Granted Patent B2

US 10,929,473 · App. 16/144,861 · Granted Feb 23, 2021

Inventors: Eric Allan Bier (Palo Alto, CA); Shantanu Rane (Menlo Park, CA)

Assignee: PALO ALTO RESEARCH CENTER INCORPORATED

G06F16/90335G06F16/13G06F16/1805G06F16/1865H04L9/0637H04L9/32

Abstract

Claims (61)

1. A method comprising:

receiving a set of transactions of a transaction block of a blockchain, wherein the set of transactions have been validated by one or more peer systems of the blockchain;

generating, by a processing device, an index to one or more fields of one or more transactions of the transaction block;

providing the generated index for validation by another peer system of the blockchain;

receiving verification from at least a threshold number of peer systems that the generated index has been validated by the another peer system;

receiving a reward based on validation of the generated index by the another peer system; and

storing, by the processing device, the generated index as an index block in the block chain.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generated index is representative of a first subset of the set of transactions, wherein the method further comprises generating a second index representative of a second subset of the set of transactions.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a distributed consensus algorithm to add the index block to the blockchain and storing a hash of the index block in the blockchain to preserve its immutability.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a query based on a field that is present in one or more transactions stored in the blockchain, wherein the query specifies a value or values of the field; and

searching for transactions in which the field has the specified value or values, by searching in the index block of the blockchain.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

identifying a responsive transaction block associated with the index block that satisfies the query based on a field; and

searching the transactions within the responsive transaction block for transactions satisfying the query.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from a second peer system, a proposed index block of a second set of transactions of a second block of the blockchain;

determining that the proposed index block is a complete and consistent index of the second set of transactions; and

providing an indication to the second peer system that the proposed index block has been validated.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising generating a hash of the proposed index block provided by the second peer system.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the index further comprises

generating an index for a first subset of fields in the transactions of the block; and

generating the index block without an index for a second subset of fields in the transactions of the block.

9. A blockchain system comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device, operatively coupled to the memory, to:

receive a set of transactions of a transaction block of a blockchain, wherein the set of transactions have been validated by one or more peer systems of the blockchain;

generate, an index to one or more fields of one or more transactions in the set of transactions of the transaction block, wherein to generate the index, the processor is further to:

generate an index for a first subset of fields in the transactions of the block: and

generate an index block without an index for a second subset of fields in the transactions of the block;

provide the generated index for validation by another peer system of the blockchain;

receive verification from at least a threshold number of peer systems that the generated index has been validated by the another peer system; and

store the generated index as the index block in the block chain.

10. The blockchain system of claim 9 , wherein the generated index is representative of a first subset of the set of transactions, wherein the method further comprises generating a second index representative of a second subset of the set of transactions.

11. The blockchain system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further to use a distributed consensus algorithm to add the index block to the blockchain and storing a hash of the index block in the blockchain to preserve its immutability.

12. The blockchain system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further to:

receive a query based on a field that is present in one or more transactions stored in the blockchain, wherein the query specifies a value or values of the field; and

search for transactions in which the field has the specified value or values, by searching in the index block of the blockchain.

13. The blockchain system of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further to:

identify a responsive transaction block associated with the index block that satisfies the query for the field; and

search the transactions within the responsive transaction block for transactions satisfying the query.

14. The blockchain system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further to:

receive, from a second peer system, a proposed index block of a second set of transaction of a second block of the blockchain;

determine that the proposed index block is a complete and consistent index of the second set of transactions; and

provide an indication to the second peer system that the proposed index block has been validated.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

receive a set of transactions of a transaction block of a blockchain, wherein the set of transactions have been validated by one or more peer systems of the blockchain;

generate, an index to one or more fields of one or more transactions in the set of transactions of the transaction block, wherein to generate the index, the processor is further to:

generate an index for a first subset of fields in the transactions of the block; and

generate an index block without an index for a second subset of fields in the transactions of the block;

provide the generated index for validation by another peer system of the blockchain;

receive verification from at least a threshold number of peer systems that the generated index has been validated by the another peer system; and

store, the generated index as the index block in the block chain.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the processing device is further to: receive a query based on a field that is present in one or more transactions stored in the blockchain, wherein the query specifies a value or values of the; and search for transactions in which the field has the specified value or values, by searching in the index block of the blockchain.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further to:

identify a responsive transaction block associated with the index block that satisfies the query for the field; and

search the transactions within the responsive transaction block for transactions satisfying the query.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further to:

receive, from a second peer system, a proposed index block of a second set of transaction of a second block of the blockchain;

determine that the proposed index block is a complete and consistent index of the second set of transactions; and

provide an indication to the second peer system that the proposed index block has been validated.

Assignments (9)

Continuity (1)