Highlights
Solution components
- Products and objects secure identification;
- strong counterfeit prevention:
- easy to integrate with ERP systems;
- easy to integrate with existing product catalogs;
- impossible to open directly the web page of a specific product without successfully passing the Smart Card verification process;
- impossible to clone or tamper with the security elements (Smart Card);
- critical information stored on the IOTA distributed ledger making it impossible to to tamper with;
- near zero service provider dependency, all infrastructure components will be distributed.
Solution components
- Security element: ProductID uses a crypto smartcard with NFC wireless interface. Smart Card is available in two formats, standard ISO 7816-1and round disk, 2.5 cm diameters, with 3M (TM) adhesive.
- Smart Card initialization tool: it can be executed on a PC (Linux or Windows) and allows the user to initialize the card and store the card's private key and related product information on the IOTA ledger, including the link to the product's specific description page. Once the card is initialized it is locked to avoid any possible alteration.
- ProductID front-end service: it is the web server that answers to the dynamic URL produced by the Smart Card. Currently the service is hosted on a private VPS managed by our operation team. It is planned to be completely distributed over a number of enabled IOTA nodes. In alternative we can provide a dedicated front-end server.
- ProductID back-end service: it is the API server that writes the card related critical information on the IOTA ledger. Like the front-end, we plan to completely distribute this critical component over a network of trustless nodes as soon as this is technically possible with the IOTA technology. In alternative we can provide a dedicated back-end server.
- ProductID permanode: IOTA nodes by design do not keep the complete ledger. ProductID permanode guarantees that the Smart Card works for an unlimited amount of time, providing the product identification for the whole lifespan of the product, even for objets that will never expire.
- Dedicated IOTA nodes: IOTA is currently the only distributed ledger that lets us create professional applications with direct control over cost, performance and reliability. The resulting efficiency does not depend on the network usage level, nor is it affected by variable costs deriving from transaction fees, and at the same time the data is replicated, made immutable in the process, on all the other nodes of the network. A perfect combination of control over a private node and resilience of a public network. This is why we adopt IOTA as ProductID foundation and on request we provide IOTA dedicated nodes on premises as well as FPGA accelerated nodes to reach any required transaction per second performance.
How it works
Once a Smart Card is associated to a product it becomes its digital twin. Depending on the nature of the product, the Smart Card can be integrated in the product or can be simply provided to the owner that will keep it in a safe storage.
For example, a Smart Card can be integrated in an expensive bag, making it possible to verify its authenticity in any moment, or can be provided as proof of authenticity in association with a painting. In the second case the owner can consider whether to display the Smart Card next to the painting allowing a visitor to read it, or whether to store it in a safe and use it only when necessary.
Card verification process
When a NFC enabled smartphone is tapped with the Smart Card, it powers up the internal integrated circuit that increases the visit counter and uses a private key to generate an unique URL. The URL contains an IOTA address, the visit counter and the URL signature.
The smartphone activates the browser and opens the URL.
The ProductID front-end uses the IOTA address to retrieve the last recorded Smart Card’s data. This includes the last visit counter and the public key.
The front-end validates the signature using the Smart Card’s public key and the visit counter: if the provided counter is larger than the last stored on the IOTA ledger, the provided URL is valid. In opposite, if the signature is invalid or the visit counter is less or equal to the last recorded, the card is invalid.
If the Smart Card is valid, the front-end shows the product's specific URL and allows the user to open the link (or in alternative opens the link automatically).
While opening, the product’s specific page checks the referrer pages and shows the content only if it has been redirected by the ProductID front-end.
Use cases
ProductID can be applied to many different cases.
Industry:
Pharmaceutical products:
Fashion market:
Insurance services:
Food market:
Once a Smart Card is associated to a product it becomes its digital twin. Depending on the nature of the product, the Smart Card can be integrated in the product or can be simply provided to the owner that will keep it in a safe storage.
For example, a Smart Card can be integrated in an expensive bag, making it possible to verify its authenticity in any moment, or can be provided as proof of authenticity in association with a painting. In the second case the owner can consider whether to display the Smart Card next to the painting allowing a visitor to read it, or whether to store it in a safe and use it only when necessary.
Card verification process
When a NFC enabled smartphone is tapped with the Smart Card, it powers up the internal integrated circuit that increases the visit counter and uses a private key to generate an unique URL. The URL contains an IOTA address, the visit counter and the URL signature.
The smartphone activates the browser and opens the URL.
The ProductID front-end uses the IOTA address to retrieve the last recorded Smart Card’s data. This includes the last visit counter and the public key.
The front-end validates the signature using the Smart Card’s public key and the visit counter: if the provided counter is larger than the last stored on the IOTA ledger, the provided URL is valid. In opposite, if the signature is invalid or the visit counter is less or equal to the last recorded, the card is invalid.
If the Smart Card is valid, the front-end shows the product's specific URL and allows the user to open the link (or in alternative opens the link automatically).
While opening, the product’s specific page checks the referrer pages and shows the content only if it has been redirected by the ProductID front-end.
Use cases
ProductID can be applied to many different cases.
Industry:
- a disk-shaped Smart Card can be attached to critical spare parts to check their authenticity and/or history during a maintenance process;
- a Smart Card can be applied onto equipment and tools to track their usage, loan, or assignment.
- a Smart Card can be used as proof of presence to certify the location of people in a specific moment.
Pharmaceutical products:
- expensive drugs can be protected from counterfeiting by attaching a Smart Card to the box;
- an effect tracer system can benefit of data recorded on the IOTA ledger to avoid fake side-effects claims.
Fashion market:
- a Smart Card can demonstrate the originality of a product reassuring the buyer even if the product is not sold in an official store;
- brand owners can collect customer contacts more easily even if the product is sold through an indirect channel or secondary market;
- product ownership details can be added to the Smart Card dataset on the IOTA ledger.
Insurance services:
- whenever an event can produce damage for a product owner, the related data stored on the IOTA ledger can be used to certify the event and the right of the assured to be refunded.
Food market:
- expensive products like wine, ham or truffles can be packaged in a Smart Card protected box. The owner can add information to the Smart Card dataset, including when the product has been consumed. Those boxes will never be usable again avoiding any kind of forgery;
- cheap products or small portions of expensive products can be easily protected by a combination of QR codes and Smart Cards. A Smart Card represents a batch of products that are sold in a specific shop, market place, or limited geographic area. The QR code links the product to the batch. The ProductID front-end will display to the customer the original batch location and notify if the consumer’s location appears to be too far from the original.
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