# US 12,225,108 B2 · Stranded blockchain

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- Number: US 12,225,108 B2
- Document ID: US12225108B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/974,271
- Filed: 2020-12-14
- Published: 2022-06-16
- Granted: 2025-02-11
- Earliest claimed: 2020-12-14
- Applicants: Brandon E. D'Amore; Gregory A. Piccionelli; Joel P. Thatcher
- Inventors: Brandon E. D'Amore; Gregory A. Piccionelli; Joel P. Thatcher
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12225108B2

## CPC

- H04L 9/0643: {Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC}
- G06F 16/219: {Managing data history or versioning (querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477)}
- G06F 16/2255: {Hash tables}
- H04L 9/3297: {involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps}
- 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)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A Smartblock that has at least two Blockchains that originates from it and terminates at a second Smartblock to create a Blockstrand where the blocks of the Blockchains contain data that is public, semi-private, or private and enable secure collaboration with the control and security provided for the collaborative work via the blocks of the Blockstrand.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of securely storing data across a network in a blockstrand distributed database, comprising:
generating a Smartblock;
linking a first plurality of data blocks into a first blockchain attached to the Smartblock;
linking at least a second plurality of data blocks into an at least second blockchain attached to the Smartblock; and
terminating the first blockchain and the at least second blockchain at a second Smartblock, wherein each of the data blocks in the first plurality of data blocks and the second plurality of data blocks includes an expiration field;
determining when an expiration threshold in each of the expiration field in each of the data blocks between the first Smartblock and the second Smartblock has been met, and
pruning the blockstrand by deleting the first Smartblock and the data nodes that were located between the first Smartblock and the second Smartblock.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of securely storing data across the network in the blockstrand distributed database of claim 1, wherein terminating at the second Smartblock includes generating a previous hash that includes hash data from at least one data block located in each of the first and second blockchains.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of securely storing data across the network in the blockstrand distributed database of claim 1, where the Smartblock is a data block with a Smartblock identifier.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of securely storing data across the network in the blockstrand distributed database of claim 3, wherein the Smartblock identifier is a smartblock flag.

### Claim 5

A system for securely storing data across the network in a blockstrand distributed database, comprising:
a processor;
a non-volatile computer memory storing computer-readable instructions configured to:
generating a Smartblock;
linking a first plurality of data blocks into a first blockchain attached to the Smartblock;
linking at least a second plurality of data blocks into an at least second blockchain attached to the Smartblock; and
terminating the first blockchain and the at least second blockchain at a second Smartblock, wherein each of the data blocks in the first plurality of data blocks and the second plurality of data blocks includes an expiration field;
determining when an expiration threshold in each of the expiration field in each of the data blocks between the first Smartblock and the second Smartblock has been met, and
pruning the blockstrand by deleting the first Smartblock and the data nodes that were located between the first Smartblock and the second Smartblock.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5 wherein said computer-readable instructions are further configured to:
terminate at the second Smartblock includes generating a previous hash that includes hash data from at least one data block located in each of the first and second blockchains.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5 wherein said computer-readable instructions include the Smartblock being a data block with a Smartblock identifier.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7 wherein said computer-readable instructions wherein the Smartblock identifier is a smartblock flag.