Sensor Data Capture With Blockchain Traceability for Perishables
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for verifying the freshness and provenance of perishable items like seafood are susceptible to manipulation, allowing unscrupulous suppliers to falsify data and undermine consumer trust, market integrity, and resource sustainability.
Innovation Solution
A system for contemporaneous measurement and secure transmission of physical property data using an automated physical property data collector with sensors, a microcontroller, and wireless communication to an external database, ensuring data integrity through encryption and blockchain storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional data collection and storage methods are used, then system simplicity is maintained, but data integrity and tamper-resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a blockchain network as an intermediary layer between the data collection devices and the central database. This blockchain intermediary ensures data integrity through its immutable ledger structure, where each data entry is cryptographically linked to previous entries, preventing tampering while maintaining a distributed trustless system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional centralized database storage with a blockchain-based distributed ledger system. This substitution eliminates the single point of failure and central control vulnerability, using cryptographic mechanisms instead of administrative controls to ensure data integrity and prevent manipulation.
2Measurement precision
If manual data verification methods are used, then operational simplicity is maintained, but measurement precision and authenticity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through automated sensor devices that continuously monitor freshness parameters and automatically record data to the blockchain. The system performs self-verification through cryptographic signatures and consensus mechanisms, eliminating the need for manual data entry and verification by human operators.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes real-time feedback loops where sensors continuously monitor physical properties, immediately record measurements to the blockchain ledger, and provide transparent visibility to stakeholders. This continuous feedback ensures data accuracy through immediate capture without human intervention and allows real-time verification of product freshness.
3Reliability
If centralized data storage is used, then system simplicity is maintained, but data security and tamper-resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized database into distributed nodes across the blockchain network. Each node maintains a copy of the entire ledger, dividing the storage burden and security responsibility across multiple independent entities. This segmentation prevents single-point failures and makes data manipulation extremely difficult as it would require compromising the majority of nodes simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent fundamentally changes the storage architecture parameter from centralized to distributed, and from mutable to immutable. The blockchain structure transforms the data storage model by applying cryptographic hashing and chaining mechanisms, where each block's integrity depends on the previous block, creating a parameter change that ensures tamper-evidence while distributing storage across the network.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for measuring and transmitting data comprising: an automated physical property data collector including: a collector battery, a collector microcontroller, and one or more collector sensors; one or more wireless networks; and an external database in wireless communication with the automated physical property data collector via the one or more wireless networks; the collector microcontroller having stored therein machine executable instructions, that when executed by the collector microcontroller, cause the automated physical property data collector to: collect, via the one or more collector sensors, physical property data from a product; and transmit, over the one or more wireless networks, the physical property data from the automated physical property data collector to the external database, the physical property data being stored in the external database and made accessible to a user via one or more client devices.