Granted Patent B2

US 12,732,378 · App. 16/097,546 · Granted Sep 8, 2026

Inventors: Stephane Savanah (London, GB); Craig Steven Wright (London, GB)

Assignee: NCHAIN LICENSING AG

H04L9/3239G06Q20/3678H04L9/3066H04L9/321H04L9/3252G06Q2220/00H04L9/50H04L2209/56

Abstract

Claims (41)

1 . A computer-implemented control method comprising:

identifying a first blockchain transaction and a second blockchain transaction of a blockchain, a first locking script and a first unlocking script corresponding to the first blockchain transaction, and a second locking script and a second unlocking script corresponding to the second blockchain transaction;

processing the second unlocking script using an output of the first blockchain transaction;

executing, as a result of the processing, the first locking script and the second unlocking script, wherein:

executing the second unlocking script results in a first input and a second input; and

executing the first locking script includes:

evaluating the first input to a first value and evaluating the second input separately to a second value, the first value and the second value each being TRUE or FALSE, wherein each of the first input and the second input are evaluated against a respective locking script defining a condition to be satisfied; and

determining, based on the first value and the second value, an output by emulating the functionality of a logic gate using the first value and the second value as inputs to the logic gate, the output corresponding to a TRUE result or a FALSE result; and

transmitting, based on the output corresponding to the TRUE result, the second transaction to a blockchain network for validation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the logic gate comprises an OR gate, NAND gate, a NOT gate, an XNOR gate, an IMPLY gate, or a Converse implication gate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first value or the second value corresponds to at least one Boolean input derived or generated by testing or evaluating to a blockchain puzzle.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first locking script or second locking script comprises a hash of a script.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first locking script or second locking script is a P2SH locking script as known in Bitcoin protocol, or a functionally equivalent locking script in another blockchain protocol.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein executing the second unlocking script is performed within a script in a blockchain transaction.

7 . The method of claim 1 , and comprising the steps of:

providing a computing resource arranged to influence the behaviour of a device or process based upon:

detection of the second blockchain transaction within the blockchain or blockchain network; and/or

the validity of the second transaction.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein validation of the second transaction within a blockchain network is dependent upon the execution of the second unlocking script.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

controlling a device or process based upon the validity of the second transaction, wherein the validity is determined or established by a computer-based control agent, or by monitoring the blockchain network to determine if it has been validated by a network node, and/or by monitoring a state of the blockchain to determine whether the second transaction has been written to the blockchain.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first input and/or the second input comprises a numeric value, a constant value, a result of a hash function, a cryptographic key, a blockchain puzzle, and/or a Bitcoin other blockchain-related address.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second transaction is generated and/or transmitted to a blockchain network by an automated process executing on a computing-based resource.

12 . A computer implemented system arranged to implement the method of claim 1 .

13 . A blockchain-implemented control system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions executable to cause the system to be operable to at least:

receive a plurality of input signals;

determine at least one Boolean input based at least in part on the received plurality of input signals; and

execute a locking script and an unlocking script of respective blockchain transactions to provide a first output when one, and only one, input signal enables the generation of a hash value which is equal to a stored data item, wherein executing the unlocking script results in a first input and a second input; and executing the locking script includes:

evaluating the first input to a first value and evaluating the second input separately to a second value, the first value and the second value each being TRUE or FALSE, wherein each of the first input and the second input are evaluated against a respective locking script defining a condition to be satisfied; and

determining, based on the first value and the second value, an output by emulating the functionality of a logic gate using the first value and the second value as inputs to the logic gate, the output corresponding to a TRUE result or a FALSE result wherein the system is configured to monitor or search the blockchain or blockchain network to determine the presence or absence of a transaction which comprises the unlocking script.

14 . The control system of claim 13 , wherein the system is further operative to:

a derive a hash value for each of the inputs;

compare the hash value derived for each of the inputs with a stored hash value;

return a third value for each input in which the derived hash value is identical to a stored hash value;

return a second value for each input in which the derived hash value is not identical to a stored hash value; and

determine the quantity of third values and issue the first output based on the determination.

15 . The control system of claim 13 , wherein, responsive to the control system providing a first output, the stored data item is regenerated.

16 . The control system of claim 13 , wherein the stored data item is regenerated in a random or pseudo-random manner.

17 . The control system of claim 13 , wherein a public key-private key pair is generated for each stored data item.

Assignments (4)

Priority Claims (20)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (164)