Pardalis announces issuance of Hong Kong patent

February 2, 2010 — Pardalis, Inc. announced today the issuance of the following patent by the Intellectual Property Department of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China:

• Common Point Authoring System for Tracking and Authenticating Objects in a Distribution Chain, Standard Patent No. HK1096173 issued January 8, 2010.

The issuance of this patent represents another milestone in the continued, global expansion of Pardalis' parent patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,671,696, and its continuation patents and applications.

The Pardalis 696 Patent was issued by the United States in 2003 and is entitled Informational object authoring and distribution system. Pardalis' 696 patent is also known as the parent patent for the Common Point Authoring™ system.

The critical means and functions of the Common Point Authoring™ system provide for user-centric authoring and registration of radically identified, immutable objects for further granular publication, by the choice of each author, among networked systems. The benefits of CPA include minimal, precise disclosures of personal and product identity data to networks fragmented by information silos and concerns over 'data ownership'.

“Australia, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand and, of course, the United States are the countries that have so far issued one or more patents to Pardalis,” said Steve Holcombe, Pardalis’ CEO. “We also have high expectations for similar actions on our applications pending in Brazil, Canada, Europe, India and Japan.”

About Pardalis, Inc.

Pardalis' Common Point Authoring™ system provides the first object-oriented supply chain solution for minimal identity and data disclosures for both people and products. For more information, see Pardalis' Global IP.

Data Identity & Supply Chains

I attended the Internet Identity Workshop #9 (IIW9) in early November at the suggestion of Silona Bonewald. She read Banking on Granular Information Ownership and we made a connection regarding her mutual data ownership approach to 'open banking'.

My attendance at IIW9 was strange and familiar. Surreal and real. It was like 'coming home' to a home I'd never seen before. A kind of deja vu.

My experiences with 'identity' have been in the registration of radically serialized data objects (i.e., data elements with GUIs) that are authored, published and distributed by supply chain participants to supply chains. The focus has been about giving product supply chains the opportunity to know more about the products by providing more permissions control over the shared data. This was first theoretically applied to supply chains for chemical products, and then actually engineered and deployed in 2003-06 to the U.S. beef livestock supply chain following the 2003 'mad cow' case. The developed system was - and is - in the form of a multi-tenant, enterprise class system (we marketed it as a 'data bank') that appears to fit well into the cross-section of the Venn diagram in the September, 2008 blog Venn and the art of data sharing by Eve Maler. That is, with one significant exception. The 'identity movement' was essentially non-existent in 2003-06 (IIW #1 was held in October, 2005) and so we did not at that time have the benefit of client-side or browser-side or smartphone-side means, functions and standards related to data identity.

In lieu of identity standards what we did was bake in our own patented business rules for shifting the capabilities of a relational SQL server toward the registration of objects; objects that would then be granularly revealed, traceable, and controllable to the nth degree of sharing among the tenants of the data bank. Then we thought we would be in a good position to tackle integration with other data silo's driving standards for universal data tags. But then a funny thing happened on the way to the coliseum - the USDA's efforts for introducing mandatory animal identification to agriculture collapsed in late 2006 predictably affecting every supply chain company who had bet that the USDA would do what they said they would do. Since then my company, Pardalis, has essentially been anchored in a 'safe harbor' called North Dakota State University.

Earlier this year I had discussions with Microsoft-Fargo, and then Microsoft-Redmond, that led up to Microsoft's then Worldwide Director of CRM, ERP and Supply Chain Solutions. What I was saying to Microsoft was that neither Dynamics CRM nor SharePoint were relevant outside of the federated or vertically integrated parts of supply chains. But what was broadly used by SMBs - where CRM and SharePoint were not - was Microsoft Excel. And so the logical next step was to connect supply chains end-to-end with a 'data bank' blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I didn't begin to tune into InfoCards and what Microsoft's Chief Identity Officer, Kim Cameron, had been up to until later in the summer. Cameron is touting the application of transactional "claims" to provide "minimal disclosures" about persons which has now evolved into the Windows Identity Foundation. There's no doubt in my mind that the ERP folks inside of Microsoft should talk to Kim Cameron and the Identity folks in Microsoft but that's something they'll have to figure out on their own, right? :-)

Now traceability is 'sexy' again. Pardalis is moving forward with major land grant institutions (North Dakota State University, Michigan State University, Oklahoma State University) and supply chain participants (like Top 10 Produce) in seeking $5M/5 year USDA funding for a Coordinated Agricultural Project under the Special Crops Research Initiative. This initiative supports research for methods to prevent, detect, monitor, control, and respond to potential food safety hazards in the production and processing of specialty crops, including fresh produce. Central to this research will the development/introduction of item-level means and functions for interoperably connecting agricultural supply chains from 'farm to fork'. The goal is to provide real-time access to the supply chain participants of the total system of data - not just the data presented in GS1 labeling -  relative to product safety, taste, quality, appearance, environmental responses, tolerances, transportation, marketing, storage characteristics , etc.

Like I said, my attendance at IIW9 was strange and familiar, etc. What was missing for me was the application of identity and social networking to supply chains. I suppose one could argue that the term 'supply chain' was there, so to speak, particularly in the IIW9 sessions covering Vendor Relationship Management, but in my opinion it was way in the background waiting to be brought to the forefront. I'm definitely planning on attending IIW #10 in Mountain View in May, 2010, to do my part in helping raise the visibility of supply chains in this mix. I'm really glad to have found my way to the identity movement.

[The foregoing is substantially reprinted from previous contributions made by the author to the Data Ownership in the Cloud group on LinkedIn.]

Organizing Letter of Intent of the Agricultural Data Coordination Consortium (Ag DCC) – Work in Progress

Organizing Letter of Intent of the “Know your Food, Know your Farmer” Agricultural Data Coordination Consortium (Ag DCC) – Work in Progress

WHEREAS, today’s numerous agricultural and food supply chains are being called on more and more to provide two products. One, the traditional plant, animal, processed food or other commodity. And, two, authenticated, traceable data products identifying the source, age, and processes applied to the traditional commodity. While agricultural and food supply chains have been highly efficient in providing traditional commodity products foods, they face numerous technological and sociological challenges in effectively providing authenticated, traceable data products. There is a disconnect between the local farmer and consumers; there is too much distance between the average American and their farmer.

WHEREAS, in recognition of the foregoing, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has commenced a nation-wide effort to create new economic opportunities for supporting local farmers, strengthening rural communities, promoting healthy eating, and protecting natural resources by better connecting consumers with local producers. This effort is the “Know your Food, Know your Farmer” program (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/knowyourfarmer?navtype=KYF&navid=KYF_MISSION)

WHEREAS, new advances in unambiguous product identification (e.g., radio frequency identification – RFID), the deployment of massive data centers around the world (i.e., “the Cloud”), the concurrent rise of virtual machines for maximizing digital spaces in the Cloud, the increasing available of low-cost software as a service (including social networking sites like FaceBook, Twitter, etc.), and new, technological means and functions for minimal data disclosures and granular data sharing by end-users, provide a convergence of technological opportunities for creating economic opportunities by better connecting consumers with local producers consistent with the USDA’s “Know your Food, Know your Farmer”.

NOW, THEREFORE, we, the undersigned, in recognition of the foregoing, do form the “Know your Food, Know Your Farmer” Agricultural Data Coordination Consortium ( Ag DCC).

THE INTENTS AND PURPOSES of the Ag DCC shall be for the networking of individuals, private entities, and public entities, all meeting and exchanging information in like-minded support of agricultural supply chain data coordination for the furtherance of the USDA’s Know your Food, Know your Farmer program.

The homepage for the Ag DCC shall be a sub-group to the ‘Data Ownership in the Cloud’ (http://tinyurl.com/datacloud) networking group on LinkedIn.

[Editor's Note: This is a work in progress and may be updated without notice. Membership in the Ag DCC is by invitation only. Membership in the Ag DCC requires (1) a LinkedIn profile and (2) membership in the Data Ownership in the Cloud networking group on LinkedIn. Only members of the Ag DCC may be signators to the final, organizing letter of intent for the Ag DCC. For further information, please contact the Editor or leave a comment.]

Update on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 11:14AM by Steve Holcombe

Group: Agricultural Data Coordination Consortium
Subject: Closing the Ag DCC sub-group
Date: 8 Jan 2010

Due to the lack of activity with this sub-group, I'm closing it.

Interestingly, the activity I was hoping for in this sub-group is actually occurring in a separate group called Agricultural Funding Opportunities (AFO) at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2476119&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

The AFO is a collaborative research group recently established for coordinating activities in relation to the preparation by Oklahoma State University, North Dakota State University, Michigan State University, Pardalis, Inc. and Top 10 Produce LLC of a grant application for USDA-NIFA-SCRI-002672 due 14 Jan 2010.

Now, the scope and vision of the AFO group is growing ....

If you think you would be interested in joining this group to ACTIVELY search for ag funding opportunities, please let me know.

Best,

Steve Holcombe, Owner
Data Ownership in the Cloud
Agricultural Funding Opportunities
http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveholcombe
http://twitter.com/Steve_Holcombe
Twitter tags - #dataownership

Silona Bonewald: Open Banking, metrics and money

The following entry entitled Open Banking, metrics and money and posted by Silona Bonewald on Friday, September 25th, 2009 to her blog, Persona Prime:

metrics metrics metrics

With an openbank I get to prove a concept with the most old fashioned metric there is – money…

for what is money than the most generally accepted metric?

I want to educate people about the ownership of their data. No better way than to attach it to their money.

Show them that Data is the new money.

No better way to prove to businesses that people care than to make alot of money off of it.

No better way to get other banks to follow suit than to take money away from them.

yep I am a bit of a more pragmatic gal these days…

Here's my comment ....

Silona,

Truly, data is becoming more and more the 'new money' ....

Data ownership matters because it holds forth the promise of empowering people with much more technological and political control of their information than that provided by conventional information technologies and legislated confidentiality protections.

Give people the opportunity to profit or otherwise benefit from their data products in the form of granular objects, and their valuable data will, ironically, become more accessible to all. Give people the opportunity to familiarly bank their data like they bank their money, and watch the political dynamics shift favorably toward a more data transparent, and data secure, world.

First, there was money. Then there came the banking of money. Now is the time for the Information Age to shift into a Data Banking Age full of new services, and new opportunities, not unlike those brought to us, and facilitated by, our very successful monetary banking systems.

But lest the reader thinks that you and I are too much out in 'left field', or that we are being too idealistic, I'd like to cite what Microsoft and the Information Card Foundation are currently doing that is bringing a realism to the idealism.

Windows CardSpace (aka Microsoft Information Cards), part of the .NET stack, is Microsoft's client software for the Identity Metasystem, an interoperable architecture for digital identity that enables people to have and employ a collection of digital identities based on multiple underlying technologies, implementations, and providers. When an Information Card-enabled application or website wishes to obtain information about the user, the application or website requests the publication of a particular set of claims authored by the user. The CardSpace user interface then appears, switching the display to the CardSpace service, which displays the user's registered identities. The user selects their InfoCard to verify their identity.

Kim Cameron, Chief Identity Officer, Microsoft, is seeking to extend Microsoft's Information Cards with 'minimum disclosures' (that is, claims granularly derived from Information Cards). See "Proposal for a Common Identity Framework: A User-Centric Identity Metasystem" by Kim Cameron, Reinhard Posch, Kai Rannenberg on October 9, 2008.

The granular control of identity in the form of claims is, I suggest, a form of 'data banking', and a form of technological 'data ownership'. Microsoft's CardSpace is now officially being marketed in the context of the 'Geneva Framework', a Claims Based Access Platform. By marketing its Geneva Framework, Microsoft is bringing data banking and data ownership closer and closer to the mainstream.

If the reader is interested in further reading, and hyperlinked citations, see my blog posts Banking on Granular Information Ownership and A User Centric Identity Metasystem.

[This comment previously posted in two parts to a version of Silona's blog post shared to the Data Ownership in the Cloud networking group on LinkedIn - http://tinyurl.com/datacloud]

Pardalis receives patent originals from Australia, China, and Mexico

September 18, 2009 —Pardalis, Inc. announced today the receipt of the following patent originals issued by Australia, China and Mexico.

• The original of Australian Patent No. 2002323103 issued August 9, 2007. This patent will remain in effect until August 12, 2022.
• The original of Chinese Patent No. ZL 200480037094.4 issued May 20, 2009. This patent will remain in force until September 23, 2024.
• The original of Mexican Patent No. 251,221 issued November 1, 2007. This patent will remain viable until August 20, 2022.

The receipt of these original patents represent another milestone in the continued, global expansion of Pardalis' parent patent, U.S. Patent #6,671,696, and its continuations.

The Pardalis 696 Patent was issued by the United States in 2003 and is entitled ‘Informational object authoring and distribution system’. Pardalis' 696 patent is also known as the parent patent for the Common Point Authoring™ system.

The critical means and functions of the Common Point Authoring™ system provide for user-centric authoring and registration of radically identified, immutable objects for further granular publication, by the choice of each author, among networked systems. The benefits of CPA include minimal, precise disclosures of personal and product identity data to networks fragmented by information silos and concerns over 'data ownership'.

“Australia, China, Mexico New Zealand and, of course, the United States are the countries that have so far issued one or more patents to Pardalis,” said Steve Holcombe, Pardalis’ CEO. “Given our track record of success, we also have high expectations for similar actions on our applications pending in Brazil, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, India and Japan.”

About Pardalis, Inc.

Pardalis' Common Point Authoring™ system provides the first object-oriented supply chain solution for minimal identity and data disclosures for both people and products. For more information, see The Roots of Common Point Authoring or contact Steve Holcombe through the contact form of The Pardalis Data Ownership Blog.