1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a data transmission system and method and, more particularly, to a data transmission system with a plurality of electronic devices and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data transmission among the electronic devices connected to Internet is usually executed via some transmission modes, such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Cloud Storage Space and STUN (Session Traversal Utilities protocol for NAT) protocol.
However, there are many limitations when using the file protocol for data transmission, meanwhile, there is a risk of data loss when a file is stored in a Cloud Storage Space. Moreover, some routers may not build connection between two electronic devices via the STUN protocol.
A data transmission system and method is provided.
A data transmission system disclosed herein includes a plurality of electronic device, a verification server, and at least an access server. The verification server is communicated and coupled with the electronic devices, the electronic, devices are verified by the verification server, and a data transmission is group formed by the verified electronic, devices, one electronic device of the data transmission group is used as a receiving end, the receiving end sends a command to the verification server, and the verification server receives and transmits the command to the rest of the electronic devices in the data transmission group. At least an access server is communicated and coupled with the electronic devices, when the rest of the electronic devices receive a command, the rest of the electronic devices output metadata to the access server, and the receiving end receives the metadata via the access server, one of the electronic devices is used as a transmitting end, the receiving end requests for a physical file corresponding to the metadata from the transmitting end according to the metadata and the transmitting end transmits the physical file to the access server, and then the access server transmits the physical file to the receiving end.
A data transmission system is provided, which includes a plurality of electronic devices and a verification server. The verification server is communicated and coupled with the electronic devices, the electronic devices are verified by the verification server, the verified, electronic devices form a data transmission group; one of the electronic device in the data transmission group is used as a connection receiving end, the connection receiving end transmits a bidirectional connection request to the rest of electronic devices in the data transmission group via the verification server, when the rest of the electronic devices receive the request, the rest of the electronic devices form a bidirectional connection with the connection receiving end, and the connection receiving end receives the metadata from the rest of the electronic devices via the bidirectional connection, and one of the rest of the electronic devices sending the metadata is used as a transmitting end, the receiving end requests for the physical file corresponding to metadata from the transmitting end according to the metadata, and the transmitting end transmits the physical file to the receiving end.
A data transmission method applied to a data transmission system is provided, and the data transmission system includes a plurality of electronic devices, a verification server and at least an access server. The data transmission method includes the following steps: (a) verifying the electronic devices in the data transmission system by the verification server, forming a data transmission group by the verified electronic devices, and the verified electronic devices share internal metadata with each other; (b) determining whether the data transmission system operates at the Internet or the local LAN when anyone of the electronic device requesting for the physical file according to the metadata; (c) regarding one of the electronic devices in the data transmission group as a transmitting end and uploading the physical file corresponding to the metadata to the access server by the transmitting end if the data transmission system operates at the Internet, and regarding the rest of the electronic devices in the data transmission group as a receiving end, and downloading the physical file from the access server by the receiving end; and (d) transmitting the physical file corresponding, to metadata to the receiving end by the transmitting end if the data transmission system operating at the local LAN.
Moreover,
Please refer to
Therefore, the user can login multiple different electronic devices via a group of an account and a password. When the user logins via the account and the password, each of the electronic devices is automatically connected to the verification server 120 to verify the account. After the electronic devices 112 to 116 are verified, the electronic devices 112 to 116 or the electronic devices 212 to 216 form a data transmission group 110 or 210 with each other via the Internet or the local LAN, which is not limited herein.
A data transmission method of the data transmission group 110 or 210 is shown as following. Please refer to
Please refer to
In the embodiment, the receiving end (such as the electronic device 116) can receive the metadata, and the user may see the metadata of the physical file to be shared by the rest of the electronic devices at the screen of the receiving end. The metadata is description information related to the physical file.
In the embodiment, one of the rest of the electronic devices (such as the electronic devices 112, 114) is used as a transmitting end. Practically, the metadata includes assigning a transmitting end (such as the electronic device 112) to transmit the physical file to a specific access server 130. Therefore, when the transmitting end (such as the electronic device 112) receives a command sent from the receiving end, the transmitting end (such as the electronic device 112) uploads the physical file to the access server 130 firstly, and then the physical file is transmitted to the receiving end (such as the electronic device 116) by the access server 130. By the transmitting mode, the user may use a plurality of electronic devices at the same time, and the electronic devices are automatically connected via the grouping application. Consequently, the physical file (such as a film, a picture, and a music file) can be transmitted and shared between the electronic devices simply.
Moreover, the physical file is transmitted by the assigned access server 130 and 140 in the data transmission system 100. When the receiving end receives the physical file, the access server 130 and 140 does not store the physical file, and deletes the physical file to avoid data leaking.
in the embodiment, the data transmission system 100 may use a free cloud disk as the access server 130 and 140 to save cost. The cloud disk may be a Google cloud disk, Dropbox, SugarSync, SkyDrive and so on. However, the type of the file which can be stored in the cloud disk is limited, therefore, the transmitting end in the data transmission system 100 is used to modify the file name extension of the physical file to make the type of the physical file able to be stored in the access server 130 and 140.
When transmitting the files, a suggestion may be provided for the user to choose an access server which is currently optimal to upload the files according to the characteristic of the file or the capacity of the Cloud Storage Space. The data transmission system 100 includes an another access server 140 communicated and coupled with the electronic devices 112 to 116, the transmitting end (such as the electronic device 112) determines that the physical file is transmitted to the access server 130 or the access server 140 according to an allowed upload capacity, an upload speed, or an available capacity. The allowed upload capacity is the capacity offered by the access serve to the user. Taking the Dropbox as the access server for example, the capacity offered to the user is 2 GB, 2 GB is the allowed upload capacity. The upload speed is the speed of the transmitting end uploading the physical file to the access server. When 1 GB is used in the allowable upload capacity (2 GB), the rest 1 GB is the available capacity.
The physical file can be uploaded to the optimal Cloud Sever by the method in the embodiment, and thus the user uploads the file easier.
The mode of coupling the electronic devices 212 to 216 with each other via the local LAN will be illustrated hereinafter. Please refer to
Besides the above file sharing method motioned in
Then, the rest of the electronic devices (such as the electronic device 212) is used as a transmitting end, and the connection receiving end requests for the physical file corresponding to the metadata from the transmitting end, and the transmitting end transmits the physical file to the connection receiving end.
In the embodiment, when the data transmission system 200 operates at Window operating system, the data transmission has limitations by the operating system. For example, if data is transmitted between a sever and a client, when the grouping application of the client operates at a background mode and the sever transmits the physical file to the client, the client will be waken up to deal with the data. However, when the client transmits the physical file to the sever and the grouping application of the sever operates at the background mode, the sever would not be waken up, and the client is failed to transmit the physical file.
Consequently, a method of the transmitting end transmitting the physical file to the connection receiving end via the bidirectional connection is provided. When the transmitting end establishes a first connection to the connection receiving end to transmit the physical file to the connection receiving end, the connection receiving end establishes a second connection to the transmitting end. The first connection and the second connection are regarded as opposite and unidirectional connection lines to form a data circle. Therefore the limitation of the data transmission system 200 operating at the Window operation system is overcome, and it can make sure that when the grouping application of the transmitting end or the receiving end at the background mode, the transmitting end or the receiving end can be waken up when they receives data.
The specific implementation modes of the electronic devices 112 to 116 or 212 to 216 being coupled with each other via the Internet or the local LAN are illustrated respectively in the aforementioned embodiments. The common implementation mode of the electronic devices 112 to 116 or 212 to 216 communicated and coupled with each other via the Internet or local LAN is descripted in the following.
In the common implementation mode of the electronic devices coupled with each other via the Internet and local LAN, the metadata includes at least one of a file name, a catalogue name, a file time, a file size, a label, an album name, a geographical coordinate, a thumbnail and a screenshot. The file time is the time of creating the file or the latest time of modifying the file. Taking a picture file as an example, its file time may be a shooting time of the picture. The album name may be a name of a music album which a music file belongs to. The geographical coordinates may be a longitude value and a latitude value, for example, some cameras adds the information of the longitude value and the latitude value into the picture. The thumbnail may be a thumbnail of an image file, and the screenshot may be the screenshot of a film file.
The metadata can be displayed on the screen of the electronic device. The metadata may be displayed by page according to the type of the files (for example, the metadata of the picture, the film, the music, and the file is displayed on the corresponding page) or all metadata is displayed at one page. The metadata can represent the description of the corresponding physical file, and it facilitates the users browsing the electronic device.
In the embodiment, when the receiving end receives the metadata, the rest of the electronic devices can be used as a transmitting end, and the receiving end requests for the physical file corresponding to the metadata from the transmitting end. Moreover, the receiving end further can be used to search the metadata, the receiving end compares an input search term with the metadata to search the corresponding physical file and note the user the physical file corresponding to the search term, and the receiving end requests for the physical file corresponding to the search term from the transmitting end. The user may input the file name in the receiving end, and then the receiving end compares the metadata of the file name with the file name inputted from the user to search the physical file corresponding to search term.
Furthermore, the user may input the catalogue name or the label information in the receiving end, and the receiving end compares the metadata of the file with the catalogue name or the label information input by the user to search the physical file including the catalogue name or the label information.
Furthermore, the user may input the album name in the receiving end and searches all of the music files in the album. Furthermore, the user may choose an object of the thumbnails or the screenshots of the metadata of the picture files or the film files via the receiving end, such as a human face, and the receiving end compares the thumbnail and/or the screenshot with the chosen object to search the picture file and the film file including the object.
Furthermore, the geographical coordinates may be added into the picture when the picture is taken, such as the longitude value and the latitude value. By the converting between the geographical coordinates and the address information an address searching function is provided for the user to search a picture taken in a specific address by inputting the address information. Some severs are used by public to convert the geographical coordinates and the address information mutually, such as, Google map application programming interlace (Google map API). The address information may be the address of a city and a street, such as “Section two, Roosevelt Road, Taipei”. The address information may be a famous land mark, such as “Taipei Building 101”.
There are two methods to search the address, and the invention is not limited thereto. One is that the user inputs the address information at the receiving end, the receiving end converts the address information into the geographical coordinates, such as the longitude and the latitude, and searches the file including the geographical coordinates corresponding to the converted geographical coordinates. The receiving end may estimate the distance between the converted geographical coordinates and the geographical coordinates included in the picture. If the distance is smaller than a threshold value, the receiving end determines that the converted geographical coordinates are corresponding to the geographical coordinates included in the picture.
The second method is that user inputs the address information in the receiving end, and the receiving end converts the geographical coordinates of the picture into the address information and searches the picture whose address information is corresponding to the inputted address information.
Then, the user inputs the time information at the receiving end, and the receiving end converts the time information to the corresponding time or the time region and searches the file whose time information is corresponding to the converted time or the time region in the metadata. For example, when the user inputs “Christmas Day”, it may be converted into “December 25”, and the pictures or films taken on December 25 are searched. When the user inputs “Spring”, it may be converted into the time region “March 1 to May 31”, and the pictures or the film files taken on this time region are searched.
The file name searching, the catalogue name searching, the label searching, the album name searching, the picture searching, the address searching, the time searching mentioned above may be used in combination to get an accurate result. For example, if “Spring” is used to search, all the picture taken in Spring may be searched. If the term “Spring, 2008, Taipei” are used to search, only the picture taken in 200$ and in Taipei can be searched.
As shown in
Next, in step 320, when any one of the electronic devices requests for physical file according to the metadata, whether the data transmission system 100 and 200 operates at the Internet or the local LAN is determined via any one electronic device. In step 330. When the data transmission system 100 operates at the Internet, one electronic device in the data transmission group 110 is used as a transmitting end, and uploads the physical file corresponding to the metadata to one of the access server 130 and 140, and the rest of the electronic devices in the data transmission group 110 is used as the receiving end and downloads the physical file by accessing one of the access server 130 and 140.
Moreover, in step 340, when it determines that the data transmission system 200 operates at the local LAN, the transmitting end transmits the physical file corresponding to the metadata to the receiving end directly. Since the operation method of the internal components in the data transmission system 100 and 200 is illustrated in
As mentioned above, according to the data transmission method 300, it can quickly determines that which network the data transmission system operates at, and an appropriate data transmission method is adaptively provided to the data transmission system to transmit data.
In order to make the data transmission method in the embodiment easily understood, as shown in
Then, whether the data transmission system operates at the Internet or the local LAN is determined (step 440). When the data transmission system operates at the Internet, the transmitting end in the data transmission group transmits the physical file sections to the access server (step 450). Conventionally, no appropriate mechanism exists to inform the user how to choose an optimal access server to upload the file when a plurality of access servers exist. In the embodiment of the invention, when a plurality of access servers exist, the transmitting end in the data transmission group determines an access server to transmit the physical file according to the allowed upload capacity, the upload speed or the remaining capacity of the access servers. Consequently, the physical file can be uploaded to the optimal access server according to the mechanism in the embodiment, and it is convenient for user to upload file.
Moreover, when the data transmission system operates at the local LAN, the transmitting end transmits the physical file sections to the receiving end directly (step 460). Next, whether the transmission of the encrypted data sections is completed is determined (Step 470). If the transmission of the encrypted data sections is completed, whether the encrypted data sections have an error is determined (step 480); if the transmission of the encrypted data sections is not completed, the method goes back to step 420.
After the step 480, when one of the encrypted data sections has an error, the data section with the error is rebuilt to form a correct data section and the correct data section is transmitted (step 490); if none of the encrypted data sections has errors, the transmission process 200 of the data transmission method goes to end.
In order to make the data transmission method easily understood, as shown in
Moreover, the encrypted data sections are decrypted in the receiving end (step 530). Next, whether the checksum of the encrypted data sections is right is determined (step 540). If the checksum of the encrypted data sections is incorrect, the corresponding incorrect data section is rebuilt to form a correct data section and the correct data section is downloaded (step 542); if the checksum of the encrypted data sections is correct, the encrypted data sections are written into the receiving end (step 544).
Then, whether all the encrypted data sections are received is determined (step 550). If all the encrypted data sections is received, whether the transmission of the data is finish is determined (step 552); if the receiving of the encrypted data section is not completed, the method goes back to step 520.
In step 552, if the transmission of the data is not completed, the method goes go back to step 520; if the transmission of the data is completed, the data transmission process 300 goes to end.
The data transmission method in embodiments can be achieved by software, hardware or firmware. For example, the execution speed and the accuracy may be higher when the hardware is chosen; the design flexible may be better when the software or the firmware is chosen; the software, the hardware or the firmware may be used corporately, which is not limited herein.
In sum, the data transmission method in embodiments can solve a problem that a file offering end in the FTP needs a public and fixed Internet address. Moreover, compared to the conventional FTP, a plurality of electronic devices can be connected automatically via the grouping application, and the user has better user experience. Since the physical file does not need not to be integrally stored in the Cloud Storage Space, the risk of data leakage is reduced. A free cloud disk also can be used as the access sever to save cost.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102113327 | Apr 2013 | TW | national |
This application claims the priority benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 61/736,496 filed on Dec. 12, 2012 and Taiwan application serial No. 102113327, filed on Apr. 15, 2013. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application are hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61736496 | Dec 2012 | US |