Mobile content delivery optimization

• US 8,407,472 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2010
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Hao, Jack Jianxiu, Gallagher, John F., Yao, Xuefeng, Qian, Yuhui
• Primary Examiner(s): GEORGANDELLIS, ANDREW C
• Application Number:
  US12/880,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20120066495A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 713/168, 709/217, 709/219, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0827 involving distinctive intermediate devices or communication paths network architectures or network communication protocols using different networks H04L63/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• 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 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application

Abstract

A device receives, from a target user device, a request for encrypted content, where the request is sent via a wireless access network. The device identifies a donor user device that is available to provide the encrypted content via a local wireless network connection, where the donor user device has previously downloaded the encrypted content. The device sends, to the target user device and/or the donor user device, instructions to establish a peer-to-peer connection, via the local wireless network, to provide the encrypted content to the target user device, where the encrypted content is decrypted by the target user device using a license key provided over a different network than the local wireless connection.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a server device, an authentication request from a target user device to access encrypted content;

conducting, by the server device, authentication procedures for the target user device;

sending, when the target user device is authenticated and to the target user device, a license key for the encrypted content;

receiving, by a content server and from the target user device, a request for the encrypted content, where the request originates via a wireless access network;

determining, by the content server, that a donor user device is available to provide the encrypted content via a local wireless network that is different than the wireless access network, wherein the determining includes;

identifying, as potential donor user devices, one or more user devices with mobile WiFi capability that have previously downloaded the encrypted content,

identifying, from the potential donor user devices, one or more user devices within WiFi signal range of the target user device, and

selecting the donor user device based on the identifying potential donor user devices and the identifying the one or more user devices within WiFi signal range; and

sending, by the content server and to the target user, instructions to retrieve the encrypted content from the donor user device, where the encrypted content is decrypted by the target user device using the license key.

2. The method of claim 1, where the sending the license key for the encrypted content includes:

sending the license key to the target user device via the wireless access network.

3. The method of claim 1, where the local wireless network is a mobile WiFi network.

4. The method of claim 1, where determining that the donor user device is available further comprises one or more of:

confirming, with the donor user device, that the encrypted content is stored in a memory of the donor user device;

or

requesting, from the target user device, signal strength readings for the potential donor user devices.

5. The method of claim 1, where the authentication request and the request for encrypted content are sent over the wireless access network using a hypertext transfer protocol over secure socket (HTTPS) layer.

6. The method of claim 1, where the instructions to retrieve the encrypted content from the donor user device include an Internet protocol (IP) address.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the content server and to the donor user device, instructions to establish a peer-to-peer connection, with the target user device, to provide the encrypted content.

8. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

receive, from a target user device, a request for encrypted content, where the request is sent via a wireless access network,

identify a donor user device that is available to provide the encrypted content via a local wireless network connection, wherein the identifying includes;

identifying a group of user devices with local wireless network capability that have previously downloaded the encrypted content;

identifying a group of local user devices within local wireless network signal range of the target user device; and

selecting the donor user device based on identifying the group of user devices with local wireless network capability and identifying the group of local user devices within local wireless network signal range of the target user device, and

send, to one or more of the target user device or the donor user device, instructions to establish a peer-to-peer connection, via the local wireless network connection, to provide the encrypted content to the target user device, where the encrypted content is decrypted by the target user device using a license key provided over a different network than the local wireless connection.

9. The device of claim 8, where, when identifying the donor user device, the processor is further to execute instructions to:

confirm, with the donor user device, that the encrypted content is stored in a memory of the donor user device;

or

request, from the target user device, a signal strength reading for the donor user device.

10. The device of claim 8, where the target user device or the donor user device include one or more of:

a radiotelephone,

a personal communications system (PCS) terminal,

a personal digital assistant (PDA),

a wireless device,

a smart phone,

a laptop computer, or

a global positioning system (GPS) device.

11. The device of claim 8, where the local wireless network includes a WiFi network.

12. The device of claim 8, where the instructions to establish a peer-to-peer connection include an Internet protocol (IP) address of one of the target user device or the donor user device.

13. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

receiving, by a server device and from a user device, an authentication request to access stored content, where the user device is mobile WiFi-enabled;

verifying, by the server device, availability of the stored content;

authenticating, by the server device, the user device;

receiving, by another server and from the user device, a request for the stored content, where the request is sent over a wireless access network;

sending, by the other server over the wireless access network, the stored content to the user device;

receiving, by the other server and from a target user device, a request for the stored content, where the request is sent over a wireless access network;

identifying, by the server device, the user device as having local wireless network capability;

identifying, by the server device, the user device as being within local wireless network signal range of the target user device;

selecting, by the server device, the user device as a donor device, based on the identifying that the user device has local wireless network capability and the identifying that the user device is within local wireless network signal range of the target user device; and

sending, by the user device and via a mobile WiFi connection that is different than the wireless access network, the stored content to the target user device.

14. The method of claim 13, where sending the stored content to the user device includes streaming the stored content, and where sending the stored content to the target user device includes streaming the stored content.

15. The method of claim 13, where the server is an authentication server within a service provider network and the other server is a device within a home network.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

sending, to the target user device and via a short message service (SMS) message, an invitation to retrieve the stored content, where the SMS message includes a uniform resource locator (URL) for the user device; and

receiving, based on the URL and via the mobile WiFi connection, a request, from the target user device, to receive the stored content.

17. A system, comprising:

means for receiving, from a target user device and via a wireless access network, a request for stored content;

means for identifying a donor user device that is available to provide the stored content via a local wireless network connection that is different than the wireless access network, wherein the means for identifying includes;

means for identifying, as potential donor user devices, one or more user devices with local wireless network capability that have previously downloaded the stored content,

means for identifying, from the potential donor user devices, one or more user devices within local wireless network signal range of the target user device, and

means for selecting the donor user device based on the identifying potential donor user devices and the identifying the one or more user devices within local wireless network signal range; and

means for sending, to the target user device, instructions to establish, via the local wireless network connection, a peer-to-peer connection with the donor user device to provide the stored content to the target user device.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for sending, to the target user device, a license key for the decrypting the stored content.