 Buying and selling control unit 306 Settlement unit 311 Processor 312 Memory 313 Input / output interface 314 Communication interface 401 Communication control unit 402 Certificate verification unit 403 Memory unit 501 Communication control unit 502 Leasing management unit 503 Memory unit

Claims

When the author of an item sets a right of recourse on the item, a means for obtaining from the author a reduction rate to be set on the item; When the item is transferred from the author to a first user, in response to receiving a first ownership transfer registration request including a first sales contract regarding the sale between the author and the first user and bearing the electronic signature of the author from a first terminal used by the author, a means for transmitting a first sales contract confirmation request including the first sales contract to a second terminal used by the first user; Upon receiving a first confirmation result notification including the first sales contract bearing the electronic signatures of the author and the first user from the second terminal, and upon successful verification of the electronic signatures of the author and the first user attached to the first sales contract, a means for writing to a blockchain a first ownership certificate of the item with the first user as the owner and the author of the item as the claimant, the first ownership certificate including a biometric information of the first user, a biometric information of the author, an ownership token indicating the share of ownership of the item by the owner determined based on the reduction rate set on the item, and a recourse token assigned to the claimant; When the item is transferred from the first user to a second user, in response to receiving a second ownership transfer registration request including a second sales contract regarding the sale between the first user and the second user and bearing the electronic signature of the first user from the second terminal used by the first user, a means for transmitting a second sales contract confirmation request including the second sales contract to a third terminal used by the second user; Receiving a second confirmation result notification including the second sales contract with the electronic signatures of the first user and the second user from the third terminal, and upon successful verification of the electronic signatures of the first user and the second user attached to the second sales contract, obtaining the first ownership certificate written in the blockchain, and using the obtained first ownership certificate as an ownership certificate of the item with the second user as the owner and the author of the item as the claimant, wherein the biometric information of the first user is rewritten to the biometric information of the second user, and the ownership token of the first user is rewritten to a second ownership certificate set for the second user, and writing the second ownership certificate to the blockchain; Means for calculating an amount to be paid to the claimant based on the ratio of the claimant token to the sum of the ownership token and the claimant token in response to the transfer of the item from the first user to the second user; An item management system using a blockchain, comprising:

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