Automated remote site downloading on a geographic drive

• US 8,972,482 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2004
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Li, Jun, Zhang, Junbiao, Verma, Snigdha
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAO, MICHAEL W
• Application Number:
  US10/591,556
• Publication Number:
  US 20070198674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,008 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A remote site downloading system is disclosed in which a local computer establishes a session with a content server, and a content file and geographic destination drive are selected. The local computer is typically on a first access network and the user wishes to have the file downloaded to a geographic drive, i.e., a remote site computer whose location and other properties are mapped in a mapping file on the local computer. The geographic drive is usually on a different access network in a dynamic location such as a hotspot or a fixed location such as broadband cable or DSL. The local computer is specially programmed to allow selection of the geographic target drive, pack information comprising cookies and a URL, and sends it to the remote geographic drive computer, where it may act as a proxy to cause downloading from the content server to the geographic drive on the remote site computer.

Claims

1. A method for remote side downloading (RSD) comprising:

establishing a session between a local computer and a content server having a resource locator;

selecting a content file to be downloaded from the content server;

selecting a remote site geographic drive to which the content file is to be downloaded from the content server, wherein the remote site geographic drive is identified based on information in a mapping file stored in the local computer;

wherein the mapping file comprises travel plan data for use in establishing one or more dynamic access points for accessing the downloaded content file;

receiving at least one message of the session from the content server;

packing information comprising the message of the session and the resource locator;

sending the packed information to a remote site computer from the local computer;

wherein the resource locator and the at least one message comprised in the packed information are for respectively accessing the content server and for authenticating the session between the local computer and the content server by the remote site computer so as to download the selected content file to the selected remote site geographic drive, and wherein at least the local computer is located remote from the remote site computer at least during establishment of the session.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the local computer has a RSD program configured to pack the information and send the information to a remote site computer.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the RSD program is a plug-in in a web browser.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the message of the session includes data comprising information selected from the group consisting of authentication information, authorization information, and session duration information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the session is a web session.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the message of the session is a web browser cookie.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the content file is represented by the resource locator, which is included in the packed information and identifies the selected content file for the remote site computer.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the local computer establishes the session via a first access network and the remote site computer downloads the content file via a second access network.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic drive is at a fixed location.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic drive is at a dynamic location.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic drive is at a hotspot.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote site computer downloads the file from the content server using the resource locator and the message of the session to store the content file in a cache server until the computer associated with the geographic drive is available to receive the content file from the cache server.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote site computer has an RSD server program to download the file from the content server using the resource locator and message of the session or assigns a cache server to download the file from the content server and store the file until the computer associated with the geographic drive is available to receive the content file from the cache server.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic drive is a mobile computer and the remote site computer is a cache server at a hotspot, and the cache server has an RSD server program that receives the packed information, downloads the selected content file from the content server using resource locator and message of the session, stores the content file until the mobile computer signs in at the hotspot and then downloads the content file from the cache server to the mobile computer geographic drive.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the session between the local computer and the content server is a secured session and the content file is purchased using a credit card, wherein the content server uses the message of the session to assure that the downloading request is authentic.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the mapping file contains data comprising one or more of a name of an associated network, a user ID of the associated access network, a password of the associated access network, a geographical location of a static location or a dynamic hotspot location, and an RSD assignment command comprising executables and parameters to be made when the geographic drive is accessed.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the local computer uses a web browser with an RSD plug-in to establish the session with the content server.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the content file is a multimedia file.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the content file is a movie file.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the packed information is sent to the remote site computer as an instant message, an e-mail with an attachment comprising the packed information, or an HTTP request.

21. A system for remote site downloading (RSD) comprising a local computer configured for establishing a session with a content server, selecting a content file to be downloaded from the content server, selecting a geographic drive to which the content file is to be downloaded from the content server, wherein the remote site geographic drive is identified based on information in a mapping file stored in the local computer;

wherein the mapping file comprises travel plan data for use in establishing one or more dynamic access points for accessing the downloaded content file;

receiving at least one message of the session from the content server, packing information comprising the at least one session message and the resource locator, and sending the packed information to a remote site computer for accessing the content server by the remote site computer using the resource locator and for authentication of the session between the local computer and the content server by the remote site computer using the message so as to download the selected content file to the geographic drive, and wherein the local computer is located remote from at least the remote site computer during establishment of the session.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the local computer has a web browser with an RSD plug-in.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the local computer is a mobile device and the remote site computer has a broadband connection, wherein the broadband connection is wireless or wired.

24. A system for facilitating remote site downloading (RSD) of a content file selected using a first computer from a content web server for downloading to a remote computer geographic drive comprising:

the first computer comprising a browser RSD plug-in which enables identification, by a mapping file stored in the first computer, of the remote computer geographic drive for receiving and storing the selected content file, packs information comprising a cookie, and sends the packed information comprising the cookie to a remote computer, wherein the mapping file comprises travel plan data for use in establishing one or more dynamic access points for accessing the downloaded content file, the packed information comprising the cookie functioning to authenticate a prior session between the first computer and the content web server during which the content file was selected and to cause the remote computer to automatically request the content web server to download the content file to the remote computer geographic drive, wherein at least the computer-based storage location is located remote from the first computer at least during establishment of the prior session.