Patent ID: 11895267
Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC H

Claim 2:
3. A number management method for a number management system including a plurality of number management apparatuses for managing number portability information including a telephone number and connection destination information for the telephone number, the method comprising:
receiving, by a number management apparatus, a number update request including the number portability information,
generating, by the number management apparatus, a transaction to be managed in a blockchain, for the received number portability information, and transmitting the generated transaction to one of the plurality of number management apparatuses determined based on a predetermined logic;
receiving, by one of the plurality of number management apparatuses, the transactions generated according to a plurality of said number update requests, generating a newly-suggested block including a transaction group obtained by aggregating the received plurality of transactions, and transmitting the generated suggested block to the respective plurality of number management apparatuses creating the blockchain;
receiving, by the respective plurality of number management apparatuses, the suggested block, approving the suggested block by confirming a predetermined normality of the suggested block, and storing the suggested block by connecting the suggested block to a block stored as the blockchain in a storage unit;
providing, by one of the plurality of number management apparatuses, the connection destination information corresponding to the telephone number using the number portability information in the storage unit;
suggesting, by one of the plurality of number management apparatuses, a reset of the block stored in the storage unit;
transmitting, by one of the plurality of number management apparatuses, a reset suggestion block including, as the transaction, a reset suggestion, wherein the reset suggestion includes a reset start suggestion and a reset end suggestion, the reset start suggestion indicating the start of the reset to the respective plurality of number management apparatuses, if the reset start suggestion block is approved by the respective pluality of number management apparatuses, generating a new block including, as the transaction, all of the telephone numbers and the most recent connection destination information for the telephone numbers, based on the blockchain in the storage unit, transmitting the generated new block to the respective plurality of number management apparatuses, and when the new block is approved by the respective plurality of number management apparatuses, transmitting a reset end suggestion block including the reset end suggestion indicating the end of the reset to the respective plurality of number management apparatuses; and
when the new block is approved, storing the new block in the storage unit and continuing the blockchain in the storage unit as use information, and when the reset end suggestion block is approved, discarding the blockchain in the storage unit and switching the new block to the use information.