# US 2018/0323979 A1 · Blockchain for open scientific research

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- Number: US 2018/0323979 A1
- Document ID: US20180323979A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/588,387
- Filed: 2017-05-05
- Published: 2018-11-08
- Earliest claimed: 2017-05-05
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Jae-Wook Ahn; Maria D. Chang; Ravindranath Kokku; Patrick Watson
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180323979A1

## CPC

- H04L 9/3297: {involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps}
- G06F 16/183: {Provision of network file services by network file servers, e.g. by using NFS, CIFS (network file access protocols H04L67/1097)}
- G06F 21/6209: {to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself}
- G06F 21/64: Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
- H04L 9/0631: {Substitution permutation network [SPN], i.e. cipher composed of a number of stages or rounds each involving linear and nonlinear transformations, e.g. AES algorithms}
- H04L 9/0637: {Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]}
- H04L 9/0643: {Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC}
- H04L 9/3236: {using cryptographic hash functions}
- G06F 21/606: {by securing the transmission between two devices or processes}
- G06F 2221/2107: File encryption
- H04L 9/50: {using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees}
- H04L 2209/60: Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
- 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

Techniques facilitating using a blockchain system that integrates the trustworthiness of the blockchain concept with open scientific research by generating a blockchain of the experiments formed, data collected, analyses performed, and results achieved are provided herein. In an example, the blockchain system can form a blockchain representing a research project, wherein the blockchain comprises a first block of research data and a second block of analysis data representing a log of an analysis performed on the research data. Summary blocks and correction blocks can also be added to the blockchain representing the post analysis of the research results. One or more of the subsequent blocks can be linked to the preceding blocks using information in block headers that can also serve to determine whether modifications to the blocks have been performed.

## Claims

### Claim at position 1

1-9. (canceled)

### Claim 10

A system, comprising:
a memory that stores computer executable components; and
a processor that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable component comprise:
a data collection component that creates a master data block from a data entry blockchain, wherein the data entry blockchain comprises a group of data entry blocks that are linked to each other, and wherein the master data block comprises a first header and data from the group of data entry blocks, wherein the header further comprises a first time stamp, an identifier that identifies a source of the data, and a first hash based on the data; and
an analysis component that creates an analysis block comprising a log of an analysis performed on the data and a second header that comprises a second time stamp, a link to the master data block, and a second hash based on the log of the analysis, wherein the analysis block and the master data block comprise a blockchain.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the computer executable components further comprise:
an inspection component that creates a summary block comprising a summary of the data, a summary of the analysis and a result of the analysis, and a third header comprising a link to the analysis block.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The system of claim 11, wherein the computer executable components further comprise:
a correction component that rates a reliability of the result of the analysis based on the summary of the analysis and the log of the analysis, wherein the reliability is associated with a number of attempts to achieve the result of the analysis.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the group of data entry blocks are retrieved from a public ledger database.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the link to the master data block in the analysis block is the first hash.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The system of claim 10, wherein the group of data entry blocks are associated with respective data gathering sessions.

### Claim at position 8

16-20. (canceled)

### Claim 21

A system, comprising:
a memory that stores computer executable components; and
a processor that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable component comprise:
a data collection component that:
receives a first file having experimental data;
generates a first block from the first file, wherein the first block comprises a first header and the experimental data, and wherein the header further comprises a first time stamp, an identifier that identifies a source of the experimental data, and a first hash based on the experimental data; and
an analysis that generates a second block based on a second file that comprises a log of an analysis performed on the experimental data, wherein the second block comprises the log of the analysis and a second header that comprises a second time stamp, a link to the first block, and a second hash based on the log of the analysis; and
an inspection component that generates a third block comprising a summary of the experimental data and the analysis and a result of the analysis.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The system of claim 21, wherein the inspection component also:
joins the third block to a blockchain associated with the first block and the second block by placing a link to the second block in a third header of the third block, and wherein the computer executable components further comprise:
a correction component that rates a reliability of the result of the analysis, wherein the reliability is based on the summary of the analysis data and the log of the analysis and is associated with a number of modifications to an analysis procedure.

### Claim 23

A computer program product to generate a blockchain using open scientific data, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
generate a master data block from a data entry blockchain, wherein the data entry blockchain comprises a group of data entry blocks that are linked to each other, wherein the master data block comprises a first header and data from the data entry blocks, and wherein the header further comprises a first time stamp, an identifier that identifies a source of the data, and a first hash based on the data; and
generate an analysis block comprising a log of an analysis performed on the data and a second header that comprises a second time stamp, a link to the master data block, and a second hash based on the log of the analysis, wherein the analysis block and the master data block comprise a blockchain.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the processor to:
generate a summary block comprising a summary of the data, a summary of the analysis and a result of the analysis, and a third header comprising a link to an analysis block entity graph is traversed to a depth based on a defined criterion related to processing efficiency.

### Claim 25 (depends on 23)

The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the processor to:
rate a reliability of the result of the analysis based on the summary of the analysis and the log of the analysis, wherein the reliability is associated with a number of attempts to achieve the result of the analysis.