Patent ID: 6629100
Filing Date: 2003-09-30
Classification: G06F,G06K,H04L,H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for executing searches for resources that span more than one private resource repository in a restricted-access resource sharing system comprising at least one server and multiple peer nodes connected to a network, the resource sharing network for storing resources, including data digital images, and for retrieving the resources based on metadata associated with the resources, the method comprising the steps of:(a) maintaining storage of resources and associated metadata on respective peer nodes, wherein the associated metadata is based on at least one metadata vocabulary; (b) allowing each of the peer nodes to indicate to the server that the metadata vocabularies associated with the resources are designated as private, thereby becoming a restricted access peer node; (c) if a first restricted access peer node specifies to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, providing a first level of privacy whereby search queries received by the server that use the specified metadata vocabularies are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing, while searches that do not use the specified vocabularies are processed by the server; and (d) if the first restricted access peer node does not specify to the server which metadata vocabularies the first restricted access peer node supports, providing a second level of privacy whereby search queries received by the server are passed to the first respective restricted access peer nodes for processing.