Efficient internet service cost recovery system and method
First Claim
1. A distributed system for publishing and retrieving content in a network, comprising:
- a plurality of computer systems connected together in a peer-to-peer fashion;
one or more agent applications associated with the computer systems for allowing the computer systems to publish and retrieve content from the network by initiating peer-to-peer interactions across the network involving given transaction costs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a distributed architecture where each portion of published content may be divided into numerous (i.e., hundreds or thousands) of small fragments, and scattered amongst the peer systems in the network. Retrieval of data may be accomplished by downloading the contents in parallel, locating a replica of an original fragment if a particular peer system serving the original fragment becomes overloaded or disconnected from the network. This architecture allows the invention to take advantage of the asymmetric nature of most user connections to the Internet by utilizing a collection of small agent applications (agents) running in parallel to deliver content rapidly across the network. The distributed load balancing system used by the invention functions as an agoric resource allocation system, with agents trading favors with a bartering network. By using pricing to signal resource contention, the agents can optimize the system according to local needs and obtain the most efficient usage from available network resources. The invention also keeps track of which users provide resources, content and indexing services within the network through an internal micropayment system which denominates internal tokens (credits) in the same resources needed to provide the services (i.e., disk space, bandwidth and CPU cycles). The distributed data service built on top of this micropayment system provides a reliable and scaleable method for peer-to-peer content distribution. In addition, by distributing accounting using a micropayment system denominated in payment-in-kind (i.e., barter), the system is less expensive to operate and easier to bootstrap than conventional systems. By using the resources themselves as the backing for the payment system instead of having a real currency serve as a proxy for these resources within the accounting system, the disadvantages plaguing conventional systems can be positively addressed.
138 Citations
77 Claims
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1. A distributed system for publishing and retrieving content in a network, comprising:
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a plurality of computer systems connected together in a peer-to-peer fashion;
one or more agent applications associated with the computer systems for allowing the computer systems to publish and retrieve content from the network by initiating peer-to-peer interactions across the network involving given transaction costs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A distributed system for publishing and retrieving content in a network, comprising:
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a plurality of computer systems connected together in a peer-to-peer fashion and having characterized network resources that can be contributed to the network in return for a predetermined amount of credits that are accumulated by those computer systems contributing resources to the network such that the computer systems can exchange the credits for performing interactions across the network; and
one or more agent applications associated with the computer systems for allowing the computer systems to publish and retrieve content from the network by initiating the peer-to-peer interactions across the network between the agent applications. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A distributed system for publishing and retrieving content in a network, comprising:
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a plurality of computer systems connected together in a peer-to-peer fashion and having characterized network resources that can be contributed to the network in return for a predetermined amount of credits that are accumulated by those computer systems contributing resources to the network such that the computer systems can exchange the credits for performing interactions across the network; and
a global pool of agent applications distributed across the network for allowing the computer systems to publish and retrieve content from the network by initiating the peer-to-peer interactions across the network. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59)
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56. A method for performing micropayment transactions in a distributed network, comprising the steps of:
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offering a given amount of credits to a first party for performing a transaction within the network;
loaning to a second party an amount of credits equal to the offered amount of credits to enable the first and second parties to engage in the transaction;
verifying the offered credits to insure that the offered credits have not been previously spent in a prior transaction and withdrawing the offered credits from future use; and
if verified, completing the transaction and retracting the loaned credits to the second party in return for new credits that are associated with the first party in an amount equal to the amount of offered credits. - View Dependent Claims (58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77)
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61. A method for performing a microaccount transaction in a distributed network, comprising the steps of:
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initiating a transaction session between a requesting party and a fulfilling party within the network where the parties determine a financial relationship between them for guiding the transaction;
creating a token for use in a transaction between the parties, the transaction having a given cost, and associating a digital signature with the token;
verifying the authenticity of the token and associating an appropriate denomination with the token equal to the given cost for fulfilling the transaction;
fulfilling the transaction in exchange for the token; and
withdrawing the token from future use and associating a new token in an amount equal to the given cost with the fulfilling party.
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67. A method for publishing content to a distributed network, comprising the steps of:
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receiving an original file to be published to the network;
dissecting the original file into a series of pieces of the original file;
further dissecting each piece of the original file into a predetermined number of file blocks;
generating a respective block identification tag for each of the file blocks; and
storing the file blocks on one or more storage block servers within the network. - View Dependent Claims (69)
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74. A protocol for transmitting messages between agents in a distributed network, comprising:
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a transport layer for moving secure data between the agents;
an encryption and authentication layer for encrypting and decrypting the data;
a conversation layer for associating initiating messages with their responding messages counterparts; and
a transaction layer for enabling interactions between the agents in the network.
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Specification