Alibaba says its “unified area title scheme” would simplify and enhance communication between blockchains. In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent
Alibaba says its “unified area title scheme” would simplify and enhance communication between blockchains.
In a patent granted by the U.S. Patent Workplace final Tuesday, the e-commerce large stated its area title system might allow cross-chain communications which can be extra easy and seamless than on present interoperability options, particularly naming blockchain interoperability mission Cosmos.
Alibaba says that assigning universally recognizable domains to blockchains, or elements of a blockchain, might allow higher identification and interplay with others in a broader community, in a lot the identical manner that entities acknowledge and talk with each other utilizing domains, akin to “.com” or “.org.”
The issue with present techniques, suggests the patent, is they will turn into clunky and cumbersome. Cosmos, for instance, requires that every blockchain retains separate identifications for every hyperlink it holds with one other blockchain. These can’t be reused and meaning the ID system solely has “an area scope.”
However Alibaba says, in its less complicated system, blockchains solely want one area title – a unified blockchain area title (UBCDN) – recognizable and legitimate in any and all communication it has with different chains. It additionally means it will probably talk with different techniques with out having to carry onto an ever-expanding tackle ebook of particular identifications.
“[U]nlike present cross-chain implementations akin to COSMOS … the UBCDN can be utilized and is recognizable globally by all blockchain situations within the unified blockchain community, regardless of what number of relay chains [network links] are included within the unified blockchain community,” reads the patent.
Alibaba has filed a raft of blockchain-related patents on a wide-ranging variety of use instances. In December 2019, it received a patent that will make consortium networks – non-public techniques operated and managed by a handful of choose entities – sooner and safer to make use of.
A patent doesn’t essentially imply an organization will transfer forward with implementation. As such it isn’t clear if Alibaba has any lively plans to launch its area title system at any level.
A doable real-world residence for Alibaba’s newly patented area title scheme could possibly be the blockchain platform for its subsidiary Ant Monetary, which was unveiled again in November.
Within the patent submitting, the corporate says the system was designed with a consortium community in thoughts. It additionally features a function enabling human-readable names which, the corporate suggests, might make it simpler for entities to extra readily determine themselves.
CoinDesk reached out to Alibaba for remark however hadn’t acquired a response by press time.
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