Method and apparatus for performing a peer-to-peer file transfer

• US 20100241736A1
• Filed: 06/03/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GOTO Group Incorporated (LogMeIn, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LogMeIn, Inc.
• Inventors: Anka, Marton B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,364,780 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A file transfer application maintains a secure connection over the Internet with a file transfer gateway. A user selects a file and the file transfer application requests a unique ticket from the gateway. The ticket is stored in both the gateway and the file transfer application. Next, the ticket is then encoded in a URL that can be sent to potential recipients of the file via conventional methods. Upon entering the URL into a web browser, the recipient will navigate to the file transfer gateway. The gateway decodes the URL to recover the ticket and looks up the ticket in the database to determine the associated application instance and file description. The gateway will then request the application instance to start encrypting and streaming the contents of the file identified by the ticket to the gateway, which then retransmits the encrypted stream to the recipient'"'"'s web browser.

Claims

1. Apparatus to control transfer of a file from a first computer to a second computer, the first computer having a file transfer application instance, comprising:

a processor;

computer memory holding computer program instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method, the method comprising;

establishing and maintaining a connection to the first computer;

upon receipt of a request from the first computer, the request associated with a file to be transferred to the second computer, generating a data string that identifies the file and the file transfer application instance, the data string having at least a portion that is unique;

storing the data string together with an identifier associated with the file transfer application instance;

providing the data string to the first computer, the data string provided over the connection;

upon subsequent receipt of a request from the second computer, the request associated with a URL that encodes at least the data string, de-referencing the URL by extracting the data string to identify the file and the file transfer application instance; and

providing an instruction to the file transfer application instance to initiate a transfer of the file from the first computer to the second computer.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the method further includes:

receiving the file over the connection; and

forwarding the file to the second computer, wherein, during the file transfer, at least one of the first and second computers does not accept incoming Internet connections.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein the file is without being cached or stored in the apparatus.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the data string is a unique ticket.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the URL is de-referenced upon receipt of an identifier associated with a permitted user of the second computer.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the file is a given file in a folder on the first computer.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 6 wherein the method further includes receiving a request from the second computer to access the given file in the folder.

8. The apparatus as described in claim 7 wherein the method further includes providing instructions to the first computer to initiate a transfer of the given file in the folder from the first computer.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein the file is received from the first computer and forwarded to the second computer in a protected format.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the file is received from the first computer and forwarded to the second computer using an Internet Protocol transport protocol.