Peer-to-peer indexing-based marketplace

US8301768B2 · kind B2 · utility

Inventor

• William M. Pottenger · Lower Saucon Township, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 19, 2008
• Grant date: Oct 30, 2012
• Expiry date: Dec 19, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q50/188
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A data sharing and indexing system composed of multiple local indexing systems residing on network storage devices. Each (instantiation of the groupware) local storage device runs software for advanced content-based indexing, and each local indexing system forms a node in a peer-to-peer network. The indexing software performs topic-based categorization by means of a higher-order path analysis algorithm, which mimics human intuition by considering both high- and low-order links between data elements. The indexes generated by the software are automatically partitioned into topic indexes. The topical similarity of indexes to each other and to a pre-established set of topic indices is measured using a cross-training algorithm. The peer-to-peer network is implemented by a novel mesh-based, self-healing protocol, providing specialized means for sharing data and topic indexes. The software leverages the index sharing technology to provide content- and metadata-based searching features.