Distributed Ledger for Physical Material Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ledgers for physical materials rely on a trusted central administrator, making them vulnerable to inaccessibility and modification when the central administrator becomes inoperative or compromised, and lacks resilience against human error and fraud.
Innovation Solution
A distributed ledger system that replicates and shares digital data across multiple nodes without a central administrator, using a verification computer system to obtain and verify information about physical materials through digital signatures, and integrates this information into a distributed digital ledger for secure and transparent transactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a centralized ledger with a trusted administrator is used, then transaction verification and ledger management are simplified, but the system becomes vulnerable to inaccessibility and modification when the central administrator is compromised or becomes inoperative
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the centralized ledger system into multiple distributed nodes, each maintaining a copy of the ledger. This segmentation eliminates the single point of failure (central administrator) while distributing verification responsibilities across multiple independent entities, thereby improving reliability without significantly complicating operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a consensus mechanism as an intermediary process that mediates between multiple distributed nodes. This consensus protocol enables nodes to agree on ledger state without requiring a central administrator, resolving the contradiction by providing both distributed reliability and coordinated operation through the mediator.
2Ease of operation
If a centralized ledger is used, then transaction verification can be performed by a single trusted entity, but the system lacks resilience against human error and fraud when the central administrator is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the verification function from a single central administrator to multiple distributed nodes. Each node independently verifies transactions according to the consensus protocol, making it significantly harder for fraud or human error to compromise the entire system, as an attacker would need to compromise a majority of nodes simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism through the consensus protocol, where each node continuously monitors and verifies the ledger state against the agreed-upon rules. This ongoing feedback loop detects and prevents fraudulent modifications, as any attempt to alter the ledger would be rejected by the consensus mechanism unless it represents a valid agreed-upon change.
3Reliability
If a distributed ledger is implemented, then resilience and protection against unauthorized alteration are improved, but the system complexity increases due to replication and synchronization across multiple nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses copying to replicate the ledger across multiple nodes, which inherently improves reliability through redundancy. The complexity is managed by using standard copying mechanisms combined with consensus protocols, rather than requiring complex custom synchronization algorithms, thus balancing resiliency with manageable system complexity.
4Measurement precision
If hundreds of discrete data units representing physical characteristics are verified and added to the distributed ledger, then the accuracy and security of material verification are improved, but the data processing time and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having nodes continuously maintain and update their local ledger copies with material verification data before transactions occur. This pre-positioning of verification data allows for faster transaction processing, as the foundational verification information is already in place and does not require complete re-verification for each transaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial verification actions by allowing nodes to verify and process subsets of the hundreds of discrete data units based on their specific roles and the transaction requirements. Not all nodes need to verify all data units, which reduces overall processing time while maintaining sufficient verification accuracy through the consensus mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus for distributed ledger for physical material. In one aspect, a method includes obtaining a first set of information regarding a physical material to be verified, the first set of information including hundreds of values for channels of a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the physical material in response to an irradiation of the physical material; obtaining a second set of information regarding the physical material to be verified; sending the first and second sets of information over the communication network to a verification computer system; receiving verification information; initiating addition of information usable to identify the first set of information and the digital signature to a distributed digital ledger; receiving confirmation of the addition of the information useable to identify the first set of information and the digital signature to the distributed digital ledger; and reporting that the physical material has been verified.