SHARING OF DIGITAL CONTENTS IN P2P NETWORKS EXPLOITING LOCALIZATION DATA

• US 20120221647A1
• Filed: 11/03/2009
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Inventors: Vercellone, Vinicio, Ullio, Mario, Ciminiera, Luigi, Papa Manzillo, Marco
• Granted Patent: US 8,805,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

A method for enabling sharing of content files among nodes of a P2P network is provided. The P2P network comprises sub-networks each including a respective plurality of nodes capable of storing content files. Each sub-network has an associated corresponding hash table for indexing content files stored in the nodes. The hash table is distributed among at least some of the nodes of the sub-network. For each content file stored in at least one node, the hash table comprises a corresponding node list of the sub-network nodes which store the content file. The method comprises associating each node of the sub-network listed in the node list corresponding to a content file with localization data indicating the localization of the node within the sub-network. The localization data defines a corresponding preferential list of the nodes storing the content file for downloading the content file by a requesting node.

Claims

1. A method for enabling sharing of content files among nodes of a P2P network, the P2P network comprising a plurality of sub-networks each one including a respective plurality of nodes capable of storing content files, wherein each sub-network has associated therewith a corresponding hash table for indexing the content files stored in the nodes of the sub-network, said hash table being distributed among at least some of the nodes of the sub-network, and wherein, for each content file stored in at least one node of the sub-network, said hash table comprises a corresponding node list of the sub-network nodes which store said content file, the method comprising:

associating each node of the sub-network listed in the node list corresponding to a content file with localization data providing an indication of the localization of said node within said subnetwork,

exploiting said localization data to define a corresponding preferential list of the nodes storing said content file for downloading of said content file by a requesting node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

all the nodes included in a same sub-network belong to a same corresponding autonomous system, and wherein the localization data associated with a node comprises at least one of;

a first parameter identifying the autonomous system corresponding to the sub-network which includes said node;

a second parameter identifying a geographic area in which said node is located, and

a third parameter identifying a point of presence used by said node for accessing the P2P network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein

each node included in a subnetwork gains access to the P2P network by a corresponding access service provider, and

the localization data associated with said node are based on at least one of:

information retrieved from the access service provider corresponding to said node, or

information provided already available at said node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, when a node of the network requests the downloading of a selected content file, the method causes the node to:

provide its localization data, and

obtain from at least one other node of the respective sub-network a preferential list corresponding to the content file, said preferential list corresponding to said content file including a set of the nodes listed in the node list corresponding to said content file, said set being ordered based on a comparison between the localization data of the node having made the request and the localization data of the nodes listed in the node list.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing a node of a sub-network is configured for the caching of to cache content files to be downloaded by other nodes of the sub-network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, for each content file stored in at least one node of a sub-network, storing in the hash table associated with said sub-network a criticality index providing an indication of the sharing of said content file among the nodes of said sub-network, the caching of content files by a node being based on the criticality index of said content files.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising locally storing at each node of a sub-network a criticality list including the criticality indices of a sub-set of content files.

8. The method of claim 7, caching, at each node at least one content file among the sub-set of content files whose criticality indices are included in the criticality list stored in said node.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising selecting the at least one cached content file by the node from among the sub-set of content files based on its criticality index.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the criticality list of a first node of the sub-network according to the criticality list of a second node of the sub-network when the first node and the second node enter into communication with each other.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein for downloading a content file, the node requesting said content file performs a first search and a second search, the first search comprising:

causing the node that requests the content file to provide to at least one other node of the respective sub-network a first search key based on a file name of said content file;

causing at least one node of the sub-network to provide, in response to the first search key, a first response list including for each file name of content file stored in at least one node of the subnetwork which corresponds to the first search key a corresponding second search key based on said content file, the second search comprising;

causing the at least one node of the sub-network to provide, in response to said second search key, the preferential list corresponding to the content file identified by the second search key, wherein;

for each content file stored in at least one node of the subnetwork, the hash table comprises the first search key and the second search key corresponding to said content file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

each second search key listed in the first response list is associated with a corresponding encryption key, and

the content files stored in the nodes of the sub-network are encrypted using the encryption key.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein for each content file stored in at least one node of the sub-network:

the first search is a hash of the file name of said content file,

the encryption key is the hash of said content file, and

the second search key is a hash of the encrypted content file.

14. A P2P network comprising a plurality of nodes configured to implement the method according to claim 1.

15. A computer readable storage medium storing software executable by a node of a P2P network, the P2P network comprising a plurality of sub-networks each one including a respective plurality of nodes capable of storing content files, wherein each sub-network has associated therewith a corresponding hash table for the indexing of the content files stored in the nodes of the sub-network, said hash table being distributed among at least some of the nodes of the sub-network, wherein, for each content file stored in at least one node of the subnetwork, said hash table comprises a corresponding node list of the sub-network nodes which store said content file, and wherein each node of the sub-network listed in the node list corresponding to a content file is associated with localization data providing an indication of the localization of said node within said subnetwork, the software comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform:

requesting the downloading of a content file;

receiving corresponding localization data,

exploiting the received localization data for defining a corresponding preferential list of the nodes storing said content file, and

downloading said content file from nodes of the P2P network based on said preferential list.