Peer-to-peer engine for object sharing in communication devices

• US 20060010204A1
• Filed: 07/06/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Jalava, Teemu, Teinila, Jaakko
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/64 file transfer between terminals download of applications H04M1/72406; transfer of messages, e.g. SMS, e-mail or MMS H04M1/7243

Abstract

This invention describes a method for sharing of application specific objects between communication devices (e.g., a mobile communication device or a mobile phone) using middleware containing a peer-to-peer engine. This engine is completely peer-to-peer based and no servers are needed in the network. Especially games are seen as a promising potential application for the invention. An application registers to the peer-to-peer (P2P) engine when it wants to share or download files. The P2P engine takes care of the file sharing and informs when a new file has been downloaded so the application can start using it and the P2P engine delivers them to the appropriate application directories. The P2P engine can use either a 2G or 3G general packet radio system (GPRS), a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) or a Bluetooth as a transport for the file sharing and the choice of the transport is left to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing object sharing between a communication device and a further communication device, comprising the steps of:

sending an invite by a peer-to-peer engine of the communication device to a further peer-to-peer engine of the further communication device, wherein said invite signal contains information about at least one file or a part of said at least one file available for sharing and belonging to an application X in said communication device and said information is taken from a peer-to-peer database of said communication device by said peer-to-peer engine; and

transferring said at least one file or the part of said at least one file to a further peer-to-peer database of said further communication device, if said further communication device supports said application X and initiates said transfer, thus providing said object sharing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one file or the part of said at least one file must be stored in said peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing and said at least one file or said part of said at least one file is copied from said peer-to-peer database during said transferring.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said transferring from the communication device to the further communication device is facilitated by said peer-to-peer engine and by said further peer-to-peer engine, respectively.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein after the step of sending the invite signal, the method further comprises the steps of:

determining whether the further communication device supports said application X and optionally contains at least one further file or a part of said at least one further file belonging to said application X for sharing; and

sending, if the further communication device supports said application X, an ok signal by the further peer-to-peer engine of said further communication device to said peer-to-peer engine of said communication device, wherein said ok signal contains, if available for sharing, further information about said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file and said further information is taken from said further peer-to-peer database by said further peer-to-peer engine.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after the step of sending an ok signal, the method further comprising the steps of:

sending an acknowledgement signal by the peer-to-peer engine of the communication device to said further peer-to-peer engine of the further communication device, and

transferring said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file from said peer-to-peer further database to said peer-to-peer database, if said communication device initiates said transfer, thus providing further said object sharing.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of:

completing said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file in said peer-to-peer database of said communication device and optionally storing said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file in said peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file after said completing is moved or copied to a corresponding application directory X out of N application directories available in said communication device and, if said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file is moved out of said peer-to-peer database, it is no longer available for sharing in said communication device, wherein N is an integer of at least a value of one.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said completing includes storing in said peer-to-peer database data regarding said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file containing a file name, a file type, file meta-data, an application ID, a checksum, a file size, pointers to various file parts, pointers to various checksums of the corresponding file parts, an indication of a file availability for sharing and an indication of a file completeness.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein all signals originated from and received by said peer-to-peer engine and said further peer-to-peer engine are transported by second generation (2G) general packet radio system (GPRS) means, by third generation (3G) general packet radio system (GPRS) means, by code division multiple access (CDMA) means, by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) means, by Bluetooth means, by wireless local area networks (WLAN) means, or by upper memory block (UMB) means.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein all the steps initiated by corresponding users of the communication device or the further communication device are performed automatically by the peer-to-peer engine and the further peer-to-peer engine, respectively.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein said further information includes a file name, a checksum, a file type and a bit field describing what file parts are available to share regarding said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

completing said at least one file or the part of said at least one file in said further peer-to-peer database of said further communication device and optionally storing said at least one file or the part of said at least one file in said further peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said at least one file or the part of said at least one file after said completing is moved or copied to a corresponding application directory X available in said further communication device and, if said at least one file or the part of said at least one file is moved out of said further peer-to-peer database, it is no longer available for sharing in said further communication device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said completing includes storing in said further peer-to-peer database data regarding said at least one file or the part of said at least one file containing a file name, a file type, file meta-data, an application ID, a checksum, a file size, pointers to various file parts, pointers to various checksums of the corresponding file parts, an indication of a file availability for sharing and an indication of a file completeness.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication device is a mobile communication device or a mobile phone.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said information includes a file name, a checksum, a file type and a bit field describing what file parts are available to share regarding said at least one file or the part of said at least one file.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage structure embodying computer program code thereon for execution by a computer processor with said computer program code characterized in that it includes instructions for performing the steps of the method of claim 1 indicated as being performed by any component or a combination of components of said communication device or said further communication device.

18. A communication device for providing object sharing between said communication device and a further communication device, comprising:

a peer-to-peer engine, for sending an invite signal to a further peer-to-peer engine of the further communication device, wherein said invite signal contains information about at least one file or a part of said at least one file available for sharing and belonging to an application X in said communication device, for providing said at least one file or the part of said at least one file for transferring to a further peer-to-peer database of said further communication device, if said further communication device supports said application X and initiates said transfer, thus providing said object sharing; and

a peer-to-peer database, for storing said information about said at least one file or the part of said at least one file, wherein said information is taken from a peer-to-peer database of said communication device by said peer-to-peer engine.

19. The communication device of claim 18, wherein said at least one file or the part of said at least one file must be stored in said peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing and said at least one file or said part of said at least one file is copied from said peer-to-peer database during said transferring.

20. The communication device of claim 18, wherein said transferring from the communication device to the further communication device is facilitated by said peer-to-peer engine and by said further peer-to-peer engine, respectively.

21. The communication device of claim 18, wherein after sending the invite signal, it is determined whether the further communication device supports said application X and optionally contains at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file belonging to said application X for sharing, and, if it is determined that the further communication device supports said application X, an ok signal is sent by the further peer-to-peer engine of said further communication device to said peer-to-peer engine of said communication device, wherein said ok signal contains, if available for sharing, further information about said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file and said further information is taken from said further peer-to-peer database by said further peer-to-peer engine.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein after sending an ok signal, an acknowledgement signal is sent by the peer-to-peer engine of the communication device to said further peer-to-peer engine of the further communication device, and said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file is transferred from said peer-to-peer further database to said peer-to-peer database, if said communication device initiates said transfer, thus providing further said object sharing.

23. The communication device of claim 22, wherein all signals originated from and received by said peer-to-peer engine and said further peer-to-peer engine are transported by second generation (2G) general packet radio system (GPRS) means, by third generation (3G) general packet radio system (GPRS) means, by code division multiple access (CDMA) means, by wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) means, by Bluetooth means, by wireless local area networks (WLAN) means, or by upper memory block (UMB) means.

24. The communication device of claim 22, wherein said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file in said peer-to-peer database of said communication device is completed and optionally stored in said peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing.

25. The communication device (11) of claim 24, wherein said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file after said completing is moved or copied to a corresponding application directory X out of N application directories available in said communication device and, if said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file is moved out of said peer-to-peer database, it is no longer available for sharing in said communication device, wherein N is an integer of at least a value of one.

26. The communication device of claim 24, wherein said completing includes storing in said peer-to-peer database data regarding said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file containing a file name, a file type, file meta-data, an application ID, a checksum, a file size, pointers to various file parts, pointers to various checksums of the corresponding file parts, an indication of a file availability for sharing and an indication of a file completeness.

27. The communication device of claim 21, wherein said further information includes a file name, a checksum, a file type and a bit field describing what file parts are available to share regarding said at least one further file or the part of said at least one further file.

28. The communication device of claim 18, further comprising:

a peer-to-peer management block, for managing the peer-to-peer engine and the peer-to-peer database.

29. The communication device of claim 18, wherein said information includes a file name, a checksum, a file type and a bit field describing what file parts are available to share regarding said at least one file or the part of said at least one file.

30. The communication device of claim 18, wherein said communication device is a mobile communication device or a mobile phone.

31. Middleware of a communication device for providing object sharing between the communication device and a further communication device, comprising:

a peer-to-peer engine, for sending an invite signal to a further peer-to-peer engine of the further communication device, wherein said invite signal (contains information about at least one file or a part of said at least one file available for sharing and belonging to an application X in said communication device, for providing said at least one file or the part of said at least one file for transferring to a further peer-to-peer database of said further communication device, if said further communication device supports said application X and initiates said transfer, thus providing said object sharing; and

a peer-to-peer database, for storing said information about said at least one file or the part of said at least one file, wherein said information is taken from a peer-to-peer database of said communication device by said peer-to-peer engine.

32. The middleware of the communication device of claim 31, wherein said at least one file or the part of said at least one file must be stored in said peer-to-peer database in order to be the object for sharing and said at least one file or said part of said at least one file is copied from said peer-to-peer database during said transferring.