As the world progresses towards a cashless payment society, there has been a rise in the various forms of emerging payment technologies. Such technologies may include digital wallet payment systems. There is a need for a bridging protocol and conversion engine that would connect gaps between these various emerging payment technologies and their respective proprietary ecosystems. The conversion engine may be configured to forward currency received from an ecosystem to an account/digital wallet external to the ecosystem.

A method for managing a time-based currency includes steps of: receiving a credit-issuance request containing a user identifier and a value K; based on the credit-issuance request, generating a credit-issuance instruction containing the value K and a user account corresponding to the user identifier; and sending the credit-issuance instruction to a blockchain system, in order for the blockchain system to generate a transaction record in the blockchain, the transaction record indicating that K number of time credits having a base time point corresponding to a time point when the transaction record is generated have been added to the user account.

A method for signing a new block of a blockchain of a distributed blockchain consensus network (DBCN), comprising a mining computing entity (MCE) and a node computing entity, includes the step of signing and/or encrypting of predefined MCE information by the MCE, using a secret key of a public key/secret key key pair of the MCE to obtain hidden information (HI). The new block is signed by the MCE using the secret key and block information comprising block height information to create a signature for the new block. In a case of at least one further signing of a different block with the respective same block height information by the MCE, reveal information is provided to reveal the HI to the DBCN by another node computing entity of the DBCN when the node computing entity has received two signatures comprising the same corresponding block height information.

An electronic payment device and methods of its operation are disclosed. The payment device has a secure element for storing payment tokens, each associated with a payment card; an input interface that enables a user to select from among the payment cards; a display interface; and a processor. In response to a user selection of one of the payment cards by way of the input interface, a descriptor of the selected payment card is displayed by way of the display interface; and an unconsumed one of the payment tokens associated with the selected payment card is activated to prepare the payment card device for effecting payment using the selected payment card, thereby consuming the payment token. The payment device also includes a wireless communication interface for receiving additional payment tokens, thereby replenishing the payment tokens.

A method for a payment for an Internet of Things (IoT) device is provided. The method includes steps of: a payment supporting server (a) on condition that the payment supporting server has registered certificates of the IoT device, a service providing device, and a digital wallet, and manages corresponding blockchain transaction IDs and link information, if a billing transaction is acquired, validating the billing transaction including identification information on the service providing device and the IoT device, a billing detail, and a signature value; (b) acquiring identification information on the digital wallet corresponding to the billing transaction from the blockchain database; and (c) (i) paying the billing detail using the digital wallet, (ii) registering a payment result including a payment detail in the blockchain database and managing its blockchain transaction ID, and (iii) transmitting the payment result to the service providing device, the IoT device, and the digital wallet.

An information processing method, comprising: receiving an investment amount for a movie work from a wallet of an investor; storing the investment amount for each investor on blockchain; acquiring information on box-office revenue of the movie work after a target figure to produce the movie work is achieved; and distributing the box-office revenue to each investor according to the investment amount and a profit distribution rule. This makes it possible to achieve proper fund raising and profit distribution for a movie work or the like.

There is provided a method of enforcing a contract for the access of content, using a blockchain comprising a unique identifier of the content, a one or more digital contracts for the use of the content, and a public key. Tokens are generated with a private key associated with the public key and used to provide access to the content. A chain of ownership can be identified from the digital contracts on the blockchain.

A blockchain configuration may provide a simple and secure infrastructure for students to identify subject matter experts as tutors and career mentors, as well as earn scholarship funds in the form of microtransactions of digital currency. One example method may comprise one or more of transmitting a query to a network of devices to respond in exchange for a microtransaction reward of digital currency; receiving a plurality of responses from the network of devices; determining one or more best responses from among the plurality of responses; transmitting the reward to the one or more devices that provided the one or more best responses; combining data related to the query, responses, best answers, and microtransactions into a block of data; and recording the block of data on a blockchain. The method may also include validating the query and plurality of responses in exchange for a microtransaction according to a blockchain proof-of-work configuration.

A digital platform enables 3D printing where the designs are protected from piracy/redistribution. A single board computer (SBC) communicates with a first server and a second server. The SBC requests a unique hardware ID from the first server, which assigns and sends the ID to the SBC. The SBC submits the ID and a secret key to the second server to request registration of a user and a printer, and the second server sends private certs, a client ID, and a unique public identifier to the SBC. The second server also receives and stores 3D print designs through a designer portal, and on-demand displays the designs in a GUI screen. The SBC user may purchase a 3D print design, and the second server, in response, sends an access token to the SBC. The SBC redeems the access token for a selected 3D print, and the second server adjusts geode for the selected 3D design for the particular printer, and streams the adjusted geode to the printer through the SBC, thereby protecting the code from unauthorized user/replication.

Systems and methods for token vault synchronization using a distributed ledger are disclosed. In one embodiment, in a distributed token ledger network comprising a plurality of nodes, each node associated with a token ledger and comprising at least one computer processor, a method for token vault synchronization using a distributed ledger may include: (1) a node receiving a lifecycle event for a payment token; (2) the node writing the lifecycle event to a token ledger for the node; (3) committing the lifecycle event to the distributed token ledger after the plurality of nodes in the distributed token ledger agree to committal; (4) a watcher at the node detecting the commitment of the lifecycle event to the distributed token ledger; and (5) the watcher communicating the lifecycle event to a non-node participant.