Encrypted Order Pooling System for Privacy-Preserving Bulk Purchases
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Solution Overview
Problem
Companies, especially smaller ones, face challenges in pooling their bulk orders to take advantage of tiered pricing discounts due to confidentiality concerns and the need to share sensitive supplier information, which is often a trade secret.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that allows requesters to present their purchase requests in an encrypted manner, using homomorphic encryption schemes, enabling an intermediary to pool requests without decrypting the information, thus preserving confidentiality and allowing for calculations on encrypted data to determine potential savings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If purchasers share sensitive supplier information to combine orders for bulk discounts, then cost savings increase, but confidentiality and security of trade secrets deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a trusted intermediary service that receives encrypted purchase requests from multiple purchasers, pools them together, and coordinates bulk orders without requiring purchasers to share their sensitive supplier information directly. The intermediary acts as a mediator that enables collaboration while preserving confidentiality through cryptographic techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the confidential supplier information from the order pooling process by using encrypted representations of purchase requests. The actual supplier details and sensitive business information are separated from the pooling coordination mechanism, allowing order aggregation without exposing trade secrets.
2Loss of information
If purchasers do not share sensitive information, then confidentiality is maintained, but ability to pool orders for bulk discounts deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical system of direct communication and information sharing between purchasers with a cryptographic system. Encrypted purchase requests and cryptographic protocols substitute for direct negotiation and information exchange, enabling order pooling while maintaining confidentiality through mathematical rather than social mechanisms.
3Loss of information
If encrypted purchase requests are used for pooling, then confidentiality is preserved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The trusted intermediary service absorbs much of the cryptographic complexity, performing encryption, decryption, and verification operations on behalf of purchasers. This centralizes the computational burden and simplifies the interface for individual purchasers, who only need to interact with the intermediary through standardized encrypted request formats.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for pooling requirements, such as placing of multiple purchase orders, while preserving the privacy of the requirements provided by requesters placing the orders. The approach involves receiving first encrypted information comprising a first request from a first client and second encrypted information comprising a second request from a second client. An encrypted intersection result of the first request and the second request can then be calculated using the first encrypted information and the second encrypted information, in their encrypted form without the need to decrypt either.