FILE SHARING THROUGH MULTI-SERVICES GATEWAY DEVICE AT USER PREMISES

• US 20100241711A1
• Filed: 09/07/2007
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyson King
• Original Assignee: Prodea Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Ansari, Amir, Ramayya, Jude P., Nicholls, Leon E., Masina, Ramprakash, Cowgill, George A., Raissyan, Atousa
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,688 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/64 Browsing; Visualisation therefor generation of a list or set of audio data G06F16/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19656 Network used to communicate with a camera, e.g. WAN, LAN, Internet
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 : Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 : based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/25 : Routing or path finding in a switch fabric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 : Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/02 : for separating internal from external traffic, e.g. firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 : based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 : Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 : Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 : Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 : Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 : Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 : using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/325 : in the network layer [OSI layer 3], e.g. X.25 H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 : Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/40 : Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 : for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 : Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 : of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 : Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 : Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/35 : Protecting application or service provisioning, e.g. securing SIM application provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/911 : Bridge, e.g. brouter, bus extender

Abstract

A system for providing and managing file sharing services of one or more endpoint devices comprise a first interface for enabling bi-directional communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, and a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications via a wide-area network, for the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device. A processor is coupled to the interfaces and is configured to manage file sharing through presence and networking messaging communication between the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device and at least another endpoint device (associated with the gateway device or not), to access a file to share received from the one or more end-point devices associated with the gateway device or from endpoint devices not associated with the gateway device. The processor selectively makes the accessed file available to the one or more endpoint devices.

Claims

1. A gateway device for operation at a user premises to provide and manage services of one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device, the gateway device comprising:

a first interface for enabling bi-directional communications with one or more of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device;

a second interface for enabling bi-directional communications via a wide-area network, for the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device; and

a processor coupled to the interfaces and configured to manage file sharing through presence and network messaging communication between the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device and at least another endpoint device either associated with the gateway device or not associated with the gateway device, to access a file to share received from the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device or from one or more endpoint devices not associated with the gateway device, and to selectively make the accessed file available for sharing with the one or more endpoint devices.

2. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to selectively make the accessed file available to the one or more endpoint devices based on at least one list of endpoint devices to which designated files are to be shared.

3. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the at least another endpoint device not associated with the gateway device is associated with another gateway device that is coupled to the gateway device via the wide-area network.

4. The gateway device of claim 3, wherein the at least another endpoint device not associated with the gateway device is associated with another gateway device that is coupled to the gateway device via a presence and networking communication network.

5. The gateway device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to enforce restrictions on file sharing with particular ones of the endpoint devices based on the identities of the particular ones of the endpoint devices.

6. The gateway device of claim 2, further including storage coupled to the processor, the processor being further configured to maintain the at least one list in storage, the at least one list listing one or more endpoint devices to which designated files are to be shared.

7. The gateway device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to enforce restrictions on file sharing with particular ones of the endpoint devices based on identity of the particular ones of the endpoint devices and contents of the file to be shared.

8. The gateway device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to automatically make a file accessible to the endpoint devices on the list when the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device provides a file to share to the gateway device.

9. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to send a notification to user selected endpoint devices when the storage receives a file to share from the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device.

10. The gateway device of claim 8, wherein the storage includes a sharable space configured to store the files to share, the files to share being selectively accessible by the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device and by other endpoint devices not associated with the gateway device, the accessibility to the files to share within the sharable space being controlled by the processor based on the list.

11. The gateway device of claim 10, wherein the endpoint devices granted accessibility to the files to share in the sharable space by the processor are provided associated privileges for the files to share on a selective basis for each endpoint device and file to share.

12. The gateway device of claim 11, wherein the notification comprises one of television, telephone, e-mail, or instant message notifications.

13. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein each of the endpoint devices comprises a device selected from the group consisting of:

a television, a computer, a cell phone, a phone, a digital picture frame, and another gateway device.

14. The gateway device of claim 13, wherein one of the one or more endpoint devices associated with the gateway device includes a user interface configured to enable a user to share a file with a single step user operation at the user interface.

15. The gateway device of claim 14, wherein the single step user operation is a one-click operation.

16. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the sharing of the file networking and messaging communication is a peer-to-peer sharing between endpoint devices and independent of a file server.

17. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the sharing of the file is independent of a file server.

18. The gateway device of claim 1, wherein the gateway device includes storage configured to receive and store the file to share from the associated endpoint device.

19. A method of sharing files between endpoint user devices, at least one of which is associated with a gateway device at a user premises, comprising the steps of:

determining that an endpoint device associated with the gateway device at the user premises or an endpoint device not associated with the gateway device has a file to share with at least one other endpoint device;

determining the identity of the at least one other endpoint device; and

managing with the gateway device the sharing of the file with the at least one other endpoint device based on the determined identity of the at least one other endpoint device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the sharing of the file is a peer-to-peer sharing between endpoint devices and independent of a file server.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the sharing of the file is independent of a file server.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising receive and storing at the gateway device the file to share from the associated endpoint device.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the sharing of the file is extended to a further endpoint device that is subordinate to the at least one other endpoint device.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein a plurality of endpoint devices are associated with the gateway device such that the plurality of endpoint devices are enabled with bi-directional communications with the gateway device, and wherein the sharing of the file is within the plurality of endpoint devices associated with the gateway device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one other endpoint device is not associated with the gateway device, the gateway device being enabled for bi-directional communication via a wide-area network, and wherein the sharing of the file includes sharing the file with the at least one other endpoint device via the gateway device and the wide-area network.

26. The method of claim 19, further comprising maintaining at least one list of other endpoint devices with which to share a file.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the list of other endpoint devices is based on the file.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the list of other endpoint devices is based on the at least one other endpoint device that has a file to share.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the gateway device automatically shares the file with the other endpoint devices on the at least one list when the file is provided to the gateway device.

30. The method of claim 25, further comprising preventing receipt of the file to share by selected endpoint devices.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising establishing a sharable space at the gateway device into which the file to share is placed, and providing access to the file in the sharable space by other endpoint devices on the at least one list.

32. The method of claim 30, further comprising automatically notifying the other endpoint devices on the at least one list when a file to be shared to the at least one list is added or changed in the sharable space.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising selectively providing the other endpoint devices on the list with different available privileges with respect to the file to be shared in the sharable space.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the gateway device maintains the list of at least one of the endpoint devices associated with the gateway device.

35. The method of claim 19, further comprising determining attributes of the endpoint devices, and wherein the managing of the sharing of the file is further based on the attributes of the identified endpoint devices.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of determining attributes includes at least one of:

determining whether an endpoint device is authorized to receive shared files, determining whether an endpoint device is authorized to share files, and determining a type of file an endpoint device is authorized to receive.