Peer-to-peer file sharing
First Claim
1. A method for implementing a search in a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system, the method comprising:
- masking a term in a query entered into a client computer of the P2P system to obtain a masked query, wherein the term is not a stop word and masking the term in the query to obtain a masked query includes the client computer automatically removing the term from the query;
routing the masked query from the client computer to a plurality of server computers within the P2P system;
searching each of the plurality of server computers using the masked query by comparing each query term of the masked query to a file descriptor of at least one server file in each of the plurality of server computers; and
returning search results to the client computer, wherein each of the search results is a matching server file from one of the plurality of server computers having a matching file descriptor including query terms of the masked query.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system is provided with an enhanced search method for a client computer therein. The method includes masking at least one term in a multi-term query entered into a client computer of the P2P system to obtain a masked query and routing the masked query to a plurality of server computers. The masked query is compared to a file descriptor of server files in each of the plurality of server computers to identify a plurality of matching server files. The server computers return to the client computer as search results the file descriptor and a mathematical identifier for each of the plurality of matching server files. The server computer may return to the client computer only a subset of the plurality of the matching server files. Enhanced P2P file searching accuracy is provided.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for implementing a search in a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system, the method comprising:
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masking a term in a query entered into a client computer of the P2P system to obtain a masked query, wherein the term is not a stop word and masking the term in the query to obtain a masked query includes the client computer automatically removing the term from the query; routing the masked query from the client computer to a plurality of server computers within the P2P system; searching each of the plurality of server computers using the masked query by comparing each query term of the masked query to a file descriptor of at least one server file in each of the plurality of server computers; and returning search results to the client computer, wherein each of the search results is a matching server file from one of the plurality of server computers having a matching file descriptor including query terms of the masked query. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for implementing a search in a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system, the method comprising:
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receiving a query from a user into a client computer of the P2P system, the query including more than one searchable term, each of the more than one searchable term being searchable by the P2P file sharing system within a plurality of server computers of the P2P file sharing system; masking at least one of the more than one searchable term in the query to obtain a masked query using software executed on the client computer; routing the masked query from the client computer to each of the plurality of server computers within the P2P system; searching the each of the plurality of server computers using the masked query by comparing each query term of the masked query to a file descriptor of at least one server file in each of the plurality of server computers to identify a plurality of matching server files each having a matching file descriptor including each query term of the masked query; returning to the client computer as search results the file descriptor and a mathematical identifier for each of the plurality of matching server files; grouping each of the search results into one of a plurality of groups as a function of the mathematical identifier; and ranking the plurality of groups. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for implementing a search in a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system, the method comprising:
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masking a term in a query entered by a user into a client computer of the P2P system to obtain a masked query, wherein the term in the query that is masked is one of a searchable term that appears least frequently in at least one of the query and local descriptors, a searchable term that appears most frequently in at least one of the query and the local descriptors, or a randomly selected searchable term; searching a plurality of server computers of the P2P system using the masked query by comparing each query term of the masked query to a file descriptor of at least one server file in each of the plurality of server computers; and returning as search results to the client computer matching server files from the plurality of server computers having a file descriptor including all query terms of the masked query.
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Specification