US 6,629,100 B2 · Network-based photosharing architecture for search and delivery of private images and metadata

Abstract

A method for executing searches for resources that span more than one private resource repository in a restricted-access resource sharing system is disclosed. The system includes at least one server node and multiple peer nodes connected to a network. Resources, such as data digital images, may be retrieved from the nodes based by issuing queries containing terms matching the metadata associated with the resources. The method includes maintaining storage of resources and associated metadata on respective peer nodes, wherein the associated metadata is based on at least one metadata vocabulary. Each of the peer nodes is allowed to indicate to the server that the metadata vocabularies associated with the resources are designated as private, thereby becoming a restricted access peer node. If a first restricted access peer node specifies to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, a first level of privacy is provided whereby search queries received by the server that use the specified metadata vocabularies are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing, while searches that do not use the specified vocabularies are processed by the server. If the first restricted access peer node does not specify to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, a second level of privacy is provided whereby search queries received by the server are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing.

Claims10

Dependent claims

A method for executing searches for resources that span more than one private resource repository in a restricted-access resource sharing system comprising at least one server and multiple peer nodes connected to a network, the resource sharing network for storing resources, including data digital images, and for retrieving the resources based on metadata associated with the resources, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) maintaining storage of resources and associated metadata on respective peer nodes, wherein the associated metadata is based on at least one metadata vocabulary;
(b) allowing each of the peer nodes to indicate to the server that the metadata vocabularies associated with the resources are designated as private, thereby becoming a restricted access peer node;
(c) if a first restricted access peer node specifies to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, providing a first level of privacy whereby search queries received by the server that use the specified metadata vocabularies are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing, while searches that do not use the specified vocabularies are processed by the server;
and
(d) if the first restricted access peer node does not specify to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, providing a second level of privacy whereby search queries received by the server are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing.

2 more elements

(a) maintaining storage of resources and associated metadata on respective peer nodes, wherein the associated metadata is based on at least one metadata vocabulary;
(b) allowing each of the peer nodes to indicate to the server that the metadata vocabularies associated with the resources are designated as private, thereby becoming a restricted access peer node;
(c) receiving on the server a search query for a resource from a requesting peer node, wherein the search query uses one or more of the metadata vocabularies therein;
(d) determining by the server which of the restricted access peer nodes have specified to the server which metadata vocabularies the respective restricted access peer node supports;
(e) executing the search query on each of the restricted access peer nodes that have specified to the server which metadata vocabularies are supported and where the specified metadata vocabularies match the metadata vocabularies used in the search query, wherein after executing the search query, those restricted access peer nodes send a list of resource locators for resources matching the search query to the requesting node;
(f) executing the search query on the server for each of the restricted access peer nodes that have specified to the server which metadata vocabularies are supported, but where the specified metadata vocabularies do not match the metadata vocabularies used in the search query, wherein after executing the search query, the server sends a list of resource locators for resources matching the search query to the requesting node;
and
(g) executing the search query on each of the restricted access peer nodes that have not specified to the server which metadata vocabularies are supported, wherein after executing the search query, each of those peer nodes returns a list of resource locators for resources matching the search query to the requesting node.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Network-based photosharing architecture for search and delivery of private images and metadata

Life of this patent

Network-based photosharing architecture for search and delivery of private images and metadata

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims10