Blockchain Payment Privacy via Contract Hashing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current payment systems based on contracts lack effective privacy protection, as they expose sensitive contract information on blockchain networks, limiting their use cases due to lack of confidentiality.

Innovation Solution

An information processing apparatus and method that encrypts contract information related to payers and receivers before sending it to a blockchain, using zero-knowledge proofs to validate the contract information and ensure privacy, while automatically executing payments based on this encrypted data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Extent of automation

If contract information is stored on blockchain for automatic payment execution, then payment automation and transparency are improved, but privacy protection deteriorates due to exposure of sensitive contract details

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepayment automationVSAvoidprivacy protection

Core Design Contradiction:

Extent of automationVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The contract information is segmented into two parts: hashed contract information (for verification and automation) and plaintext contract information (kept private). The hash function divides the original information into a verifiable component that can be stored on blockchain and a protected component that remains confidential, resolving the contradiction between automation and privacy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A hash value acts as an intermediary between the need for transparent verification and the need for privacy protection. The hash function transforms sensitive contract information into a form that can be publicly verified on blockchain without revealing the underlying data, enabling automatic payment execution while maintaining confidentiality.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Loss of information

If contract information is encrypted before storing on blockchain, then privacy protection is improved, but verification and validation of contract information become more difficult

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprivacy protectionVSAvoidverification difficulty

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of encrypting contract information to protect privacy (which makes verification difficult), the patent inverts the approach by hashing the contract information. The hash function creates a one-way transformation that protects privacy while enabling efficient verification through hash comparison, solving the contradiction between privacy protection and verification ease.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

Data Source

PatentUS20240412190A1Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program

Publication Date: 2024.12.12 SONY GROUP CORP

AI summary

An information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a transmitter and an executer. The transmitter sends, to a blockchain, contract information related to a payer who pays a predetermined payment amount and a receiver who receives the predetermined payment amount, the contract information having been encrypted. The executer automatically executes payment on the basis of the contract information. Accordingly, the payment can be automatically performed while protecting privacy of the contract information managed by the blockchain. Moreover, it is possible to flexibly cope with various use cases by using functions of the blockchain and the smart contract with privacy protected.