DETAILED ACTION
This is a non-final office action on the merits. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) has received claims 1 -14 in application 18/586,985.
Claims 1-14 are pending and have been examined on the merits.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yao (US20200364149A1).
Regarding Claim 1. Yao teaches:
A blockchain-based method for saving research data, the method being implemented by a processing system that is connected to a blockchain system through a communication network and that stores a user account associated with the blockchain system, the method comprising:
Yao - one smart contract corresponds to one contract address, which is the same as an external account address of a user in form (¶ 0041). an account (for example, Alice)…can initiate a transaction for invoking the first contract (¶ 0088).
sending a program deployment request that includes the user account and a target application program to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system to deploy the target application program that is associated with the user account on the blockchain system,
Yao - deploying a smart contract (Abstract). a from field is set to Bob…a to field is set to a null value… data field includes code…compiled into a bytecode (¶ 0040). a transaction for creating the first contract, uses the transaction as the request for deploying the first contract, and obtains the bytecode included in the contract module corresponding to the first contract. Specifically, a bytecode obtained after the contract is compiled can be obtained from a data field of the transaction for creating the contract (¶ 0050).
the target application program being configured to generate an output dataset that indicates an analysis result of an input dataset; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use of the target program, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - preprocessed, where the preprocessing includes parsing and decoding, and import and export functions are orchestrated, to generate a data structure needed for running. When the smart contract is invoked, execution can be directly performed based on the data structure, and no operations such as parsing, decoding, and target address modification are needed, thereby greatly improving execution efficiency. In addition, many smart contracts are repeatedly invoked and executed (¶ 0018).
generating and sending a processing request that includes a to-be-processed dataset to the blockchain system,
Note – Yao shows the invoke request carrying parameters (the to-be-processed data/inputs) and one of skill in the art would have understood that the function and parameters are sent to the blockchain by the Alice node (Yao 0042–43). See MPEP 2123
Yao - a transaction (Tx) field represents the smart contract to be invoked by using the transaction. A data field includes a method or a function name (set) and imported parameters (“Ant Forest, Green Charity”) in the contract to be invoked (¶ 0043).
in order for the blockchain system to analyze the to-be-processed dataset using the target application program so as to obtain a target dataset that corresponds to the to-be-processed dataset and that indicates an analysis result of the to-be-processed dataset, to store the to-be-processed dataset and the target dataset in the blockchain system, and to send the target dataset to the processing system.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - obtaining, from a cache memory, an instruction code and a function index table that correspond to the first contract and are stored in the cache memory during a phase of deploying the first contract, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of import and export functions in the first contract; determining a memory address corresponding to the invocation function based on the function index table; and executing an instruction code in the memory address based on the determined memory address (¶ 0012).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 2-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yao in view of Padmanabhan (US20190236559A1) in further view of Rice (US20190392536A1).
Regarding Claim 2. Yao does not teach, however, Padmanabhan discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 1, the processing system providing an editing interface for creating an application using a visual programming language,
Note – a visual editor provides a creation interface that uses a visual block language.
Padmanabhan - flow designer GUI displayed to the user device indicating drag and drop selections and sequencing of available smart contract conditions, triggers, and events available via the flow designer GUI (¶ 0298).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled of the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the deployment and invoking steps of Yao with the interface of Padmanabhan because doing so generates the application that can reflect changes based on the user input.
The combination of Yao and Padmanabhan does not disclose, however Rice discloses the following:
the method further comprising, before sending a program deployment request to the blockchain system, generating the target application program that is to be executed in the blockchain system using the visual programming language
Note – Contract code is generated first in the GUI then (afterwards) compiled and deployed (generated before deployment).
Rice - the invention provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the contracting parties to create a smart contract (¶ 0007). Once the smart contract is compiled, the system records it on the blockchain (¶ 0011).
based on a series of editing operation signals, where the editing operation signals are generated based on an input operation from a user through the editing interface.
Rice - FIG. 3 depicts a contract edit page 8 which allows the user to make revisions on an existing contract or propose new terms. The user may also make a note on what is changed in the update description section 9. FIG. 4 depicts a escrow edit page 10 which allows the user to edit the escrow for the contract. FIG. 5 depicts a contract review page 11 which allows the user to view a contract. If there are revisions on the contract, the contract review page 11 will display the prior version with the proposed changes. While not depicted in the figures, in one embodiment of the invention, revisions are presented as redlines or “track changes” in which additions are underlined and deletions have a strikethrough. These allow the other contracting party to easily see what revisions were made. Further still in another embodiment of the present invention, when a user views a contract in a view contract page (not depicted) the user has an option of viewing the final contract with or without redlines. The user may accept the proposed changes or reject and propose their own edits by selecting the corresponding button at the bottom. Similarly FIG. 6 depicts an escrow review page 12 which provides the same options for the escrow. FIG. 7 depicts an escrow transfer page 13 which allows the user to select a bank account to transfer funds into escrow (¶ 0044).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled of the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the deployment and invoking steps of Yao and the interface of Padmanabhan with the editing of Rice because doing so combines a visual code generator with an existing compile/deploy pipeline for usability and correctness to improve reliability.
Regarding Claim 3. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the visual programming language is a block-based visual programming language.
Note – a visual editor provides a creation interface that uses a visual block language.
Padmanabhan - flow designer GUI displayed to the user device indicating drag and drop selections and sequencing of available smart contract conditions, triggers, and events available via the flow designer GUI (¶ 0298).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled of the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the deployment and invoking steps of Yao and the interface of Padmanabhan with the editing of Rice because doing so combines a visual code generator with an existing compile/deploy pipeline for usability and correctness to improve reliability.
Regarding Claim 4. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 2, the processing system including a first electronic device, and a server that is electrically connected to the first electronic device through the communication network and that provides the editing interface to the first electronic device, wherein generating the target application program includes: the first electronic device generating and sending the editing operation signals to the server, where the editing operation signals are generated based on the input operation from the user through the editing interface; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - The apparatus is deployed in a virtual machine of any node in a blockchain network. The any node can be embodied as any device with computing and processing capabilities, any platform, or any device cluster. The virtual machine can be a virtual machine that adapts to a format of a smart contract, for example, a Solidity virtual machine or a WASM virtual machine. FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus for deploying a smart contract, according to an implementation. As shown in FIG. 6, the deployment apparatus 600 includes: a bytecode acquisition unit 61, configured to obtain, in response to a request for deploying a first contract, a bytecode included in a contract module corresponding to the first contract; a parsing unit 63, configured to parse the bytecode into executable instruction code, and store the executable instruction codes in a cache memory; an index table determining unit 65, configured to determine a function index table for import and export functions in the bytecode, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of the import and export functions; and an index table caching unit 67, configured to store the function index table in the cache memory (¶ 0098).
the server, in response to receiving the editing operation signals from the first electronic device, generating the target application program that is to be executed in the blockchain system using the visual programming language.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - a method for deploying a smart contract is provided, and the method is performed by a virtual machine of any node in a blockchain network, and includes: obtaining, in response to a request for deploying a first contract, a bytecode included in a contract module corresponding to the first contract; parsing the bytecode into executable instruction codes, and storing the executable instruction codes in a cache memory; determining a function index table for import and export functions in the bytecode, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of the import and export functions; and storing the function index table in the cache memory (¶ 0006).
Regarding Claim 5. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 4, wherein generating and sending a processing request to the blockchain system includes: the first electronic device generating and sending the to-be-processed dataset to the server; the server, after receiving the to-be-processed dataset from the first electronic device, generating the processing request based on the to-be-processed dataset and sending the processing request to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system to analyze the to-be-processed dataset using the target application program so as to obtain the target dataset, to store the to-be-processed dataset and the target dataset in the blockchain system, and to send the target dataset to the server; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - in a phase of deploying a smart contract, a corresponding bytecode is preprocessed, where the preprocessing includes parsing and decoding, and import and export functions are orchestrated, to generate a data structure needed for running. When the smart contract is invoked, execution can be directly performed based on the data structure, and no operations such as parsing, decoding, and target address modification are needed, thereby greatly improving execution efficiency. In addition, many smart contracts are repeatedly invoked and executed. A data structure generated during deployment can be reused by using the previous preprocessing solution. In other words, for each invoked smart contract, one parsing of the smart contract can facilitate multiple execution of the smart contract. As such, contract execution efficiency is further improved, and overall performance of a blockchain platform is also improved (¶ 0018).
the server, after receiving the target dataset from the blockchain system, sending the target dataset to the first electronic device that is associated with the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - Before step 51, assume that the first contract has been created, and the first contract has been deployed by using the method shown in FIG. 3. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, when wanting to invoke the created first contract, an account (for example, Alice) in a certain node can initiate a transaction for invoking the first contract, point a to field of the transaction to the contract address of the first contract to be invoked, and include the function of the contract to be invoked in a data field of the transaction. In most cases, some parameters are usually imported when the function of the contract is invoked. However, this is optional (¶ 0088).
Regarding Claim 6. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 4, wherein: the target application program is further configured to cause the blockchain system to, after the blockchain system generates the target dataset in response to receiving the processing request, generate and send a digital certificate to the processing system using the target application program, and wherein the digital certificate indicates that an ownership of the to-be-processed dataset belongs to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao- After Bob publishes such a transaction in the blockchain network, each node in the blockchain network can obtain the bytecode of the smart contract. Therefore, the smart contract is deployed in each node in the blockchain network. As it is similar to a conventional transaction, an accounting node verifies, seals, etc. the transaction, records the transaction in a block, and adds the block to a blockchain by using a consensus mechanism. In this process, a contract address, for example, 0x6f . . . , is further assigned to the smart contract based on a certain algorithm, for example, hash is performed based on the address of the publisher. Therefore, one smart contract corresponds to one contract address, which is the same as an external account address of a user in form (¶ 0041).
Regarding Claim 7. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:
after generating and sending a processing request to the blockchain system, the processing system generating and sending another processing request that includes another to-be-processed dataset to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system to analyze said another to-be-processed dataset using the target application program so as to obtain another target dataset that corresponds to said another to-be-processed dataset and that indicates an analysis result of said another to-be-processed dataset, to store said another to-be-processed dataset and said another target dataset in the blockchain system, to send said another target dataset to the processing system, and to generate and send another digital certificate to the processing system using the target application program, where said another digital certificate indicates that an ownership of said another to-be-processed dataset belongs to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for deploying a smart contract, according to an implementation. The method is performed by a virtual machine of any node in a blockchain network. The blockchain network can be a public blockchain network, a private blockchain network, or a consortium blockchain network. Implementations are not limited here. As shown in FIG. 3, the method for deploying a smart contract can include the following steps: Step 31: Obtain, in response to a request for deploying a first contract, a bytecode included in a contract module corresponding to the first contract. Step 33: Parse the bytecode into executable instruction code, and store the executable instruction codes in a cache memory. Step 35: Determine a function index table for import and export functions in the bytecode, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of the import and export functions. Step 37: Store the function index table in the cache memory. The following describes an execution process of the steps with reference to a specific example (¶ 0047).
Regarding Claim 8. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 6, the processing system further including a second electronic device that is associated with a target account and that is electrically connected to the server through the communication network, the target account being associated with the blockchain system;
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - A person skilled in the art knows that a blockchain network includes several nodes, and the nodes can communicate with each other. A user can initiate a transaction by using the node and an external account. The transaction can be a common transfer transaction, or can be used to create a smart contract or invoke a smart contract (¶ 0028).
the method further comprising, after generating and sending a processing request to the blockchain system: the second electronic device generating and sending to the server a certificate transfer request for transferring a to-be-transferred digital certificate that is associated with the user account to the target account; and the server, after receiving the certificate transfer request, sending the certificate transfer request to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system, using the target application program, to determine whether a certificate transfer condition is met, and when determining that the certificate transfer condition is met, to transfer the to-be-transferred digital certificate from the user account to the target account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - A person skilled in the art knows that a blockchain network includes several nodes, and the nodes can communicate with each other. A user can initiate a transaction by using the node and an external account. The transaction can be a common transfer transaction, or can be used to create a smart contract or invoke a smart contract (¶ 0028).
Regarding Claim 9. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 8, each of the user account and the target account being related to a virtual wallet for storing virtual currency, wherein: the certificate transfer condition is that a total amount of the virtual currency in the virtual wallet corresponding to the target account is not less than a predetermined amount; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - Implementations of the present specification provide a method for deploying a smart contract. According to one implementation the method includes: receiving a transaction request for invoking a first contract; obtaining a first instruction code and a function index table, wherein the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of import and export functions in the first contract; determining a first memory address corresponding to the invocation function based on the function index table; and executing the first instruction code in the first memory address based on the determined first memory address (Abstract).
sending the certificate transfer request to the blockchain system further causes the blockchain system to, after transferring the to-be-transferred digital certificate to the target account, transfer an amount of the virtual currency that is equal to the predetermined amount from the virtual wallet corresponding to the target account to the virtual wallet corresponding to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - Implementations of the present specification provide a method for deploying a smart contract. According to one implementation the method includes: receiving a transaction request for invoking a first contract; obtaining a first instruction code and a function index table, wherein the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of import and export functions in the first contract; determining a first memory address corresponding to the invocation function based on the function index table; and executing the first instruction code in the first memory address based on the determined first memory address (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 10. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 4, wherein:
the target application program is further configured to cause the blockchain system to, after the blockchain system generates the target dataset in response to receiving the processing request, generate and send a digital certificate to the processing system using the target application program, and wherein the digital certificate indicates that an ownership of the target dataset belongs to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao- After Bob publishes such a transaction in the blockchain network, each node in the blockchain network can obtain the bytecode of the smart contract. Therefore, the smart contract is deployed in each node in the blockchain network. As it is similar to a conventional transaction, an accounting node verifies, seals, etc. the transaction, records the transaction in a block, and adds the block to a blockchain by using a consensus mechanism. In this process, a contract address, for example, 0x6f . . . , is further assigned to the smart contract based on a certain algorithm, for example, hash is performed based on the address of the publisher. Therefore, one smart contract corresponds to one contract address, which is the same as an external account address of a user in form (¶ 0041).
Regarding Claim 11. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:
after generating and sending a processing request to the blockchain system, the processing system generating and sending another processing request that includes another to-be-processed dataset to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system to analyze said another to-be-processed dataset using the target application program so as to obtain another target dataset that corresponds to said another to-be-processed dataset and that indicates an analysis result of said another to-be-processed dataset, to store said another to-be-processed dataset and said another target dataset in the blockchain system, to send said another target dataset to the processing system, and to generate and send another digital certificate to the processing system using the target application program, where said another digital certificate indicates that an ownership of said another target dataset belongs to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - After Bob publishes such a transaction in the blockchain network, each node in the blockchain network can obtain the bytecode of the smart contract. Therefore, the smart contract is deployed in each node in the blockchain network. As it is similar to a conventional transaction, an accounting node verifies, seals, etc. the transaction, records the transaction in a block, and adds the block to a blockchain by using a consensus mechanism. In this process, a contract address, for example, 0x6f . . . , is further assigned to the smart contract based on a certain algorithm, for example, hash is performed based on the address of the publisher. Therefore, one smart contract corresponds to one contract address, which is the same as an external account address of a user in form (¶ 0041).
Regarding Claim 12. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 10, the processing system further including a second electronic device that is associated with a target account and that is electrically connected to the server through the communication network, the target account being associated with the blockchain system, the method further comprising, after generating and sending a processing request to the blockchain system: the second electronic device generating and sending to the server a certificate transfer request for transferring a to-be-transferred digital certificate that is associated with the user account to the target account; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - Implementations of the present specification provide a method for deploying a smart contract. According to one implementation the method includes: receiving a transaction request for invoking a first contract; obtaining a first instruction code and a function index table, wherein the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of import and export functions in the first contract; determining a first memory address corresponding to the invocation function based on the function index table; and executing the first instruction code in the first memory address based on the determined first memory address (Abstract).
the server, after receiving the certificate transfer request, sending the certificate transfer request to the blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system, using the target application program, to determine whether a certificate transfer condition is met, and when determining that the certificate transfer condition is met, to transfer the to-be-transferred digital certificate from the user account to the target account.
Yao - After Bob publishes such a transaction in the blockchain network, each node in the blockchain network can obtain the bytecode of the smart contract. Therefore, the smart contract is deployed in each node in the blockchain network. As it is similar to a conventional transaction, an accounting node verifies, seals, etc. the transaction, records the transaction in a block, and adds the block to a blockchain by using a consensus mechanism. In this process, a contract address, for example, 0x6f . . . , is further assigned to the smart contract based on a certain algorithm, for example, hash is performed based on the address of the publisher. Therefore, one smart contract corresponds to one contract address, which is the same as an external account address of a user in form (¶ 0041).
Regarding Claim 13. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 12, each of the user account and the target account including a virtual wallet for storing virtual currency, wherein: the certificate transfer condition is that a total amount of the virtual currency in the virtual wallet corresponding to the target account is not less than a predetermined amount; and
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao - FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for deploying a smart contract, according to an implementation. The method is performed by a virtual machine of any node in a blockchain network. The blockchain network can be a public blockchain network, a private blockchain network, or a consortium blockchain network. Implementations are not limited here. As shown in FIG. 3, the method for deploying a smart contract can include the following steps: Step 31: Obtain, in response to a request for deploying a first contract, a bytecode included in a contract module corresponding to the first contract. Step 33: Parse the bytecode into executable instruction code, and store the executable instruction codes in a cache memory. Step 35: Determine a function index table for import and export functions in the bytecode, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of the import and export functions. Step 37: Store the function index table in the cache memory. The following describes an execution process of the steps with reference to a specific example (¶ 0047).
sending the certificate transfer request to the blockchain system further causes the blockchain system to, after transferring the to-be-transferred digital certificate to the target account, transfer an amount of the virtual currency that is equal to the predetermined amount from the virtual wallet corresponding to the target account to the virtual wallet corresponding to the user account.
Note: The language above does not positively recite a step of the claimed method but rather an intended use or result and actions of the blockchain system, and does not have patentable weight. However, it is being addressed by the prior art for purposes of compact prosecution.
Yao- FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for deploying a smart contract, according to an implementation. The method is performed by a virtual machine of any node in a blockchain network. The blockchain network can be a public blockchain network, a private blockchain network, or a consortium blockchain network. Implementations are not limited here. As shown in FIG. 3, the method for deploying a smart contract can include the following steps: Step 31: Obtain, in response to a request for deploying a first contract, a bytecode included in a contract module corresponding to the first contract. Step 33: Parse the bytecode into executable instruction code, and store the executable instruction codes in a cache memory. Step 35: Determine a function index table for import and export functions in the bytecode, where the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of the import and export functions. Step 37: Store the function index table in the cache memory. The following describes an execution process of the steps with reference to a specific example (¶ 0047).
Regarding Claim 14. The combination of Yao, Padmanabhan, and Rice further discloses:
The blockchain-based method as claimed in claim 4, the first electronic device including a sensor,
wherein generating and sending a processing request that includes a to-be-processed dataset to the blockchain system includes the sensor generating the to-be-processed dataset.
Yao - Implementations of the present specification provide a method for deploying a smart contract. According to one implementation the method includes: receiving a transaction request for invoking a first contract; obtaining a first instruction code and a function index table, wherein the function index table is used to indicate a memory address of an instruction code corresponding to each of import and export functions in the first contract; determining a first memory address corresponding to the invocation function based on the function index table; and executing the first instruction code in the first memory address based on the determined first memory address (Abstract).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lin et al. (US10402792B2) The disclosed embodiments include computerized systems and methods for generating secured blockchain-based ledger data structures that track occurrences of events across fragmented and geographically dispersed lines-of-business of an enterprise. In one instance, an apparatus associated with a rules authority of the secured blockchain-based ledger may detect an occurrence of a triggering event, and may access and decrypt a set of rules hashed into the secured blockchain-based ledger using a confidentially-held master cryptographic key. The apparatus may identify a rule associated with the detected event, and perform one or more operations consistent with the rule, including a disbursement of various rewards to employees in response to customer-specific interactions with the enterprise. The disclosed embodiments provide a rules process for aggregating mutually incompatible enterprise data that specifies the events, and for tracking the events in uniform data structures accessible across the enterprise.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTINA C whose telephone number is (571)270-7280. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8am to 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Patrick Mcatee, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-7575. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.C.S./Examiner, Art Unit 3698
/PATRICK MCATEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3698