Prioritizing shared blockchain data storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11023314-B2
Application number	US-202017086034-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2020
Priority date	Nov 6, 2019
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for storing blockchain data. One of the methods includes receiving a plurality of blocks from a blockchain node in the blockchain network; for each of the plurality of blocks: determining a first number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset divided from an error correction coding (ECC) encoded version of the block and a second number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset comprised of redundant bits divided from the ECC encoded version of the block; calculating a priority value of the block based on the first number and the second number; and encoding at least a portion of the plurality of blocks using ECC to generate a plurality of encoded blocks based on the priority value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for processing blockchain data in a trusted execution environment (TEE) executing on a computing device communicably coupled to a blockchain network, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of blocks from a blockchain node in the blockchain network;
for each of the plurality of blocks:
determining a first number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset divided from an error correction coding (ECC) encoded version of the block and a second number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset comprised of redundant bits divided from the ECC encoded version of the block;
calculating a priority value of the block based on the first number and the second number; and

encoding at least a first portion of the plurality of blocks using ECC to generate a plurality of encoded blocks, wherein the first portion of the plurality of blocks have smaller priority values than a remainder of the plurality of blocks other than the first portion of the plurality of blocks, and wherein a code rate of the first portion of the plurality of encoded blocks equals a minimum number of honest blockchain nodes required by the blockchain network divided by a total number of blockchain nodes of the blockchain network.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after encoding the first portion of the plurality of blocks, calculating an updated priority value of the plurality of blocks based on a maximum number of faulty nodes tolerable by the blockchain network and the total number of the blockchain nodes, wherein the minimum number of honest blockchain nodes required and the maximum number of faulty blockchain nodes tolerable add up to the total number.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
generating an index that provides a correspondence between block identifiers (IDs) of the plurality of blocks and priority values of the plurality of blocks; and
updating priority values of the first portion of the plurality of blocks with the updated priority values.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
dividing each of the plurality of encoded blocks into a plurality of datasets;
calculating hash values of the plurality of datasets; and
sending at least one of the plurality of datasets, the hash values, and an index that provides a correspondence between the plurality of datasets and the hash values to each of the blockchain nodes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first portion of the plurality of blocks includes at least a second portion of the plurality of blocks, and the method further comprises:
receiving a notification that blockchain data stored on the blockchain node has a size exceeding a predetermined data storage threshold after storing the at least one of the plurality of datasets sent by the computing device and deleting the second portion of the plurality of blocks;
encoding at least a third portion of the plurality of blocks using ECC, wherein priority values of the third portion of the plurality of blocks is larger than the priority values of the second portion of the plurality of blocks and is smaller than a remainder of the plurality of blocks other than the second portion of the plurality of blocks and the third portion of the plurality of blocks; and
updating the priority values of the third portion of the plurality of blocks with the updated priority values.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ECC is performed when utilization rate of computational resource of the computing device is less than or equal to a predetermined value.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ECC is erasure coding performed by adding redundant bits to the plurality of blocks.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the priority value is calculated as the first number minus the first number divided by a difference between the first number and the second number.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blockchain node is a full node that stores a copy of the blockchain.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum number of honest blockchain nodes required is determined based on a practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus protocol.

11. A computer-implemented system for processing blockchain data in a trusted execution environment (TEE) communicably coupled to a blockchain network, the system comprising:
one or more computers; and
one or more computer memory devices interoperably coupled with the one or more computers and having tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable media storing one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of blocks from a blockchain node in a blockchain network;
for each of the plurality of blocks:
determining a first number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset divided from an error correction coding (ECC) encoded version of the block and a second number of blockchain nodes that store a dataset comprised of redundant bits divided from the ECC encoded version of the block;
calculating a priority value of the block based on the first number and the second number; and

encoding at least a first portion of the plurality of blocks using ECC to generate a plurality of encoded blocks, wherein the first portion of the plurality of blocks have smaller priority values than a remainder of the plurality of blocks other than the first portion of the plurality of blocks, and wherein a code rate of the first portion of the plurality of encoded blocks equals a minimum number of honest blockchain nodes required by the blockchain network divided by a total number of blockchain nodes of the blockchain network.

12. The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
after encoding the first portion of the plurality of blocks, calculating an updated priority value of the plurality of blocks based on a maximum number of faulty nodes tolerable by the blockchain network and the total number of the blockchain nodes, wherein the minimum number of honest blockchain nodes required and the maximum number of faulty blockchain nodes tolerable add up to the total number.

13. The system of claim 12 , the operations further comprising:
generating an index that provides a correspondence between block identifiers (IDs) of the plurality of blocks and priority values of the plurality of blocks; and
updating priority values of the first portion of the plurality of blocks with the updated priority values.

14. The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
dividing each of the plurality of encoded blocks into a plurality of datasets;
calculating hash values of the plurality of datasets; and
sending at least one of the plurality of datasets, the hash values, and an index that provides a correspondence between the plurality of datasets and the hash values to each of the blockchain nodes.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first portion of the plurality of blocks includes at least a second portion of the plurality of blocks, and the operations further comprising:
receiving a notification that blockchain data stored on the blockchain node has a size exceeding a predetermined data storage threshold after storing the at least one of the plurality of datasets sent by the computing device and deleting the second portion of the plurality of blocks;
encoding at least a third portion of the plurality of blocks using ECC, wherein priority values of the third portion of the plurality of blocks is larger than the priority values of the second portion of the plurality of blocks and is smaller than a remainder of the plurality of blocks other than the second

Assignees

• Alipay Hangzhou Inf Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lu Zhonghao
• Zhuo Haizhen

Classifications

• H04L9/50

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

• G06F11/1044 Primary

  with specific ECC/EDC distribution · CPC title

• G06F11/1004 Primary

  to protect a block of data words, e.g. CRC or checksum (G06F11/1076 takes precedence; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorized activity G06F21/00) · 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

• G06F21/64

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