SHARED COMMUNITY STORAGE NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method of operating a reliable network storage service constructed from a plurality of unreliable storage devices, the method comprising:
- aggregating available storage space on a plurality of storage devices, each of the plurality of storage devices accessed via a Wide Area Network (WAN) and having no service level guarantee;
offering the aggregated storage space to third parties as a network storage service for storing data, the network storage service being offered with a service level guarantee;
coordinating the storage of third party data in the network storage service, wherein third party data is stored in an encrypted and redundant fashion;
monitoring usage information of each of the plurality of storage devices, the usage information reflecting the use of the plurality of storage devices by third parties; and
charging the third parties in accordance with the determined usage information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hardware and/or software facility for durably and securely storing data within a shared community storage network. A user may have a storage device that they intend to share with others in the network. All or a portion of the storage device is registered with the community storage network as a storage node. Once registered with the network, third party data may be stored on the storage node and remotely accessed by third parties. In addition, data stored on the storage device by the user may be stored in the shared community storage network by encrypting the data, adding redundancy, and distributing it to other storage nodes within the storage network. Data that is stored in the storage network is accessible to the user even if their storage device is inaccessible or fails.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of operating a reliable network storage service constructed from a plurality of unreliable storage devices, the method comprising:
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aggregating available storage space on a plurality of storage devices, each of the plurality of storage devices accessed via a Wide Area Network (WAN) and having no service level guarantee; offering the aggregated storage space to third parties as a network storage service for storing data, the network storage service being offered with a service level guarantee; coordinating the storage of third party data in the network storage service, wherein third party data is stored in an encrypted and redundant fashion; monitoring usage information of each of the plurality of storage devices, the usage information reflecting the use of the plurality of storage devices by third parties; and charging the third parties in accordance with the determined usage information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of storing data on a plurality of geographically-dispersed storage devices, the method comprising:
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selecting data for storage; identifying available storage space on a plurality of unaffiliated storage devices that are accessed via a Wide Area Network (WAN), the plurality of unaffiliated storage devices operated in a manner that provides no service-level guarantees with respect to any particular storage device; encrypting the selected data; fragmenting the selected data; and redundantly storing the fragmented selected data in the available storage space, each redundant stored instantiation of the fragmented selected data being made across two or more of the plurality of unaffiliated storage devices. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification