System and method of using a pipe advertisement for a peer-to-peer network entity in peer-to-peer presence detection
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network;
one of the peer nodes configured to generate a unique identifier for a peer-to-peer network entity on the peer node, wherein the entity is a peer-to-peer network user identity;
wherein the one of the peer nodes is further configured to generate a pipe advertisement describing the entity and the pipe and corresponding to the unique identifier of the entity;
wherein one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes are configured to host one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier; and
wherein at least one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to;
obtain the unique identifier for the entity;
discover the one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier on the one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes; and
connect to one of the one or more instances of the entity via a pipe, wherein the pipe represents a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with the one or more instances of the entity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of a decentralized mechanism for detecting the presence of entities in a peer-to-peer network. In one embodiment, using pipes, a peer may uniquely and independently generate an identity for a peer-to-peer network entity. The identity may be used to probe the peer-to-peer network for presence of instances of the corresponding entity on other peers regardless of which peer the identity was generated on and without using a central identity repository or presence system. In one embodiment, net crawling may be used to map identities and resolve the locations of instances of the corresponding entities. An entity may move anywhere on the network, and the decentralized mechanism for detecting entity presence may be used to locate the instance(s) of the entity.
212 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; one of the peer nodes configured to generate a unique identifier for a peer-to-peer network entity on the peer node, wherein the entity is a peer-to-peer network user identity; wherein the one of the peer nodes is further configured to generate a pipe advertisement describing the entity and the pipe and corresponding to the unique identifier of the entity; wherein one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes are configured to host one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier; and wherein at least one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to; obtain the unique identifier for the entity; discover the one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier on the one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes; and connect to one of the one or more instances of the entity via a pipe, wherein the pipe represents a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with the one or more instances of the entity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; at least one of the peer nodes configured to; obtain a pipe advertisement for a peer-to-peer network entity corresponding to a unique identifier, wherein the pipe advertisement describes a pipe representing a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with instances of the entity on the plurality of peer nodes; locate one or more input pipes corresponding to one or more instances of the entity on one or more of the peer nodes in accordance with the pipe advertisement; and connect to one of the instances of the entity on one of the one or more peer nodes via one of the input pipes in accordance with the pipe advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A peer node, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to; participate with other peer nodes in a peer-to-peer network on a network; obtain a pipe advertisement for a peer-to-peer network entity corresponding to a unique identifier, wherein the pipe advertisement describes a pipe representing a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with instances of the entity on one or more other peer nodes; locate one or more input pipes corresponding to one or more instances of the entity on the one or more other peer nodes in accordance with the pipe advertisement; and connect to one of the instances of the entity on one of the one or more other peer nodes via one of the input pipes in accordance with the pipe advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method, comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes participating with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; one of the peer nodes generating a unique identifier for a peer-to-peer network entity on the peer node, wherein the entity is a peer-to-peer network user identity; the one of the peer nodes generating a pipe advertisement describing the entity and the pipe and corresponding to the unique identifier of the entity; generating one or more instances of the entity on one or more others of the peer nodes; another one of the peer nodes obtaining the unique identifier for the entity; the other peer node discovering the one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier on the one or more other peer nodes; and the other peer node connecting to one of the one or more instances of the entity via a pipe, wherein the pipe represents a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with the one or more instances of the entity. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method, comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes participating with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; one of the peer nodes obtaining a pipe advertisement for a peer-to-peer network entity corresponding to a unique identifier, wherein the pipe advertisement describes a pipe representing a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with instances of the entity on the plurality of peer nodes; the one of the peer nodes locating one or more input pipes corresponding to one or more instances of the entity on one or more of the peer nodes in accordance with the pipe advertisement; and the one of the peer nodes connecting to one of the instances of the entity on one of the one or more peer nodes via one of the input pipes in accordance with the pipe advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer-accessible storage medium, comprising program instructions executable by a computer processor, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:
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a plurality of peer nodes participating with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; one of the peer nodes generating a unique identifier for a peer-to-peer network entity on the peer node, wherein the entity is a peer-to-peer network user identity; the one of the peer nodes generating a pipe advertisement describing the entity and the pipe and corresponding to the unique identifier of the entity; generating one or more instances of the entity on one or more others of the peer nodes; another one of the peer nodes obtaining the unique identifier for the entity; the other peer node discovering the one or more instances of the entity corresponding to the unique identifier on the one or more other peer nodes; and the other peer node connecting to one of the one or more instances of the entity via a pipe, wherein the pipe represents a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with the one or more instances of the entity. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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37. A computer-accessible storage medium comprising program instructions executable by a computer processor, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:
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a plurality of peer nodes participating with each other in a peer-to-peer network on a network; one of the peer nodes obtaining a pipe advertisement for a peer-to-peer network entity corresponding to a unique identifier, wherein the pipe advertisement describes a pipe representing a virtual communications channel in the network for communicating with instances of the entity on the plurality of peer nodes; the one of the peer nodes locating one or more input pipes corresponding to one or more instances of the entity on one or more of the peer nodes in accordance with the pipe advertisement; and the one of the peer nodes connecting to one of the instances of the entity on one of the one or more peer nodes via one of the input pipes in accordance with the pipe advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification