PROTOCOL FOR DETERMINING AVAILABILITY OF PEERS IN A PEER-TO-PEER STORAGE SYSTEM

• US 20100088520A1
• Filed: 10/02/2008
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Puri, Siddhartha, Charles, Denis X.
• Application Number:
  US12/244,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20100088520A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/178
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0807 using tickets, e.g. Kerberos cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using tickets or tokens H04L9/3213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/108 characterised by resources being split in blocks or fragments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems

Abstract

A method and system is provided for monitoring the availability of a peer in a P2P system that is used to provide remote storage or remote processing power. In one illustrative example, a recipient peer requests access to a service provisioned by another peer in a peer-to-peer network. The request may be a request to access a file or a file fragment that is being stored on the other peer. In order to make use of the accessed service, after receiving access to the service provisioned by the peer, the recipient peer needs to report to a central server that the service has been rendered. For instance, in some cases the file fragment accessed by the recipient peer may be encrypted, in which case the central server will send the recipient peer a decryption key after receiving the report that the service has been rendered.

Claims

1. A method for receiving access to a service in a peer-to-peer system, comprising:

requesting access to a service provisioned by a peer in a peer-to-peer network;

receiving access to the service provisioned by the peer; and

in order to make use of the accessed service, reporting to a central server that the service has been rendered.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the service is off-site storage or processing capability.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the service is off-site storage and access to the service includes receipt of a file fragment from the off-site storage.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the file fragment is encrypted and further comprising, in response to reporting the rendering of the service, receiving a transaction key from the central server in order to decrypt the file fragment.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein reporting the rendered service to the server includes reporting a series of transactions between the peer and a client that receives the rendered service, wherein the transactions include challenges and responses that are certified with digital signatures.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

sending a ticket to the peer indicting that access to the service is authorized by the central server;

receiving an encryption of the file fragment, wherein the file fragment is encrypted using a private key associated with the peer operating on the ticket;

sending a first digitally signed statement to the peer, wherein the signed statement includes a keyed hash of the encryption of the file fragment;

receiving a second digitally signed statement confirming that the keyed hash of the encryption of the file fragment is correct;

sending the first and second digitally signed statements to the central server; and

in response to sending the first and second digitally signed statements, receiving a decryption key to decrypted the encryption of the file fragment.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first and second digitally signed signatures are time stamped.

8. The method of claim 3 wherein the service is off-site storage and access to the service includes uploading a file fragment to the off-site storage.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

requesting authorization from the central server to access the service;

in response to the request, receiving from the central server at least one ticket and a list of peers that offer to provision the service;

sending to a first of the peers on the list a message signed with a private key, wherein the message includes one of the tickets, the file fragment, a challenge and a keyed hash of the file fragment to be uploaded;

receiving from the first peer a signed statement certifying that the ticket is correct; and

sending the message and the signed statement to the central server.

10. A method of monitoring availability of a peer in a peer-to-peer system, comprising:

sending a ticket to a first peer that is requesting access to a service provisioned by a second peer in the peer-to-peer network;

receiving from the first peer statements digitally signed by the first and second peers demonstrating that the first peer successfully received access to the service; and

determining availability of the second peer using the digitally signed statements.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising sending a transaction key to the first peer that is needed by the first peer to make use of the access to the service.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the service is off-site storage or processing capability.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the service is off-site storage and access to the service includes receipt of a file fragment from the off-site storage.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the file fragment is encrypted and further comprising, in response to reporting the receipt of access, receiving a transaction key from the central server in order to decrypt the file fragment.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the digitally signed statements include a report of a series of transactions between the first and second peers, wherein the transactions include challenges and responses that are certified with digital signatures.

16. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, performs a method including:

verifying that a plurality of encrypted file fragments have been delivered to a respective plurality of recipient peers from a second peer in a peer-to-peer network that provides off-site storage for digital files associated with each of the peers;

in response to receipt of the verification, delivering a transaction key to each of the plurality of recipient peers which are needed to respectively decrypt the plurality of file fragments; and

measuring availability of the second peer based at least in part on a number of file fragments whose delivery to their respective recipient peers has been verified.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein verification of delivery of the plurality of encrypted file fragments is provided by each of the recipient peers.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein verification further comprising receiving a report from each of the recipient peers that describes a series of transactions between the respective receiving peer and the second peer, wherein the transactions include challenges and responses that are certified with digital signatures.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the transactions are time-stamped.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein a different transaction key is associated with different recipient peers.