Patent Issued for Distributed ledger interface system for background verification of an individual (USPTO 11861031): Allstate Solutions Private Limited

2024 JAN 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Adhikari, Anupam (Bangalore, IN), Basuri, Rohit (Bangalore, IN), filed on June 15, 2020, was published online on January 2, 2024.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11861031 is Allstate Solutions Private Limited (Bangalore, India).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “In most industries, organizations often spend a significant amount of money, time and effort in carrying out the background verification of the employees they hire. Furthermore, employees of organizations may be burdened with maintaining documentation (e.g., resume, transcripts, etc.) concerning the employees’ credentials throughout their employment to be able to present to each subsequent new employer. The documentation may be based on credentials earned at, or remarks given by, a plurality of distinct organizations (e.g., previous employers, educational institutions, training centers, certificate programs, municipal bodies, credit rating agencies, etc.). Methods of verifying such documentation may be unreliable, nontransparent, and tedious. These and other shortcomings are identified and addressed by the disclosure.

“The present disclosure may address one or more of the shortcomings described above.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In light of the foregoing background, the following presents a simplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the features described herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of all of the features described herein. The following summary merely presents some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description provided below.

“There is a desire for a reliable, transparent, and automated system and method for verifying this documentation as it relates to employment or verification of other credentials at the appropriate organizations. Furthermore, there is desire for a reliable, transparent, and automated system and method for performing a background verification of an individual, e.g., before hire. Systems and methods are described for using a decentralized database platform designed as an immutable ledger shared among a plurality of nodes (e.g., a “distributed ledger”) to facilitate background verification of an employee or other member of an organization. Any entry of information into the distributed ledger may require an approval by other nodes that share the distributed ledger so as to prevent fraud or entry of inconsistent information. The information entered into the distributed ledger may be related to credentials, remarks, and/or other data useful for assessing the candidacy of an individual (e.g., an employee, a student, an intern, and extern, a fellow, a trainee, etc.) for an organization (e.g., an employer, an educational or academic institution, etc.). The information may be categorized for example, into education credentials (e.g., transcripts, grades, academic ranking, etc.), work experience credentials (e.g., previous employers, work history, job descriptions, projects, achievements, performance evaluations, reasons for ending employment, etc.), legal records (e.g., criminal records, civil legal records, citizenship, work permits, etc.), online contributions, etc. In various aspects of the present disclosure, these categories of credentials, remarks, and contributions may be referred to as background aspects, and the data entered to describe the background aspects may be referred to as data values. Furthermore, the distributed ledger may include a data structure for entering data values for background aspects of an individual, and such a data structure may be referred to as, for example, an “individual-specific data structure,” for simplicity. The individual-specific data structure may comprise blocks of immutable data verified by various nodes of the distributed ledger, and shared among the various nodes. The nodes may comprise participants in the data entry, data verification, data mining, and/or data accessing functions of the distributed ledger, and the participants may include, for example, the computing systems and devices associated with the organizations or the individuals. A computing system, device, or server (“server”, “distributed ledger interface system” or “distributed ledger interface server”) may facilitate the data entry, data verification, data mining, and/or other use of the distributed ledger by the various participants. The use of the distributed ledger and the security and accessibility mechanisms explained herein may ease the burden of organizations as they perform background verifications for individual candidates, in accordance with systems and methods presented herein.

“One example method comprises: sending, via a communication network, by a distributed ledger interface system having at least one processor and to a first computing device associated with a first organization, an indication that an individual that has membership to the first organization is ending the membership to the first organization; unlocking, based on a command received from the first computing device, access to an individual-specific data structure in a distributed ledger, wherein the individual-specific data structure allows storage of a plurality of data values corresponding to a plurality of background aspects of the individual; wherein the individual-specific data structure stores a first data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to a first background aspect of the plurality of background aspects of the individual, and wherein the distributed ledger is shared within a plurality of nodes within a network; providing, to a user device associated with the individual and based on the unlocked access, a digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow permission to access the individual-specific data structure; and granting, to a second computing device associated with a second organization, and based on a permission received from the user device, access to the individual-specific data structure.

“In accordance with other embodiments of the present disclosure, the method may further include prior to the sending the indication, creating, by the distributed ledger interface system via the communication network, the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, wherein the individual-specific data structure comprises one or more blocks; receiving, from a computing device associated with a node of the network, a request to enter the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect of the individual; hashing, based on a cryptographic algorithm associated with the distributed ledger, the first data value; receiving a verification from each of the nodes of the network for the first data value; and recording, in a first block of the one or more blocks of the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect of the individual.

“In accordance with other embodiments of the present disclosure, an example system comprises one or more processors; and a memory storing computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by the one or more processors, the processors may cause the system to unlock access to an individual-specific data structure in a distributed ledger. The individual-specific data structure may allow storage of a plurality of data values corresponding to a plurality of background aspects of the individual. The individual-specific data structure may store a first data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to a first background aspect of the plurality of background aspects of the individual. Furthermore, the distributed ledger may be shared within a plurality of nodes within a network. The plurality of nodes may include at least a first computing device associated with a first organization. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by the one or more processors, the processors may further cause the system to: provide, to a user device associated with the individual and based on the unlocked access, a digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow the individual to control access to the individual-specific data structure; grant, to a second computing device associated with a second organization, and based on permission received from the user device, access to the individual-specific data structure; and send, via a communication network, to a first computing device associated with the first organization, an indication that the individual is ending membership to the first organization.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method comprising: sending, via a communication network, by a distributed ledger interface system having at least one processor and to a first computing device associated with a first organization, an indication that an individual that has membership to the first organization is ending the membership to the first organization; unlocking, by the first computing device associated with the first organization and in response to a command received from the first computing device and the indication, access to an individual-specific data structure in a distributed ledger, wherein the individual-specific data structure allows storage of a plurality of data values corresponding to a plurality of background aspects of the individual; wherein the individual-specific data structure stores a first data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to a first background aspect of the plurality of background aspects of the individual, and wherein the distributed ledger is shared within a plurality of nodes within a network; providing, via the communication network by the distributed ledger interface system, to a user device associated with the individual and based on the unlocked access, a digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow permission to access the individual-specific data structure; granting, by the distributed ledger interface system access to a second computing device associated with a second organization, and based on a permission received from the user device, access to the individual-specific data structures; receiving, by the distributed ledger interface system and from the second computing device, a request to perform a secondary verification of a given data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to the plurality of background aspects of the individual; and subsequent to performing the secondary verification and prior to granting the second computing device access: causing the second computing device to send, to the user device, a request to access the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger; causing the user device to share, to the second computing device, the digital key; and generating a new digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow permission to access the individual-specific data structure.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to the sending the indication, creating, by the distributed ledger interface system via the communication network, the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, wherein the individual-specific data structure comprises one or more blocks; receiving, from a computing device associated with a node of the network, a request to enter the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect of the individual; hashing, based on a cryptographic algorithm associated with the distributed ledger, the first data value; receiving a verification from each of the nodes of the network for the first data value; and recording, in a first block of the one or more blocks of the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying a source computing system associated with a source of the given data value; establishing a connection with the source computing system; and requesting, based on a verification threshold, a verification of the given data value.

“4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: receiving, from the source computing system, an indication that the given data value does not satisfy the verification threshold; and recording, in a second block of the one or more blocks of the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, the indication that the given data value does not satisfy the verification threshold.

“5. The method of claim 3, wherein the source computing system comprises a geocoding application program interface (API), and the given data value is a geographic information.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to the sending the first indication, receiving, via the communication network, by the distributed ledger interface system and from the user device, the indication of ending membership to the first organization.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to the unlocking the access to the individual-specific data structure, providing, by the computing system and to the first computing device, an option to unlock the access to the individual-specific data structure; and receiving, by the computing system and from the first computing device, a command to unlock the access to the individual-specific data structure.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises at least the first computing device and the second computing device.

“9. A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: communicate, via a communication network, to a first computing device of a first organization to cause the first computing device to unlock access to an individual-specific data structure in a distributed ledger in response to an indication that an individual that has membership to the first organization is ending the membership to the first organization, wherein the individual-specific data structure allows storage of a plurality of data values corresponding to a plurality of background aspects of the individual, wherein the individual-specific data structure stores a first data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to a first background aspect of the plurality of background aspects of the individual, wherein the distributed ledger is shared within a plurality of nodes within a network, and wherein the plurality of nodes includes at least the first computing device associated with the first organization; provide, via the communication network to a user device associated with the individual and based on the unlocked access that is based on the indication, a digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow the individual to control access to the individual-specific data structure; grant, to a second computing device associated with a second organization, and based on permission received from the user device, access to the individual-specific data structure; send, via the communication network, to the first computing device associated with the first organization, an indication that the individual is ending membership to the first organization; receive, from the second computing device, a request to perform a secondary verification of a given data value of the plurality of data values corresponding to the plurality of background aspects of the individual; and subsequent to performing the secondary verification and prior to granting the second computing device access: cause the second computing device to send, to the user device, a request to access the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger; cause the user device to share, to the second computing device, the digital key; and generate a new digital key associated with the individual-specific data structure to allow permission to access the individual-specific data structure.

“10. The system of claim 9, wherein the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to, prior to the unlocking the access to the individual-specific data structure, receive, from the first computing device, a command to unlock the access to the individual-specific data structure.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: create the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, wherein the individual-specific data structure comprises one or more blocks; receive, from a computing device associated with a node of the plurality of nodes of the network, a request to enter the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect of the individual; hash, based on a cryptographic algorithm associated with the distributed ledger, the first data value; receive a verification from each of the nodes of the network for the first data value; and record, in a first block of the one or more blocks of the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, the first data value corresponding to the first background aspect.

“12. The system of claim 11, wherein the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: identify a source computing system associated with a source of the given data value; establish a connection with the source computing system; and request, based on a verification threshold, a verification of the given data value.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory stores additional computer-executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive, from the source computing system, an indication that the given data value does not satisfy the verification threshold; and record, in a second block of the one or more blocks of the individual-specific data structure in the distributed ledger, the indication that the given data value does not satisfy the verification threshold.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Adhikari, Anupam. Distributed ledger interface system for background verification of an individual. U.S. Patent Number 11861031, filed June 15, 2020, and published online on January 2, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11861031)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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