Permissioned Blockchain Data Certification for IoT Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
IoT devices generate large amounts of data, making it difficult for end-user applications to validate that the data has not been tampered with or duplicated, and to determine the correct order of data from multiple storage sources.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a permissioned blockchain network for data certification, where IoT devices register data with cloud storages, and a client application uses cryptographic proofs to verify the integrity and order of data, ensuring that only one measurement is made per device per time point and that data was not altered since registration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is registered by IoT devices to cloud storages, then data availability is improved, but data integrity and authenticity validation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
A permissioned blockchain network is introduced as an intermediary between IoT devices and cloud storages. The blockchain records data registration events with timestamps and hashes, creating a trusted intermediary that validates data integrity without requiring direct trust in either the IoT devices or cloud storage providers. This resolves the contradiction by enabling data availability while maintaining integrity validation through the blockchain's immutable ledger.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical trust models with cryptographic verification mechanisms. Instead of relying on trust relationships between devices and storages, the system uses cryptographic hashes, digital signatures, and blockchain consensus to verify data integrity. This substitution allows clients to validate data authenticity through mathematical proofs rather than trusting the infrastructure, resolving the integrity validation challenge.
2Reliability
If multiple cloud storages are used for data registration, then data redundancy is improved, but determining correct data order becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the ordering information from multiple independent cloud storage systems into a single unified timeline recorded on the blockchain. Each cloud storage registers data with a timestamp and hash, and the blockchain consolidates these records into a chronological sequence. This merging approach maintains data redundancy across multiple storages while establishing a clear, unambiguous data order through the blockchain's centralized ordering mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by recording data registration events on the blockchain at the time of storage, before the data is needed for analysis. This preliminary recording of timestamps and ordering information ensures that the data sequence is established and preserved in advance, eliminating the need for complex post-hoc ordering determination while maintaining redundancy across multiple cloud storages.
3Reliability
If client applications validate data authenticity, then data trust is improved, but validation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex validation logic from the client application and places it in the blockchain network. The blockchain handles the complex cryptographic verification and ordering determination centrally, while client applications only need to perform simple queries and verify basic timestamps. This extraction reduces client-side complexity while maintaining high data trust through the blockchain's sophisticated verification mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The blockchain acts as an intermediary that handles the complex validation tasks between data providers and clients. Instead of clients directly validating data authenticity through complex cryptographic operations, the blockchain mediates by providing simplified verification interfaces. This intermediary approach maintains high data trust while significantly reducing the complexity burden on client applications.
Data Source
AI summary
An example operation may include one or more of registering data values, by a plurality of IoT devices, each IoT device associated with one of at least two different cloud storages, the registration of the data values having a relative order, and only one measurement being made for each IoT device per measurement at a given point in time, and proving a common ordering of at least some of the data values registered by the plurality of IoT devices, by a client application of a client device.