Device and system for accessing a distributed ledger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11190359-B2
Application number	US-201715819518-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2017
Priority date	Jan 31, 2017
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

A device for accessing a distributed ledger is provided. The distributed ledger is maintained by a plurality of virtual nodes. The device has a circuitry, which is configured to access the distributed ledger through at least one virtual node of the plurality of virtual nodes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device for accessing a distributed ledger, wherein the distributed ledger is maintained by a plurality of virtual nodes, the device comprising circuitry configured to:
access the distributed ledger through at least one virtual node of the plurality of virtual nodes;
provide a protected environment in which the at least one virtual node runs, wherein the protected environment includes a predefined protected memory area which can only be accessed by the at least one virtual node;
receive from a central authority a unique identifier for each of the plurality of virtual nodes; and
randomly migrate all virtual nodes of the plurality of virtual nodes from the device to randomly selected other devices, wherein the random migration is independent of the performance of the virtual nodes.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to host at least one virtual node of the plurality of virtual nodes.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to run the at least one virtual node in a container.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of virtual nodes has a unique identifier.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of virtual nodes has a private key for signing messages.

6. A system for maintaining a distributed ledger, comprising:
a plurality of virtual nodes for maintaining the distributed ledger;
a plurality of devices, each comprising circuitry, for hosting the plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of devices is configured to provide a protected environment for each of the virtual nodes, wherein the protected environment includes a predefined protected memory area which can only be accessed by an associated virtual node and wherein each of the plurality of devices is configured to randomly migrate all virtual nodes of the plurality of virtual nodes from the device to randomly selected other devices, wherein the random migration is independent of the performance of the virtual nodes; and
a central authority including circuitry configured to provide to the plurality of devices a unique identifier for each of the plurality of virtual nodes.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the number of virtual nodes is larger than the number of devices.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the number of virtual nodes is at least ten times larger than the number of devices.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of devices is further configured to run the plurality of virtual nodes in containers.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of virtual nodes has a unique identifier.

11. The system of claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of virtual nodes has a private key for signing messages.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Cronie Harm
• Nolan Julian

Classifications

• G06F9/5088 Primary

  involving task migration · CPC title

• G06F2009/4557

  Distribution of virtual machine instances; Migration and load balancing · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• G06Q20/065

  using e-cash · CPC title

• H04L9/3247 Primary

  involving digital signatures · CPC title