Distributed Entity Tracking With Lightweight Ledger Provenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing entity tracking systems face issues with security, trust, inefficiency, and high operational costs due to vulnerabilities in centralized ledgers and the high energy consumption of distributed ledgers, particularly when maintaining chains of ownership for non-fungible entities.
Innovation Solution
A system that stores metadata separately from the ledger, using a centralized or distributed ledger to record ownership transfers and virtual identifiers, reducing data volume on the ledger while maintaining an immutable chain of ownership, and providing incremental values to encourage compliance and reporting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If metadata for entities is stored on the ledger, then entity information is readily accessible, but memory resources and energy consumption increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides data storage into two segments: essential ownership transaction data is stored on the immutable ledger, while detailed entity metadata is stored separately in conventional databases. This segmentation allows the ledger to remain lightweight and energy-efficient while still providing access to necessary information through cryptographic links between the ledger records and external metadata storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts non-essential metadata from the ledger storage system and places it in external databases. Only critical transaction information (ownership transfers, entity identifiers) remains on the ledger, while detailed entity attributes are extracted and stored externally, reducing ledger data volume by up to 90% while maintaining information accessibility through cryptographic references.
2Reliability
If more entity data is stored on the blockchain, then entity provenance is more verifiable, but the amount of memory and energy required to validate transactions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces cryptographic hashes and references as intermediaries between the ledger and external metadata storage. Instead of storing complete entity data on the ledger, the system stores cryptographic fingerprints that verify the authenticity and integrity of external metadata, maintaining provenance verification while minimizing data volume on the blockchain.
3Reliability
If a distributed ledger is used to maintain ownership chains, then security and trust are improved, but processing resources and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies distributed ledger technology partially - only for the essential function of recording ownership transfers and maintaining immutable audit trails. Detailed entity management operations are handled by conventional centralized systems, allowing the distributed ledger to provide security and trust for critical operations without requiring all system operations to be processed on-chain, thus improving overall transaction processing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
In some aspects, the disclosure is directed to methods and systems for secure and authenticated tracking of entity possession via a lightweight centralized or distributed ledger. Ownership records of different entities may be recorded on an immutable ledger such that provenance of the entities is verifiable and a user cannot create or counterfeit an entity. In some implementations, the system may store metadata of entities in a separate database that may store records for each entity and correspond to the respective entity's virtual identifier, enabling the ledger records to contain much less data, saving memory resources and the energy that is required to maintain the ledger. In some implementations, distributed incremental values may be provided to members of an ownership or possession chain of an entity, which may encourage compliance, reporting of ownership transfer, and encourage additional transfers.