Peer-to-peer social network

• US 10,305,915 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2013
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vertical Computer Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vertical Computer Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Valdetaro, Luiz Claudio
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, IV, William G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Ronak
• Application Number:
  US13/951,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20140164517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,133 Days
• Field of Search: 709218
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/086 using security domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A social network includes a relay server and two or more mobile Internet devices (“MIDs”) coupled to the relay server. Each of the MIDs includes a relay agent for interfacing with the relay server, a web server, an application for operating the web server, and a memory for storing social networking information comprising a contacts list, one or more access groups, one or more albums, and one or more associations between the one or more access groups and the one or more albums to specify which contacts can view which albums.

Claims

1. A peer-to-peer network comprising:

a relay server;

two or more mobile Internet devices (MIDs) coupled to the relay server, each of the two or more MIDs including;

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

an operating system (OS) and a user interface framework (UIF) coupled to the OS, each of the at least two MIDs being operable at an OS level and at a UIF level, the OS level being distinct from the UIF level;

a relay agent operatively coupled to the processor and operatively coupled via a tunnel to the relay server for interfacing the two or more MIDs to the relay server;

a web server operatively coupled to the processor and operatively coupled via the relay agent to the relay server, the web server having a first portion and a second portion, the first portion residing within and being operable on the OS at the OS level of a respective one of the at least two MIDs for servicing HTTP requests, the second portion residing within and being operable on the UIF at the UIF level of a respective one of the at least two IDs MIDs; and

at least one application operably coupled to the relay agent for effectuating communication with the web server.

2. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein the memory includes:

a list of contacts, each contact including the name of a user, one of the two or more MIDs respectively associated with the user, and the address of the respective one of the two or more Internet devices MIDs;

one or more access groups, each of the one or more access groups identifying selected contacts from the list of contacts to have access associated with the respective access group;

one or more albums, each album containing selected information; and

one or more associations between the one or more access groups and the one or more albums to specify which of the one or more access groups of contacts can view which of the one or more albums.

3. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein the peer-to-peer network is a peer-to-peer social network.

4. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein the peer-to-peer network is a peer-to-peer content-sharing network.

5. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 further comprising an encryption module for encrypting information sent from one contact to another user.

6. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein two or more MIDs are two or more smartphones.

7. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein the peer-to-peer network is an Internet network.

8. The peer-to-peer network of claim 1 wherein the peer-to-peer network is a cellular network.

9. A method for operating a network using a device at least two mobile Internet devices (MIDs), each of the at least two MIDs having a processor coupled to a memory, the processor being further coupled via a web server to a relay agent, the relay agent being connected via a tunnel to a relay server, each of the at least two MIDs having an operating system (OS) and a user interface framework (UIF), each of the at least two MIDs being operable at an OS level and at a UIF level, the OS level being distinct from the UIF level, the memory including computer program code which, when the code is loaded into the memory and run by the processor, causes the processor to perform steps of:

operating at least a first portion of the at least one web server within the OS at the OS level of each of the at least two MIDs for servicing HTTP requests, and operating at least a second portion of the at least one web server within the UIF at the UIF level of each of the at least two MIDs;

entering and saving phone numbers of users in the memory;

creating access groups and saving the access groups in the memory;

associating each of one or more users with one or more access groups;

creating albums of information and saving the albums in the memory;

determining which access groups can access which albums;

receiving an information request from a requesting user;

determining if the requesting user is associated with an access group that has access to the requested information; and

when it is determined that the requesting user is associated with an access group that has access to the requested information, sending the information via the web server and relay agent via the tunnel to the relay server with instructions for delivering the information to the requesting user.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the information sent via the web server and relay agent to the relay server includes instructions for delivering the information to the requesting user in an encrypted format.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the network is a peer-to-peer social network.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the network is a peer-to-peer content-sharing network.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising an encryption module for encrypting information sent from one contact to another user.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein two or more MIDs are two or more smartphones.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the network is an Internet network.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the network is a cellular network.