Temporary shared storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023169066-A1
Application number	US-202318160522-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 27, 2023
Priority date	Sep 22, 2016
Publication date	Jun 1, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for providing temporary shared cloud-based storage, where access to the shared storage is time-limited, location-limited and anonymous. The method includes receiving a request for storage accessible to a plurality of user devices. A storage account is initiated in response to the request; a password and a time period are associated with the storage account. User devices obtain access to the storage account using only the password provided and without users' personal credentials; access is also according to location within a geographic area defined in the request. Any of the data items is available to each user device having access to the storage account. Upon expiration of the time period, the storage account is disabled and the data items are deleted. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising: initiating a temporary storage account having a predetermined uploading time period, a predetermined downloading time period, and a predetermined storage time period; determining an uploader user device of a plurality of user devices is within a geographic area; uploading a group of data items from the uploader user device; storing the group of data items into the temporary storage account; determining a first requester user device of the plurality of user devices is within the geographic area; selecting a portion of the group of data items in response to receiving a message from the first requester user device indicating a selection of the portion of the group of data items; and streaming the portion of the group of data items from the temporary storage account to the first requester user device into a single message.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise receiving a first request for access to the temporary storage account from the uploader user device.

3 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving first credentials associated with the temporary storage account from the uploader user device; and providing access to the temporary storage account to the uploader user device in response to authenticating the first credentials.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise receiving a second request for access to the temporary storage account from the first requester user device.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving second credentials associated with the temporary storage account from the first requester user device; and providing access to the temporary storage account to the first requester user device in response to authenticating the second credentials.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise disabling the temporary storage account in response to determining that the predetermine storage time period has expired.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise deleting the group of data items from the temporary storage account in response to determining that the predetermine storage time period has expired.

8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the geographic area is based on a distance from a location of the first requester user device.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein the geographic area is updated according to movements of the first requester user device thereby resulting in a dynamically updated geographic area.

10 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the dynamically updated geographic area results in a second requester user device of the plurality of user devices previously outside the geographic area being able to access the temporary storage account upon being detected within the dynamically updated geographic area.

11 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the dynamically updated geographic area results in a third requester user device of the plurality of user devices previously inside the geographic area being unable to access the temporary storage account upon being detected outside of the dynamically updated geographic area.

12 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the temporary storage account is anonymously shared with the plurality of user devices.

13 . A non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
initiating a temporary storage account having a predetermined uploading time period, a predetermined downloading time period, and a predetermined storage time period; determining an uploader user device of a plurality of user devices is within a geographic area; uploading a group of data items from the uploader user device; storing the group of data items into the temporary storage account; determining a group of requester user devices of the plurality of user devices is within the geographic area; selecting a portion of the group of data items in response to receiving a message from the each of the group of requester user devices indicating a selection of the portion of the group of data items; streaming the portion of the group of data items from the temporary storage account to each of the group of requester user devices into a single message; detecting that a first user device of the plurality of user devices has entered the geographic area; and streaming the portion of the group of data items from the temporary storage account to the first user device into a single message.

14 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , receiving a first request for access to the temporary storage account from the uploader user device.

15 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:
receiving first credentials associated with the temporary storage account from the uploader user device; and providing access to the temporary storage account to the uploader user device in response to authenticating the first credentials.

16 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations comprise receiving a request for access to the temporary storage account from each of the group of requester user devices.

17 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 , receiving credentials associated with the temporary storage account from each of the group of requester user devices resulting in a group of credentials; and
providing access to the temporary storage account to each of the group of requester user device in response to authenticating each of the credentials from the group of credentials.

18 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations comprise disabling the temporary storage account in response to determining that the predetermine storage time period has expired.

19 . The non-transitory, machine-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations comprise deleting the group of data items from the temporary storage account in response to determining that the predetermine storage time period has expired.

20 . A method, comprising:
initiating, by a processing system including a processor, a temporary storage account having a predetermined uploading time period, a predetermined downloading time period, and a predetermined storage time period; determining, by the processing system, an uploader user device of a plurality of user devices is within a geographic area; uploading, by the processing system, a group of data items from the uploader user device; storing, by the processing system, the group of data items into the temporary storage account; determining, by the processing system, a group of requester user devices of the plurality of user devices is within the geographic area; selecting, by the processing system, a portion of the group of data items in response to receiving a message from the each of the group of requester user devices indicating a selection of the portion of the group of data items; streaming, by the processing system, the portion of the group of data items from the temporary storage account to each of the group of requester user devices i

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Soryal Joseph
• Hansen Tony L
• Jaoude Naila
• Rao Lalita
• Serban Cristina

Classifications

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L63/107

  wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04L67/56

  Provisioning of proxy services (store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54) · CPC title