Method and apparatus for peer-to peer access

• US 20040148434A1
• Filed: 01/24/2003
• Published: 07/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Matsubara, Daisuke, Miki, Kazuho
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1059 Inter-group management mechanisms, e.g. splitting, merging or interconnection of groups
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

In a specific embodiment of the invention, a peer-to-peer interfacing device is described. The particular embodiment of the invention facilitates access by a Web browser, allowing a Web user to benefit from the access capability of a peer-to-peer network, such as file sharing. The interfacing device can communicate using a standard protocol (e.g., HTML), thus allowing the Web user to access the peer-to-peer network with a conventional Web browser. The interfacing device can interact on the peer-to-peer network side, and thus appears to the peer-to-peer network as a peer machine.

Claims

1. In a networked communication system comprising a plurality of nodes, a method for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the P2P network comprising some of the nodes, each executing at least one P2P networking program for communication with each other using a first P2P protocol associated with the P2P network, the method comprising:

receiving a first message communicated from a first networking program that is not one of the P2P networking programs, the first networking program being executed on a first node;

communicating a message to a node in the P2P network, the message including information based on information contained in the first message, the message conforming to the first P2P protocol;

receiving a response from the node in the P2P network; and

communicating a first response to the first node, the first response including information based on information contained in the response from the node in the P2P network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message and the first response are communicated using a network protocol that is incompatible with the P2P network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message includes identification information representing a node in the P2P network, wherein the step of communicating a message to a node includes using the identification information to identify the node in the P2P network.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising communicating information contained in the first message to a server to obtain identification information representative of a node in the P2P network, wherein the step of communicating a message to a node includes using the identification information to identify the node in the P2P network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the response includes directory information representative of one or more files in the P2P network.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein content of the directory information is based on a configuration of the first node.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is a login request.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is a file retrieval request for one or more files located in one or more nodes in the P2P network.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is a file upload request.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is a file retrieval request for at least one file located in one or more nodes in the P2P network, the method further comprising:

communicating with a server to obtain identification information representative of a node in the P2P network having a copy of the file;

communicating with a node in the P2P network to access the file, the node in the P2P network identified by the identification information; and

communicating information relating to the file to the first node.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the information relating to the file comprises content of the file.

12. The method of claim 10 further including storing a copy of the file so that subsequent retrieval requests for the file can be satisfied without accessing the node in the P2P network.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message is an upload request of a file, wherein the file is stored other than on a node in the P2P network.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first node and the node in the P2P network are the same node.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first networking program is a P2P networking program for communication using a second P2P protocol associated with a second P2P network.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message conforms to one of HTTP (hypertext transport protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol, SOAP (simple object access protocol), SIP (session initiation protocol), POP3 (post office protocol), IMAP (internet message access protocol), and SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol).

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the first message conforms to a second P2P protocol different from the first P2P protocol.

18. A method for accessing information from a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising:

receiving an internet message from a client, the internet message conforming to one of HTTP (hypertext transport protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol, SOAP (simple object access protocol), SIP (session initiation protocol), POP3 (post office protocol), IMAP (internet message access protocol), and SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol);

obtaining first information from a data store based on information contained in the internet message, the data store comprising information collected from peers in a first P2P network;

generating second information, the second information comprising some of the first information; and

communicating the second information to the client.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the second information includes directory information.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein content of the directory information is based on a configuration of the client.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising communicating with one or more peers in the P2P network to obtain information therefrom and storing the information in the data store.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein the data store is an index server.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the steps are performed on a first gateway server, wherein the data store is associated with a second gateway server, the second gateway server operable to provide access to the first P2P network, wherein the second information indicates an address of the second gateway server, wherein the client can communicate with second gateway server based on the second information.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the message is a retrieval request for a file, the method further comprising accessing the data store to obtain information indicative of one or more peers having a copy of the file and accessing one of the one or more peers using a P2P network communication protocol to obtain the file, wherein the step of generating a Web page includes at least a portion of the file.

25. The method of claim 24 further including storing the file in a file data store so that a subsequent internet message for the file can be satisfied from the file in the file data store.

26. The method of claim 18 wherein the message is a request to post a file to the P2P network, the method further comprising accessing the data store to store information about the file, receiving a copy of the file, and storing the copy of the file in a file data store, wherein peers in the P2P network can receive copies of the file from the file data store.

27. The method of claim 18 wherein the P2P network communicates using a first P2P protocol and the first message is communicated using a second P2P protocol different from the first P2P protocol.

28. The method of claim 18 wherein the client is a WEB browser and the second information is a WEB page.

29. The method of claim 18 wherein the internet message conforms to one of HTTP (hypertext transport protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol, SOAP (simple object access protocol), SIP (session initiation protocol), POP3 (post office protocol), IMAP (internet message access protocol), SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), and a P2P network protocol that is different from a P2P network protocol used in the first P2P network.

30. A system for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising:

a first communication module configured to receive and send information using a first network communication protocol;

a second communication module configured to receive and send information using a second network communication protocol, the second network communication protocol being a protocol used by the P2P network; and

an information exchange module configured to produce first information based on information received by the first communication module and to produce second information based on information received by the second communication module,

the second communication module being further configured to send the first information to a peer in the P2P network and in response thereto to receive information from a peer in the P2P network,

the first communication module being further configured to send the second information to a destination node,

wherein the first network communication protocol is different from the second network communication protocol.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the second information includes directory information.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein content of the directory information is based on a configuration of the destination node.

33. The system of claim 30 further comprising a peer access module configured to interact with one or more peers in the P2P network in response to information received by the first communication module.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the peer access module is further configured to access one or more files from a peer in the P2P network.

35. The system of claim 34 further comprising a data communication module configured to access a data store to store files accessed from peers in the P2P network.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the data store is accessed over a communication network.

37. The system of claim 33 wherein the peer access module is further configured to allocate file storage in response to information received by the first communication module, wherein the information is representative of a file.

38. The system of claim 30 further comprising a third communication module configured to communicate with a server to obtain identification information representative of a peer in the P2P network.

39. The system of claim 30 wherein the first network communication protocol is one of HTTP (hypertext transport protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol, SOAP (simple object access protocol), SIP (session initiation protocol), POP3 (post office protocol), IMAP (internet message access protocol), and SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol).

40. The system of claim 30 wherein the first network communication protocol is a P2P protocol.

41. A computer program product for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising computer readable storage media and program code stored on the computer readable storage media, the computer program code effective to control one or more data processing devices to:

receive a first request communicated using a first network communication protocol;

communicate a request to a peer in the P2P network, the request including information based on information contained in the first request, the request being communicated using a second network communication protocol;

receive a response from the peer in the P2P network; and

communicate a first response comprising information based on information contained in the response from the peer in the P2P network to a destination node, the first response being communicated using the first protocol,

the first network communication protocol being different from the second communication protocol.

42. The computer program product of claim 41 further effective to control the one or more data processing devices to communicate with a server to obtain identification information representative of a peer in the P2P network using information contained the first request, wherein communicating to a peer includes using the identification information to identify the peer in the P2P network.

43. The computer program product of claim 41 wherein the first request is a file retrieval request for a file located in one or more peers in the P2P network, the computer program product further effective to control the one or more data processing devices to communicate with a server to obtain identification information representative of the peer in the P2P network, the peer having a copy of the file, the first response representative of the file.

44. The computer program product of claim 43 wherein the information relating to the file comprises content of the file.

45. The computer program product of claim 43 wherein a copy of file is stored so that subsequent retrieval requests for the file can be satisfied without accessing the peer in the P2P network.

46. The computer program product of claim 41 wherein the first communication protocol is one of HTTP (hypertext transport protocol), FTP (file transfer protocol, SOAP (simple object access protocol), SIP (session initiation protocol), POP3 (post office protocol), IMAP (internet message access protocol), and SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol).

47. The computer program product of claim 41 wherein the first communication protocol is a P2P network protocol.

48. A system for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the P2P network comprising a plurality of first nodes, the first nodes communicating using a first P2P network protocol, the system comprising:

means for receiving a first message from a second node, the first message conforming to a second network protocol other than the first P2P network protocol;

means for communicating a second message with one of the first nodes, the communicating being performed in response to the first message, the second message having content determined based on content of the first message;

means for receiving a third message from one of the first nodes; and

means for transmitting a representation of the third message to the second node.

49. A system for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the P2P network comprising a plurality of first nodes, the first nodes communicating using a first P2P network protocol, the system comprising:

means for receiving a first message from a second node, the first message conforming to a second network protocol other than the first P2P network protocol;

means for generating first information, the first information based on information contained in the first message;

means for obtaining second information based on the first information, the second information originating from one of the first nodes; and

means for transmitting a representation of the second message to the second node.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein the means for obtaining includes means for communicating with an index server to obtain third information, the third information indicative of the second information.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the third information is indicative of one of the first nodes which contains the second information.

52. The system of claim 50 wherein the third information constitutes the second information.

53. A system for accessing a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising:

a first gateway means for accessing a first P2P network,

the first gateway means comprising;

means for receiving a first message from a first node not belonging to the P2P network,;

means for generating first information, the first information based on information contained in the first message;

means for obtaining second information indicative of a second gateway means, the second gateway means for accessing a second P2P network; and

means for transmitting a representation of the second message to the second node, the second information indicative of a second node in the second P2P network,

wherein the first node can communicate with the second gateway means to access the second P2P network.

54. In a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising a plurality of nodes, each executing at least one P2P networking program for communication with each other using a first P2P protocol, a method for a node in the P2P network to communicate with a mobile terminal not executing the at least one P2P networking program, the method comprising:

receiving a message from the mobile terminal,

obtaining, in response to the message, first directory information representative of one or more files in the P2P network, the first directory information including the number of online files or the number of online cache for each file; and

converting the first directory information to produce second directory information based on the number of online files included in each directory or the number of online cache for each file, the second directory information comprising some of the first directory information.

55. The method of claim 54, further comprising communicating a response to the mobile terminal, the response including the second directory information, the second information including the number of online files or the number of online cache for each file.

56. The method of claim 54 wherein the second directory information is made such that display of directories or files in the second directory information on the mobile terminal is designed based on the number of online files included in each directory or the number of online cache for each file.

57. The method of claim 56, further comprising communicating a response to the mobile terminal, the response including the second directory information, the second information including the number of online files or the number of online cache for each file.