Blockchain Document Storage via Hash Extraction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Blockchain systems face challenges in efficiently storing and managing large amounts of data, particularly when dealing with documents involved in transactions, leading to increased storage needs and network traffic.
Innovation Solution
A centralized document storage system that abstracts object storage from nodes in a blockchain system, allowing nodes to receive and store file content, generate file hashes, and share these hashes for document access, reducing the need for nodes to store and transfer large document files.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If nodes store complete document files in blockchain transactions, then document sharing functionality is achieved, but data storage size and network traffic become extremely large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the document storage function from the blockchain nodes by introducing a separate centralized storage system. Only document hashes are stored in the blockchain, while the actual document files are stored externally in a file storage system, thereby removing the burden of storing large quantities of data from the blockchain nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces document hashes as an intermediary between the blockchain and the actual document files. The hashes serve as references that enable document retrieval without storing the complete files in the blockchain, thus resolving the contradiction between document sharing capability and data storage volume.
2Ease of operation
If nodes store complete document files, then document access is enabled, but network bandwidth consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the large document files from the blockchain transaction data, keeping only the compact hash values in the blockchain. This extraction eliminates the need to transmit large amounts of data across the network when nodes synchronize, thereby reducing network bandwidth consumption while maintaining document access capability.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of storing and transmitting the actual document files across the blockchain network, the system uses hash copies as references. These hash copies are lightweight and can be efficiently transmitted and stored, enabling document access without the bandwidth overhead of transmitting full files.
3Adaptability or versatility
If each node implements its own document storage solution, then autonomy is maintained, but system complexity increases when multiple parties are involved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the document storage function into a centralized external storage system that all nodes access uniformly. This consolidation eliminates the need for each node to implement its own storage solution, thereby reducing system complexity while maintaining node autonomy in terms of hash verification and document retrieval operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A system provides document storage and sharing on behalf of nodes of a blockchain system. The system includes one or more databases and one or more servers. The one or more servers receive file content of a document from a first node of the blockchain system and stores the file content in the one or more databases. A file hash of the document is generated by applying a hash function to the file content. The file hash is sent to the first node, such as for sharing with one or more other authorized nodes. The one or more servers receives a request for the document from a second node of the blockchain system, the request including the file hash. In response, the one or more servers send the file content of the document to the second node.