Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium for traceability integration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12499188-B2
Application number	US-202418581697-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 20, 2024
Priority date	Mar 7, 2023
Publication date	Dec 16, 2025
Grant date	Dec 16, 2025

Abstract

A control unit of an information processing apparatus acquires product information of each of one or more inclusion products included in a target product based on association information indicating an association relationship of products of companies included in a supply chain. The product information includes traceability-related information of the at one or more inclusion products. The traceability-related information is encrypted with a public key of a certificate authority. The control unit acquires an encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information by computing the encrypted traceability-related information through secure computation. The control unit decodes the encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information through the certificate authority.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An information processing apparatus comprising a control unit configured to execute:
acquiring association information indicating an association relationship of products of companies included in a supply chain; acquiring product information of each of one or more inclusion products included in a target product based on the association information, the product information including traceability-related information of each of the one or more inclusion products, the traceability-related information being encrypted with a public key of a certificate authority; acquiring an encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information by computing the encrypted traceability-related information through secure computation; sending, to the certificate authority, a request to decode the encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information; and receiving, from the certificate authority, the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information.

2 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information is sent from the certificate authority in an encrypted state that the control unit is allowed to decode.

3 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes an amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a total amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas relevant to a production activity until the target product is manufactured.

4 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a recycling rate of a predetermined raw material; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive recycling rate of the predetermined raw material in the target product.

5 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a score for due diligence; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive score for due diligence in the target product.

6 . The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:
the target product is a battery; and the inclusion product is a product used in manufacturing the battery.

7 . An information processing method executed by a computer, the information processing method comprising:
acquiring association information indicating an association relationship of products of companies included in a supply chain; acquiring product information of each of one or more inclusion products included in a target product based on the association information, the product information including traceability-related information of each of the one or more inclusion products, the traceability-related information being encrypted with a public key of a certificate authority; acquiring an encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information by computing the encrypted traceability-related information through secure computation; sending, to the certificate authority, a request to decode the encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information; and receiving, from the certificate authority, the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information.

8 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information is sent from the certificate authority in an encrypted state that the computer is allowed to decode.

9 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes an amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a total amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas relevant to a production activity until the target product is manufactured.

10 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a recycling rate of a predetermined raw material; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive recycling rate of the predetermined raw material in the target product.

11 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a score for due diligence; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive score for due diligence in the target product.

12 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , wherein:
the target product is a battery; and the inclusion product is used in manufacturing the battery.

13 . A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that are executable on one or more processors and that cause the one or more processors to execute functions, the functions comprising:
acquiring association information indicating an association relationship of products of companies included in a supply chain; acquiring product information of each of one or more inclusion products included in a target product based on the association information, the product information including traceability-related information of each of the one or more inclusion products, the traceability-related information being encrypted with a public key of a certificate authority; acquiring an encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information by computing the encrypted traceability-related information through secure computation; sending, to the certificate authority, a request to decode the encrypted integrated result of the traceability-related information; and receiving, from the certificate authority, the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information.

14 . The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information is sent from the certificate authority in an encrypted state that the computer is allowed to decode.

15 . The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes an amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a total amount of emission of greenhouse effect gas relevant to a production activity until the target product is manufactured.

16 . The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a recycling rate of a predetermined raw material; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive recycling rate of the predetermined raw material in the target product.

17 . The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein:
the traceability-related information includes a score for due diligence; and the decoded integrated result of the traceability-related information includes a comprehensive score for due diligence in the target product.

18 . The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein:
the target product is a battery; and the inclusion product is used in manufacturing the battery.

19 . The information processing method according to claim 7 , further comprising:
sending the integrated result

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nitta Iwao
• Fujiwara Teruyoshi
• Suzuki Ryota

Classifications

• H04L9/3263

  involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements (network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823) · CPC title

• G06F21/62

  Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules · CPC title

• G06F21/16 Primary

  Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking · CPC title

• G06F21/602 Primary

  Providing cryptographic facilities or services · CPC title