US 12,229,159 B2
Merkle proof entity
Wei Zhang, London (GB); Bassem Ammar, London (GB); Jack Owen Davies, London (GB); and Craig Steven Wright, London (GB)
Assigned to nChain Licensing AG, Zug (CH)
Appl. No. 18/034,028
Filed by nChain Licensing AG, Zug (CH)
PCT Filed Oct. 12, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/078213
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 26, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/100946, PCT Pub. Date May 19, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2017731 (GB), filed on Nov. 10, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0394063 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 16/20 (2019.01); G06F 16/22 (2019.01); G06F 16/27 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 16/27 (2019.01) [G06F 16/2272 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method of providing proof that a data item of a blockchain transaction exists on a blockchain, wherein the method is performed by a Merkle proof entity configured to store a set of transaction identifiers of respective blockchain transactions but not to publish new blockchain blocks to the blockchain, and wherein the method comprises:
obtaining, by the Merkle proof entity from a requesting party, target data item of a target blockchain transaction;
obtaining, by the Merkle proof entity, the target blockchain transaction;
obtaining, by the Merkle proof entity, a target Merkle proof for the target blockchain transaction, wherein a corresponding target Merkle root is contained within a block of the blockchain, and wherein obtaining the target Merkle proof comprises calculating an index of a target transaction identifier of the target blockchain transaction within a leaf layer of a corresponding target Merkle tree; and
outputting, by the Merkle proof entity, at least the target Merkle proof for use by the requesting party as proof that the target data item exists as part of the target blockchain transaction on the blockchain.