Partitioning of a blockchain ledger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10601911-B2
Application number	US-201715814609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2017
Priority date	Nov 16, 2017
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

An example operation may include one or more of identifying partitions associated with a blockchain, identifying a new transaction to be committed to the blockchain, determining a partition code assigned to the new transaction, and committing the new transaction to one of the partitions associated with the partition code.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
identifying a plurality of partitions associated with a blockchain;
identifying a new transaction to be committed to the blockchain;
determining a partition code assigned to the new transaction; and
committing the new transaction to one of the plurality of partitions associated with the partition code;
wherein the partition code is extracted from the new transaction via a partition switcher module;
wherein the new transaction is forwarded to an assigned partition for commitment in the blockchain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the partition code assigned to the new transaction is identified based on a partition code script which defines a partition definition used to create the plurality of partitions.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving the partition definition; and
storing the partition definition in the blockchain.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
creating the plurality of partitions based on the partition definition.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
broadcasting the plurality of partitions to a plurality of peer nodes.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving the new transaction at one or more of the plurality of peer nodes.

7. An apparatus, comprising:
a hardware processor configured to:
identify a plurality of partitions associated with a blockchain;
identify a new transaction to be committed to the blockchain;
determine a partition code assigned to the new transaction; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the new transaction to one of the plurality of partitions associated with the partition code;
wherein the partition code is extracted from the new transaction via a partition switcher module;
wherein the new transaction is forwarded to an assigned partition for commitment in the blockchain.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the partition code assigned to the new transaction is identified based on a partition code script which defines a partition definition used to create the plurality of partitions.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising:
a receiver configured to receive the partition definition; and
a memory configured to store the partition definition in the blockchain.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
create the plurality of partitions based on the partition definition.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the transmitter is further configured to:
broadcast the plurality of partitions to a plurality of peer nodes.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the receiver is further configured to:
receive the new transaction at one or more of the plurality of peer nodes.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform:
identifying a plurality of partitions associated with a blockchain;
identifying a new transaction to be committed to the blockchain;
determining a partition code assigned to the new transaction; and
committing the new transaction to one of the plurality of partitions associated with the partition code;
wherein the partition code is extracted from the new transaction via a partition switcher module;
wherein the new transaction is forwarded to an assigned partition for commitment in the blockchain.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the partition code assigned to the new transaction is identified based on a partition code script which defines a partition definition used to create the plurality of partitions.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:
receiving the partition definition; and
storing the partition definition in the blockchain.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:
creating the plurality of partitions based on the partition definition.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:
broadcasting the plurality of partitions to a plurality of peer nodes.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to perform:
receiving the new transaction at one or more of the plurality of peer nodes.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Duan Tao
• Ji Hai
• Ji Zi Jian
• Li yuan yuan

Classifications

• G06F21/64

  Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures · CPC title

• H04L9/0637

  Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM] · CPC title

• H04L67/1042 Primary

  using topology management mechanisms · CPC title

• H04L2209/56

  Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash · CPC title

• H04L9/3239

  involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD · CPC title