Patent ID: 7340500
Filing Date: 2008-03-04
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A peer-to-peer network environment, comprising: a plurality of peer groups, wherein each peer group comprises a plurality of peer group members, and wherein each peer group member comprises a network node configured to communicate with other members of its peer group over one or more networks; and a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer discovery protocol to discover other peer nodes and to discover one or more of the plurality of peer groups, wherein said discovering one or more of the plurality of peer groups comprises discovering one or more peer group advertisements for the one or more of the plurality of peer groups; a subset of said plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a membership protocol for joining said discovered peer groups; wherein each peer group defines a common set of services available to members of that peer group; and wherein a plurality of members of one of said plurality of peer groups are configured to share a network service or content with other members of said peer group only, so that said peer group defines a limited domain of availability for said network service or said content.