Trust spectrum for certificate distribution in distributed peer-to-peer networks
First Claim
1. A peer computing system comprising:
- a plurality of peer nodes;
at least a subset of the plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in areas of interest to find and exchange codats relevant to the areas of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data;
wherein the at least a subset of the plurality peer nodes is further configured to participate in a distributed trust mechanism to establish and maintain trust relationships among the peer nodes in particular areas of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange among the peer nodes in the particular areas of interest; and
wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats at a plurality of levels of trust, wherein one or more of the levels of trust use certificates to provide secure access to the codats, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of a decentralized, distributed trust mechanism that may be used in peer-to-peer platforms, to implement trust relationships based on data relevance between peers on a network and to implement trust relationships between peers and content and data (codat). In one embodiment, the trust mechanism may provide a trust spectrum of multiple levels wherein unique peer identities may be established to enable authentication and the assignment of the peers'"'"' associated access policies within a peer group. In one embodiment, the trust spectrum may have Certificate Authority signed certificates as a maximum level of security, and self-signed certificates as a minimum level of security. Since a certificate is one form of codat, in one embodiment the trust mechanism may be applied to a peer group member'"'"'s collection of signed certificates for a given peer group.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A peer computing system comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes;
at least a subset of the plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in areas of interest to find and exchange codats relevant to the areas of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data;
wherein the at least a subset of the plurality peer nodes is further configured to participate in a distributed trust mechanism to establish and maintain trust relationships among the peer nodes in particular areas of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange among the peer nodes in the particular areas of interest; and
wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats at a plurality of levels of trust, wherein one or more of the levels of trust use certificates to provide secure access to the codats, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A peer computing system comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes;
at least a subset of the plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in areas of interest to find and exchange codats relevant to the areas of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data;
wherein the at least a subset of the plurality peer nodes is further configured to participate in a distributed trust mechanism to establish and maintain trust relationships among the peer nodes in particular areas of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange among the peer nodes in the particular areas of interest;
wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats using certificates, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node; and
wherein the at least a subset of the plurality of peer nodes is further configured to determine trust in certificates received from other peer nodes in accordance with the distributed trust mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A peer node comprising:
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a processor;
a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to;
participate in an area of interest with other peer nodes on a network to find and exchange codats relevant to the area of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data; and
implement a distributed trust mechanism to establish and maintain trust relationships with the other peer nodes in the area of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange with the peer nodes in the area of interest. wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats using certificates, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node; and
wherein the peer node is further configured to determine trust in certificates received from the other peer nodes in accordance with the distributed trust mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method comprising:
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a peer node participating in an area of interest with other peer nodes on a network to find and exchange codats relevant to the area of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data;
the peer node establishing and maintaining trust relationships with the other peer nodes in the area of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange with the peer nodes in the area of interest in accordance with a distributed trust mechanism;
wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats using certificates, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node; and
the peer node determining trust in certificates received from the other peer nodes in accordance with the distributed trust mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An article of manufacture comprising software instructions executable to implement:
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a peer node participating in an area of interest with other peer nodes on a network to find and exchange codats relevant to the area of interest, wherein a codat is computer-representable content or data;
the peer node establishing and maintaining trust relationships with the other peer nodes in the area of interest from trust evaluations of codat exchange with the peer nodes in the area of interest in accordance with the distributed trust mechanism;
wherein the distributed trust mechanism is configured to provide secure access to codats using certificates, wherein a certificate is a security credential corresponding to a particular peer node; and
the peer node determining trust in certificates received from the other peer nodes in accordance with the distributed trust mechanism. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification