Edge Digital Gate Blockchain Consensus for Telecom Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Telecom networks face challenges in securely storing and accessing data, including entitlement assessment and value transfer, due to their large geographic coverage and increasing service delivery demands, which require efficient use of resources and bandwidth while maintaining carrier-grade performance and scalability.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an edge digital gate (EDG) with entitlement services, universal identity repositories, and connection concentrator functions, forming a shared data environment that uses stateless Virtual Network Functions to facilitate distributed consensus and validate transactions through a blockchain network, enabling secure access to blockchain-based services across the telecom network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If data is stored and processed centrally in telecom networks, then network control and management are simplified, but network bandwidth consumption increases and data traversal paths are lengthened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized network control into distributed edge computing nodes deployed at network edges. Each edge node independently processes data locally, dividing the monolithic control function into multiple autonomous units. This segmentation reduces the burden on central network infrastructure and minimizes data traversal distances, directly addressing the contradiction between simplified control and bandwidth consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a spatial dimension by deploying computing resources across multiple geographic locations (edge nodes) rather than concentrating them in a single central location. This dimensional distribution allows data to be processed closer to its source, reducing network traversal while maintaining coordinated control through blockchain-based consensus mechanisms.
2Loss of energy
If edge computing nodes are deployed to process data locally, then data traversal paths are minimized and bandwidth is saved, but secure data storage and access control become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal blockchain-based identity and access control framework that operates across all edge computing nodes. This universal system provides consistent security policies, entitlement assessment, and value transfer mechanisms that work uniformly across distributed nodes, simplifying the management of secure data storage and access control despite the distributed architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces blockchain technology as an intermediary layer between edge computing nodes and data subjects. This intermediary provides decentralized consensus, smart contract-based access control, and cryptographic identity management, enabling secure data storage and access without requiring complex point-to-point security configurations between individual edge nodes.
3Reliability
If blockchain technology is implemented for secure data storage, then data security and trust are improved, but computational resources and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements partial blockchain functionality at edge nodes, where only essential consensus and validation operations are performed locally. Full blockchain ledger storage and complex cryptographic operations are distributed to dedicated blockchain infrastructure, allowing edge nodes to benefit from blockchain security without bearing the complete computational burden of full node operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables edge computing nodes to autonomously perform local validation and consensus operations using lightweight blockchain clients. Nodes independently verify data integrity and execute smart contracts without requiring constant communication with central blockchain authorities, reducing overall computational resource consumption while maintaining security.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple services are delivered across the telecom network, then service diversity and user choices increase, but network scale problems and resource requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments service delivery into independent microservices deployed across multiple edge computing nodes. Each service can be independently scaled, updated, and managed without affecting other services. This segmentation allows the network to support diverse services efficiently by allocating resources dynamically to specific service instances based on demand, rather than requiring monolithic service architectures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables different edge computing nodes to provide locally optimized service instances tailored to specific geographic regions and user needs. Each node can configure services with local quality attributes (e.g., data retention policies, processing priorities, access control rules) that match local requirements, improving overall network resource efficiency while supporting service diversity.
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosure relates an edge digital gate ("EDG") configured with entitlement services, universal identity repositories, and connection concentrator functions. The universal identity repositories each include a shared cache that together with other shared caches form a shared data environment ("SDE"). The SDE provides a distributed and shared cache used to chain together EDGs for operation as a blockchain network. The SDE may be check-pointed by stateless Virtual Network Functions ("VNFs") executing on the EDGs responsive to service demand and access, thus facilitating distributed consensus for validating each transaction. Through SDE the stateless VNFs disperse transaction-status based on a smart contract, which enforce transactions associated with blockchain-based digital services to which access is provided by the EDGs. The activity relating to the transactions may be recorded on a decentralized ledger of a blockchain network, generating an immutable record of activity of the entity and secure storage of service data.