Method and apparatus for performing a peer-to-peer file transfer
First Claim
1. Apparatus to control transfer of a file from a first computer to a second computer, the first computer having a file transfer application instance, comprising:
- a processor;
computer memory holding computer program instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method, the method comprising;
establishing and maintaining a connection to the first computer;
upon receipt of a request from the first computer, the request associated with a file to be transferred to the second computer, generating a data string that identifies the file and the file transfer application instance, the data string having at least a portion that is unique;
storing the data string together with an identifier associated with the file transfer application instance;
providing the data string to the first computer, the data string provided over the connection;
upon subsequent receipt of a request from the second computer, the request associated with a URL that encodes at least the data string, de-referencing the URL by extracting the data string to identify the file and the file transfer application instance; and
providing an instruction to the file transfer application instance to initiate a transfer of the file from the first computer to the second computer.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A file transfer application maintains a secure connection over the Internet with a file transfer gateway. A user selects a file and the file transfer application requests a unique ticket from the gateway. The ticket is stored in both the gateway and the file transfer application. Next, the ticket is then encoded in a URL that can be sent to potential recipients of the file via conventional methods. Upon entering the URL into a web browser, the recipient will navigate to the file transfer gateway. The gateway decodes the URL to recover the ticket and looks up the ticket in the database to determine the associated application instance and file description. The gateway will then request the application instance to start encrypting and streaming the contents of the file identified by the ticket to the gateway, which then retransmits the encrypted stream to the recipient'"'"'s web browser.
32 Citations
10 Claims
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1. Apparatus to control transfer of a file from a first computer to a second computer, the first computer having a file transfer application instance, comprising:
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a processor; computer memory holding computer program instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method, the method comprising; establishing and maintaining a connection to the first computer; upon receipt of a request from the first computer, the request associated with a file to be transferred to the second computer, generating a data string that identifies the file and the file transfer application instance, the data string having at least a portion that is unique; storing the data string together with an identifier associated with the file transfer application instance; providing the data string to the first computer, the data string provided over the connection; upon subsequent receipt of a request from the second computer, the request associated with a URL that encodes at least the data string, de-referencing the URL by extracting the data string to identify the file and the file transfer application instance; and providing an instruction to the file transfer application instance to initiate a transfer of the file from the first computer to the second computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification