Patent ID: 6463471
Filing Date: 2002-10-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method for maintaining a list of peers of interest who are present on a network, the method comprising:transmitting a first list of peers to a server, wherein the first list includes identities of one or more peers whose presence on the network is of interest to a user; receiving for the one or more peers identified in the transmitted first list a last known network address for each peer from the server; transmitting to each network address a first message to verify that each network address is active; in response to the first message, receiving a peer identity corresponding to each active network address; determining whether the identity of the peer corresponding to each active network address matches with the identity of the one or more peers included in the first list of peers; and for each determined match, validating the peer included in the first list of peers as an authentic peer of interest.