METHOD FOR SELECTING CONSENSUS NODE USING NONCE AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING BLOCKCHAIN USING THE SAME

• US 20190327084A1
• Filed: 04/19/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: OH, Jin-Tae, KIM, Ki-Young, PARK, Joon-Young
• Granted Patent: US 11,063,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• 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 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method for generating a blockchain, which includes selecting, by a first master node that generated a first block, second candidate nodes from a node pool according to a consensus node selection scheme using a nonce, and selecting, by the first master node, a second master node using the result of a vote taken by first candidate nodes. Here, among candidate blocks generated by the second candidate nodes, the candidate block generated by the second master node is locked as a second block.

Claims

1. A method for generating a blockchain, comprising:

selecting, by a first master node that generated a first block, second candidate nodes from a node pool according to a consensus node selection scheme using a nonce;

generating, by each of the selected second candidate nodes, a second candidate block; and

selecting, by the first master node, a second master node from among the second candidate nodes based on a result of a vote for the second candidate blocks, which is taken by first candidate nodes,

wherein a candidate block generated by the second master node is locked as a second block.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the nonce is generated using a head hash value of a generated block and a unique value possessed by each node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the unique value is a private key or a value acquired from a nonce pool.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the second candidate nodes comprises comparing a coupon, which is at least a portion of the head hash value, with a threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the second candidate nodes further comprises calculating a distance corresponding to a result of comparison of the coupon with the threshold value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

each of the second candidate nodes records the distance corresponding thereto and a digital signature for checking whether the distance is legitimately issued in a candidate block and transmits the candidate block to another node, or

each of the second candidate nodes performs a checking process through a nonce chain in order to check the distance corresponding to the node and whether the distance is legitimately issued.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

announcing, by each of the second candidate nodes, the coupon and the calculated distance to the node pool or the first candidate nodes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the first candidate nodes sorts the second candidate nodes based on a result of sorting the calculated distances.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the first candidate nodes transmits the collected distances of the second candidate nodes to the first master node.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of second candidate nodes is used as a population parameter of the vote taken by the first candidate nodes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein distance values of the second candidate nodes are used in the vote taken by the first candidate nodes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein, in order to use the consensus node selection scheme as a private consensus mechanism, a node that is selected as a node to generate a candidate block is shared through the node pool, and predetermined nodes are registered in the node pool.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein, in order to use the consensus node selection scheme as a public consensus mechanism, all of participation nodes are allowed to participate in the node pool.

14. A method for selecting a consensus node that is used to generate a blockchain, comprising:

performing a hash operation by taking a hash value of a previous block and a digital signature signed with a private key of a participation node or a value acquired from a nonce chain as input;

comparing a coupon, which is configured with at least a portion of a result of the hash operation, with a threshold value; and

selecting the participation node as a candidate node for generating a block based on a result of comparison.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a node pool is predetermined or includes all nodes.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a node pool is classified into two or more groups based on the result of comparison.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the two or more groups include a pass group and a fail group, and

the pass group and the fail group have a binomial distribution characteristic.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a mean and a variance of nodes to be selected are calculated according to a specific probability distribution.

19. An apparatus for generating a blockchain, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory configured to store at least one instruction executed by the at least one processor,

wherein the at least one instruction is executed by the at least one processor such that a hash value of a block generated by a first master node is calculated, such that second candidate nodes are selected using a result of hashing a value acquired by digitally signing the calculated hash value or a result of hashing the hash value of the block generated by the first master node and a value acquired from a nonce chain, such that the second candidate nodes take a vote in order to lock a second master block, among second candidate blocks, and such that the first master node locks the second master block.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein, based on a result of the vote by the nodes that generated the second candidate blocks, the first master node locks a second candidate block that presents a minimum or maximum distance approved by more than a certain percentage of the nodes.