Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This invention pertains generally to managing electronic content online, and more specifically to allowing users to leverage online storage to reduce the time spent uploading files to external publication sites. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Today&#39;s internet users are likely to publish content on numerous websites. For example, a content producing internet user is likely to have photographs published on Flickr, MySpace and Facebook and video on YouTube, Google Video, College Humor and similar sites. Most users keep copies of this type of published content on their local computers. 
     The same internet users are likely to backup their local computers to an online backup site. When a user publishes content online and backs-up the same content to an online site, the user uploads the same media and document files twice, once to an online content sharing site (e.g., Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) and once to the backup site. As media files can be very large, this duplicated uploading consumes a great deal of time and limited user bandwidth. The same problem occurs when users upload files to other types of online sites (e.g., ftp sites or mail servers) and separately backup the same files to an online backup site. 
     It would be desirable for users to be able to leverage online storage to avoid having to upload the same files to external sites more than once. 
     SUMMARY 
     Copies of user files backed-up to a remote storage location are automatically used to upload to publication sites, thereby saving the user the time and computer resources required to upload the same files to external sites multiple times. Outbound network traffic originating from a client is filtered, to check for files targeted for upload to remote sites. When a file targeted for upload to a remote site is detected, the client&#39;s online backup data is checked for a copy of the detected file. If a copy of the file is located at the online backup site, that copy is substituted for the client copy in the network transmission to the target remote site. By uploading online copies of files when available, the client upload experience is much faster, and local bandwidth is preserved for other tasks. 
     The features and advantages described in this summary and in the following detailed description are not all-inclusive, and particularly, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims hereof. Moreover; it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter, resort to the claims being necessary to determine such inventive subject matter. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a system for redirecting file uploads, according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     The Figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a system  100  in which an uploading manager  101  leverages online backup storage  103  to avoid having to repeatedly upload the same files  102  to external sites  107 , according to some embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that although various components are illustrated in  FIG. 1  as separate entities, each illustrated component represents a collection of functionalities which can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of these. Where a component is implemented as software, it can be implemented as a standalone program, but can also be implemented in other ways, for example as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate programs, as a kernel loadable module, as one or more device drivers or as one or more statically or dynamically linked libraries. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , all of a user&#39;s  104  local content  102  can be backed-up and stored externally, for example on a storage farm  103 . The implementation mechanics of utilizing a server farm for storage purposes is known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art, and the usage thereof within the context of the present invention will be readily apparent to one of such a skill level in light of this specification. Typically, a storage farm  103  comprises a plurality of servers and storage media, and utilizes a lot of redundancy. 
     A backup component  105  allows the backup of content  102  from the user&#39;s  104  local computer  106  to the storage farm  103 . In some embodiments, the backup component  105  is in the form of an automated system backup solution that automatically finds all files  102  to be backed-up on the user&#39;s  104  computer  106  and uploads them to the storage farm  103 . In other embodiments, the backup component  105  is instantiated as an XDrive style solution that allows the user  104  to manually copy files  102  to the storage farm  103 . Various other methods and systems for backing up files  102  to an external site  103  are known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art as well, and the usage mechanics of a wide variety of backup strategies within the context of the present invention will be readily apparent to one of such a skill level in light of this specification. 
     As illustrated, a network proxy  109  inspects all data leaving the user&#39;s  104  machine  106 , in order to identify content  102  that the user  104  is posting to a remote site  107 . As explained in greater detail below, the network proxy  109  redirects requests  108  to upload files  102  that already have been backed up to the storage farm  103 , thereby eliminating duplicative uploading of content  102 . The network proxy  109  can be implemented as a remote proxy as illustrated, or locally on the user&#39;s  104  computer  106 . The network proxy component  109  can also be implemented as a plug-in to a local client application (e.g., web browser, email client, ftp client, etc.), such that the plug-in is capable of detecting and redirecting network traffic from the associated client application (e.g., Internet Explorer or FireFox). The network proxy  109  can be implemented to be user  104  configurable, or can be implemented so as to transparently filter network data transmission requests  108  originating from local user  104  computers  106 . The implementation mechanics of the functionality of a network proxy  109  are known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art, and their application within in the context of the present invention will be readily apparent to one of such a skill level in light of this specification. 
     The network proxy  109  can use protocol/site upload detection plug-ins  111  (described in greater detail below) or definitions  113  to search outbound network data for files  102  that are being posted or uploaded to a remote site  107 . Once a file  102  upload request  108  is detected, the network proxy  109  determines if the detected file  102  has already been backed up to the storage farm  103 . The proxy  109  can make this determination by examining the user&#39;s  104  remote backup data  115  on the storage farm  103 , and looking for identifying information therein (e.g., filename, source path, content, and/or MD 5  or similar hash of the content) that matches the detected outbound file  102 . If a backed-up copy of the file  102  is not found, the original network traffic is allowed to pass through, unmodified. However, if a copy of the file  102  is already stored on the farm  103 , the proxy  109  triggers a replay backend component  117  to replay the user&#39;s  102  upload request  108 , from the storage farm  103 , thus providing much faster throughput in posting to the content site  107 . The workings of the replay backend  117  are described in detail below. 
     As noted above, in some embodiments of the present invention, the network proxy  109  utilizes one or more protocol/site upload detection plug-ins  111  and/or definition files  113 . These components provide the network proxy  109  with an extensible framework for extending support to new protocols or websites. In the case of plug-ins  113 , each plug-in  113  is responsible for translating protocol specific tasks (detection, capture, etc.) to a normalized interface for use by the network proxy  109 . In the case of definition files  113 , each definition file  113  contains sufficient details to provide the network proxy  109  with instructions for handling a particular protocol or website. The functionality and/or content provided by these plug-ins  111  and/or definition files  113  can also be built directly into the network proxy  109 . 
     Returning now to the replay backend  117 , once the replay backend  117  finishes uploading a file  102  from the storage farm  103  to a publication site  107 , the replay backend  117  transmits the response  123  from the site  107  to the network proxy  109 , which in turn returns an appropriate response  123  to the requesting application on the user&#39;s  104  local computer  106 . From the point of view of the requesting application, the process occurs just as if the entire request  108  had been made from the client  106 , and the response  123  had been transmitted to the client  106  directly from the content site  107 . 
     Thus, the network replay backend  117  is responsible for replaying user  104  generated network requests  125 , such that files  102  already backed up to the storage farm  103  are substituted for files  102  from the user&#39;s  104  computer  106 . The network replay backend  117  can use one or more protocol/site upload replay plug-ins  119  or definition files  121  in the execution of its functionality. Each plug-in  119  is responsible for translating protocol specific tasks (build/modify packet, send packet, receive response, etc.) to a normalized interface for use by the network replay backend  117 . Each definition  121  file contains sufficient details to provide the network replay backend  117  with instructions for modifying and replaying network communications. As with the network proxy  109 , functionality and or content provided by these plug-ins  119  and/or definition files  121  can also be built directly into the network replay backend  117 . 
     It is important to note that the specific flow of data between the replay backend  117  and the user&#39;s  104  computer  106  can vary, depending upon the particular specifications of the individual protocol or site that is being proxied and replayed. For example, in an HTTP upload, it may be desirable to trickle progress back to the web browser to give the appearance that the upload is progressing. Similarly, in an AJAX based HTTP upload, the JavaScript that is uploading content may utilize the same response trickle to show real-time upload speed and progress. In addition, in some embodiments the user can be provided with an email, SMS, or similar notification upon completion of an upload. 
     As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, the particular naming and division of the portions, modules, agents, managers, components, functions, procedures, actions, layers, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats. Furthermore, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, the portions, modules, agents, managers, components, functions, procedures, actions, layers, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects of the invention can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Of course, wherever a component of the present invention is implemented as software, the component can be implemented as a script, as a standalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate scripts and/or programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other way known now or in the future to those of skill in the art of computer programming. Additionally, the present invention is in no way limited to implementation in any specific programming language, or for any specific operating system or environment. Furthermore, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art that where the present invention is implemented in whole or in part in software, the software components thereof can be stored on computer readable media as computer program products. Any form of computer readable medium can be used in this context, such as magnetic or optical storage media. Additionally, software portions of the present invention can be instantiated (for example as object code or executable images) within the memory of any programmable computing device. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

Technology Category: h