GB2594017A

GB2594017A - System and method of packaging and/or authenticating fungible baskets of investment grade gemstones and/or precious metals

Info

Publication number: GB2594017A
Application number: GB2110127.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Vandenborre Alain
Original assignee: Singapore Diamond Invest Exchange Pte Ltd
Current assignee: Singapore Diamond Invest Exchange Pte Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-19
Filing date: 2018-12-19
Publication date: 2021-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-19
Also published as: TW202032431A; GB202110127D0; WO2020130932A1; SG11202106086RA; GB2594017B

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to gemstone packages, which are fungible, standardised and portable, are provided to be used as high-value financial instruments and/or investments for commercial trading, e.g. in a commodity exchange and/or over the counter. The disclosure further relates to system and method of developing and/or packaging gemstone packages, system and method of configuring, registering and/or tracking gemstone packages, system and method of authenticating and/or tracking gemstone packages, system and method of tracking ownership of gemstone packages. In one embodiment, a fungible gemstone package comprising: a casing; a gemstone pouch and a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag which are arranged within the casing; and a plurality of gemstones arranged in the gemstone pouch; wherein the NFC tag is pre-configured with encrypted data which is to be verified against data stored external of the package for verifying authenticity of the gemstone package.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of authenticating a fungible gemstone package, the method comprising: receiving, from an Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled device, encrypted data, a key identifier and a tag identifier, which are detected from the gemstone package, wherein the tag identifier is associated with a NFC tag arranged within the gemstone package; retrieving, from a key database, a key associated with the key identifier; using the key, decrypting the encrypted data to produce a decrypted tag identifier and a decrypted package identifier; verifying the decrypted tag identifier against the tag identifier; verifying the decrypted package identifier against a registered package identifier retrieved from a tag identifier database in which the registered package identifier is stored in association with the tag identifier, wherein the registered package identifier is associated with the gemstone package; and successfully authenticating the gemstone package if the decrypted tag identifier matches the tag identifier and if the decrypted package identifier matches the registered package identifier.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein after successfully authenticating the gemstone package, the method further comprising: retrieving, from an inventory database, data of the gemstone package, wherein the data of the gemstone package includes at least one basket code of gemstones comprised in the gemstone package; based on the decrypted package identifier and/or the at least one basket code, retrieving, from a price database, spot prices of the gemstone package and/or the at least one basket code; and transmitting the spot prices to the NFC-enabled device.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving, from the NFC-enabled device, encrypted data, a key identifier and a tag identifier includes receiving geolocation data of the gemstone package, the method further comprising: storing the geolocation data in the tag identifier database and in association with the tag identifier.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: generating an authentication failure message and transmitting the authentication failure message to the NFC-enabled device if the decrypted tag identifier and the tag identifier differ or if the decrypted package identifier and the registered package identifier differ.
5. A system for authenticating a fungible gemstone package, the system comprising: an authentication server and a tag identifier database communicably coupled thereto; a key management server and a key database communicably coupled thereto, wherein the key management server is communicably coupled to the authentication server; wherein the authentication server is configured to: receive, from an Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled device, encrypted data, a key identifier and a tag identifier, which are detected from the gemstone package, wherein the tag identifier is associated with a NFC tag arranged within the gemstone package; wherein the key management server is configured to: retrieve, from the key database, a key associated with the key identifier; wherein the authentication server is configured to: using the key, decrypt the encrypted data to produce a decrypted tag identifier and a decrypted package identifier; verify the decrypted tag identifier against the tag identifier; verify the decrypted package identifier against a registered package identifier retrieved from the tag identifier database in which the registered package identifier is stored in association with the tag identifier, wherein the registered package identifier is associated with the gemstone package; and successfully authenticate the gemstone package if the decrypted tag identifier matches the tag identifier and if the decrypted package identifier matches the registered package identifier.
6. The system of claim 5, further comprising: an inventory server and an inventory database communicably coupled thereto; and a price server and a price database communicably coupled thereto, wherein the inventory server is configured to: after successful authentication of the gemstone package, retrieve, from the inventory database, data of the gemstone package, wherein the data of the gemstone package includes at least one basket code of gemstones comprised in the gemstone package; wherein the inventory server is configured to: based on the decrypted package identifier and/or the at least one basket code, retrieve, from the price database, spot prices of the gemstone package and/or the at least one basket codes; and wherein the authentication server is configured to: transmit the spot prices received from the inventory server to the NFC-enabled device.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the authentication server is configured to: receive, from the NFC-enabled device, geolocation data of the gemstone package; and store the geolocation data in the tag identifier database and in association with the tag identifier.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein the authentication server is configured to: generate an authentication failure message and transmit the authentication failure message to the NFC-enabled device if the decrypted tag identifier and the tag identifier differ or if the decrypted package identifier and the registered package identifier differ.
9. A fungible gemstone package comprising: a casing; a gemstone pouch and a Near Field Communication (NFC) tag which are arranged within the casing; and a plurality of gemstones arranged in the gemstone pouch; wherein the NFC tag includes a micro-chip and an antenna communicably coupled thereto, wherein the micro-chip includes a first memory area hardcoded with a tag identifier associated with the NFC tag and a second memory area storing both the tag identifier and a package identifier as encrypted data and storing a key identifier, wherein the gemstone package is configured to be authenticated by decrypting the encrypted data using a key, which is stored external of the gemstone package and associated with the key identifier, to produce a decrypted package identifier and a decrypted tag identifier, by verifying the decrypted tag identifier against the tag identifier which is stored in the first memory area, and by verifying the decrypted package identifier against a registered package identifier which is stored external of the gemstone package and in association with the tag identifier.
10. The gemstone package of claim 9, wherein the casing includes a metal material to prevent detection of the NFC tag by an NFC-enabled device, and wherein an opening is formed in the metal material to allow detection of the NFC tag therethrough.
11. The gemstone package of claim 10, further comprising : a cover movably coupled to the casing, wherein the cover is at least movable between a first position in which the opening is exposed and a second position in which the opening is concealed.
12. The gemstone package of claim 1 1 , wherein one of the casing and the cover is provided with a projection portion, and the other of the casing and the cover is provided with a complementary groove portion, wherein the projection portion and the groove portion are arranged in sliding engagement.
13. The gemstone package of any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the gemstone pouch includes a pouch support and a gemstone holder which is arranged within the pouch support and retains the gemstones, wherein the NFC tag is securely interposed between the pouch support and the gemstone holder, and is predisposed to result in breakage of the antenna when the NFC tag is separated from the pouch support.
14. The gemstone package of any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the NFC tag includes a ferrite material to increase readability of the NFC tag.
15. The gemstone package of any one of claims 9 to 14, wherein the metal material includes gold, silver, platinum, or any combination thereof.
16. The gemstone package of claim 15, wherein a spot price of the gemstone package is determined by a spot price of at least one basket of gemstones corresponding to the gemstones arranged in the gemstone pouch and a spot price of the metal material.
17. The gemstone package of any one of claims 9 to 16, wherein the gemstones include diamonds.