System and method for improving internet communication by using intermediate nodes

• US 10,721,325 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2018
• Issued: 07/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bright Data, Ltd. (f/k/a Luminati Networks)
• Original Assignee: Bright Data, Ltd. (f/k/a Luminati Networks)
• Inventors: Shribman, Derry, Vilenski, Ofer
• Primary Examiner(s): Scott, Randy A
• Application Number:
  US16/214,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20190132417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 589 Days
• Field of Search: 709218, 709 22, 709227, 709228, 709231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0864 Round trip delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method for fetching a content from a web server to a client device is disclosed, using tunnel devices serving as intermediate devices. The client device accesses an acceleration server to receive a list of available tunnel devices. The requested content is partitioned into slices, and the client device sends a request for the slices to the available tunnel devices. The tunnel devices in turn fetch the slices from the data server, and send the slices to the client device, where the content is reconstructed from the received slices. A client device may also serve as a tunnel device, serving as an intermediate device to other client devices. Similarly, a tunnel device may also serve as a client device for fetching content from a data server. The selection of tunnel devices to be used by a client device may be in the acceleration server, in the client device, or in both. The partition into slices may be overlapping or non-overlapping, and the same slice (or the whole content) may be fetched via multiple tunnel devices.

Claims

1. A method for use with multiple devices, each of the multiple devices is identified in the Internet by a distinct IP addresses, and for use with a first server that stores a publicly-accessed web-site that includes a plurality of web-pages, each of the web-pages is identified by a respective Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the method comprising:

selecting, for each of the web-pages, a distinct device from the multiple devices;

sending, by a first device over the Internet for each of the web-pages, to the device selected for the respective web-page, using the IP address of the selected device, a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request for the respective web-page using the URL of the respective web-page; and

receiving, over the Internet in response to the sent HTTP request, the web-pages from the selected devices,

constructing, at least part of the publicly-accessed web-site from the web-pages received from the selected devices,

wherein each of the multiple devices is a portable or mobile device that stores or operates a mobile operating system, and

wherein the first server is prevented from identifying the first device that sent the HTTP requests to the selected devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the multiple devices is a cellular telephone device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mobile operating system is one out of Android version 2.2 (Froyo), Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread), Android version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), Android Version 4.2 (Jelly Bean), Android version 4.4 (KitKat), Apple iOS version 3, Apple iOS version 4, Apple iOS version 5, Apple iOS version 6, Apple iOS version 7, Microsoft Windows®

Phone version 7, Microsoft Windows®

Phone version 8, Microsoft Windows®

Phone version 9, and Blackberry®

operating system.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the web-pages comprises, or consists of, a file or program.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the web-pages comprises, or consists of, a respective object.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein each of the objects comprises, or consists of, an HTTP addressed object.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first server is a web server that uses HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and responds to HTTP requests via the Internet.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication with the selected device is based on, or using, HTTP persistent connection.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the IP addresses is in IPv4 or IPv6 form.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the device comprises selecting based on an attribute or a characteristic of the selected device.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the device comprises selecting based on a physical geographical location of the selected device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the physical geographical location consists of, or comprises, one out of a continent, a country, a region, a city, a street, a ZIP code, or a timezone.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the geographical location is based on a geolocation.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the geolocation is based on W3C Geolocation API.

15. The method according to claim 11, for use with a database associating IP addresses to geographical locations, wherein the geographical location is based on using the respective selected device IP address in the database.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising establishing a connection with the selected device using TCP, and wherein the connection is established by performing ‘

Active OPEN’

or ‘

Passive OPEN’

.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the web-pages includes, consists of, or comprises, a part or whole of files, text, numbers, audio, voice, multimedia, video, images, music, or computer program.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the constructing comprises composing of the web-site by all of the received web-pages.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the web-pages have the same size.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of web-pages is higher than the number of the multiple devices.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the number of web-pages is lower than the number of the multiple devices.

22. The method according to claim 1, for use with a client device, further comprising, for each of the web-pages, sending, by the client device over the Internet, the respective URL.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the constructing is performed by the client device.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein the selecting is performed by the client device.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein the sending of the URL to the selected device is performed by the client device.

26. The method according to claim 22, wherein the receiving of the web-page from the selected device is performed by the client device.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising, for each of the web-pages, storing, by the client device, the received web-page.

28. The method according to claim 22, further comprising storing, operating, or using, by the client device, a client operating system.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the client operating system consists or, comprises of, or is based on, one out of Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows 8.1, Linux, and Google Chrome OS.

30. The method according to claim 22, further comprising executing an application, and wherein the sending of the respective URL is in response to the executing of the application.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the application consists of, or comprises, a web browser.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the web browser consists of, comprises of, or is based on, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera™

, Mozilla Firefox®

, Safari, Opera Mini™

, or Android web browser.

33. The method according to claim 22, further comprising periodically sending, by the client device, a message that comprises a status of the client device, or is in response to the status of the client device.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the message comprises, or is based on, an ‘

heartbeat’

message, and wherein the time period between two or more sent messages is at least 10 milliseconds, 20 milliseconds, 30 milliseconds, 50 milliseconds, 100 milliseconds, 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 50 seconds, or 100 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, minutes 5, or 10 minutes.

35. The method according to claim 1, for use with a second server, wherein the selecting is performed by the first server.

36. The method according to claim 35, further comprising storing, operating, or using, by the second server, an operating system that consists or, comprises of, or based on, one out of Microsoft Windows Server®

, Linux, or UNIX.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the server operating system consists or, comprises of, or based on, one out of Microsoft Windows Server®

2003 R2, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, or 2012 R2 variant, Linux™

or GNU/Linux based Debian GNU/Linux, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, Debian GNU/Hurd, Fedora™

, Gentoo™

, Linspire™

, Mandriva, Red Hat®

Linux, SuSE, and Ubuntu®

, UNIX®

variant Solaris™

, AIX®

, Mac™

OS X, FreeBSD®

, OpenBSD, and NetBSD®

.

38. The method according to claim 35, for use with a client device, further comprising, for each of the web-pages, sending, by the client device over the Internet to the first server, the respective URL.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein the selecting by the first server is responsive to receiving, from the client device, of the respective URL.

40. The method according to claim 35, wherein the sending of the URL to the selected device is performed by the first server.

41. The method according to claim 35, wherein the receiving of the web-page from the selected device is performed by the first server.

42. The method according to claim 35, wherein the constructing is performed by the second server.

43. The method according to claim 35, further comprising for each one of the multiple devices, initiating communication with the second server over the Internet in response to a powering up.

44. The method according to claim 35, further comprising, for each one of the multiple devices, communicating with the second server using a TCP/IP protocol or connection.

45. The method according to claim 44, further comprising, for each one of the multiple devices, establishing a connection with the second server.

46. The method according to claim 45, wherein the connection is a TCP connection that is established by performing ‘

Active OPEN’

or ‘

Passive OPEN’

.

47. The method according to claim 45, wherein the connection is based on, or is according to, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) standard, or wherein the established connection is using a tunneling protocol.

48. The method according to claim 35, for use with a resource associated with a criterion in each one of the multiple devices, and wherein each one of the multiple devices is associated with first and second states according to a utilization of the resource.

49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising, periodically or continuously determining, by each one of the multiple devices, whether the resource utilization satisfies the criterion.

50. The method according to claim 49, further comprising, responsive to the determining that the utilization of the resource satisfies the criterion, shifting, by the respective one of the multiple devices, to the first state or staying in the first state;

and responsive to the determining that the utilization of the resource does not satisfy the criterion, shifting, by the respective one of the multiple devices, to the second state or staying in the second state.

51. The method according to claim 50, further comprising, performing a task, by the respective one of the multiple devices, upon a request from the second server, when in the first state.

52. The method according to claim 50, further comprising periodically or continuously sending, by the respective one of the multiple devices, the resource utilization to the second server.

53. The method according to claim 52, wherein the determining is performed by the second server in response to a receiving, by the server, the resource utilization from the client device.

54. The method according to claim 48, for use with a set threshold value, and wherein the criterion is satisfied when the resource utilization is above or below the threshold.

55. The method according to claim 48, wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, a hardware component in the client device.

56. The method according to claim 55, wherein the hardware component comprises, or consists of, a processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) operation in the client device.

57. The method according to claim 56, wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU time of executing one or more threads or processes, wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU idling time, or wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, the processor or CPU executing a system idle process.

58. The method according to claim 55, wherein the hardware component comprises, or consists of, a memory in the client device, and wherein the resource utilization is based on, or comprises, an amount of used or unused location or space of the memory.

59. The method according to claim 48, wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, input or output capability.

60. The method according to claim 59, wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, communication bandwidth of communication with another device over the Internet.

61. The method according to claim 60, wherein the resource comprises, or consists of, communication bandwidth of communication with the server over the Internet, or wherein the resource utilization is based on, or according to, IETF RFC 2914.

62. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the device comprises selecting based on a physical geographical proximity to the first server.

63. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the device comprises selecting based on past activities or on a timing of an event.

64. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication over the Internet with the selected device or with the first server, is based on, or according to, TCP/IP protocol or connection.

65. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the device comprises randomly selecting a device from the multiple devices.

66. The method according to claim 5, wherein the constructing comprises forming a message that includes all received objects of the received web-pages.

67. The method according to claim 5, wherein each of the objects is a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) object.