Method and apparatus for wirelessly sharing a file using an application-level connection

• US 20060039303A1
• Filed: 08/18/2004
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Inc. (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Singer, Howard, Sadan, Yariv, Popkin, Laird
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,923 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1065 Discovery involving distributed pre-established resource-based relationships among peers, e.g. based on distributed hash tables [DHT] pre-configuration of logical or physical connections H04L67/1053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/108 characterised by resources being split in blocks or fragments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

Ad hoc application-level connections are established between wireless devices. Autonomous selection of files on a provider device facilitates migration of a file from the file provider to a file receiver. Once a file provider and a file receiver are communicatively coupled using an application-level connection, a portion of a determined file is conveyed from the provider node to a receiver node while a connection remains viable. If the connection is severed, a neighbor node and a provider node may again recognize each other. A connection can then be re-established. Once the connection is re-established, a further portion of the file can be conveyed from a provider node to the receiver node.

Claims

1. A method for wirelessly sharing a file comprising:

recognizing a neighbor node;

establishing an application-level connection with the recognized neighbor node;

determining a file to be shared with the neighbor node; and

conveying to the neighbor node a portion of the determined file while the connection is viable.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising conveying to the neighbor node a digital rights certificate for the determined file while the connection is viable.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein conveying a digital rights certificate comprises conveying to the neighbor node a temporary digital rights certificate for the determined file.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a user identification from the neighbor node;

establishing a connection with a purchase manager; and

conveying to the connection with the purchase manager the user identification and at least one of the digital rights certificate and an industry standard content identifier for the determined file.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

re-recognizing the neighbor node;

establish a connection with the recognized neighbor node; and

conveying a further portion of the determined file while the connection is viable.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein recognizing a neighbor node comprises receiving a self-identification signal.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein recognizing a neighbor node comprises:

dispatching a query signal; and

receiving an identification signal in response to the query signal.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing a connection with a neighbor node comprises:

determining if a file sharing network has been established amongst a plurality of nodes; and

communicatively associating with the file sharing network when said network has been established.

establishing a file sharing network with the neighbor node when such a file sharing network has not been established; and

communicatively associating with the newly established file sharing.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein establishing an application-level connection with a neighbor node comprises directing a connection request to a recognized neighbor node.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a file to be shared comprises:

conveying to the neighbor node an enumeration of available files; and

receiving from the neighbor node a file selection wherein the selection is made from the enumeration of available files.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a file to be shared comprises:

receiving from the neighbor node a file preference indicator; and

determining a file according to the preference selection.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a file to be shared comprises:

receiving from the neighbor node a user demographic indicator; and

determining a file according to the demographic selection.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a file to be shared comprises:

receiving a share file directive from local user; and

determining a file according to the share file directive.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein conveying a portion of the determined file comprises conveying a file descriptor to the neighbor node while the connection is viable.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein conveying a portion of the determined file comprises:

receiving a user identification from the neighbor node; and

conveying a portion of the determined file when the user identification indicates that the user of the neighbor node is the member of a particular group.

16. A wireless file provider device comprising:

processor capable of executing an instruction sequence;

wireless interface capable of interacting with a wireless network;

memory capable of storing a file cache and one or more instruction sequences including;

peer-to-peer module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to;

recognize a neighbor node; and

establish an application-level connection with the recognized neighbor node using the wireless interface;

file determination module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to determine a file to be shared with the recognized neighbor node; and

conveyance module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to convey from the file cache to the connection established with the recognized neighbor node a portion of a determined file while the established connection remains viable.

17. The device of claim 16 further comprising a digital rights module that, when executed by the processor, minimally causes the processor to convey to the connection established with the recognized neighbor node a digital rights certificate for the determined file.

18. The device of claim 17 wherein the digital rights certificate comprises a temporary digital rights certificate.

19. The device of claim 17 wherein the digital rights module further minimally causes the processor to:

receive a user identifier by way of the connection established with the neighbor node;

establish a connection to a purchase manager using the wireless interface; and

convey to the connection established to the purchase manager the user identifier and at least one of the digital rights certificate and an industry standard content identifier for the determined file.

20. The device of claim 16 wherein the peer-to-peer module, when executed by the processor, further minimally causes the processor to re-recognize a neighbor node and establish a connection with the re-recognized neighbor node and also further minimally causes the processor to continue execution of the conveyance module in order to convey a further portion of the determined file to the connection established with the re-recognized neighbor node while the connection remains viable.

21. The device of claim 16 wherein the peer-to-peer module includes a self-identification module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to recognize a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to receive a self-identification signal by means of the wireless interface.

22. The device of claim 16 wherein the peer-to-peer module includes a query module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to recognize a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to:

direct a query message to the wireless interface; and

receive an identification signal by means of the wireless interface.

23. The device of claim 16 wherein the peer-to-peer module includes an establishment module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to establish a connection with a neighbor node by minimally causes the processor to:

search for file sharing network that has been established between two or more neighbor nodes;

associate the wireless interface with the file sharing network when said file sharing network is found;

establish a new file sharing network with a neighbor node when said file sharing network can not be found; and

associate the wireless interface with the newly established file sharing network.

24. The device of claim 16 wherein the peer-to-peer module includes an establishment module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to establish an application-level connection with a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to direct a connection request to the neighbor node by way of the wireless interface.

25. The device of claim 16 wherein the file determination module includes a select module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to determine a file to share with a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to:

convey to a connection established to a recognized neighbor node an enumeration of available files; and

receive a file selection by way of the connection established to a recognized node.

26. The device of claim 16 wherein the file determination module includes a preference module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to determine a file to share with a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to:

receive by way of a connection established to a recognized neighbor node a file preference indicator; and

determine a file selection according to the received file preference indicator.

27. The device of claim 16 wherein the file determination module includes a demographic module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to determine a file to share with a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to:

receive by way of a connection established to a recognized neighbor node a demographic indicator; and

determine a file selection according to the received demographic indicator.

28. The device of claim 16 further comprising a local user interface and wherein the file determination module includes a directive module that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to determine a file to share with a neighbor node by minimally causing the processor to:

receive from a local user by way of the local user interface a file share directive; and

determine a file selection according to the received file share directive.

29. The device of claim 16 wherein the conveyance module causes the processor to convey a portion of the determined file by minimally causing the processor to convey to a connection established with a recognized neighbor node a file descriptor for the determined file.

30. The device of claim 16 wherein the conveyance module causes the processor to convey a portion of the determined file by minimally causing the processor to convey to:

receive a user identifier from a recognized neighbor node; and

convey a portion of the determined file when the user identification indicates that the user of the recognized neighbor node is a member of a particular group.