IP Library Granted Patent US 11,250,439
Granted Patent B2
US 11,250,439 · App. 16/133,932 · Granted Feb 15, 2022

Systems and methods for smart contract intervention

Inventors: Jochen Lothar Leidner (London, GB); Tim Nugent (London, GB); Sam Chadwick (Zug, CH)
Assignee: THOMSON REUTERS ENTERPRISE CENTRE GMBH
G06Q20/407G06Q20/06G06Q20/065G06Q20/10G06Q20/4016G06Q30/018
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,250,439
App. No.
16/133,932
Granted
Feb 15, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of remedying erroneous transactions in a distributed ledger system may include: determining, by a court system associated with the distributed ledger system, a judgment that a transferring, by a contract of the distributed ledger system during a conducting of a financial transaction, of a quantity of tokens of the distributed ledger system, from a first account corresponding to a first counterparty to a second account corresponding to a second counterparty, is erroneous; and in response to determining the judgment, executing, by a court contract of the distributed ledger system, a transfer function, configured to be responsive to the court contract, to transfer at least a portion of the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

Claims (41)

1. A method of remedying an erroneous transaction in a distributed ledger system, the method comprising:

determining, by a court system associated with the distributed ledger system, a judgment that a transfer by a token transfer smart contract, while conducting the transaction, of a quantity of tokens of the distributed ledger system from a first account of the distributed ledger system to a second account of the distributed ledger system is erroneous; and

in response to determining the judgment:

determining, by a court smart contract of the distributed ledger system, a balance of tokens of the second account, the court smart contract including program instructions stored in a ledger of the distributed ledger system;

in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function of the token transfer smart contract to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract; and

executing, by the court smart contract, a transfer function of the token transfer smart contract, the token transfer smart contract including program instructions stored in the ledger of the distributed ledger system, the transfer function configured to be responsive to the court smart contract, to transfer at least a portion of the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the court smart contract, a distributed ledger system transaction including a request from the court system, the request indicating the first and second accounts, and the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to determining that the balance of the second account is greater than or equal to the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, but greater than zero, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the balance of tokens from the second account to the first account.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising updating, by the court smart contract, a debt of erroneously transferred tokens of the second account to be the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred minus the transferred balance of tokens.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the court smart contract, that a predetermined period of time has passed since a previous checking of the balance of the second account; and

in response to determining that the predetermined period of time has passed, redetermining, by the court smart contract, the balance of tokens of the second account.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising conducting the transaction, including transferring, using a smart contract of the distributed ledger system, the quantity of tokens from the first account to the second account.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the restriction function stores a list of accounts of the distributed ledger system that owe tokens erroneously transferred to them, and the token transfer smart contract reads the list before conducting any transfer of tokens.

10. A system for remedying an erroneous transaction, the system comprising:

at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium storing program instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the program instructions to perform a method of remedying the erroneous transaction in a distributed ledger system, the method including:

determining, by a court system associated with the distributed ledger system, a judgment that a transfer by a token transfer smart contract, while conducting the transaction, of a quantity of tokens of the distributed ledger system from a first account of the distributed ledger system to a second account of the distributed ledger system is erroneous; and

in response to determining the judgment:

determining, by a court smart contract of the distributed ledger system, a balance of tokens of the second account, the court smart contract including program instructions stored in a ledger of the distributed ledger system;

in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function of the token transfer smart contract to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract; and

executing, by the court smart contract, a transfer function of the token transfer smart contract, the token transfer smart contract including program instructions stored in the ledger of the distributed ledger system, the transfer function configured to be responsive to the court smart contract, to transfer at least a portion of the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

11. The system of claim 10 , the method further comprising receiving, by the court smart contract, a distributed ledger system transaction including a request from the court system, the request indicating the first and second accounts, and the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred.

12. The system of claim 10 , the method further comprising, in response to determining that the balance of the second account is greater than or equal to the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

13. The system of claim 10 , the method further comprising, in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, but greater than zero, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the balance of tokens from the second account to the first account.

14. The system of claim 13 , the method further comprising updating, by the court smart contract, a debt of erroneously transferred tokens of the second account to be the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred minus the transferred balance of tokens.

15. The system of claim 10 , the method further comprising executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract.

16. The system of claim 10 , the method further comprising conducting the transaction, including transferring, using a smart contract of the distributed ledger system, the quantity of tokens from the first account to the second account.

17. At least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium having program instructions, which when executed by at least one processor perform a method of remedying an erroneous transaction in a distributed ledger system, the method including:

determining, by a court system associated with the distributed ledger system, a judgment that a transfer by a token transfer contract, while conducting the transaction, of a quantity of tokens of the distributed ledger system from a first account of the distributed ledger system to a second account of the distributed ledger system is erroneous; and

in response to determining the judgment:

determining, by a court smart contract of the distributed ledger system, a balance of tokens of the second account, the court smart contract including program instructions stored in a ledger of the distributed ledger system;

in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function of the token transfer smart contract to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract; and

executing, by the court smart contract, a transfer function of the token transfer smart contract, the token transfer smart contract including program instructions stored in the ledger of the distributed ledger system, the transfer function configured to be responsive to the court smart contract, to transfer at least a portion of the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account.

18. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 17 , the method further comprising:

in response to determining that the balance of the second account is greater than or equal to the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the quantity of tokens from the second account to the first account;

in response to determining that the balance of the second account is less than the quantity of tokens erroneously transferred, but greater than zero, executing, by the court smart contract, the court transfer function to transfer the balance of tokens from the second account to the first account; and

executing, by the court smart contract, a restriction function to prevent transfers of tokens from the second account other than by the court smart contract.

19. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 17 , the method further comprising conducting the transaction, including transferring, using a smart contract of the distributed ledger system, the quantity of tokens from the first account to the second account.

Assignments (6)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 2, 2020
From: THOMSON REUTERS GLOBAL RESOURCES UNLIMITED COMPANY
To: THOMSON REUTERS ENTERPRISE CENTRE GMBH
Reel/Frame 051976/0101 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 19, 2019
From: REFINITIV LIMITED
To: THOMSON REUTERS GLOBAL RESOURCES UNLIMITED COMPANY
Reel/Frame 050088/0511 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Jun 27, 2019
From: REUTERS LIMITED
To: REFINITIV LIMITED
Reel/Frame 049608/0390 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 8, 2019
From: CHADWICK, SAM
To: THOMSON REUTERS GLOBAL RESOURCES UNLIMITED COMPANY
Reel/Frame 048815/0468 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 8, 2019
From: NUGENT, TIM
To: REUTERS LIMITED
Reel/Frame 048815/0479 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 8, 2019
From: LEIDNER, JOCHEN
To: REUTERS LIMITED
Reel/Frame 048815/0500 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation In Part 15707571 · Sep 18, 2017
Provisional Application 62560447 · Sep 19, 2017
Provisional Application 62396293 · Sep 19, 2016
Related Publication 20190019188A1 · Jan 17, 2019