Establishing a point-to-point internet communication
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for establishing point-to-point Internet communication comprising the steps of:
- (a) storing in a database a respective Internet Protocol (IP) address of a set of processing units that have an on-line status with respect to the Internet;
(b) transmitting a query from a first processing unit to a connection server to determine the on-line status of a second processing unit; and
(c) retrieving the IP address of the second unit from the database using the connection server, in response to the determination of a positive on-line status of the second processing unit, for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.
8 Assignments
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
A point-to-point Internet protocol exchanges Internet Protocol (IP) addresses between processing units to establish a point-to-point communication link between the processing units through the Internet. A first point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) storing in a database a respective IP address of a set of processing units that have an on-line status with respect to the Internet; (b) transmitting a.query from a first processing unit to a connection server to determine the on-line status of a second processing unit; and (c) retrieving the IP address of the second unit from the database using the connection server, in response to the determination of a positive on-line status of the second processing unit, for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. A second point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) transmitting an E-mail signal, including a first IP address, from a first processing unit; (b) processing the E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail signal to a second processing unit; and (c) transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for establishing point-to-point Internet communication comprising the steps of:
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(a) storing in a database a respective Internet Protocol (IP) address of a set of processing units that have an on-line status with respect to the Internet;
(b) transmitting a query from a first processing unit to a connection server to determine the on-line status of a second processing unit; and
(c) retrieving the IP address of the second unit from the database using the connection server, in response to the determination of a positive on-line status of the second processing unit, for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
(b1) transmitting the query to the connection server operatively connected to the database and the Internet; and
wherein the step (c) of retrieving the IP address includes the steps of;
(c1) searching the database using the connection server;
(c2) determining the on-line status of the second processing unit;
(c3) retrieving the IP address of the second processing unit in response to the positive on-line status of the second processing unit; and
(c4) transmitting the IP address of the second processing unit to the first processing unit for establishing the point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.
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3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, after step (c2), the steps of:
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(c5) generating an off-line message in response to a negative on-line status of the second processing unit; and
(c4) transmitting the off-line message to the first processing unit.
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4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:
(d) performing a secondary communication protocol in response to a non-responsive condition of the connection server.
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5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step (d) of performing the secondary communication protocol includes the steps of:
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(d1) transmitting an E-mail signal, including a first IP address, from the first processing unit;
(d2) processing the E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail signal to the second processing unit; and
(d3) transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.
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6. A system for point-to-point communications over the Internet comprising:
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a database for storing a set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of at least one processing unit that has on-line status with respect to the Internet;
a first processing unit including;
a first program for performing a first point-to-point Internet protocol; and
a first processor for executing the first program and for transmitting a query;
a connection server, responsive to the query, for determining the on-line status of a second processing unit by searching the database, and for transmitting an online message to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
wherein the first processing unit establishes the point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet in response to receiving the IP address of the second processing unit from the connection server.
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8. The system of claim 6 wherein the connection server, responsive to a negative determination of the on-line status of the second processing unit, generates an off-line message, and transmits the off-line message to the first processing unit.
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9. The system claim 6 wherein the connection server further includes a timer for timestamping IP addresses of the set of processing units having a positive on-line status with respect to the Internet.
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10. The system of claim 6 further comprising:
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a mail server for processing a E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail to a specified second processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet; and
wherein the first processor of the first processing unit executes a second program to generate and transmit the E-mail signal, including a first IP address associated with the first processing unit, to the mail server.
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11. A method for establishing point-to-point Internet communication comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting an E-mail signal, including a first Internet Protocol (IP) address, from a first processing unit;
(b) processing the E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail signal to a second processing unit; and
(c) transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
(a1) generating the E-mail signal from the first IP address corresponding to the first processing unit before the step (a) of transmitting the E-mail signal.
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13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:
(a1) generating the E-mail signal from a session number before the step (a) of transmitting the E-mail signal.
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14. The method of claim 11 wherein the step (b) of processing the E-mail signal further comprises the step of:
(b1) processing the E-mail signal using a mail server operatively connected to the second processing unit.
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15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:
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(b1) generating a connection signal including the second IP address at the second processing unit before the step (c) of transmitting the second IP address to the first processing unit; and
wherein the step (c) of transmitting the second IP address includes the step (c1) of transmitting the connection signal from the second processing unit to the first processing unit.
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Specification