Decentralized Trust Compact for Multi-Party Transaction Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In electronic transactions, especially in open distributed systems like the Internet, establishing trust between parties is challenging, particularly in multi-party transactions where parties have no prior knowledge or reputation, and identifying reliable trust service providers is complex, especially when composite services are involved, leading to potential risks and liability issues.
Innovation Solution
A decentralized process and device system that creates and endorses a 'Trust Compact' among parties, which identifies and agrees on a set of Trust Service Providers (TSPs) to facilitate transactions, ensuring that all parties can trust each other by converting conditional endorsements to positive ones if specified conditions are met, thus safeguarding interests and protecting against fraud.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a trusted third party (TTP) is used to establish trust between parties, then trust and reliability are improved, but device complexity and system overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the trust establishment process into multiple independent components: trust tokens, endorsement data files, and distributed validation mechanisms. Each party maintains their own trust credentials and validates others independently, eliminating the need for a centralized TTP while maintaining reliability through distributed verification
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces data files containing endorsements from trusted parties as intermediary artifacts. These files serve as portable trust credentials that can be exchanged and validated without requiring direct involvement of the original trusted third party, reducing system complexity while maintaining trust
2Ease of operation
If traditional trust models are used in dynamic ad-hoc business environments, then simplicity is maintained, but reliability and security deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary trust validation by collecting and validating endorsements from multiple trusted parties before the actual transaction occurs. The data files are prepared and verified in advance, ensuring reliability is established before dynamic operations begin, while the validation process remains automated and simple to execute
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where parties validate endorsements and provide cryptographic verification results back to the system. This automated feedback loop ensures that trust relationships are continuously verified and maintained, improving reliability without adding operational complexity
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple trust service providers are involved in composite services, then service capability and versatility are improved, but device complexity and coordination difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple trust relationships into a single data file structure that contains endorsements from multiple trusted service providers. This consolidation allows complex multi-provider trust relationships to be represented and validated as a unified object, reducing coordination complexity while maintaining service versatility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal data file format that can accommodate endorsements from any number of trusted service providers for any type of transaction. This multi-functional structure handles simple and complex trust relationships uniformly, eliminating the need for specialized coordination mechanisms for different service combinations
Data Source
AI summary
Before a transaction takes place between a plurality of agent-based devices (21-29), not all of which have previous experience of each other, a data file is created which identifies all the agents which are to take part in the transaction. The data file is circulated to all the agents, and each agent endorses the data file in respect of each other agent with a positive, negative, or conditional endorsement, based on stored data indicating whether that agent is capable of co-operation with the other agent. A negative endorsement is applied by an agent in respect of any agent with which it is not prepared to co-operate. Such a negative endorsement is fatal to the transaction. A positive endorsement is applied by an agent (21) in respect of any other agent (27) with which it is unconditionally prepared to co-operate. A conditional endorsement by a first agent (21) of a second agent (23) is applied where the first agent (21) has insufficient data to apply either a positive or negative endorsement, and expresses conditions which would allow the endorsement to be made positive—for example positive endorsement by some other specified agent (28). If these conditions are subsequently satisfied, the endorsement is amended to positive. When all agents (29) have endorsed the data file, if all the resulting endorsements are positive a successful validation is reported to the originating agent (20), allowing the transaction to proceed.