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US 12,748,940 B2Granted
System and method for a distributed ledger tracking animals
AssigneeCattleProof LLC
InventorRobert W. Jennings
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
System, method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for allowing creating a record of an animal on a distributed ledger such as a blockchain. The animals have tags which, when read using a livestock tag reader, allow the owners of the animals to update the animal records with information about the animal, such as health and/or location data. The updated record can then be cryptographically signed and transmitted to a network server which verifies that the cryptographic signature corresponds to an owner's cryptographic signature for the animal.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- at least one processor;
- a network interface;
- a livestock tag reader;
- a database storing uniquely identified ear tags for a plurality of livestock, and storing records associated with the plurality of livestock;
- a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
- scanning, via the livestock tag reader, an ear tag for an animal in the plurality of livestock, the ear tag hanging from an ear of the animal, the ear tag comprising a QR (Quick Response) tag on a portion of the ear tag hanging below the ear of the animal;
- identifying, by comparison of the ear tag to the uniquely identified ear tags, a record of the animal within the database;
- adding, to the record of the animal in the database, wherein the database is an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) database:
- (1) at least one of additional health data about the animal or location data about the animal;
- and
- (2) further proof of life data of the animal generated by an implanted device on the animal and wirelessly transmitted to a mobile device, the proof of life data comprising a heart rate and a temperature of the animal, resulting in an updated record of the animal;
- cryptographically signing the updated record of the animal using encryption, resulting in an encrypted signed updated record;
- transmitting, via the network interface, the encrypted signed updated record to a network server which verifies that a cryptographic signature of the encrypted signed updated record corresponds to a cryptographic signature for the animal belonging to a first owner, wherein the encrypted signed updated record is added to a distributed ledger, the distributed ledger allowing only an owner of an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) associated with the animal to modify portions of the distributed ledger associated with the animal;
- generating unique digital identity data for the animal, the unique digital identity data comprising a combination of:
- images of the animal;
- a unique Bluetooth identification associated with the implanted device;
- and
- owner input,
- the unique digital identity data being sent to a distributed ledger as part of a smart contract resulting in a non-fungible token (NFT) for the animal;
- receiving, from the first owner, instructions to transfer ownership of the animal to a second owner;
- transferring rights to update the record of the animal in the database from the first owner to the second owner;
- transmitting, via the network interface, the encrypted signed updated record and the cryptographic signature to a decentralized database;
- obtaining consensus from a plurality of other computing devices regarding adding the encrypted signed updated record to a blockchain;
- and
- based on the consensus, adding the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT, wherein the adding of the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT comprises:
- retrieving an existing reference of existing files attached to the NFT from the blockchain using a SHA-256 hash of the existing files as attached to ERC-721 metadata of the NFT;
- inspecting new files to ensure that reference is made to the existing reference of existing files by inspecting a designated location in a JSON payload;
- rejecting an update upon determining the new files do not include a reference to the existing files by reverting a blockchain transaction;
- setting the new files as a NFT reference by setting the ERC-721 metadata to a SHA-256 hash of the new files;
- and
- persisting the new files to the IPFS database.
28 more elements
A method for notarizing livestock records, comprising:
- identifying, via at least one processor, records for a plurality of livestock and unique identifiers associated with each livestock in the plurality of livestock;
- identifying, via the at least one processor, ownership records for the plurality of livestock, each ownership record within the ownership records having a cryptographic signature belonging to a first owner;
- receiving, from a mobile device, an encrypted signed updated record having a cryptographic signature, the encrypted signed updated record having proof of life data associated with an animal within the plurality of livestock, wherein:
- the proof of life data is generated by an implanted device on the animal, the implanted device wirelessly transmitting the proof of life data to a mobile device;
- the proof of life data comprises a heart rate of the animal, a temperature of the animal, movement of the animal, and location of the animal;
- and
- the implanted device hangs from an ear of the animal, the implanted device comprising a QR (Quick Response) tag on a portion of the implanted device hanging below the ear of the animal;
- adding, to a record of the animal in a database, wherein the database is an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) database, the proof of life data;
- verifying, via the at least one processor, that the cryptographic signature of the encrypted signed updated record corresponds to the cryptographic signature of the first owner for the animal, resulting in a verification;
- based on the verification, sending the encrypted signed updated record to a distributed ledger;
- generating unique digital identity data for the animal, the unique digital identity data comprising a combination of:
- images of the animal;
- a unique Bluetooth identification associated with the implanted device;
- and
- owner input,
- the unique digital identity data being sent to the distributed ledger as part of a smart contract resulting in an ERC-721 non-fungible token (NFT) for the animal;
- receiving, from the first owner, instructions to transfer ownership of the animal to a second owner;
- transferring rights to update an animal-specific ownership record associated with the animal from the first owner to the second owner;
- transmitting, via a network interface, the encrypted signed updated record and the cryptographic signature to a decentralized database;
- obtaining consensus from a plurality of other computing devices regarding adding the encrypted signed updated record to a blockchain;
- and
- based on the consensus, adding the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT, wherein the adding of the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT comprises:
- retrieving an existing reference of existing files attached to the NFT from the blockchain using a SHA-256 hash of the existing files as attached to ERC-721 metadata of the NFT;
- inspecting new files to ensure that reference is made to the existing reference of existing files by inspecting a designated location in a JSON payload;
- rejecting an update upon determining the new files do not include a reference to the existing files by reverting a blockchain transaction;
- setting the new files as a NFT reference by setting the ERC-721 metadata to a SHA-256 hash of the new files;
- and
- persisting the new files to the IPFS database.
25 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
- identifying records for a plurality of livestock and unique identifiers associated with each livestock in the plurality of livestock;
- identifying ownership records for the plurality of livestock, each ownership record within the ownership records having a cryptographic signature of a first owner;
- receiving, from a mobile device, identification of an animal within the plurality of livestock, the identification determined by scanning an ear tag of the animal, the ear tag comprising a QR (Quick Response) tag on a first portion of the ear tag hanging below the ear of the animal;
- receiving, from the mobile device, an encrypted signed updated record having a cryptographic signature, the encrypted signed updated record having proof of life data associated with the animal within the plurality of livestock, the proof of data comprising:
- a heart rate of the animal;
- a location of the animal;
- movement of the animal;
- and
- a temperature of the animal,
- the proof of life data generated by a second portion of the ear tag extending through the ear of the animal;
- adding, to a record of the animal in a database, wherein the database is an InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) database, the proof of life data;
- verifying that the cryptographic signature of the encrypted signed updated record corresponds to the cryptographic signature of the first owner for the animal, resulting in a verification;
- based on the verification, sending the encrypted signed updated record to a distributed ledger;
- generating unique digital identity data for the animal, the unique digital identity data comprising a combination of:
- images of the animal;
- a unique Bluetooth identification associated with the ear tag;
- and
- owner input,
- the unique digital identity data being sent to the distributed ledger as part of a smart contract resulting in a non-fungible token (NFT) for the animal;
- receiving, from the first owner, instructions to transfer ownership of the animal to a second owner;
- transferring rights to update an animal-specific ownership record associated with the animal from the first owner to the second owner;
- transmitting, via a network interface, the encrypted signed updated record and the cryptographic signature to a decentralized database;
- obtaining consensus from a plurality of other computing devices regarding adding the encrypted signed updated record to a blockchain;
- and
- based on the consensus, adding the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT, wherein the adding of the encrypted signed updated record to the NFT comprises:
- retrieving an existing reference of existing files attached to the NFT from the blockchain using a SHA-256 hash of the existing files as attached to ERC-721 metadata of the NFT;
- inspecting new files to ensure that reference is made to the existing reference of existing files by inspecting a designated location in a JSON payload;
- rejecting an update upon determining the new files do not include a reference to the existing files by reverting a blockchain transaction;
- setting the new files as a NFT reference by setting the ERC-721 metadata to a SHA-256 hash of the new files;
- and
- persisting the new files to the IPFS database.
28 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.