Tracking unitization occurring in a supply chain

摘要

Various embodiments include a method of tracking a chain of custody of an item in a supply chain. A computer system implements a computer interface with a distributed consensus network comprised of computing devices configured to verify one or more waiting transaction records for addition into one or more blocks in a block chain representing a cryptographically verifiable ledger. The order of the block chain is cryptographically protected against tampering by the computing devices. The computer system can track provenance of the item by identifying an existing record in the block chain. The existing record can place a first quantity of a first stock keeping unit (SKU) at a first address. The computer system can then unitize the item by publishing a new record to the block chain. The new record indicates the existing record as a source record and associates a new SKU with a destination address.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
implementing a computer interface with a distributed consensus network comprised of computing devices configured to verify one or more waiting logistic records for addition into one or more logistic record blocks in a block chain representing a cryptographically verifiable ledger, wherein the order of the block chain is cryptographically protected against tampering by the computing devices; tracking provenance of an item in a supply chain by at least identifying a sequence of inter-referencing cryptographically verifiable records having linking pairs of cryptographic addresses in the block chain, wherein the cryptographically verifiable records includes a first cryptographically verifiable record in a first block along the block chain, wherein the first cryptographically verifiable record places a first quantity of a first stock keeping unit (SKU) at a first cryptographic address; minting a cryptographic code comprising a private key associated with a label and a public key that identifies an unassigned cryptographic address in the cryptographically verifiable ledger, wherein ownership of the unassigned cryptographic address is verifiable via a cryptographic signature of the private key; distributing the private key to be embedded into a physical label for the item; and unitizing the item by publishing a second cryptographically verifiable record to a second block along the block chain, wherein the second cryptographically verifiable record indicates the first cryptographically verifiable record as a source record and associates a new SKU with a second cryptographic address, wherein a plurality of transfer records, including the first cryptographically verifiable record and the second cryptographically verifiable record, in the cryptographically verifiable ledger indicates a chain of custody of the item, wherein the second cryptographic address corresponds to the cryptographic code; wherein a difference of SKU type between the first SKU in the supply chain of the item to the new SKU in the supply chain of the item denotes a repackaging or transformation of a group of goods including the item in between a transfer of custody.