Granted Patent B2

US 12,309,257 · App. 16/954,167 · Granted May 20, 2025

Inventors: Alexandra Covaci (London, GB); Simone Madeo (London, GB); Patrick Motylinski (London, GB); Stephane Vincent (Luxembourg, LU); Craig Steven Wright (London, GB)

Assignee: NCHAIN LICENSING AG

H04L9/0637G06F16/2246H04L9/3218H04L9/3247H04L9/50

Abstract

Claims (42)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

at a prover computer system:

establishing a cryptographically protected communications session with a computing entity;

receiving, via the cryptographically protected communications session, a first communication comprising input data that controls execution of a program published to a blockchain network;

receiving a first attestation that a set of communications occurred via the cryptographically protected communications session, the set of communications including the first communication;

executing the program using the input data, wherein execution of the program results in generation of a proof of correct execution of the program;

generating, based at least in part on the received input data, a second attestation that the input data was contained in the first communication;

providing the proof of correct execution of the program to another computer system to be mined onto the blockchain network; and

providing the first attestation and second attestation to a client computer system; and

at the client computer system:

using the first attestation and second attestation to verify that the input data used to generate the proof of correct execution was received from the computing entity; and

generating a reputation transaction to be mined onto the blockchain network, wherein the reputation transaction is a record that the prover computer system used the input data received from the computing entity to execute the program.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein each communication of the set of communications has a corresponding intermediate node determined based on whether said communication was received or transmitted.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the program comprises a set of rules agreed upon by two or more parties and the method further comprising selecting the computing entity from one or more computing entities trusted by at least one of the two or more parties.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a blockchain transaction comprising:

a first transaction output comprising a first locking script, wherein a first digital asset associated with the first transaction output is unlockable by an unlocking script that encodes:

a public key associated with the computing entity;

a digital signature encoding an expected value, authenticity of the digital signature cryptographically verifiable using the public key; and

authentication information usable to generate the expected value; and

a second transaction output encoding an indication the proof of correct execution is valid; and

unlocking the first digital asset by providing at least the public key, the digital signature, and the authentication information.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 , the blockchain transaction further comprising:

a transaction input digitally signed using a private key associated with the other computer system;

a third transaction output comprising a second unlocking script, wherein a second digital asset associated with the third transaction output is unlockable using the private key; and

the second transaction output further encodes an identifier associated with the other computer system.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 , wherein the authentication information comprises a Merkle path of a Merkle tree and the expected value is based at least in part on a root node of the Merkle tree.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the input data comprises binary data indicating whether an event occurred.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the input data is data that comprises information that is not verifiable based on other data on a blockchain of the blockchain network.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the first attestation is a digital signature, authenticity of the digital signature verifiable using a cryptographic public key associated with the computing entity.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory including executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the processor, cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 1 .

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 1 .

12. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory including executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the processor, cause the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 2 .

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 2 .

14. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory including executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the processor, causes the system to perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 9 .

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least perform the computer-implemented method according to claim 9 .

Assignments (3)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (279)

Cited By (1)

US 12,483,412