Multi-party Private Value Sorting via Homomorphic Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for Yao's millionaires' problem, which involves comparing private values between two parties without revealing the amounts, require significant computational resources and are inefficient when used as building blocks for sorting among more than two parties.
Innovation Solution
A comparison protocol that allows multiple parties to compare private values efficiently by using blinded representations of split values, leveraging homomorphic encryption to ensure privacy and reduce computational overhead, enabling faster execution and reuse of results across multiple comparisons.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If Yao's millionaires' problem solutions are used as building blocks for sorting private values among multiple parties, then privacy of private values is maintained, but computational resources required increase significantly and efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the comparison process into multiple phases: key generation phase, blinding phase, comparison phase, and unblinding phase. Each party divides their private value into split values and processes them through distinct computational stages, reducing the overall computational burden compared to applying full Yao's millionaires' protocol repeatedly.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-generating homomorphic encryption keys and pre-blinding split values before the actual comparison. The key generation and blinding operations are prepared in advance, so that during the comparison phase, parties only need to perform lightweight homomorphic operations rather than full encryption and decryption sequences.
2Measurement precision
If traditional comparison protocols are applied repeatedly for multi-party sorting, then accurate comparison results are obtained, but the amount of computational work increases exponentially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple comparison operations into a single homomorphic encryption framework. Instead of executing separate comparison protocols for each pair of values, the system combines all comparisons into unified homomorphic computations where encrypted values are processed together, maintaining accuracy while reducing redundant computational steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the computational parameters by switching from direct plaintext comparison to homomorphic encrypted comparison. The private values are transformed into encrypted domains where arithmetic operations can be performed directly on ciphertexts, changing the parameter space from O(n²) plaintext operations to O(n) homomorphic operations.
3Reliability
If homomorphic encryption is used to protect private values during comparison, then privacy is maintained, but computational overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive decryption operations and concentrates them in a single unblinding phase at the end. During the comparison phases, only lightweight homomorphic operations are performed on encrypted data, while the heavy decryption burden is taken out and performed once collectively, reducing per-comparison complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces homomorphic encryption as an intermediary layer that allows computations to be performed on encrypted data without decryption. This intermediary mechanism enables private values to remain protected throughout the comparison process while still allowing meaningful computations, bridging the gap between security requirements and computational feasibility.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple parties participate in private value comparison, then sorting capability is achieved, but communication and coordination overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal comparison protocol that works for any number of parties through standardized homomorphic encryption operations. The same key generation, blinding, comparison, and unblinding procedures can be applied regardless of whether there are 3 parties or 100 parties, providing multi-functionality that scales without increasing protocol complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves the comparison problem from a pairwise dimensional approach to a multi-dimensional homomorphic space. Instead of comparing values sequentially between pairs of parties, all party values are transformed into a homomorphic encryption space where parallel operations can be performed across all dimensions simultaneously, reducing coordination overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments include a computer-implemented first method for providing the blinded result of a subtraction of a first split value of a first system from a second split value of the first system for a comparison. Furthermore, a computer-implemented second method is disclosed for computing a comparison of the blinded result of the subtraction provided by the first system with a result of a subtraction of a blinded first split value of a second system from a blinded second split value of the second system. Computer-implemented further methods for providing a contribution to the comparison of the split values are disclosed. The further methods involve a third system and a fourth system.