Communication System And Method For Implementing Online File Storage Based On An Instant Messaging Platform

• US 20070203917A1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Published: 08/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Shenzhen Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Wei, Zhen, Xia, Hongzhan, Du, Qingsheng, Yu, Shuangquan
• Application Number:
  US11/680,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20070203917A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a communication system for implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform and a method thereof, the method includes: an IM client transmits an online storage operation request of a file to an online file storage access server; the online file storage access server interacts with the online file storage server to implement the online storage operation according to the online storage operation request, and returns the result of operation to the IM client. By using the communication system and method, a user can implement various online storage operations such as file storing, deleting, sharing, copying and the like via the existed IM client, without downloading a special online file storage client. The operation is simple, and functions and storing and reading speeds the same as the ones provided by the online storage in the special client-based mode can be achieved.

Claims

1. A communication system for implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

an IM client accessing a communication network and an online file storage access server accessing the communication network, and an online file storage server accessing the online file storage access server;

wherein the IM client is used to provide an online file storage operation interface;

the online file storage access server is used to parse an IM protocol, verify a user online storage identifier and process a user request logic from the IM client; and

the online file storage server is used to store files in the online file storage and directory information, and process a file request from the online file storage access server.

2. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the online file storage server further comprises:

at least one online file storage user data server and at least one online file storage server, accessing the online file storage access server,

wherein the online file storage user data server is used for storing user data related with the user, and updating the user data stored according to a result of implementing the file operations; and

the online file storage server is used for storing user files in the online file storage, and processing the file request from the online file storage access server.

3. The communication system of claim 2, wherein the communication system comprises two or more than two online file storage user data servers;

and the online file storage access server interacts with each online file storage user data server via a uniform data interface.

4. The communication system of claim 1, further comprising:

a flow media server which is used for accessing the communication network and the online file storage access server, and is used for temporarily storing audio video (AV) files to be played online by an IM user and generating a playing list.

5. The communication system of claim 1, wherein the IM client accesses the communication network via wired or wireless communication.

6. A communication system for online playing audio video (AV) files in an online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

an IM client accessing a communication network and an online file storage access server accessing the communication network, an online file storage server accessing the online file storage access server, and a flow media server accessing the communication network and the online file storage access server;

wherein the IM client is used to provide an online file storage operation interface via which a user chooses online playing operations, and start a local media player to play the files in the list;

the online file storage server is used to store files in the online file storage and the user data;

the online file storage access server is used to process an online playing request of the user; and

the flow media server is used to temporarily store AV files to be played online by the IM user, generate and return a playing list to the online file storage access server.

7. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the online file storage server further comprises:

at least one online file storage user data server accessing the online file storage access server and at least one online file storage server accessing the online file storage access server;

wherein the online file storage user data server is used for storing user data related with the user; and

the online file storage server is used to store user files in the online file storage.

8. The communication system of claim 6, wherein the flow media server is a Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) server or a Real server.

9. A method for implementing online file storage in a communication system implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

transmitting, by the IM client, a file request to an online file storage access server, after an IM user chooses to implement a file operation on a file in the online file storage via an IM client;

acquiring, by the online file storage access server, user data of the IM user according to the received file request from the online file storage user data server;

interacting, by the online file storage access server, with the online file storage server according to the acquired user data, implementing the file requested by the user, and updating the user data of the IM user in the online file storage user data server according to a result of the file operation; and

returning, by the online file storage access server, the result of the file operation to the IM client.

10. The method of claim 9, before the process of transmitting the file request, further comprising:

logging on the IM system, by the IM user, via the IM client;

implementing an identifier verification and recognizing online storage identifier data corresponding to the user, by the IM system;

transmitting, by the IM client, a request for reading online storage directory list to the online file storage access server;

acquiring, by the online file storage access server, an online storage directory file list of the user from the online file storage user data server, and returning the acquired online storage directory file list of the user and the recognized online storage identifier data corresponding to the user to the IM client for displaying.

11. The method of claim 10, upon the IM system recognizing online storage identifier data corresponding to the user, further comprising:

returning, by the IM system, a private key to the IM client;

and carrying, by the IM client, a logging-on name and the private key in the request for reading online storage directory list;

verifying, by the online file storage access server, the online storage identifier of the user according to the received logging-on name and the private key after the online file storage access server receives the request;

if the verification is passed, proceeding with the process;

otherwise, rejecting the request of the user.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the user data further comprises:

the online storage directory file list of the IM client.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the file request comprises file storing, deleting, or copying operation request;

the process of transmitting the file request further comprises;

transmitting, by the IM client, a file chosen by the IM user to be stored in the online file storage and path information for storing the file, or the information of file to be deleted or copied to the online file storage access server; and

the process of implementing the file requested by the user comprises;

storing a file from the IM client in the online file storage server, or deleting from the online file storage server the file chosen by the IM user to be deleted, or reading the file chosen to be read by the IM user from the online file storage server and transmitting the file chosen to be read by the IM user to the IM client.

14. A method for sharing files in a communication system implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

pre-setting a sharing data list storing file sharing data information of each IM user in an online file storage user data server;

transmitting, by an IM client, file sharing data information of the file shared by the IM client with friends to the online file storage access server; and

storing, by the online file storage access server, the file sharing data information in a sharing data list stored in the online file storage user data server.

15. The method of claim 14, after the process of transmitting the file sharing data information, further comprising:

checking, by the online file storage access server, an authority of a sharing user;

if the sharing user is authorized to share the file with the shared user, proceeding with the process;

otherwise, the sharing user is rejected to implement the sharing file operation and the process is terminated.

16. The method of claim 14, after the process of storing the file sharing data information, further comprising:

transmitting, by the online file storage user data server, information of the sharing file and information of the sharing user in the file sharing data information to the IM client used by the shared user for displaying via the online file storage access server.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the online file storage user data server of the sharing user is different from the online file storage user data server of the shared user;

and the process of the online file storage user data server transmitting the information of the sharing file and information of the sharing user in the file sharing data information comprises;

transmitting, by the online file storage data server of the sharing user, the file sharing data information to the network had-disk user data server of the shared user; and

transmitting, by the network had-disk user data server of the shared user, the file sharing data information to the IM client of the shared user for displaying.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the file sharing data information comprises:

information of the sharing user, information of the sharing file, and information of the shared user.

19. The method of claim 16, after the process of the online file storage user data server transmitting the information of the sharing file and information of the sharing user in the file sharing data information, further comprising:

reading, by the IM client of the sharing user, the file sharing data information of the user from the online file storage user data server of the sharing user via the online file storage access server, and displaying the file sharing data information of the user for the sharing user, after the sharing user chooses to query sharing information; and

reading, by the IM client of the shared user, file sharing data information from the online file storage user data server of the shared user via the online file storage access server, and displaying the file sharing data information for the shared user, after the shared user chooses to query the sharing information.

20. The method of claim 16, after the process of the online file storage user data server transmitting the information of the sharing file and information of the sharing user in the file sharing data information, further comprising:

reading, by the IM client of the shared user, the file sharing data information from the online file storage user data server of the shared user via the online file storage access server, and acquiring information of the sharing user from the file sharing data information, after the shared user chooses to download a file in a sharing folder shared by the sharing user;

acquiring, by the online file storage access server, the online storage directory file list of the sharing user from the online file storage user data server where the sharing user is located;

reading, by the online file storage access server, according to the online storage directory file list information, the file from the designated location on the online file storage server; and

returning, by the online file storage access server, the file to the client of the sharing user for displaying.

21. A method for implementing file virtual copying in a communication system implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

transmitting, by an IM client A, a virtual copying request to an online file storage access server, after an IM user A chooses to virtually copy a file shared by an IM user B to an online file storage of the IM user A via the IM client A;

reading, by the online file storage access server, user information of the IM user B from the online file storage user data server of the IM user B, and finding a source file to be copied by the IM user A from the online file storage server according to the user information; and

generating, by the online file storage server, a virtual file according to the source file, and returning virtual file information to the IM client A via the online file storage access server.

22. The method of claim 21, before the process of reading user information of the IM user B and finding a source file, further comprising:

checking, by the online file storage access server, whether the IM user A is authorized to read a file shared by the IM user B;

if the IM user A is authorized to read the file shared by the IM user B, proceeding with the process;

otherwise, forbidding the IM user A to copy the file and terminating the process.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the process of generating a virtual file according to the source file comprises:

dividing the source file into a header and a text, and copying the header to generate the virtual file.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting, by the IM client A, a request for reading a virtual file to the online file storage server via the online file storage access server, after the IM user A chooses to read the virtual file;

finding, by the online file storage server, the source file according to the address of the source file recorded in the virtual file, and returning the source file to the IM client A via the online file storage access server.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

deleting, by the IM client A, the virtual file established in the online file storage server via the online file storage access server, and updating user data of the IM user A in the online file storage user data server, after the IM user A deletes the virtual file stored in online file storage of the IM user A;

deleting, by the IM client B, source file information in user information stored by the IM user B in the online file storage user data server, after the IM user B deletes the source file stored in the online file storage server of the IM user B; and

deleting the source file when the online file storage server of the IM user B detects that a reference number of the source file is zero.

26. A method for implementing online playing audio video (AV) files in a communication system implementing online file storage based on an instant messaging (IM) platform, comprising:

reading, by an online file storage access server, an AV file chosen to be played online by an IM user from an online file storage server;

copying, by the online file storage access server, the AV file to a flow media server, generating and returning a playing list file to an IM client; and

calling, by the IM client, a local media player to play the file in the file list.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the process of returning a playing list file to an IM client comprises:

returning a Uniformed Resource Locator (URL) of the generated playing list file to the IM client.

28. The method of claim 26, before the process of reading the AV file chosen to be played online, further comprising:

transmitting, by the IM client, an online playing request to the online file storage access server, after the IM user chooses to play the file online in the online file storage via the IM client.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the file chosen to be played online by the IM user is a virtual file;

and

the process of reading the file chosen to be played online by the user from the online file storage server comprises;

finding the virtual file chosen to be played by the user from the online file storage server, and reading a source file from the online file storage server according to the address of the source file recorded in the virtual file.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the file chosen to be played online by the IM user is a file shared by an IM friend;

and

the process of reading the file chosen to be played online by the user from the online file storage server comprises;

acquiring the file sharing data information shared by the IM friend from the online file storage user data server of the user to acquire the online file storage user server where the IM friend is located, and acquiring a source file of the IM friend from the online file storage user server where the IM friend is located.