TWI841323B - Method of using blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity of traceable agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of using blockchain technology to ensure the authenticity of traceable agricultural product, including the following steps: a crop detection process detects an environmental information and a crop information in a cultivation space where a crop is planted. A crop traceability generation process uploads the environmental information and the crop information to a database in a processing module, and saves it as a crop traceability record. A hash process hashes the crop traceability record using a specific hash function to generate a hash value A digital signature process digitally signs the hash value with a private key of the producer to form a signed hash value. A blockchain writing process writes the signed hash value into a block of a blockchain platform and generates a transaction number and a transaction time to be saved in the database; and a publishing process publishes the crop traceability record to a crop traceability viewing module for users to view or query.

Description

Method for saving crop records using blockchain

The present invention relates to crop management, and in particular to a method for storing crop records using a blockchain to ensure the validity and authenticity of the crop records.

In recent years, there has been an endless stream of news about food safety. Many consumers spend a lot of money to buy agricultural products that are advertised as locally produced, but in fact, many of them are mixed with low-quality agricultural products from other regions or imported by unscrupulous businesses. When consumers get home and open the boxes and find that the appearance and taste are different from the real local agricultural products, it is too late and they can only think that they have wasted their money. This negative marketing strategy not only affects consumers' purchasing experience, but also affects consumers' perception of agricultural products in this region. Many down-to-earth and honest local businesses are forced to bear the negative image of this region selling fake products because of the behavior of a few unscrupulous businesses. Worse still, if the agricultural products provided by unscrupulous businesses cause food poisoning or discomfort to consumers due to quality problems, it will lead to a more serious food safety crisis.

In order to solve the above-mentioned chaos in agricultural products, in recent years, the government and private agricultural product-related industries have actively promoted the so-called "production and sales history", that is, through farmers themselves uploading relevant record data when producing crops, consumers can clearly know the production process, production place and production method of agricultural products when purchasing, so as to distinguish them from agricultural products of unknown origin without production and sales history marked. From the starting point, this policy is beneficial to both consumers and businesses. However, there are countermeasures from above and policies from below. Since the current production and sales records are mainly uploaded by the producers themselves, their authenticity depends entirely on the personal conscience of the producers. Therefore, there are still unscrupulous producers who have begun to forge production and sales records in an attempt to gain consumers' trust in agricultural products. This behavior is undoubtedly a huge blow to the credibility of production and sales records. Therefore, how to solve the problem that the authenticity of the above-mentioned production and sales records cannot be confirmed is one of the issues that the relevant industry players need to solve urgently.

The main purpose of this invention is to provide a method for preserving crop records using blockchain, which can ensure the authenticity, non-tampering and publicity of crop records, and enhance consumers' trust in crop records.

To achieve the above-mentioned purpose of the invention, the present invention provides a method for storing crop records using blockchain, which includes the following steps: a crop detection procedure, which detects environmental information and crop information in a cultivation space where a crop is planted; a crop record generation procedure, which uploads the environmental information and the crop information to a database of a processing module and stores them as a crop record of the crop; a hashing procedure, which converts the crop record into a specific hash. A hash function performs hashing to generate a hash value; a digital signature program digitally signs the hash value through a private key of the producer end to form a signed hash value; a blockchain writing program writes the signed hash value into a block of a blockchain platform for recording, and generates a transaction sequence number and a transaction time to save to the database; and a publishing program publishes the crop record to a crop record viewing module for a user end to view or query.

In one embodiment, the publishing process further includes the following steps: a viewing process, in which the user browses the crop and the crop history therein through a display unit of the crop history viewing module; a query process, in which a query unit queries the database for data related to the crop history; a signature verification process, in which the signed hash value is obtained from the blockchain platform for signature verification. If the signature verification fails, Prompts verification failure, and proceeds to the next step if signature verification succeeds; and a hash verification procedure, hashing the crop record with the specific hash function to generate a second hash value; compares the second hash value with the signed hash value; if the second hash value is inconsistent with the signed hash value, prompts authenticity verification failure; if the second hash value is consistent with the signed hash value, prompts authenticity verification success.

In one embodiment, in the signature verification process, a public key of the producer is used to compare the signed hash value; if the public key does not match the signed hash value, it means that the signature verification fails; if the public key matches the signed hash value, it means that the signature verification succeeds.

In one embodiment, a chain verification process is included between the query process and the signature verification process, which searches the database for the transaction number and the transaction time corresponding to the crop history. If the database does not record the transaction number and the transaction time, the user terminal is prompted that the crop history has not been chained. If there is a record, the user terminal proceeds to the next step.

In one embodiment, the environmental information is detected by a sensing unit to detect at least one of the light level, temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, soil nutrients, water quality and wind direction in the cultivation space.

In one embodiment, the crop information is obtained by detecting at least one of an image, a photograph, and a thermal image of the crop in the cultivation space through an imaging unit.

In one embodiment, a method for storing crop records using a blockchain includes the following steps: a reservation process, in which a user side places an order with a producer side through a transaction unit of a crop record viewing system for a crop that has not yet been planted, and generates an order; a crop environment record generation process, in which the producer side detects a cultivation environment of the crop to be planted after receiving the order; Environmental information in a growing space; uploading the environmental information to a database of a processing module and saving it as an environmental history of the crop; a publishing process, publishing the environmental history of the crop to the crop history viewing system for the user to view; and a reservation confirmation process, in which the user decides whether to continue to reserve the crop after viewing the environmental history of the crop.

In one embodiment, the crop environment history generation process and the publishing process further include an on-chain process, which is to write the crop environment history into a block on a blockchain platform for recording.

In one embodiment, before the user terminal views the crop environment history in the reservation confirmation process, the user terminal can connect to the blockchain platform through a query unit in advance to compare the crop environment history with the data in the blockchain platform to confirm the authenticity of the crop environment history.

In one embodiment, the environmental information is detected by a sensing unit to detect at least one of the light level, temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, soil nutrients, water quality and wind direction in the cultivation space.

The following is a list of preferred embodiments based on the purpose, efficacy and structural configuration disclosed by the present invention, and is described in detail with accompanying drawings.

2: Producer side

4: User side

10: Blockchain crop history system

100: Crops

101: Agricultural crop resume

102: Cultivation space

20:Crop record upload module

21: Sensing unit

210: Light sensor

211: Temperature sensor

212:Soil humidity sensor

213: Air humidity sensor

214:Soil nutrient sensor

215: Water quality sensor

216: Wind direction sensor

217: Sensing signal uploading unit

22: Image unit

220: Image capture unit

221: Image upload unit

23: Release unit

30: Processing module

31: Server

32: Database

33: Control unit

34: Receiving unit

35: Chain unit

40:Crop history viewing module

41: Storage unit

42: Display unit

43: Query unit

44: Trading unit

50: Blockchain platform

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a process for protecting the authenticity of crop records.

Figure 4 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a process for verifying the authenticity of crop records.

Figure 5 is a flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a crop reservation process.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a blockchain crop record system 10, which mainly includes a crop record upload module 20, a processing module 30 and a crop record viewing module 40. The crop record upload module 20 is operated by a producer end 2 to generate a crop record 101 of a crop 100. The producer end 2 includes but is not limited to individual farmers, agricultural production and marketing classes, local agricultural associations, or agricultural related operators. The processing module 30 is communicatively connected to the crop record upload module 20 and the crop record viewing module 40, and can encrypt or verify the crop record 101 generated by the crop record upload module 20. The processing module 30 is connected to a blockchain platform 50 via a network, and uses blockchain upload technology to write the encrypted information related to the crop history 101 into a block of the blockchain platform 50. The blockchain platform 50 is a commonly used technology, and its details are not described here. The crop history viewing module 40 is operated by a user end 4 to receive or query the corresponding crop history 101. The user end 4 may include but is not limited to consumers, government reviewers, third-party review agencies for production and sales records, etc.

The crop history upload module 20 includes a sensing unit 21, an image unit 22 and a publishing unit 23. The sensing unit 21 is installed in a cultivation space 102 where the crop 100 is planted. The cultivation space 102 may include but is not limited to an indoor space (such as a greenhouse) or an outdoor space (such as a farmland). The sensing unit 21 is used to sense environmental information of the crop 100 during the entire production process, including but not limited to at least one of light intensity, temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, soil composition, water quality and wind direction. In this embodiment, the sensing unit 21 includes a light sensor 210, a temperature sensor 211, a soil humidity sensor 212, an air humidity sensor 213, a soil nutrient sensor 214, a water quality sensor 215, a wind direction sensor 216 and a sensing signal uploading unit 217.

The light sensor 210 is disposed in the culture space 102 to sense the light level (brightness, frequency or wavelength of light) in the culture space 102, thereby generating a light sensing signal. The temperature sensor 211 is disposed in the culture space 102 to sense the temperature in the culture space 102, thereby generating a temperature sensing signal. The soil moisture sensor 212 is disposed in a soil in the culture space 102 to sense the humidity in the soil in the culture space 102, thereby generating a soil moisture sensing signal. The air humidity sensor 213 is disposed in the cultivation space 102 to sense the humidity of the air in the cultivation space 102, thereby generating an air humidity sensing signal. The soil nutrient sensor 214 is disposed in the soil of the cultivation space 102 to sense the composition ratio of each organic element in the soil, thereby generating a soil nutrient sensing signal. The water quality sensing unit 215 is disposed in a water supply system of the cultivation space 102 to sense the composition ratio of the water provided by the water supply system to the crop 100, thereby generating a water quality sensing signal. The wind direction sensing unit 216 is disposed in the cultivation space 102 to sense the airflow direction in the cultivation space 102, thereby generating a wind direction sensing signal. One or a combination of the light sensing signal, the temperature sensing signal, the soil humidity sensing signal, the air humidity sensing signal, the soil nutrient sensing signal, the water quality sensing signal, and the wind direction sensing signal can be converted into the environmental information and uploaded to the processing module 30 via the sensing signal uploading unit 217 via wired or wireless (Bluetooth, infrared, WIFI, network, etc.).

The image unit 22 is communicatively connected to the processing module 30 to obtain crop information of the crop. The image unit 22 has an image capture unit 220 and an image upload unit 221. The image capture unit 220 is disposed in the cultivation space 102 and can be one of a camera, a camera, an infrared thermal imager, or a combination thereof. The image capture unit 220 can be controlled by the processing module 30 to capture images of the crop 100 in the cultivation space, such as a video recorded for a long time by the camera; a photo taken at a specific time or angle by the camera; or a thermal image captured by the infrared thermal imager. The video, photo and/or thermal image of the crop 100 can be converted into crop information and uploaded to the processing module 30 via the image upload unit 221.

The publishing unit 23 is communicatively connected to the processing module 30 and the crop history viewing module 40, and is operated by the producer end 2 to upload the crop history 101 of the crop 100 and crop-related information to the crop history viewing module 40, including but not limited to at least one of appearance photos, quantity, weight, production place, production time, and nutritional labeling; and further includes the above-mentioned environmental information and crop information.

The processing module 30 includes a server 31, a database 32, a control unit 33, a receiving unit 34, and an uplink unit 35. The server 31 can be a physical server or a cloud server. The database 32 is stored in the server 31. The control unit 33 is communicatively connected to the sensing unit 21 and the imaging unit 22 to control the sensing unit 21 and the imaging unit 22 to start or stop sensing and image capture. The receiving unit 34 is communicatively connected to the sensing unit 21 and the image unit 22, and is used to receive the environmental information transmitted by the sensing signal uploading unit 217 and/or the crop information transmitted by the image uploading unit 221, store it in the database 32, and record it as the crop history 101 of the crop 100. The uplink unit 35 is operable to upload the crop history 101 in the database 32 to the blockchain module for uplinking. The on-chain unit 35 is communicatively connected to the blockchain platform 50, and can encrypt and on-chain the crop history 101 uploaded to the database 32, such as digital signature, hashing, or writing information into a block of the blockchain platform 50; and can verify the authenticity of the crop history 101 queried by the user end 4 through the crop history viewing module 40.

The crop resume viewing module 40 is communicatively connected to the crop resume uploading module 20 and the processing module 30, and is presented as a virtual platform that can be operated by the user end 4 through an electronic device (such as a computer, a mobile phone, a tablet, etc.), such as an online website, an APP, or a QR-CODE that can be connected to the aforementioned website or APP. In this embodiment, the crop resume viewing module 40 is a trading platform, including a storage unit 41, a display unit 42, a query unit 43, and a transaction unit 44. The storage unit pre-stores a lot of information about crops from various regions published by producers from various regions, including but not limited to their price, weight, quantity, origin, nutritional labeling and corresponding crop resumes. The display unit 42 can be a screen or user interface of the electronic device, used to display the price, weight, quantity, origin, nutritional labeling and corresponding crop history uploaded from the producer end 2. The query unit 43 is communicatively connected to the database 32 of the processing module 30 and the blockchain platform 50, so that the user end 4 can upload the received crop history 101 for query or authenticity verification. The transaction unit 44 is used by the user end 4 to order or directly purchase crops.

According to the above structural configuration, the present invention provides a method for using blockchain to save crop records, including a crop record authenticity protection process and a crop record authenticity verification process. The crop record authenticity protection process is mainly for the producer end 2 to operate the crop record upload module 20 to generate the crop record 101 and write it into the blockchain platform 50 through the processing module 30; the crop record authenticity verification process is mainly for the user end 4 to query the specific crop record 101 and verify its authenticity. Please refer to Figure 3, the steps of the crop history authenticity protection process are as follows: 1. Crop detection procedure: The sensing units 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216 of the sensing unit 21 detect the light level, temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, soil composition, water quality and wind direction in the cultivation space 102 where the crop 100 is planted to generate the environmental information; and the image capture unit 220 of the imaging unit 22 captures the image of the crop 100 to generate the crop information.

A crop history generation process: the environmental information and the crop information are uploaded to the database 32 of the processing module 30 through the sensing signal upload unit 217 and the image upload unit 221, and recorded as the crop history 101 of the crop 100 for preservation.

A hashing process: The processing module 30 performs hashing on the crop record 101 using a specific hashing function to generate a hash value.

A digital signature process: The producer end 2 has a private key and a public key corresponding to the private key. The processing module 30 uses the private key of the producer end 2 to digitally sign the hash value to form a signed hash value. The signed hash value can be verified to ensure that the hash value is issued by the producer end 2.

A blockchain writing process: The processing module 30 uploads the signed hash value to one of the blocks of the blockchain platform 50 in the form of a smart contract, and the blockchain platform 50 simultaneously records a transaction time and a transaction sequence number when the smart contract is generated to complete the writing record. Then, the blockchain platform 50 returns the transaction time and the transaction sequence number to the database 32 through the network for subsequent query.

A publishing procedure: The producer end 2 can operate the publishing unit 23 of the crop record upload module 20 to publish the crop record 101 to the crop record viewing module 40 for subsequent viewing or inquiry by the user end 4.

Please refer to FIG. 4 , the steps of the crop record authenticity verification process are as follows: 1. Viewing procedure: The user terminal 4 can browse various crops stored in the storage unit 41 through the display unit 42 of the crop record viewing module 40, and can view the crop record of any crop. In this embodiment, the crop 100 is taken as an example.

1. Query procedure: When the user terminal 4 finds the crop 100 through the display unit 42 and wants to confirm the authenticity of the crop history 101, the crop history 101 and the corresponding hash value transmitted from the crop history upload module 20 can be transmitted to the query unit 43. The query unit 43 is connected to the processing module 30 and the blockchain platform 50 through the network to compare with the relevant data of the crop history 101 in the database 32 and the blockchain platform 50.

1. On-chain verification procedure: The processing module 30 searches the database 32 to see whether the transaction number and the transaction time corresponding to the crop history 101 are recorded. If the transaction number and the transaction time are not recorded in the database 32, the crop history 101 is returned to the user terminal 4 for viewing, and it is prompted that the crop history 101 has not been on-chain (has not been written into any block of the blockchain platform 50). If the transaction number and the transaction time are recorded in the database 32, the next verification procedure is continued.

A digital signature verification procedure: The processing module 30 obtains the signed hash value from the blockchain platform 50 and uses the A public key of the producer end 2 to perform signature verification. If the hash value does not match the public key, the processing module 30 prompts the producer end 2 that the verification has failed; if they match, the next verification procedure is continued.

A hash verification procedure: The processing module 30 performs hash processing on the crop resume 101 using the specific hash function to generate a second hash value. Then the processing module 30 compares the second hash value with the signed hash value in the blockchain platform 50 to check whether the two are consistent. If the second hash value is inconsistent with the signed hash value, the processing module 30 prompts the user end 4 that the verification of the crop resume 101 has failed. The user end 4 can understand through this prompt that the crop resume 101 may have been tampered with, and can further contact the producer end 2 to confirm the true status of the crop resume 101. If the second hash value is consistent with the signed hash value, the processing module 30 returns a message indicating that the crop record 101 has been successfully verified to the user terminal 4. In this way, the user terminal 4 can verify the authenticity of the crop record 101 through the query unit 43.

Through the above-mentioned crop authenticity protection process and crop authenticity verification process, all crop record-related information of the present invention is bound to the blockchain and cannot be tampered with. The validity can be verified in real time to ensure authenticity, effectively reducing the losses caused to both parties by forged crop records.

In this embodiment, since the crop history viewing module 40 is a trading platform, it also includes a crop reservation process. Please refer to Figure 5, the steps of the crop reservation process are as follows: A reservation process: The user end 4 can place an order for the items and quantity required for the crop 100 with the producer end 2 in advance through the transaction unit 44 of the crop history viewing module 40, and generate an order. At this time, the producer end 2 has not yet produced the crop 100.

A process of generating a crop environment history: After receiving the order from the user end 4, the producer end 2 needs to sense the relevant information and images of the cultivation space 102 where the crop 100 is scheduled to be planted through the sensing unit 21 and the imaging unit 22, and upload the information to the database 32 of the processing module 30 to be saved in the form of a crop environment history.

The first chaining process is to upload the crop environment record to the processing module 30 through the network for hashing, digital signature encryption and chaining. The steps are the same as those described in the previous crop record authenticity protection process, and the details are not described here. In another embodiment, the producer end 2 can also skip this step and proceed to the next step.

In a publishing process, the producer end 2 can operate the crop record upload module 20 to publish the crop environment record to the crop record viewing module 40 for the user end 4 to view or query.

1. Booking confirmation process: After receiving the crop environment history sent by the producer, if the user terminal 4 has performed the on-chain process, it can connect to the blockchain platform 50 through the query unit 43 to verify the authenticity of the crop environment history. If the authenticity verification fails, the reservation can be cancelled. If the authenticity verification is successful, the user terminal 4 can also decide whether to make a reservation for production after reading the relevant information of the crop environment history.

In this way, the user end 4 can pre-order the crops that will be needed in the future, and can check whether the production environment meets the needs without going to the site in person. The authenticity of the crop environment history can also be ensured through the blockchain on-chain method. On the other hand, the producer end can also plan the types and quantities of crops that need to be produced in the future according to the quantity reserved by the user end 4, and can also increase the user end 4's trust in the producer end by uploading the environment history, effectively solving the inventory control problem of the producer end and improving its marketing image.

In summary, the method of using blockchain to save crop records provided by the present invention makes crop records trustworthy to consumers through the decentralization, authenticity and immutability of blockchain by putting crop records on the blockchain; and enables consumers to check crop records at any time through the crop record viewing module 40. In this way, it can not only protect the image of local businesses, enhance the overall food safety environment and ensure the purchasing experience of consumers, but also achieve a win-win model for local businesses and consumers.

The above embodiments are only for illustrative purposes to illustrate the technology and its effects of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Anyone skilled in the art can modify and change the above embodiments without violating the technical principles and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be as described below in the scope of the patent application.

2: Producer side

4: User side

10: Blockchain crop history system

100: Crops

101: Agricultural crop resume

102: Cultivation space

20:Crop record upload module

30: Processing module

40:Crop history viewing module

50: Blockchain platform

Claims (4)

A method for storing crop records using a blockchain comprises the following steps: a crop detection procedure for detecting an environmental information and crop information in a cultivation space where a crop is planted; a crop record generation procedure for uploading the environmental information and the crop information to a database of a processing module and storing them as a crop record of the crop; a hash processing procedure for hashing the crop record using a specific hash function to generate a hash value; a digital signature A procedure is used to digitally sign the hash value through a private key of a producer to form a signed hash value; a blockchain writing procedure is used to write the signed hash value into a block of a blockchain platform for recording, and generate a transaction sequence number and a transaction time and save them to the database; a publishing procedure is used to publish the crop resume to a crop resume viewing module for a user end to view or query; a viewing procedure is used by the user end to browse the crop resume through a display unit of the crop resume viewing module. The crop and the crop history in the database; a query procedure is to query the database and the blockchain platform through a query unit to compare the data related to the crop history; a chain verification procedure is to search the database for the transaction number and the transaction time corresponding to the crop history. If the database does not record the transaction number and the transaction time, the user end is prompted that the crop history has not been chained. If there is a record, proceed to the next step; A signature verification procedure is to obtain the The signed hash value is used for signature verification. If the signature verification fails, a prompt indicating the verification failure is displayed. If the signature verification succeeds, the next step is continued. A hash verification procedure is used to hash the crop record with the specific hash function to generate a second hash value. The second hash value is compared with the signed hash value. If the second hash value is inconsistent with the signed hash value, the prompt indicating the authenticity verification failed is displayed. If the second hash value is consistent with the signed hash value, the prompt indicating the authenticity verification succeeds is displayed. The method of using blockchain to store crop records as described in claim 1, wherein in the signature verification process, a public key of the producer is used to compare the signed hash value; if the public key and the signed hash value do not match, it means that the signature verification fails, and if the public key and the signed hash value match, it means that the signature verification is successful. A method for storing crop records using blockchain as described in claim 1, wherein the environmental information is detected by a sensing unit to detect at least one of the light level, temperature, soil humidity, air humidity, soil nutrients, water quality and wind direction in the cultivation space. A method for storing crop records using blockchain as described in claim 1, wherein the crop information is at least one of an image, a photograph, and a thermal image of the crop in the cultivation space detected by an imaging unit.

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