Intel, the US-based technology company with a global footprint, has won a patent that outlines the development of an energy-saving processor for use in Bitcoin mining.
The firm was awarded the patent early this week by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. According to the patent, Intel will develop a processor that is capable of achieving high performance while saving on energy.
What’s In The Patent?
The patent outlines how Intel’s processor will interact with Bitcoin’s hash algorithm, SHA-256. In the past, the tech giant had filed patents focusing on virtual currency mining. Intel has been involved in the manufacturing of processors used by 21 Inc. in its crypto mining operations.
21 Inc. changed to Earn.com which was later bought by Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.
Intel is seeking to lower the amount of energy consumed by application-specific integrated circuits which are required to mine Bitcoin. The miners are rewarded for successfully validating transaction on the Bitcoin network.
According to the patent:
“Bitcoin mining operations include operations to generate a 256-bit hash value from a 1024-bit message. Dedicated Bitcoin mining ASICs are used to implement multiple SHA-256 engines that may deliver a performance of thousands of hashes per second while consuming the power of greater than 200 W. Embodiments of the present disclosure employ micro-architectural optimization including particular hardwiring certain parameters in Bitcoin mining computation.”
The patent continued to note that the hardwiring will, first, ‘reduce the overall circuit area,’ and secondly, reduce the ‘power consumption by about 15 percent.’
Intel also notes that the energy consumption of its processor will further be lowered by its new format of checking the 32-bit nonce for validity.
This, instead of checking the final hash result against the expected value, the validity of the hash out can be ascertained in regards to the former number of zeros.
The hash operation will involve passing the SHA-256 hash through two stages to compress a 1024-bit input message into intermediate results.’
Additionally, the patent notes that processors running Bitcoin mining applications can be used to run the software application of Bitcoin mining.
