Blockchain stochastic timer transaction synchronization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11005646-B2
Application number	US-201815987700-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2018
Priority date	May 23, 2018
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

A blockchain may be used as a stochastic timer. The posting of a blockchain solution for verification may be a trigger that determines an event schedule. Because the only entity that knows when the solution will be posted is the solving entity, the solving entity may be rewarded with the ability to potentially exploit this knowledge. However, because the solving of a blockchain is a competitive process, there is a risk that if the solving entity retains the solution for greater exploitation, then another entity will post the solution and therefore gain the benefit. A blockchain stochastic timer can thus provide the necessary incentive for entities to invest computational resources into blockchain solutions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying a block on a blockchain being solved in a blockchain network;
generating a blockchain tick in response to the identification of the block being solved on the blockchain;
transmitting a stochastic timing signal corresponding to the blockchain tick from the blockchain network to a secondary network in response to the identification of the block being solved; and
triggering one or more events in one or more processes of the secondary network from the stochastic timing signal.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising one or more participant nodes of the one or more processes of the secondary network solve the identified block on the blockchain.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises solving the block by a participant node of the secondary network, which provides the participant node with a temporary advantage in the secondary network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more processes of the secondary network are unrelated to the blockchain network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary network is an exchange, wherein the stochastic timing signal locks posted trade orders for the exchange for execution.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the secondary network is an auction network and wherein the stochastic timing signal from the blockchain network is used to implement a countdown timer for the auction network.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating comprises generating a plurality of blockchain ticks in response to identifying a plurality of blocks being solved in the blockchain network, respectively, and wherein a frequency of the plurality of blockchain ticks is dependent on a difficulty of a block hash.

8. A system, comprising:
a processor configured to identify a block on a blockchain being solved in a blockchain network and generate a blockchain tick in response to a block being solved on the blockchain,
wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit a stochastic timing signal corresponding to the blockchain tick from the blockchain network to a secondary network in response to the identification of the block being solved, and
trigger one or more events in one or more processes of the secondary network from the stochastic timing signal.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein one or more processes of the secondary network are unrelated to the blockchain network.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the blockchain network comprises a plurality of processing nodes wherein one or more of the processing nodes provides computational resources to generate a plurality of blockchain solutions for the blockchain network and wherein one or more of the processing nodes participate in the one or more processes of a secondary transaction network.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein when the block is solved by a participant of the one or more processes of the secondary network, the participant is provided with an advantage over other participants in the one or more processes of the secondary network.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the secondary network is an exchange, wherein the stochastic timing signal locks posted trade orders for the exchange for execution.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the secondary network is an auction network and wherein the stochastic timing signal from the blockchain network is used to implement a countdown timer for the auction network.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, that when read by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:
identifying a block on a blockchain being solved in a blockchain network;
generating a blockchain tick in response to the identification of the block being solved on the blockchain;
transmitting a stochastic timing signal corresponding to the blockchain tick from the blockchain network to a secondary network in response to the identification of the block being solved; and
triggering one or more events in one or more processes of the secondary network from the stochastic timing signal.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises one or more participant nodes of the one or more processes of the secondary network attempting to solve one or more blocks of the blockchain network.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises solving the block by a participant node of the secondary network, which provides the participant node with a temporary advantage in the secondary network.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the one or more processes of the secondary network are unrelated to the blockchain network.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the secondary network is an exchange, wherein the stochastic timing signal locks posted trade orders for the exchange for execution.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the secondary network is an auction network and wherein the stochastic timing signal from the blockchain network is used to implement a countdown timer for the auction network.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Fry Jonathan
• Penny Christopher J
• Demarest James
• Bergendahl Marc
• Wynne Jean
• Waskiewicz Christopher J

Classifications

• H04L9/50 Primary

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

• G06Q40/04

  Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange · CPC title

• H04L2209/56

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

• G06Q30/08

  Auctions · CPC title

• H04L9/0637 Primary

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