Smart Contract Referencing to Reduce Blockchain Size and Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current blockchain technologies face inefficiencies in executing digital contracts due to the need to store and process extensive programming code within the blockchain, which increases size and processing requirements, and lack a streamlined method for referencing and executing smart contracts.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution involves referencing a digital contract using a contract identifier and contractual parameters within the blockchain, allowing the actual execution to be offloaded to a contract server or network resource, thereby simplifying the blockchain and reducing its size and processing demands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If extensive programming code is stored and processed within the blockchain, then digital contracts can be executed, but the blockchain size and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the smart contract code from the blockchain and stores it externally at a network resource. The blockchain only stores a reference (contract identifier and hash), while the actual execution code is located outside the chain, thereby reducing blockchain size while maintaining contract execution capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a contract server as an intermediary between the blockchain and the smart contract code. The contract server retrieves, executes, and manages the smart contracts, allowing the blockchain to remain lightweight while still enabling automated contract execution through the intermediary service.
2Extent of automation
If extensive programming code is stored and processed within the blockchain, then digital contracts can be executed, but processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts smart contract processing from the blockchain itself and relocates it to external network resources and contract servers. This extraction reduces the computational burden on the blockchain while maintaining the ability to execute complex contract logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The contract server acts as an intermediary that handles the computationally intensive tasks of retrieving, parsing, and executing smart contracts. This mediator absorbs the processing requirements, protecting the blockchain from high computational demands while enabling sophisticated contract automation.
3Extent of automation
If smart contracts are stored within the blockchain, then they can be executed, but the blockchain becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts smart contract code from the blockchain ecosystem and places it in external network resources. The blockchain is simplified to only store metadata (contract identifier, hash, and parameters), reducing structural complexity while preserving contract execution functionality through external references.
Solution Approach 2:
The contract server serves as a complex intermediary layer that handles all the intricacies of smart contract management, retrieval, and execution. This mediator absorbs the complexity, allowing the blockchain to remain simple and focused on its core function of storing immutable references and data.
Data Source
AI summary
Digital or “smart” contracts execute in a blockchain environment. Any entity (whether public or private) may specify a digital contract via a contract identifier in a blockchain. Because there may be many digital contracts offered as virtual services, the contract identifier uniquely identifies a particular digital contract offered by a virtual machine, vendor or supplier. The blockchain is thus not burdened with the programming code that is required to execute the digital contract. The blockchain need only include or specify the contract identifier (and perhaps one or more contractual parameters), thus greatly simplifying the blockchain and reducing its size (in bytes) and processing requirements.