Patent ID: 7181536
Filing Date: 2007-02-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method of persistently identifying nodes in networks having transient network communities where a collection of nodes making up a network is dynamically changeable over time, comprising steps of: assigning an initial network address to each node upon its initial entry into the network; creating, for each of the nodes upon the initial entry of the node into the network, a persistent node identifier to uniquely identify the node across all of that node's entries into the network, wherein the persistent node identifier for each of the nodes comprises: (1) a network domain identifier of a network domain in which the initial entry occurred; (2) the initial network address of the node; and (3) a timestamp representing when the initial network entry occurred; storing a mapping between the initial network address and the persistent node identifier for each of the nodes; and using the persistent node identifier to resolve each node's identity upon its subsequent entry into the network, even if a different network address is assigned to the node upon the subsequent entry.