High performance distributed system of record with confidence-based consensus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12277559-B2
Application number	US-201916697336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2019
Priority date	Nov 27, 2018
Publication date	Apr 15, 2025
Grant date	Apr 15, 2025

Abstract

A high-performance distributed ledger and transaction computing network fabric over which large numbers of transactions are processed concurrently in a scalable, reliable, secure and efficient manner. In one embodiment, the computing network core is configured to support a distributed blockchain network that organizes data in a manner that allows communication, processing and storage of blocks of the chain to be performed concurrently at very high performance and low latency, even when the transactions themselves originate from distant sources. This data organization relies on segmenting a transaction space within autonomous but cooperating computing nodes that are configured as a processing mesh. The system also provides for confidence-based consensus and automated fork resolution. The approach enables the blockchain to continue operating in the presence of an underlying network outage, and to enable clients to make decisions about the disposition of transactions during any period of uncertainty before full consensus has been achieved.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method operative in association with a system including a set of nodes comprising transaction handling computing elements that comprise a network core that receive and process transaction requests into an append-only immutable chain of data blocks, wherein a data block is a collection of transactions, and wherein presence of a transaction recorded within a data block is verifiable via a cryptographic hash, wherein the transaction requests originate from legacy computing infrastructure associated with a third party, wherein each node of the set of nodes has an associated public key, comprising:
configuring, as physical computing infrastructure, an overlay network between the legacy computing infrastructure and the network core, the overlay network comprising a plurality of edge servers that act an entry points for the transaction requests entering the network core; and
mining, by the system, individual segments of a block according to a confidence-based consensus algorithm using the set of nodes and a multi-signature cryptographic approach, wherein the mining further comprises a node of the set of the nodes providing one or more other nodes of the set of the nodes with a cryptographic signature bearing witness by signing the block that the block is valid;
wherein, according the multi-signature cryptographic approach, cryptographic signatures from multiple nodes of the set of the nodes are aggregated into an aggregate witness signature to represent a confidence measure representing a probability that the block will be finalized into the append-only immutable chain, the aggregated witness signature being associated with a single public key that is an aggregate of the public keys of the multiple nodes;
wherein a verify node of the set of nodes verifies the confidence measure using the aggregate witness signature, the single public key and a list of the multiple nodes by aggregating the public keys of the multiple nodes identified on the list to generate a resulting public key, determining whether the resulting public key is the same as the single public key, and, based on determining that the resulting public key is the same as the single public key, thereby verifying the aggregate witness signature using the single public key;
detecting, by the system, a fork associated with the append-only immutable chain of data blocks;
upon detecting the fork, identifying, by the system, a main chain and a displaced chain by determining that the main chain has a confidence value, based on the confidence measures of blocks, that is higher than a confidence value of the displaced chain; and
recovering, by the system, from the fork at least in part by replaying transactions on the displaced chain, wherein the recovering further comprises validating one or more non-conflicting transactions, and adding the non-conflicting transactions to the main chain unless they are duplicates.

2. The method as described in claim 1 , the method further comprising identifying, by the system, a conflicting transaction, and issuing a notification regarding the conflicting transaction.

3. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the fork is a result of a network outage.

4. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the network core comprises a plurality of wallets.

5. The method as described in claim 4 wherein a given wallet in the plurality of wallets verifies the aggregate witness signature.

6. The method as described in claim 1 , further comprising:
applying, by the system, a deterministic tie-breaking strategy to the main chain and the displaced chain based on determining that the confidence values of the main chain and the displaced chain are the same.

7. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the consensus algorithm is carried out in fixed-length rounds across a set of transaction handling computing elements.

8. The method as described in claim 7 , further comprising:
selecting, by the system, one of the transaction handling computing elements as a leader for each of the rounds.

9. The method as described in claim 1 wherein, during execution of the consensus algorithm, one or more transaction handling computing elements finalize one or data blocks into the append-only immutable chain of data blocks.

10. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein a fork occurs in association with a network partition in the network core.

11. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the append-only immutable chain of data blocks is a blockchain.

12. The method as described in claim 1 wherein transactions that do not conflict over Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) are a nonconflicting transaction.

13. The method as described in claim 2 wherein transactions that conflict over Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) are the conflicting transaction.

Assignees

• Akamai Tech Inc

Inventors

• Carver David C
• Al Shenibr Leen K
• Delaughter Samuel
• Erb Samuel
• Shtokman Vladimir
• Deegan Patrick A
• Houman Thomas

Classifications

• H04L9/50

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

• H04L9/3236

  using cryptographic hash functions · CPC title

• G06Q20/382

  insuring higher security of transaction · CPC title

• H04L2209/56

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

• G06Q20/36

  using electronic wallets or electronic money safes · CPC title