Distributed Ledger for Supply Chain Event Data Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current supply chain processes face challenges in capturing, formatting, processing, analyzing, storing, and sharing supply chain event data effectively, leading to incomplete or inaccurate data sharing among parties involved.
Innovation Solution
The use of a distributed ledger, such as a Blockchain or Hashgraph, to capture, format, process, analyze, store, and share supply chain event data, ensuring immutability, accessibility, and validation among all parties involved.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If supply chain event data is stored in central databases owned by one party, then data storage and management is simplified for that party, but data accessibility and sharing among other involved parties is limited or prohibited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized database into a distributed ledger system where data is divided across multiple nodes. Each participant in the supply chain has access to a copy of the ledger, eliminating the single-point control bottleneck while maintaining data integrity through cryptographic verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The distributed ledger acts as an intermediary mechanism between different supply chain parties. Instead of direct access to each other's databases, parties interact through the shared ledger which mediates data access, ensuring transparency while maintaining appropriate access controls and data integrity.
2Loss of information
If supply chain event data is shared between parties, then visibility and collaboration improve, but data validity and completeness cannot be guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The distributed ledger implements continuous feedback mechanisms where each data entry is verified by multiple nodes before being added to the chain. This verification process provides feedback on data validity, and any attempted modifications trigger verification feedback that prevents unauthorized changes, ensuring data completeness and authenticity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms data from mutable records in centralized databases to immutable entries in the distributed ledger. Once data is written to the blockchain, its cryptographic hash is recorded, making any subsequent modification detectable. This parameter change from mutable to immutable ensures data validity while maintaining visibility.
3Loss of information
If system interfaces are implemented to allow wider sharing of supply chain event data, then data accessibility improves, but system complexity and cost increase prohibitively
Solution Approach 1:
The distributed ledger provides a universal data access interface that serves all supply chain participants simultaneously. Instead of implementing separate point-to-point interfaces between each party, the ledger acts as a single multi-functional platform that handles data sharing, verification, and validation for all participants, dramatically reducing overall system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems for supply chain management are provided. The systems perform capturing, formatting, processing, analysis, storage, and sharing of supply chain event data. The systems store the supply chain event data relating to an execution of a supply chain process therein and on a distributed ledger.