Smart shares and transports

• US 20060031489A1
• Filed: 04/21/2004
• Published: 02/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Marcjan, Cezary
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes

Abstract

Disclosed is a unique system and method that facilitates more efficient sharing or transporting of content between at least any two computers. In particular, the type, security, and/or size of the content desired for “sharing” from one location (e.g., primary location) to another (e.g., remote or secondary location) can be examined. This information can be employed when determining which communication channel to utilize to effectuate the sharing process. This determination can also be based at least in part upon which communication channels are open and available between at least any two computers. Other factors that can influence the manner in which content can be transported or shared include the communication connection type or speed, the security associated with the connection, the identity user(s), as well as access or sharing rights.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates sharing content between at least any two computers comprising:

an authentication component that verifies a user'"'"'s identity based in part on user-based input to determine whether the user has access rights to the content; and

an analysis component that identifies and determines whether any communication channels are available to share the content between the at least two computers based at least in part on one or more characteristics of the content.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a virtual share space that stores content to be shared with one or more other computers.

3. The system of claim 2, the virtual share space is accessed by at least one of at least one communication channel or a unique key.

4. The system of claim 1, the communication channels comprising email, internet, server, proxy server, and direct access.

5. The system of claim 4, one or more of the communication channels comprising a module installed on a sender and a recipient'"'"'s communication system that divides a large file into two or more smaller chunks, whereby each chunk is sent separately to the receiver.

6. The system of claim 5, the two or more chunks are identified with special keys in subject line or email headers.

7. The system of claim 5, the two or more chunks are encrypted in part by the module on the sender'"'"'s communication system and decrypted in part by module on the recipient'"'"'s communication system.

8. The system of claim 5, the receiver acknowledges receipt of each chunk before a subsequent chunk is sent.

9. The system of claim 1, the one or more characteristics of the content comprising content type, size of content, and security of content.

35. A computer readable medium having stored thereon the system of claim 1.

10. A system that facilitates file sharing comprising:

a content analysis component that analyzes at least a portion of content for which sharing is desired;

a channel analysis component that examines compatibility of available communication channels with respect to the content for which sharing is desired; and

a channel controller component that selects at least one communication channel that is determined to be available to transport the content based at least in part upon analysis of the content.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising an authentication component that authenticates input to facilitate determining that a user has requisite access rights to gain access to the content at least in part by matching user-based input to one or more listings comprising users who are pre-approved for access as indicated by at least one of their username, password email address, network name, and computer name.

12. The system of claim 11, the authentication component further resolves multiple personas, usernames, nicknames, and/or aliases for any one user to identify the user correctly.

13. The system of claim 10, the content is located in one or more virtual share spaces.

14. The system of claim 10, the content analysis component examines at least one of file type, file size, and file security to facilitate determining which communication channel to employ to share the content.

15. The system of claim 10, the channel analysis component examines the one or more communication channels to determine whether they are available and whether they satisfy at least one of a security threshold and a content size threshold.

16. The system of claim 15, one or more communication channels are deemed unavailable if they fail to satisfy at least one of the security threshold and the content size threshold.

17. The system of claim 10, the channel controller further controls a plurality of communication channels.

18. The system of claim 10 located on a first computer that originates the content to be shared and on at least a second computer that desires access to such content.

19. The system of claim 18, the first computer is located at a first location and the second computer is located at a second location such that they correspond to one user.

20. The system of claim 18, the first computer corresponds to a first user and the second computer corresponds to a second user, the first user being different from the second user.

21. The system of claim 10, access to at least a first portion of the content is granted to at least a first computer, such that the first computer only is permitted to see the portion of the content to which access is granted.

22. The system of claim 10, further comprising a component that communicates with an unknown computer to determine available communication channels and access rights of the computer at least in part by extracting information therefrom using an open communication channel to detect user information.

23. The system of claim 22, the open communication channel is an email channel.

24. A content-sharing and transport method comprising:

receiving user-based input in request to access content designated for sharing; and

determining at least one communication channel to employ to facilitate sharing with or transporting the content from the virtual share space to another computer based at least in part on availability and at least one of content type, content size, and content security.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

creating one or more virtual share spaces to maintain content for sharing with other computers; and

approving access rights to one or more users for access to at least one virtual share space and storing them alongside the respective content.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising assigning a unique key to the one or more virtual share spaces to facilitate permitting anytime access to at least a portion of the content in the virtual share space.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising authenticating the user-based input to confirm user identity and/or user access rights to the content.

28. The method of claim 24, the communication channel is any one of email, server, internet, direct access to the content, and/or proxy server.

29. The method of claim 28, providing a module in connection with the email communication channel to facilitate sharing content via email.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

dividing a large file into two or more smaller chunks,

sending each chunk separately to the receiver; and

acknowledging to the sender receipt of each chunk before a subsequent chunk is sent by the sender; and

assembling the two or more chunks to create a copy of the content.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising encrypting the two or more chunks before sending to the receiver and decrypting before or during the assembling of the chunks.

32. The method of claim 28, availability of the email channel depends in part on email service associated therewith.

33. A content-sharing system comprising:

means for receiving user-based input in request to access content designated for sharing; and

means for determining at least one communication channel to employ to facilitate sharing with or transporting the content from the virtual share space to another computer based at least in part on availability and at least one of content type, content size, and content security.

34. A data packet adapted to be transmitted between two or more computer processes facilitating easier sharing of content, the data packet comprising:

information associated with automatically determining at least one communication channel to employ to share or transport content between two or more computers, the determination being based at least in part upon content type, content size, content security, and channel availability.