METADATA STRUCTURES FOR MASS P2P FILE SHARING
First Claim
1. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for providing content definitions for coordinating content sharing in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, said computer executable instructions comprising:
- for each of a plurality of peers, identifying one or more matching peers in a P2P network, said matching peers having corresponding content sharing interests;
for each matching peer and starting at a sharing root of each matching peer, preparing a root metadata ID file describing the content to be shared between the matching peers; and
exchanging the root metadata ID file prepared for each matching peer with every other matching peer via the P2P network to identify a set of shared files and folders between the matching peers.
2 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A “Mass File Sharer” (MFS) provides a mass P2P file sharing protocol with optional on-demand file access across a P2P network. Unlike conventional P2P file sharing, the MFS simultaneously asynchronously shares large numbers of files, while providing optional on-demand (synchronous) access to shared files. The MFS uses a unique metadata structure in combination with an inter-peer file/folder version analysis and an inter-peer file/folder availability analysis to share complex directory structures that may include any number of folders, sub-folders, and files. Sharing may be asynchronous and/or synchronous. Specifically, file sharing is generally accomplished as an asynchronous distribution across the network. However, when a particular peer wants direct access particular files, an on-demand access mode is used to enable synchronous delivery of shared files. This combination of asynchronous and synchronous file distribution enables the MFS to support a number of applications, such as on-demand movie viewing, file/folder browsing, etc.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for providing content definitions for coordinating content sharing in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, said computer executable instructions comprising:
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for each of a plurality of peers, identifying one or more matching peers in a P2P network, said matching peers having corresponding content sharing interests; for each matching peer and starting at a sharing root of each matching peer, preparing a root metadata ID file describing the content to be shared between the matching peers; and exchanging the root metadata ID file prepared for each matching peer with every other matching peer via the P2P network to identify a set of shared files and folders between the matching peers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for identifying data to be shared between peers in a peer-to peer (P2P) network, comprising using a computing device for:
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using one or more peer computing devices to query a P2P network to identify one or more matching peer computing devices having matching data sharing interests; using each of the peer computing devices to locally prepare a root metadata ID for a root of a shared folder corresponding to the matching data sharing interests of each of those peer computing devices; wherein the root of the shared folder represents a directory tree structure of folders and files to be shared; and exchanging the root metadata ID prepared by each peer computing device with every other matching peer computing device via the P2P network. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for coordinating content sharing interests between peers in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, comprising:
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for each of a plurality of peers attached to a P2P network, identifying one or more matching peers in a P2P network that have corresponding content sharing interests corresponding to a root share folder of each peer; for the root share folder of each matching peer, preparing a metadata ID describing a directory tree structure of folders and files contained within the root share folder as a function of the corresponding content sharing interests; exchanging the metadata ID prepared by each peer with every other matching peer via the P2P network; and for each peer, evaluating the received metadata ID'"'"'s to identify commonly shared file and folders. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification