Federated Learning Peer-to-Peer Network Resilience

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current federated learning systems with a centralized aggregator node are prone to single points of failure, leading to potential downtime and disruptions due to unwanted failures, which can halt critical processes in the network.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a peer-to-peer network architecture where participant nodes elect a collaborator node using a consensus algorithm, generate and manage dynamic public and private keys for secure communication, and distribute model updates, allowing for decentralized orchestration of machine learning models and automatic leader election in case of node unavailability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If a centralized aggregator node is used in federated learning, then the system structure is simple and easy to implement, but the system becomes vulnerable to single point of failure and experiences downtime when the aggregator node fails

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveease of implementationVSAvoidsystem availability
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The centralized aggregator node is segmented into multiple participant nodes that can all perform aggregation functions. Each node maintains the ability to aggregate model gradients independently, transforming the single-point aggregation architecture into a distributed multi-point aggregation architecture, thereby eliminating the single point of failure while preserving implementation simplicity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The functionality of the centralized aggregator node is merged into all participant nodes. Each participant node is equipped with the capability to perform model aggregation, combining the roles of client and server into a single peer-to-peer node, which enhances system reliability while maintaining ease of implementation through unified node architecture

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Reliability

If dynamic key generation is implemented for each communication, then data privacy and security are enhanced, but computational overhead and communication complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidcommunication complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Public keys are generated in advance before communication occurs, and encryption/decryption capabilities are pre-configured in each node. This preliminary preparation of cryptographic materials allows for secure dynamic key exchange during communication without adding significant computational overhead during the actual federated learning process

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary key exchange mechanism where public keys serve as intermediaries for secure communication. Each node shares its public key with others, allowing encrypted model gradient exchanges without requiring complex real-time key generation protocols, thus balancing security with communication efficiency

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP4285296B1Systems and methods for federated learning using peer-to-peer networks
Publication Date: 2025.03.26 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA
  • EP4285296B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4285296B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4285296B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Systems and methods for federated learning using peer-to-peer networks are disclosed. A method may include: electing a participant node as a collaborator node using a consensus algorithm; the collaborator node generating and broadcasting a public/private key pair; the participant nodes generating public/private key pairs for each communication with the collaborator node, encrypting and broadcasting a message comprising a parameter for a local machine learning model for the participant node and its public key with the collaborator node's public key, the collaborator node decrypting the encrypted messages, updating an aggregated machine learning model with the decrypted parameters, encrypting and broadcasting update messages each comprising an update with each participant node's public key; the participant nodes decrypting one of the messages with their private keys, and the participant nodes updating their local machine learning models with the update.