DISTRIBUTED STORAGE SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20140101238A1
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Patrick Soon-Shiong
• Original Assignee: Patrick Soon-Shiong
• Inventors: Soon-Shiong, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 9,509,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1074 for supporting data block transmission mechanisms file transfer H04L67/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems, and methods of pre-loading (or caching) activatable content to several mobile devices for future use by at least one of the mobile devices. The mobile devices are communicatively coupled with each other to form a distribute storage network. The pre-loaded content can be used by applications executed in any one of the mobile devices within the network. A content server is configured to transmit portions of the content to the mobile devices upon detection that a subset of conditions within the multi-conditional content activation criteria has been satisfied. The content server is configured to transmit the entire content when all conditions within the multi-conditional content activation criteria has been satisfied. The content server then activates the content when a content activation event is detected.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising:

a mobile device interface configured to couple with a plurality of mobile devices, each mobile device comprising a computer readable memory having a storage area; and

a content server coupled with the mobile device interface and configured to;

obtain multi-conditional content activation criteria related to activatable content where the multi-conditional content activation criteria operate as a function of mobile device attributes;

cause a first mobile device from the plurality of mobile devices to store a portion of the activatable content as inactive content in its storage area according to satisfaction of a proper subset of the multi-conditional content activation criteria;

enable a second mobile device from the plurality of mobile devices to activate the activatable content upon satisfaction of the multi-conditional content activation criteria and availability of the activatable content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device interface comprises a wired interface.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the wired interface comprises at least one of the following:

an Ethernet interface, an optic fiber interface, an asynchronous transfer mode interface, and a public switched telephone network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device interface comprises a wireless interface.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the wireless interface comprises at least one of the following:

an Wi-Fi interface, WiGIG interface, a celluar interface, a mesh network interface, a WiMAX interface, a microwave interface, an Ultra-wideband interface, a wireless HD interface, a wireless personal area network, a wireless home digital interface, wireless USB, and ZigBee.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices comprises at least one computing device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the computing device comprises at least one of the following:

a tablet, a computer, a set top box, a smart phone, an e-book reader, a game console, and an electronic pen.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of mobile devices comprises a vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the vehicle comprises at least one of the following:

an automobile, an aircraft, a spacecraft, a boat, a ship, a submersible, a bus, a train, and a truck.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage area on each mobile device is at least partially under control of the content server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage area is configured to restrict access to the content under command of the content server.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage area comprises a secured portion that is secured under command of the content server.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage area composes a virtual machine that is at least partially under control of the content server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein interactions between the first mobile device and the content server occurs within the virtual machine under command of the content server.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the content comprises at least one of the following:

text data, image data, video data, kinesthetic data, audio data, application data, telematics data, and functionality data.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein activating the activatable content comprises at least one of the following:

a presentation of the activatable content, an execution of the activatable content, a transmission of the activatable content, a deletion of the activatable content, a management of the activatable content, an indexing the activatable content, a configuration based on the activatable content, a transaction related to the activatable content, and a modification of the activatable content.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the multi-conditional content activation criteria depend on a payment.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the multi-conditional content activation criteria depend on recognition of a digital representation of an object as a target object.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the digital representation of the object represents at least one of the following:

a sound, a symbol, a two dimensional object, a three dimensional object, a movement, an image, a magazine, a newspaper, a display screen, a toy, and a vehicle.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the multi-conditional content activation criteria depend on a user interaction with at least one of the mobile devices.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the multi-conditional content activation criteria depend on a context of at least one of the mobile devices.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the context is based on sensor data obtained from the at least one of the mobile devices.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is configured to exchange content information related to the activatable content with the first mobile device via a content exchange protocol.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the content exchange protocol includes at least one of the following:

a universal plug-n-play protocol, a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) framework, a media transport protocol, and a high definition multi-media interface protocol.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is further configured to enable the second mobile device to activate the activatable content by at least one of the following:

unlocking the content, revealing the content, authorizing access, authenticating a user, and moving the content to a non-content server controlled memory.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is further configured to identify an activation event upon satisfaction of the multi-conditional content activation criteria.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the activation event comprises at least one of the following:

a point-of-use, a payment, a rating, a vote, and a context.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is further configured to provide the content to the first mobile device over a network.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the content is pre-cached in the storage area of the first mobile device.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the content is provided over the network during off-peak hours.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the content is provided according to a fee-schedule.

32. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distributed storage area network comprising storage areas of at least some of the mobile devices, including the storage area of the first mobile device.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the content server is further configured to manage the distribute storage area network.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the content server is further configured to manage the content within the distributed storage area network.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network comprises one of the following:

a plurality of vehicles, a plurality of cell phones, a plurality of game consoles, and a plurality of portable computers.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network comprises a cellular backbone.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network comprises an optic fiber backbone.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network comprises a mesh backbone.

39. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network is independently-powered.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the distributed storage area network is powered at least in part by gasoline.

41. The system of claim 32, wherein the distributed storage area network comprises a data density of at least one Terabyte per 100 m².

42. The system of claim 41, wherein at least some of the storage areas within the distributed storage area network move relative to each other.

43. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage area of the at least one of the mobile devices comprises at least one Gigabyte.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the storage area of the at least one of the mobile devices comprises at least one Terabyte.

45. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is further configured to cause the first mobile device to store a second additional portion of the activatable content as inactive content in its storage area according to satisfaction of a second larger proper subset of the multi-conditional content.

46. The system of claim 1, wherein the content server is further configured to cause the first mobile device to remove the portion of the activatable content from its storage area when the proper subset of the multi-conditional content.