High precision timestamps in blockchain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10764070-B2
Application number	US-201816116979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2018
Priority date	Aug 30, 2018
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

An example operation may include one or more of receiving, by a document server, a hash of data generated by an author registered with a blockchain, sending, by the document server, the hash of the data to a timestamp authority (TSA) to be time stamped, receiving, by the document server, a timestamp reflecting when the hash of the data was received by the TSA and forwarding the timestamp to the author, receiving a combination of the hash of the data and the timestamp (time/hash) signed by the author and forwarding the time/hash to the blockchain, receiving, by the document server, the time/hash signed by the TSA, and forwarding the time/hash signed by the TSA to the blockchain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a document server, a hash of data generated by an author registered with a blockchain;
sending, by the document server, the hash of the data to a timestamp authority (TSA) to be time stamped;
receiving, by the document server, a timestamp reflecting when the hash of the data was received by the TSA and forwarding the timestamp to the author;
receiving, by the document server, a combination of the hash of the data and the timestamp (time/hash) signed by the author;
forwarding, by the document server, the time/hash to the blockchain;
receiving, by the document server, the time/hash signed by the TSA; and
forwarding, by the document server, the time/hash signed by the TSA to the blockchain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blockchain records the time/hash signed by the author and the time/hash signed by the TSA.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time/hash is signed by a private key of the author associated with a certificate signed by an authority.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising validating the timestamp by comparing the time/hash signed by the author with the time/hash signed by the TSA.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the time/hash signed by the private key of the TSA to the author to be validated.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the time/hash signed by the TSA and by the private key of the author and forwarding the time/hash to the blockchain.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising generating the timestamp to cover a span of time until the time/hash is entered into the blockchain.

8. A system, comprising:
a processor;
a memory on which are stored machine readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive a hash of data generated by an author registered with a blockchain;
send the hash of the data to a timestamp authority (TSA) to be time stamped;
receive a timestamp that reflects when the hash of the data was received by the TSA and forward the timestamp to the author;
receive a combination of the hash of the data and the timestamp (time/hash) signed by the author;
forward the time/hash to the blockchain
receive the time/hash signed by the TSA; and
forward the time/hash signed by the TSA to the blockchain.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the blockchain records the time/hash signed by the author and the time/hash signed by the TSA.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the time/hash is signed by a private key of the author associated with a certificate signed by an authority.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to validate the timestamp by comparison of the time/hash signed by the author with the time/hash signed by the TSA.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to receive the time/hash signed by the TSA and by the private key of the author and forward the time/hash to the blockchain.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to send the time/hash signed by the private key of the TSA to the author to be validated.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to generate the timestamp to cover a span of time until the time/hash is entered into the blockchain.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause the processor to perform:
receiving a hash of data generated by an author registered with a blockchain;
sending the hash of the data to a timestamp authority (TSA) to be time stamped;
receiving a timestamp reflecting when the hash of the data was received by the TSA and forwarding the timestamp to the author;
receiving a combination of the hash of the data and the timestamp (time/hash) signed by the author;
forwarding the time/hash to the blockchain;
receiving the time/hash signed by the TSA; and
forwarding the time/hash signed by the TSA to the blockchain.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the blockchain records the time/hash signed by the author and the time/hash signed by the TSA.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the time/hash is signed by a private key of the author associated with a certificate signed by an authority.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause the processor to validate the timestamp by comparing the time/hash signed by the author with the time/hash signed by the timestamp server.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause the processor to send the time/hash signed by the private key of the TSA to the author to be validated.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , further comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause the processor generate the timestamp to cover a span of time until the time/hash is entered into the blockchain.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Kass Eric

Classifications

• H04L9/50

  using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees · CPC title

• G06F16/27

  Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor · CPC title

• H04L9/0643

  Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC · CPC title

• H04L9/3297 Primary

  involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps · CPC title

• G06F16/1834

  implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella (p2p communication protocols H04L67/104) · CPC title