Method for a registration of usage of tracking data

Abstract

A computer implemented method allows the storage of tracked data records in a blockchain in order to incentivize airlines, ground handlers, IT Suppliers and airports to invest in tracking points for tracking baggage. The usage of tracking data records is determined by a smart contract. The smart contract causes a specific entry in a wallet and each entry represents the usage of tracking data records.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for a registration of a usage of tracking data records, the method comprising: tracking bag items for transportation from an airport of departure to a destination airport at a plurality of points by using: data identifying a bag item, data identifying a point on which the bag item is tracked, data representing a time stamp of a passage of the bag item at a tracking point; storing an identity of the bag item, an identity of a tracking point and the data representing the time stamp of the passage of the bag item in a tracking data record; receiving the tracking data record as a transaction by an oracle, using the oracle to check an availability of a smart contract and upon the availability of the smart contract using the oracle to push the transaction into a node of a blockchain; determining the usage of the tracking data records by using the smart contract interacting with the oracle; and using the smart contract to generate a specific entry in a wallet, the entry representing the usage of the tracking data records.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises pushing a plurality of tracking data records being an aggregated tracking data record as a transaction into a node of the blockchain, the tracking data records to be aggregated having a common property.

3. The method according to claim 2, which further comprises providing the common property of the tracking data records to be aggregated as at least one of: an airline code and flight number, or a destination airport code, or a transfer airport code, or a daily basis.

4. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises associating the blockchain with at least one of an airport code or calendar days.

5. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises configuring the smart contract by using a collaboration platform serving a plurality of airports.

6. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises tracking data records complying at least partly with a requirement of IATA recommendation 1745.

7. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises providing the oracle as a hardware oracle.

8. An installation at an airport, the installation comprising a computer for carrying out the steps of claim 1.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oracle pushes the transaction into the node of the blockchain as a result of the check indicating that the smart contract is available.

Description

(1) The working principle of the invention will now be described more in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

(2) FIG. 1 Baggage journey from a departure airport A via a stopover airport B to an destination airport C;

(3) FIG. 2 Blockchain structure with nodes containing tracking data records;

(4) FIG. 3 Interworking structure of entities and components in Airline Industry for determining usage of tracking data for one airport;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(5) In order to demonstrate the complexity of a baggage journey reference is made to FIG. 1. A bag item 1 is received by a ground handler or an airline according to the regulation valid at the departure airport A. According to prerequisites of an airline, the bag item 1 is received via bag drop 10 or via check-in 10. The check-in is not necessarily bound to an airport, this can happen, before a passenger arrives at the departure airport A with the so-called «online check-in» via a web-access at home. At the moment of a check-in, an unique identity “bag-id” is assigned to every bag item 1 of the passenger concerned. In this case, the event of the bag drop 10 is tracked at a tracking point of the departure airport A. For this tracking a “track-id” is generated assigned to the bag-id.

(6) The “bag-id” may contain

(7) data identifying a bag item,

(8) data identifying the scheduled flight(s),

(9) data identifying the journey.

(10) The “track-id” may contain

(11) data identifying the tracking point and/or tracking means,

(12) data identifying the airport on which the tracking occurred.

(13) Additionally data “track-t” representing a time stamp of the passing of a bag item 1 at a tracking point is generated.

(14) FIG. 1 depicts the principle of tracking of baggage items. Embodiments of the present invention follow preferably the details of tracking specified by the document

(15) After leaving the departure airport A 11, the bag item 1 is delivered to a baggage preparation and aircraft loading location 12 on an aircraft which takes off 13 at the airport of departure A and lands 14 at a transfer airport B.

(16) The aircraft is unloaded 15 at the transfer airport B 16 and undergoes baggage preparation and aircraft loading 17. The aircraft takes off 18 at the transfer airport B and lands 19 at the destination airport C 21 where the bag item 1′ undergoes aircraft unloading 20 and is finally available at a baggage claim 22.

(17) IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual Recommended practice 1800 automated baggage handling based on the IATA license plate, [4].

(18) The before mentioned data “bag-id”, “track-id” and “track-t” are merged in a tracking data record Tij. In the nomenclature of the blockchain technology this data record Tij is called a transaction Tij. This transaction Tij is stored in a node Ni of a blockchain network K, where i denotes the index of the node in said blockchain and j the index of a transaction in said Node Ni.

(19) The content of the before mentioned tracking data record has to be considered as an example for the background of the invention. A concrete embodiment is preferably realized according to the recommendations given by IATA in the document

(20) IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual Recommended practice 1745 baggage information messages [3].

(21) Especially Paragraph 2.2. in Section

(22) “2-Data Dictionary”

(23) of [3] contains a “quick reference index of information message elements” for data being part of the before mentioned data record Tij.

(24) Paragraph

(25) “2.3 detail specifications—data dictionary” of [3] defines in detail content and format for the content of a before mentioned tracking data record Tij.

(26) In order to reduce complexity respectively the number of nodes in a blockchain K, it is preferred to aggregate the before mentioned tracking data records Tij in aggregated tracking data records T.sub.aij. The aggregation can be done by a common property of the data records Tij, as e.g.

(27) Airline Code and Flight Number

(28) Destination or Transfer Airport Code.

(29) These examples are taken from section 2.3 of document [3]. Alternatively the aggregation can be made by another common property or by combining the before mentioned aggregation with a aggregation on a daily or bound to a working shift (e.g. 8 hours) and only one aggregated tracking data record is as tracking event pushed into the BlockChain network. The above mentioned aggregation has to be considered under the actual numbers of passengers respectively bag items. ICAO published in January 2018 the following figures: 2017: 4,1 billion passengers in Airline Industry. The number of bag items has to be estimated on the same magnitude. This number underlines the necessity for reducing the number of transactions to be pushed into a node of a blockchain.
It has to be noted, that the above-mentioned aggregation can be freely combined considering operational conditions and technical restrictions as e.g. the number of transactions.

(30) Reference is made to FIG. 3. Whereas in FIG. 1 the BHS and BRS are shown only in a summary representation FIG. 3 shows BHS and BRS specifically.

(31) The procedure BHS comprises e.g. baggage transportation within an airport, baggage screening and baggage sortation. The procedure BRS known as “baggage reconciliation system” attempts to ensure that the only baggage is loaded onto an aircraft that belongings to passengers of that flight who have actually boarded this aircraft.

(32) Since a blockchain K is a decentralized, distributed ledger that is used to record transactions, there is a need for feeding data—in the terminology of blockchain technology «transcations» to a blockchain. This feeding (syn pushing) of «transactions» is done by a so-called Oracle 30. Reference is made to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 depicts an interworking structure of entities and components in Airline Industry for determining usage of tracking data records for one airport. According to a baggage journey as depicted in FIG. 1, all generated tracking data records Tij respectively T.sub.aij are sent as tracking events 7 via an oracle 30 to a dedicated blockchain K. More precisely: A data records Tij is received as a transaction by an oracle 30. The oracle 30 pushes said transaction into a node Ni of the blockchain K. The blockchain K itself is not depicted in FIG. 3, since technically decentralized. Each tracking event 7 respectively a transaction has a plurality of tracking sources, as e.g. BHS 3 at an airport 2, BRS 4 at an airport 2, aircraft loading/aircraft unloading 5 at an airport 2. In this context the before mentioned aggregation to aggregated tracking data records T.sub.aij of tracking data records Tij has to be understood.

(33) Regarding the structure of the entries in a node N.sub.i reference is made to FIG. 2. For each node N.sub.i there is according to the blockchain technology a field CRC, which contains a hash value of the previous node N.sub.i-1 of said blockchain K. This hash value can be generated e.g. via SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm). FIG. 2 shows the principle, each entry respectively transaction has to be understood either by a data record Tij or by an aggregated data record T.sub.aij.

(34) A usage of tracking data records (either single or aggregated) is determined by the following components of the blockchain technology. The oracle 30 interacts with a smart contract 31. Generally, a smart contract 31 is a computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a real contract. More specifically a smart contract is «a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract». A blockchain-based smart contract is visible to all parties of said blockchain. Smart contracts allow the performance of credible transactions without external parties or authorities. These transactions are trackable and irreversible.

(35) More precisely in the context of the present invention the oracle checks if a smart contract is available and if so the oracle pushes a new transaction into a node N1, . . . ) of the blockchain K.

(36) In order to represent the aggregated results into the BlockChain network a special BlockChain component is required that is trusted by the network and which is also able to interface the devices producing the identification events and verify the information produces by them. Such components are called in the BlockChain technology oracles 30. Some smart contracts need information directly from the physical world, as e.g. in the environment of the present document: tracking data records of a bag item 1. The biggest challenge for oracles is the ability to report readings without sacrificing data security and data integrity.

(37) In this particular environment of airports respectively in the field of Airline Industry there is an absolute prerequisite to guarantee data security and data integrity. For this reason, the oracle 30 is a so-called hardware oracle; further information can be found in the document [5].

(38) For the present invention a smart contract 31 may be generated and provided on a blockchain K such that this smart contract 31 is configured to automatically validate blockchain transactions. This configuration causes a specific entry in a so-called wallet 32. An entry contains the information whether a party either adds a transaction which is in the meaning of the present invention a tracking data record Tij or an aggregated tracking data record T.sub.aij
or whether a party takes a or more copies of said tracking data records Tij or an aggregated tracking data record T.sub.aij from the blockchain K.
Party has to be understood as in the introductory part mentioned as a specific organization in Airline Industry.

(39) The accumulated usage of tracking data records is stored in this wallet 32. For the sake of completeness usage has to be understood either a delivery of tracking data records or taking a copy from a node Ti of said blockchain K. Taking a copy means e.g. that a passenger didn't get his baggage at the baggage claim. The passenger went to a lost luggage help desk, with the data (e.g. Ticket number, flight number, departing airport) provided by the passenger. The lost luggage help desk makes search via the tracked data records stored in said blockchain. This search is according to configuration of the smart contract 31 considered as a use and leads to a corresponding entry in the wallet 32. Periodically these entries in the wallet can be billed among the parties within this wallet. Another possibility is a conversion of usage 36 to a true currency, a so-called FIAT currency 33.

(40) FIG. 3 depicts one airport 2, but FIG. 3 has to be understood for all airports participating at this method for a registration of usage of tracking data.

(41) For the management and configuration of all these smart contracts 31 and wallets 32 a collaboration platform is provided, which configures the definitions of said smart contracts 31 and which may cause a billing among the partners according to the entries in the wallets 32 through operations management and control 37. Preferably this collaboration platform 35 is operated by an independent organisation in trust.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS, GLOSSARY

(42) 1, 1′ bag item 2 any airport 3 BHS at any airport 4 BRS at any airport 5 aircraft loading/aircraft unloading 7 tracking event 9 (currency) exchange 10 baggage drop, check-in 11 BHS at airport of departure A 12 baggage preparation; aircraft loading 13 aircraft take off at airport of departure A 14 aircraft landing at transfer airport B 15 aircraft unloading 16 BHS at transfer airport B 17 baggage preparation; aircraft loading 18 aircraft take off at transfer airport B 19 aircraft landing at Destination Airport C 20 aircraft unloading 21 BHS at Destination Airport C 22 baggage claim 30 oracle 31 smart contract 32 wallet 33 FIAT Currency 35 collaboration platform 36 Conversion usage.fwdarw.FIAT currency 37 operations management, control A airport of departure B transfer airport BHS Baggage Handling System BRS Baggage Reconciliation System C destination airport CAPEX capital expenditure CRC hash sum IATA International Air Transport Association ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization K Blockchain N.sub.1, N.sub.2, N.sub.i Node, nodes of a Blockchain K OPEX operational expenditure SITA Société Internationale de Télécommunication Aëronautique Tij j.sup.th tracking data record in node i; Transaction

LIST OF CITED DOCUMENTS

(43) [1] «Baggage Tracking IATA Resolution 753/A4A Resolution 30.53 Implementation Guide» retrieved from http://www.iata.org via completing a form available under http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/ops-infra/baggage/Pages/index/aspx [2] «Blockchain: The smart, secure and seamless future of air travel for all» retrieved on Dec. 21, 2017 from https://www.internationalairportreview.com/article/34739/blockchain-sita-it-summit-2017/ [3] IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 1745 BAGGAGE INFORMATION MESSAGES; 36 edition June 2016; available by purchasing at http://www.iata.org/publications/pages/standards-manuals.aspx [4] IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual RECOMMENDED PRACTICE 1800 AUTOMATED BAGGAGE HANDLING BASED ON THE IATA LICENSEE PLATE; 36 edition June 2016; available by purchasing at http://www.iata.org/publications/pages/standards-manauls.aspx [5] What's a blockchain oracle? Information oracles & external data feeds; retrieved from https://blockchainhub.net/blockchain-oracles/on Jan. 18, 2018.