Methods for querying transaction information in blockchain networks

Key Glossary

Term Definitions Blockchain network A distributed database in which transaction information is encrypted and linked together and added to a list of records called "blocks". Accounting node A node in a blockchain network that is responsible for verifying and adding new blocks to the blockchain. Business node A node that connects to a blockchain network and conducts transactions, but does not usually participate in the blockchain consensus process. Proxy node A node that connects accounting nodes and business nodes and is responsible for verifying the identity and authority of business nodes. Public key certificate A digital certificate issued by a certificate authority, used to verify the identity of a business node. Private key A key used to digitally sign transaction information or query requests, which is kept by the business node itself. A key used in pairs with a public key to verify a digital signature. A digital signature is an encrypted code created using a private key to verify the source and integrity of a message. Digest An algorithm that compresses a message of arbitrary length into a fixed-length string, used to verify the integrity of data. Block header A portion of each block in a blockchain that contains metadata about the block, such as a timestamp, a hash value of the previous block, and a digest. Block body A portion of each block in a blockchain that contains actual transaction information. The target business node authority data indicates which target business nodes' data the business node has the right to query. Short answer questions

What is the technical problem solved?

What is the proposed solution?

What role does the proxy node play in the process of querying transaction information?

How does the public key certificate ensure the security of querying transaction information?

How does the business node perform signature verification on the block header of the data block?

How does the accounting node determine whether to return transaction information to the business node?

What does the target business node authority data refer to?

What are the two ways to obtain public key certificates mentioned?

How to solve the problem of privacy protection of transaction information?

What are the three application scenarios mentioned?

Short answer questions

The technical problem solved is: when not all nodes have sufficient resources and necessity to become consensus nodes, how to ensure the security of non-consensus nodes querying transaction information on the blockchain without reducing efficiency.

The proposed solution is: separate the accounting node and the business node, and introduce the proxy node and public key certificate mechanism, verify the identity of the business node at the proxy node, and return the transaction information within the authority of the business node after authorization.

The proxy node is a bridge connecting the accounting node and the business node. It is responsible for verifying the identity and authority of the business node and forwarding the query request to the corresponding accounting node.

The public key certificate is issued by the certificate authority and contains a public key specific to the business node. The proxy node uses the public key to verify the signature of the business node to ensure that only authorized business nodes can query transaction information.

The business node receives the block header sent by the accounting node, obtains the public key certificate of the accounting node, and uses the public key in it to decrypt the signature in the block header, and compares the decryption result with the summary in the block header. If they are consistent, the signature verification is successful.

The accounting node will make a judgment based on the target business node authority data of the business node. The accounting node will only return complete transaction information when the participant of the transaction information is the target business node that the business node is authorized to query.

The target business node authority data refers to the scope of business nodes that the business node is authorized to query. For example, a business node can only query the transaction information of its subsidiaries or affiliated companies, but not the transaction information of other unrelated companies.

The first way is that the certificate authority actively pushes the public key certificate generation notification to the proxy node, and the proxy node pulls it on demand; the second way is that the proxy node requests the accounting node to obtain the public key certificate stored on the blockchain.

The visibility of transaction information is controlled through the target business node permission data to ensure that only authorized business nodes can access the corresponding transaction information, thereby achieving privacy protection.

The three application scenarios mentioned are supply chain finance, electronic invoices, and legal digital currency.

Essay questions

Detailed explanation of how to apply it in the supply chain finance scenario and analyze its advantages.

Explain how to solve the trust problem in traditional blockchain networks, and use the electronic invoice scenario as an example.

Explore its role in protecting the privacy of transaction information and analyze its impact on the development of legal digital currency.

Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of proxy nodes and discuss their performance under different network scales.

Compare the differences with traditional blockchain networks in querying transaction information and look forward to its future development trends.