RFID Tag Data Segmentation for Secure Supply Chain Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
In supply chains, enterprises face challenges in sharing product-related data securely while maintaining confidentiality, especially in ad hoc chains with dynamically changing suppliers, as existing methods risk divulging critical information to competitors.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of RFID tags with integrated circuits for storing and transmitting data, using encryption and decryption keys to secure data sharing along the supply chain, where only authorized entities can access current product data, and historical data is passed with minimal exposure of sensitive information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If suppliers share product-related data along the supply chain, then manufacturing process optimizations and cost reductions are achieved, but confidential information may be divulged to competitors or unauthorized parties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments supply chain data into public data (safe to share) and confidential data (protected). RFID tags store only public data and references, while confidential data remains encrypted in centralized databases, allowing selective information sharing that enables manufacturing optimization without exposing sensitive information to unauthorized parties
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces centralized databases as intermediaries between RFID tags and supply chain entities. These databases store encrypted confidential data and provide controlled access, acting as a mediator that enables data sharing for manufacturing purposes while maintaining confidentiality through encryption and access control mechanisms
2Reliability
If encryption is implemented to protect confidential data, then information security is improved, but data access complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts confidential data from RFID tags and stores it separately in centralized databases in encrypted form. RFID tags contain only public data and references, simplifying their structure and access. The encryption complexity is centralized in the database system rather than distributed across all RFID tags, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining security
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary encryption of confidential data before storage in centralized databases. Data is encrypted using keys stored on RFID tags before being written to databases, so that when data is accessed, the decryption process is already prepared and optimized, reducing access complexity during actual data retrieval operations
Data Source
AI summary
Implementations of methods of sharing data in a supply chain, the data corresponding to an item having a tag associated therewith, include generating data corresponding to the item, generating a data reference, encrypting the data using an encryption key to provide encrypted data, transmitting the encrypted data over a network for storage in a database based on the data reference, writing the data reference and the encryption key to the tag, and transferring the item to a successor in the supply chain. Implementations include retrieving information electronically stored on the tag, the information comprising a data reference and an encryption key, transmitting a data request over a network for retrieving encrypted data from a database, the data request comprising the data reference, receiving the encrypted data from the database, and decrypting the encrypted data using the encryption key to provide decrypted data.