Blockchain Entitlement Management via Smart Contracts
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Solution Overview
Problem
The management of entitled assets across networks lacks trust and efficiency due to manual auditing and onerous enforcement mechanisms, such as license keys, which are not effectively addressed by existing technologies.
Innovation Solution
The use of blockchain technology provides a distributed, transactional database for entitlement management, enabling the creation, tracking, and renewal of entitled products and services through smart contracts and containers, ensuring transparent and systematic usage tracking and enforcement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual auditing and license keys are used to manage entitled assets, then usage control can be enforced, but trust and efficiency are compromised due to onerous mechanisms and lack of transparency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a blockchain-based intermediary system that mediates between entitlement owners and users. This distributed ledger acts as a trusted third party, recording entitlement transactions and usage data immutably, thereby establishing trust without requiring complex manual auditing or restrictive license key mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual auditing mechanisms and traditional license key enforcement with an automated blockchain-based system. Smart contracts automatically verify entitlement validity and track usage, substituting human-driven mechanical processes with algorithmic execution that enhances both trust and efficiency.
2Loss of information
If manual auditing is used to track entitlement usage, then usage information can be collected, but efficiency is reduced due to time-consuming manual processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service system where the blockchain network automatically tracks and records entitlement usage data. Usage information is collected through automated smart contracts that monitor product usage and update the ledger without requiring manual auditing, thereby preventing information loss while dramatically improving efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual auditing processes with automated blockchain-based tracking. Smart contracts continuously monitor usage and record transactions on the distributed ledger, substituting time-consuming human auditing with efficient algorithmic processes that maintain complete usage information.
3Ease of operation
If license keys are used to restrict consumption, then usage control can be enforced, but trust is reduced due to onerous enforcement mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a blockchain intermediary that facilitates trusted usage control without relying on restrictive license keys. The distributed ledger provides a transparent and immutable record of entitlements and usage, enabling ease of operation while simultaneously building trust through cryptographic verification and decentralized consensus.
4Adaptability or versatility
If existing technologies are used to manage entitled assets, then some level of control is achieved, but both trust and efficiency gaps remain unaddressed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal blockchain-based platform that can manage various types of entitled assets (software, digital content, physical goods) through a single standardized system. This multi-functional approach maintains adaptability across different application scenarios while simultaneously addressing trust and efficiency gaps through the inherent properties of blockchain technology.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for managing entitlements of products and services using blockchain are described. One method includes the steps of storing by a blockchain fabric a ledger that stores transaction data, smart contracts that process transactions, creating an entitlement, receiving by the blockchain a create entitlement transaction request, adding, by the smart contract, an entitlement block to the ledger, issuing by the entitled product a usage transaction that reports usage of the entitled product, upon receiving the usage transaction, adding, by a smart contract, a usage block to the ledger, and determining, by the smart contract, that an entitlement limit has been reached. Another method describes a container mechanism that provides a way to identify all blocks associated with a base entitlement.