Off-chain Smart Contract Service Using Trusted Execution Environment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current blockchain systems face challenges in maintaining privacy and efficiency due to the need for complex computations across independent blockchain networks, which consume resources and compromise data privacy.
Innovation Solution
An off-chain smart contract service utilizing a trusted execution environment (TEE) allows for cross-chain data operations, enabling computations to be performed outside the blockchain network while ensuring data privacy and reducing computational load on the blockchain.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If computations are performed on-chain across multiple blockchain networks, then data privacy is compromised, but computational transparency and verifiability are maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) as an intermediary component between the blockchain network and cross-chain data sources. The TEE creates a secure enclave that performs computations on private data without exposing the data or computation logic to the blockchain network, while still providing verifiable results through cryptographic proofs. This mediator resolves the contradiction by enabling private computations that maintain transparency through proof verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the computation process into two distinct parts: (1) private computation execution within the TEE enclave that protects data privacy, and (2) public verification on the blockchain that maintains transparency. This segmentation allows each part to fulfill its specific requirement - privacy protection for computations and verifiability for results - without compromising the other.
2Reliability
If complex cross-chain computations are performed on-chain, then computational transparency is maintained, but blockchain resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive operations from the blockchain network and relocates them to an off-chain TEE environment. The blockchain only retains the lightweight functions of verifying cryptographic proofs and storing results, while the heavy lifting of cross-chain data processing is performed externally in the secure enclave, dramatically reducing on-chain resource consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The TEE acts as an intermediary computation service that handles resource-intensive operations outside the blockchain, providing verified results back to the chain. This intermediary approach allows complex computations to be performed without burdening the blockchain's limited computational resources, while maintaining transparency through proof verification.
3Loss of information
If cryptography is used to protect privacy in blockchain operations, then data confidentiality is improved, but operational efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic cryptographic operations only when needed - specifically, cryptographic proofs are generated and verified periodically rather than continuously. The TEE performs bulk computations on private data using efficient algorithms, and only the final verification step requires cryptographic operations on the blockchain, reducing the overall cryptographic overhead compared to continuous on-chain encryption/decryption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional cryptographic encryption/decryption operations with TEE-based secure computation. Instead of mechanically encrypting data before processing and decrypting after processing (which requires multiple cryptographic operations), the TEE provides a hardware-based secure environment where data can be processed in plaintext with minimal cryptographic intervention, significantly improving operational efficiency while maintaining confidentiality.
Data Source
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AI summary
Implementations of the specification include receiving, by a smart contract service provider including a trusted computation execution environment (TEE) from a client associated with a target blockchain network, a request for operating cross-chain data of one or more blockchain networks different from the target blockchain, wherein the smart contract service provider is off the target blockchain network; sending, by the smart contract service provider to a data visiting service provider, a request for the cross-chain data; receiving, by the smart contract service provider, the cross-chain data from the data visiting service provider; generating, by the TEE, a result using the cross-chain data; and returning, by the smart contract service provider, the result to the client.