1
FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10, Rule 13]
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR BLOCKCHAIN-BASED INDUSTRIAL
AUTOMATION;
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION, A CORPORATION
ORGANISED AND EXISTING UNDER THE LAWS OF JAPAN, WHOSE
ADDRESS IS 7-3, MARUNOUCHI 2-CHOME, CHIYODA-KU, TOKYO
100-8310, JAPAN
THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES
THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE
PERFORMED.
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We Claim :
[Claim 1]
A blockchain-based industrial automation system having access to a
blockchain network, the blockchain-based industrial automation system
comprising:5
at least one controller computer including:
at least one processor; and
a memory having stored thereon instructions that, when
executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one
controller computer to:10
download a most recent block and an associated
cryptographic certificate of the most recent block from the
blockchain network;
authenticate an update operation of the at least one
controller based on the downloaded most recent block and15
the associated cryptographic certificate; and
generate a response for controlling an execution
operation on the at least one controller based on the
authentication.
[Claim 2]20
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, further
comprising:
one or more industrial devices, wherein the one or more
industrial devices are each configured to transmit device state data
to the at least one controller computer, wherein the device state data25
is associated with a corresponding incoming command associated
with the update operation.
[Claim 3]
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The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein
the update operation is a verifiable computing execution command associated
with verification of the device state data of the one or more industrial devices
based on a verification contract.
[Claim 4]5
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 2, wherein
the one or more industrial devices comprise one or more of a sensor device,
and an actuator device.
[Claim 5]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, further10
comprising:
a server computing system, wherein the at least one controller
system is configured to transmit the incoming command to
the server computing system, and the server computing
system is configured to:15
download the most recent block and an associated
cryptographic certificate of the most recent block from the
blockchain network;
authenticate the update operation of the at least one
controller computer based on the downloaded most recent20
block and the associated cryptographic certificate; and
generate the response for controlling the execution
operation on the at least one controller computer based on
the authentication.
[Claim 6]25
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein
the update operation is a firmware update command.
[Claim 7]
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The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein
the update operation is an industrial automation process execution command.
[Claim 8]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1,
wherein the memory comprises a unikernel for storing the instructions.5
[Claim 9]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 8, wherein
the unikernel is associated with an edge computing architecture.
[Claim 10]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein10
the at least one controller is configured to exchange messages with the
blockchain network using a communication protocol relying on a protocol of
the blockchain network.
[Claim 11]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein15
the at least one controller is configured to exchange messages with the
blockchain network using a communication protocol relying on a protocol of
a permissioned blockchain network.
[Claim 12]
The blockchain-based industrial automation system of claim 1, wherein20
the authentication of the update operation is performed based on invocation of
one or multiple types of system call (syscall) requests.
[Claim 13]
A method for providing blockchain-based industrial automation, the
method comprising:25
downloading a most recent block and an associated
cryptographic certificate of the most recent block from a blockchain network;
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authenticating an update operation of at least one
controller computer based on the downloaded most recent block and the
associated cryptographic certificate; and
generate a response for controlling an execution operation
on the at least one controller computer based on the authentication.5
[Claim 14]
The method of claim 13, wherein authenticating the update operation
further comprising:
transmitting device state data in an incoming command
associated with the update operation, from one or more industrial10
devices to the at least one controller computer; and
authenticating the incoming command based on the device state
data and the downloaded most recent block and the associated
cryptographic certificate.
[Claim 15]15
The method of claim 14, wherein authenticating the update operation
further comprising: executing a verifiable computing execution command
associated with verification of the device state data of the one or more
industrial devices based on a verification contract.
[Claim 16]20
The method of claim 14, wherein the downloaded most recent block
comprises data associated with a set of valid commands for the one or more
industrial devices, and wherein the incoming command is authenticated for
execution when the incoming command is included in the set of valid
commands.25
[Claim 17]
The method of claim 16, wherein generating the response for
controlling the operation on the at least one controller computer comprises
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allowing transmission of a control instruction from the at least one controller
computer to the one or more industrial devices, wherein the control
instruction is associated with modification of the device state of data of the
one or more industrial devices.
[Claim 18]5
The method of claim 13, further comprising:
transmitting the incoming command of the at least one
controller computer to a server computing system, wherein
the server computing system is configured to:
download the most recent block and an associated10
cryptographic certificate of the most recent block from the
blockchain network;
authenticate the update operation of the at least one
controller computer based on the downloaded most recent
block and the associated cryptographic certificate; and15
generate the response for controlling the execution
operation on the at least one controller computer based on
the authentication.
[Claim 19]
The method of claim 13, wherein the update operation is at least one of20
a firmware update command, and an industrial process automation command.
[Claim 20]
The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one controller comprises a
memory comprising a unikernel for storing one or more computer-executable
instructions for executing the method of claim 13.25
[Claim 21]
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The method of claim 13, wherein the authentication of the update
operation is performed based on invocation of one or multiple types of system
call (syscall) requests.
[Claim 22]
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodied thereon5
a program executable by a processor for performing a method for blockchain
based industrial automation, the method comprising:
downloading a most recent block and an associated
cryptographic certificate of the most recent block from a
blockchain network;10
authenticating an update operation of at least one
controller computer based on the downloaded most recent
block and the associated cryptographic certificate; and
generate a response for controlling an execution
operation on the at least one controller computer based on15
the authentication.