System and Method to Guide Active Participation in Peer-to-Peer Systems with Passive Monitoring Environment

• US 20100138555A1
• Filed: 12/01/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Todimala, Ajay, Spatscheck, Oliver, Gerber, Alexandre, Sen, Subhabrata
• Granted Patent: US 8,959,243 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A method includes identifying shared content by inspecting a peer-to-peer traffic flow and identifying source peers providing the shared content, and requesting the shared content from the source peers. The method further includes receiving requests for the shared content from requesting peers, identifying requesting peers based on the requests for the shared content, and providing the shared content to a local subset of the requesting peers.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying shared content by inspecting peer-to-peer traffic flow;

identifying source peers providing the shared content;

requesting the shared content from at least one of the source peers;

receiving requests for the shared content from requesting peers;

identifying the requesting peers based on the requests for the shared content; and

providing the shared content to a subset of the requesting peers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the subset of requesting peers is determined based on a network topology.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the shared content is popular shared content, content having a significant effect on network resources, content with a large file size, or any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the shared content is licensed content.

5. A method comprising:

identifying shared content by inspecting peer-to-peer traffic flow;

identifying source peers providing the shared content;

requesting the shared content from at least one of the source peers;

receiving a request for the shared content from a requesting peer; and

identifying the requesting peer based on the request for the shared content.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising providing the shared content to the requesting peer.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the shared content is popular shared content, content having a significant effect on network resources, content with a large file size, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the shared content is licensed content.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the shared content is excluded content.

10. A method comprising:

inspecting peer-to-peer traffic of participating peers to identify shared content;

identifying source peers having the shared content, the source peers being different than the participating peers;

downloading the shared content from source peers;

providing the shared content; and

identifying a requesting peer other than the participating peers.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the shared content is provided to the requesting peer.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the shared content is popular shared content, content having a significant effect on network resources, content with a large file size, or any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the shared content matches a list of content provided by a content owner.

14. A method comprising:

inspecting peer-to-peer traffic of participating peers to identify shared content;

identifying source peers providing the shared content, the source peers being different than the participating peers;

sending a request for the shared content to a peer other than the participating peers;

receiving a response to the request; and

obtaining source information about one of the source peers providing the shared content based on the response.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the source information includes a location of the source peer, an identity of the source peer, or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising determining content distribution information for the content, wherein the content distribution information includes a distribution of a plurality of source peers, internet protocol addresses of the plurality of source peers, location of the plurality of source peers, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the shared content is popular shared content, content having a significant effect on network resources, content with a large file size, or any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the shared content matches a list of content provided by a content owner.

19. A method comprising:

inspecting peer-to-peer traffic of participating peers;

identifying shared content based on inspecting peer-to-peer traffic;

making the shared content available;

receiving requests for the shared content from requesting peers; and

obtaining requestor information based on the requests.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the requestor information includes a location of the requesting peer, an identity of the requesting peer, or any combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising determining content distribution information for the content, wherein the content distribution information includes a distribution of a plurality of requesting peers, internet protocol addresses of a plurality requesting peers, location of the plurality of requesting peers, or any combination thereof.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the shared content is popular shared content, content having a significant effect on network resources, content with a large file size, or any combination thereof.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the shared content matches a list of content provided by a content owner.