Remote data access techniques for portable devices

• US 10,860,734 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2017
• Issued: 12/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hildreth, Robert, Davis, Darren R., Haveson, Ryan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Butt, Walli Z
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kavleski, Ryan C
• Application Number:
  US15/729,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20180137298A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

A wide-area network (“WAN”)-based service enables remote data access transactions between participating endpoints within a group of participating endpoints that includes at least one server and at least one portable electronic device. Each participating endpoint is configured for communication via one or more communication networks and stores the same or different data items on behalf of a user. The WAN-based service maintains information about each participating endpoint in the group and its network accessibility, and also maintains one or more catalogs of available data items. The WAN-based service identifies a communication network available to both participating endpoints, and a direct or proxied communication session is established between the portable electronic device and the other participating endpoint via the communication network. Selected data items are downloaded, uploaded, accessed or synchronized via the communication session. The use of digital rights and identity management techniques in combination with the WAN-based service is also discussed.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable memory devices storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors disposed in a local electronic device, perform remote access, comprising:

identifying a group of participating endpoints, each participating endpoint in the identified group comprising a remote electronic device storing and providing sharable data items to the group of participating endpoints, each of the participating endpoints being configured in a network topology in which concurrent access to stored data items stored on the participating endpoints is enabled for each of the participating endpoints using a data access service that is implemented on a wide-area network server that is central to the network topology;

provide information about the local electronic device or its user to the data access service over the wide-area network for storage on the central wide area network server;

accessing the data access service over the wide-area network in which the data access service is configured for exposing a catalog of shareable data items to participating endpoints in the group, wherein the catalog and the shareable data items are provided from the data access service on the central wide-area network server, and wherein the catalog is dynamically generated by the data access service based on availability of the participating endpoints in the group to the data access service on the wide-area network and the provided information; and

accessing a cataloged shareable data item that is stored on a participating endpoint from the data access service implemented on the central wide-area network server using a client-server transfer protocol.

2. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 1 wherein the catalog is dynamically generated based on characteristics of the participating endpoints, in which the characteristics comprise one or more of endpoint type, endpoint identification, endpoint network address, endpoint processing capability, endpoint network connectivity capabilities, endpoint display capabilities, or endpoint memory capabilities.

3. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 2 further including

selecting a format for a particular data item based on the characteristics of participating endpoints;

transcoding the particular data item into the selected format; and

after the data item has been transcoded into the selected format, arranging for participating endpoint access to the transcoded data item.

4. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 2 wherein the characteristics comprise endpoint availability on the network.

5. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 1 further including

establishing a communication session between a first participating endpoint and a second participating endpoint over a communication network identified by the service, and

enabling the first participating endpoint to access the cataloged individual data items from the second participating endpoint in the communication session.

6. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 5 further including

receiving a user selection of a particular data item from the first participating endpoint, the user selection being performed on a user interface configured for browsing the catalog of data items stored, in which the data items included in the catalog are based on availability of the second participating endpoint.

7. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 1 wherein the catalog is periodically dynamically generated as participating endpoints in the group are added, removed, or substituted.

8. The one or more computer-readable memory devices of claim 1 wherein the characteristics further include storage of data items on behalf of a common user, and connectivity with a common network.

9. A method for remote data access among participating endpoints, each participating endpoint comprising an electronic device, the method comprising:

discovering a group of participating endpoints, each participating endpoint in the discovered group storing shareable data items, the group of participating endpoints being connectable to a data access service executing on a central server that implements a multimaster synchronization topology, the central server being accessed by the group of participating endpoints using one or more wide-area networks providing concurrent access from the participating endpoints to the stored shareable data items;

communicating with a data access service configured for dynamically generating a catalog of individual data items that are selected from the shareable data items stored on the participating endpoints, wherein the selecting is based on capabilities of participating endpoints including storage of data items on behalf of a common user and connectivity with a common network;

exposing the catalog of individual data items on a participating endpoint, wherein the catalog and the data items selected from the shareable data items stored on the participating endpoints are provided from the central server; and

enabling access to a cataloged individual data item stored on a participating endpoint over the common network from the central server using a client-server transfer protocol.

10. The method of claim 9 further including ascertaining an identity of the common user of one or more participating endpoints using authentication.

11. The method of claim 10 in which the ascertaining comprises receiving a user selection of at least one identified from among a plurality of identities.

12. The method of claim 9 further including providing a user control to select an individual data item from the catalog to access.

13. The method of claim 9 in which the access comprises uploading or downloading of the cataloged individual data items between a first participating endpoint and a second participating endpoint.

14. The method of claim 9 further including performing the selection based on one or more of endpoint characteristics, data item characteristics, user profiles, user preferences, or common network characteristics.

15. The method of claim 9 in which the access comprises synchronizing the accessed data item between a first participating endpoint and a second participating endpoint in a communication session over the common network.

16. The method of claim 9 in which the common network is a radio-based network.

17. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more hardware-based memory devices storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to

identify a group of participating endpoints, each participating endpoint in the group comprising an electronic device which stores data items, the group of participating endpoints being configured in a network topology in which concurrent access to the stored data items is enabled over a network for each of the participating endpoints;

access a service hosted on a central server over the network, the service configured for providing a catalog of individual data items from the stored data items that is sharable across the participating endpoints in the group, wherein individual data items are dynamically selected for inclusion in the catalog based on capabilities of the respective participating endpoints in the group, wherein the catalog of shareable data items is stored on the central server and accessed from the central server; and

access the catalog of individual data items stored on the participating endpoints from the service on the central server using a client-server transfer protocol.

18. The computing device of claim 17 wherein the one or more characteristics include the presence or absence of participating endpoints on the network.

19. The computing device of claim 17 wherein the one or more characteristics include the presence or absence of a capability for the participating endpoints.

20. The computing device of claim 19 wherein the capability for the participating endpoints includes storage of data items on behalf of a common user and connectivity with a common network.