Patent · Granted 2023-06-13
Blockchain adapter, protocol, and access layer
Routing requests through chain adapters, with transactions signed by the client before broadcast.
USPTO · US11676139B2
An application working with different blockchains must handle different data and transaction formats. This patent describes adapters between the application and the chains: a service routes a chain-agnostic request to a suitable adapter and organizes ledger data into structured records.
From data access to signed transactions
Claim 1 goes beyond queries. It describes building unsigned transactions from chain data, sending them to the client for signing and broadcasting the signed transactions to the corresponding networks. It treats unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) and an asset balance on another network separately. Signing remains a client step.
GraphQL, a query language through which a client specifies the data it needs, appears in dependent claim 5. The patent should not be summarized as ownership of GraphQL or of every multichain interface.
What adapters leave distinct
An adapter reduces repeated interface work. It does not make chains share consensus or finality. Applications still need to understand confirmation, failure reporting and which chain produced a result. Unified access and cross-chain asset bridges address different problems.
Sources and learning
One interface, multiple chains: which differences must remain visible? explains the adapter flow, client signing and chain-specific meanings.
- What does OCAP unify?: access abstraction and the rules of the underlying chains.
- Weave chains into the network, 2019: historical architecture context.
- US20200005292A1: the US application publication, January 2, 2020.
- WO2020006138A1: the related PCT application publication, on the same date. It is not a worldwide grant.
The application claims provisional priority from June 29, 2018. Read the historical design separately from the networks, fields and endpoints a service supports today.
Patent record
| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Official title | Blockchain adapter, protocol, and access layer |
| Grant number | US11676139B2 |
| Application | 16/453,760 |
| Filed | 2019-06-26 |
| Granted | 2023-06-13 |
| Inventors | Zhihong Mao, Peiling Ding, Tian Chen |
| Assignee recorded in the grant | ArcBlock, Inc. |
| Jurisdiction | United States |
Read the grant and access its PDF. This records the grant event; it is not a current audit of maintenance fees, ownership changes or legal enforceability.
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