Secure blockchain-based consensus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023120854-A1
Application number	US-202217972436-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 24, 2022
Priority date	Apr 18, 2017
Publication date	Apr 20, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

There may be provided a computer-implemented method. The computer-implemented method includes: i) broadcasting a transaction, by a node in a blockchain network, to a congress pool to join a congress formed of a group of nodes; ii) after the congress has accepted a request from a requester to activate a script, preparing, by the node, a blockchain transaction cryptographically locked with a public key associated with the congress; iii) cooperatively generating, by the node in cooperating with other nodes of the group, a valid cryptographic signature for the transaction to spend the transaction; iv) after the blockchain transaction has been unlocked, receiving data from the plurality of information providing systems; v) determining a centre point for the data received from the plurality of information providing systems; and vi) activating, by the node in cooperation with other nodes of the congress, the script based on the centre point.

First claim

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
broadcasting a transaction, by a node in a blockchain network, to a congress pool to join a congress formed of a group of nodes; after the congress has accepted a request from a requester to activate a script, preparing, by the node, a blockchain transaction cryptographically locked with a public key associated with the congress pool, the blockchain transaction configured to permit a plurality of information providing systems to add inputs to the blockchain transaction, wherein the inputs include respective proof of solution data; generating, after the inputs have been added to the blockchain transaction, by the node in cooperation with other nodes of the group, a cryptographic signature for the blockchain transaction to unlock the blockchain transaction, the cryptographic signature generated by the node cooperating with the other nodes of the congress using a plurality of private key shares, wherein each private key share of the plurality of private key shares is allocated to an individual node of the congress; after the transaction has been unlocked, receiving data from the plurality of information providing systems; determining, by the node, whether the data received from at least one of the information providing systems corresponds with a committed solution based on the respective proof of solution data; wherein in response to determining that the data received from the at least one of the information providing systems does correspond with a committed solution based on the respective proof of solution data, the method further comprises:
determining a centre point for the data received from the plurality of information providing systems; and
activating, by the node in cooperation with the other nodes of the congress, the script based on the centre point; and
in response to determining that the data received from the at least one of the information providing systems does not correspond with a committed solution based on the respective proof of solution data, discarding the data.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
based on the centre point, identifying, by the node, a subset of the information providing systems that provided data proximate to the centre point; and authorizing, by the node in cooperation with the other nodes of the group, a transfer of a token to each information providing system in the subset.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the token included in the transfer includes one or more tokens received from the requester into the congress pool.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the request includes a threshold indicator and wherein the subset is identified based on the threshold indicator.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the threshold indicator is received from the requester.

6 - 7 . (canceled)

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the inputs include tokens to be locked for security.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the information providing systems include, in the blockchain transaction, a hash based on a public key, a solution to the request and salt.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the data received from the plurality of information providing systems includes the public key, the solution to the request and the salt, the method further comprising:
generating the hash based on the public key, the solution to the request and the salt; and comparing the generated hash with the hash included in the blockchain transaction.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting malicious activity by a malicious party, wherein the malicious party is one of the nodes of the congress; and using a private key share to confiscate at least a portion of tokens previously transferred to the congress pool by the malicious party.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein confiscating comprises transferring to an unspendable account.

13 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, configure a processor to perform the method of claim 1 .

14 . An electronic device comprising:
an interface device; a processor coupled to the interface device; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed, configure the processor to perform the method of claim 1 .

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the processor includes a trusted execution environment and wherein the computer executable instructions are executed within the trusted execution environment.

Assignees

• Nchain Holdings Ltd

Inventors

• Jimenez-Delgado Pedro

Classifications

• H04L63/123 Primary

  received data contents, e.g. message integrity · CPC title

• H04L63/145 Primary

  the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms · CPC title

• H04L9/50

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

• H04L9/3252

  using DSA or related signature schemes, e.g. elliptic based signatures, ElGamal or Schnorr schemes · CPC title

• H04L9/3239 Primary

  involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD · CPC title