API request and response balancing and control on blockchain

• US 10,469,248 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2017
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Chalakudi, Shyamala, Yin, Ming
• Primary Examiner(s): Holder, Bradley W
• Application Number:
  US15/785,870
• Publication Number:
  US 20190114182A1
• Time in Patent Office: 749 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0618 Block ciphers, i.e. encrypting groups of characters of a plain text message using fixed encryption transformation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

A balancing and control (B&C) system for API transactions is disclosed. The system may write a request confirmation and a request acknowledgement to a blockchain in response to an API request being transmitted from a consumer system to a provider system, with the request confirmation and the request acknowledgement each comprising a request hash of the API request. The system may also write a response confirmation and a response acknowledgement to the blockchain in response to an API response being transmitted from the provider system to the consumer system, with the response confirmation and the response acknowledgement each comprising a response hash of the API response. The blockchain may execute a smart contract to compare the request hashes from the request confirmation and the request acknowledgement and the response hashes from the response confirmation and the response acknowledgement to identify one or more out-of-balance events.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

writing, by a computer-based balancing and control (B&

C) system to a blockchain, an application programming interface (API) request confirmation in response to a service consumer system transmitting an API request to a service provider system, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a transaction ID, a service provider system address, a service consumer system address, and a first request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API request acknowledgement in response to the service provider system receiving the API request from the service consumer system, wherein the API request acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response confirmation in response to the service provider system receiving the API request and transmitting an API response to the service consumer system, wherein the API response confirmation comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a first response hash of the API response;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response acknowledgement in response to the service consumer system receiving the API response from the service provider system, wherein the API response acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second response hash of the API request, wherein the blockchain executes a smart contract to compare the first request hash of the API request to the second request hash of the API request to identify a request out-of-balance event, and the first response hash of the API response to the second response hash of the API response to identify a response out-of-balance event; and

reading, by a monitoring device of the B&

C system and from the blockchain, at least one of the request out-of-balance event or the response out-of-balance event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the monitoring device, an out-of-balance alert in response to reading at least one of the request out-of-balance event or the response out-of-balance event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the service consumer system address comprises a first public key corresponding to a first private key of a first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and wherein the service provider system address comprises a second public key corresponding to a second private key of a second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising registering, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, the service consumer system by assigning to the service consumer system the first public key and the first private key of the first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and the service provider system by assigning to the service provider system the second public key and the second private key of the second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a first timestamp, the API request acknowledgement comprises a second timestamp, the API response confirmation comprises a third timestamp, and the API response acknowledgement comprises a fourth timestamp.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a request timeout out-of-balance event in response to the second timestamp of the API request acknowledgement not being within a predetermined time window relative to the first timestamp of the API request confirmation.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a response timeout out-of-balance event in response to the fourth timestamp of the API response acknowledgement not being within the predetermined time window relative to the third timestamp of the API response confirmation.

8. A computer-based system for balancing and control of message transfers, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the computer processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the computer processor, cause a balancing and control (B&

C) system to perform operations comprising;

writing, by the B&

C system to a blockchain, an application programming interface (API) request confirmation in response to a service consumer system transmitting an API request to a service provider system, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a transaction ID, a service provider system address, a service consumer system address, and a first request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API request acknowledgement in response to the service provider system receiving the API request from the service consumer system, wherein the API request acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response confirmation in response to the service provider system receiving the API request and transmitting an API response to the service consumer system, wherein the API response confirmation comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a first response hash of the API response;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response acknowledgement in response to the service consumer system receiving the API response from the service provider system, wherein the API response acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second response hash of the API request, wherein the blockchain executes a smart contract to compare the first request hash of the API request to the second request hash of the API request to identify a request out-of-balance event, and the first response hash of the API response to the second response hash of the API response to identify a response out-of-balance event; and

reading, by a monitoring device of the B&

C system and from the blockchain, at least one of the request out-of-balance event or the response out-of-balance event.

9. The computer-based system of claim 8, further comprising generating, by the monitoring device, an out-of-balance alert in response to reading at least one of the request out-of-balance event or the response out-of-balance event.

10. The computer-based system of claim 8, wherein the service consumer system address comprises a first public key corresponding to a first private key of a first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and wherein the service provider system address comprises a second public key corresponding to a second private key of a second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

11. The computer-based system of claim 10, further comprising registering, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, the service consumer system by assigning to the service consumer system the first public key and the first private key of the first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and the service provider system by assigning to the service provider system the second public key and the second private key of the second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

12. The computer-based system of claim 8, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a first timestamp, the API request acknowledgement comprises a second timestamp, the API response confirmation comprises a third timestamp, and the API response acknowledgement comprises a fourth timestamp.

13. The computer-based system of claim 12, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a request timeout out-of-balance event in response to the second timestamp of the API request acknowledgement not being within a predetermined time window relative to the first timestamp of the API request confirmation.

14. The computer-based system of claim 12, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a response timeout out-of-balance event in response to the fourth timestamp of the API response acknowledgement not being within the predetermined time window relative to the third timestamp of the API response confirmation.

15. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a balancing and control (B&

C) system, cause the B&

C system to perform operations comprising;

writing, by the B&

C system to a blockchain, an application programming interface (API) request confirmation in response to a service consumer system transmitting an API request to a service provider system, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a transaction ID, a service provider system address, a service consumer system address, and a first request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API request acknowledgement in response to the service provider system receiving the API request from the service consumer system, wherein the API request acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second request hash of the API request;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response confirmation in response to the service provider system receiving the API request and transmitting an API response to the service consumer system, wherein the API response confirmation comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a first response hash of the API response;

writing, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, an API response acknowledgement in response to the service consumer system receiving the API response from the service provider system, wherein the API response acknowledgement comprises the transaction ID, the service provider system address, the service consumer system address, and a second response hash of the API request, wherein the blockchain executes a smart contract to compare the first request hash of the API request to the second request hash of the API request to identify a request out-of-balance event, and the first response hash of the API response to the second response hash of the API response to identify a response out-of-balance event; and

reading, by a monitoring device of the B&

C system and from the blockchain, at least one of the request out-of-balance event or the response out-of-balance event.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the service consumer system address comprises a first public key corresponding to a first private key of a first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and wherein the service provider system address comprises a second public key corresponding to a second private key of a second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, further comprising registering, by the B&

C system to the blockchain, the service consumer system by assigning to the service consumer system the first public key and the first private key of the first asymmetric cryptography key pair, and the service provider system by assigning to the service provider system the second public key and the second private key of the second asymmetric cryptography key pair.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the API request confirmation comprises a first timestamp, the API request acknowledgement comprises a second timestamp, the API response confirmation comprises a third timestamp, and the API response acknowledgement comprises a fourth timestamp.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a request timeout out-of-balance event in response to the second timestamp of the API request acknowledgement not being within a predetermined time window relative to the first timestamp of the API request confirmation.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, further comprising identifying, by the monitoring device, a response timeout out-of-balance event in response to the fourth timestamp of the API response acknowledgement not being within the predetermined time window relative to the third timestamp of the API response confirmation.