KR20190099936A - Blockchain system - Google Patents

Abstract

A blockchain system is disclosed. According to the present invention, the blockchain system comprises a main branch including a genesis block and at least one second type block. The blocks included in the main branch are connected according to a generation order of blocks, starting with the genesis block. The blocks included in the main branch except for the genesis block includes a hash value of at least a portion of a block generated immediately before the corresponding block in the main branch. At least a portion of the second type blocks include hash values of at least a portion of a second type block generated immediately before the corresponding second type blocks in the main branch.

Description

Blockchain system {Blockchain system}

The present invention relates to a blockchain system, and more particularly to a blockchain system using dually connected blocks.

Blockchain is known as a concept introduced in Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that is a kind of distributed database. Unlike the conventional storage and management of digital contents such as transaction books and documents in a centralized server, the blockchain system stores and manages the accumulated digital contents in devices (nodes) of a plurality of participants connected through a network. Such a blockchain system has the advantage that digital content itself is open to the public through the Internet, and since verification is frequently performed by a large number of participants, forgery or tampering is very difficult.

Such a blockchain system is used for storing a transaction record of a virtual currency system such as Bitcoin or a financial institution. Recently, such blockchain systems have also been used for electronic document management and original verification. Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1763827 (registered on July 26, 2017) and Korean Patent Publication No. 10-1751025 (registered on June 20, 2017) include medical data transmission systems and securities using such blockchain systems. A business processing system is disclosed.

Nodes participating in the blockchain must store and maintain the data of the entire blockchain in the device to check the authenticity of the data. This is not a problem if the total blockchain size is not large because there are few accumulated transactions, but as the number of blocks increases as the number of new events such as transactions accumulate, the size of the entire blockchain gradually increases. The total blockchain size of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are representative blockchain systems, is currently several hundred Gbytes.

Therefore, nodes participating in the blockchain need a high level of storage and computing devices capable of storing and maintaining such a large amount of data. However, a typical personal computer may not reach this level of performance. In particular, personal mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers are not able to reach this level of performance.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1763827 (July 26, 2017 registration) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1751025 (registered June 20, 2017)

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a blockchain system that can verify the authenticity of the data only by selectively storing only the blocks required by the node participating in the blockchain system and a data management method using such blockchain will be.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a systematic and efficient blockchain system by forming different connections between blocks according to the types of blocks.

The blockchain system of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a main branch including a genesis block and at least one second type block, and the blocks included in the main branch start with the initial block. Blocks included in the main branch except for the first block are connected according to the generation order of blocks, and each of the blocks of the second type blocks includes a hash value of at least a portion of blocks generated immediately before the corresponding block in the main branch. At least a portion includes a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before the corresponding second type block in the main branch.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the at least part of the second type block includes at least a hash value of at least a portion of the block generated immediately before and at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before. can do.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a hash value of at least a portion of the immediately generated block included in the at least some second type block and a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block just generated are the same. In this case, only one hash value may be included.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the second type block includes a first second type block generated first of the second type blocks and a subsequent second type block generated after the first second type block, and The subsequent second type block may include a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before the corresponding second type block in the main branch.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first second type block may include a hash value of at least a portion of the first block.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first second type block may include a hash value of at least a portion of a block immediately before the first second type block, and may not include a hash value of at least a portion of another block.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the second type block may allow forking using the second type block as a root block.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the second type block may allow sub blocks to be connected using the second type block as a root block.

In one embodiment of the present invention, it may further include a fork sub-branch with at least a portion of the second type block as a root block.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sub-branch may further include at least one sub-block connected by using at least a portion of the second type block as a root block.

The blockchain system and the data management method using the blockchain according to an embodiment of the present invention have an advantage of verifying the authenticity of data only by selectively storing only the blocks required by a node participating in the blockchain system. .

In addition, the blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention has an advantage of forming a connection relationship between blocks according to the type of blocks to be systematically efficient.

1 illustrates a configuration of individual blocks of a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 shows that two blocks of the blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected.
3 and 4 are diagrams for describing a method of displaying a block in a blockchain.
5 is an exemplary block diagram of a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is an exemplary block diagram of a blockchain system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described embodiments of the present invention; In describing the present invention, if it is determined that adding specific descriptions of techniques or configurations already known in the art may make the gist of the present invention unclear, some of them will be omitted from the detailed description. In addition, terms used in the present specification are terms used to properly express the embodiments of the present invention, which may vary according to related persons or customs in the art. Therefore, the definitions of the terms should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates the opposite. As used herein, the meaning of “comprising” specifies a particular characteristic, region, integer, step, operation, element, and / or component, and other specific characteristics, region, integer, step, operation, element, component, and / or group. It does not exclude the presence or addition of.

Hereinafter, a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

1 illustrates a configuration of individual blocks of a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 shows that two blocks of the blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention are connected.

Referring to FIG. 1, one block 100 includes a block header 110 and a block body 120.

The block header 110 may include a title of a block, a hash value of a previous block, a hash value of a block body, a time stamp, a difficulty goal, and a nonce. The information included in the block header 110 may be configured in various ways.

The title of the block refers to identification information that can distinguish the block 100 from other blocks. The title of a block may be determined according to a connection relationship with another block.

The hash value of the immediately preceding block is a hash value of a block generated before the block in the branch and connected to the block. The hash value of the immediately preceding block may be a hash value of all or selected portions of information of the immediately preceding block. For example, the hash value of the immediately preceding block may be defined as being a hash value of information of the block header of the immediately preceding block. By including the hash value of the previous block in the block header, connectivity between blocks can be enhanced. Increasing the connectivity between blocks means improving the security of the entire blockchain system.

The hash value of the block body is a hash value of data included in the block body 120 of the block. As will be described later, the block body 120 includes data. The hash value of the block body may be a hash value of all or selected portions of data included in the block body. The hash value of the block body can be determined in various ways. For example, the hash value of the block body may be a hash value for the root of the Merkle tree generated from the data of the block body 120. The hash value of the block body corresponds to a summary of the data of the block body 120, and enables the efficient management and verification of the data of the relatively large block body 120.

A time stamp is information about a generation time of a corresponding block.

The difficulty goal is the difficulty goal for the proof-of-work algorithm of the block. This is information about determining the hashing power needed to find the nonce of the block.

The nonce is counter information used in the proof-of-work algorithm of the block.

The block header 110 may exclude some of the above-described information, or may further include other information.

The block body 120 includes data stored and managed by the block 100. Data corresponds to digital data. The data can be in various forms. For example, the data may include digital content, document information, account information, medical information, medical information, administrative information, register information, coin generation information, transaction information, personnel information, production history information, design and drawings of products or buildings, Sound information and the like are possible, and are not limited to any particular form.

Data included in the block body 120 may be limited in type or size depending on the block. This limitation of data may be applied to all blocks in common, or may be selectively applied to only a few specific blocks. In addition, the limitation of such data may be changed as necessary.

Referring to FIG. 2, two blocks may be connected to each other. In detail, the plurality of blocks may be sequentially connected to form a branch. Here, a branch means a set of blocks in which a plurality of blocks are linearly connected to each other. 2 shows a state in which any two blocks in this branch are connected.

Referring to FIG. 2, any one block 200 in a branch is to be connected to a block 100 previously created in the branch. Here, the connection means that the block 200 includes a hash value of at least a portion of the previously generated block 100. In detail, the block 200 may be connected to the block header 210 by including a hash value of at least a portion of the previously generated block 100.

The previously generated block 100 may be generated just before the corresponding block 200. As described in detail below, in some cases, the previously generated block 100 may be the last block of the same type as the corresponding block 200 among the previously generated blocks.

The hash value of the previously generated block 100 may be a hash value of all or selected portions of information of the previous block 100, as described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a hash value of the previous block 100 may be defined as a hash value of information of the block header 110 of the previous block. The hash value of the previous block may be variously changed according to the preferences and judgment of the person designing the block.

3 and 4, the blocks constituting the blockchain system illustrated in FIG. 5 will be briefly described.

The block includes a block header and a block body, as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. However, for convenience of description, in FIG. 5, individual blocks are represented in the manner shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, referring to FIG. 3, one block 100 displays a title of a block, a hash value of a previous connection block, and a hash value of the corresponding block. One block 100 is a table of three columns arranged up and down, the first column is the title of the block, the second column is the hash value of the previous connection block, the third column is the hash value of the block do.

Referring to FIG. 4, one block 101 may include two or more hash values of a previous connection block. The hash values of the plurality of previous connection blocks are displayed sequentially on top of the hash values of the corresponding blocks in the bottommost column. Referring to FIG. 4, one block 101 includes hash values of two previous connection blocks. This is indicated by the third and fourth columns, respectively, and the last column is the hash value of the block.

Although not shown in the drawings, in some cases, one block may include hash values of two or more additional blocks. In this case, the hash value of the additional block may be displayed in a column above the hash value of the block. In the last column of the block, it is preferable to display the hash value of the block.

The hash value of the additional block will be described in more detail below.

3 and 4, the title of the block is represented in the form of Bn or Bnm. The title of the block is Bn, which means that the block is the nth block of the main branch. And the title of the block is Bnm means that the block is the m-th sub-block of the sub branch branched from the n-th block of the main branch. The mth subblock of any subbranch corresponds to the m + 1th block of the subbranch.

The hash value of a block is indicated using the symbol H. For example, a hash value of a block whose title is Bnm is expressed in Hnm.

A main branch, a sub branch, a sub block, and the like mentioned while describing the title of the block, a symbol of a hash value, and the like will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

5, a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 5 is an exemplary block diagram of a blockchain system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The blockchain system of the present invention includes a main branch 1000. Here, the main branch 1000 is distinguished from the sub branches 1001 and 1004 to be described later, and the difference between the two will be described below.

The main branch 1000 includes an original block, a first type block and a second type block. Type 2 blocks can be divided into several types. However, it is described herein that there is only one type of the second type block.

In FIG. 5, the first block is represented by a rectangle with a thick border, the first type block is represented by a general rectangle, and the second type block is distinguished by a rounded rectangle.

The genesis block is the first block created in the blockchain system. The first block, unlike other blocks in the blockchain system, can be exceptionally free of previous connection blocks. In the blockchain system, after the first block is generated, subsequently generated blocks are directly or indirectly connected to the first block. Referring to FIG. 5, B ₀ corresponds to the first block.

Unlike the second type block, the first type block is a block that does not allow branching using the block as the root block. The branch will be described in detail with reference to the second type block below. Therefore, the first type block is connected only to the immediately preceding block and the immediately following block in the main branch 1000. Referring to FIG. 5, B ₂ , B _5, and B ₆ correspond to a first type block.

The second type block is a block that allows branching using the second type block as a root block. The branching refers to generating a sub branch connected to the branch of the main branch 1000 using any block of the main branch 1000 as the root block. This branch is also described by the term forking. Thus, the second type block may be described as a forked block. In addition, the second type block may be described as a joint block in which the main branch 1000 and the sub branch are joined.

A block connected to the other root block except the root block in the sub branch is referred to as a sub block. Accordingly, the second type block refers to a block that allows sub blocks to be connected by using the second type block as a root block.

In this case, the second type block only allows a branch, and a sub branch having the second type block as the root block may or may not be connected to the second type block. Sub-branches of which the second type block is the root block may be connected to the second type block in which the sub branch is not connected, according to generation of an event.

Referring to FIG. 5, B ₁ , B _3, and B ₄ correspond to a second type block. And B ₁ and B ₄ have sub branches 1001 and 1004 connected thereto. However, in the case of B ₃ , although there is a second type block, there is no sub branch connected thereto.

In the current state, there is no sub branch connected to B ₃ , but a new sub block corresponding to B ₃₁ may be generated and connected to B _{3 later} . In this case, a sub branch connected to B ₃ may be newly created.

In addition, a new subblock corresponding to B ₃₂ may be generated and connected to B _{31 later} . In this case, the sub branch connected to B ₃ may be extended.

After the first block is generated, the first type block and the second type block are generated and connected to the main branch 1000. The first type block and the second type block are connected according to the generation order of each block.

In a blockchain system, a first type block, a second type block, and a sub block may be generated. In this case, what kind of block is generated may be determined according to an event based on data included in the block.

For example, when the generated event is a type 1 event, a block including data of the generated type 1 event may be generated and connected to the type 1 block. In addition, when the generated event is a second type event, a block including data of the generated second type event may be generated and connected to the second type block. In addition, when the generated event is a third type event, a block including data of the generated third type event may be generated and connected to a sub block.

The criteria for distinguishing the type 1 event, the type 2 event, and the type 3 event may be changed in various ways according to the preference and judgment of the person designing the block.

Blocks other than the first block among the blocks included in the main branch 1000 include hash values of at least some of the blocks generated immediately before the corresponding block in the main branch 1000. In detail, blocks may be connected to each other by including a hash value of at least a portion of a block generated immediately before the block header.

This applies regardless of whether the block is a first type block or a second type block.

Referring to FIG. 5, in the case of B ₅ , which is a first type block, a block generated immediately before B5 in the main branch 1000 corresponds to B ₄ , which is a second type block. B ₅ comprises a hash value H ₄ of at least a portion of B ₄ . Also the first-type blocks of a block generated immediately before the B ₆ in the main branch 1000. In the case of B ₆ B ₅ corresponds to the first-type blocks. B ₆ comprises a hash value H ₅ of at least a portion of B ₅ .

In addition, in the case of the B ₃ 2-type blocks in the block B ₃ generated from the immediately preceding main branch (1000) corresponds to the B ₂ Type 1 block. B ₃ comprises a hash value H ₂ of at least a portion of B ₂ . Also, in the case of B ₄ , which is a second type block, a block generated immediately before B ₄ in the main branch 1000 corresponds to B ₃ , which is a second type block. B ₄ comprises a hash value H ₃ of at least a portion of B ₃ .

The second type block includes the first type block and the subsequent type block. The first type 2 block means the first block generated among the type 2 blocks. Subsequent second type blocks mean blocks generated after the first type 2 blocks.

Referring to FIG. 5, the first type 2 blocks were marked with rounded rectangles of thick borders, and the second type blocks were marked with rounded rectangles of general borders. Referring to FIG. 5, B _{1 corresponds} to the first second type block and B ₃ and B _{4 correspond} to the subsequent second type block.

The subsequent second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before the corresponding second type block in the main branch 1000. Specifically, subsequent second type blocks may be linked to include a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block just generated in the block header. Here, the immediately preceding second type block may be the first second type block or the subsequent second type block.

Specifically, if written for the B _3, B ₃ a Type 2 block generated immediately before corresponds to B _1. B ₃ comprises a hash value H ₁ of at least a portion of B ₁ . And it will be described with reference to B _4, B ₄ of the second-type block generated immediately before corresponds to B _3. B ₄ comprises a hash value H ₃ of at least a portion of B ₃ .

As described above, the second type block B ₃ generated second of the second type blocks includes a hash value H ₁ of at least a portion of the _first type 2 block B ₁ .

Subsequent second type blocks will contain two hash values. Specifically, in the case of B ₃ , at least part of the hash value H ₂ of B ₂ as a hash value of at least part of the immediately preceding block, and at least part of B ₁ as a hash value of at least part of the immediately preceding second type block. Contains a hash value of H ₁ . Subsequent type 2 blocks may include two hash values separately.

In some cases, however, the two hash values may be the same. Specifically, in the case of B _4, with at least a portion of the hash value of the immediately preceding block includes at least a portion of the hash value (H ₃₎ of B _3, just before the second-type blocks, at least some of the hash values in the Fig. B ₃ at least Some hash value (H ₃ ). Subsequent second type blocks may include two hash values. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the subsequent second type block may separately include two hash values. However, subsequent second type blocks may contain only one duplicate hash value.

In some cases, B ₄ is at least at least the hash value of the part of B _3, including at least part of the hash value of the B ₃ including a part of the hash value and immediately before the at least a portion of the hash value of the second-type block immediately before the block It may be different. This may be determined depending on how the hash value is calculated from the data of B ₃ .

The first second type block contains a hash value of at least a portion of the first block. Specifically, B ₁ comprises a hash value of at least a portion of B ₀ .

As shown in FIG. 5, when the block immediately after the first block B ₀ is the first second type block B ₁ , the first second type block B ₁ is a hash value H of at least a portion of the immediately preceding block. ₀ ) and the hash value H ₀ of at least a part of the first block B ₀ are the same. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the first second type block B ₁ may separately include two hash values. However, the first second type block B ₁ may include only one hash value that overlaps.

Unlike in FIG. 5, if the B ₁ block is the first type block and the first second type block is the B ₂ block, the B ₂ block includes H ₁ as a hash value of at least a portion of the previous block, and the first block. Will contain H ₀ as the hash value of at least a portion of. In this case, H ₀ and H ₁ may be included separately.

Using such a blockchain system, it is possible to store and use only some blocks depending on the type of data that a particular node wants to verify authenticity.

For example, it is assumed that a specific node wants to verify only data of a type 2 event. As described above, the data of the type 2 event is included in the type 2 block. Therefore, the specific node can store only the first block and the second type block, and verify the data using the specific block.

Specifically, in FIG. 5, when a specific node wants to verify data stored in B ₇ , the specific node only needs to store only the first block and the second type block of the main branch 1000. That is, the specific node stores only five blocks in total. This is to store all the blocks of all the blockchain consisting of a total of 13, or to store a smaller number of blocks than to store all of the blocks of the main branch 1000 consisting of a total of eight.

In addition, in FIG. 5, when a specific node wants to verify data stored in B ₄₂ , the specific node stores only the first block of the main branch 1000, the second type block, and the sub block of the sub branch including B ₄₂ . do. That is, the specific node stores only seven blocks in total. This is to store a smaller number of blocks than to store all blocks of all 13 blockchains.

As such, the blockchain system of the present invention has the advantage that not all nodes need to store all blocks of the blockchain. This has the advantage of reducing the computing work that the node has to bear and the storage space that the node has to reserve. This allows mobile devices and wearable devices with relatively limited computing power and storage space to easily participate as nodes in the blockchain system.

Referring to Figure 6, it will be described with respect to the blockchain system according to another embodiment of the present invention. 6 is an exemplary block diagram of a blockchain system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

For convenience of description, some embodiments of the present invention will be omitted with reference to FIG. 5 while the embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to FIG. 6.

The blockchain system of the present invention includes a main branch 1000 and sub branches 1002 and 1005.

The first second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the block immediately before the first second type block. That is, unlike the description with reference to FIG. 5, the first second type block does not include the hash value H ₀ of the first block B ₀ , but rather the hash value of at least a portion of the block immediately before the first second type block. It is to include.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 6, the first second type block corresponds to B ₂ . Based on B ₂ , the immediately preceding block corresponds to B ₁ . Thus B ₂ comprises at least a portion of the hash value H ₁ of B ₁ .

The first second type block may include two or more hash values of at least a portion of the previous block, or include one. Referring to FIG. 6, the first second type block B ₂ is shown to include at least a portion of the hash value H ₁ of B ₁ , but is not limited thereto.

In the blockchain system of FIG. 6, it is assumed that a specific node wants to verify only data of a type 2 event. As described above, the data of the type 2 event is included in the type 2 block. Accordingly, the specific node may store only the block immediately before the first type 2 block and the type 2 block, and verify data using the type node.

In detail, in FIG. 6, when a specific node wants to verify data stored in B ₇ , the specific node needs to store only the block immediately before the first type 2 block and the type 2 block of the main branch 1000. That is, the specific node stores only five blocks in total. This is to store all the blocks of all block chains consisting of 14, or to store a smaller number of blocks than to store all the blocks of the main branch 1000 consisting of a total of nine.

In the above, embodiments of the blockchain system of the present invention have been described. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment and the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and variations will be possible in view of those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be defined not only by the claims of the present specification but also by the equivalents of the claims.

100, 200: block
110, 210: block header
120, 220: block body
1000: main branch
1001, 1002, 1004, 1005: sub branch

Claims (10)

In a blockchain system,
A main branch comprising a genesis block and at least one second type block,
Blocks included in the main branch are connected according to the generation order of blocks, starting with the first block,
The block included in the main branch except for the first block includes a hash value of at least a portion of a block generated immediately before the corresponding block in the main branch,
And at least some of the second type blocks include hash values of at least some of the second type blocks generated immediately before the corresponding second type blocks in the main branch.
According to claim 1,
The at least part of the second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the block generated immediately before the at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before the block chain system.
According to claim 1,
When the hash value of at least a portion of the immediately generated block included in the at least some second type block and the at least some hash values of the immediately generated second type block are the same, only one hash value is included. Blockchain system.
According to claim 1,
The second type block includes a first second type block generated first of the second type blocks and a subsequent second type block generated after the first second type block,
And the subsequent second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the second type block generated immediately before the corresponding second type block in the main branch.
The method of claim 4, wherein
And the first second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the first block.
The method of claim 4, wherein
And the first second type block includes a hash value of at least a portion of the block immediately before the first second type block and does not include a hash value of at least a portion of another block.
According to claim 1,
The second type block is a blockchain system that allows forking with the second type block as a root block.
According to claim 1,
The second type block is a blockchain system that allows sub-blocks to be connected using the second type block as a root block.
According to claim 1,
And a sub branch forked using at least a portion of the second type block as a root block.
According to claim 1,
And a sub branch including at least one sub block connected with at least a portion of the second type block as a root block.

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