NFT Shipping Container Ownership Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shipping item tracking systems fail to accurately describe items, are prone to collapse due to single failures, and struggle to distinguish between ownership and possession, leading to inefficiencies and potential fraud.
Innovation Solution
The use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on a distributed ledger to represent ownership and possession of shipping items, with two-factor authentication to verify true ownership and prevent fraud, ensuring robust tracking and accurate title holder identification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional centralized tracking systems are used, then the system structure is simple, but the system reliability is poor because a single failure may cause the entire system to collapse
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tracking system into multiple independent nodes distributed across a network, where each node maintains its own copy of the ledger. This segmentation prevents single-point failure, as the system can continue operating even if individual nodes fail, thereby improving reliability while accepting increased structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a distributed ledger as an intermediary layer between trading parties, which mediates ownership verification and tracking. This intermediary ensures that no single party controls the entire system, enhancing reliability through decentralized consensus mechanisms.
2Measurement precision
If traditional tracking systems are used, then the implementation is straightforward, but the system cannot distinguish between ownership and possession of the shipping item
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic NFTs that can change states based on events in the supply chain. The NFT transitions between different ownership and possession states, allowing the system to precisely track and distinguish between legal ownership and physical possession at any given time, thereby improving measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses nested NFTs where an parent NFT representing overall cargo ownership can contain or reference child NFTs representing individual items or subsets. This nesting structure enables precise tracking of ownership hierarchies and possession transfers at multiple levels simultaneously.
3Loss of information
If detailed description of shipping items is added to tracking systems, then the information completeness is improved, but the data processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates digital copies of shipping item information stored on the distributed ledger, including detailed descriptions, images, and specifications. These digital twins maintain complete information without requiring complex physical tracking infrastructure, as the information itself becomes the tracking mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent designs the NFT structure to serve multiple functions simultaneously: tracking ownership, recording possession transfers, storing item descriptions, and enabling verification. This multi-functionality reduces overall system complexity by consolidating multiple tracking needs into a single unified mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
The present systems and method relate generally to using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to track shipping items. In some embodiments, identification information of a shipping item is obtained. An NFT may then be minted representing ownership of the shipping item. An indication that a receiving party has received the shipping item may then trigger transfer of the NFT to the receiving party to indicate that the receiving party possesses the shipping item.