Server device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

To provide a server device for generating information of a supply chain.SOLUTION: A server device includes: a storage device for storing product information of products of each company included in a supply chain according to each of the company, and a control part. The supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, and between companies of two adjacent layers, an upstream company and a downstream company are defined. The control part is configured to execute: receiving, from an account of the upstream company, a permission command including designation of a downstream company that is permitted to access to first product information of upstream products of the upstream company; receiving, from an account of the downstream company, an association request including selection of the first product information to be associated with second product information of downstream products of the downstream company, out of the first product information to which the access has been permitted; and in response to the received association request, generating association information representing an association relation designated by the association request.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to a supply chain. [Background technology]

[0002] Systems for sharing information among multiple companies that make up a supply chain are known. In this regard, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system for sharing product information among adjacent suppliers. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-171146 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0004] This disclosure is intended to collect information related to the supply chain. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] One embodiment of the present disclosure is: A server device having a storage device that stores product information for each company included in the supply chain, and a control unit, wherein the supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, and upstream and downstream companies are defined between each pair of adjacent layers of companies, the storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company and a second storage area shared between the upstream and downstream companies, the product information of each company is stored in the first storage area of ​​the corresponding company, and the control unit receives authorization commands from the upstream company's account, including the designation of the downstream company that is authorized to access the first product information relating to the upstream products of the upstream company. The server device is configured to perform the following actions in response to the received authorization command: copy the first product information from a first storage area dedicated to the upstream company to a second storage area shared between the designated downstream company and the upstream company; receive a linking request from the downstream company's account, which includes selecting first product information from the first product information stored in the second storage area that is authorized for access and to be linked to the second product information relating to the downstream company's downstream products; and generate linking information indicating the linking relationship specified by the linking request in response to the received linking request.

[0006] One embodiment of the present disclosure is: An information processing method executed by a server device that stores product information about products of each company included in a supply chain in a storage device for each company, wherein the supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, and upstream and downstream companies are defined between companies in each of two adjacent layers, and the storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company, and a second storage area shared between the upstream and downstream companies, The product information of each company is stored in the first storage area of ​​the corresponding company; the company receives an authorization command from the upstream company's account, which includes designating the downstream company that is permitted to access the first product information relating to the upstream company's upstream products; in response to the received authorization command, the company copies the first product information from the first storage area, which is exclusively for the upstream company, to a second storage area shared between the designated downstream company and the upstream company; and the company receives an authorization command from the downstream company's account, which includes designating the downstream company that is permitted to access the first product information relating to the downstream products of the downstream company, which is stored in the second storage area. The information processing method includes the steps of: receiving a linking request that includes the selection of first product information to be linked; and generating linking information that indicates the linking relationship specified by the linking request in response to the received linking request.

[0007] One embodiment of the present disclosure is: A program for causing an information processing device of a target company, which can communicate with a server device equipped with a storage device that stores product information for each company included in the supply chain, to execute an information processing method, wherein the supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, and upstream and downstream companies are defined between companies in each of two adjacent layers, the storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company and a second storage area shared between the upstream and downstream companies, the product information of each company is stored in the first storage area of ​​the corresponding company, and the information processing method treats the target company as the upstream company and the first product information of the target company's first target product The program includes the steps of: sending an authorization command to the server device, which includes designating a downstream company of the target company that is permitted to access the information; causing the server device to copy the first product information from the first storage area of ​​the target company to a second storage area shared between the designated downstream company and the target company, in response to the authorization command; and sending a linking request to the server device, which includes selecting product information to be linked to the second product information relating to the target company's second target product from among the product information that the upstream company of the target company is permitted to access to the target company.

[0008] Other embodiments include a program for causing a computer to execute the above method, or a computer-readable storage medium that non-temporarily stores the program. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to this disclosure, information regarding the supply chain can be collected. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0010] [Figure 1] A diagram illustrating the supply chain according to the first embodiment. [Figure 2] A diagram illustrating the relationships between products supplied through a supply chain. [Figure 3]A diagram showing an overview of the processes performed between the enterprise terminal and the server device. [Figure 4] Hardware configuration diagram of the server device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] Hardware configuration diagram of the enterprise terminal according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] Software configuration diagram of the server device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 7] Software configuration diagram of the enterprise terminal according to the first embodiment. [Figure 8] An example of product information generated by the product information generation unit. [Figure 9A] An example of a screen output by the authority setting unit. [Figure 9B] An example of permission information generated by the authority setting unit based on the input information. [Figure 10] An example of a user interface including a list of products that are candidates for the associated destination. [Figure 11] A diagram showing the flow of processes executed by the server device. [Figure 12] A diagram explaining a plurality of associated product information. [Figure 13] A diagram explaining the product tree and the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in each process. [Figure 14] An example of a screen outputting the product tree as an image. [Figure 15] An example of a product tree when products without access rights are made non-disclosed. [Figure 16] A sequence diagram explaining the processes performed by the server device and the enterprise terminal in the first to third phases. [Figure 17] A sequence diagram explaining the processes performed by the server device and the enterprise terminal in the fourth phase. [Figure 18] Software configuration diagram of the server device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 19] Software configuration diagram of the enterprise terminal according to the second embodiment. [Figure 20] A sequence diagram explaining the processes performed by the server device and the enterprise terminal in the second embodiment. [Figure 21] A sequence diagram illustrating the processing performed by the server device and the enterprise terminal in the third embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0011] In recent years, there has been a demand to track the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the manufacturing of products such as automobiles and batteries, in other words, to track the carbon footprint.

[0012] Now, consider a case where a product is supplied through a supply chain involving multiple companies. In one example, at least some companies in the supply chain (intermediate suppliers) may receive parts from one or more upstream companies, use those parts to produce their own products, and deliver the produced products to companies in the next stage (downstream companies). The upstream company may directly produce its own products and deliver the produced products to companies in the next stage. Some companies in the supply chain may deliver products received from other companies directly to other companies (i.e., participate in distribution). Multiple companies repeat this process until the final product is obtained at the final stage.

[0013] In the context of obtaining automotive products, the supply chain may consist of an OEM manufacturer and multiple suppliers. The OEM manufacturer may be the company that assembles the final product (the downstream company), while the suppliers may be companies that supply parts, materials, assemblies, etc., for producing that product. The companies included in the supply chain may be determined on a product-by-product basis.

[0014] In the following explanation, the parts and components produced by each of the multiple suppliers will be referred to as "products," and the final product will be referred to as the "final product." For example, the final product may be supplied to the consumer. Furthermore, suppliers and OEM manufacturers included in the supply chain will be simply referred to as "companies." In addition, each of the multiple layers in the supply chain will be referred to as a "tier."

[0015] In such a system, for example, in order to calculate the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the manufacture of the final product, it is necessary to clarify the supply relationships of products among multiple companies. This is because if the relationships between the multiple products that make up the final product are not clear, it is difficult to correctly calculate the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted in multiple processes. To solve this problem, for example, it is necessary to generate a tree that shows the supply relationships between the multiple products that make up the final product (hereinafter referred to as a product tree).

[0016] Companies other than the furthest downstream can be required to provide information showing the supply relationships of products among multiple companies. However, information such as their trading partners, detailed information about their products, and material suppliers is sensitive and should not be disclosed to anyone other than a limited number of parties. In other words, existing systems have presented a challenge in that it is difficult to track carbon footprints while maintaining confidentiality. The server equipment disclosed herein solves such problems.

[0017] A server device relating to one aspect of this disclosure is: This server device has a storage device that stores product information for each company included in the supply chain, and a control unit. A supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, and in each of the two adjacent layers, the upstream companies are defined as upstream companies, and the downstream companies are defined as downstream companies. Furthermore, the storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company, and a second storage area shared between upstream and downstream companies, and the product information of each company is stored in the corresponding company's first storage area. Furthermore, the control unit is configured to receive an authorization command from the upstream company's account, including the designation of the downstream company that is permitted to access the first product information relating to the upstream company's upstream products; copy the first product information from a first storage area, which is exclusively for the upstream company, to a second storage area shared between the designated downstream company and the upstream company, in response to the received authorization command; receive a linking request from the downstream company's account, including the selection of first product information stored in the second storage area that is permitted to be accessed, to be linked to the second product information relating to the downstream company's downstream products; and generate linking information indicating the linking relationship specified by the linking request, in response to the received linking request.

[0018] In a supply chain, companies located upstream deliver products to companies located downstream. The company at the very bottom of the supply chain is the one that assembles the final product (OEM manufacturer). Here, focusing on a specific level within the supply chain, we define companies located upstream as upstream companies and companies located downstream as downstream companies. Furthermore, we refer to the products of upstream companies as upstream products and the products of downstream companies as downstream products. Upstream products can be said to be products that constitute (are included in) downstream products. Here, information regarding upstream products is referred to as first-order product information, and information regarding downstream products is referred to as second-order product information.

[0019] The server equipment related to this disclosure stores product information for each company and performs a process of linking product information together (i.e., a process of relating downstream products to upstream products) based on linking requests obtained from each company's account. A linking request is a request to link product information with other product information (i.e., upstream product information with downstream product information). The control unit generates linking information in response to the linking request and stores it in the memory. The linking information indicates the relationship between downstream product information and upstream product information. By repeating this process, the server device can construct a product tree corresponding to the final product.

[0020] Linking component information can be done by downstream companies producing downstream products specifying the upstream product to which that downstream product should be linked. In cases with a large number of suppliers, one approach is to have them select the upstream product from a list. However, listing information on all companies and all products included in the supply chain is undesirable from an information protection standpoint.

[0021] Therefore, the server equipment related to this disclosure allows upstream companies to designate downstream companies that are permitted to access information about their own products (first product information), and only the product information that has been permitted to be accessed is made available to the downstream companies. The downstream companies select (or designate) the product information that they want to link to their own products from among the product information that has been permitted to be accessed by the upstream companies. The authorization command is a command that designates the downstream companies that are permitted to access the first product information, which is information about upstream products.

[0022] The control unit copies the first product information, stored in the first storage area which is exclusively for the upstream company (i.e., only the upstream company is granted access rights), to the second storage area which is shared between the downstream company and the said upstream company (i.e., both the upstream and downstream companies are granted access rights), in response to an authorization command. The product information copied to the second storage area becomes accessible from the downstream company's account. This allows upstream companies to grant downstream companies access rights to specific product information. It can be granted.

[0023] The server device described in this disclosure makes it possible to clarify the supply relationships of multiple products between multiple companies. Furthermore, because upstream companies only allow access to information about their products to adjacent downstream companies in the supply chain, they can achieve the effect of preventing information from being disclosed to unnecessary parties.

[0024] Furthermore, the product information stored in the server device may include traceability-related information. Traceability-related information typically includes information used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, raw material recycling rates, or due diligence scores.

[0025] In this case, the control unit may be configured to further perform the following: acquire traceability-related information contained in the product information of one or more included products that are identified from the linking information related to the target product and that are included in the target product; integrate the traceability-related information acquired for the one or more included products and the target product; and output the result of the integration.

[0026] The control unit acquires traceability-related information for a target product (which does not necessarily have to be the final product) and also acquires traceability-related information for included products, and then integrates the two. Included products are one or more products that are included in the target product and are produced upstream of the target product. By integrating traceability-related information, it becomes possible to track greenhouse gas emissions and other related data at any level within the supply chain.

[0027] The integration of traceability-related information may also be carried out by repeatedly performing the following steps: (A) in the product tree to which the target product belongs as a root node, the process of transferring the traceability-related information of an upstream product to a downstream product between the two adjacent layers of companies, from the upstream product belonging to the product tree as a leaf node up to the target product; and (B) the process of integrating the traceability-related information of the transferred upstream product and the traceability-related information originating from the downstream product, and obtaining the integration result as the traceability-related information of the downstream product. Furthermore, the control unit may store the integration results in a second memory area shared between the upstream and downstream companies corresponding to the target product. This allows each company in the supply chain to refer to the integration results.

[0028] Furthermore, the control unit may receive a participation request from a downstream company's account, including the designation of an upstream company, and send a participation request to the designated upstream company's address in response to the participation request. It may also generate an account for the upstream company in response to the response to the participation request. In this case, the control unit may operate to generate an account for the upstream company and then receive authorization commands from that upstream company's account.

[0029] Furthermore, the storage device may also store transaction data relating to upstream products between upstream and downstream companies. Receiving authorization commands from upstream company accounts and receiving linking requests from downstream company accounts can be performed using the transaction data.

[0030] Furthermore, when the control unit copies the first product information to the second storage area, it may add an identifier for the upstream product used by the downstream company to the first product information. Furthermore, the control unit may acquire product information from each company and store the acquired product information in the first memory area of ​​the corresponding company. The product information of each company may be collected from the company terminals used by that company.

[0031] The following describes specific embodiments of this disclosure with reference to the drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the hardware configurations, module configurations, functional configurations, etc., described in each embodiment are not intended to limit the technical scope of the disclosure to those configurations alone.

[0032] (First embodiment) The information processing system according to this embodiment is a system that provides information about products supplied by a supply chain that includes multiple companies. Product information is typically traceability information. The companies belonging to the supply chain may be determined as appropriate according to the attributes of the products, etc.

[0033] First, let's explain the structure of the supply chain. Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a supply chain according to this embodiment. The supply chain shown in Figure 1 consists of an OEM company and multiple supplier companies. In the example in Figure 1, we assume a supply chain that manufactures automobiles themselves, batteries, and other automobile-related products. The OEM company assembles the final product. Multiple supplier companies (Companies A to C) supply parts, materials, assemblies, etc., for manufacturing the final product. Each of the multiple supplier companies produces one or more products and delivers them to a company located one level lower in the hierarchy. Multiple companies repeat this process until the final product is obtained at the final stage (i.e., the OEM company).

[0034] In this embodiment, at each level of the supply chain, the side that supplies products is referred to as the upstream side, and the side that procures those products and produces new products is referred to as the downstream side. In this specification, companies located on the upstream side are referred to as upstream companies, and companies located on the downstream side are referred to as downstream companies. Furthermore, products produced by upstream companies are referred to as upstream products, and products produced by downstream companies are referred to as downstream products. Downstream products include upstream products. In this embodiment, the levels included in the supply chain are referred to as Tiers. Tier 0 is the company that assembles the final product (corresponding to the OEM company). ) This is the lowest level, and as you progress through Tier 1, 2, and 3, you move towards the upstream side. Depending on the level you are interested in In some cases, a downstream company can become an upstream company. For example, company B, which is located in Tier 2, is a downstream company in relation to Tier 3, but an upstream company in relation to Tier 1. In this way, The definitions of upstream and downstream companies can vary depending on the hierarchical level.

[0035] Figure 2 illustrates the relationships between products supplied by a supply chain. Here, the supply relationships of the multiple products that make up the final product X are represented by a tree diagram. In this example, the final product X is produced by assembling products A1, B1, C1, D1, etc. Product A1 is produced by assembling products A11, A12, A13, etc. In this way, the relationships between the multiple products that make up the final product can be represented by a tree diagram in which each product is a node. Hereafter, a tree diagram relating to a specific final product will be referred to as a product tree.

[0036] The server device 1 according to this embodiment collects information about the products produced by each company (hereinafter referred to as "product information") and information for linking the product information from terminals (corporate terminals 2) corresponding to each company, and generates a product tree based on these. In addition, the product information includes traceability information (for example, information on greenhouse gas emissions; hereinafter referred to as "traceability-related information"), and by following the product tree, it is possible to track carbon footprints and the like.

[0037] As shown in Figure 1, the information processing system according to this embodiment includes a server device 1 and a plurality of corporate terminals 2.

[0038] Enterprise terminal 2 is a terminal corresponding to each of the multiple companies that make up the supply chain. The number of terminals corresponding to each company may be arbitrary. In addition, the terminals corresponding to the target company may include terminals of companies that perform operations related to that target company (for example, a proxy company).

[0039] Server device 1 collects information for generating a product tree from each of the multiple corporate terminals 2, and generates the product tree based on the collected information. Furthermore, server device 1 can perform traceability-related processing (typically, processing to calculate carbon dioxide emissions, etc.) based on the generated product tree. It can also transmit the results of the processing to the corporate terminals 2.

[0040] Next, we will explain the overview of the process by which server device 1 generates a product tree using Figure 3. Figure 3 is a diagram showing the overview of the process that takes place between enterprise terminal 2 and server device 1. In the example in Figure 3, it is assumed that there are downstream companies, company A and upstream companies, company B, at any given hierarchy. It is assumed that company B produces product B and delivers it to company A, and company A produces product A using product B. In other words, in the example in Figure 3, product B becomes a child node of product A in the product tree.

[0041] To generate a product tree, each company's corresponding company terminal 2 transmits information about the products it produces to the server device 1. In this example, company terminal 2 corresponding to company A transmits product information about product A (referred to as product information A) to the server device 1. Similarly, company terminal 2 corresponding to company B transmits product information about product B (referred to as product information B) to the server device 1. The product information for each company is stored in the server device 1.

[0042] The operation to link product information stored in server device 1 is performed by corporate terminal 2. In one example, a representative from a downstream company logs into server device 1 from corporate terminal 2 using the downstream company's account and selects the upstream product to which the downstream product (their own company's product) will be linked. In this way, the linking of product information is performed from downstream products to upstream products. Server device 1 links the product information based on the selection.

[0043] However, if all products included in the supply chain and information about those products are presented as options when users are asked to select a product to link, the confidentiality of information about the companies that make up the supply chain, and the products that those companies produce, is compromised. Furthermore, it may not always be appropriate to disclose the entire product tree to a single supplier.

[0044] Therefore, in accordance with this embodiment, the server device 1 grants the downstream company access rights to the product information of the upstream product in advance, in response to a request from the upstream company. Then, the server device 1 allows the downstream company to access the information within the scope of the granted rights.

[0045] In the example in Figure 3, enterprise terminal 2, which corresponds to upstream company B, sends a request (information) to server device 1 instructing it to "grant company A access rights to product information B." When server device 1 receives a linking request from enterprise terminal 2, which corresponds to company A, it provides only a list of product information for which company A has access rights, allowing company A to select it as the linking destination. Furthermore, when enterprise terminal 2, which corresponds to company A, requests to refer to the product tree, server device 1 provides enterprise terminal 2 with a product tree in which information other than that for which company A has access rights is kept confidential. This prevents unrelated companies and products from being linked. This allows for the concealment of information.

[0046] [Hardware configuration] Next, the hardware configuration of each device constituting the system will be described. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of server device 1 according to this embodiment. Server device 1 is configured as a computer having a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication module 13, and an input / output device 14.

[0047] Server device 1 can be configured as a computer having a processor (CPU, GPU, etc.), main memory (RAM, ROM, etc.), and auxiliary storage (EPROM, hard disk drive, removable media, etc.). The auxiliary storage contains an operating system (OS), various programs, various tables, etc., and by executing the programs stored therein, various functions (software modules) that match a predetermined purpose, as described later, can be realized. However, some or all of the functions may be realized as hardware modules by hardware circuits such as ASICs and FPGAs.

[0048] The control unit 11 is a computing unit that realizes various functions of the server device 1 by executing a predetermined program. The control unit 11 can be implemented by a hardware processor such as a CPU. The control unit 11 may also be configured to include RAM, ROM (Read Only Memory), cache memory, etc.

[0049] The memory unit 12 is a means for storing information and is composed of storage media such as RAM, magnetic disks, and flash memory. The memory unit 12 stores programs executed by the control unit 11, data used by those programs, and so on. Furthermore, a database is constructed in the memory unit 12, and this database stores product information collected from multiple corporate terminals 2, as well as account information related to the companies. Details will be described later.

[0050] The communication module 13 is a communication interface for connecting the server device 1 to a network. The communication module 13 may be configured to include, for example, a network interface board, a wireless communication interface for wireless communication, etc. The server device 1 can communicate data with other computers (for example, each corporate terminal 2) via the communication module 13.

[0051] The input / output device 14 is a means of receiving input operations performed by the operator and presenting information to the operator. Specifically, the input / output device 14 includes devices for input such as a mouse and keyboard, and devices for output such as a display and speakers. The input / output device may be integrated with, for example, a touch panel display.

[0052] The specific hardware configuration of server device 1 can be appropriately omitted, replaced, and added depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 11 may include multiple hardware processors. The hardware processors may consist of microprocessors, FPGAs, GPUs, etc. The input / output device 14 may be omitted, or input / output devices other than those exemplified (e.g., optical drives) may be added. Also, server device 1 may consist of multiple computers. In this case, the hardware configurations of each computer may or may not be the same.

[0053] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 according to this embodiment. The enterprise terminal 2 consists of a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, a communication module 23, and an input / output device 2 It is configured as a computer having 4.

[0054] The enterprise terminal 2 can be configured as a computer having a processor (CPU, GPU, etc.), main memory (RAM, ROM, etc.), and auxiliary memory (EPROM, hard disk drive, removable media, etc.), similar to the server device 1. However, some or all of the functions (software modules) may be implemented as hardware modules by hardware circuits such as ASICs and FPGAs.

[0055] The control unit 21 is a computing unit that implements various functions (software modules) of the enterprise terminal 2 by executing a predetermined program. The control unit 11 can be implemented by a hardware processor such as a CPU. The control unit 21 may also be configured to include RAM, ROM (Read Only Memory), cache memory, etc.

[0056] The memory unit 22 is a means for storing information and is composed of storage media such as RAM, magnetic disks, and flash memory. The memory unit 22 stores programs executed by the control unit 21, data used by those programs, and so on.

[0057] The communication module 23 is a communication interface for connecting the enterprise terminal 2 to a network. The communication module 23 may be configured to include, for example, a network interface board, a wireless communication interface for wireless communication, etc. The enterprise terminal 2 can communicate data with other computers (for example, server device 1) via the communication module 23.

[0058] The input / output device 24 is a means of receiving input operations performed by the operator and presenting information to the operator. Specifically, the input / output device 24 includes devices for input such as a mouse and keyboard, and devices for output such as a display and speakers. The input / output device may be integrated with, for example, a touch panel display.

[0059] Furthermore, the specific hardware configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 can be modified as appropriate, depending on the embodiment, by omitting, substituting, or adding components, similar to the server device 1.

[0060] [Software Configuration] Next, the software configuration of each device constituting the system will be described. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of the server device 1 according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the control unit 11 is configured to have four software modules: an information collection unit 111, an authorization setting unit 112, a linking unit 113, and an information provision unit 114. Each software module may be realized by the control unit 11 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 12. Note that the information processing performed by the information collection unit 111, authorization setting unit 112, linking unit 113, and information provision unit 114 described below is synonymous with the information processing performed by the control unit 11.

[0061] The information collection unit 111 is configured to receive product information transmitted from the corporate terminal 2 and to store the product information in the storage unit 12. The authorization setting unit 112 is configured to receive information (hereinafter referred to as authorization information) from the corporate terminal 2 for setting access permissions to the product information. Furthermore, the authorization setting unit 112 is configured to perform a process to set access permissions to the product information stored in the storage unit 12 based on the received information.

[0062] The linking unit 113 is configured to interact with the enterprise terminal 2 and obtain information from the enterprise terminal 2 to link product information together. Furthermore, based on the obtained information, the linking unit 113 determines the linking relationships for the product information stored in the storage unit 12. The system is configured to perform a process of writing the information to be represented. The linking unit 113 is also configured to receive a request to add termination information and, in response, to perform a process of adding termination information to the product information stored in the storage unit 12. A product tree is formed by reflecting the linking and termination additions. In other words, forming a product tree is done by saving the linking information and termination information in the storage unit 12. The linking unit 113 is configured to generate a product tree according to the results of the linking and termination additions.

[0063] The information provision unit 114 is configured to perform information processing related to the product tree and to output the results of the information processing. The information processing related to the product tree may include processing that performs traceability calculations on the product tree. Outputting the results of the information processing may include processing that provides the generated product tree information to the enterprise terminal 2. In one example, the information provision unit 114 is configured to generate information about the product tree and to output the generated information about the product tree.

[0064] In this embodiment, the storage unit 12 is configured to include multiple logical storage areas. Each of the multiple storage areas can be configured with different access permissions, such as an area where access is granted to company A, an area where access is granted to company B, or an area where access is granted to both company A and B. The permission setting unit 112 sets access permissions by storing product information received from the company terminal 2 in the appropriate storage area. The specific processing method will be described later.

[0065] Furthermore, account information is stored in the memory unit 12. In this embodiment, interaction between the server device 1 and the corporate terminal 2 occurs when an operator from each company logs in to the server device 1 via the corporate terminal 2 using the account of the corresponding company. The account information is information about the account corresponding to each company that makes up the supply chain. Note that logging in using an account is one example of accessing the server device 1 as the corresponding company. However, the method of accessing the server device 1 is not limited to this example and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment.

[0066] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing the software configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 according to this embodiment. In this embodiment, the control unit 21 is configured with four software modules: a product information generation unit 211, an authorization setting unit 212, a linking request unit 213, and an information acquisition unit 214. Each software module may be implemented by the control unit 21 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 22. The information processing performed by the product information generation unit 211, authorization setting unit 212, linking request unit 213, and information acquisition unit 214 described below is synonymous with the information processing performed by the control unit 21.

[0067] The product information generation unit 211 is configured to generate information (product information) about the company's products corresponding to the company terminal 2. Figure 8 shows an example of product information generated by the product information generation unit 211. Product information may also be input via the device operator. In this embodiment, the product information consists of the following fields: company ID, company name, product ID, and product name. The company ID and company name are the identifier and name of the company that produces the target product (i.e., the company using the company terminal 2). The product ID and product name are the identifier and name of the target product.

[0068] Furthermore, the product information is configured to include linking-related information. Linking-related information is information for identifying the upstream product to which the target product is linked. In this embodiment, the linking-related information includes the fields "upstream product information," "termination flag," and "linking completion flag."

[0069] The upstream product information field is configured to store information for identifying product information corresponding to upstream products linked to the target product (i.e., products necessary for producing the target product and included in the target product). The upstream product information field is used when the server device 1 links products together. Basically, at the stage when product information is generated, the target product is not linked to an upstream product, so the upstream product information field does not need to store a value indicating an upstream product.

[0070] The termination flag field is configured to store a flag indicating whether the target product is a leaf node, i.e., the node located at the very top (end) of the product tree. In this embodiment, since multiple corporate terminals 2 transmit product information, this flag is used to determine whether further products are linked upstream of a product in the product tree, or whether no further linking occurs (i.e., whether the target product is located at the top). In other words, the termination flag field is used when the server device 1 confirms the linking of products. Basically, at the stage when product information is generated, the linking relationships of the target products are not yet determined, so the termination flag field may store "0 (not currently the end)". Finally, in order to generate the product tree, the product information of each company stored in the server device 1 is set to one of the following states: "Linking with upstream products has been performed" and "The termination flag is set to "1".

[0071] The linking completion flag field is configured to store a flag indicating whether or not the linking of the target product with an upstream product has been completed. In this embodiment, a product in the product tree may be linked to multiple upstream products. For example, product C may be produced using product A and product B as components. If the target product is located in an intermediate node rather than a leaf node, it is difficult to determine whether the linking is complete or whether another product will be linked based solely on the presence or absence of a target product. If this cannot be determined, the product tree cannot be finalized. The linking completion flag is used to identify this. In other words, the linking completion flag is status information indicating whether or not all linking is complete. The linking completion flag field is used when the server device 1 finalizes the linking of products. Basically, at the stage when product information is generated, the linking relationships of the target product are not yet finalized, so the linking completion field may store "0 (further linking may occur)".

[0072] For product information located at leaf nodes, the termination flag can be used to determine whether the product information is finalized. For product information located at intermediate nodes, the linking completion flag can be used to determine whether the product information is finalized. The flag stored in the termination flag field (termination flag) is an example of "termination information".

[0073] Furthermore, the product information is configured to include traceability-related information. For example, the traceability-related information may include the amount of material (e.g., upstream product) used per unit of product production, information on the recycling rate of a given raw material, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced during the production of the product, due diligence-related information, or a combination thereof. The given raw material may be, for example, lithium, nickel, cobalt, lead, graphite, etc. The recycling rate may be expressed directly or indirectly, such as a combination of the total amount used and the amount of recycled material used. These values ​​correspond to the processes involved in producing the product in question. For example, in the example in Figure 3, the traceability-related information included in product information A stores the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the production activities of product A. The traceability-related information included in product information A does not include information about the processes leading up to the production of the upstream product (e.g., the amount of greenhouse gases emitted before upstream product B is produced).

[0074] Furthermore, traceability-related information may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. In one example, greenhouse gas emissions (carbon footprint) may include Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions. Scope 1 may be direct greenhouse gas emissions by the company itself. Scope 2 may be indirect emissions resulting from the use of electricity, heat, and steam supplied by other companies. Scope 3 may be indirect emissions other than Scope 1 and Scope 3. In another example, due diligence-related information may include technical documentation showing the amount of raw materials contained in the product and whether the company is fulfilling its obligations for responsible mineral sourcing, such as that of smelters, for products containing the target raw materials (e.g., cobalt, natural graphite, lithium, nickel, etc.). In yet another example, due diligence-related information may include a score indicating the degree to which the above obligations are being fulfilled.

[0075] The product information generation unit 211 is configured to acquire such information via the operator of the corporate terminal 2 and transmit it to the server device 1 at any time.

[0076] The authorization setting unit 212 is configured to specify which downstream companies are permitted to access product information sent from the corporate terminal 2 to the server device 1. Figure 9A is an example of a screen output by the authorization setting unit 212. As shown, the authorization setting unit 212 is configured to accept the specification of which downstream companies are permitted to access any of the company's own products. Figure 9B is an example of permission information generated by the authorization setting unit 212 based on the input information. The authorization setting unit 212 is configured to send the permission information to the server device 1 at any time. The permission information is an example of a "permission command". Access permissions may be set on a per-product information basis, or on an item basis included in the product information ("permission items" in the figure). This makes it possible to implement partial disclosure, for example, by disclosing the existence of a product, but not disclosing specific information such as the materials used or the amount used.

[0077] The list of companies displayed on the screen in Figure 9A can be a list of companies with which the company has had past transactions. For this reason, the server device 1 may store data on past transactions (transaction data) for each company and generate a list of companies based on this transaction data. The transaction data may include, for example, the identifier of the target product, the identifier of the company that produced the product, and the transaction date.

[0078] The linking request unit 213 is configured to request the server device 1 to link the company's product information, which it has sent to the server device 1, with upstream products. In one example, the linking request unit 213 first sends the company's corporate ID and product ID to the server device 1 and requests the linking of product information corresponding to the product ID. In response, the server device 1 generates a user interface that includes a list of product information that the target company is permitted to access (i.e., candidate linking destinations) and provides the generated user interface to the corporate terminal 2. Figure 10 is an example of a user interface that includes a list of products that the target company is permitted to access.

[0079] The product list shown in Figure 10 can be a list of products with which the company has a history of transactions. Server device 1 may generate this list based on the stored transaction data.

[0080] Next, the linking request unit 213 is configured to allow the operator to select the upstream product to be linked from the list. Furthermore, the linking request unit 213 is configured to send the identifier of the product to be linked (downstream product) and the identifier of the upstream product to be linked as a pair to the server device 1. The server device 1 can then link the product information accordingly.

[0081] If there is no upstream product associated with the target product, this can be explicitly indicated by checking the checkbox indicated by reference numeral 1001 in Figure 10. In this case, no linking of product information is performed, and the server device 1 sets the termination flag of the corresponding product information to "1". If an upstream product associated with the target product already exists, that is, if the node corresponding to the target product is not a leaf node, this check operation is prohibited.

[0082] Furthermore, if no further linking is to be performed on the target product, this can be explicitly indicated by checking the checkbox indicated by reference numeral 1002 in Figure 10. In this case, the server device 1 will set the linking completion flag for the corresponding product information to "1". Note that if the termination flag is set to "1", the corresponding product information is considered the end and will be excluded from the linking process. In this case, the handling of the linking completion flag is optional. For example, if the termination flag is set to "1", the linking completion flag may also be set to "1". In another example, if the termination flag is set to "1", the linking completion flag may remain at "0" and be ignored.

[0083] Thus, the linking request unit 213 is configured to issue either (1) a request to link the target product with an upstream product, or (2) a request to assign a termination flag indicating that the target product is at the end of the supply chain. When declaring the completion of linking, the linking request may include a request to assign a linking completion flag indicating that no further linking will occur for the target product. The above (1) is an example of a "first request," and the above (2) is an example of a "second request." This allows the server device 1 to determine the state of the product tree.

[0084] The information acquisition unit 214 is configured to request the server device 1 to provide a product tree and to output the information transmitted from the server device 1.

[0085] [Processing details] Next, we will explain the specific details of the processing performed by server device 1 and enterprise terminal 2. Figure 11 is a diagram showing an example of the processing flow executed by server device 1 based on a request from enterprise terminal 2. The processing performed by server device 1 can be broadly divided into the following four phases. (1) The first phase involves receiving product information transmitted from the enterprise terminal 2 and storing the received product information. (2) The second phase involves receiving permission information transmitted from the corporate terminal 2 and setting access rights to product information according to the received permission information. (3) The third phase involves linking product information by interacting with the enterprise terminal 2. (4) A fourth phase in which information about the product tree is provided based on the results of the linking.

[0086] In the example in Figure 11, company A is a downstream company and company B is an upstream company. The product produced by company A is called product A, and the product produced by company B is called product B. The product information corresponding to product A is called product information A, and the product information corresponding to product B is called product information B.

[0087] In the first phase, the information collection unit 111 of the server device 1 acquires product information from the product information generation unit 211 of the corporate terminal 2. In the example in Figure 11, the server device 1 acquires product information A from corporate terminal 2 corresponding to corporate A and product information B from corporate terminal 2 corresponding to corporate B. The information collection unit 111 stores product information A in a storage area (hereinafter referred to as storage area A) to which access rights are granted only to corporate A. The information collection unit 111 also stores product information B in a storage area (hereinafter referred to as storage area B) to which access rights are granted only to corporate B. The information is saved. In this way, the information collection unit 111 saves product information transmitted from any company to a dedicated storage area to which access rights are granted only to that company.

[0088] In the second phase, the authorization setting unit 112 of the server device 1 receives authorization information from the authorization setting unit 212 of the corporate terminal 2, and sets access permissions for product information according to the received authorization information. As shown in Figure 9B, the authorization information associates a product with a company that is permitted to access the product information of that product.

[0089] In the example shown in Figure 11, it is assumed that the authorization setting unit 112 has received authorization information granting access to product information B of the upstream company from company A, which is a downstream company. In this case, the authorization setting unit 112 copies product information B, which is stored in storage area B, to storage area AB, which is granted access rights to both companies A and B. As a result, product information B becomes accessible to both companies A and B. If access rights are not set for a specific item included in the product information, that item is excluded from being copied to storage area AB.

[0090] In the following explanation, a storage area to which access rights are granted only to a specific company will be referred to as a "dedicated storage area," and a storage area to which access rights are granted to multiple companies will be referred to as a "shared storage area."

[0091] Thus, the copying of product information is performed by the server device 1 in response to receiving authorization information from the corporate terminal 2. In other words, the corporate terminal 2 transmits authorization information to the server device 1, thereby causing the server device 1 to copy the product information identified by that authorization information from the target company's dedicated storage area to a shared storage area accessible by downstream companies.

[0092] In the third phase, the linking unit 113 of the server device 1 receives a linking request from the linking request unit 213 of the corporate terminal 2, and links the product information based on the received linking request.

[0093] First, the linking unit 113 receives a linking request from the corporate terminal 2. The linking request is sent from the corporate terminal 2 of a downstream company. In the example in Figure 11, it is assumed that the corporate terminal 2 of company A sent the linking request. The linking request includes the company ID and the product ID of the target product. The linking unit 113 retrieves the product information stored in the memory area accessible from that company and generates a list of the retrieved product information. In the example in Figure 11, company A can access product information B stored in memory area AB. Therefore, product information B becomes selectable as the linking destination on the corporate terminal 2 of company A.

[0094] The linking request unit 213 of the enterprise terminal 2 presents a list to the operator and allows the operator to select the products to be linked. In this example, products A and B are the products to be linked to each other. For example, the operator inputs information indicating that product B is the upstream product for product A via the input / output device 24. The linking request unit 213 sends data (linking data) to link the upstream product (product B) and the downstream product (product A) to the linking unit 113.

[0095] As illustrated in Figure 8, the product information includes fields related to the linked product (linking-related information). Based on the aforementioned linking data, the linking unit 113 stores information corresponding to product information B (i.e., the upstream product) in the linking-related information of product information A. For example, the linking-related information may include an identifier for the upstream product and an identifier for the company that produces the upstream product.

[0096] Furthermore, the linking-related information may include pointers to the product information to which the linking is to take place. Figure 12 illustrates an example of linking multiple product information using pointers. The arrows in the figure represent pointers. Pointers indicate the address of the product information corresponding to the upstream product. Through the process described above, a part of a tree structure is formed in which the product information of the downstream product is the parent node and the product information of the upstream product is the child node.

[0097] Furthermore, no further linking is performed at the end of the product tree. In this case, instead of sending linking data, the linking request unit 213 sends data indicating that the product is at the end of the tree. In the example in Figure 10, checking the checkbox indicated by reference numeral 1001 sends data indicating that the product is at the end of the tree. Upon receiving this data, the linking unit 113 sets the end flag field of the corresponding product information to "1".

[0098] Furthermore, if it is clear that no further linking will occur for the target product, the linking request unit 213 sends data to explicitly indicate this fact, which is included in the linking data. In the example in Figure 10, checking the checkbox indicated by reference numeral 1002 sends data indicating that no further linking will occur for that product. Upon receiving this data, the linking unit 113 sets the linking completion flag field of the corresponding product information to "1". Note that if the termination flag is set, both flags may be set to "1".

[0099] In other words, in the third phase, the linking request unit 213 is (A) "A request to specify the upstream product to which the linking is to be performed (including a request to set the linking completion flag)" (First request) (B) "Request to set the termination flag" (second request) One of the following is issued to Server Device 1. The product tree of the final product is completed when linking or termination flagging is completed for all companies belonging to the supply chain. The process of forming this product tree may be arbitrary. In one example, each company may execute the above third phase in a disorderly manner (referred to as the shotgun method). With this method, management of the execution of the third phase is unnecessary, and thus the processing load on Server Device 1 can be reduced. In another example, the above third phase may be executed sequentially from the upstream company (referred to as the bucket brigade method). In this case, the server device will be notified when linking at Tier N-1 is completed. After that, you may allow linking in TierN or setting the termination flag. According to this method, The completion of the product tree can be easily managed.

[0100] In the fourth phase, the information provision unit 114 of the server device 1 generates information about the product tree based on the stored product information and outputs the information about the product tree. Generating information about the product tree refers to the process of generating various information about the product (for example, traceability information, an image representing the link relationships between products using a tree diagram, etc.) after links between nodes have been formed by linking the product information together. This process of generating information about the product tree is an example of information processing about the product tree. In order to generate information about the product tree, all linking of the product information must be completed, and the termination flag of all leaf nodes must be set to "1". The information provision unit 114 can appropriately generate the information when these conditions are met.

[0101] The product tree in this embodiment, as described with reference to Figure 2, represents the supply relationships between product information in the supply chain using a tree diagram. The information provision unit 114 can generate an image representing the tree diagram based on the product information.

[0102] Furthermore, when generating information about the product tree, the information provision unit 114 integrates the traceability-related information defined for each product and outputs the result.

[0103] Here, we will explain the integration of traceability-related information using Figure 13. Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating the multiple products that make up the final product X, and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted in each process of producing these products. For example, in the process of producing product A12 in the figure, E A12 [g] of carbon dioxide is emitted. Furthermore, the product has three It is assumed that it is composed of upstream products A121 to A123. Thus, the upstream products included in a certain product are also referred to as "included products". Here, the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted until a certain target product is produced can be obtained by repeating the process of passing on the CO2 emissions associated with the upstream product to the downstream product while referring to the product information between the enterprises in two adjacent hierarchical levels from the most upstream product, which is the leaf node, to the target product.

[0104] In the example of FIG. 13, when the target product is A12, the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted until product A12 is produced can be calculated by adding up the CO2 emissions corresponding to the included products (upstream products A121 to A123) and the CO2 emissions corresponding to product A12. That is, the integrated CO2 emissions for product A11 are as follows. I A12 =E A12 +E A121 ×U A121 +E A122 ×U A122 +E A123 ×U A123 [g] Here, E A121 ,E A122 ,E A123 are, respectively, the CO2 emissions per unit amount when producing products A121, A122, and A123. Also, U A121 ,U A122 ,U A123 are, respectively, the usage amounts of products A121, A122, and A123 used in the production of product A12. This usage amount is an example of the usage amount of materials per production amount of the product included in the above traceability-related information. The CO2 emissions of the final product (the product of the most downstream enterprise) can be obtained by sequentially executing the above calculations from the product of the most upstream enterprise to the final product.

[0105] The same applies if the target product is product A1. If the target product is A1, the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacturing activities leading up to the production of product A1 can be calculated by integrating the CO2 emissions corresponding to product A1 with the CO2 emissions corresponding to the included products, A11, A12, A13, and A14.

[0106] The integrated value may be stored separately in the storage unit 12 from the product information, or it may be included as part of the product information. That is, the product information corresponding to product A12 is E, which is the emission amount in the process alone. A12 And the combined emissions are I A12 It is also possible to retain both.

[0107] The traceability information after integration is reused when integrating downstream products. By performing this process at each level, starting from the upstream end, traceability information (e.g., cumulative CO2 emissions) is sequentially passed down downstream. Ultimately, by passing the traceability information all the way to the final product, it is possible to obtain traceability information (e.g., total CO2 emissions) corresponding to the entire period until the final product is produced.

[0108] Furthermore, product information referenced when integrating traceability-related information may be stored in both dedicated and shared storage areas. In this case, it is preferable to refer to the product information stored in the dedicated storage area. This is because the product information stored in the shared storage area may omit items that are not permitted to be accessed by downstream companies.

[0109] Furthermore, if the target product information is stored in both dedicated and shared storage areas, it is preferable to write the integration results to the shared storage area. This is because writing to the dedicated storage area would prevent downstream companies from accessing the integration results. By writing the data, the results of the integration can be accessed by downstream companies that have been granted access rights. However, only the results of the integration can be accessed; traceability-related information specific to upstream products (such as CO2 emissions in the production process of upstream products) cannot be accessed by downstream companies because it is not written to the shared storage area unless permitted by the upstream company (for example, in the screen shown in Figure 9A).

[0110] In this way, when generating information about the product tree, the information provision unit 114 repeatedly performs a process of sequentially integrating the traceability-related information defined for each product information from the upstream to the downstream. In the above example, carbon dioxide emissions were used as an example of the data to be integrated, but the traceability-related information to be integrated may also be the recycling rate for a given raw material, a due diligence score, etc. If the traceability-related information is numerical, the integration may be performed by numerical calculation, and if the traceability-related information is not numerical (for example, due diligence-related information), the integration may be simply information collection.

[0111] Furthermore, traceability-related information does not necessarily have to be included in the product information. For example, the product information may include information indicating the location of the traceability-related information for the corresponding product (hereinafter referred to as "location information," typically an address, pointer, etc.). In this case, the integration may involve collecting the location information included in the product information.

[0112] The information provision unit 114 may output the generated product tree in image format. It may also simultaneously output traceability-related information corresponding to any product. Figure 14 shows an example of a screen displaying the product tree as an image. The illustrated screen includes an image showing the supply relationships of multiple products constituting the final product using a tree diagram. Furthermore, by selecting any product, users can view traceability-related information corresponding to that product, or the integrated result of traceability-related information covering the entire period leading up to the production of that product (for example, the total value of carbon dioxide emissions from the upstream source). Such information can be output via the input / output device 14 of the server device 1 based on the operation of the server device 1 operator.

[0113] Furthermore, the information provision unit 114 may provide the generated product tree to the corporate terminal 2 (information acquisition unit 214) upon request from the said corporate terminal 2. However, it may not be appropriate to disclose the entire product tree to a specific company. Therefore, when the information provision unit 114 provides the product tree to a corporate terminal 2 corresponding to a certain company, it may perform a process to keep the portion that the company does not have access rights to confidential.

[0114] For example, in the example shown in Figure 13, suppose the information provision unit 114 receives a request for disclosure of the product tree from a company terminal 2 corresponding to a company that produces product A12. Here, suppose that company has been granted access rights only for products A121, A122, and A123. In other words, the company cannot access product information other than these three products and its downstream product A1. In this case, the information provision unit 114 provides the company terminal 2 with a product tree in which information about products for which it does not have access rights is not disclosed.

[0115] Figure 15 shows an example of a product tree when products for which access is not permitted are not disclosed. In this example, for products that are not disclosed, the product tree is displayed with detailed information (or even their existence) hidden.

[0116] Furthermore, in cases where the existence of a product is publicly known, but access permissions are not granted for specific items within the corresponding product information, confidentiality processing will be applied only to those specific items, as shown by the dotted line in the diagram. In the illustrated example, product A121 is produced... It has been indicated that the carbon dioxide emissions at that time are not disclosed.

[0117] On the other hand, even if there are products (or items) in the tree for which access permissions are not granted, the integration of traceability-related information, as described above, will proceed without being affected. For example, in the illustrated example, the carbon dioxide emissions for product A121 are not publicly available, but this does not affect the process of calculating the total carbon dioxide emissions for product A12.

[0118] [Processing flow] Next, the processing flow executed by server device 1 and enterprise terminal 2 will be explained with reference to Figures 16 and 17. Figure 16 is a sequence diagram corresponding to the first to third phases described above.

[0119] In one example, the interaction between server device 1 and corporate terminal 2 begins when an operator from each company logs into server device 1 via corporate terminal 2 using the corresponding company's account. In this example, it is assumed that each company's operator logs into server device 1 using their own company's account.

[0120] First, in step S11, the product information generation unit 211 of the corporate terminal 2 acquires its own product information via the operator and transmits the acquired product information to the server device 1. The transmitted product information is received by the server device 1 (information collection unit 111) and stored in the storage unit 12 (step S12). At this time, the information collection unit 111 stores the product information in a storage area to which access rights are granted only to companies that produce the corresponding product.

[0121] Next, in step S13, the authorization setting unit 212 of the corporate terminal 2 receives input (authorization information) via the operator, specifying the downstream companies that are permitted to access the product information transmitted in step S11. In this step, a user interface screen, as described with reference to Figure 9, may be provided, allowing the user to specify any combination of product and the downstream companies that are permitted to access the product information. The entered authorization information is transmitted to the server device 1.

[0122] In step S14, the authorization setting unit 112 of the server device 1 grants access rights to the target product information based on the received authorization information. In this step, as explained with reference to Figure 11, the authorization setting unit 112 grants access rights to any product information to any company by copying the target product information to a storage area where access rights have been granted to multiple companies. If there is no storage area with appropriate access rights, a new storage area may be created and access rights granted to the appropriate company.

[0123] In addition, when copying product information in this step, additional information may be added. For example, product information generated by an upstream company may include part numbers, etc. However, since these part numbers, etc. are used by the upstream company, they may not be usable by the downstream company as is. Therefore, for example, part numbers, etc. used by the downstream company may be added to the product information to be copied as additional information.

[0124] Next, in step S15, the linking request unit 213 of the corporate terminal 2 sends data (linking request) to the server device 1 requesting that the product information sent to the server device 1 be linked to the upstream product. This linking request includes the company's corporate ID and the product ID of the target product.

[0125] In step S16, the server device 1 (linking unit 113) is allowed to receive access from the target company. A list of permitted products is generated, and a user interface screen containing this list is provided to the corporate terminal 2. The list of products that the target company is permitted to access can be extracted from product information stored in a storage area to which the company has been granted access rights. In this step, the server device 1 may provide the corporate terminal 2 with a user interface screen as described with reference to Figure 10, allowing the user to specify any product and a combination of upstream products associated with that product.

[0126] In step S17, the linking request unit 213 of the enterprise terminal 2 receives a specification from the operator regarding the combination of the target product and the upstream product associated with that product. The linking request unit 213 generates data (linking data) indicating the association between the upstream product and the downstream product, and sends the generated linking data to the server device 1.

[0127] In step S18, the linking unit 113 of the server device 1 updates the stored product information based on the linking data, reflecting the linking between the product information. The linking of product information may also be performed by storing information about the upstream product (identifier, pointer, etc.) in the linking-related information contained in the product information of the downstream product.

[0128] If no downstream companies exist, steps S13 to S14 may be omitted. Similarly, if no upstream companies exist (i.e., no linked product exists), instead of requesting the linking of product information, the process of setting the termination flag described above may be executed. In this case, steps S15 to S18 described above are omitted.

[0129] Figure 17 is a sequence diagram corresponding to the fourth phase described above. First, in step S21, the enterprise terminal 2 (information acquisition unit 214) requests the server device 1 to provide information about the product tree. This request includes, for example, the identifier of the target product. The target product may be the final product or another product (intermediate product).

[0130] The server device 1 (information provision unit 114) that receives the request determines whether or not the product tree has been finalized (step S22). In this step, it is determined that the product tree has been finalized if the following conditions are met. (Condition 1) The termination flag is set to "1" for the product information in all leaf nodes. If the termination flag is set for all leaf nodes, the product tree can be said to be complete.

[0131] If even one of the leaf nodes in the product tree does not meet the above conditions, further linking may occur for the target product. In this case, the server device 1 (information provision unit 114) may terminate processing after returning the determination result to the corporate terminal 2.

[0132] Next, the server device 1 (information provision unit 114) generates information about the product tree through the process described above (step S23). At this time, the information provision unit 114 performs a process to integrate the traceability-related information defined in each product information from the upstream to the downstream. The result of the integration is reflected in each product information.

[0133] Next, in step S24, a process is executed to conceal information that the target company does not have access to, based on the access rights it possesses. For example, if a company is not aware of the existence of other companies' product information, a process is executed to conceal the existence of that product information. Also, if only specific items included in the product information are not publicly available, a process is executed to conceal the content of those items. Information regarding the product tree, which has been processed to protect confidentiality, is submitted to enterprise terminal 2 (information acquisition unit 214). It is supplied and output.

[0134] As described above, in this embodiment, in a system that collects product information from corporate terminals 2 and generates a product tree, each corporate terminal 2 accepts the designation of downstream companies that are permitted to access information about its own products, and links the product information to each other based on this designation. Furthermore, by storing the product information in multiple memory areas to which each company is granted access rights, access control to the product information is realized. In addition, when providing the product tree to each corporate terminal 2, information confidentiality processing is performed within the scope of the access rights held by each company. With this configuration, it becomes possible to collect information across the entire supply chain while maintaining confidentiality.

[0135] Furthermore, the server device 1 according to this embodiment maintains information indicating whether or not each of the multiple product information entries is the end of the product tree. This allows the server device 1 to determine whether or not the product tree is complete.

[0136] (Modification of the first embodiment) In the first embodiment, the product tree was determined to be complete when the termination flag was set to "1" for the product information in all leaf nodes. However, for products that are already linked at intermediate nodes, further linking may occur. For example, if a downstream product is linked to one upstream product, it may be further linked to a second or subsequent upstream product.

[0137] Taking such cases into consideration, in step S22, the determination may be made using the following conditions in addition to condition 1 described above. (Condition 2) For product information in all nodes except leaf nodes, the linking completion flag is set to "1". By using conditions 1 and 2 described above in combination, it is possible to guarantee that the product tree is finalized.

[0138] (Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment, server device 1 stores account information for each company included in the supply chain, and multiple company terminals 2 log in to server device 1 using this account information.

[0139] On the other hand, if there are many instances of companies joining or leaving the supply chain, it may not be possible to register account information to server device 1 at the appropriate time. For example, even if a downstream company wants to link its products to upstream products, it cannot do so if the upstream company's account information is not registered in the system. This is because there is no product information corresponding to the upstream product, nor are there any access permissions to that upstream product. The second embodiment addresses this by registering the account information of a company that has newly joined the supply chain based on a request from a company that has already joined the supply chain.

[0140] Figure 18 shows the software configuration of the server device 1 (control unit 11) according to the second embodiment. Figure 19 shows the software configuration of the enterprise terminal 2 (control unit 21) according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the server device 1 (control unit 11) is further configured to include a software module for the management unit 115. This functional module may be implemented by the control unit 11 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 12. Also in the second embodiment, the enterprise terminal 2 (control unit 21) is further configured to include a software module for the management unit 215. This functional module may be implemented by the control unit 21 (CPU) executing a program stored in the storage unit 22. That's fine.

[0141] Figure 20 is a sequence diagram illustrating the processing performed by the server device 1 and the enterprise terminal 2 in the second embodiment. Here, the enterprise terminal corresponding to the downstream company is referred to as enterprise terminal 2A, and the enterprise terminal corresponding to the upstream company is referred to as enterprise terminal 2B. Furthermore, it is assumed that the upstream company is participating in the supply chain, but its account information is not registered with the server device 1.

[0142] In this scenario, if a downstream company wants to link its products to upstream products, it must first register the upstream company's account information with server device 1, and then have the upstream company's operator register the product information and authorization information for the upstream products.

[0143] First, in step S31, the corporate terminal 2A (management unit 215) sends a participation request to the server device 1. The participation request includes information identifying the upstream company and the contact information (email address, etc.) of that upstream company. Upon receiving the participation request, the server device 1 (management unit 115) sends a participation request to the specified address (step S32). The participation request includes instructions regarding the registration of account information.

[0144] The participation request is received by enterprise terminal 2B (management unit 215). Based on the received participation request, the management unit 215 of enterprise terminal 2B outputs instructions to the operator and receives a response from the operator, including whether or not they can participate in the system. The response is sent to server device 1 (management unit 115).

[0145] If the response is "Participation possible," the server device 1 (management unit 115) generates account information corresponding to the upstream company, notifies the company terminal 2B of the said account information, and also notifies the company terminal 2A of the result (step S34). If the response is "Participation impossible," the server device 1 (management unit 115) notifies the company terminal 2A of the result.

[0146] Enterprise terminal 2A outputs the results received from server device 1 (step S35). This allows the downstream company's operator to know whether the upstream company has joined (or failed to join) the system. The upstream company can then use the registered account information to perform the aforementioned tasks such as registering product information, registering permission information, or linking product information.

[0147] (Third embodiment) In the first embodiment, the server device 1 determined in step S22 whether or not the state of the product tree was determined. In contrast, the third embodiment is an embodiment in which, when the state of the product tree is not determined, the server device 1 sends an alert to the corporate terminal 2 corresponding to the product causing the problem.

[0148] In the third embodiment, if the server device 1 determines in step S22 that the state of the product tree has not been determined, it does not terminate the process but instead executes the process shown in Figure 21. Figure 21 is a sequence diagram of the process executed when the server device 1 determines in step S22 that the state of the product tree has not been determined.

[0149] First, in step S41, the server device 1 identifies the provisional termination product. A provisional termination product is a product located in a leaf node of the product tree that may cease to be a leaf node in the future. Specifically, a provisional termination product is a product located in a leaf node and whose termination flag is not "1".

[0150] Next, in step S42, the server device 1 identifies the corporate terminal 2 to which the alert is to be sent. The corporate to which the alert is sent is a company that has the authority to make the first and second requests described above regarding product information of the provisional termination product, and is typically a company that produces the provisional termination product.

[0151] Next, in step S43, the server device 1 generates an alert and sends it to the corporate terminal 2 identified in step S42. The alert includes a message indicating that the status of the target product is undetermined. The alert requests (urges) the user to either "set the termination flag" or "complete the linking of the upstream product." Completing the linking of the upstream product includes not only linking to the upstream product (for example, using the screen in Figure 10), but also declaring that no further linking will be performed (for example, by checking checkbox 1002).

[0152] Upon receiving the alert, the corporate terminal 2 outputs its contents in step S44. The operator of corporate terminal 2, after confirming the contents of the alert, accesses the server device 1 and performs an operation to confirm the status of the target product. If the upstream company that produces the linked product is not participating in the system, a request to participate may be sent to that upstream company, as described in the second embodiment.

[0153] As described above, according to the third embodiment, the server device 1 can facilitate the determination of the product tree state.

[0154] In this embodiment, the recipient of the alert is exemplified as a company that produces the provisional termination product. However, the recipient of the alert may be any company that has the authority to make the first and second requests regarding the product information of the provisional termination product. For example, the companies corresponding to the product information that make up the product tree may be virtual companies or companies whose names and existence are kept secret. In this case, the alert may be sent to the actual company that has jurisdiction over these companies.

[0155] Furthermore, the company to which the alert is sent does not have to be the company authorized to make the first and second requests regarding the product information of the provisionally terminated product. For example, if there is a first company authorized to make the product information of the provisionally terminated product and a second company that manages the first company, the alert may be sent to the second company. In this case, the company that receives the alert may issue a reminder to the first company under its control to confirm the status of the product. Data representing such relationships between companies may be stored in server device 1.

[0156] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the determination of whether or not the product tree is finalized (step S22) was performed based on a request from the enterprise terminal 2, but this determination may also be performed proactively by the server device 1. For example, the determination may be performed periodically, and when it is determined that the product tree is finalized, this fact may be notified to any enterprise terminal 2 (for example, an enterprise terminal 2 corresponding to an OEM company that ultimately assembles the product).

[0157] Alternatively, a determination may be made as a response to a request from enterprise terminal 2 corresponding to the furthest downstream company (OEM product company) to determine whether the product tree is finalized. In this case, enterprise terminal 2 corresponding to the furthest downstream company may send the aforementioned alert to the target company. However, in this case, the furthest downstream company may not have access rights to the identified provisional end product. In this case, the furthest downstream company cannot know which company to send the alert to.

[0158] One way to solve this is to relay alerts through other companies in the path connecting the provisional final product to the furthest downstream company. Specifically, by traversing the product tree from the leaf node corresponding to the provisional final product towards the root node, the product information located furthest upstream that is authorized to be accessed by the furthest downstream company can be identified. When product information authorized to be accessed by the furthest downstream company is identified, an alert is sent to the account of the company that owns that product information (the company authorized to view it). The company that receives the alert relays it to the company located upstream. This ensures that the alert reaches the company that has authority over the provisional final product. This method allows each company to take action to finalize the product tree based on instructions from the furthest downstream company.

[0159] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the server device 1 generates an alert in response to the presence of a provisional termination product (i.e., a product located on a leaf node but without a termination flag set), but it may also generate an alert in response to the presence of a product whose association has not been completed. For example, if there is a product located outside of a leaf node that does not have an association completion flag set, it may be handled in the same way as the provisional termination product described above.

[0160] (modified version) The embodiments described above are merely examples, and this disclosure may be modified as appropriate without departing from its essence. For example, the processes and means described in this disclosure can be freely combined and implemented as long as no technical inconsistencies arise.

[0161] Furthermore, in the description of the embodiment, the server device 1 stores product information in a database, but product information may be stored by means other than a database.

[0162] Furthermore, while the description of the embodiment illustrates a configuration in which the server device 1 completes the product tree by executing the first to fourth phases, the role of the server device 1 may be distributed among multiple corporate terminals 2. For example, product information may be stored in a distributed database using a blockchain platform. In this case, the product information database may be composed of multiple corporate terminals 2. In this case, smart contracts may be used to execute the processing of each of the aforementioned phases. For example, the processing in the second phase may be triggered when an account of a certain company writes permission information to the database. Alternatively, the processing in the third phase may be triggered when an account of a certain company writes a linking request to the database.

[0163] The storage areas where each product's information is stored may also be distributed across multiple corporate terminals 2. In this case, dedicated storage areas may be located only within the corporate terminal 2 of the corresponding company. Furthermore, shared storage areas may be distributed across multiple corporate terminals 2 involved in the sharing process.

[0164] Furthermore, while the description of the embodiment included an example of granting access to arbitrary product information to adjacent companies in the supply chain, companies that are not adjacent in the supply chain may also share product information. For example, if information sharing between companies is necessary for purposes such as legal compliance, companies that do not have a direct business relationship may share specific product information. Even in this case, as in the first embodiment, a shared storage area with access rights granted to each company is provided, and the necessary data is copied there. This shared storage area can be generated based on the permission of the company whose product information is being referenced. Private keys may be used for access control of the dedicated storage area and the shared storage area. In this case, electronic authentication of access control may be performed using a public key authentication infrastructure. If a blockchain infrastructure is used for each storage area, this access control may be executed by smart contracts.

[0165] Furthermore, in the description of the embodiment, the second phase was initiated by sending permission information from the upstream company's terminal 2 to the server device 1, but the second phase may also be initiated from the downstream company's terminal 2. In this case, information requesting the granting of access rights to the upstream product (permission request) may be sent from the downstream company's terminal 2 to the server device 1, and the upstream company's terminal 2 may generate permission information in response. Moreover, the downstream company's terminal 2 may send the permission request and the linking data to the server device 1 simultaneously. If the product to be linked can be identified by the downstream company (by part number, etc.), the downstream company may also send the linking data prior to granting access rights.

[0166] Furthermore, the setting of access rights to the storage area may be implemented by the operating system of server device 1, or by other authentication methods. For example, public-key cryptography can be used. Also, when implementing the system using a blockchain platform, access rights may be granted using electronic keys.

[0167] Furthermore, although the description of the embodiment separates the phase in which the server device 1 receives product information about upstream products and the phase in which the server device 1 receives authorization information corresponding to said product information, both may be received simultaneously. Similarly, although the description of the embodiment separates the phase in which the server device 1 receives product information about downstream products and the phase in which the server device 1 receives a linking request corresponding to said product information, both may be received simultaneously.

[0168] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the multiple companies included in the supply chain were described as companies that produce products. However, the companies included in the supply chain do not necessarily have to be companies that produce products. For example, companies that transport, import, store, or wholesale products may also be included in the companies that make up the supply chain. For example, some of the companies among the multiple companies may be companies that do not perform the manufacturing process, such as trading companies, sales agents, or import agents, and may receive products from companies located one level up (upstream companies) and deliver products to companies located one level down (downstream companies).

[0169] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a supply chain for automobile-related products was assumed, with OEM manufacturers described as the lowest-level companies and companies supplying parts, materials, assemblies, etc., described as suppliers. However, the companies belonging to the supply chain are not necessarily limited to these. The companies at each stage may be determined as appropriate depending on the product, etc. Also, the manufacturing activities carried out by each company until the final product is obtained may be determined as appropriate depending on the embodiment, and may include, for example, all activities that can be carried out until the final product is obtained, such as excavation, processing, assembly, transportation, and storage.

[0170] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, access control for each company is achieved by providing dedicated storage areas and shared storage areas. However, the method of achieving access control is not limited to this example. Any method may be used for access control.

[0171] Furthermore, in the description of the embodiment, an example was given in which the upstream company grants the downstream company access rights to product information (second phase), followed by the downstream company requesting the server device 1 to link the product information together (third phase). However, these processes may be executed sequentially based on requests from the downstream company.

[0172] For example, a downstream company's enterprise terminal 2 sends a request (hereinafter referred to as a public request) to server device 1 that includes information specifying the combination of downstream and upstream products to be linked. The request is sent to the upstream company. This request asks the upstream company to grant access rights to the upstream products, and also asks server device 1 to link these product information together.

[0173] Upon receiving a disclosure request, server device 1 forwards the disclosure request to the upstream company's enterprise terminal 2. In response, the upstream company's enterprise terminal 2 executes the process shown in step S13 in Figure 16. In one example, server device 1, upon receiving permission information, executes the process in step S14 and also executes the process in step S18 without waiting for a linking request. In other words, the disclosure request may include a linking request. In step S18, server device 1 executes a process to link the product information identified by the disclosure request. Thus, it is possible to omit some of the processes shown in Figure 16.

[0174] In another example, server device 1 may notify the downstream company's enterprise terminal 2 of the result of step S18, which it has processed automatically. Alternatively, server device 1 may send a notification to the downstream company's enterprise terminal 2 requesting permission to execute step S18 before automatically executing step S18. Server device 1 may execute step S18 in response to the permission response from the downstream company's enterprise terminal 2. In yet another example, even if a disclosure request has been executed, server device 1 may execute the processing of step S18 in response to a linking request from the downstream company's enterprise terminal 2. In other words, the disclosure request does not necessarily have to include a linking request.

[0175] Furthermore, in the description of the embodiments, it was assumed that upstream companies and downstream companies are different companies, that is, that upstream products and downstream products are produced by different companies. However, in the above embodiments, the upstream company can be in the position of an upstream company, and the downstream company can be in the position of a downstream company. Companies other than the upstream and downstream companies can be in the position of both upstream and downstream companies. Therefore, in the second phase described above, each company's enterprise terminal 2 may send an authorization command to the server device 1, designating itself as an upstream company, which includes specifying its downstream companies that are permitted to access product information relating to its own products. Its own products are an example of the target company's first target products, and the product information relating to its own products is an example of first product information relating to the first target products. Accordingly, the server device 1 may perform the above access permission setting. Furthermore, in the third phase described above, each company's enterprise terminal 2 may send an authorization request or termination flag setting request to the server device 1, designating itself as a downstream company, which includes selecting product information to link to product information relating to its own products from among the product information that it has been permitted to access from its upstream company. In this scenario, the user's own product is an example of the target company's second target product, and the product information relating to the user's own product is an example of the second product information relating to the second target product. Accordingly, server device 1 may perform linking or termination flag processing. Note that the first target product (the target of access permission) and the second target product (the target of linking or termination flag assignment) may be the same or different. If the first and second target products are the same, the first product information and the second product information may be the same; if the first and second target products are different, the first product information and the second product information may be different.

[0176] Furthermore, the above embodiment shows an example of how to calculate CO2 emissions (CFP value). The CFP value may be calculated using the following formula. Tier N-1 CFP value = Tier N-1's own measured CFP value + Σ k (k company (Tier N) CFP value × amount used in Tier N-1 uk Here, "Tier N-1 CFP value" represents the result of integrating the CFP value of the upstream company (company k (Tier N)) with our own CFP value. Our own measured CFP value represents the CFP value included in each company's product information. If Tier N is the upstream company, "Tier N's ​​CFP value" is the CFP value included in that company's product information; otherwise, "Tier N's ​​CFP value" represents the CFP value of an even further upstream company. This is the result of integrating the CFP values ​​of (Tier N+1) with the CFP values ​​included in the product information of the company in question. By setting TierN as the upstream company (end company) and repeating the calculation until N=1, the CFP value of the Tier0 product (=final product) can be obtained.

[0177] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the server device 1 may perform calculations of the recycling rate and due diligence (score) together with or instead of calculating the CO2 emissions (CFP value). The recycling rate may be calculated using the following formula. "(Recycling rate for Tier N-1 products for the target substance) = {(Total amount used in Tier N-1) × (Recycling rate in Tier N-1) + Σ k (Total usage at company k (Tier N) × Recycling rate at company k (Tier N) × Usage at Tier N-1 u) k )}÷{Total usage in Tier N-1 + Σ k ( Total usage at company k (Tier N) × Usage at Tier N-1 u k )} = {Amount of recycled materials used in Tier N-1} +Σ k (Amount of recycled material used at company k (Tier N) × Amount used at Tier N-1 u k )}÷{Total in Tier N-1 Total usage +Σ k (Total usage at company k (Tier N) × Usage at Tier N-1 u k )}" The recycled material utilization amount indicates the amount of recycled material used for the target substance. Similar to the CFP value, the recycling rate in the final product for the target substance can be calculated by calculating it sequentially from the upstream company (end company). Furthermore, the due diligence score (DD score) can be integrated using the same calculation method as the CFP value and recycling rate described above. For example, by replacing the above CFP value with the DD score and calculating it sequentially from the upstream company (end company), the DD score (integrated result) for the final product can be obtained.

[0178] In the above embodiment, each company (Tier N-1) excluding the upstream company has its own traceability Instead of storing related information in a shared storage area between itself and its downstream companies, the integrated results of each company (CFP value for Tier N-1, recycling rate of Tier N-1 products for the target substance) may be stored in a shared storage area between each company and its downstream companies (Tier N-2). This allows each company to... It is possible to obtain traceability-related information (integrated results) for the final product without disclosing the traceability-related information of the business itself.

[0179] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, it was assumed that each company places an order with one company for a certain material. However, in the above embodiment, the ordering format of each company is not limited to this example. At least some of the companies belonging to the supply chain may place orders with multiple upstream companies for the same product and selectively use the obtained upstream products in their own products. For example, in the example in Figure 13 above, Tier 1 product A1 may selectively use Tier 2 products A11_1, A11_2, or A11_3. In this case, the server device 1 will determine the pattern to be used. A linkage relationship may be maintained for each unit. In the example above, server device 1 is linked to Tier 1 product A1. There are two patterns: Pattern 1 "Tier 2 product A11_1, ...", Pattern 2 "product A11_2, ...", and The association information may be stored as follows: pattern 3 "product A11_3, ...". Server device 1 may perform the above-mentioned calculation (integration) of traceability-related information for each pattern. In this case, in one example, server device 1 may output the calculation results for each pattern. In another example, server device 1 may calculate statistical quantities such as the maximum value, minimum value, mean, variance, standard deviation, and median from the calculation results and output the calculated statistical quantities.

[0180] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the traceability-related information (in particular, CFP values) may consist of primary data or secondary data (inventory data). Primary data are measured values, and secondary data are reference values ​​used when measured values ​​are not available. In this case, the calculation (integration) of the traceability-related information may include calculating the primary data ratio of the traceability-related information obtained for the final product. The primary data ratio may be calculated by a simple ratio calculation, or it may be calculated by a weighting calculation in which the CFP value in the above CFP value calculation formula is replaced with the primary data ratio of each company and calculated sequentially from the upstream company.

[0181] Furthermore, processes described as being performed by a single device may be divided and executed by multiple devices. This may be done. Alternatively, processes described as being performed by different devices may be performed by a single device. In a computer system, the hardware configuration (server configuration) by which each function is implemented can be flexibly changed.

[0182] The present disclosure can also be realized by supplying a computer program implementing the functions described in the embodiments above to a computer, and having one or more processors in the computer read and execute the program. Such a computer program may be provided to the computer by a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium that can be connected to the computer's system bus, or it may be provided to the computer via a network. Non-temporary computer-readable storage mediums include, for example, any type of disk such as magnetic disks (floppy disks, hard disk drives (HDDs), etc.), optical disks (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic cards, flash memory, optical cards, and any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0183] 1. Server device 2. Enterprise terminals 11,21...Control Unit 12,22...Storage section 13,23...Communication module 14,24... Input / Output Devices

Claims

1. A server device having a storage device that stores product information for each company included in the supply chain, and a control unit, The aforementioned supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, Between each pair of adjacent hierarchical firms, upstream and downstream firms are defined. The aforementioned storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company, and a second storage area shared between upstream and downstream companies. The product information of each company is stored in the first memory area of ​​the corresponding company. The control unit, Receiving a authorization directive from the upstream company's account, including the designation of the downstream company that it is permitted to access primary product information relating to the upstream company's upstream products, In response to the received authorization command, copy the first product information from the first storage area, which is exclusively for the upstream company, to the second storage area, which is shared between the designated downstream company and the upstream company. The system receives a linking request from the downstream company's account, which includes selecting the first product information to be linked to the second product information relating to the downstream product of the downstream company, from among the first product information stored in the second storage area for which access has been permitted. In response to the received linking request, the system generates linking information indicating the linking relationship specified by the linking request, The aforementioned linking information is stored in the storage device, It is configured to perform, The control unit, Receiving a participation request from the downstream company's account, including the designation of the upstream company, In response to the aforementioned participation request received, send a participation request to the address of the designated upstream company, In response to the aforementioned participation request, the system is configured to further generate an account for the upstream company, Receiving the authorization command from the upstream company's account is performed after generating the upstream company's account. Server device.

2. The aforementioned product information includes traceability-related information, The traceability-related information includes at least one of the following: the amount of material used per unit of production of the product, the recycling rate of a predetermined raw material contained in the product, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated during the production of the product, and a due diligence score indicating the degree to which the obligation of responsible mineral sourcing for the raw materials contained in the product has been fulfilled. The control unit, Obtaining traceability-related information contained in the product information of one or more included products that are identified from the linking information related to the target product, and one or more included products that are included in the target product, The traceability-related information obtained for one or more of the aforementioned included products and the aforementioned target product is integrated, and the integrated result is obtained as the traceability-related information for the aforementioned target product. Outputting the results of the aforementioned integration, It is configured to perform further actions. The server device according to claim 1.

3. The aforementioned traceability-related information includes the emissions of the aforementioned greenhouse gases. Integrating the aforementioned traceability-related information includes integrating the greenhouse gas emissions from one or more of the contained products and the target product to calculate the total greenhouse gas emissions related to the manufacturing activities up to the production of the target product. The server device according to claim 2.

4. The aforementioned traceability-related information includes the recycling rate of the predetermined raw material, Integrating the traceability-related information includes integrating the recycling rates of the predetermined raw materials in the one or more containing products and the target product by using the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the one or more containing products, the amount of recycled material of the predetermined raw materials used in the one or more containing products, the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product, and the amount of recycled material of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product, thereby calculating the recycling rate of the predetermined raw materials in the target product as the overall recycling rate of the predetermined raw materials in the target product, based on the total amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product. The server device according to claim 2.

5. The aforementioned linking includes forming a product tree by associating the selected first product information so that the upstream product becomes a child node and the downstream product of the second product information becomes a parent node. Acquiring the aforementioned traceability-related information and integrating the aforementioned traceability-related information is comprised of repeatedly transferring the traceability-related information of upstream products to downstream products between each of the two adjacent hierarchical levels of companies, from the upstream product belonging to the product tree as a leaf node up to the target product, in the product tree to which the target product belongs as a root node, and integrating the traceability-related information of the transferred upstream product with the traceability-related information originating from the downstream product, and acquiring the integration result as the traceability-related information of the downstream product. The control unit is further configured to store the integration results for the target product in a second memory area shared between the upstream and downstream companies corresponding to the target product. The server device according to any one of claims 2 to 4.

6. The storage device further stores transaction data of the upstream product between the upstream company and the downstream company. The transaction data includes at least the identifier of the upstream company and the identifier of the upstream product, Receiving the authorization command from the upstream company's account and receiving the linking request from the downstream company's account includes, at least, generating a list of companies for the upstream company's user to specify which downstream companies are permitted to access the first product information of the upstream product, and generating a list of products for the downstream company's user to select the first product information of the upstream product to link with the second product information of the downstream product. A server device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

7. The control unit is further configured to add an identifier for the upstream product used by the downstream company to the first product information when copying the first product information to the second storage area. A server device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

8. The control unit is further configured to acquire the product information of each company and store the acquired product information in the first memory area of ​​the corresponding company. A server device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

9. An information processing method performed by a server device that stores product information about products of each company included in the supply chain in a storage device for each company, The aforementioned supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, Between each pair of adjacent hierarchical firms, upstream and downstream firms are defined. The aforementioned storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company, and a second storage area shared between upstream and downstream companies. The product information of each company is stored in the first memory area of ​​the corresponding company. The steps include receiving a authorization directive from the upstream company's account, which includes designating the downstream company to be granted access to primary product information relating to the upstream company's upstream products, In response to the received authorization command, the steps include copying the first product information from a first storage area, which is exclusively for the upstream company, to a second storage area, which is shared between the designated downstream company and the upstream company, The step of receiving a linking request from the downstream company's account, which includes selecting first product information that is stored in the second storage area and is permitted to be accessed, and which is to be linked to the second product information relating to the downstream product of the downstream company. The steps include: generating linking information that indicates the linking relationship specified by the linking request in response to the received linking request; The steps include storing the aforementioned linking information in the storage device, Includes, The steps include receiving a participation request from the downstream company's account, including the designation of the upstream company, In response to the aforementioned invitation to participate, the steps include sending a participation request to the address of the designated upstream company, In response to the aforementioned request for participation, the steps include: generating an account for the upstream company; It further includes, The step of receiving the authorization command from the upstream company's account is performed after the step of generating the upstream company's account is performed, in which information processing method.

10. The aforementioned product information includes traceability-related information, The traceability-related information includes at least one of the following: the amount of material used per unit of production of the product, the recycling rate of a predetermined raw material contained in the product, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated during the production of the product, and a due diligence score indicating the degree to which the obligation of responsible mineral sourcing for the raw materials contained in the product has been fulfilled. The steps include obtaining one or more contained products identified from the linking information related to the target product, and obtaining traceability-related information contained in the product information of each of the target products, The steps include: integrating the traceability-related information obtained for one or more included products and the target product, and obtaining the integration result as traceability-related information for the target product; The steps include outputting the results of the integration, This also includes, The information processing method according to claim 9.

11. The aforementioned traceability-related information includes the emissions of the aforementioned greenhouse gases. The step of integrating the traceability-related information includes the step of integrating the greenhouse gas emissions from one or more inclusion products and the target product to calculate the total greenhouse gas emissions related to the manufacturing activities up to the production of the target product. The information processing method according to claim 10.

12. The aforementioned traceability-related information includes the recycling rate of the predetermined raw material, The step of integrating the traceability-related information includes a step of integrating the recycling rates of the predetermined raw materials in the one or more containing products and the target product, using the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the one or more containing products, the amount of recycled material of the predetermined raw materials used in the one or more containing products from the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the one or more containing products, the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product, and the amount of recycled material of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product from the amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product, thereby calculating the recycling rate of the predetermined raw materials relative to the total amount of the predetermined raw materials used in the target product as the overall recycling rate of the predetermined raw materials in the target product. The information processing method according to claim 10.

13. The step of performing the aforementioned linking includes forming a product tree by associating the selected first product information so that the upstream product is a child node and the downstream product of the second product information is a parent node, The steps of acquiring the traceability-related information and integrating the traceability-related information are performed by repeatedly taking the steps of transferring the traceability-related information of an upstream product to a downstream product between each of the two adjacent hierarchical companies, from the upstream product belonging to the product tree as a leaf node up to the target product, in the product tree to which the target product belongs as a root node, and integrating the traceability-related information of the transferred upstream product and the traceability-related information originating from the downstream product, and acquiring the integration result as the traceability-related information of the downstream product. The further step includes storing the integration results for the aforementioned target product in a second memory area shared between the upstream and downstream companies corresponding to the aforementioned target product. The information processing method according to any one of claims 10 to 12.

14. At least one of the steps of receiving the authorization command from the upstream company's account and receiving the linking request from the downstream company's account is transaction data relating to the upstream product between the upstream company and the downstream company, and the upstream The process includes at least one of the following steps: generating a list of companies for the upstream company's user to specify which downstream companies are permitted to access the first product information of the upstream product, based on transaction data that includes at least a company identifier and the identifier of the upstream product; and generating a list of products for the downstream company's user to select the first product information of the upstream product to link with the second product information of the downstream product. The information processing method according to any one of claims 10 to 12.

15. In the step of copying the first product information to the second storage area, the identifier of the upstream product used by the downstream company is added to the first product information. The information processing method according to any one of claims 10 to 12.

16. A program for causing an information processing device of a target company to execute an information processing method, which is able to communicate with a server device equipped with a storage device that stores product information for each company included in the supply chain, for each company, The aforementioned supply chain has a structure of three or more layers, Between each pair of adjacent hierarchical firms, upstream and downstream firms are defined. The aforementioned storage device is provided with a first storage area dedicated to each company, and a second storage area shared between upstream and downstream companies. The aforementioned product information for each company is stored in the first memory area of ​​the corresponding company. The aforementioned information processing method is: A step of sending a authorization command to the server device, which includes designating a downstream company of the target company as the upstream company, and granting access to the first product information relating to the target company's first product, the server device to copy the first product information from the target company's first storage area to a second storage area shared between the designated downstream company and the target company, in response to the authorization command. The process includes the step of sending a linking request to the server device, which includes selecting product information to be linked to the second product information relating to the second target product of the target company, from among the product information that the upstream company of the target company has been permitted to access to the target company, with respect to the downstream company of the target company, with respect to the downstream company of the target company, with respect to the downstream company of the target company, with respect to the downstream company of the target company, The information processing method further includes the step of sending a request to the server device to designate the target company as a downstream company, and including the designation of an upstream company of the target company. program.

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