Monitoring of computer-related resources and associated methods and systems for disbursing compensation

• US 20040260652A1
• Filed: 11/24/2003
• Published: 12/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brilliant Digital Entertainment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Brilliant Digital Entertainment Incorporated
• Inventors: Rose, Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 7,729,992 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards

Abstract

The present invention is directed toward methods and systems for monitoring resource usage in an architecture where neither the resource buyer nor the resource seller can be trusted, and for rewarding benefits, compensation, or rewards based upon such monitored resource usage data. The system rewards users who offer to share the memory, storage, or bandwidth of their computing resource to third parties within a distributed network. In an exemplary embodiment, users share processing, storage, bandwidth or memory resources with third parties by permitting such third parties to access files-stored in the memory of the users'"'"' computing devices. Users that offer files for upload are encouraged to register with a central authority, and receive value each time a third party accesses a resource from their computing devices. The value awarded to each such user is tracked by the central authority. They can use the value in exchange for products or services.

Claims

1. A method of measuring the extent of resources or benefit provided by a second user to a first user in a distributed network, said method comprising the steps of:

associating a first trusted entity with the first user;

associating a second trusted entity with the second user;

receiving, from the first trusted entity, information about an intended resource use;

providing a ticket, from a server to the first trusted entity, wherein said ticket includes at least portion of said information;

transmitting said ticket from the first trusted entity to the second trusted entity;

having the second trusted entity modify the ticket;

transmitting said modified ticket to the first trusted entity;

having the first trusted entity send the ticket to the server; and

utilizing said ticket and said modified ticket to determine the extent of benefit or resources provided by the second user to the first user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the benefit or resources provided by the second user include at least one of provision of a file, provision of bandwidth, provision of CPU cycles, or provision of disk or memory storage.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the ticket issued by the server comprises at least one of a machine identification field, a field for a file name, a field for a hash of a file, a field for a randomly generated number, a weighting field, a time field, a value field, or a date field.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the server stores a copy of said ticket.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second trusted entity validates the ticket by checking for a signature from the server.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity validate the ticket.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of having the server authenticate the identity of the first trusted entity prior to, or subsequent to, issuing said ticket.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said first trusted entity is a module incorporating authentication, encryption or data signing capabilities in data communication with a computing device.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first trusted entity comprises a receipt request generator, receipt generator module, and receipt validation module.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of having the server conduct a redundancy check prior to, or subsequent to, issuing the ticket.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of conducting the redundancy check is achieved by determining whether a file being accessed by the first user has not already been downloaded.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of having the second trusted entity modify the ticket comprises at least signing or authenticating the ticket.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity validate said signed ticket.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of having the second trusted entity modify the ticket comprises adding details of the extent of resources shared by the second user.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity organize a plurality of tickets into a record and communicating said record to the server.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of determining, from said record, the extent of resources provided by a plurality of second users to a plurality of first users and modifying a database to record the extent of resources provided by said plurality of second users to said plurality of first users.

17. A resource usage module capable of operating as a trusted entity in data communication with a computing device comprising a receipt request generator, receipt generator module, and receipt validation module.

18. An event record for monitoring an extent of resources provided by a second user to a first user in a distributed network comprising a plurality of tickets wherein each of said tickets comprises at least one of a randomly generated number field, a computing device identifier field, a date field and a time field, and a signature field and wherein each of said tickets contains information about the extent of resources provided by the second user to the first user or a value field.

19. A system for measuring the extent of resources provided by a second user to a first user in a distributed network, comprising:

a first trusted entity in data communication with a computing device used by a first user;

a second trusted entity in data communication with a computing device used by a second user;

a server in data communication with each of said first and second trusted entities wherein said server is capable of generating a ticket comprising at least one of a randomly generated number field, a computing device identifier field, a date field and a time field, a value field, and a signature field.

20. A method of awarding compensation to a second user based upon the extent of resources provided by said second user, operating a second computing device in data communication with a second trusted entity, to a first user, operating a first computing device in data communication with a first trusted entity, in a distributed network, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from the first trusted entity, information about an intended resource use;

providing a ticket, from a server to the first trusted entity, wherein said ticket includes at least portion of said information;

transmitting said ticket from the first trusted entity to the second trusted entity;

having the second trusted entity modify the ticket;

transmitting said modified ticket to the first trusted entity;

utilizing said modified ticket to determine the extent of resources provided by the second user to the first user; and

allocating value to said second user based upon said determination of the extent of resources provided by the second user.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the resources provided by the second user include at least one of processing power, bandwidth, storage or memory.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the ticket issued by the server comprises at least one of a machine identification field, a field for a file name, a field for a hash of a file, a field for a randomly generated number, a weighting field, a time field, value field, or a date field.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the server stores a copy of said ticket.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the second trusted entity validates the ticket by checking for a signature from the server.

25. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity validate the ticket.

26. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of having the server authenticate the identity of the first trusted entity prior to issuing said ticket.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein said first trusted entity is a module capable of digital signature authentication or generation in data communication with a computing device.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the first trusted entity comprises a receipt request generator, receipt generator module, receipt validation module, and a selection process module.

29. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of having the server conduct a redundancy check prior to, or subsequent to, issuing the ticket.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of conducting the redundancy check is achieved by determining whether a file being accessed by the first user has not already been downloaded in whole or in part.

31. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of having the second trusted entity modify the ticket comprises at least authenticating or signing the ticket.

33. The method of claim 20 wherein the step of having the second trusted entity modify the ticket comprises adding details of the extent of resources shared by the second user.

34. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity organize a plurality of tickets into a record and communicating said record to the server.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the step of determining, from said record, the extent of resources provided by a plurality of second users to a plurality of first users and modifying a database to record the extent of resources provided by said plurality of second users to said plurality of first users.

36. The method of claim 20 further comprising providing the second user an interface to purchase a plurality of products using said allocated value.

37. The method of claim 20 further comprising providing a website an interface that is capable of receiving a request by said website to validate a purchase from a user wherein said purchase uses said allocated value.

32. The method of claim 32 further comprising the step of having the first trusted entity validate said signed ticket.