Method and system for validating and distributing network presence information for peers of interest

• US 6,463,471 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1998
• Issued: 10/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kunze, Aaron, Edwards, James W., Dreke, Christian, Hazzard, Walter K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Application Number:
  US09/221,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20020035594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,380 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/204, 709/221, 709/233, 709/207, 707/9, 707/10, 379/202, 713/201
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method for distributing and maintaining network presence information is presented. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user logs onto the Internet and transmits to an Internet Presence Information Server (IPIS) his/her presence information, a list of peers (individual network users) whose network presence are of interest to the user, and a request for a list of peers interested in the user'"'"'s network presence. The IPIS then responds to the user with both a list including the last known Internet Protocol (IP) address for each peer the user is interested in and a list of peers interested in the user'"'"'s Internet presence. No further communication between the user and IPIS is required after the IPIS responds to the user with these two lists. The user then attempts to directly contact the peers on the first list received from the IPIS by confirming and authenticating the received IP addresses. According to policy, the user directly contacts the peers on the second list received from the IPIS to inform those peers the user is currently signed on-line. Finally, the user periodically “pings” (directly contacts) the confirmed and authenticated IP addresses from the first list received from the IPIS to determine when those peers sign off-line.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a list of peers of interest who are present on a network, the method comprising:

transmitting a first list of peers to a server, wherein the first list includes identities of one or more peers whose presence on the network is of interest to a user;

receiving for the one or more peers identified in the transmitted first list a last known network address for each peer from the server;

transmitting to each network address a first message to verify that each network address is active;

in response to the first message, receiving a peer identity corresponding to each active network address;

determining whether the identity of the peer corresponding to each active network address matches with the identity of the one or more peers included in the first list of peers; and

for each determined match, validating the peer included in the first list of peers as an authentic peer of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a request for a second list of peers, wherein the second list of peers includes identities of one or more peers that are interested in the network presence of the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting a second message to the one or more peers included in the second list, the second message indicates that the user is present on the network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

periodically transmitting a third message to each matched peer to determine whether the matched peer is present on the network.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

responsive to the periodically transmitted third message, receiving a reply indicating that each matched peer is present on the network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting an assigned network address for the user.

7. A system maintaining a list of peers of interest who are present on a network comprising:

a first terminal to transmit a first list of peers, wherein the first list includes identities of one or more peers whose presence on the network is of interest to a user;

a server to receive the first list and to transmit a network address list including last known network addresses for each peer included in the first list to the first terminal;

a second terminal having an active network address corresponding to at least one of the last known network addresses included in the network address list, wherein the first terminal transmits to each last known network address included in the network list a first message and in response to the first message, the second terminal transmits to the first terminal a peer identity corresponding to the second terminal and wherein the first terminal receives the peer identity corresponding to the second terminal and determines whether the peer identity corresponds to at least one of the identities of one or more peers included in the first list of peers and if the peer identity corresponds to at least one of the identities of one or more peers included in the first list of peers, the first terminal validates the peer identity corresponding to the second terminal as an authentic peer of interest.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first terminal transmits a request for a second list of peers, wherein the second list of peers includes identities of one or more peers that are interested in the network presence of the user.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first terminal first transmits a second message to the one or peers included in the second list, the second message indicates that the user is present on the network.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the first terminal transmits an current network address assigned to the first terminal.

11. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of executable instructions, the plurality of instructions comprising instructions to:

transmit a first list of peers to a server, wherein the first list includes identities of one or more peers whose presence on the network is of interest to a user;

receive for the one or more peers identified in the transmitted first list a last known network address for each peer from the server;

transmit to each network address a first message to verify that each network address is active;

in response to the first message, receive a peer identity corresponding to each active network address;

determine whether the identity of the peer corresponding to each active network address matches with the identity of the one or more peers included in the first list of peers; and

for each determined match, validate the peer included in the first list of peers as an authentic peer of interest.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11 having stored thereon additional executable instructions, the additional instructions comprising instructions to:

transmitting a request for a second list of peers, wherein the second list of peers includes identities of one or more peers that are interested in the network presence of the user.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 12 having stored thereon additional executable instructions, the additional instructions comprising instructions to:

transmit a second message to the one or more peers included in the second list, the second message indicates that the user is present on the network.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 11 having stored thereon additional executable instructions, the additional instructions comprising instructions to:

periodically transmit a third message to each matched peer to determine whether the matched peer is present on the network.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14 having stored thereon additional executable instructions, the additional instructions comprising instructions to:

responsive to the periodically transmitted third message, receive a reply indicating that each matched peer is present on the network.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 11 having stored thereon additional executable instructions, the additional instructions comprising instructions to:

transmit an assigned network address for the user.