Method and apparatus for scalable peer-to-peer inquiries in a network of untrusted parties
First Claim
1. A method, in a data processing system, of outputting a communication from a single source to a plurality of recipient devices, comprising:
- transmitting the communication to the plurality of recipient devices such that the communication is received by the plurality of recipient devices but is output by only a first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, wherein the first subset is less than all of the plurality of recipient devices;
receiving responses from at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices;
determining if a predetermined response requirement is met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices; and
outputting the communication on a second subset of the plurality of recipient devices if the predetermined response requirement has not been met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for scalable inquiries in a network of communicating peers are provided. The method and apparatus of the present invention make use of communal filters and randomization to determine which client devices will output a message that is to be broadcast to a community of client devices. Each message is assigned a probability value that is determined based on various criteria or may be determined randomly. The message is then transmitted to the client devices who apply their own respective display criteria to the message parameters to determine if the message is one that is of interest to the user of the client device. If the message is not of interest to the user of the client device, the message is discarded. If the message is of interest to the user, logic is applied to the parameters of the message to determine whether the message should be displayed to the user or not. This logic may involve determining whether the message has been previously displayed to the user, whether the message has been received but not previously displayed, and the like. In addition, if the message has not been previously displayed to the user, a randomly generated number, which may be weighted based on other criteria, is generated and compared with the probability value associated with the message. Based on this comparison, the message is either displayed or not displayed on the client device. This probability value of the message may be adjusted with each subsequent rebroadcast of the message to increase the size of the subset of users that will see the message.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, in a data processing system, of outputting a communication from a single source to a plurality of recipient devices, comprising:
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transmitting the communication to the plurality of recipient devices such that the communication is received by the plurality of recipient devices but is output by only a first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, wherein the first subset is less than all of the plurality of recipient devices;
receiving responses from at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices;
determining if a predetermined response requirement is met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices; and
outputting the communication on a second subset of the plurality of recipient devices if the predetermined response requirement has not been met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for outputting a communication from a single source to a plurality of recipient devices, comprising:
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at least one network;
a communications server coupled to the at least one network; and
a plurality of recipient devices coupled to the at least one network, wherein the communications server transmits the communication to the plurality of recipient devices such that the communication is received by the plurality of recipient devices but is output by only a first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, wherein the first subset is less than all of the plurality of recipient devices, receives responses from at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, determines if a predetermined response requirement is met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, and wherein, if the predetermined response requirement has not been met by the responses received from the at least some of the first subset of the plurality of recipient devices, the communication is output on a second subset of the plurality of recipient devices. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of distributing messages to a plurality of client devices in a network, comprising:
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receiving a message for broadcast to a plurality of client devices;
assigning a probability value to the message;
transmitting the message to the plurality of client devices;
at each client device, generating a randomized value;
comparing the randomized value of a client device to the probability value of the message; and
outputting the message based on the comparison of randomized value and the probability value.
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Specification