Merkle Proof Entity for Blockchain Transaction Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current blockchain systems face challenges in scaling to meet increased usage demands, leading to high resource costs for storing and validating transactions, as they require users and service providers to store the full blockchain to verify transaction existence, which is inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A Merkle proof entity is introduced that stores only transaction identifiers and provides Merkle proofs without constructing or publishing new blocks, allowing for efficient proof of transaction existence on the blockchain without the need for full blockchain storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users store the full blockchain to verify transaction existence, then verification reliability is improved, but storage requirements and resource costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blockchain verification process into two parts: (1) storing only essential data (transaction identifiers and Merkle roots) rather than the full blockchain, and (2) using Merkle proof computation to verify transaction existence. This segmentation allows verification without storing the entire blockchain, resolving the contradiction between verification reliability and storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces Merkle proofs as an intermediary mechanism between the stored transaction identifiers and the verification process. The Merkle proof serves as a mathematical intermediary that enables reliable verification of transaction existence without requiring storage of the full blockchain, thus resolving the contradiction.
2Quantity of substance
If the blockchain stores increasingly complex data including electronic documents and multimedia, then data capacity is improved, but processing time and validation complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential verification elements (transaction identifiers and Merkle roots) from the complex blockchain data structure. By taking out only the necessary components for verification and storing them in the Merkle proof entity, the system maintains high data capacity while reducing processing time for verification operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary computation of Merkle roots and stores them in advance in the Merkle proof entity. This preliminary action allows verification queries to be resolved quickly without re-computing complex Merkle proofs at query time, thus reducing processing time while maintaining the ability to handle complex data types.
3Reliability
If blockchain nodes perform distributed transaction validation and block construction, then transaction security is improved, but computational resources and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by having the Merkle proof entity store only transaction identifiers and Merkle roots rather than performing full blockchain validation. This partial storage approach maintains transaction security through cryptographic verification while significantly reducing the computational resources and energy consumption compared to full node validation.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method of providing proof that a blockchain transaction exists on a blockchain, wherein the method is performed by a Merkle proof entity configured to store a set of transaction identifiers of respective blockchain transactions but not to publish new blockchain blocks to the blockchain network, and wherein the method comprises: obtaining a target transaction identifier of a target blockchain transaction, wherein the target transaction identifier forms part of the stored set of transaction identifiers; obtaining a target Merkle proof for the target blockchain transaction, wherein a corresponding target Merkle root is contained within a blockheader of the blockchain; and outputting the target Merkle proof for use by the requesting party as proof that the target blockchain transaction exists on the blockchain.