Patent ID: 8139508
Filing Date: 2012-03-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a connected computer as a given node of a network, the method comprising: determining a nodal location and a node classification for the given node; identifying a nodal location of another node in a default pointer with the given node; monitoring activity that passes through the given node for information corresponding to a nodal path used to handle different communication requests involving other nodes in the network; and from the activity, using a level pointer to establish a link with at least one other node having a nodal location that satisfies a predefined criteria, wherein the predefined criteria is used by at least all nodes in the network of the same node classification, and wherein the level pointer is determined from the node classification; subsequent to identifying at least one node that satisfies the predefined criteria, monitoring the activity that passes through the given node to identify a second node that better satisfies the predefined criteria, wherein the predefined criteria is based on the nodal location and the classification of the second node; wherein determining the nodal location includes determining the nodal location based on a hash value that is between a first limit value and a second limit value, the second limit value representing the upper limit of allowed nodal locations, wherein determining the node classification includes defining a set of node levels for the network, wherein each node level in the set indicates a different range of distances between one of the nodes on the network and another node linked by a level pointer, the range of distances being less than the distance between the first limit value and the second limit value, and wherein determining the level pointer from the node classification includes determining a node level from the set of node levels for the network from the node classification and using the range of distances between one of the nodes on the network and another node linked by a level pointer indicated by the determined node level as the predefined criterion for identifying at least one other node having a nodal location that satisfies a predefined criterion and identifying at least one node that better satisfies the predetermined criterion based on the nodal location of the second node.