Database Consensus Using Measurable System Improvements
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing consensus mechanisms in distributed transactional databases, such as blockchain, lack utility beyond reproducible problem-solving and do not effectively leverage system improvements for network performance or security enhancements.
Innovation Solution
A consensus mechanism that incorporates measurable system characteristics, allowing modifications that improve these characteristics to be specified and committed to the database, ensuring successive blocks enhance network performance or security by including modifications that mitigate issues like DDOS attacks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If proof-of-work or proof-of-authority consensus mechanisms are used, then consensus agreement is achieved, but utility is limited and no system improvement is obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter being optimized from arbitrary cryptographic puzzles to measurable system performance characteristics. Each block contains a modification specification and a measured characteristic value, shifting the consensus criterion from solving predefined problems to achieving tangible system improvements in areas like network performance, security, or energy efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The consensus mechanism becomes multi-functional by simultaneously achieving consensus agreement and system improvement. The database serves both as a ledger for consensus and as a repository for cumulative system optimizations, allowing the same structure to fulfill multiple purposes: maintaining distributed agreement and storing performance-enhancing modifications.
2Productivity
If modifications are committed to improve system characteristics, then network performance improves, but database complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the improvement process into discrete blocks, each containing a specific modification specification and its measured characteristic. This segmentation allows incremental adoption of improvements without requiring complete system redesign, and enables verification of each individual modification's effect on system performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The mechanism incorporates feedback loops where modifications are proposed, their effects are measured and recorded in blocks, and subsequent modifications build upon previous measurements. This feedback-driven approach ensures that complexity is justified by measurable performance gains, and allows the system to adapt based on actual outcomes rather than theoretical predictions.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of consensus for a distributed transactional database having a logical chain of blocks of stored data is disclosed. Each, block can identify a relationship to a preceding block such that a most recently added block is a current state of the database, and the database stores data relating to a system in execution having associated a measurable characteristic capable of improvement. Each, block of the database can store a specification of a modification to the system and a measure of the characteristic of the system that corresponds to the modification of the system.