Method and device for exchanging data between mobile stations in a peer to peer network

• US 8,086,691 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2006
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Viger, Pascal, Maze, Frédéric
• Primary Examiner(s): NAWAZ, ASAD M
• Application Number:
  US11/434,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20060271688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,051 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709203-207, 709217-223, 709227-239
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00132 in a digital photofinishing system, i.e. a system where digital photographic images undergo typical photofinishing processing, e.g. printing ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00137 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00148 Storage information retrieval G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00164 at a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• 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 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3247 Data linking a set of images to one another, e.g. sequence, burst or continuous capture mode

Abstract

In order to share digital data in a peer to peer communication network, a partial version of the data is firstly transmitted to destination stations, and: a collection of data is created in which an identifier is associated with each data item and to each data identifier there is allocated a label indicating whether the complete version of the data item is available on the network; the existence of the collection is notified to at least one destination station; and, on the reception of information on availability on the network of the complete versions of the data of the collection: the collection is updated; and the updating of the shared collection is notified to the destination station or stations.

Claims

1. A method of sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, said method comprising the following steps:

creating a collection of data for digital data items to be shared, each digital data item having a partial version and a complete version, wherein the partial version of a respective digital data item is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network and is firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

associating a data identifier with each digital data item and allocating to each data identifier an availability label indicating whether the complete version of the digital data item is present in addition to the partial version on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

notifying the existence of said collection to at least one destination peer station by a first notification; and

on reception of availability information indicating that the complete versions of the digital data items of the collection are present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

updating said collection by updating said availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network; and

notifying the updating of said collection by a second notification to said at least one destination peer station,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the digital data items represent fixed digital images and the partial version of the digital data items is a version of an image having a resolution lower than that of an original image.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the digital data items represent a digital video and the partial version of the digital data items is a first image of the video at a resolution lower than that of an original video.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a hybrid peer-to-peer network further comprising a central server permanently connected to said network, wherein the steps of said method are implemented by the central server.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data collection is created on reception of a request to share digital data coming from a lightweight station, and the reception of information on the availability on the network of the complete versions of the digital data items takes place after connection of said lightweight station with a peer station of the network and on synchronization of the collection between said lightweight station and said peer station.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data collection is created on reception of a request to share digital data coming from a first peer station in the network, and the reception of information on the availability on the network of the complete versions of the digital data items takes place after the making available of complete versions of the digital data items by a second peer station in the network.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of creating the collection and of notification of the existence of the collection are implemented by a lightweight station, and the steps of updating the collection and of notification of updating of the collection are performed by a peer station in the network or by a central server permanently connected to said network.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein all the steps of said method are implemented by a peer station in the network.

9. A method of sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer communication network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, a digital data item to be shared having a partial version and a complete version, said method, performed at a destination peer station, comprising the steps of:

receiving a first notification indicating the existence of a collection of data, the notification comprising a data identifier associated with each digital data item, an availability label having been allocated to each data identifier in order to indicate whether the complete version of the digital data item in addition to the partial version is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, wherein a partial version of the shared digital data item is firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

analyzing the availability labels associated with the data identifiers for each digital data item of the collection;

in the case where the analyzing step determines the existence of availability labels indicating that the complete version of a digital data item is not present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, restricting processing rights associated with said digital data item so determined; and

on reception of a second notification to update the collection by updating said availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, eliminating the restriction of the processing rights,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising a step of displaying the restriction of the processing rights.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the restriction of the processing rights is a prohibition on requesting a complete version of the digital data item and/or a prohibition on printing the digital data item if the digital data item is an image and/or a prohibition on a new sharing of the digital data item.

12. A device for sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer communication network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, said device comprising:

creating means for creating a collection of data for digital data items to be shared, each digital data item having a partial version and a complete version, wherein the partial version of a respective digital data item is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network and firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

associating means for associating a data identifier with each digital data item and allocating to each data identifier an availability label indicating whether the complete version of the digital data item in addition to the partial version is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

first notifying means for notifying the existence of said collection to at least one destination peer station by a first notification;

updating means for, on reception of availability information indicating that the complete versions of the digital data items of the collection are present on at least one peer station which is a sever station of the peer-to-peer network, updating said collection by updating the availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network; and

second notifying means for notifying the updating of said collection by a second notification to said at least one destination peer station,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the digital data items represent fixed digital images and the partial version of the digital data item is a version of an image having a resolution lower than that of an original image.

14. The device according to claim 12, wherein the digital data items represent a digital video and the partial version of a digital data item is a first image of the video at a resolution lower than that of an original video.

15. The device according to claim 12, wherein the creating means creates the collection of data on reception of a request to share digital data coming from a lightweight station, and the reception of information on the availability on the network of the complete versions of the digital data items takes place after connection of said lightweight station with a peer station of the network and on synchronization of the collection between said lightweight station and said peer station.

16. The device according to claim 12, wherein the creating means creates the data collection on reception of a request to share digital data coming from a first peer station in the network, and the reception of information on the availability on the network of the complete versions of the digital data items takes place after making available of complete versions of the digital data items by a second peer station in the network.

17. A device for sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, a digital data item to be shared having a partial version and a complete version, in which wherein a partial version of the shared digital data item is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, said device comprising, at a destination station:

receiving means for analyzing, on reception of receiving a first notification indicating the existence of a data collection, the notification comprising a data identifier associated with each digital data item, an availability label having been allocated to each data identifier in order to indicate whether the complete version of the digital data item in addition to the partial version is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, wherein a partial version of the shared digital data item is firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

analyzing means for analyzing the availability labels associated with the data identifiers for each digital data item of the collection;

restricting means for restricting processing rights associated with said digital data item in the case where the analyzing means determines the existence of availability labels indicating that the complete version of a digital data item is not present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network; and

eliminating means for, on reception of a second notification to update the collection by updating said availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, eliminating the restriction of the processing rights,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

18. The device according to claim 17, further comprising display means for displaying the restrictions on the processing rights.

19. The device according to claim 17, wherein the restriction on the processing rights is a prohibition on requesting a complete version of the digital data item and/or a prohibition on printing the digital data item if the digital data item is an image and/or a prohibition on a new sharing of digital data item.

20. A data server in a peer-to-peer communication network, comprising:

storage means for storing data;

a Web server;

a display interface, couple to said Web server;

a database; and

a device for sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer communication network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, a digital data item to be shared having a partial version and a complete version, in which stations for which said data are intended are adapted to receive, firstly, a partial version of the shared data, said device comprising;

creating means for creating a collection of data for digital data items to be shared, each digital data item having a partial version and a complete version, wherein the partial version of a respective digital data item is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network and firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

associating means for associating a data identifier being associated with each digital data item and allocating to each data identifier an availability label to each data identifier indicating whether the complete version of the digital data item in addition to the partial version is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

first notifying means for notifying the existence of said collection to at least one destination peer station by a first notification;

updating means for, on reception of availability information indicating that the complete versions of the digital data items of the collection are present on at least one peer station which is a sever station of the peer-to-peer network, updating said collection by updating the availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network; and

second notifying means for notifying the updating of said collection by a second notification to said at least one destination peer station,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, that can be read by a computer or a microprocessor, and storing instructions of a computer program that, when executed by a computer, implements a method of sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, said method comprising the following steps:

creating a collection of data for digital data items to be shared, each digital data item having a partial version and a complete version, wherein the partial version of a respective digital data item is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network and is firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

associating a data identifier with each digital data item and allocating to each data identifier an availability label indicating whether the complete version of the digital data item is present in addition to the partial version on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

notifying the existence of said collection to at least one destination peer station by a first notification; and

on reception of availability information indicating that the complete versions of the digital data items of the collection are present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network;

updating said collection by updating said availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network; and

notifying the updating of said collection by a second notification to said at least one destination peer station,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, that can be read by a computer or a microprocessor, and storing instructions of a computer program that, when executed by a computer, implements a method for sharing digital data in a peer-to-peer communication network comprising peer stations which are both client and server stations, a digital data item to be shared having a partial version and a complete version, said method, performed at a destination peer station, comprising the steps of:

receiving a first notification indicating the existence of a collection of data, the notification comprising a data identifier associated with each digital data item, an availability label having been allocated to each data identifier in order to indicate whether the complete version of the digital data item in addition to the partial version is present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network wherein a partial version of the shared digital data item is firstly transmitted to stations for which said digital data items are intended;

analyzing the availability labels associated with the data identifiers for each digital data item of the collection;

in the case where the analyzing step determines the existence of availability labels indicating that the complete version of a digital data item is not present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, restricting processing rights associated with said digital data item so determined; and

on reception of a second notification to update the collection by updating said availability label associated with each digital data item present on at least one peer station which is a server station of the peer-to-peer network, eliminating the restriction of the processing rights,

wherein the partial version of the digital data item has a resolution lower than that of an original.