Patent ID: 7343395
Filing Date: 2008-03-11
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising: receiving, at a first agent, a second agent's response to a third agent's discovery request associated with an executable file, wherein (i) the discovery request was transmitted from the third agent to the second agent, and (ii) the response to the discovery request is transmitted from the second agent to both the first agent and the third agent, wherein the third agent's discovery request comprises: an agent identifier, a file name associated with the executable file, a file path, a file size, a file date, and a priority value; storing, in response to said receiving, an indication of at least one of the second or third agents in a cache of the first agent even when the first agent does not currently require the executable file, wherein the indication specifies where the executable file in the response is located; removing the indication of at least one of the second or third agents from the cache at a pre-determined time; if a new response has a higher priority than the response associated with the stored indication, the stored indication is replaced with an indication associated with the new response; and if selecting an agent to retrieve the executable file, selecting the agent based on the priority value, wherein the agent that reports a highest priority value is selected.