System and methods for tracking an item in a distributed environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11544664-B2
Application number	US-201916361058-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2019
Priority date	Mar 21, 2018
Publication date	Jan 3, 2023
Grant date	Jan 3, 2023

Abstract

A method for tracking an item in a distributed environment is provided. At least one node in a network adds a new block to a first cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a first sequence of blocks that is stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media. The new block added to the first cryptographically verifiable ledger contains a component identifier and a hash of a previous block in the first sequence of blocks. The at least one node in the network adds a new block to a second cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a second sequence of blocks that is stored in the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media. The new block added to the second cryptographically verifiable ledger contains a destination identifier, the first sequence of blocks, and a hash of a previous block in the second sequence of blocks.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for tracking an item in a distributed environment, the method comprising:
adding, autonomously by an assembly machine at an assembly location within an assembly chain, a physical component to a physical item, the physical component being integrated with or applied to the physical item during assembly;
receiving, by a first node in a network from the assembly machine, a component identifier for the physical component;
adding, by the first node, a new block to a first cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a first sequence of blocks that is stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the new block added to the first cryptographically verifiable ledger containing the component identifier and a hash of a previous block in the first sequence of blocks;
receiving, by a receiving machine at a destination location within a supply chain, the physical item;
receiving, by a second node in the network from the receiving machine, a destination identifier for the physical item;
retrieving, by the second node, the first sequence of blocks from the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media; and
adding, by the second node, a new block to a second cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a second sequence of blocks that is stored in the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the new block added to the second cryptographically verifiable ledger containing the destination identifier, the first sequence of blocks, and a hash of a previous block in the second sequence of blocks.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component identifier includes at least one of an identifier of a component or a raw material associated with the item, an amount of a raw material included in the item, distance traveled for a component or a raw material to arrive at an assembly location, transportation information from a source of a component or a raw material to an assembly location, carbon data associated with a component or a raw material, source information for a component or a raw material, or a geographic location of an assembly location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination identifier includes at least one of a geographic location of a destination location, transportation information associated with traveling between destination locations, a distance traveled between destination locations, carbon data associated with traveling between destination locations, a date of a sale of the item, a geographic location of the sale of the item, an identifier of a buyer of the item, or a price paid for the item.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supply chain includes at least one of a distribution center, a warehouse, a store, or a checkout register at the store.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the assembly machine is an autonomous computing device within a manufacturing line, the autonomous computing device controlling an amount of a component or a raw material added to the item.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by a query server from a user computing device, a query associated with one or more components of the item;
in response to the query, retrieving, by the query server from the second cryptographically verifiable ledger, one or more component identifiers associated with the query; and
transmitting, by the query server, the one or more component identifiers to the user computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by a query server from a user computing device, a query associated with one or more destination locations;
in response to the query, retrieving, by the query server from the second cryptographically verifiable ledger, one or more destination identifiers associated with the query; and
transmitting, by the query server, the one or more destination identifiers to the user computing device.

8. A system comprising:
one or more computer-readable media;
at least one assembly machine associated with at least one assembly location within an assembly chain, each assembly machine configured to add a physical component to a physical item, the physical component being integrated with or applied to the physical item during assembly;
at least one receiving machine associated with at least one destination location within a supply chain, each receiving machine configured to receive the physical item at a destination location; and
at least one node in a network, the at least one node being operatively coupled to the one or more computer-readable media, at least one assembly machine, and at least one receiving machine, the at least one node configured to:
receive, from the at least one assembly machine, a component identifier for a physical component added to the physical item by the at least one assembly machine;
add a new block to a first cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a first sequence of blocks that is stored in one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the new block added to the first cryptographically verifiable ledger containing the component identifier and a hash of a previous block in the first sequence of blocks;

receive, from the at least one receiving machine, a destination identifier for the physical item;
retrieve, from the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the first sequence of blocks; and
add a new block to a second cryptographically verifiable ledger represented by a second sequence of blocks that is stored in the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the new block added to the second cryptographically verifiable ledger containing the destination identifier, the first sequence of blocks, and a hash of a previous block in the second sequence of blocks.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the component identifier includes at least one of an identifier of a component or a raw material associated with the item, an amount of a raw material included in the item, distance traveled for a component or a raw material to arrive at an assembly location, transportation information from a source of a component or a raw material to an assembly location, carbon data associated with a component or a raw material, source information for a component or a raw material, or a geographic location of an assembly location.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the destination identifiers includes at least one of a geographic location of a destination location, transportation information associated with traveling between destination locations, distance traveled between destination locations, carbon data associated with traveling between destination locations, date of a sale of the item, a geographic location of the sale of the item, an identifier of a buyer of the item, or a price paid for the item.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the supply chain includes at least one of a distribution center, a warehouse, a store, or a checkout at the store.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the assembly machine is an autonomous computing device within a manufacturing line, the autonomous computing device controlling an amount of a component or a raw material added to the item.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one node is further configured to:
receive, from a user computing device, a query associated with one or more components of the item;
in response to the query, retrieve, from the second cryptographically verifiable ledger, one or more component identifiers associated with the query; and
transmit the one or more component identifiers to the user computing device.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one node is further configured to

Assignees

• Walmart Apollo Llc

Inventors

• O'Brien John Jeremiah
• Young Daniel Wayne
• Mcsorley Jr Richard Carl
• Heeney Christopher
• Jurich Jr Joseph
• Wilkinson Bruce W
• Mattingly Todd Davenport
• High Donald
• Cantrell Robert
• Mchale Brian Gerard

Classifications

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• H04L9/3239

  involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD · CPC title

• H04L9/50

  using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees · CPC title

• H04L9/0618

  Block ciphers, i.e. encrypting groups of characters of a plain text message using fixed encryption transformation · CPC title