Opportunistic transmission of portably stored digital data

• US 20030028672A1
• Filed: 08/03/2001
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Goldstein, Timothy L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,133,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system and method to provide memory management for electronic devices having limited and/or finite memory resources. The preferred inventive device packetizes the original digital data stored on the device. A communication controller opportunistically establishes communications between the electronic device and at least one remote transport device. A transceiver singly transmits copies of the packets to the remote device. The transceiver also operates to receive the communication signals from the remote devices. As the copies of the packets are transmitted, a memory controller deletes the digital data corresponding to the transmitted packets, thus freeing space on the electronic device memory.

Claims

1. An electronic device having digital data stored thereon, said electronic device comprising:

a packetizer for manipulating said digital data into a plurality of packets;

a communication controller for opportunistically establishing communication between said electronic device and at least one remote transport device; and

a transceiver for singly transmitting copies of said packets to said at least one remote transport device and receiving communication signals from ones of said at least one remote transport devices.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a memory controller for singly deleting said digital data that corresponds to said transmitted copies of said packets.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

an interactive memory controller wherein a user selects ones of said digital data corresponding to said transmitted copies of said packets for deletion.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said at least one remote transport device comprises:

a connection to a communication network;

a transceiver for facilitating communication with external devices; and

a data processor for sending ones of said transmitted copies of said packets over said communication network.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said memory controller saves a reduced representation of said digital data.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said transmitter is a wireless personal area network (WPAN) transmitter.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said transmitter sends multiple copies of each transmitted packet.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said memory controller receives a signal acknowledging receipt of said transmitted copy before singly deleting said packet.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a switch for deactivating said transceiver.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 wherein said switch is selectable by a user.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a file manager providing a user options for selecting ones of said digital data for transmission from said device.

12. A method for managing memory resources on an electronic device comprising the steps of:

packetizing data stored on said electronic device;

establishing a communication link with at least one neighboring electronic device;

transmitting a copy of a single packet to said at least one neighboring electronic device; and

communicating said transmitted copy from said at least one neighboring electronic device to a collection host.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

deleting said data corresponding to said single packet after said associated copy is transmitted.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

selectably deleting said data corresponding to said single packet after said associated copy is transmitted.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein said establishing step comprises the steps of:

broadcasting a hail within a transmission radius centered about said electronic device;

receiving reply transmissions from at least one neighboring electronic device within said transmission radius; and

creating a data channel between said electronic device and said at least one neighboring electronic device.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

transmitting additional copies of said single packet to other of said at least one neighboring electronic device.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of:

issuing an acknowledgment from said collection host addressed to said electronic device;

receiving said acknowledgment; and

performing said deleting step after said receiving step.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

reassembling said received packets at said collection host into a copy of said data stored on said electronic device.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of:

partially reassembling said packets at said electronic device into a thumbnail version of said data stored on said electronic device prior to said deleting step; and

storing said thumbnail version on said electronic device.

20. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

checking said transmitted copy for errors.

22. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for saving reduced copies of said original data from ones of said packets corresponding to said transmitted copies.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising:

means for selectively deleting portions of said original data corresponding to said transmitted copies of said packets.

21. A system of managing memory resources on an electronic device comprising:

means for packetizing original data stored on said memory resources;

means for hailing surrounding transport devices;

means for establishing communication channels with ones of said surrounding transport devices responding to said hail;

means for singly transmitting copies of said packets to said ones of said surrounding transport devices;

means for forwarding said singly transmitted copies from said surrounding transport devices to a collection point; and

means at said collection point for reassembling said forwarded copies into a copy of said original data.

24. The system of claim 21 further comprising:

means for checking errors in said forwarded copies.