Software Digital Passport for Environmental Impact Tracking

The patent segments environmental information tracking into distinct components: hardware information (provided by manufacturers) and software information (generated by operators). This segmentation allows each component to be addressed through appropriate mechanisms, with software environmental data captured separately through development environment monitoring and digital passports.

The patent implements preliminary action by capturing environmental information during the software development phase itself, rather than attempting to obtain it later. Monitoring entities track development environment characteristics (energy consumption, hardware resources) in real-time during development, and this information is embedded into the software artifact before deployment, ensuring completeness without requiring post-deployment investigation.

The patent introduces monitoring entities as intermediaries between development environments and digital passport systems. These monitoring entities automatically collect, aggregate, and structure environmental information from complex development environments, transforming raw data into standardized digital passport entries. This intermediary layer simplifies data management by handling the complexity of information collection and validation automatically.

The patent uses digital passports as standardized copies or representations of development environment information. Instead of managing the full complexity of actual development environments, the system creates simplified digital representations (passports) that capture essential environmental characteristics. These digital copies can be stored, transmitted, and managed efficiently while preserving the key information needed for sustainability assessment.

The patent merges environmental information collection with existing software development processes by integrating monitoring entities into the development workflow. Rather than adding separate tracking steps, the monitoring functionality is combined with development tools and processes, allowing environmental data to be captured automatically as part of normal development activities. This merging reduces overhead by leveraging existing infrastructure and workflows.

The patent implements self-service by enabling development environments to automatically generate and report their own environmental information through monitoring entities. The system captures data from the development process itself without requiring external intervention or manual data entry. This self-service approach minimizes productivity impact by making the information collection transparent and automated, requiring minimal additional effort from developers.