Patent Publication Number: US-2010125627-A1

Title: Download method to a server system and the system thereof

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 97144528, filed Nov. 18, 2008, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to a download method and system thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a download method to a server system. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     With the rapid development in information technology, computers and their peripherals are now very popular. Users may download data or transfer file on computers. Users may use a file transfer protocol (FTP), a Peer to Peer (P2P) protocol, a hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP), or other protocols to download data or files. The download requests are mostly executed on the computers. 
     The download actions stop when the computer is shut down, thus the computer must be operated for a long time to download a large number of files. However, operating for a long time may waste lots of energy and reduce the life of the computer if the computer is operated for only downloading files. Also, when a notebook computer is downloading files, it cannot be moved around but must be remained connected to the data stream source. 
     Thus, there is a need to download files efficiently but not to keep the computer operating. 
     SUMMARY 
     One embodiment of the invention provides a download method to a server system, which includes monitoring at least one computer; receiving at least one download request at the computer; providing the download request to a server; executing the download request at the server for obtaining a download file; and storing the download file in the server. 
     Another embodiment of the invention provides a download system, which includes a server having a download server unit, a network device, and at least one computer. Each computer has a download agent unit respectively, and the computers communicate with the server via the network device. A download request monitored in the computer is transferred to the server, and the download request is executed in the server. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings, 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the download system of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the download system of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart diagram of an embodiment of the download method to a server system of the invention; and 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart diagram of another embodiment of the download method to a server system. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     Refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the download system of the invention. The download system  100  includes a server  110 , a network device  120 , and at least one computer  130 . The computers  130  can communicate with the server  110  via the network device  120 . The server  110  has a download server unit  112 , and each computer  130  has a download agent unit  132  respectively. 
     The server  110  can be a home server or an office server. The computers  130  may include a notebook computer, a desktop computer, or other electronic devices with download function. The network device  120  can be a hub, a router, or a switch. 
     The computers  130  may be shut down and not always remain on. The server  110  on the other hand will always typically remain turned on. The download system  100  in this embodiment has the download agent unit  132  in the computers  130  and the download server unit  112  in the server  110 , that can transfer the download requests of the computers  130  to the server  110  by the network communication thereof when the download requests are monitored, and the download requests are executed in the server  110 , but not in the computers  130 . 
     Refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  illustrates a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the download system of the invention. The computer  130   a  has a download agent unit  132   a  to monitor the download software in the computer  130   a . When a download request is monitored, the download agent unit  132   a  may transfer the download request to the download server unit  112  of the server  110  through the network communication. 
     The protocol of the download request can be a file transfer protocol (FTP), a hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP), or a P2P protocol. 
     The download request can be executed at the download server unit  112  of the server  110 , and the user can shut down the computer  130   a  when the download list has been selected. The download request is executed in the download server unit  132   a  and a download file thereof can be stored in the server  110  temporarily. 
     Then server  110  can check whether the computer  130   a  is connected to the server  110  or not after the download request is accomplished. Then, the download file in the server  110  can be transferred to the computer  130   a  when the computer  130   a  is power-on and connected to the server  110 . 
     Refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  simultaneously, the download system  100  with the download agent unit  132  and the download server unit  112  can transfer the download request from the computers  130  to the server  110 , and the download requests are executed in the server  110 . Thus the computers  130  can be shut down. 
     Refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  illustrates a flow chart diagram of an embodiment of the download method to a server system of the invention. In Step  210  a download agent code is loaded on to each computer and a download server code is loaded on to the server to provide the download agent unit in each computer and the download server unit in the server as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     Then, in step  220  the download agent unit monitors the download software on each computer respectively, and in step  230  the computer receives a download request when the download software is operated. 
     In Step  240  the download agent units transfer the download request to the server. The embodiment could optionally include step  245  to shut down the computer when the download request thereof has been transferred to the server. 
     In step  250 , the download request can be executed at the server and the server can obtain the download file corresponding to the download request, and the download file is stored in the server in step  260 . 
     Step  270  checks to see whether the computer corresponding to the download file connects to the server or not after the download request has been accomplished. If the computer is connected to the server, then in step  280  the download file is transferred to the computer thereof and a message is sent to the computer. 
     Refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart diagram of another embodiment of the download method to a server system. In Step  310  the computer receives the download request. Then the download agent unit in the computer transfers the download request to the download server unit in the server in step  320 . Then, in step  330  the computer is shut down. The download request is executed on the server in step  340 . 
     In Step  350  the computer that was shut down in step  330  is turned back on and the computer connects to the server. In step  360  the computer checks whether the download request has been accomplished or not. The download file corresponding to the download request can be stored in the server when the download request has been accomplished. Then, in step  370  the downloaded file is transferred to the computer. 
     The download requests can be transferred from the computers to the server in the above embodiment of the present invention. The download requests are executed at the server, which is always in the power-on state, thus the download process would not be quit when the computer is shut down. The computers can be shut down to save energy after the download requests are transferred to the server. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.