Peer-to-peer data storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9276973-B2
Application number	US-201313853116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2013
Priority date	Mar 29, 2013
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

A determination is made of users that form a group within a social network in which the users communicate with each other over a network with electronic devices in a client-server architecture. The users in the group within the social network form a peer-to-peer (P2P) storage group within a P2P storage network. In the P2P storage network, users are peers that act as a client and a server for each other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method executed by a computer system, comprising:
hosting, by servers in the computer system, a social networking website for users to upload photos, to communicate with each other, and to form different peer-to-peer (P2P) storage groups that include groups of the users of the social networking website;
building, by a user profile builder in the computer system, user profiles of the users;
recommending, by a P2P storage manager in the computer system and to each of the users, one of the P2P storage groups for the users to join based on analysis of the user profiles of the users;
prioritizing, by user agents in the computer system, files that are stored on handheld portable electronic devices of the users to determine which of the files are priority files;
transmitting, by the user agents in the computer system, the priority files to the one of the P2P storage groups to which the users belong in order to backup the priority files;
comparing, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, an amount of P2P storage that a user consumes versus an amount of P2P storage that the user allocates to the P2P storage groups; and
providing, by the P2P storage manager, compensation to the user when the amount of P2P storage that the user allocates to the P2P storage groups is greater than the amount of P2P storage that the user consumes.

2. A computer system, comprising:
servers that host a social networking website for users to upload photos, to communicate with each other, and to form peer-to-peer (P2P) storage networks that include groups of the users of the social networking website;
a user profile builder that builds user profiles of the users;
a P2P storage manager that communicates with the servers, analyzes the user profiles of the users, and recommends to the users a P2P storage group for the users to join based on analysis of the user profiles of the users; and
user agents that communicate with the servers and the P2P storage manager, discover files stored on handheld portable electronic devices of the users, prioritize the files to determine which of the files are priority files, and transmit the priority files to the P2P storage group to which the users belong in order to backup the priority files, wherein the user agents monitor an amount of storage space of the users, determine when the storage space is becoming full, and automatically enroll the users in one of a plurality of P2P storage groups in order to increase an amount of the storage space available to the users.

3. A method executed by a computer system, comprising:
hosting, by servers in the computer system, a social networking website for users to upload photos, to communicate with each other, and to form different peer-to-peer (P2P) storage groups that include groups of the users of the social networking website;
building, by a user profile builder in the computer system, user profiles of the users;
recommending, by a P2P storage manager in the computer system and to each of the users, one of the P2P storage groups for the users to join based on analysis of the user profiles of the users;
prioritizing, by user agents in the computer system, files that are stored on handheld portable electronic devices of the users to determine which of the files are priority files;
transmitting, by the user agents in the computer system, the priority files to the one of the P2P storage groups to which the users belong in order to backup the priority files;
analyzing, by a user predictor in the computer system, a storage history of a user;
predicting, by the user predictor in the computer system, an amount of P2P storage that the user needs; and
providing, by the user predictor and to the P2P storage manager, the amount of P2P storage that the user predictor predicts the user needs.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
evaluating, by a user agent of a user, the P2P storage groups that the user could join;
deciding, by the user agent of the user, to join a P2P storage group for the user without instruction from the user to join the P2P storage group.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
receiving, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, a request from a first peer in the P2P storage groups to increase an amount of P2P storage that the first peer stores for other peers;
receiving, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, a request from a second peer in the P2P storage groups to decrease an amount of P2P storage that the second peer currently stores for the other peers;
matching, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, the request from the first peer with the request from the second peer so the second peer sends P2P storage to the first peer.

6. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
forming, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, a hierarchy of subgroups from a single group within the P2P storage groups;
ranking, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, the hierarchy of subgroups based on an ability of a user to reliably conduct P2P storage transactions;
placing, by the P2P storage manager in the computer system, the users in the subgroups based on an analysis of previous P2P storage transactions conducted by the users.

7. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
storing, by a user agent in the computer system, a file in the one of the P2P storage groups;
adding, by the computer system, an insignia to visually identify the file as being stored in the one of the P2P storage groups and to visually identify a name of the one of the P2P storage groups.

8. A computer system, comprising:
servers that host a social networking website for users to upload photos, to communicate with each other, and to form peer-to-peer (P2P) storage networks that include groups of the users of the social networking website;
a user profile builder that builds user profiles of the users;
a P2P storage manager that communicates with the servers, analyzes the user profiles of the users, and recommends to the users a P2P storage group for the users to join based on analysis of the user profiles of the users;
a user predictor that analyzes a user profile of a user, predicts an amount of P2P storage to allocate to the user based on analysis of the user profile, and predicts a P2P storage group that the user would desire to join based on the analysis of the user profile; and
user agents that communicate with the servers and the P2P storage manager, discover files stored on handheld portable electronic devices of the users, prioritize the files to determine which of the files are priority files, and transmit the priority files to the P2P storage group to which the users belong in order to backup the priority files.

9. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the P2P storage manager receives a request from a first electronic device of a first user to reduce an amount of P2P storage being consumed by the first user, receives a request from a second electronic device of a second user to increase an amount of P2P storage consumed by the second user, and matches the request from the first electronic device to reduce the amount of P2P storage with the request from the second electronic device to increase the amount of P2P storage.

10. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein the user agents decide which P2P storage group the users will join and how much P2P storage the users will consume without instruction from the users on which P2P storage group to join and how much P2P storage to consume.

11. The computer system of claim 8 , wherein an amount of P2P storage that a user in the P2P storage group allocates to other users in the P2P storage group is d

Assignees

• Lyren Philip Scott

Inventors

• Lyren Philip Scott

Classifications

• H04L67/104

  Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks · CPC title

• H04L67/1044 Primary

  Group management mechanisms  (management of multicast group membership H04L12/185; reconfiguring of node membership in a computing system to eliminate errors G06F11/1425) · CPC title

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title

• H04L67/1089

  Hierarchical topologies · CPC title

• H04L67/535

  Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title