Method and system for utilizing a broadband gateway for peer to peer communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9213348-B2
Application number	US-98247710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2010
Priority date	Jan 16, 2009
Publication date	Dec 15, 2015
Grant date	Dec 15, 2015

Abstract

A broadband gateway may be used to provide peer-to-peer communications with other broadband gateways. One or more peer-to-peer connections may be configured with each of the other broadband gateway, for use in peer-to-peer communications, which may be utilized to communicate shared content among the broadband gateways. Users may receive incentives for participating in peer-to-peer communications, comprising sharing credits and/or reduced charges. The broadband gateway may track and/or aggregate sharing credits based on communication of shared content. Peer-to-peer connections may be configured using at least one physical layer connection utilized by the broadband gateway in communicating with corresponding access network service provider. Peer-to-peer connections may also be configured using direct connections and/or links between the broadband gateways. The broadband gateway may generate a directory for use in conjunction with peer-to-peer operations. The directory may be presented via a user interface. The broadband gateway may generate and/or communicate peer-to-peer related alerts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
in a broadband gateway communicatively coupled to a plurality of devices, wherein said broadband gateway is configured to handle at least one physical layer connection to at least one service or content provider:
configuring one or more peer-to-peer connections between said broadband gateway and one or more other broadband gateways;
generating, by the broadband gateway, a directory comprising an identification of said one or more configured peer-to-peer connections, and information received from said at least one service or content provider on content located on said one or more other broadband gateways;
determining, using the generated directory, content that is sharable between said broadband gateway and said one or more other broadband gateways;
selecting, using the generated directory, a first peer-to-peer connection from said configured one or more peer-to-peer connections to obtain a first portion of said sharable content, and a second peer-to-peer connection to obtain a second portion of said sharable content, in lieu of interacting with said at least one service or content provider for said sharable content; and
communicating said a first portion of said sharable content to said broadband gateway using said first peer-to-peer connection and communicating said second portion to said broadband gateway using said second peer-to-peer connection.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising incentivizing a reduction in network access bandwidth used by said at least one service or content provider by configuring said one or more peer-to-peer connections.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said content located on said one or more other broadband gateways was previously obtained from said at least one service or content provider.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said directory includes information corresponding to at least one of available peers, existing connections, available connections, or sharable content.

5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising presenting said directory on a user interface configured for listing at least one of available peers, existing connections, available connections, or sharable content.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said first portion and said second portion are communicated to said broadband gateway by multiplexing over said first peer-to-peer connection and said first peer-to-peer connection.

7. The method according to claim 1 , comprising at least one of tracking or aggregating sharing credits based on communication of said sharable content.

8. The method according to claim 1 , comprising generating one or more alerts to indicate changes in at least one of availability of said one or more peer-to-peer connections or availability of said sharable content.

9. A system, comprising:
one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof for use in a broadband gateway communicatively coupled to a plurality of devices, wherein said broadband gateway is configured to handle at least one physical layer connection to at least one network access service provider, said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof being configured to:
configure one or more peer-to-peer connections between said broadband gateway and one or more other broadband gateways;
generate, by the broadband gateway, a directory comprising an identification of said one or more configured peer-to-peer connections, and information received from said at least one service or content provider on content located on said one or more other broadband gateways;
determine, using the generated directory, content that is sharable between said broadband gateway and said one or more other broadband gateways;
selecting, using the generated directory, a first peer-to-peer connection from said configured one or more peer-to-peer connections to obtain a first portion of said sharable content, and a second peer-to-peer connection to obtain a second portion of said sharable content, in lieu of interacting with said at least one service or content provider for said sharable content; and
communicate said a first portion of said sharable content to said broadband gateway using said first peer-to-peer connection and communicating said second portion to said broadband gateway using said second peer-to-peer connection.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof is configured to incentivize a reduction in network access bandwidth used by said at least one service or content provider by configuring said one or more peer-to-peer connections.

11. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said content located on said one or more other broadband gateways was previously obtained from said at least one service or content provider.

12. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said directory includes information corresponding to at least one of available peers, existing connections, available connections, or sharable content.

13. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof is configured to present said directory on a user interface configured for listing at least one of available peers, existing connections, available connections, or sharable content.

14. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof is configured to present a user interface to facilitate communication via said one or more peer-to-peer connections.

15. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof is configured to at least one of track or aggregate sharing credits based on communication of said sharable content.

16. The system according to claim 9 , wherein said one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof is configured to generate one or more alerts to indicate changes in at least one of availability of said one or more peer-to-peer connections or availability of said sharable content.

17. A method, comprising:
configuring one or more peer-to-peer connections between a broadband gateway and one or more other broadband gateways;
generating, by the broadband gateway, a directory comprising an identification of said one or more configured peer-to-peer connections, and information from at least one service or content provider on content located on said one or more other broadband gateways;
determining, using the generated directory, content that is sharable between said broadband gateway and said one or more other broadband gateways;
selecting, using the generated directory, a first peer-to-peer connection from said configured one or more peer-to-peer connections to obtain a first portion of said sharable content, and a second peer-to-peer connection to obtain a second portion of said sharable content, in lieu of interacting with said at least one service or content provider for said sharable content;
communicating said first portion to said broadband gateway using said first peer-to-peer connection and said second portion to said broadband gateway using said second peer-to-peer connection; and
applying a reduction in price for obtaining said a first and second portions of said sharable content using said first and second peer-to-peer connections.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising:
in response to sending a request for content to said at least

Assignees

• Garrett David
• Karaoguz Jeyhan
• Chen Xuemin
• Diab Wael
• Lundgren David
• Prodan Rich
• Broadcom Corp

Inventors

• Garrett David
• Karaoguz Jeyhan
• Chen Xuemin
• Diab Wael
• Lundgren David
• Prodan Rich

Classifications

• G05F1/66 Primary

  Regulating electric power · CPC title

• H04N21/47202

  for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand · CPC title

• H04N21/632

  using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices (broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104) · CPC title

• H04L2012/2849

  Audio/video appliances · CPC title

• G06Q20/10

  specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems · CPC title