# US 11,444,749 B2 · Separating hashing from proof-of-work in blockchain environments > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,444,749 B2 - Document ID: US11444749B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/037,980 - Filed: 2020-09-30 - Published: 2021-07-22 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2020-01-17 - Assignees: Inveniam Capital Partners, Inc. - Applicants: Inveniam Capital Partners, Inc. - Inventors: Paul Snow - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11444749B2 ## CPC - H04L 9/0637: {Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]} - A61B 1/018: for receiving instruments - A61B 1/273: for the upper alimentary canal, e.g. oesophagoscopes or gastroscopes - A61J 1/05: for collecting, storing or administering blood, plasma or medical fluids {(multiple bags systems for separating or storing blood components A61M1/0209); Infusion or perfusion containers} - A61J 1/06: Ampoules or carpules (syringe ampoules or carpules A61M5/28) - A61K 49/006: {Biological staining of tissues in vivo, e.g. methylene blue or toluidine blue O administered in the buccal area to detect epithelial cancer cells, dyes used for delineating tissues during surgery} - A61L 24/001: {Use of materials characterised by their function or physical properties} - A61L 24/046: {obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds (A61L24/043 takes precedence)} - A61L 31/06: obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds {(A61L31/041 takes precedence)} - A61M 5/007: {for contrast media} - A61M 5/178: Syringes - A61M 5/329: {characterised by features of the needle shaft} - A61M 39/10: Tube connectors or tube couplings - G06F 12/0815: Cache consistency protocols - G06F 16/2379: {Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing} - G06F 16/2465: {Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases} - G06F 16/9014: {hash tables} - G06F 21/602: {Providing cryptographic facilities or services} - G06F 21/64: Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures - H04L 9/0643: {Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC} - H04L 9/0869: {involving random numbers or seeds} - H04L 9/3218: {using proof of knowledge, e.g. Fiat-Shamir, GQ, Schnorr, ornon-interactive zero-knowledge proofs} - H04L 9/3236: {using cryptographic hash functions} - H04L 9/3239: {involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD} - A61L 2300/442: Colorants, dyes - A61L 2400/06: Flowable or injectable implant compositions - G06F 2212/1016: Performance improvement - G06F 2216/03: Data mining - H04L 9/50: {using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - A61J: CONTAINERS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR MEDICAL OR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES; DEVICES OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR BRINGING PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS INTO PARTICULAR PHYSICAL OR ADMINISTERING FORMS; DEVICES FOR ADMINISTERING FOOD OR MEDICINES ORALLY; BABY COMFORTERS; DEVICES FOR RECEIVING SPITTLE - A61K: PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES (devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms A61J3/00; chemical aspects of, or use of materials for deodorisation of air, for disinfection or sterilisation, or for bandages, dressings, absorbent pads or surgical articles A61L; soap compositions C11D) - A61L: METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR STERILISING MATERIALS OR OBJECTS IN GENERAL; DISINFECTION, STERILISATION OR DEODORISATION OF AIR; CHEMICAL ASPECTS OF BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES; MATERIALS FOR BANDAGES, DRESSINGS, ABSORBENT PADS OR SURGICAL ARTICLES (preservation of bodies or disinfecting characterised by the agents employed A01N; preserving, e.g. sterilising, food or foodstuffs A23; preparations for medical, dental or toiletry purposes A61K) - A61M: DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY (introducing media into or onto the bodies of animals A61D7/00; means for inserting tampons A61F13/26; devices for administering food or medicines orally A61J; containers for collecting, storing or administering blood or medical fluids A61J1/05); DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY (surgery A61B; chemical aspects of surgical articles A61L); DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR {(Electrotherapy, e.g. producing anaesthesia by the use of alternating or intermittent currents A61N1/36021)} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Blockchain environments may mix-and-match different encryption, difficulty, and/or proof-of-work schemes when mining blockchain transactions. Each encryption, difficulty, and/or proof-of-work scheme may be separate, stand-alone programs, files, or third-party services. Blockchain miners may be agnostic to a particular coin's or network's encryption, difficulty, and/or proof-of-work schemes, thus allowing any blockchain miner to process or mine data in multiple blockchains. GPUs, ASICs, and other specialized processing hardware components may be deterred by forcing cache misses, cache latencies, and processor stalls. Hashing, difficulty, and/or proof-of-work schemes require less programming code, consume less storage space/usage in bytes, and execute faster. Blockchain mining schemes may further randomize byte or memory block access, further improve cryptographic security. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of deterring a specialized hardware processor in a blockchain environment, comprising: receiving, by a computer, a proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying, by the computer, a proof-of-work mechanism specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying, by the computer, a separate hashing algorithm that is separately specified by the proof-of-work target scheme from the proof-of-work mechanism; receiving, by the computer, a blockchain transaction associated with the blockchain environment; generating, by the computer, a hash value by hashing the blockchain transaction using the separate hashing algorithm that is separately specified by the proof-of-work target scheme; and generating, by the computer, a proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work mechanism using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm; wherein the proof-of-work mechanism discourages using the specialized hardware processor in the blockchain environment by causing a cache miss. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a difficulty algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising generating a difficulty by executing the difficulty algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising comparing the difficulty to the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a proof-of-work algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, further comprising generating the proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, further comprising comparing the proof-of-work result to the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 8 A miner system for mining a blockchain transaction associated with a blockchain environment, comprising: a central processing unit; and a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the central processing unit, perform operations, comprising: receiving a proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying a proof-of-work mechanism specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying a separate hashing algorithm that is separately specified by the proof-of-work target scheme from the proof-of-work mechanism; receiving the blockchain transaction; generating a hash value by hashing the blockchain transaction using the separate hashing algorithm; and generating a proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work mechanism using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm; wherein the proof-of-work mechanism that is separately specified from the separate hashing algorithm discourages mining of the blockchain transaction using an application-specific integrated circuit by causing a cache miss. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The miner system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a difficulty algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The miner system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise generating a difficulty by executing the difficulty algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The miner system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise comparing the difficulty to the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The miner system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a proof-of-work algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The miner system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise generating the proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The miner system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise comparing the proof-of-work result to the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 15 A memory device storing instructions that, when executed by a central processing unit, perform operations that mine a blockchain transaction associated with a blockchain environment, the operations comprising: receiving a proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying a proof-of-work mechanism specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment; identifying a separate hashing algorithm that is separately specified by the proof-of-work target scheme from the proof-of-work mechanism; receiving the blockchain transaction; generating a hash value by hashing the blockchain transaction using the separate hashing algorithm; and generating a proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work mechanism using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm; wherein the proof-of-work mechanism that is separately specified from the separate hashing algorithm discourages mining of the blockchain transaction using an application-specific integrated circuit by causing a cache miss. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The memory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a difficulty algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The memory device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise generating a difficulty by executing the difficulty algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The memory device of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise comparing the difficulty to the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The memory device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a proof-of-work algorithm that is specified by the proof-of-work target scheme associated with the blockchain environment. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The memory device of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise generating the proof-of-work result by executing the proof-of-work algorithm using the hash value generated by the separate hashing algorithm.