US 8,041,784 B1Granted

Redundant hybrid P2P content sharing

AssigneeQurio Holdings, Inc.

InventorsChristopher M. Amidon, Alfredo C. Issa, Richard J. Walsh

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Abstract

A redundant hybrid peer-to-peer content sharing system is provided. In general, the system includes a proxy hosted by a central server and, for each user, a primary user device hosting a primary sharing engine and one or more secondary user devices hosting secondary sharing engines. The user's shared images are hosted by the primary user device, and, based on the capabilities of the secondary user devices, versions of the shared images are copied to the secondary devices. When a guest at a guest node desires to view a shared image, a request for the shared image is provided to the proxy. Generally, if the primary user device is online, the proxy forwards the request to the primary device. If the primary user device is offline, the proxy identifies one of the secondary user devices capable of serving the request and forwards the request to the identified secondary user device.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A central server (Appendix B, FIG. 1) for a hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system including, for a particular user, a primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1, device A) comprising a primary sharing engine for sharing content stored on the primary user device and at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1, devices B, C, and D) comprising a secondary sharing engine for obtaining and sharing at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5, lines 2-5), comprising:

a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the central server to a network (Appendix B, FIG. 1);
and
b) a control system (Appendix B, FIG. 1, page 6, lines 12-16) associated with the communication interface and adapted to:
i) receive a request for content shared by the user from a guest node via the network (Appendix B, page 3, lines 1-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1);
ii) identify one of the primary user device associated with the particular user and the at least one secondary user device associated with the particular user as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12);
and
iii) route the request to the user device for serving the request via the network (Appendix B, FIG. 1, page 3, lines 27-37).

4 more elements

A method for sharing content in a hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system including, for a particular user, a primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1, device A) comprising a primary sharing engine for sharing content stored on the primary user device and at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1, devices B, C, and D) comprising a secondary sharing engine for obtaining and sharing at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5, lines 2-5), comprising:

receiving a request at a proxy from a guest node for content shared by the user (Appendix B, page 3, lines 1-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1);
identifying one of the primary user device associated with the particular user and the at least one secondary user device associated with the particular user as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12);
and
routing the request to the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, FIG. 1, page 3, lines 27-37).

1 more element

A hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) content sharing system comprising:

a primary user device (Appendix B, device A) associated with a user and comprising a primary sharing engine adapted to share content stored by the primary user device (Appendix B, page 5 lines 2-5);
at least one secondary user device associated with the user and comprising a secondary sharing engine adapted to obtain and share at least one version of the content shared by the primary user device (Appendix B, FIG. 1, devices B, C, D, page 5 lines 2-5), wherein the at least one secondary user device is automatically configured based on known capabilities of the at least one secondary user device (Appendix B, page 4, lines 9-12);
and
a central server communicatively coupled to the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device via a network and comprising a proxy adapted to (Appendix B, FIG. 1):
receive a request for content shared by the user from a guest node (Appendix B, page 3, lines 10-13, page 5, lines 16-17, and FIG. 1);
identify one of the primary user device and the at least one secondary user device as a user device for serving the request (Appendix B, Table A, page 5, lines 13-30);
and
route the request to the user device for serving the request (Appendix B, FIG. 1, page 3, lines 27-37).

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/475,635Filed 27 Jun 2006
Granted: 18 Oct 2011
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04L 67/1008
Server selection for load balancing: based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload
G06F 16/1837
Implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella: management specially adapted to peer-to-peer storage networks
H04L 67/1063
Using node-based peer discovery mechanisms: discovery through centralising entities
H04L 67/1072
Using node-based peer discovery mechanisms: discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers