Nonlinear Personal Document Blockchain for Secure Access Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current digital storage systems for documents lack tamper-proof security and efficient access control, making it difficult to protect documents from unauthorized access and manipulation, especially in scenarios where physical presence is required.

Innovation Solution

A cryptographic method utilizing a nonlinear personal document blockchain structure with bidirectionally linked blocks and an authorization blockchain structure for selective access control, ensuring documents are stored and accessed in a tamper-proof manner.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If documents are stored locally on a user's telecommunications system, then the user can access and display documents conveniently, but the user must always carry the device and faces risk of data loss or unauthorized access if the device is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveDocument accessibilityVSAvoidData security
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments documents into multiple attributes stored across distributed blockchain nodes rather than keeping complete documents in one location. This segmentation allows the system to provide document verification without requiring the user to carry a single vulnerable device, as document attributes are distributed and can be accessed through multiple nodes

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces a blockchain network as an intermediary between users and documents. Instead of direct local storage, documents are verified through the blockchain intermediary, which provides tamper-proof verification without requiring users to physically carry or directly manage the complete document data, thus enhancing security while maintaining accessibility

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Productivity

If digital documents are provided without tamper-proof storage, then access and processing are simple, but documents can be manipulated or altered unauthorizedly

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveDocument processing efficiencyVSAvoidDocument integrity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces traditional mechanical document verification methods (physical inspection, manual authentication) with cryptographic verification through blockchain. This substitution maintains efficient automated processing while providing mathematically guaranteed document integrity through cryptographic hashing and distributed consensus mechanisms

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The blockchain acts as an intermediary verification layer that processes document attributes without requiring manual intervention. The automated smart contract execution and cryptographic verification maintain high processing efficiency while ensuring document integrity through the decentralized consensus mechanism

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Ease of operation

If access control to document attributes is not managed selectively, then document access is straightforward, but unauthorized users may access sensitive information

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveAccess managementVSAvoidUnauthorized access
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different access control policies to different document attributes based on their sensitivity and required confidentiality. Each attribute can have its own access permissions, allowing the system to manage access selectively - sensitive attributes require authentication while public attributes are freely accessible, thus balancing ease of access with security

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments document attributes into different accessibility levels and stores them with different permission settings in the distributed ledger. This segmentation allows selective access control where users can access only the attributes they are authorized for, maintaining straightforward access management for permitted users while blocking unauthorized access to sensitive information

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3735650B1Personal document block chain structure
Publication Date: 2022.03.09 BUNDESDRUCKEREI GMBH
  • EP3735650B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3735650B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3735650B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The invention relates to a cryptographic method for carrying out selective access control to attributes of a plurality of documents (102), which are associated with a first user (120), wherein the attributes are saved in one or more memories in a manipulation-proof manner. The method comprises: providing a non-linear personal document block chain structure (100), which is associated with the first user and comprises a plurality of linear block chain sub-structures (104, 108, 109, 110, 600), wherein each of the linear block chain sub-structures comprises a plurality of blocks which are linked to each other bidirectionally, wherein each of the documents comprises a plurality of attributes, which are saved distributed over a plurality of blocks of a secondary, document-specific secondary structure (106), which is associated with the corresponding document, checking access permissions of a second user (128) for access to the corresponding block and, in the case of a successful check, confirming the successful check for the second user, and, upon an access query of the second user, providing the confirmation of the successful check, granting access to the corresponding block for the second user.