Blockchain Data Archival with Archiver Nodes and Partial Ledgers
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing blockchain networks require each node to maintain a complete copy of the ledger, leading to excessive storage requirements and operational expenses, limiting their scalability and adoption in large-scale and enterprise use cases.
Innovation Solution
Implement a system where nodes are categorized as archiver or non-archiver nodes, with archiver nodes maintaining a complete ledger and non-archiver nodes maintaining a partial archival ledger, utilizing a data management module for data retrieval and archival, and employing a gossip protocol for communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each node maintains a complete copy of the ledger, then data consistency and immutability are ensured, but storage requirements and operational expenses increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blockchain network into two distinct node types: archiver nodes that maintain complete ledger copies and non-archiver nodes that maintain only partial ledger copies. This segmentation allows the system to reduce overall storage requirements while maintaining data consistency through the archiver nodes that serve as authoritative sources for verification.
Solution Approach 2:
Different node types are assigned different storage qualities based on their functional requirements. Archiver nodes maintain full ledger data with complete historical records, while non-archiver nodes maintain only recent or essential transaction data. This local quality differentiation optimizes storage usage across the network while preserving data integrity where needed.
2Reliability
If each node stores all transaction records, then data integrity is maintained, but operational expenses increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the network into archiver nodes that bear the full storage burden and non-archiver nodes that have reduced storage requirements. This segmentation directly reduces operational expenses for the majority of nodes (non-archivers) while maintaining data integrity through the archiver nodes that preserve complete historical records for verification purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
Archiver nodes act as intermediaries that provide full ledger data to non-archiver nodes when needed for verification. This mediator role allows non-archiver nodes to maintain data integrity without storing complete ledger copies locally, thereby reducing their operational expenses while still ensuring transaction validity.
3Reliability
If complete ledger replication is implemented across all nodes, then data consistency is achieved, but scalability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting nodes into archiver and non-archiver categories, the system enables scalable participation. New nodes can join as non-archivers with minimal storage requirements, allowing the network to scale without proportionally increasing total storage demands. Archiver nodes remain as fixed infrastructure that ensures data consistency across the expanding network.
Solution Approach 2:
Non-archiver nodes perform partial ledger maintenance, storing only essential or recent transaction data rather than complete historical records. This partial action approach allows nodes to participate in the network with reduced resources, improving scalability while archiver nodes perform the excessive action of maintaining full copies to ensure data consistency across the distributed system.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention envisages a system (100) for data archival in a blockchain network (20). The blockchain network (20) comprises a plurality of participating nodes, each categorized either as an archiver node (A1-A3) or a non-archiver node (N1-N3). The archiver nodes (A1-A3) maintain a database (102) comprising transaction data corresponding to all block creation events and corresponding transaction IDs. Each of the non-archiver nodes (N1-N3) comprises a data management module (104) which maintains an archival ledger (106a) comprising transaction data corresponding to a partial list of block creation events and corresponding transaction IDs. The data management module (104) receives a request for querying a transaction from a requester-non-archiver node, checks the archival ledger (106a) to determine whether the queried block is discarded or not, and retrieves and returns the transaction data from one of the archival ledger (106a) and the database (102) based on the determination.