Geolocation assisted data forwarding storage

• US 7,631,051 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Issued: 12/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Distributed Media Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Edward Merritt, Gene Fein
• Inventors: Merritt, Edward, Fein, Gene
• Primary Examiner(s): Dennison; J Bret
• Application Number:
  US12/240,925
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• Field of Search: 709/251, 709/212, 710/100
• US Class Current: 709/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1834 implemented based on peer-to-peer networks, e.g. gnutella p2p communication protocols H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/126 minimising geographical or physical path length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A method includes, in a network of interconnected computer system nodes, receiving a request from a source system to store data, directing the data to a computer memory in conjunction with its geolocation, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or a user to increase speed and efficiency, and continuously forwarding the data from one computer memory to another computer memory in the network of interconnected computer system nodes in conjunction with their geolocations without storing on any physical storage device in the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a network of interconnected computer system nodes, receiving a request from a source system to store at least one data item;

directing the at least one data item to a node in conjunction with its geolocation, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or a user to increase speed and efficiency;

in response to the request from the source system, continuously forwarding the at least one data item among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes in conjunction with their geolocations without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the at least one data item is received, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or to the user to increase speed and efficiency, the continuously forwarding comprising;

determining an address of a node available to receive the at least one data item based on geolocation and on one or more factors;

sending a message to the source system with the address of a specific node;

detecting a presence of the at least one data item at the specific node; and

forwarding the at least one data item to another node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes in conjunction with their geolocations without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein continuously forwarding further comprises applying a time stamp to the at least one data item at the specific node.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more factors comprise network traffic analysis and available memory.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request from the source system to retrieve the at least one data item being continuously forwarded among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes; and

retrieving the at least one data item from a node in response to the request to retrieve the at least one data item.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein retrieving comprises:

matching the at least one data item request at a central server using a hash mark representing the at least one data item entering a node;

sending a message to a node that is predicted to have the at least one data item, the message instructing the node to forward the at least one data item to the source system; and

sending a confirmation message to the central server that the at least one data item has been forwarded to the source system.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising receiving an acknowledgment from the source system that the requested at least one data item has been received.

7. A tangible computer readable medium embodying instructions for causing a data processing apparatus to perform a method for storing data items in a network of interconnected computer system nodes, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a source system to store at least one data item;

directing the at least one data item to a node in conjunction with its geolocation, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or a user to increase speed and efficiency;

in response to the request from the source system, storing the data by continuously forwarding the at least one data item from one node to another node among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes in conjunction with their geolocations without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the at least one data item is received, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or the user to increase speed and efficiency, the continuously forwarding comprising;

determining an address of a node available to receive the at least one data item based on geolocation and on one or more factors;

sending a message to the source system with the address of a specific node;

detecting a presence of the at least one data item at the specific node; and

forwarding the at least one data item to another node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein continuously forwarding further comprises applying a time stamp to the at least one data item at the specific node.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein the one or more factors comprise network traffic analysis and available memory.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a request from the source system to retrieve the at least one data item being continuously forwarded in the network of interconnected computer system nodes; and

retrieving the at least one data item from a node in response to the request to retrieve the at least one data item.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein retrieving comprises:

matching the at least one data item retrieval request at a central server using a hash mark representing the at least one data item entering a node;

sending a message to a node that is predicted to have the at least one data item, the message instructing the node to forward the at least one data item to the source system; and

sending a confirmation message to the central server that the at least one data item has been forwarded to the source system.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises receiving an acknowledgment from the source system that the requested at least one data item has been received.

13. A network comprising:

a group of interconnected computer system nodes, each node configured to;

in response to a request from a source system to store at least one data item, receive the at least one data item and continuously forward the at least one data item among the computer system nodes in conjunction with IP address geolocations without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed from node to node within the group of interconnected computer system nodes;

in response to a request from the source system to retrieve the at least one data item, retrieve the at least one data item being continuously forwarded among the computer system nodes; and

each node further configured to detect the presence of the at least one data item, apply a time stamp, and forward the at least one data item to another node in the group of interconnected computer systems nodes according to a node'"'"'s availability and geolocation, geolocation enabling selecting nodes that are proximate to each other or a user to increase speed and efficiency.

14. The network of claim 13 wherein the node'"'"'s availability is determined according to its volume of network traffic.

15. The network of claim 14 wherein each node encrypts the at least one data item.

16. The network of claim 13 wherein the group of nodes comprises a central server that matches the at least one data item retrieval request using a hash mark representing the at least one data item entering a node, sends a message to a node that is predicted to have the at least one data item, the message instructing the node to forward the at least one data item to the source system, and receives a confirmation message that the at least one data item has been forwarded to the source system.