US 12,452,033 B2
Blockchain for general computation
Thomas Trevethan, London (GB); and Craig Steven Wright, London (GB)
Assigned to NCHAIN LICENSING AG, Zug (CH)
Filed by nChain Licensing AG, Zug (CH)
Filed on Jul. 10, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/769,344.
Application 18/769,344 is a continuation of application No. 17/991,777, filed on Nov. 21, 2022, granted, now 12,074,963.
Application 17/991,777 is a continuation of application No. 16/620,865, granted, now 11,509,455, issued on Nov. 22, 2022, previously published as PCT/IB2018/053979, filed on Jun. 4, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 1709188 (GB), filed on Jun. 9, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2024/0364498 A1, Oct. 31, 2024
Int. Cl. H04L 29/06 (2006.01); H04L 9/06 (2006.01); H04L 9/08 (2006.01); H04L 9/32 (2006.01); H04L 9/00 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 9/0637 (2013.01) [H04L 9/085 (2013.01); H04L 9/3218 (2013.01); H04L 9/3236 (2013.01); H04L 9/3271 (2013.01); H04L 9/3297 (2013.01); H04L 9/50 (2022.05)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
monitoring a computational task distribution system to detect a challenge to a proposer string provided by a proposer computer system in response to a request made by a requester computer system, the request specifying a computational task and a first digital asset associated with the request, the proposer string indicated by a hash of a solution to the computational task, the proposer string specifying a second digital asset referenced in an input to a proposer transaction associated with the proposer string;
in response to receiving the solution to the computational task, the requester computer system constructing a requester transaction including the first digital asset and the second digital asset;
locking the requester transaction for a challenge period and allowing unlocking the requester transaction by the proposer computer system if no challenge is issued after expiry of the challenge period to allow the proposer computer system to claim the first digital asset and the second digital asset from the requester transaction; and
in response to detecting the challenge, performing at least:
placing the first digital asset and the second digital asset under exclusive control of a group of nodes via a public key associated with the group of nodes, wherein the first and the second digital assets are configured to be released when a threshold number of members of the group of nodes generate a valid signature for the public key associated with the group of nodes;
resolving the challenge using a first blockchain network by at least selecting a solution from a set of solutions provided to the first blockchain network, the set of solutions at least including the proposer string; and
distributing, by the group of nodes, digital assets from the first digital asset and the second digital asset to one or more parties of the computational task distribution system based at least in part on the solution.