Network-based photosharing architecture
First Claim
1. A method for providing a network-based photosharing service, the photosharing service including a central photosharing site having a server, and a plurality of peer nodes each containing digital images;
- the method comprising the steps of;
(a) associating with each image that is to be shared on the photosharing site from the peer nodes with metadata describing the image;
(b) sharing the images on the photosharing site by uploading the metadata associated with each image from the peer nodes to the server, while maintaining storage of the images on the respective peer nodes;
(c) in response to the server receiving search criteria based on the metadata submitted from a first one of the peer nodes, returning a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria to the first peer node; and
(d) dynamically generating on the first peer node an image album that contains at least a portion of the matching images.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing a network-based photosharing service is disclosed. The photosharing service includes a central photosharing site having a server, and a plurality of peer nodes each containing digital images. The method and system include associating metadata with each image that is to be shared. The images are shared by uploading the metadata associated with each image from the peer nodes to the peer server, while maintaining storage of the images on the respective peer nodes. In response to the peer server receiving search criteria based on the metadata submitted from a first one of the peer nodes, the peer server returns a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria to the first peer node. The method and system further include dynamically generating on the first peer node an image album that contains at least a portion of the matching images.
201 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for providing a network-based photosharing service, the photosharing service including a central photosharing site having a server, and a plurality of peer nodes each containing digital images;
- the method comprising the steps of;
(a) associating with each image that is to be shared on the photosharing site from the peer nodes with metadata describing the image;
(b) sharing the images on the photosharing site by uploading the metadata associated with each image from the peer nodes to the server, while maintaining storage of the images on the respective peer nodes;
(c) in response to the server receiving search criteria based on the metadata submitted from a first one of the peer nodes, returning a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria to the first peer node; and
(d) dynamically generating on the first peer node an image album that contains at least a portion of the matching images. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- the method comprising the steps of;
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18. A peer-to-peer photosharing system, comprising:
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a plurality of peer nodes, wherein each node stores respective images, and each image has an associated a set of metadata describing the image;
a central site in communication with the peer nodes over a network, such that when images from each of the peer nodes are to be shared on the central site, the peer nodes upload the metadata for the respective images to the central site, while maintaining storage of the image data on the respective peer nodes, the central site further functioning to allow a user of one of the peer nodes to submit a search request based on the metadata, and in response, returns a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria; and
application software on each of the peer nodes for dynamically displaying image albums from selected ones of the images on the list by using the image locators to retrieve the images from other peer nodes. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A peer-to-peer photosharing system, comprising:
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(a) a photosharing site including a server node accessible over a network; and
(b) a plurality of peer nodes, each peer node including, (i) one or more digital images, each image having an associated set of metadata categorizing the image, (ii) communication software for enabling the peer node to act as a server to all other nodes;
(iii) upload software for allowing a user to share images on the central site by submitting the metadata associated with the images to the central site, while maintaining storage of the image data on the peer node, and (iv) user interface software for allowing a user to search for images stored throughout the system by entering search terms based on the metadata, the user interface software responsive to the central site returning a list of image locators for images matching the search criteria for dynamically generating an image album by using the image locators to request that the images be downloaded from the peer nodes storing the images, wherein once the images are received, the images are displayed in an the album to the user. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification