Methods, systems, and apparatus for fragmented file sharing

• US 10,423,764 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2018
• Issued: 09/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Bradley, William Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gergiso, Techane
• Application Number:
  US16/006,398
• Publication Number:
  US 20190065705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 469 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1083 Partial license transfers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1085 Content sharing, e.g. peer-to-peer [P2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

Systems, methods, software, and apparatus are described for facilitating the distribution and management of fragmented content. In one embodiment, a packager packages content into fragments and generates a manifest including policies and metadata associated with the content. A downloader obtains the manifest, and uses it to obtain the content from one or more uploaders. For example, a downloader might forward a search request to one or more trackers, which, in turn, are operable to locate one or more uploaders that can meet the request, subject to any relevant policy limitations. The uploaders forward fragments to the downloader, subject to any relevant policy. The downloader assembles the content from the fragments. The operations and interactions of the entities can be subject to policy limitations associated with the fragments, the content as a whole, or the like.

Claims

1. A method performed by a system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving a first piece of digital content;

receiving one or more second pieces of digital content for rendering in connection with the first piece of digital content;

generating first policy information associated with the first piece of digital content, the first policy information requiring that the one or more second pieces of digital content are rendered in connection with the first piece of digital content;

generating a plurality of content fragments, each of the plurality of content fragments comprising a portion of the first piece of digital content;

packaging each of the plurality of content fragments with fragment policy information generated based on the first policy information;

generating a manifest, the manifest comprising references to at least one content fragment of the plurality of content fragments, references to associated fragment policy information, and references to the one or more second pieces of digital content; and

sending at least one of the packaged content fragments to an uploader.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the manifest to the uploader.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering the manifest with a tracker.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the content policy information is securely associated with the first piece of digital content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first policy information comprises information relating to a license.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first policy information comprises at least one condition requiring that a system possess a valid license prior to receiving at least one content fragment.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first policy information comprises at least one condition requiring that a system possess a valid license prior to rendering at least a portion of the first piece of digital content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the manifest further comprises a unique identifier associated with the first piece of digital content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the manifest further comprises a unique identifier associated with the one or more second pieces of digital content.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving first content metadata associated with the first piece of digital content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the manifest further comprises the first content metadata.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein packaging each of the plurality of content fragments further comprises packaging each of the plurality of content fragments with fragment metadata generated based on the first content metadata.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first policy information comprises at least one condition relating to an order in which the plurality of content fragments should be obtained.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first policy information comprises at least one condition relating to an order in which the one or more second pieces of digital content should be obtained.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the first policy information comprises at least one condition relating to the distribution of the first piece of digital content.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first policy information comprises a condition relating to a file type of the piece of digital content.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more second pieces of digital content comprise at least one advertisement.