diff --git a/docs/source/key-concepts-transactions.rst b/docs/source/key-concepts-transactions.rst index 6521ef2898..9f3cb8bfef 100644 --- a/docs/source/key-concepts-transactions.rst +++ b/docs/source/key-concepts-transactions.rst @@ -115,9 +115,11 @@ As well as input states and output states, transactions contain: * Commands * Attachments * Time-Window +* Notary -For example, a transaction where Alice pays off £5 of an IOU with Bob using a £5 cash payment, supported by two -attachments and a time-window, may look as follows: +For example, suppose we have a transaction where Alice uses a £5 cash payment to pay off £5 of an IOU with Bob. +This transaction has two supporting attachments and will only be notarised by NotaryClusterA if the notary pool +receives it within the specified time-window. This transaction would look as follows: .. image:: resources/full-tx.png :scale: 25% @@ -184,3 +186,13 @@ In some cases, we want a transaction proposed to only be approved during a certa In such cases, we can add a *time-window* to the transaction. Time-windows specify the time window during which the transaction can be committed. We discuss time-windows in the section on :doc:`key-concepts-time-windows`. + +Notary +^^^^^^ +A notary pool is a network service that provides uniqueness consensus by attesting that, for a given transaction, +it has not already signed other transactions that consume any of the proposed transaction’s input states. +The notary pool provides the point of finality in the system. + +Note that if the notary entity is absent then the transaction is not notarised at all. This is intended for +issuance/genesis transactions that don't consume any other states and thus can't double spend anything. +For more information on the notary services, see :doc:`key-concepts-notaries`. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/docs/source/resources/full-tx.png b/docs/source/resources/full-tx.png index 354fc1c5e4..408dd049bc 100644 Binary files a/docs/source/resources/full-tx.png and b/docs/source/resources/full-tx.png differ