Apparatuses for Providing a Set of Cryptographically Protected, Filtered, and Sorted Transaction Data Records of a Link of a Blockchain

Abstract

Forming a set of protected and sorted transaction datasets of a blockchain may include: a) forming a second block chained to the first block; b) defining a search term in the second block; c) selecting a transaction dataset from a set of unsorted transaction datasets, wherein the selected transaction dataset has been checked for integrity; d) assigning the selected transaction dataset to the search term; e) repeating steps b) to d) until a predefined number of transaction datasets to be selected is reached or the set of unsorted transaction datasets is empty; f) semantically sorting the selected and assigned transaction datasets on the basis of a predefined sorting criterion, wherein the assigned search terms are in an order corresponding to the sorting criterion; and g) forming the set of cryptographically protected and semantically sorted transaction datasets using the order.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for forming a set of cryptographically protected and semantically sorted transaction datasets of a blockchain from a set of unsorted transaction datasets, the method comprising:
 a) forming a second block of a blockchain chained to a first block of a blockchain;   b) defining a search term in the second block or reading a previously defined search term contained in the second block;   c) selecting a transaction dataset from a set of unsorted transaction datasets, wherein the selected transaction dataset has been checked for integrity;   d) assigning the selected transaction dataset to the search term;   e) repeating steps b) to d) until a predefined number of transaction datasets to be selected is reached and/or the set of unsorted transaction datasets is empty;   f) semantically sorting the selected and assigned transaction datasets on the basis of a predefined sorting criterion, wherein the assigned search terms are in an order corresponding to the sorting criterion; and   g) forming the set of cryptographically protected and semantically sorted transaction datasets using the order.   
     
     
         2 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein, in the case of a plurality of defined or read search terms in the second block, the plurality is arranged in a search tree, wherein the search terms form nodes of the search tree. 
     
     
         3 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein a search term is formed from a main term and a plurality of sub-terms. 
     
     
         4 . The method as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the search term is arranged hierarchically with the main term in a root node of the search tree as far as a furthest-away subordinate sub-term in the leaf node of the search tree and a separation symbol identifies an edge of the search tree situated between the associated nodes. 
     
     
         5 . A device for providing a set of cryptographically protected and filtered transaction datasets from a set of integrity-checked and semantically sorted transaction datasets of a block, the device comprising:
 provision means for:
 forming a second block of a blockchain chained to a first block of a blockchain; 
 and 
 defining a search term in the second block or reading a previously defined search term contained in the second block; 
   coupling means for coupling the provision means to a filtering apparatus;   filtering means for selecting a transaction dataset from a set of unsorted transaction datasets, wherein the selected transaction dataset has been checked for integrity, assigning the selected transaction dataset to the search term, and semantically sorting the selected and assigned transaction datasets on the basis of a predefined sorting criterion, wherein the assigned search terms are in an order corresponding to the sorting criterion, and determining the set of filtered transaction datasets from the set of checked and semantically sorted transaction datasets of the blockchain using a filtering criterion; and   output means for providing the determined set of filtered transaction datasets.   
     
     
         6 . A filtering apparatus suitable for coupling to the provision means of the device as claimed in  claim 5 , further comprising determination means for determining a set of filtered transaction datasets from the set of integrity-checked and sorted transaction datasets of a blockchain using the filtering criterion. 
     
     
         7 . The filtering apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 , wherein the filtering criterion is defined using a further search term and/or at least part of the further search term identical to the search term in the provided block of the blockchain or is able to be derived therefrom or is derived therefrom. 
     
     
         8 . An access unit comprising a filtering apparatus as claimed in  claim 7 , wherein the further search term is defined by a device or a plurality of devices of a group and/or is able to be subscribed to such that the transaction datasets assigned to the search term are subscribed to thereby, and only the blocks of the blockchain that contain the defined and/or subscribed-to transaction datasets are forwarded to the device or the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         9 . A communication network arrangement comprising:
 a network node processing a blockchain with device as claimed in  claim 5 ,   one or more devices assigned to a group;   a filtering apparatus as claimed in  claim 6 ; and   a network infrastructure by way of which said components are able to communicate with one another.   
     
     
         10 . The communication arrangement as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein:
 a publish-subscribe protocol is applied in the network infrastructure; and   the filtering apparatus allows the one or more devices of the group to subscribe to and/or define search terms.   
     
     
         11 . (canceled)