# US 12,118,500 B2 · Decentralized shipping network using blockchains > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,118,500 B2 - Document ID: US12118500B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/748,782 - Filed: 2022-05-19 - Published: 2022-11-03 - Granted: 2024-10-15 - Earliest claimed: 2019-03-28 - Assignees: eBay Inc. - Applicants: eBay Inc. - Inventors: Nambi Sankaran; Constanza Maria Heath; Someshekhar Banerjee; Abhishek Pandey; Mikhail Tsirelson - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12118500B2 ## CPC - G06Q 10/0832: Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods - G06F 16/1824: {implemented using Network-attached Storage [NAS] architecture (distributed or networked storage systems G06F3/067; protocols for distributed storage of data in a network H04L67/1097)} - G06F 16/2379: {Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing} - G06F 16/955: using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL] - G06K 7/1408: {the method being specifically adapted for the type of code} - G06K 19/0717: {the sensor being capable of sensing environmental conditions such as temperature history or pressure} - G06Q 10/08: Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management - G06Q 10/0833: Tracking - G06Q 10/08345: {Pricing} - G06Q 10/0835: Relationships between shipper or supplier and carriers - G06Q 10/08355: {Routing methods} - G06Q 10/0843: {using forecasting or optimisation} - G06Q 20/065: {using e-cash} - G06Q 20/382: {insuring higher security of transaction} - G06Q 20/3825: {Use of electronic signatures} - G06Q 20/3827: {Use of message hashing} - G06Q 20/4014: {Identity check for transactions} - G06Q 20/405: {Establishing or using transaction specific rules} - G06Q 20/407: {Cancellation of a transaction} - G06Q 30/0283: Price estimation or determination - G06Q 30/08: Auctions - H04L 9/0637: {Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]} - H04L 9/0643: {Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC} - H04L 9/0869: {involving random numbers or seeds} - H04L 9/3239: {involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD} - H04L 9/3242: {involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC} - H04L 9/3263: {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)} - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - H04W 4/02: Services making use of location information - H04W 4/024: Guidance services - H04W 4/40: for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] - H04W 12/47: using near field communication [NFC] or radio frequency identification [RFID] modules - H04W 12/63: Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent - G06F 16/29: Geographical information databases - G06Q 2220/00: Business processing using cryptography - H04L 9/50: {using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees} - H04L 67/52: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal - H04W 4/027: {using movement velocity, acceleration information} - H04W 4/12: Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements - H04W 4/14: Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] - H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06K: GRAPHICAL DATA READING (image or video recognition or understanding G06V); PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Technologies are shown for shipping route selection involving receiving sender and recipient shipping information for an item to be shipped and obtaining shipping route options for the item based on the sender and recipient shipping information. The route options are provided for display and selection of an option. A routing data block is created for the item at an address on a blockchain that stores shipping information for each stage of the selected route. A shipping tag is encoded with the blockchain address and attached to the item. The tag can be scanned to obtain the blockchain address and request information for a next stage of the shipping route from the block. The next shipping information from the block is received and utilized to ship the item to a next geolocation. The next shipping information can be determined based on current conditions, such as weather, pricing and availability. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method for creating one or more smart contracts, the computer-implemented method comprising: receiving selection of a shipping route option for an item to be shipped as a selected shipping route; responsive to receiving the selection of the shipping route option as the selected shipping route, creating a smart contract associated with the item on a blockchain, the smart contract including shipping information for each stage of the selected shipping route and public key data of one or more shipping entities associated with the selected shipping route; receiving, at a contract address of the smart contract, a hashed request for next shipping information for the selected shipping route, wherein the hashed request was hashed via a private key corresponding to a public key of the public key data; cryptographically authenticating, via the smart contract, the hashed request using the public key of the public key data, the public key corresponding to the private key; and providing, via the smart contract, the next shipping information for display. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising encoding a shipping tag with the contract address of the smart contract for the item to be shipped. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the shipping tag comprises one of a shipping label and an electronic device for attachment to the item to be shipped, and the computer-implemented method includes attaching the shipping tag to the item to be shipped. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising creating an initial routing data block for the item on the blockchain, the initial routing data block having a blockchain address and the initial routing data block including the shipping information for each stage of the selected shipping route. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the smart contract includes an identifier for a transaction for the item to be shipped. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that a geolocation address of the next shipping information is a final geolocation address for the selected shipping route; and sending a notification to a recipient client device of a recipient, the notification indicating that the item is nearby the final geolocation address for the selected shipping route. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving, at the contract address of the smart contract, an authorization response from the recipient client device, the authorization response encrypted via a different private key corresponding to a different public key of the public key data; and decrypting, via the smart contract, the authorization response using the different public key of the public key data, the different public key corresponding to the different private key. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that the authorization response does not include a different geolocation address that is different from the final geolocation address, and wherein the providing, via the smart contract, of the next shipping information for display includes providing the final geolocation address stored in the smart contract for display as part of the next shipping information. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that the authorization response includes a different geolocation address that is different from the final geolocation address; and providing, via the smart contract, the different geolocation address as part of the next shipping information. ### Claim 10 A system for shipping an item, the system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory devices in communication with the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices having computer-readable instructions stored thereupon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method for creating one or more smart contracts, the method comprising: receiving selection of a shipping route option for an item to be shipped as a selected shipping route; responsive to receiving the selection of the shipping route option as the selected shipping route, creating a smart contract associated with the item on a blockchain, the smart contract including shipping information for each stage of the selected shipping route and public key data of one or more shipping entities associated with the selected shipping route; receiving, at a contract address of the smart contract, a hashed request for next shipping information for the selected shipping route, wherein the hashed request was hashed via a private key corresponding to a public key of the public key data; cryptographically authenticating, via the smart contract, the hashed request using the public key of the public key data, the public key corresponding to the private key; and providing, via the smart contract, the next shipping information for display. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further comprising: identifying the shipping route option for the item based on sender shipping information of a sender of the item to be shipped and recipient shipping information of a recipient of the item to be shipped; and providing the shipping route option for the item to be shipped for display. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the identifying of the shipping route option for the item further comprises: obtaining supporting data relating to the one or more shipping entities associated with a shipping route of the shipping route option; determining the shipping route option for the item based on the sender shipping information of the sender, the recipient shipping information of the recipient, and the supporting data relating to the one or more shipping entities; and the providing of the shipping route option for display includes providing at least a portion of the supporting data relating to the one or more shipping entities for display. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the supporting data relating to the one or more shipping entities includes one or more of shipping route, pricing, availability, time to ship, delivery date, special handling capability, and reputational data. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further comprising creating an initial routing data block for the item on the blockchain, the initial routing data block having a blockchain address and the initial routing data block including the shipping information for each stage of the selected shipping route. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that a geolocation address of the next shipping information is a final geolocation address for the selected shipping route; and sending a notification to a recipient client device of a recipient of the item, the notification indicating that the item is nearby the final geolocation address for the selected shipping route. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, at the contract address of the smart contract, an authorization response from the recipient client device, the authorization response encrypted via a different private key corresponding to a different public key of the public key data; and decrypting, via the smart contract, the authorization response using the different public key of the public key data, the different public key corresponding to the different private key. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that the authorization response does not include a different geolocation address that is different from the final geolocation address; and returning the final geolocation address stored in the smart contract for display as part of the next shipping information. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The system of claim 16, further comprising: determining, via the smart contract, that the authorization response includes a different geolocation address that is different from the final geolocation address; and providing, via the smart contract, the different geolocation address as part of the next shipping information. ### Claim 19 A non-transitory computer storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute a method for creating one or more smart contracts, the method comprising: receiving selection of a shipping route option for an item as a selected shipping route; responsive to receiving the selection of the shipping route option as the selected shipping route, creating a smart contract associated with the item on a blockchain, the smart contract including shipping information for each stage of the selected shipping route and public key data of one or more shipping entities associated with the selected shipping route; receiving, at a contract address of the smart contract, a hashed request for next shipping information for the selected shipping route, wherein the hashed request was hashed via a private key corresponding to a public key of the public key data; cryptographically authenticating, via the smart contract, the hashed request using the public key of the public key data, the public key corresponding to the private key; and providing, via the smart contract, the next shipping information for display. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 19, further comprising encoding a shipping tag with the contract address of the smart contract for the item to be shipped.