Method and apparatus for peer-to-peer services

• US 20030018712A1
• Filed: 03/08/2002
• Published: 01/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Harrow, Ivan P., Curley, Martin G., Fleming, David O., Daly, Frank X., Honan, Dermot E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,440,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/107 with limitation or expansion of the discovery scope
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1072 Discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for peer-to-peer services have been described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for information from a device;

determining a nearest source for the information; and

communicating to the device the nearest source for the information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information is a file.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the device is a client.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the nearest source is another device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising transferring the information from the nearest source to the device.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the transfer is a peer-to-peer transfer.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising maintaining a prioritized list of nearest sources for the information.

9. A method for shifting possible WAN traffic to LAN traffic, the method comprising:

receiving a request for data;

determining if the request is for data that is located on the LAN; and

if so, then redirecting the request for the data to the LAN;

else, allowing the request to go to the WAN.

8. The method of claim 1a wherein determining the nearest source for the information comprises determining a source with a shortest transfer time for the information from said source to the device.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the data is a file.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising determining a nearest location on the LAN which has the requested data.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the nearest location is a client.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising a peer-to-peer transfer of the data.

14. A processing system comprising a processor, which when executing a set of instructions performs the method of claim 9.

15. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which when executed performs the method of claim 9.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising means for maintaining a prioritized list of nearest sources of the information.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising means for communicating the information from the nearest source to the device.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein means for communicating further comprises means for peer-to-peer communicating.

20. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon information representing the apparatus of claim 16.

16. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving an information request from a device;

means for determining a nearest source of the information; and

means for communicating to the device the nearest source of the information.

21. A system comprising a processor, which when executing a set of instructions, performs the following:

inputs an information request from a device;

determines a source for the information; and

informs the device of the source for the information.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising determining the source having the fastest transfer time for the information from the source of the information to the device.

23. The system of claim 21 further comprising transferring a payment and/or a credit.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first client is a member of the plurality of clients.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein said list maintained takes into account factors selected from the group consisting of physicality to first client, network first client is attached to, bandwidth of a network, available bandwidth of a network, time expiration of the file, size of the file, and time to transfer the file.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 further comprising a router having a first communications port, and a second communications port, the first communications port coupled to receive communications from the directory server, and the second communications port coupled to receive communications from a network.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the device is coupled to the network.

24. A method for file sharing, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a file from a first client at a directory server;

determining from a list maintained on the directory server if a local copy of the file is on any of a plurality of clients connected to the directory server; and

if so, then directing the first client to transfer the file from at least one of the plurality of clients;

else, letting the request proceed to an intended recipient.

27. An apparatus comprising:

a directory server having a bi-directional communications port, an output, and an input, the bidirectional communications port coupled to receive an information request from a device; and

a nearest data locating engine having an input, and an output, the input coupled to receive the directory server output, and the output coupled for receiving by the directory server input.