Share-Based Consensus Node Selection for Blockchain Traffic Bottlenecks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blockchain consensus methods face challenges in balancing decentralization and performance, with network traffic costs affecting overall performance due to the need to transfer transactions to all nodes, leading to centralization issues and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A method for distributed consensus that selects nodes as a consensus congress based on their share values, allowing only some nodes to process transactions while enabling all nodes to participate, using a Byzantine fault-tolerant algorithm to randomly select consensus nodes for each block.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all nodes participate in consensus to maintain decentralization, then network traffic cost increases due to transferring transactions to all nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments nodes into two distinct groups: consensus nodes that participate in the consensus process and non-consensus nodes that do not. This segmentation allows the system to maintain decentralization by having many nodes while reducing network traffic costs by limiting transaction propagation to only the consensus nodes. The segmentation is achieved through a selection mechanism that randomly or dynamically determines which nodes become consensus nodes for each block.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the consensus function from all nodes and concentrates it in a selected subset of consensus nodes. Non-consensus nodes are excluded from the consensus process, thereby removing the burden of receiving and processing transactions for these nodes. This extraction maintains decentralization because the selection of consensus nodes can be dynamic and distributed, while significantly reducing network traffic costs.
2Loss of energy
If only selected nodes participate in consensus to reduce network traffic cost, then centralization problem occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic selection mechanism for consensus nodes where the set of consensus nodes changes over time rather than being fixed. This dynamic approach prevents permanent centralization because any node can potentially become a consensus node in different time periods or for different blocks. The selection can be based on random processes, stake-based mechanisms, or other distributed algorithms that ensure fairness and prevent long-term dominance by specific nodes.
3Reliability
If transactions are transferred to all nodes for validation, then processing performance decreases due to high network traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the node population into consensus nodes that receive and validate transactions and non-consensus nodes that do not. This segmentation maintains validation thoroughness because consensus nodes still perform complete validation of transactions they receive, while improving processing performance by eliminating the overhead of transferring transactions to all nodes in the network.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces consensus nodes as intermediaries between non-consensus nodes and the blockchain consensus mechanism. Non-consensus nodes can still submit transactions, but these transactions are propagated only to consensus nodes for validation and inclusion in blocks. This intermediary role maintains the integrity and thoroughness of transaction validation while significantly reducing network traffic and improving overall processing performance.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method for distributed consensus. The method includes performing, by each of nodes forming a blockchain, an operation corresponding to a success probability (p) a number of times corresponding to the share value thereof; sending, by nodes having at least one share corresponding to the operation which is successful, a message for being selected as consensus nodes; and performing, by the consensus nodes, which are nodes having consensus shares selected from among the shares corresponding to the operation which is successful, distributed consensus. Here, the nodes forming the blockchain include major shareholder nodes for processing transactions.