Blockchain Block Segmentation for Throughput and Fairness
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The increase in block data size in blockchain systems leads to propagation delays, resulting in orphan blocks and inequality among miners, which limits the number of transactions that can be processed per unit of time.
Innovation Solution
The blockchain system structures blocks into part A and part B, where part A contains the hash values and data representing the set of accounts whose state may change, allowing miners to begin mining the next block before receiving all transaction data in part B.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If block data size is increased to process more transactions, then throughput is improved, but propagation delay increases causing orphan blocks and miner inequality
Solution Approach 1:
The block is divided into two parts: Part A (block header with hash of Part B) and Part B (transaction data). This segmentation allows Part A to be propagated immediately for miners to start computing, while Part B follows later, thus reducing propagation delay and preventing orphan blocks while maintaining high throughput capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The block header (Part A) containing the hash of the full block data (Part B) is propagated in advance before the complete block data. This preliminary action enables miners to begin their work ahead of time, reducing the effective propagation delay and improving overall system throughput.
2Productivity
If block data size is increased to process more transactions, then number of transactions per unit time is improved, but orphan blocks occur due to propagation delays
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the block into Part A (header with hash) and Part B (transaction data), the system allows miners to validate and work on blocks faster, reducing the window for fork conflicts and orphan block creation while maintaining the ability to process large numbers of transactions.
3Productivity
If block data size is increased to process more transactions, then throughput is improved, but inequality among miners occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation of blocks into Part A and Part B ensures that all miners receive the essential block header information simultaneously, giving them equal opportunity to participate in mining. The delayed transmission of Part B does not disadvantage any miner, thus maintaining fairness while enabling higher throughput.
Data Source
AI summary
A blockchain system is capable of reducing the generation of isolated blocks and unfairness among miners resulting from block propagation delays caused by an increase in block data size. Each block is divided into part A and part B, and transaction information is stored in part B. After the miner receives Part A of a certain block and before the reception of Part B is completed, the miner determines the transaction data to be included in the next block after the received block from the information stored in Part A and starts mining the next block after the received block. In addition, the miner maintains multiple blockchains in case the reception of part B is not completed, and switches the blockchain to be mined according to the conditions.