US 7,120,691 B2Granted

Secured and access controlled peer-to-peer resource sharing method and apparatus

AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation

InventorsBrian D. Goodman, John W. Rooney, Ramesh Subramanian, William C. Sweeney

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A peer-to-peer network propagates searches from client to client. Resources within each client are selectively searched in response to authentication and authorization processes. Authentication information may be included in a search request or may be performed by an authentication process external to the client. Authorization is performed by a process external to the client. Only after authentication or authorization may resources of any particular client be accessed. The system allows for secure propagated searches and resource access in a peer-to-peer network environment. The network may further include a server for maintaining a list of clients connected to the peer-to-peer network in order to more efficiently facilitate peer-to-peer communications.

Claims11

Dependent claims

In a peer-to-peer network a method of securely conducting a resource search initiated by a first client, the resource search included with a search request having a credentials signal indicative of the first client, the method comprising the steps of:

communicating the search request from the first client to a second client, the second client having a multiplicity of second resources, each of the multiplicity of second resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
at the second client, selectively searching the multiplicity of second resources in response to comparison of the authentication and authorization data within the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of second resources;
communicating the search request from the second client to a third client, the third client having a multiplicity of third resources, each of the multiplicity of third resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
and
at the third client, selectively searching the multiplicity of third resources in response to comparison of the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of third resources,
wherein the credentials signal includes an identification signal indicative of the first client,
the access attributes of the second and third resources includes an authorization signal indicative of at least one of a plurality of clients, the plurality of clients including the first client,
said step of selectively searching the second multiplicity of resources further includes the steps of:
communicating from the second client to an authentication process external to the first, second and third clients the identification signal;
receiving from the authentication process an authenticated signal indicative of the first client in response thereto;
and
searching one of the second multiplicity of resources if the authenticated signal substantially matches the authorization signal included with the corresponding access attributes, and
said step of selectively searching the third multiplicity of resources further includes the steps of:
communicating from the third client to the authorization process the identification signal;
receiving from the authorization process the authenticated signal indicative of the first client in response thereto;
and
searching one of the third multiplicity of resources if the authenticated signal substantially matches the authorization signal included with the corresponding access attributes.

14 more elements

communicating the search request from the first client to a second client, the second client having a multiplicity of second resources, each of the multiplicity of second resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
at the second client, selectively searching the multiplicity of second resources in response to a comparison of authentication and authorization data within the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of second resources;
communicating the search request from the second client to a third client, the third client having a multiplicity of third resources, each of the multiplicity of third resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
and
at the third client, selectively searching the multiplicity of third resources in response to comparison of the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of third resources,
wherein the credentials signal includes an identification signal indicative of the first client,
the access attributes of the second and third resources includes an authorization signal indicative of at least one of a plurality of client classes,
said step of selectively searching the second multiplicity of resources further includes the steps of:
communicating from the second client to an authorization process external to the second client the identification signal;
receiving from the authorization process a client class signal indicative which of the plurality of client classes are associated with the identification signal;
and
searching one of the second multiplicity of resources if the client class signal substantially matches the authorization signal included with the corresponding access attributes, and
said step of selectively searching the third multiplicity of resources further includes the steps of:
communicating from the third client to the authorization process external to the third client the identification signal;
receiving from the authorization process the client class signal indicative which of the plurality of client classes are associated with the identification signal;
and
searching one of the third multiplicity of resources if client class signal substantially matches the authorization signal included with the corresponding access attributes.

14 more elements

communicating the search request from the first client to a second client, the second client having a multiplicity of second resources, each of the multiplicity of second resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
at the second client, selectively searching the multiplicity of second resources in response to a comparison of authentication and authorization data within the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of second resources;
communicating the search request from the second client to a third client, the third client having a multiplicity of third resources, each of the multiplicity of third resources having at least one corresponding access attribute;
and
at the third client, selectively searching the multiplicity of third resources in response to comparison of the credentials signal and the at least one access attribute of each of the multiplicity of third resources,
wherein the peer-to-peer network further includes a multiplicity of clients including the first, second and third clients, each of the multiplicity of clients having a unique client address, and a server having a list of client addresses, said method further comprising the steps of:
communicating from the server to the first client a first seed list comprising a first portion of the list of client addresses;
and
communicating from the server to the second client a second seed list comprising a second portion of the list of client addresses, the first seed list including a second client address corresponding to the second client and the second seed list including a third client address corresponding to the third client,
said step of communicating the search request from the first client to the second client communicates to the second client in response to the second client address included in the first seed list, and
said step of communicating the search request from the second client to the third client communicates to the third client in response to the third client address included in the second seed list.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/098,976Filed 15 Mar 2002
Published: US 2003/0177186 A118 Sep 2003
Granted: 10 Oct 2006
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 67/104
In which an application is distributed across nodes in the network: peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
H04L 69/329
Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions: in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
H04L 63/08
Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security: for authentication of entities
H04L 67/1068
Using node-based peer discovery mechanisms: discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential…