Peer-to-peer email messaging
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a plurality of nodes configured to couple to a network;
a subset of the plurality of nodes configured to participate as peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer to-peer protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover each other, to communicate with each other, and to share content in the peer-to-peer environment;
wherein one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to;
receive an email message formatted according to an email communication protocol;
determine one of the peer nodes as a destination peer node of the email message;
generate a peer-to-peer message formatted in accordance with one of the peer-to-peer protocols by wrapping the email message in a wrapper generated according to the one of the peer-to-peer protocols, wherein the peer-to-peer message comprises the email message and the wrapper; and
send the peer-to-peer message to the destination peer node in accordance with the peer-to-peer protocol, wherein the email message comprises a destination address, and wherein, to determine the one of the plurality of peer nodes as the destination peer node, the one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to discover the destination peer node according to a peer discovery protocol using the destination address.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
System and method for facilitating communications between peers in a peer-to-peer environment and network email clients. In one embodiment, network nodes including peer nodes may host mail transfer agents. The mail transfer agents may act as bridges between peer-to-peer protocols and email communication protocols. The mail transfer agents may communicate with peers according to peer-to-peer protocols and with email clients according to email communications protocols. Peers may communicate with mail transfer agents to send peer-to-peer messages to email clients. Email clients may communicate with the mail transfer agents to send email messages to and receive email messages from other email clients via the peer-to-peer network and to obtain peer-to-peer messages from peers.
128 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a plurality of nodes configured to couple to a network; a subset of the plurality of nodes configured to participate as peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer to-peer protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover each other, to communicate with each other, and to share content in the peer-to-peer environment; wherein one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to; receive an email message formatted according to an email communication protocol; determine one of the peer nodes as a destination peer node of the email message; generate a peer-to-peer message formatted in accordance with one of the peer-to-peer protocols by wrapping the email message in a wrapper generated according to the one of the peer-to-peer protocols, wherein the peer-to-peer message comprises the email message and the wrapper; and send the peer-to-peer message to the destination peer node in accordance with the peer-to-peer protocol, wherein the email message comprises a destination address, and wherein, to determine the one of the plurality of peer nodes as the destination peer node, the one of the plurality of peer nodes is configured to discover the destination peer node according to a peer discovery protocol using the destination address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer system, comprising:
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a computer processor; a network interface for communicating with nodes on a network, wherein a portion of the nodes are configured to participate as peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer-to-peer protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover each other, to communicate with each other, and to share content in the peer-to-peer environment; a mail transfer agent implemented by the computer processor and configured to; receive an email message formatted in accordance with an email communication protocol; determine one or more peer nodes on the network as destination peer nodes of the email message; generate a peer-to-peer message formatted in accordance with one of the peer-to-peer protocols by wrapping the received email message in a wrapper generated according to the one of the peer-to-peer protocols, the peer-to-peer message comprising the received email message and the wrapper; and provide the peer-to-peer message to the one or more destination peer nodes in accordance with the peer-to-peer protocol, wherein the email message comprises one or more destination addresses, and wherein, to determine the one or more peer nodes as the one or more destination peer nodes of the email message, the mail transfer agent is further configured to discover the one or more destination peer nodes according to a peer discovery protocol using the one or more destination addresses. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system, comprising:
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a computer processor; a network interface for communicating with nodes on a network, wherein a portion of the nodes are configured to participate as peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to one or more peer-to-peer protocols; a mail transfer agent implemented by the computer processor and configured to; receive a peer-to-peer message formatted in accordance with one of the one or more peer-to-peer protocols; generate an email message comprising the peer-to-peer message from the peer node by wrapping the peer-to-peer message in a wrapper generated according to an email communication protocol; and provide the email message to an email client of the system in accordance with the email communication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method, comprising:
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a node on a network receiving an email message formatted in accordance with an email communication protocol from an email client; the node determining a peer node on the network as a destination peer node of the email message, wherein the peer node is configured to participate with other peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer-to-peer protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover each other, to communicate with each other, and to share content in the peer-to-peer environment; the node wrapping the email message in a peer-to-peer message, wherein the peer-to-peer message is formatted in accordance with one of the peer-to-peer protocols; and the node sending the peer-to-peer message comprising the email message to the destination peer node, wherein the peer-to-peer message is formatted in accordance with the one of the peer-to peer protocols, wherein said determining a peer node on the network as a destination peer node of the email message comprises; discovering an advertisement on the network using a destination address of the email message; and obtaining information indicating the peer node as the destination peer node from the discovered advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method, comprising:
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a node on a network receiving a peer-to-peer message formatted according to a peer-to-peer protocol; the node generating an email message formatted according to an email communication protocol by wrapping the peer-to-peer message in a wrapper generated according to the email communication protocol, the email message comprising the peer-to-peer message and the wrapper; and the node providing the email message to an email client in accordance with the email communication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:
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a node on a network receiving an email message formatted in accordance with an email communication protocol from an email client; the node determining a peer node on the network as a destination peer node of the email message, wherein the peer node is configured to participate with other peer nodes in a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer-to-peer protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover each other, to communicate with each other, and to share content in the peer-to-peer environment; the node wrapping the email message in a peer-to-peer message, wherein the peer-to-peer message is formatted in accordance with one of the peer-to-peer protocols; and the node sending the peer-to-peer message comprising the email message to the destination peer node, wherein the peer-to-peer message is formatted in accordance with the one of the peer-to-peer protocols, wherein, in said determining a peer node on the network as a destination peer node of the email message, the program instructions are further configured to implement; discovering an advertisement on the network using a destination address of the email message; and obtaining information indicating the peer node as the destination peer node from the discovered advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:
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a node on a network receiving a peer-to-peer message formatted according to a peer-to-peer protocol; the node generating an email message formatted according to an email communication protocol by wrapping the peer-to-peer message in a wrapper generated according to the email communication protocol, the email message comprising the peer-to-peer message and the wrapper; and the node providing the email message to an email client in accordance with the email communication protocol. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification