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EP-4586165-B1 - DIGITAL TWINS

EP4586165B1EP 4586165 B1EP4586165 B1EP 4586165B1EP-4586165-B1

Inventors

  • Latorre, Azalya
  • Gatiragas, Alex

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240109

Claims (10)

  1. Method of creating a sealed physical product (10) and a corresponding dynamic non-fungible token (dNFT) (26), comprising the following steps: - Manufacturing the product (10), wherein the product (10) obtains a unique product identifier (12) that is registered in an information system (14); - Sealing the product (10) by a seal (16), wherein the seal (16) is combined with a first radio tag (18) in a way that the first radio tag (18) is disabled if the seal (16) is broken (B), and wherein a first unique tag identifier (20) is stored on the first radio tag (18) and registered in the information system (14); - Attaching a second radio tag (22) to the product (10), on which a second unique tag identifier (24) is stored and registered in the information system (14); and further - Minting (M) the dNFT (26) on a blockchain (28) using an oracle (30), wherein at least the following is written into static metadata of the dNFT (26) from the information system (14): the unique product identifier (12), the first unique tag identifier (20), the second unique tag identifier (24) and a link (32) via the internet to the information system (14), wherein the unique product identifier (12) is stored along with information on the product (10); and wherein at least the following is written into dynamic metadata of the dNFT (26): a status parameter (36) corresponding to the lifecycle of the product (10) and an ownership parameter (38) corresponding to ownership of the product (10), wherein said dynamic metadata can be updated via the oracle (30) upon submission of a signal (46) from an electronic device (44), reading either the first and the second unique tag identifier (20; 24) from the first and second radio tag (18; 22) or only the second unique tag identifier (24) from the second radio tag (22).
  2. Method according to claim 1, wherein further at least one review parameter (40) is written into dynamic metadata of the dNFT (26).
  3. Method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein initially upon creating the sealed physical product (10) and the corresponding dNFT (26), the status parameter (36) is set to "left production facility (50)", the ownership parameter (38) is set to "producer (52)" and a review parameter (40) is set to "disabled (54)".
  4. System (42) for tracing a sealed physical product (10), comprising: - an information system (14); - an oracle (30); - a blockchain (28), - an electronic device (44), - the sealed physical product (10); and - a dynamic non-fungible token (dNFT) (26) corresponding to the sealed physical product (10) stored on the blockchain (28); wherein the sealed physical product (10) and the dNFT (26) are obtained by a method according to any of the preceding claims; and wherein the oracle (30), the blockchain (28) and the electronic device (44) are designed and configured to be used in a method according to any of the preceding claims.
  5. Method of tracing a sealed physical product (10) by operating a system (42) according to claim 4, comprising the following steps: - Using the electronic device (44) to perform a first reading action (I) on the first radio tag (18) and afterwards performing a second reading action (II) on the second radio tag (22); - Sending a signal (46) from the electronic device (44) to the oracle (30) that comprises a result of the first and second reading actions (I; II); and then - Performing one of the following actions (a; b) by the oracle (30): a) If the signal (46) comprises a positive reading of the first unique tag identifier (20) of the first radio tag (18) and the second unique tag identifier (24) of the second radio tag (20), setting the status parameter (36) to "sold (56)" and setting the ownership parameter (38) to a unique device identifier (48) of the electronic device (44); or b) If the signal (46) comprises a positive reading of only the second unique tag identifier (24), setting the status parameter (36) to "opened (58)" and leaving the ownership parameter (38) unchanged.
  6. Method according to claim 5, wherein action a) is performed and afterwards, the first and second reading actions (I; II) are repeated with a different electronic device, before the seal (16) of the product (10) is broken (B).
  7. Method according to any of the claims 5 to 6, wherein action b) is performed after the seal (16) of the product (10) is broken (B) and wherein a review parameter (40) is set to "enabled (60)".
  8. Method according to any of the claims 5 to 7, wherein the electronic device (44) comprises an app with a personalized app identifier serving as the unique device identifier (48) of the electronic device (44).
  9. Method according to claim 8, wherein the app provides at least the following functionalities: prompting a user (66) of the electronic device (44) to perform the first reading action (I) and afterwards the second reading action (II); prompting the user (66) to confirm the result of actions a) or b) prior to transmission of the signal (46) to the oracle (30); prompting the user (66) to enter a review (62) of the product (10) in case of action b) that is included in the signal (46).
  10. Method according to claim 9, wherein in case of action b), the oracle (30) further writes the review (62) into the dynamic metadata of the dNFT (26) and/or communicates (C) to the information system (14) to update the information on the product (10) stored therein.

Description

Technical Field The present disclosure refers to methods and systems of tracing physical products in the digital world. Technical Background In recent years, blockchains have been discovered to potentially serve various purposes. For example, DE 20 2021 002 167 U1 describes the creation and representation of written reference by a non-fungible token (NFT). US 2023/126016 A1 describes a system and method for generating non-fungible tokens for collectibles. The system authenticates physical ownership of a collectible before allowing a requesting entity to generate a non-fungible token for the collectible. The system generates a fiat currency value for the non-fungible token based on the total number of non-fungible tokens already generated for the collectible and the current value of the collectible. The system tracks non-fungible tokens generated for the collectible to ensure that the proportional cost of generating a non-fungible token strictly increases as the total number of non-fungible tokens generated for the collectible increases. US 2022/391884 A1 describes a method and system for transferring a product having an identifiable chip with unique identifier information relating to a digital asset accessible in a network. The method comprises the steps of: associating a cryptographic token with the unique identifier information of the identifiable chip; storing the cryptographic token via the network in a wallet as the digital asset; transferring the digital asset comprises blocking the cryptographic token until an authentication signal is received associated with the unique identifier in-formation of the identifiable chip. While a written reference can be easily digitalized as such, this is not possible with a physical product. Summary Based on that, there is a requirement to provide a possibility of tracing a unique physical product in the digital world, which may be seen as an object of the invention. In particular, the required solution shall ensure data authenticity at any time. To overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, a method of creating a sealed physical product and a corresponding dynamic non-fungible token, as well as a system and corresponding method for tracing such a sealed physical product are provided, according to the features of the independent claims. Further embodiments are evident from the dependent claims and from the present disclosure as a whole. According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of creating a sealed physical product and a corresponding dynamic non-fungible token is provided. The method comprised the following steps: Manufacturing the product, wherein the product obtains a unique product identifier that is registered in an information system;Sealing the product by a seal, wherein the seal is combined with a first radio tag in a way that the first radio tag is disabled if the seal is broken, and wherein a first unique tag identifier is stored on the first radio tag and registered in the information system;Attaching a second radio tag to the product, on which a second unique tag identifier is stored and registered in the information system; and furtherMinting the dNFT on a blockchain using an oracle, wherein at least the following is written into static metadata of the dNFT from the information system: the unique product identifier, the first unique tag identifier, the second unique tag identifier and a link via the internet to the information system,wherein the unique product identifier is stored along with information on the product; andwherein at least the following is written into dynamic metadata of the dNFT: a status parameter corresponding to the lifecycle of the product and an ownership parameter corresponding to ownership of the product,wherein said dynamic metadata can be updated via the oracle upon submission of a signal from an electronic device, reading either the first and the second unique tag identifier from the first and second radio tag or only the second unique tag identifier from the second radio tag. Due to the connection of the unique product identifier with the dNFT (which is also unique by definition) via the first and second unique tag identifiers from the physical radio tags, an initial proof of existence of the physical product is achieved in the digital world. This may be regarded as a "digital twin" of the physical product. As the signal provides a gateway to the dNFT via the oracle and since the signal is generated only upon successful reading of at least one of the physical radio tags, the authenticity of the data of the dNFT is assured at any time. The term "oracle" or "blockchain oracle" as such is known in the art. Particularly, it is one function of an oracle to serve as a source of real-world data. An oracle may connect smart contracts or dNFTs with the outside world (real world), primarily to feed information in from the world, but also the reverse. In some embodiments of the method, initially upon creating the sealed