Managed File Backup and Restore at Remote Storage Locations Through Multi-Services Gateway at User Premises

• US 20100205152A1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyson King
• Original Assignee: Prodea Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Ramayya, Jude P., Nicholls, Leon E., Masina, Ramprakash, Cowgill, George A., Ansari, Amir, Raissyan, Atousa, Mcquarters, Alvin R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/654
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 : Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 : based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 : Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 : for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 : based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 : Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 : Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 : Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 : Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 : using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 : in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 : Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 : Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 : Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 : of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 : Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 : Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 : Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/911 : Bridge, e.g. brouter, bus extender

Abstract

The disclosed examples of a system for providing and managing backup and restore services of one or more endpoint devices comprise at least one gateway device at a user premises and a service management center. The gateway device has a first interface for enabling bi-directional communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications for the one or more endpoint devices via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bidirectional communications with at least one storage area external to the user premises via the wide area network. The gateway device also has a processor configured to manage backups and restores of data between the one or more of the endpoint devices and the at least one storage area. The service management center is external to the user premises and communicates with the gateway device via the wide area network, and controls access by the gateway device to the at least one storage area.

Claims

1. A gateway device for operation at a user premises to provide and manage services of one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, the gateway device comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional network layer communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional network layer communications for the one or more endpoint devices via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications with a service management center and at least one storage area external to the premises via the wide area network; and

a processor configured to manage backups and restores of the data between the one or more of the endpoint devices and the at least one storage area.

2. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive data from the one or more endpoint devices that is at least one of encrypted and compressed and to transmit the received data to the at least one storage area.

3. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured:

to receive data from the one or more endpoint devices that is at least one of unencrypted and uncompressed;

to at least one of encrypt and compress the data from the one or more endpoint devices; and

to transmit the at least one of encrypted and compressed data to the at least one storage area.

4. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the data from the one or more endpoint devices at a first time and to transmit the data at a second, later time.

5. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to communicate with the service management center to receive a storage area access key.

6. The gateway device of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to only transmit files to the at least one storage area with the storage area access key.

7. The gateway device of claim 1, further comprising a local storage area that is inaccessible by the user at the user premises.

8. The gateway device of claim 7, wherein the local storage area is configured to receive and store at least a portion of data to be backed up from other gateway devices via the wide area network.

9. The gateway device of claim 7, wherein the at least one storage area external to the premises includes the local storage area that is inaccessible by the user at the user premises, and wherein backups and restores of the local storage area are performed at a storage area remote from the local storage area.

10. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to interact with a backup service provider to request a restore of backed up data to an endpoint device from the at least one storage area.

11. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to at least one of decrypt and decompressed files to be restored and to transmit the files to the at least one endpoint device.

12. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to manage backups and restores of data, stored at the gateway device, between the gateway device and the at least one storage area.

13. A method of managing backups and restores of data from endpoint devices associated with a gateway device in a user premises to and from at least one storage area remote from the user premises, comprising the steps of providing data to be backed up from one or more endpoint devices to a gateway device comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional network layer communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional network layer communications for the one or more endpoint devices via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications with a service management center and at least one storage area external to the premises via the wide area network; and

transferring the data to be backed up from the gateway device to at least one storage area remote from the premises.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising providing the gateway device with a storage access key, the gateway device transmitting the data to be backed up with the storage access key.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the storage access key from the at least one storage area to the service management center, the service management center providing the gateway device with the storage access key.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more endpoint devices at least one of encrypt and compress the data to be backed up prior to transferring the data to be backed up to the gateway device.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the gateway device receives the data to be backed up from the one or more endpoint devices and at least one of encrypts and compresses the data to be backed up prior to transferring the data to be backed up to the at least one storage area.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the gateway device transfers the data to be backed up at a defined time and frequency.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising the gateway device receiving the data to be backed up from the one or more endpoint devices at a first time, and transferring the data to be backed up to the at least one storage area at a second, later time.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the gateway device has a local storage area that is inaccessible to the user at the user premises and wherein the at least one storage area includes the inaccessible local storage areas of other gateway devices remote from the premises.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the transferring of the data to be backed up to the at least one storage area includes transferring different portions of the data to be backed up to different ones of the inaccessible local storage areas of the other gateway devices.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising recording at the gateway device usage of the at least one storage area.

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising sending usage records from the gateway device to the service management center.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising preparing billing information for the user at the service management center based on the usage information.

25. The method of claim 13, further comprising backing up data, stored on the gateway device, to the at least one storage area.

26. A gateway device for operations at a user premises to provide and manage services of one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, the gateway device comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional network layer communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device;

a second interface for providing bi-directional network layer communications for the one or more endpoint devices via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications with at least one storage area external to the premises via the wide area network; and

a processor responsive to control signals from a service management center received via the wide area network to provide and manage a backup and restore application service to manage backups and restores of endpoint user data of the endpoint user devices to and from the at least one storage area.

27. The gateway device of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the endpoint user data from the one or more endpoint devices that is at least one of encrypted and compressed and to transmit the received endpoint user data to the at least one storage area.

28. The gateway device of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured:

to receive endpoint user data from the one or more endpoint devices that is at least one of unencrypted and uncompressed;

to at least one of encrypt and compress the endpoint user data from the one or more endpoint devices; and

to transmit the at least one of encrypted and compressed endpoint user data to the at least one storage area.

29. The gateway device of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the endpoint user data from the one or more endpoint devices at a first time and to transmit the endpoint user data at a second, later time.

30. The gateway device of claim 26, wherein:

the second interface is further configured to enable bi-directional communications with the service management center external to the premises via the wide area network; and

the processor is further configured to receive information from the service management center configuring the processor to manage the backups and the restores of the endpoint user data between the one or more of the endpoint devices and the at least one storage area.

31. The gateway device of claim 30, wherein the processor is further configured:

to communicate with the service management center to receive a storage area access key; and

to only transmit files to the at least one storage area with the storage area access key.

32. The gateway device of claim 26, further comprising a local storage area that is inaccessible by the user at the user premises.

33. The gateway device of claim 32, wherein the local storage area is configured to receive and store at least a portion of the endpoint user data to be backed up from other gateway devices via the wide area network.

34. A system for providing and managing services of one or more endpoint devices comprising:

a plurality of gateway devices at a plurality of respective user premises, each gateway device comprising a first interface for enabling bi-directional communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications for the one or more endpoint devices via a wide area network, and for enabling at least some bi-directional communications with at least one storage area external to the user premises via the wide area network, and a processor configured to manage backups and restores of data between the one or more of the endpoint devices and the at least one storage area; and

a service management center external to each of the user premises and communicating with the plurality of gateway devices via the wide area network, the service management center controlling access by the plurality of gateway devices to the at least one storage area.

35. The system of claim 34, further comprising an access key to the at least one storage area that must be received at the at least one storage area from the gateway device to cause the at least one storage area to store the data.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the service management center is configured to receive and maintain the access key from the at least one storage area and to selectively provide the access key to one or more of the plurality of gateway devices.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the service management center is configured to authenticate whether one of the plurality of gateway devices requesting a backup or restore is permitted to use a particular path for the backup or restore.

38. The system of claim 36, wherein at least some of the gateway devices comprise a local storage area that is inaccessible by the user at the user premises.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the service management center is configured to manage the local storage areas of the at least some of the gateway devices as the at least one storage area.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the service management center is configured to cause the data to be backed up to be partitioned into separate portions and to distribute the separate portions to respective ones of the gateway devices to be stored on the local storage areas of those gateway devices.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the service management center is configured to cause the separate portions stored on the local storage areas of the respective ones of the gateway devices to be restored to one of the gateway devices when that gateway device requests a restore of the data and is authenticated for that restore.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the processor is further configured to backup data, stored on the gateway device, to the at least one storage area.

43. A computer readable medium bearing instructions that when operated on by a processor of a gateway device for operation at a user premises to provide and manage services of one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, cause the processor to perform the steps of:

causing the gateway device to initiate a backup of scheduled and on demand backup of data of at least one of endpoint devices associated with the gateway device and data stored in the gateway device;

causing the gateway device to communicate with the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device to synchronize between the gateway device and the endpoint devices changes in data at the endpoint devices since a last backup; and

sending files to be backed up from the gateway device to at least one storage area remote from the user premises.