Event certification system
The event certification system addresses the challenge of proving events by issuing NFTs with certification information, enabling independent validation of actions and facts through settlement actions.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- NOMURA RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- Filing Date
- 2022-10-13
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-16
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies struggle to prove events, actions, or facts that do not have inherent value independently of the exchange of goods or values, such as ownership of a painting or supporting a painter, as NFTs are typically associated with objects and not events themselves.
An event certification system that captures settlement actions related to events and issues Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) containing certification information, allowing proof of these events to a third party.
Enables independent proof of events to a third party by converting event-related information into NFTs, thereby validating actions like ownership or support without requiring the transfer of goods or value.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to a technology for proof using NFT (Non-Fungible Token), and particularly to a technology effective for applying to an event proof system for proving events, actions, facts, etc.
Background Art
[0002] The use of NFT (Non-Fungible Token), a technology for realizing unique and non-fungible data units on a blockchain, is rapidly expanding. By using NFT, it becomes possible to claim, prove, and identify unique rights, etc. in the digital space. Also, since the ownership of the underlying NFT cannot be copied or forged, and it is possible to send, transfer, and track the value itself, various mechanisms that utilize such characteristics are being studied.
[0003] For example, Japanese Patent No. 7033352 (Patent Document 1) describes an art work trading management device that performs listing registration of an art work for which a listing request has been made by an artist who is a registered user, and an ownership token (NFT) management device that issues an ownership token (NFT) corresponding to the listed art work and offers the issued ownership token to a blockchain network.
[0004] Also, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2022-`35296 (Patent Document 2) describes a reservation system in which a server implementing a smart contract on a blockchain platform issues and transfers a first token representing a reservation of a parking lot, issues and transfers a second token representing a carpool reservation to a vehicle destined for the parking lot, amortizes the second token when carpooling to the vehicle is performed, and amortizes the first token when parking at the parking lot is performed.
[0005] Furthermore, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7093487 (Patent Document 3) describes a system that manages information about a product and enables lifelong management of a product from the time of purchase until it is discarded by requesting the issuance of an NFT that includes the product's purchaser information and the product's serial number, thereby reliably associating the true owner of the product with the product. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]
[0006] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 7033352 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-35296 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 7093487 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]
[0007] According to the conventional technologies described above, NFTs can be used to prove the existence and content of ownership rights, usage rights, and other rights or values of objects (including digital content), and to track their transfer. In this case, for example, with respect to a painting, the NFT associated with it can prove the current location of rights such as ownership and usage rights, as well as the history of past transfers.
[0008] On the other hand, for example, if the owner of the painting were to part with it, the fact that they owned the painting could be recorded as a history on an NFT associated with the painting, but if the person does not possess an NFT, it would be difficult for them to prove that fact themselves, and in real life, there are often no NFTs associated with the object in question. In other words, there is a need for a means of proving to a third party events, actions, facts, etc. (in the above example, the fact that one owned the painting, not ownership of the painting) that do not have value on their own, independently of the exchange of goods or values.
[0009] Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide an event certification system that can prove to a third party events, actions, facts, etc. (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "events") that do not have value on their own, independently of the exchange of goods or values.
[0010] The aforementioned and other objectives and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from this specification and the accompanying drawings. [Means for solving the problem]
[0011] A brief overview of some of the representative inventions disclosed in this application is as follows:
[0012] A representative embodiment of the present invention is an event certification system that presents certification information to prove the existence of an event relating to a user, and comprises: a UI processing unit that provides a user interface to a user terminal used by the user for actions such as purchasing goods related to an event that may be subject to certification by the user; a settlement processing unit that performs settlements related to an event that may be subject to certification; a certification processing unit that determines whether an event related to a settlement completed by the settlement processing unit is subject to certification, and if it is subject to certification, collects certification information relating to the event; and a wallet management unit that attaches the certification information to attribute information and issues an NFT to the user's wallet on the blockchain. [Effects of the Invention]
[0013] The effects obtained by some of the representative inventions disclosed in this application can be briefly explained as follows:
[0014] In other words, according to a typical embodiment of the present invention, it becomes possible to prove to a third party an event that has no value in itself, independent of the exchange of goods or value. [Brief explanation of the drawing]
[0015] [Figure 1] This figure outlines an example configuration of an event certification system, which is one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This flowchart outlines an example of the event verification process flow in one embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]
[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. In all the drawings for explaining the embodiments, the same parts are generally denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof are omitted. On the other hand, for the parts described with reference numerals in a certain drawing, they will not be shown again in the explanation of other drawings, but may be referred to with the same reference numerals.
[0017] <Summary> An event certification system according to an embodiment of the present invention makes it possible to prove an event to a third party independently of the transfer of goods or value by NFTizing information related to an event (for example, not the ownership of a painting but the fact that one has owned the painting) that has no value by itself.
[0018] By showing the above NFT to a third party, for example, in the case of the above painting example, even after the owner has released the painting, it is possible to prove the fact that the owner has purchased and owned the painting, and thus prove the fact that the owner has supported the painting or the painter. Also, as another specific example, for example, even after a purchased lottery ticket wins and is exchanged for a prize money, it is possible to prove that one is a fan of the winning horse, or it is possible to prove later that one has made a certain donation. It is also possible to prove that one is a repeater of a specific manufacturer, and the manufacturer can narrow down customers when providing special services to excellent customers. Furthermore, for example, in real estate transactions where there may be a time lag from the payment of the purchase price to the actual delivery of the goods, it is also conceivable to use it to prove that the purchase price has been paid and eliminate fraud.
[0019] As can be seen from these examples, all of them involve settlement actions such as payment by the user related to the provable event. By capturing this settlement action and issuing an NFT in a form that includes proof information such as a memo regarding the settlement target, event content, etc., it is possible to identify and prove the event.
[0020] <System Configuration> FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a configuration example of an event certification system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The event certification system 1 is composed of, for example, a server device, a virtual server constructed on a cloud computing service, a PC, etc., and by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) not shown in the figure, from a recording device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive) onto the memory, an OS (Operating System), a DBMS (DataBase Management System), middleware such as a Web server program, and software operating thereon are executed to realize various functions related to the certification of events by the user 2.
[0021] This event certification system 1 has, for example, each part such as a user interface (UI) processing unit 11, a settlement processing unit 12, a certification processing unit 13, and a wallet management unit 14 implemented as software. In the example of FIG. 1, these components are shown as if they are implemented on one server system, but this is a logical expression, and in reality, some or all of these components may be implemented as individual servers, systems, services, etc., respectively, and may be configured in a form of cooperation via a network not shown in the figure.
[0022] The UI processing unit 11 has the function of providing a user interface to user terminals 21, such as smartphones and PCs, owned by user 2, for actions such as purchasing, donating, and making other payments or settlements related to events that may be subject to verification by user 2. For example, it can provide a screen that allows user 2 to perform various selections of goods, etc., and payment operations via a dedicated application (not shown) or a web browser installed on the user terminal 21. The process for selecting and purchasing goods, etc., is the same as that of existing e-commerce sites, so the details will not be explained in detail, but it may be implemented independently in the event verification system 1, or it may be configured to link with an external e-commerce site, etc. Furthermore, as will be described later, it may also provide a screen for accessing and inquiring about the wallet 41 that manages user 2's NFTs.
[0023] The settlement processing unit 12 has the function of processing settlements such as payments and donations related to events that may be subject to certification. For example, it connects to payment systems and payment services of external financial institutions 3 via a network (not shown) and functions as an interface for issuing payment instructions and requests, obtaining processing results, and querying them. As a means of payment, it is not limited to those provided by financial institutions 3, such as cash transfers and remittances or credit cards, but can also use any means, such as various point services or virtual currencies (crypto assets) on the blockchain 4.
[0024] The certification processing unit 13 has the function of determining, based on the conditions registered in the NFT issuance conditions 15, whether or not the event related to the payment is subject to certification when the payment made via the payment processing unit 12 is completed, and if so, acquiring and collecting information for certification. The NFT issuance conditions 15 may be set and registered in advance by, for example, user 2, the seller of goods, or the administrator of the event certification system 1, or user 2 may specify them each time a payment is made.
[0025] NFT issuance condition 15 registers the conditions for determining whether the event related to the payment is eligible for certification, that is, whether the payment is eligible for NFT issuance. Various values can be set for this condition, such as attribute information of the purchased product (ID information, type, etc.), attribute information of user 2 who made the purchase (ID information, age, gender, registration plan, whether or not they are a Web3 user, etc.), attribute information of the product seller (ID information, industry, registration plan, etc.), and information related to the details of the purchase and payment (payment date and time, payment method, payment amount, number of times the product or service has been purchased, number of times purchased from the same seller, etc.).
[0026] Information used to certify an event may include, for example, descriptive information about goods or services provided by providers or intermediaries of goods or services, or providers of payment methods. This descriptive information is equivalent to a "testimony" about the event by these providers and may include, for example, information posted on the website providing the goods or services, or any other information such as descriptions or notes entered by the providers. In addition to or instead of this, an electronic signature by the event certification system 1 (more specifically, the NFT issuer) may be used. For example, information equivalent to a testimony may be issued in the format of an OpenID Connect ID token, an assertion format used in SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), or a Verifiable Credentials format.
[0027] The wallet management unit 14 manages the user 2's account (wallet 41) on blockchain 4, issues NFTs related to event proof to wallet 41, and has the function of querying and presenting NFTs held in wallet 41 to third parties. When issuing NFTs related to event proof, the smart contract function of blockchain 4 is used to attach the proof information acquired and collected by the proof processing unit 13 to the attribute information. By presenting the NFT (and the proof information attached as attribute information), the existence of the event related to the proof information can be proven.
[0028] User 2 can access their wallet 41 by accessing the wallet management unit 14 via the UI processing unit 11 and registering and identifying their account (wallet 41) address in advance. The method of accessing the wallet 41 also differs depending on the specifications of blockchain 4. In the case of a third-party managed wallet (online managed, online wallet), access is made through a management unit such as the wallet management unit 14 as described above, but in the case of a self-managed wallet (locally managed), access is made directly from the user terminal 21 to the wallet 41 without going through the wallet management unit 14, etc.
[0029] <Processing flow> Figure 2 is a flowchart outlining an example of the event verification process flow in one embodiment of the present invention. First, user 2 accesses the UI processing unit 11 via user terminal 21 and selects a product or service related to some event, such as purchasing a painting or betting ticket, or making a donation, and requests the purchase, etc., and the UI processing unit 11 performs the processing related to the purchase, etc. (S01). Then, by further requesting settlement or payment, the settlement processing unit 12 performs the settlement process (S02).
[0030] Once the payment processing is complete, the certification processing unit 13 determines whether the event related to the payment is subject to certification by user 2 (S03). As described above, the determination may be made based on conditions set in advance by user 2 or the seller of the goods, etc., or based on instructions from user 2 regarding the payment. If it is determined that the event is not subject to certification, the event certification process is terminated.
[0031] On the other hand, if it is determined that the event is the one to be certified, the certification processing unit 13 obtains certification information to be used to certify the event (S04). As described above, it is also possible to accept input such as explanations and notes from the provider of the purchased goods, the provider of the payment method, etc. After that, the wallet management unit 14 assigns the certification information obtained in step S04 as an attribute value of the NFT using the smart contract function of the blockchain 4, issues the NFT related to the event to the wallet 41 (S05), and ends the event certification process.
[0032] In this case, if the owner of the account issuing the NFT (deploying the NFT's smart contract) is different from the person (individual or organization) who lends credibility to the proof, the NFT's attribute value may include not only the proof itself but also a signature using a private key independently held by the person lending credibility. That is, if a provider of goods or a provider of payment methods independently holds the private key s of a paired key cryptography, the signature algorithm Sign can be used to calculate Sign(s,p) for the proof p, and this calculation result can be added as an attribute value of the NFT. However, under conditions such as the person lending credibility to the proof being the same as the owner of the account issuing the NFT, the operation of registering the signature, i.e., Sign(s,p), as an attribute value of the NFT may be omitted.
[0033] In step S01 described above, the user 2 accesses the UI processing unit 11 via the user terminal 21 when performing purchase-related processing. As explained above, the UI processing unit 11 can cooperate with external e-commerce sites, but the configuration is not limited to this.
[0034] For example, in the process where user 2 directly accesses an e-commerce site using a web browser (not shown) on user terminal 21 and selects and purchases goods, an object such as a checkbox is provided on the purchase screen of the e-commerce site that allows user 2 to request proof of an event. If user 2 requests proof of an event when purchasing goods, the e-commerce site accepts the request, and after the settlement process with financial institution 3 is completed, it sends a request for event proof (NFT issuance) including the information necessary for event proof to the event proof system 1 via an API, etc., and then performs the processing of steps S04 and S05 described above.
[0035] In this configuration, at least some of the functions of the UI processing unit 11 and payment processing unit 12 in Figure 1 will be provided in the external e-commerce site's system and will not need to be provided in the event certification system 1. Alternatively, instead of user 2 registering their account (wallet 41) information with the event certification system 1, the wallet 41 information may be registered in the user 2's membership information on the e-commerce site, and when the e-commerce site sends an event certification request to the event certification system 1 via API, the wallet 41 information may also be sent, and the event certification system 1 may use this information to perform processing on the blockchain 4 (NFT issuance).
[0036] Instead of user 2 registering account (wallet 41) information, the EC site or event certification system 1 may issue a new wallet 41 and use the information in that wallet 41 to perform processing on the blockchain 4 (NFT issuance). In this case, the wallet 41 information may be sent to user 2 in the final step of the event certification process, and the user terminal 21 may use the received wallet 41 information to query the blockchain 41 and obtain event certification information (NFT).
[0037] In the example above, a new wallet 41 was issued to issue an NFT, but a new wallet 41 may be issued each time goods are purchased or an NFT is issued, or the same wallet 41 may be used to issue subsequent NFTs for the same user 2. In any case, since multiple NFTs will exist if user 2 issues multiple NFTs or uses multiple similar e-commerce sites, it is desirable for the application on the user terminal 21 or the e-commerce site to store information in the multiple wallets 41 issued to user 2.
[0038] In this embodiment, the wallet management unit 14 queries and presents NFTs held in the wallet 41 to third parties. However, as described above, the user terminal 21 may also directly query the blockchain 4 using the information received from the wallet 41 to obtain event proof information (NFTs). Alternatively, the user 2 may attach an object (such as a link or button) for querying NFTs to content posted on external content provision sites such as blogs, Instagram®, and YouTube®. When a user viewing this content clicks on the object, the target external content provision site may query the NFTs using the information held in the wallet 41 associated with the object, and send and display the query results to the user.
[0039] As described above, according to the event certification system 1, which is one embodiment of the present invention, by capturing settlement transactions performed as or incidentally to an event to be certified, and issuing NFTs that include certification information such as memos regarding the subject of settlement and the content of the event, it becomes possible to convert event-related information, which itself has no value, into NFTs, and to certify the event to a third party independently of the exchange of goods or value.
[0040] The present inventors have described the invention in detail based on embodiments above, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified in various ways without departing from its essence. Furthermore, the above embodiments are described in detail for the purpose of explaining the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner and are not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, or replace some of the configurations of the above embodiments with other configurations.
[0041] Furthermore, each of the above configurations, functions, processing units, and processing means may be implemented in hardware, in whole or in part, for example, by designing them as integrated circuits. Alternatively, each of the above configurations, functions, and means may be implemented in software by having the processor interpret and execute programs that implement each function. Information such as programs, tables, and files that implement each function can be stored in memory, hard disks, SSDs, or other recording devices, or in recording media such as IC cards, SD cards, or DVDs.
[0042] Furthermore, in the diagrams above, the control lines and information lines shown are those deemed necessary for explanation and do not necessarily represent all control lines and information lines that would be present in the actual implementation. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected. [Industrial applicability]
[0043] This invention can be used in event certification systems that prove events, actions, facts, etc. [Explanation of Symbols]
[0044] 1…Event verification system, 2…Users, 3…Financial institutions, 4…Blockchain, 11...UI processing unit, 12...Payment processing unit, 13...Certification processing unit, 14...Wallet management unit, 15...NFT issuance conditions, 21... User terminal, 41…Wallet
Claims
1. An event certification system that presents proof information to prove the existence of an event related to a user, A UI processing unit provides a user interface to the user terminal used by the user, which is related to payment transactions by the user, including the purchase or donation of goods or services related to the event. A settlement processing unit that performs the processing related to the aforementioned settlement transaction, A certification processing unit determines whether an event related to the payment transaction, which has been processed by the payment processing unit, is subject to certification, based on one or more of the following: attribute information including the type of goods or services, attribute information of the user, attribute information of the provider or intermediary of the goods or services, and information related to the content of the payment transaction. If it is subject to certification, the certification processing unit obtains, as certification information related to the event, the descriptive information set by the provider or intermediary of the goods or services, or the provider of the payment method related to the payment transaction, when providing the goods or services, from the website providing the goods or services. A wallet management unit that assigns the aforementioned certification information to the attribute information of an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) and issues the NFT to the user's wallet on the blockchain, An event certification system having the following features.
2. In the event certification system described in claim 1, The aforementioned certification information includes an event certification system, which includes a memo entered by the provider of the goods or services purchased by the user.
3. In the event certification system described in claim 1, The aforementioned certification information is an event certification system that includes an electronic signature by the issuer of the aforementioned NFT.