Centrally enhanced peer-to-peer resource sharing method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of operating a peer-to-peer network including a plurality of clients and a server, each of the clients having a unique client address, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving, from the server at a first client of the plurality of clients, a first unique seed list comprising a first portion of a list of connected client addresses generated by the server;
receiving, from the server at a second client of the plurality of clients, a second unique seed list comprising a second portion of the list of connected client addresses, the first unique seed list including a second client address corresponding to the second client and the second unique seed list including a third client address corresponding to a third of the clients;
sending a search request from the first client to at least the second client by utilizing the first unique seed list; and
sending the search request from the second client to at least the third client by utilizing the second unique seed list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A peer-to-peer network has a server that maintains a list of addresses of clients connected to the peer-to-peer network. The server generates seed lists for each of the clients connected to the network from the server maintained list. The clients conduct peer-to-peer searches using the seed list provided by the server. The seed lists may be either randomly generated or generated to facilitate network objectives. The clients may periodically request seed list refreshing. The peer-to-peer network may further include authentication and authorization search security checks.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of operating a peer-to-peer network including a plurality of clients and a server, each of the clients having a unique client address, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving, from the server at a first client of the plurality of clients, a first unique seed list comprising a first portion of a list of connected client addresses generated by the server; receiving, from the server at a second client of the plurality of clients, a second unique seed list comprising a second portion of the list of connected client addresses, the first unique seed list including a second client address corresponding to the second client and the second unique seed list including a third client address corresponding to a third of the clients; sending a search request from the first client to at least the second client by utilizing the first unique seed list; and sending the search request from the second client to at least the third client by utilizing the second unique seed list. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A client in a peer-to-peer network that includes a server and a plurality of clients having searchable resources, each of the clients having a unique client address, the client comprising:
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a seed list receiver for receiving and storing a unique seed list of connected client addresses, the unique seed list being received from the server, the unique seed list being generated by the server from a portion of a list of connected client addresses, and the unique seed list being different than a second unique seed list received by another client in the peer-to-peer network that is created by the server from another portion of the list of connected client addresses; a memory for storing a plurality of resources, each of the resources having at least one corresponding access attribute; and a peer-to-peer network search dispatcher for forwarding a resource search request to connected client addresses from the seed list. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method on a client in a peer-to-peer network that includes a server and a plurality of clients having searchable resources, each of the clients having a unique client address, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a unique seed list of connected client addresses from the server, the unique seed list being generated by the server from a portion of a list of connected client addresses, and the unique seed list being different than a second unique seed list received by another client in the peer-to-peer network that is created by the server from another portion of the list of connected client addresses; forwarding a resource search request to connected client addresses from the unique seed list; and selectively searching at least one of a plurality of resource stored at the client, wherein the resource search request includes a credentials signal indicative of an initiating client initiating the resource search request. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification