Blockchain Digital Certificate Hash Segmentation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current digital certificates are susceptible to tampering and unauthorized alteration, lacking security and legal efficacy due to their ease of copying and falsification, despite offering convenience over paper-based certificates.
Innovation Solution
Implementing blockchain-based digital certificates by generating a digital abstract of the certificate, transmitting it to a blockchain for storage, and associating a digital mark with the transaction identification, ensuring the certificate's immutability and authenticity through cryptographic processes and consensus rules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If digital certificates are implemented as digital images or pdf renderings to replace paper certificates, then convenience is improved, but security deteriorates due to susceptibility to tampering and unauthorized alteration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the certificate system into multiple components: the original digital certificate file, its hash value (digital abstract), and the blockchain ledger. The hash value serves as a segmented representation that can be stored separately in the blockchain, while the original certificate remains accessible. This segmentation allows the certificate to maintain its usability while the blockchain stores only the essential verification data, resolving the contradiction between convenience and security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the blockchain as an intermediary system between the digital certificate and the verification process. The blockchain acts as a trusted mediator that stores hash values and provides immutable proof of certificate existence and integrity. This intermediary layer enables certificates to remain convenient digital files while gaining the security properties of a decentralized, tamper-proof system through the blockchain's consensus mechanism.
2Ease of operation
If digital certificates are made easily copyable and distributable, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to ease of copying and falsification
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the copying principle by creating and storing hash values (digital abstracts) of the certificates in the blockchain. These hash values are compact copies that can be easily stored and verified. The original certificates can be freely copied and distributed, but their authenticity is verified by comparing their hash values against the immutable records in the blockchain, thus enabling easy distribution while preventing falsification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses cryptographic hash functions that transform the original certificate data into a completely different format (hash value). This transformation is analogous to a color change - the original certificate and its hash value look entirely different but have a deterministic relationship. The hash value serves as a unique fingerprint that can be stored in the blockchain to verify the original certificate's integrity, allowing free distribution while ensuring anti-falsification.
3Reliability
If blockchain technology is used to store digital certificate hash values, then reliability is improved through immutability, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential verification data (hash values) from the complete certificate system and stores it in the blockchain. Instead of storing entire certificates or complex verification logic in the blockchain, the system takes out only the critical hash values that provide immutability and verification capability. This extraction approach maintains reliability through blockchain's immutability while minimizing the complexity added to the overall system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of data representation by using cryptographic hash functions to transform certificate data into fixed-length hash values. This parameter change allows the system to store compact, immutable representations in the blockchain without storing the entire certificate content. The hash value parameter provides sufficient information for verification while significantly reducing the data size and complexity stored in the blockchain system.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for implementing digital certificates. One of the methods includes: generating a digital certificate; generating a digital abstract of the digital certificate; transmitting the digital abstract of the digital certificate to one or more nodes of a blockchain for storage in the blockchain; obtaining a transaction identification associated with storing the digital abstract of the digital certificate in the blockchain; and associating a digital mark with the transaction identification.