WO2020056570A1

WO2020056570A1 - Sharding mechanism-based block generation method for block network, and block network system

Info

Publication number: WO2020056570A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/106090
Authority: WO
Inventors: 陈泰元; 黄伟宁; 欧曜玮; 郭博钧; 赵子为
Original assignee: 柯宾汉数位金融科技有限公司
Priority date: 2018-09-18
Filing date: 2018-09-18
Publication date: 2020-03-26
Also published as: TWI677220B; TW202013941A

Abstract

A sharding mechanism-based block generation method for a block network, and a block network system. The method comprises the following steps: a first node acquiring a plurality of entries of data based on a blockchain protocol (S10); the node distributing the data to a plurality of groups, and performing, in parallel, a block generation process with respect to the data in the respective groups; and the first node generating a new block according to operation results of all groups (S14). The block generation method for a block network and the block network system enable effective utilization of operation capability of a node, and enable effective prevention of denial-of-service attacks.

Description

Block generation method of block network and block network system using sharding mechanism

Technical field

The invention relates to a block generation method and a block network system of a block network using a sharding mechanism, and in particular, to a method and a method for using the sharding mechanism to more effectively generate blocks in a block network and Block network system.

Background technique

In recent years, various virtual currencies (CryptoCurrency) based on blockchain technology have begun to be widely used and popular on the Internet, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, etc., and the daily transactions of these virtual currencies The amount is more than 10 million US dollars, and is constantly growing. Currently, Wikipedia, Dell Computer, Newegg, PayPal and other famous companies and institutions support the use of Bitcoin or other virtual currencies as transaction currencies. Virtual currency is different from general currency and has no entity. However, the reliability of virtual currency and its transactions can be supported by blockchain technology.

Blockchain technology is a technical solution that does not rely on third parties to store, verify, transfer and communicate network data through its own distributed nodes. Therefore, from the perspective of financial accounting, some people regard blockchain technology as a decentralized and open decentralized large-scale network book (public ledger). Anyone can use the same technical standard at any time. Add your own information, extend the blockchain, and continue to meet the data entry needs brought by various needs.

For example, the public ledger used by Bitcoin is a set of decentralized storage schemes based on the Proof-of-Work mechanism, which usually has extremely high security and anti-attack characteristics. To effectively attack the security of the Bitcoin blockchain, computing power of up to thousands of TH / s is required, which has exceeded the total computing power of the top 500 supercomputers in the world by a hundred times.

In blockchain technology, each computer can form a node to obtain information or data from the blockchain network, such as transaction data, and then the node can use the data to generate blocks including hash operations. The program or block generates a program to generate a new block, and connects the newly generated block to the end of the blockchain stored by the node. In addition to the hash operation of the information or data itself, a proof-of-work mechanism is used in the aforementioned blockchain system adopted by Bitcoin to determine whether the block can be generated, and the proof-of-work is solved by nodes. The hash operation is used to achieve it. Therefore, in order to obtain the right to generate new blocks, each node will spend a large amount of computing power on the hash calculation of the workload proof.

The development of blockchain has not only been used for the purpose of virtual currency, decentralized technology can be applied to many different technical fields, and proof of work is no longer the sole means of generating blocks. In some blockchain architectures, each node can process data and produce blocks at the same time. Under this architecture, no proof of work is needed, so the node's computing power can be liberated by the hash operation of the proof of work to generate blocks. The speed will also increase accordingly. However, as mentioned earlier, the node on the blockchain network is a computer host, and the computer host will have different computing capabilities according to its specifications. When the computing power of the computer host is far greater than the computing power required to perform the block generation program or the block generation program, the computing power of the computer host is a waste.

Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new block generation method or system to solve the above problems.

Summary of the Invention

In view of this, an object of the present invention is to provide a block generation method and a block network system of a block network using a sharding mechanism, which can more effectively utilize computer computing capabilities to generate blocks, and can effectively prevent dispersion Distributed Denial-of-service attack (DDoS).

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention discloses a method for generating blocks of a block network using a sharding mechanism, which is executed on a computer system including a plurality of nodes. The method is characterized in that the method includes the following steps:

A first node among the nodes obtains a plurality of data based on a blockchain agreement;

The first node disperses the data in a plurality of groups, and simultaneously performs a block generation process on the data in the groups in parallel; and

The first node forms a block according to the results of the block generation procedures performed by the groups.

The nodes include a plurality of second nodes, and the method further includes the following steps:

The first node generates the block, and sends a broadcast corresponding to the block;

The second nodes respectively receive the broadcast to confirm the block; and

When the block is confirmed by more than a predetermined number of the second nodes, the block becomes a confirmed block.

Among them, the predetermined number is two-thirds of the total number of these nodes.

Which further includes the following steps:

The second node then distributes the received broadcast in one of a plurality of second groups.

The first node is a computer host, and the method further includes:

The first node determines the number of the groups according to the computing power of the computer host.

Which further includes the following steps:

The first node distributes the data among the groups through a consistent hash operation.

A block network system applying a fragmentation mechanism is also disclosed, which is characterized by:

A blockchain network that stores multiple pieces of data; and

A first computing device connected to the blockchain network to obtain the data from the blockchain network. The first computing device has a processor and stores a block generation program, and the processor selectively executes Multiple procedures for generating the block;

Wherein, after the first computing device obtains the data, the processor distributes the data to a plurality of groups, and simultaneously performs the block generation procedure on the data in the groups in parallel, and A block is formed according to the operation result of the block generating program.

Wherein, after the first computing device forms the block, the first computing device sends a broadcast corresponding to the block through the blockchain network.

Wherein, it further includes a plurality of computing devices. The computing devices include the first computing device and a plurality of second computing devices. The second computing devices are connected to the blockchain network and pass through the blockchain network. The broadcast corresponding to the block is received, and the block is confirmed according to the broadcast. When a predetermined number of the second computing devices confirm the block, the block becomes a confirmed block.

The processor determines the number of the groups according to its own computing power.

The computing device stores a consistent hash computing program, and the processor executes the consistent hash computing program to disperse the information to the groups.

In summary, the block generation method and system of the blockchain of the present invention can effectively utilize the computing power of nodes, improve the speed of generating blocks and the efficiency of processing data, and can effectively prevent distributed denial of service attacks. -of-serviceattack (DDoS).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a flowchart illustrating steps of a block generation method of a block network using a fragmentation mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a functional block diagram of a block network system that can execute the method of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a fragmentation mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a block generation method of a block network according to another embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

In order to make the advantages, spirits and features of the present invention easier and clearer, it will be detailed and discussed in the following with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is worth noting that these specific embodiments are only representative specific embodiments of the present invention, and the specific methods, devices, conditions, materials, etc. exemplified therein are not intended to limit the present invention or corresponding specific embodiments. In addition, each device in the figure is only used to express its relative position and is not depicted in its actual proportion, which will be described together.

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B. FIG. 1A shows a flowchart of steps of a method for generating a block of a block network using a fragmentation mechanism according to a specific embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B shows a method for executing the method of FIG. 1A. Functional block diagram of the block network system 2. As shown in FIG. 1B, the blockchain network system 2 may include a blockchain network 20 and a plurality of computing devices connected to the blockchain network 20, and the computing devices may be connected to each other through the blockchain network 20. A computing device may also be referred to as a node, which may be a computer host or any device with logic computing capabilities. Each computing device can perform the same computing function, but for the sake of convenience, the central computing device shown in FIG. 1B is defined as the first node 22, and other computing devices are defined as the second node 24. . In practice, any computing device or node connected to the blockchain network 20 can be used as the first node 22 to perform the same computing procedure. For each node, a computing device or node other than itself can Is defined as second node 24.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the block generation method of the block network in this embodiment can be executed by a computer system, and further, it can be performed by the block network system 2 shown in FIG. 1B. The block generation method of the blockchain in this embodiment may include the following steps: Step S10, the first node 22 (ie, the first computing device) obtains a plurality of data based on the blockchain agreement; step S12, the first node 22 will The obtained data is dispersed in a plurality of groups, and a block generation process is performed on the data in each group in parallel at the same time; and in step S14, the first node forms a new area according to the results of the block generation process performed by all the groups. Piece.

The blockchain network 20 can store multiple pieces of data, which can include different forms or contents according to different application fields. For example, these data can be financial transaction data, medical medical records, identity verification data, academic data, or human resources. Smart learning materials, etc. In step S10, the first node 22 may obtain one or more pieces of the plurality of pieces of data from the blockchain network 20 based on the blockchain agreement. In practice, the first node 22 can set conditions by itself to search and obtain qualified data from the blockchain network 20. Please note that the above available data refers to data that has not yet been written in any block. .

In step S12, the first node 22 may distribute the acquired pieces of data into a plurality of groups, and perform a block generation process on the data in the plurality of groups in parallel at the same time. The number of groups can be determined by the first node 22, and the first node 22 can simultaneously execute a block generation program equivalent to the number of groups to perform hash operations on the data in each group in parallel. Please note that in this specific embodiment, instead of forming a group first and then executing the equivalent block generation procedure by the number of groups, the group is determined by the number of block generation procedures that the first node 22 can execute simultaneously. The number of groups, where the term group is used only to indicate that data will be processed by a fragment or block generation program in one of the first nodes 22, that is, a fragment or block generation program is Represents a group. The description of the debris is described later. The process of performing step S12 by the first node 22 is detailed below.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the first node 22 may include a processor 220. The first node 22 in this embodiment is a computer host or a device with logic operation capabilities, and the processor 220 may be a computer host or a central processing unit (CPU) of a device with logic operation capabilities. In addition, the first node 22 may store a consistent hashing program and a block generating program. The consistent hashing program may distribute the acquired data in various groups, and the block generating program may Processing the data in a group, including hashing each data. In practice, the consistent hash calculation program and the block generation program can be established in the database or memory of the first node 22.

The processor 220 may calculate or learn from the historical data the computing power required by the processor 22 to execute a block generating program, and compare it with the total computing power of the processor 220 to obtain a location for executing a block generating program. Required CPU usage. In this way, the processor 220 can know the number of block generation programs that can be executed simultaneously, that is, the number of groups.

After the first node 22 obtains data from the blockchain network 20, the processor 220 may execute a consistent hashing operation program to disperse the data into groups. Then, the processor 220 performs a block generation on each group. program. The block generation program includes a hash calculation program. The data in each group can be hashed to obtain the hash value of these data. In practice, the processor 220 may first obtain the required amount of data, and then disperse all the obtained data into each group, and simultaneously execute a corresponding number of block generation procedures to simultaneously process the data in each group. Alternatively, in another specific embodiment, the processor 220 may perform a consistent hash calculation procedure after obtaining a piece of data, and classify the piece of data into one of the groups, and then generate the data in a block corresponding to the group. The program processes this information.

After the data in the foregoing groups are calculated, in step S14, the processor 220 of the first node 22 may write the results of the block generation procedures performed by all the groups into a block to generate a new block, and This newly generated block can be connected to the last end of the originally stored blockchain in the first node 22.

In this specific embodiment, the method in which the processor 220 of the first node 22 disperses multiple pieces of data and executes multiple block generation programs at the same time to perform parallel operation on all the data, that is, a division of the block generation method of the present invention. Shard mechanism. In other words, the first node 22 can be further divided into a plurality of fragments, and each fragment executes a block generation program at the same time.

Please refer to FIG. 1B and FIG. 2 together. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a fragmentation mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the aforementioned first node 22 may generate a block chain C, and the block chain C includes a plurality of blocks B. A block B may be generated by the processor 220 of the first node 22 in a plurality of block generating programs at the same time. In this specific embodiment, the first node 22 may be further divided into three fragments, which are respectively 2200, 2202, and 2204. To represent. Please note that the division of the first node 22 into three fragments is not a physical or internal operation function divided into three parts, but rather means that the processor 220 can execute three block generation programs simultaneously, which is equivalent to the first node 22 separately. Three fragments with arithmetic processing power. As mentioned above, the number of fragments sharded by the first node 22 may be determined according to the computing capability of the processor 220. For example, if a CPU or processor executes a block generation program, it takes 30% of the CPU usage. It can be known that this CPU can execute a maximum of 3 block generation programs at the same time, occupying 90% of the CPU usage, so The CPU may determine that the number of groups or fragments is three, that is, the situation where the specific embodiment is divided into three pieces. In practice, the number of shards can be determined by the CPU or processor as the maximum number of shards (determined by the maximum computing power), or the number of shards can also be determined based on the upper limit of CPU usage. For example, the user can set the CPU usage of the node's processor to generate blocks to not exceed 70%. If a block generating program requires 30% of the CPU usage, the processor can divide into two fragments. The block generation process is performed at the same time.

In this specific embodiment, the first node 22 may execute a block generation procedure on the divided three

fragments

2200, 2202, and 2204 to perform hash operations on data in different groups to form a sub-block B0. , B1, and B2, and each sub-block contains the results of multiple pieces of data processed by the block generation program. Then, the first node 22 may generate a block B according to the results of the sub-blocks B0, B1, and B2. Please note that although the three

fragments

2200, 2202, and 2204 of this embodiment can calculate three subblocks B0, B1, and B2, respectively, the three subblocks B0, B1, and B2 are not determined in the blockchain C The block is a collection of results obtained through the calculation of the block generation program. Block B is a new block that is actually connected to the end of the blockchain C. In other words, from the perspective of other nodes or other computing devices (the second node 24) in the blockchain network 20, the first node 22 generates only one block B in a time. However, because the first node 22 executes three block generation programs with three fragments at the same time, it can process three times the amount of data at the same time, so the speed of generating block B is faster, and the computing power of the processor or CPU is fully used .

On the other hand, based on its decentralized characteristics, the block network system 2 can prevent distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) to a certain extent. In the foregoing specific embodiment, a node or a computing device can be further divided into multiple fragments and process data in parallel. Even if a DDoS attack is encountered, the fragmentation mechanism can make the attack more dispersed and avoid system overload, so it can be further prevented DDoS attack.

Although the processor 220 of the first node 22 in FIG. 2 is divided into three

fragments

2200, 2202, and 2204 for data processing, the practice is not limited to this. As mentioned earlier, depending on the computing power of the processor, it can also be divided into 2 fragments or more than 3 fragments. In addition, the sharding mechanism can also determine the number of shards when generating new blocks. For example, although the previous block can be generated using three shards at the same time, when the new block is generated, Other high-priority procedures are in operation, and the first node 22 can be divided into two fragments or no fragments to generate new blocks.

Please refer to FIG. 1B and FIG. 3 together. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a block generation method of a block network according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method in this specific embodiment may be executed after the method in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 3, the block generation method of the block network of the specific embodiment includes the following steps: Step S30, the first node 22 generates a new block, and sends a broadcast of the corresponding block; Step S32, the second node 24 receives Broadcast, and confirm the block according to the broadcast; and step S34, when the predetermined number of second nodes 24 confirm the block, the block becomes a confirmed block.

In step S30, after the aforementioned first node 22 generates a new block through the fragmentation mechanism, it can send a broadcast corresponding to the new block to the blockchain network 20. The content of the broadcast contains information about the newly generated block, such as the creator code of the block (Block Proposer ID), the hash value of the block (Block Hash), the hash value of the previous block of the block ( Previous Block), creator signature (Signature), block height (Block height), and confirmation data (Acks).

Next, in step S32, each second node 24 can receive the broadcast from the first node 22 by the blockchain network 20, and confirm the block using the confirmation data in the broadcast. When the confirmation is correct, the second node 24 may write the confirmation information in the foregoing broadcast into the new block when it generates a new block. Please note that as mentioned above, the second node 24 can have the same capabilities as the first node 22, so when the second node 24 generates a new block, it can also use the fragmentation mechanism as the first node 22 to effectively utilize its processing. Computing power. In addition, the second node 24 can also send a broadcast corresponding to this block to other nodes on the blockchain network 20 after generating a new block. In other words, for the second node 24 that generates a new block and sends a broadcast, it is regarded as the first node 22 itself, and other nodes than itself are regarded as the second node 24. In this way, each node can maintain its own block chain, and the blocks of different nodes 'blockchains can confirm each other, and the blocks of different nodes' blockchains can be further connected to each other to form a block network (Blocklattice). Guarantee the correctness of the block data.

On the other hand, since each node can be used as the first node to generate a new block and send a broadcast to other nodes, each node may receive multiple broadcasts from other nodes before generating a new block. When a node receives multiple broadcasts, the multiple broadcasts and the acknowledgement data in the broadcast can also be distributed to multiple groups or fragments formed by this node, and each fragment can confirm the broadcasts in the corresponding group. Therefore, one node can also acknowledge multiple broadcasts from other nodes in parallel at the same time. In practice, when the number of nodes in the block network system is rapidly expanding, the generation of a large number of new blocks will also bring a large number of broadcasts, and the node's sharding mechanism can quickly handle a large number of broadcasts to maintain the blockchain network. Its stability.

In step S34 of FIG. 3, when the predetermined number of second nodes 24 confirms the broadcast sent by the first node 22, the block corresponding to the broadcast becomes a confirmed block and is stored in the first node 22. The blockchain that connects this block to the end also becomes a confirmed blockchain. The aforementioned predetermined number refers to two thirds of the total number of nodes or computing devices connected to the blockchain network 20. It is worth noting that because the newly generated block information in a blockchain contains the hash value of the previous block (Previous Block Hash), when the first node 22 generates a new block on its stored blockchain When this new block is confirmed by more than two-thirds of other nodes or computing devices, it is equivalent to confirming all the blocks on the blockchain to which the block is connected, thereby solving the Byzantine in the blockchain General issues (Byzantine Generals Problem).

To sum up, the method for generating a block of a blockchain and the nodes in a block network system of the present invention can perform a sharding mechanism according to the computing capability of the node itself, and then can perform hash operations on multiple data in parallel to generate new blocks . This can improve the efficiency of node computing power usage, increase the speed of generating new blocks, prevent DDoS attacks, and maintain the stability of the blockchain network.

With the above detailed description of the preferred embodiments, it is hoped that the features and spirit of the present invention may be more clearly described, rather than limiting the scope of the present invention with the preferred embodiments disclosed above. On the contrary, the intention is to cover various changes and equivalent arrangements within the scope of the patent scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the patent scope of the present invention should be explained in the broadest sense according to the above description, so that it covers all possible changes and equal arrangements.

Claims

A block generation method of a block network using a sharding mechanism is executed on a computer system, the computer system includes a plurality of nodes, and is characterized in that the method includes the following steps:

A first node among the nodes obtains a plurality of data based on a blockchain agreement;

The first node disperses the data in a plurality of groups, and simultaneously performs a block generation process on the data in the groups in parallel; and

The first node forms a block according to the results of the block generation procedures performed by the groups.
The method of claim 1, wherein the nodes comprise a plurality of second nodes, and the method further comprises the following steps:

The first node generates the block, and sends a broadcast corresponding to the block;

The second nodes respectively receive the broadcast to confirm the block; and

When the block is confirmed by more than a predetermined number of the second nodes, the block becomes a confirmed block.
The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined number is two thirds of the total number of the nodes.
The method according to claim 2, further comprising the following steps:

The second node then distributes the received broadcast in one of a plurality of second groups.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first node is a computer host, and the method further comprises:

The first node determines the number of the groups according to the computing power of the computer host.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising the following steps:

The first node distributes the data among the groups through a consistent hash operation.
A block network system using a fragmentation mechanism is characterized by including:

A blockchain network that stores multiple pieces of data; and

A first computing device connected to the blockchain network to obtain the data from the blockchain network. The first computing device has a processor and stores a block generation program, and the processor selectively executes Multiple procedures for generating the block;

Wherein, after the first computing device obtains the data, the processor distributes the data to a plurality of groups, and simultaneously performs the block generation procedure on the data in the groups in parallel, and A block is formed according to the operation result of the block generating program.
The system of claim 7, wherein after the first computing device forms the block, the first computing device sends a broadcast corresponding to the block through the blockchain network.
The system according to claim 8, further comprising a plurality of computing devices, the computing devices including the first computing device and a plurality of second computing devices, the second computing devices being connected to the blockchain network Lu Bing receives the broadcast corresponding to the block through the blockchain network, and confirms the block according to the broadcast. When a predetermined number of the second computing devices confirm the block, the block becomes A confirmed block.
The system of claim 7, wherein the processor determines the number of the groups according to its own computing power.
The system according to claim 7, wherein the computing device stores a consistent hashing operation program, and the processor executes the consistent hashing operation program to disperse the information to the groups.