System, method, apparatus, and product for resource sharing

• US 20060123113A1
• Filed: 12/03/2004
• Published: 06/08/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Friedman, Lee G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata

Abstract

In a resource-sharing system comprising a host element, a shareable resource associated with the host element, and a presence server that is communicatively coupled to the host element, presence information of the shareable resource is provided. Resource data from the host element is provided to a guest element via a resource proxy server.

Claims

1. A resource sharing system comprising:

a host element;

a shareable resource associated with the host element; and

a presence server communicatively coupled to the host element, the presence server-configured to provide presence information of the shareable resource, wherein the presence information provides availability status information of the shareable resource to a user of the resource sharing system.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a guest element communicatively coupled to the presence server, the guest element configured to receive the presence information from the presence server.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a resource proxy server communicatively coupled to the presence server, the resource proxy server configured to receive a resource proxy request from the presence server.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the resource proxy server is configured to provide a resource proxy to carry out an out-of-band transportation of resource data from the host element to the guest element.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the resource proxy server assigns a uniform resource locator (URL) as the resource proxy, and wherein the host element uses the URL to transmit the resource data from the host element to the resource proxy server, and the guest element uses the URL to receive the resource data from the resource proxy server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the shareable resource is any resource capable of digital media storage and communication.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the shareable resource comprises at least one of a file, a digital camera, a digital camcorder, a digital telephone, a personal digital assistant, a printer, a digital video recorder/player, and a scanner;

and wherein the file comprises at least one of a text document, an image, an audio recording, and a video recording.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the guest element is configured to indicate an authorization to access the shareable resource, wherein the shareable resource is identified by presence information of the shareable resource in a contact list displayed in the guest element.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the authorization comprises a display of a shareable resource name subtended to a contact name in the contact list of at least one of a plurality of users of the resource sharing system.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the presence server also provides information indicating availability of users of the resource sharing system.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the messaging services are instant messaging services.

11. An apparatus for sharing resources in a communication network, the apparatus comprising:

a database containing data pertaining to providing messaging services to a user of the communications network;

a first communication link for receiving information indicating presence of a shareable resource associated with a host element; and

a second communication link to the user of the communication network for providing presence information including, availability status information of the shareable resource to the user of the communications network.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

a third communication link to a resource proxy server for requesting a resource proxy to carry out an out-of-band transportation of resource data from the host element to the user of the communications network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second communication link is used to provide to the user of the communications network, an authorization to access the shareable resource.

15. A program for operating a presence server in a communications network, the program stored in a computer-readable medium, the program comprising:

logic configured to receive information indicating presence of a shareable resource associated with a host element; and

logic configured to provide presence information, wherein the presence information provides availability status information of the shareable resource to a user of the communications system.

16. The program of claim 15, further comprising:

logic configured to provide a uniform resource locator (URL) as a resource proxy;

logic configured to use the URL to transmit resource data from the host element to a resource proxy server; and

logic configured to use the URL to transmit resource data from the resource proxy server to a guest element.

17. The program of claim 16, further comprising:

logic configured to provide an authorization comprising a display of a shareable resource name subtended to a contact name in a contact list of at least one of a plurality of users of the communications network.

18. A method of providing a connection between a guest element and a shareable resource for the purpose of remotely controlling the shareable resource, the method comprising:

receiving a connection request from the guest element at a resource proxy server;

sending the connection request from the resource proxy server to the shareable resource; and

providing the guest element with connection to the shareable resource for the purpose of remotely controlling the shareable resource.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the shareable resource is any device capable of digital media storage and communication.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein remotely controlling the shareable resource comprises requesting and receiving data from the shareable resource.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein remotely controlling the shareable resource comprises sending data to the shareable resource for the purpose of instructing the shareable resource to execute a command.