Peer-to-peer automated anonymous asynchronous file sharing

• US 20050015466A1
• Filed: 10/17/2003
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: Gary W. Tripp
• Inventors: Tripp, Gary W.
• Granted Patent: US 7,032,000 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/152 using file content signatures, e.g. hash values
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104

Abstract

A service on a computer network that performs centralized searches based on index information transmitted by peer systems to a central site using an agent program running on each peer. Peer systems are directed to each other for the purpose of retrieving files. If none of the peers systems known to contain the files is online (and the file is therefore not available), the request is placed in a queue of file requests maintained by the central site. When a system containing the requested file connects to the service, the requested file is retrieved from that system and then distributed to the other systems which had requested the file.

Claims

1. A computer system for peer-to-peer file sharing comprising:

a server computer having an index of information about files that reside on a plurality of peer computers, the server computer coupled to the plurality of peer computers by a network;

a plurality of agent programs running on at least two of the plurality of peer computers and operable to transmit index information to the server computer and operable to transmit a requested file; and

a file sharing program running on the server computer and operable to perform centralized searches based on the index information transmitted to it across the network by the agent programs and to direct a peer-to-peer computer connection for the purpose of exchanging files upon a peer computer file request.

2. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the server computer is also a peer computer.

3. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the contents of at least some of the files stored on a peer computer comprise nontextual data having meta data that comprises one or more vectors extracted from the files.

4. The computer system of claim 1 wherein each agent program creates the index information for selected files on each corresponding peer computer, the selected files selected by user input.

5. The computer system of claim 1 wherein each agent program creates the index information for selected files on each corresponding peer computer, the selected files selected by a computer algorithm.

6. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the agent program comprises a utility program that is resident in an operating system on the corresponding peer computer.

7. The computer system of claim 1 wherein the file sharing program comprises a utility program that is resident in an operating system on the corresponding server computer.