Distributed Ledger Chemical Substance Management With Request Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing information management systems inaccurately manage chemical substances, potentially misclassifying restricted substances, leading to inappropriate reporting or unnecessary disclosure of information.
Innovation Solution
An information management system utilizing distributed ledger technology to manage chemical substances in a supply chain, where each apparatus verifies and denies incorrect requests for adding new substances, ensuring compliance with regulations and maintaining confidentiality by limiting data sharing to direct business relations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a company designates chemical substances to be managed in the information management system, then information on chemical substances can be provided to downstream companies, but incorrect designations may occur leading to misclassification of restricted substances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where downstream companies can send requests for addition of new chemical substances to the restriction list upstream. The receiving apparatus verifies these requests against external regulatory information sources and provides feedback by approving or denying the additions. This closed-loop feedback system ensures continuous improvement and correction of the restriction list accuracy throughout the supply chain.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary verification of chemical substance designations before they are finalized in the information management system. Each apparatus verifies requests for adding restricted substances by checking external regulatory information sources in advance. This preliminary action prevents incorrect classifications from being recorded, ensuring high precision in restricted substance identification before the data is committed to the system.
2Loss of information
If all companies in the supply chain share chemical substance information, then comprehensive information management is achieved, but confidentiality of proprietary information may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by allowing different levels of information sharing among different companies in the supply chain. Each company's apparatus shares chemical substance information only with its direct upstream and downstream partners, not with all companies in the network. This localized information sharing approach ensures comprehensive chemical substance tracking while protecting each company's proprietary information from unauthorized access.
3Measurement precision
If manual verification of chemical substance requests is performed, then accuracy can be maintained, but processing time and workload increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical verification processes with automated electronic verification systems. Each apparatus automatically verifies requests for adding restricted substances by electronically checking external regulatory information sources and comparing them against the company's restriction list. This automation maintains high accuracy in substance classification while dramatically reducing verification time and eliminating manual workload.
Data Source
AI summary
A node of a C company verifies transaction data received from a node of a B company, the transaction data proposing addition of a subject substance to a restriction list. When the node of the C company determines that information indicating that a new proposed subject substance falls under a restricted substance is incorrect by obtaining data on the restricted substance, for example, from the outside (a server apparatus or the like in an external group) and checking whether or not the subject substance falls under the restricted substance, the node of the C company does not approve the proposal for addition of the new subject substance to the restriction list but transmits transaction data that denies the proposal to the node of the B company (an arrow B5).