Blockchain Trust Anchor Nodes for Scalable Network Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional blockchain networks require all participants to manage and maintain peer nodes, which is resource-intensive and can be a deterrent for organizations, especially those without the necessary resources or skills, and also face challenges with data privacy and scalability as interactions between participants become more dynamic.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a trust-anchor based scheme where a subset of blockchain members operate peer nodes and provide trust guarantees for the larger network, allowing other members to access the blockchain through these trust anchors without maintaining a peer node, using a decentralized and encrypted data storage system to ensure security and privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all blockchain participants manage and maintain peer nodes, then network trust and security are maintained, but resource consumption and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blockchain network into two distinct roles: trust anchor nodes that maintain peer nodes and full copies of the blockchain ledger, and non-trust anchor participants that access the blockchain through trust anchors without maintaining full nodes. This segmentation allows the network to maintain security and trust through a dedicated subset of nodes while reducing operational complexity for the broader participant base.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces trust anchors as intermediary entities that mediate between non-trust anchor participants and the blockchain network. Trust anchors maintain peer nodes and verify transactions, acting as intermediaries that enable non-trust anchor participants to access blockchain services without directly managing peer nodes, thus reducing their operational complexity while maintaining network trust.
2Adaptability or versatility
If all blockchain participants maintain peer nodes, then data accessibility and redundancy are improved, but resource investment and maintenance burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments resource investment requirements by assigning full node maintenance responsibilities only to trust anchor nodes, while non-trust anchor participants access blockchain data through these trust anchors. This segmentation maintains data accessibility for all participants while concentrating resource investment in a manageable subset of the network.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables non-trust anchor participants to obtain copies of relevant blockchain data from trust anchors on demand, rather than maintaining full copies themselves. This copying mechanism provides data accessibility to all participants while eliminating the need for extensive local storage and maintenance resources at non-trust anchor nodes.
3Ease of manufacture
If a centralized database is used, then data integrity and ease of management are improved, but single point of failure and scalability issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces trust anchors as intermediary nodes that maintain peer nodes and blockchain ledgers, acting as distributed mediators between participants and the blockchain network. This intermediary layer provides centralized management capabilities through the trust anchor subset while distributing data across multiple nodes, thereby eliminating the single point of failure inherent in fully centralized databases.
Data Source
AI summary
An example operation may include one or more of storing data via a blockchain ledger based on a consensus of a set of anchor blockchain nodes which are subset of nodes included in larger set of nodes in a blockchain network, receiving an access request from a blockchain member not included in the set of anchor blockchain nodes and which does not maintain a copy of the blockchain ledger, verifying a previously stored portion of the blockchain ledger which is accessible to the blockchain member based on the received access request, and sharing the previously stored portion of the blockchain ledger with the a computing system of the blockchain member based on the verification.