Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates generally to validating documents and more specifically relates to validating documents using blockchain technology.

BACKGROUND
[0001] The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC or the Board), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, is responsible for the formulation of policy concerning the levy and collection of Customs, Goods and Service Tax (GST), and Central Excise duties, the prevention of smuggling, and the administration of matters relating to Customs, Goods and Service Tax (GST), Central Excise, and Narcotics. The Board is the administrative authority for the Board's subordinate entities, which include Customs Houses, Customs Preventive Commissionerates, Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerates, and the Central Revenues Control Laboratory.

[0002] Customs functions include international travellers, the general public, importers, exporters, dealers, custodians, manufacturers, carriers, port and airport authorities, postal authorities, and numerous other government and semi-government organizations, banks, and so on. Currently, the shipping line and/or its agent have the complete obligation of releasing or transporting goods after proper customs clearance, although the cargo is stored at the port and passes through the port. After all, both organizations are fighting to promote lawful trade across the world.

[0003] Customs clearance is required for the import and export of commodities into and out of a country. To complete this process, the importer and exporter of the items must present appropriate paperwork. Before or on the arrival of the goods, the importer should file an electronic bill of entry (customs copy) for clearance. The duty and taxes to be paid are assessed by the importer himself on the bill of entry, which is known as self-assessment. The importer will self-assess the duty after considering the applicable exchange rate and the rate of import duty. After the Bill of Entry is approved, the importer must pay the GST and tax, which will be recorded in the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICEDIS). A bill of entry number will be created after it is entered into ICEDIS.
The importer should next submit the bill of entry (customs copy), the duty-paid challan, and other supporting papers to the port authorities for clearance. After issuing a clearance order, the port officer would create a duplicate bill of entry (importer's copy) and a triplicate bill of entry (exchange control copy). Both copies will be delivered to the approved individual later.

There are techniques known in the art for discloses managing of custom related documents. For example, reference can be made to US20200117678A1 which discloses tracking business documents including employee documents and other business related information. Further, reference can be made to US10482134B2 which discloses document management techniques to account for user-specific patterns in document metadata. However, none of the techniques disclose managing custom related documents at the ports using the blockchain technology.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The principal object of the present invention is to provide techniques for validating documents using blockchain technology.

[0002] Another object of the present invention is to provide techniques for uploading custom related documents on the distributed ledger.

[0003] Another object of the present invention is to provide techniques for eliminating the need for manual cross-validation because only information stored immutably on the ledger can be utilized, confirming the validity of the import statement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] In one embodiment, an environment (100) managing documents in a distributed ledger are disclosed. The environment comprises a plurality of computing devices (102), a plurality of users (104) operating the plurality of computing devices, a blockchain network (106) and a communication network (108) configured to enable communication between the plurality of computing devices and the blockchain network, wherein the plurality of computing devices is configured to upload the document information into the blockchain network, the document information includes custom related information, and broadcasting the uploaded custom related information to all users in the broadcast network (106).

[0005] In another embodiment, a method for managing documents is disclosed. The method comprises enabling communication between a plurality of computing devices and a blockchain network, uploading the document information into the blockchain network, wherein the document information includes custom related information, and broadcasting the uploaded custom related information to a plurality of users in the broadcast network (106), wherein the plurality of users operates the plurality of computing devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0006] Figure 1 illustrates an environment for validating documents in distributed ledger, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
[0007] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for validating documents in distributed ledger, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0008] While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and the detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim.
[0009] As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one” and the word “plurality” means “one or more” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein are solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers, or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles, and the like are included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.
[0010] In this disclosure, whenever a composition or an element or a group of elements is preceded with the transitional phrase “comprising”, it is understood that we also contemplate the same composition, element, or group of elements with transitional phrases “consisting of”, “consisting”, “selected from the group of consisting of, “including”, or “is” preceding the recitation of the composition, element or group of elements and vice versa.
[0011] The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, several materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
[0012] Referring to FIG. 1, an environment 100 for managing documents using a digital ledger technology is depicted. The environment 100 comprises a plurality of computing devices 102-1, 102-2…102-n (collectively referred as 102) corresponding to a plurality of users 104-1, 104-2…104-n (collectively referred as 104), a blockchain network 106 and a communication network 108. The communication network 108 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the internet, or a combination of them. In one embodiment, the communication network 108 enables communication with, within a blockchain network 106.
[0013] The documents may be documents related to custom department. The documents may include invoices relating to the product imported/exported from the port authorities, the duty-paid challan, and other supporting papers to the port authorities for clearance. One or more actions may be performed on the documents based on the information (e.g., customs value calculation) to generate an import declaration. This eliminates the need for manual cross-validation because only information stored immutably on the ledger can be utilized, confirming the validity of the import statement.
[0014] The plurality of users 104 acts as a node in the blockchain network 106. Each of the plurality of users 104 participates in the blockchain network 106 using the plurality of computing devices 102. In one embodiment, the plurality of users can include the stakeholders as explained above. Each of the above mentioned stakeholders can act as nodes and are responsible for making changes in the blockchain network. Each of the user 104 operates a computing device from the plurality of the computing devices 104. In one embodiment, the plurality of computing devices 102 include, for example, but not limited to, a laptop, a computer, a mobile device, a tablet. In one embodiment, the computing devices 102 hosts or runs one or more applications for interacting with the blockchain network 106.
[0015] The blockchain network 106 includes one or more blockchain 110. The blockchain 110 is made up of a chain of blocks, each storing custom related documents. Customs officials rely on human cross-validation of import declarations submitted by declarants within international shipping to determine the validity of the declaration. However, due to the vast amount of import declarations submitted each year, it is impractical to personally cross-validate each declaration. Blockchain technology can solve this problem by automating the filing and cross-validation of import declarations. By storing custom related documents on the blockchain 110, information is immutably stored on the blockchain ledger, smart contracts representing import declarations can be used to automate lodging by automatically aggregating relevant information from the ledger.
[0016] The import declaration is created by the declarant by defining all relevant data items. The declarant first determines the customs value of the consignment using the transaction value technique to determine the duty to be paid. The customs value is estimated based on the invoice amount, transport cost after entrance, and Incoterm given on the pro forma invoice.
[0017] In the blockchain network 106, both the declarant and the customs authority are represented as nodes. Each node has its own copy of the blockchain ledger, which contains all of the important data pieces needed to make an import declaration for a cargo. The important data pieces may include any predetermined information which may be required for the authorities to make an informed decision about the cargo.
[0018] Any participant who logs onto the trading platform will see the same document as any other member of the network. With its built-in channel structure, blockchain gives network participants complete control over shared data. Individual firms can also use smart contracts to protect their exclusive business rules. Such blockchain system features enable various nations to govern or preserve their business regulations internally while yet engaging on an international commerce platform.
[0019] User information, trade-related sensitive data, or any combination of information that can be used to identify any natural person must be safeguarded. Blockchain provides this capacity as a standard feature, with substantially shorter development cycles.
[0020] Because blockchain provides dispersed data networks and the ability to combine numerous protocols with built-in channel mechanisms for security and privacy, the overall development effort necessary to meet all needs would be reduced.
[0021] Using blockchain technology, the underlying settlement process, security procedures, and movement of ledger accounts can be accomplished considerably more effectively and with less development work. At an unprecedented level, blockchain provides immutable records for each transaction. Any records that are added to the network cannot be deleted or changed. This makes any blockchain system tamper-resistant and dependable.
[0022] In one embodiment, tokenization ensures secure client registration. Further, by utilizing integrated methods for evidence of origin to rule out fraud. With the help of multi-tier role-based and coded access, data can be safeguarded at all levels. Further, security of the data in the documents stored in the blockchain technology can be ensured by using encryption and hashing. In one embodiment, adherence to the GDPR can be done at all times. In one embodiment, issuing, processing, and retrieval of documents can be automated. In one embodiment, network maintenance and regulation for an organization can be simplified. Further, by putting documents on the blockchain, an end can be put to laborious reconciliation or agreement processes. The Kafka consensus technique can speed up transaction validation. Money can be saved by avoiding transaction fees. Further, without giving it a trial run, don't commit to utilizing a business document management system.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 2 now, a flowchart of a method 200 for managing document on a distributed ledger is disclosed. At step 202, the method comprises estimating custom value of the consignment received/exported to/from the port. At step 204, the method comprises providing declarant and custom authority officials as nodes. At step 206, the method comprises uploading custom related information on the blockchain network. At step 208, the method comprises broadcasting the same custom related information to all the nodes in the blockchain network.
[0024] The various actions, acts, blocks, steps, or the like in the flow diagram may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some of the actions, acts, blocks, steps, or the like may be omitted, added, modified, skipped, or the like without departing from the scope of the invention.
[0025] Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
, Claims:I/We Claim:
1. An environment (100) for managing documents, the environment comprising:
a plurality of computing devices (102);
a plurality of users (104) operating the plurality of computing devices;
a blockchain network (106);
a communication network (108) configured to enable communication between the plurality of computing devices and the blockchain network, wherein:
the plurality of computing devices is configured to upload the document information into the blockchain network,
the document information includes custom related information, and
broadcasting the uploaded custom related information to all users in the broadcast network (106).
.
2. The environment as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of users represent a node in the environment (100).

3. The environment as claimed in claim 2, wherein each node includes declarant and custom authority officials.

4. The environment as claimed in claim 1, wherein the document includes information related to the custom value of the consignment imported/exported to/from ports.

5. The environment as claimed in claim 1, wherein any change in the document is broadcasted to every node in the blockchain.

6. A method for managing documents, the method comprising:
enabling communication between a plurality of computing devices and a blockchain network;
uploading the document information into the blockchain network, wherein the document information includes custom related information; and
broadcasting the uploaded custom related information to a plurality of users in the broadcast network (106), wherein the plurality of users operate the plurality of computing devices.
.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of users represent a node in the environment (100).

8. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein each node includes declarant and custom authority officials.

9. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the document includes information related to the custom value of the consignment imported/exported to/from ports.

10. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein any change in the document is broadcasted to every node in the blockchain.