Sony applies for patents for blockchain related hardware

Japanese tech giant Sony has applied for two patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office which indicate that the company is working on hardware specifically for maintaining blockchain.

The two patent applications titled “Electronic Node and Method for Maintaining a Distributed Ledger” and “Device and System,” describe devices and systems which would be used to maintain a ledger.

The first application provides “an electronic device for maintaining a distributed ledger…comprising circuitry configured to perform a mining process of a block to be added to the distributed ledger, wherein the mining process includes compressing data of the block to be added to the distributed ledger.”

The patent application also stresses a second aspect which provides a method for maintaining a distributed ledger.

The second patent pertains “to a device for accessing a distributed ledger and a system for maintaining a distributed ledger.” The dual aspects of the patent are similar to the first patent—one for the device for accessing distributed ledger and the other defines the system for maintaining it.

Sony has been filing patent applications in the past for the use of the blockchain technology. An application filed in November last year sought to obtain a patent for use of blockchain in education field where it could be “used to store information such as education experiences, certificates and so on of a user.”

Another application sought to obtain a patent for a user login system for blockchain systems.