Network-based photosharing architecture

• US 7,502,795 B1
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Issued: 03/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CDN Innovations, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: FotoMedia Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Inventors: Svendsen, Hugh, Morris, Robert P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Debbie M
• Application Number:
  US10/862,696
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/30 in albums, collections or shared content, e.g. social network photos or video
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1072 Discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/2183 the stored images being distributed among a plurality of different locations, e.g. among a plurality of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3254 Orientation, e.g. landscape or portrait; Location or order of the image data, e.g. in memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3277 The additional information being stored in the same storage device as the image data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and system for providing a network-based photosharing service is disclosed. The photosharing service includes a central photosharing site having a server, and a plurality of peer nodes each containing digital images. The method and system include associating metadata with each image that is to be shared. The images are shared by uploading the metadata associated with each image from the peer nodes to the peer server, while maintaining storage of the images on the respective peer nodes. In response to the peer server receiving search criteria based on the metadata submitted from a first one of the peer nodes, the peer server returns a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria to the first peer node. The method and system further include dynamically generating on the first peer node an image album that contains at least a portion of the matching images.

Claims

1. A method for providing a network-based photo-sharing service including a peer server and a plurality of peer nodes for sharing digital images, the method comprising:

at the peer server;

receiving, from a first peer node, metadata for an image stored at the first peer node;

associating the metadata with an image locator for locating the image at the first peer node;

receiving, from a second peer node, an image search request that includes search criteria;

determining if the image search request is requesting the image stored at the first peer node based on whether the search criteria corresponds to the received metadata for the image stored at the first peer node; and

providing the image locator to the second peer node for retrieving the image from the first peer node when the received search criteria corresponds to the received metadata for the image stored at the first peer node, wherein the image locator is configured to allow the second peer node to retrieve the image from the first peer node independent of the peer server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the received metadata includes a thumbnail of the image.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the image locator includes a URL.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising providing a vocabulary library at the peer server for storage and management of metadata schemas.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising including in the vocabulary library a universal schema, shared schemas, and private schemas.

6. The method of claim 4 comprising requiring the received metadata to conform to the universal schema.

7. The method of claim 6 comprising allowing both users and groups of users to define their own schemas, which include the universal schema.

8. A peer-to-peer photo-sharing system, comprising:

a peer server configured for;

receiving, from a first peer node, metadata for an image stored at the first peer node;

associating the metadata with an image locator for locating the image at the first peer node;

receiving, from a second peer node, an image search request that includes search criteria;

providing the image locator to the second peer node for retrieving the image from the first peer node when the received search criteria corresponds to the received metadata for the image stored at the first peer node, wherein the image locator is configured to allow the second peer node to retrieve the image from the first peer node independent of the peer server.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the received metadata includes a thumbnail of the image.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the image locator includes a URL.

11. The photo-sharing system of claim 8 wherein the peer server stores a vocabulary library for storage and management of metadata schemas.

12. The photo-sharing system of claim 11 wherein the vocabulary library includes a universal schema, shared schemas, and private schemas.

13. The photo-sharing system of claim 11 wherein the metadata is required to conform to the universal schema.

14. The photo-sharing system of claim 8 wherein the peer server includes a cache for storing the metadata associated with frequently accessed images to provide for quicker searches.