Distributed Ledger Transaction Data Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional loyalty programs lack customer control over their transaction data, preventing the monetization of past purchases and limiting benefits for both customers and merchants, as customers cannot opt in retrospectively to associate prior transactions with their profiles.

Innovation Solution

A distributed ledger system using blockchain technology allows customers to opt in and control their data, enabling the recording and retrieval of transactions with unique keys or device information, providing decentralized data management and customer consent-based data sharing.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If conventional centralized data management systems are used to record customer transactions, then data can be easily accessed and managed by merchants, but customers lose control over their personal data and cannot monetize their purchase history

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveCustomer control over personal dataVSAvoidData management system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a distributed ledger system as an intermediary between customers and merchants. This mediator enables customers to maintain control over their transaction data while allowing merchants to access relevant information. The distributed ledger acts as a neutral platform where customers can selectively share data without surrendering ownership or control, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of data access and customer control.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments control over customer data by implementing permission-based access mechanisms. Different portions of customer data can be accessed by different parties based on explicit permissions granted by the customer. This segmentation allows merchants to access only the data they need while customers retain overall control, eliminating the need for a single centralized system that either gives full control to merchants or completely restricts access.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Loss of information

If customers opt in to loyalty programs, then merchants can track and monetize customer data, but customers cannot retrospectively associate past transactions with their profiles

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveRetention of past transaction dataVSAvoidTime to associate past transactions

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by having the distributed ledger system continuously record and timestamp all transactions as they occur, regardless of whether the customer has opted into a loyalty program. This preliminary recording ensures that when customers later choose to join the program, their historical transaction data is already available and can be immediately associated with their profile without requiring any retrospective data collection or time-consuming processes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If centralized systems store customer transaction data, then data access and manipulation are simple, but security and immutability are compromised

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveData immutability and securityVSAvoidDistributed ledger implementation

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a distributed ledger where multiple identical copies of the transaction database are maintained across numerous nodes in the network. Each node holds a complete copy of the ledger, ensuring that no single point of failure or corruption can compromise data integrity. This copying mechanism provides inherent security and immutability, as any attempt to alter data would require simultaneously modifying copies across the majority of the network, which is computationally infeasible.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

4Productivity

If customers provide full identifying information to merchants, then loyalty programs can accurately track and reward customers, but customer privacy is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveLoyalty program effectivenessVSAvoidCustomer privacy loss

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by implementing selective data sharing where different portions of customer information are shared with different parties based on specific permissions. Customers can choose to share certain types of data (e.g., transaction history) with merchants while maintaining privacy of other information (e.g., personal identifiers). This localized approach to data sharing enables effective loyalty tracking while preserving customer privacy, as each data element is shared only where necessary and authorized.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS11374738B2Methods and systems for generating, recording and retrieving digital transaction records

Publication Date: 2022.06.28 MAKE GREAT SALES LTD

AI summary

Methods and systems are disclosed for recording a transaction between a user and a transaction system on a distributed ledger maintained by nodes interconnected over a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Where the user has opted in, a block for the transaction is generated with the user's key and is broadcast to the P2P network for validation and entry on the distributed ledger. Where the user has not opted in, device information associated with the transaction is obtained, and a block for the transaction is generated by the device information and is broadcast to the P2P network for validation and entry on the distributed ledger. The device information may be used to locate, retrieve and claim the records of past transactions by the user on the distributed ledger.