The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 10, 2018
Filed:
May. 06, 2015
21, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US);
Nigel Drego, San Francisco, CA (US);
Veerbhan Kheterpal, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Daniel Firu, San Jose, CA (US);
21, Inc., San Francisco, CA (US);
Abstract
Cryptographic hashing circuitry such as mining circuitry used to mine digital currency may be formed on an integrated circuit. The hashing circuitry may include sequential rounds of register and logic circuitry that perform operations of a cryptographic protocol. A final hash output from the hashing circuitry may be checked using a difficulty comparison circuit to determine whether the hash output satisfies predetermined difficulty criteria. The difficulty comparison circuit may be configured as a hardwired comparison circuit having logic gates for checking only a subset of bits in the hash output. The comparison circuit may be adapted to change the number of bits that is checked based on a target number of bits for comparison set by the Bitcoin protocol. Candidate solutions found using the hardwired comparison circuit may then be fed to a host controller that checks the entire hash output to determine whether the candidate solution is valid.