Blockchain consensus node selection

• US 10,722,649 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2019
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced New Technologies Company Limited (Ant Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Tang, Qiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Gracia, Gary S
• Application Number:
  US16/722,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20200129694A1
• Time in Patent Office: 221 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/14208 with a programmable infusion control system, characterised by the infusion program
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/52 with memories providing a history of measured variating parameters of apparatus or patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/1407 Infusion of two or more substances
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/142 Pressure infusion, e.g. using pumps
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/172 electrical or electronic A61M5/16804, A61M5/16831 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2379 Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/17 delivered via infusion or injection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/463 Electronic voting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• 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 9/3265 using certificate chains, trees or paths; Hierarchical trust model
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

Techniques are described selecting consensus nodes in a blockchain. A voting process is performed by a plurality of shareholder nodes to generate a voting result for each shareholder node. The voting process comprises each shareholder node voting for a plurality of expected nodes, and the expected nodes and the plurality of shareholder nodes comprise a group of nodes associated with a blockchain. A shareholder node is a node that owns at least one share. A voting result is verified for each shareholder node. After the voting process, a number of shares owned by each node of the group of nodes id determined based on the voting result. A plurality of consensus nodes are selected from shareholder nodes based on the number of shares owned by each of the shareholder nodes.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method executed by central processing unit, comprising:

when a number of distributed nodes on a blockchain exceeds a certain number, distributed nodes participate in a consensus node selection process using a Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm including;

performing an equity interest voting process by a plurality of shareholder nodes to generate a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein the voting process comprises each shareholder node voting for a plurality of expected nodes where a share is used to vote, wherein an expected node is a node that a shareholder node votes for, wherein the expected nodes and the plurality of shareholder nodes comprise a group of nodes associated with a the blockchain; and

wherein a shareholder node is a node that owns at least one share, wherein a share is an asset having equal power or weight and can be transacted on the blockchain. and the shares can be transferred from one node to another node on the blockchain;

verifying a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein verifying the voting result for each shareholder node comprises;

signing, by the shareholder node, the voting result for the shareholder node using a private key of the shareholder node;

broadcasting a public key corresponding to the private key to nodes in the blockchain; and

verifying the voting result by using a corresponding public key of the shareholder node;

determining, after the voting process and based on the voting results, a number of shares owned by each node of the group of nodes and all the nodes can receive the voting result and approve the voting result simultaneously for nodes within the blockchain to approve a newly selected consensus node; and

selecting, a plurality of consensus nodes from shareholder nodes based on the number of shares owned by each of the shareholder nodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein an expected node is voted for by a shareholder node based on a predetermined consensus node selection condition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of times that the share can be validly transferred between nodes on a blockchain through the voting process is set to 1 in a single consensus node selection process.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a specific number of shares used to select consensus nodes can be set based on an application scenario or a processing requirement.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each node in the blockchain is associated with a root certificate.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein selecting a plurality of consensus nodes comprises selecting consensus nodes from a plurality of shareholder nodes that own the same number of shares based on a time sequence of a node root certificate generated for each shareholder node.

7. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions executable by a computer system to perform operations comprising:

when a number of distributed nodes on a blockchain exceeds a certain number, distributed nodes participate in a consensus node selection process using a Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm including;

performing an equity interest voting process by a plurality of shareholder nodes to generate a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein the voting process comprises each shareholder node voting for a plurality of expected nodes where a share is used to vote, wherein an expected node is a node that a shareholder node votes for, wherein the expected nodes and the plurality of shareholder nodes comprise a group of nodes associated with a the blockchain; and

wherein a shareholder node is a node that owns at least one share, wherein a share is an asset having equal power or weight and can be transacted on the blockchain, and the shares can be transferred from one node to another node on the blockchain;

verifying a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein verifying the voting result for each shareholder node comprises;

signing, by the shareholder node, the voting result for the shareholder node using a private key of the shareholder node;

broadcasting a public key corresponding to the private key to nodes in the blockchain; and

verifying the voting result by using a corresponding public key of the shareholder node;

determining, after the voting process and based on the voting results, a number of shares owned by each node of the group of nodes and all the nodes can receive the voting result and approve the voting result simultaneously for nodes within the blockchain to approve a newly selected consensus node; and

selecting, a plurality of consensus nodes from shareholder nodes based on the number of shares owned by each of the shareholder nodes.

8. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the an expected node is selected voted for by a shareholder node based on a predetermined consensus node selection condition.

9. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein a number of times that the share can be validly transferred between nodes on a blockchain through the voting process is set to 1 in a single consensus node selection process.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein a specific number of shares used to select consensus nodes can be set based on an application scenario or a processing requirement.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein each node in the blockchain is associated with a root certificate.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein selecting a plurality of consensus nodes comprises selecting consensus nodes from a plurality of shareholder nodes that own the same number of shares based on a time sequence of a node root certificate generated for each shareholder node.

13. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

one or more computers; and

one or more computer memory devices interoperably coupled with the one or more computers and having tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable media storing one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more computers, perform one or more operations comprising;

when a number of distributed nodes on a blockchain exceeds a certain number, distributed nodes participate in a consensus node selection process using a Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) algorithm including;

performing an equity interest voting process by a plurality of shareholder nodes to generate a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein the voting process comprises each shareholder node voting for a plurality of expected nodes where a share is used to vote, wherein an expected node is a node that a shareholder node votes for, wherein the expected nodes and the plurality of shareholder nodes comprise a group of nodes associated with a the blockchain; and

wherein a shareholder node is a node that owns at least one share, wherein a share is an asset having equal power or weight and can be transacted on the blockchain. and the shares can be transferred from one node to another node on the blockchain;

verifying a voting result for each shareholder node, wherein verifying the voting result for each shareholder node comprises;

signing, by the shareholder node, the voting result for the shareholder node using a private key of the shareholder node;

broadcasting a public key corresponding to the private key to nodes in the blockchain; and

verifying the voting result by using a corresponding public key of the shareholder node;

determining, after the voting process and based on the voting results, a number of shares owned by each node of the group of nodes and all the nodes can receive the voting result and approve the voting result simultaneously for nodes within the blockchain to approve a newly selected consensus node; and

selecting, a plurality of consensus nodes from shareholder nodes based on the number of shares owned by each of the shareholder nodes.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 13, wherein an expected node is selected voted for by a shareholder node based on a predetermined consensus node selection condition.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 13, wherein a number of times that the share can be validly transferred between nodes on a blockchain through the voting process is set to 1 in a single consensus node selection process.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 13, wherein a specific number of shares used to select consensus nodes can be set based on an application scenario or a processing requirement.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 13, wherein each node in the blockchain is associated with a root certificate;

and wherein selecting a plurality of consensus nodes comprises selecting consensus nodes from a plurality of shareholder nodes that own the same number of shares based on a time sequence of a node root certificate generated for each shareholder node.