Amazon Wins Two Patents in Crypto
Amazon.com Inc. has just won two patents related to the cryptocurrency space. One is related to methods to protect digital signatures’ integrity and the second is focused on improving distributed ledger data storage. Both the patents were published by the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) on November 13.
Protecting Digital Signatures
Amazon had filed the first patent in April this year. This patent outlines a method for signature delegation which will protect the integrity of encrypted communications as well as digital signatures. This method will do so through the creation, distribution, validation as well as revocation of cryptographic keys that are used only once.
According to the patent, the keys will be arranged in a Merkle Tree structure, which is basically a binary tree made from hashes and constructed bottom up. Merkle Trees are a core part of Blockchain networks, since they allow large amounts of data to be securely and efficiently verified.
Using the Merkle Tree structure, Amazon’s encrypted systems will focus on tackling the delegation of a signing authority from one centralized entity to multiple subordinates that will be authorized to sign on the main authority’s behalf.
In situations where a cryptographic key has been marked invalid, the service first queries the Merkle Tree for keys that can be delegated. Then it provides a revocation value linked to the revoked key to the verifying entity. Amazon’s patent allows for the key revocation database to be used with Blockchain networks.
Distributed Data Storage
Distributed data storage is a thorny issue and many startups such as Sia, Filecoin, Storm and Storj have tried to resolve the issue using Blockchain technology. Often, these solutions have been combined with cloud storage options.
Amazon is the one of the few that has won a patent that gives a workable solution for the storage of such data.
The second patent, filed in December of 2015 and finally released today, is related to the issue of the storage of distributed data. This patent proposes a grid encoding method which will use a sets of collected shards. Each shard will represent the logical distribution of items of data that are stored in a particular grid.
According to the patent, this method of storage will minimize on redundancies in storage. It will also maximize the durability, availability and means of recovery of the data.
Besides filing for patents in distributed data, cryptography and Blockchain related areas, Amazon has also put in applications directly related to cryptocurrencies. In fact, in April, Amazon Technologies won a patent to create a streaming data marketplace which would allow users to access real-time cryptocurrency transaction information.