Abstract:
The disclosed hybrid architecture provides secure peer-to-peer communication between devices such as computers, wireless devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), web enabled phones or the like. This architecture includes a server or Peer Switch, which acts as an intermediary to facilitate the session and provide authentication to ensure system security. In some cases it may also provide the capability necessary to traverse firewalls and deal with proxies and other obstacles to peer-to-peer communications. The hybrid architecture allows centralized administration and policy management of authentication, obstacle transversal and security methods, to ensure the overall system integrity required by business systems. Typical peer user devices implement peer client programming, for signaling communication with the server and for peer-to-peer communications with other peer devices. A web server may also provide access via standard browsers, for users having devices lacking the peer client software.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/310,825 entitled “PeerBook Architecture” filed on Aug. 9, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0002]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/310,826 entitled “Peer-to-Peer Shared Access to Microsoft Outlook Information” filed on Aug. 9, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0003]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/310,830 entitled “PeerMail Architecture” filed on Aug. 9, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0004]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/315,986 entitled “Protocol for Communicating Between a PeerBook Client Process and a PeerSwitch Server Process” filed on Aug. 31, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0005]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/316,008 entitled “Protocol for Communicating Between a PeerBook Client Processes” filed on Aug. 31, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0006]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/316,039 entitled “Process by which One Computer Facilitates or Brokers the Creation of a TCP/IP Connection Between Two Other Computers” filed on Aug. 31, 2001, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0007]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/338,640 entitled “Process for Establishing a Virtual TCP/IP Connection” filed on Dec. 11, 2001 the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
           [0008]    This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/353,204 entitled “Process for Establishing a Virtual TCP/IP Connection Using a PeerProxy” filed on Feb. 4, 2002, the disclosure of which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.  
         FIELD OF INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present subject matter relates to techniques, software and equipment for enhancing a variety of peer-to-peer communications services, as may be conducted via diverse end-user devices.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0010]    The development and recent widespread acceptance of the public Internet has revolutionized the way people communicate. Technically, the Internet is a large constellation of interconnected networks, which enable digital communications between linked computers that may be located virtually anywhere on the planet. One common use of the Internet relates to accessing publicly available or “posted” information on Internet web sites. An individual creates and publishes a Web page and any linked multimedia content by storing the information on a web server and publishing the URL (Universal Resource Locator) needed to link to and access the material on the web server. From a user&#39;s perspective, once the web site is posted and available, the Internet serves as a presentation tool that allows users to find, access and review the information on the page and the linked content.  
           [0011]    Another common use of the Internet relates to electronic mail or “e-mail.” For this type of communication, a user composes an electronic message using commonly available electronic mail software. By specifying one or more Internet e-mail addresses of the intended recipient(s), the user simply activates the programmed terminal to transmit the message through the network. The message is then routed through the Internet, via one or more e-mail servers, until notice of the message arrives at the destination computing device. The intended recipient activates her terminal to retrieve and review the message and any attached documents.  
           [0012]    The common forms of Internet usage, such as the web access and e-mail communication, have become virtually ubiquitous tools of modern business life, and they are becoming increasingly common in modern households in many countries. In one form or another, these common forms of communication typically rely on a “client-server” approach. The end user operates a computer or other terminal that runs a client application, such as an e-mail program or web browser, that enables the user&#39;s device to communicate through the Internet with another computer running a corresponding server application. At the minimum, with such an approach, to exchange information from one end user to another requires that the first user upload information to the server and the second end user to obtain the information from the server.  
           [0013]    The Internet also provides a means for establishing a communication link between two remote computers for “peer-to-peer” or one-to-one communication between devices. Such peer-to-peer sessions allows two computer users to conduct a conversation (e.g. instant messaging, voice telephony over the Internet or video conferencing), exchange files, or participate in real-time gaming, without ongoing uploading and downloading via a server. For live interactivity, establishing a peer-to-peer communication session through the Internet, however, may be difficult, and a number of common security systems and the like can further complicate or completely inhibit such peer-to-peer communications.  
           [0014]    In the past, a user desiring a peer-to-peer session needed to schedule in advance a time when both users would connect to the Internet. At the appointed time, the first user would connect to the Internet to publish her dynamically assigned Internet Protocol (IP) address using an address location service. The second user would then connect and use the same address location service to lookup the network address of the first user. Alternatively, after connecting to the Internet the first user may manually lookup their temporary network address and communicate it to the second user. Assuming both users are simultaneously connected, the two remote users could then establish a peer-to-peer connection. Comparable to trying to meet someone at an airport, this process is complicated, frustrating and unpredictable.  
           [0015]    The peer-to-peer model also has been used to provide distributed content-sharing or file-sharing, for exchanging data among large numbers of users. In peer-to-peer sharing networks, each computer or node can operate as a hub, having both client and server functionality. To implement such sharing each node has a list of addresses, typically IP addresses, of other nodes or peers in the group. These nodes can directly communicate with each other without a central or intermediate server. As shown by this discussion, however, all of the nodes that participate must know of the addresses of the other nodes.  
           [0016]    Modern society also is becoming increasingly mobile. Particularly among the “professional” ranks. Mobile workers require access to the same data resources they have in their home office as well as communications with their clients and coworkers. Hence, for mobile professionals and increasingly for private individuals, there is an increasing need for a more flexible and sophisticated data access. Many new communications services have emerged, to allow people to communicate freely as they roam, without the need for a fixed network connection. These newer services adequately address issues relating to many typical client server type communications, however, mobility further complicates problems relating to peer-to-peer sessions. For example, the added dynamics of the addressing to and from mobile terminals further complicates establishment of the peer-to-peer relationship.  
           [0017]    Modern mobility also gives rise to situations where a professional or other person needs to remotely access and/or control the person&#39;s PC or other computer in their office or place of residence. Certain of the systems for such remote access often require a remote computer to communicate with the host computer or home-network via a telephone line and modem. To enable such remote access, both the host computer and the remote computer must have matching remote control application software, such as PC Anywhere® or Laplink®. Alternatively, establishment of a remote access session through the Internet requires a peer-to-peer session via the Internet. If the user prefers the Internet peer-to-peer approach (instead of a direct dial-up modem link), the remote access attempt runs into all the above discussed problems with establishing a peer-to-peer connection.  
           [0018]    As noted above, a number of common security systems and the like can further complicate or completely inhibit peer-to-peer communications. For example, some firewalls and/or proxy servers block certain types of message exchanges commonly used to establish peer-to-peer sessions, for example, because one of the necessary addresses is blocked or unknown to the firewall. Hence, if one of the peers is behind the firewall or proxy server, the normal session set-up techniques are ineffective.  
           [0019]    Clearly, there is a need for better techniques for peer-to-peer communications between disparate types of terminals, many of which may at least at times be mobile. In any effort to address such a general need, there are a number of goals to strive toward. One such goal is to facilitate effective and easy collaboration between people working on computers or other user devices through the sharing of files, email, and other information. The architecture and methodology should facilitate easy session establishment, yet provide security. The peer-to-peer communications also should allow a person to access the files, emails, and other information on his or her normal computing device, or control that device from a remote location from a number of different kinds of devices, such as PDAs, web enabled mobile telephones, and remote PCs. The peer-to-peer communications should achieve these goals in communications across a variety of network obstacles (e.g. firewalls, proxy servers, NAT, and slow wireless connections) that otherwise make the peer-to-peer communications difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish with existing technology. Another goal is to allow the peer-to-peer communications to be extensible through the use of software development kits (SDKs) or application programming interfaces (APIs) to support access to third-party applications.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0020]    The inventive concepts meet one or more of the above noted needs and address one or more of the problems with services relating to peer-to-peer communications. Concepts disclosed herein relate to methods, software and systems for enabling session set-up and conducting peer-to-peer communications. The concepts support a variety of peer-to-peer communications, such as information sharing, remote control, conferencing, instant messaging, and the like. Also, the embodiments of the peer-to-peer communications techniques facilitate such service applications among a wide range of common peer user devices, which in turn may access the data network in a variety of different ways. The disclosed embodiments provide useful tools for managing peer-to-peer communications and shared information as well as techniques for establishing peer-to-peer communication sessions across common obstacles, such as firewalls and/or proxy servers.  
           [0021]    A disclosed system embodiment provides peer-to-peer communication services via a data network, such as the Internet. The system comprises peer devices and a peer server. A peer device has a user interface and a network interface, for enabling communications over the data network. The peer server is coupled for data communication via the data network. The peer server provides session establishment services for the peer devices. Typically, a peer device has a programmable controller and program storage, which contains a peer client program. The peer client program enables the peer device to conduct signaling communications with the peer server and to conduct a peer-to-peer communication in a session with an other one of the peer devices.  
           [0022]    In disclosed embodiments, the system also includes a web server for providing a web page interface for a browser implemented by one of the peer devices, which lacks the peer client program. The web server also provides a proxy peer client program for use by that peer device. The proxy peer client program and the web page interface enable signaling communications with the server as well as a peer-to-peer communication via the web server with an other one of the peer devices via the data network, for example, analogous to communications by a device having its own internally stored peer client program.  
           [0023]    As noted, the peer-to-peer communications include a wide array of different types of communications that users may desire to exchange between their peer devices. Examples of such communications include: file sharing, folder sharing, e-mail message transfer, instant messaging, remote control, voice conversation, and video conferencing. The system enables users to access the various peer services from different types of computing devices. Disclosed examples include: personal computers (desktops and/or laptops), personal digital assistants and wireless mobile telephone devices.  
           [0024]    In the disclosed embodiments, the peer server maintains a database of users and information as to which peer devices are on-line at a given time. The signaling communications include signaling to the peer devices of on-line status of other peer devices. Implementations of the service involve identifying users (and their peer devices) as members of respective communities, and defining sub-groups of community members as separate teams, for example, for sharing of files and folders.  
           [0025]    Disclosed embodiments of the peer client program comprise a peer service manager routine and a peer service user interface program. The peer service manager routine manages accessing of local information on the user device, for example, for sharing via the peer-to-peer communications. The manager also handles network connections, for the signaling communications and for the peer-to-peer communications. The peer service user interface program acts as a front-end for the peer service manager routine. In PC embodiments of the peer client program, the peer service user interface program implements an application program interface, for interaction with another program in the user device having a user interface functionality. Typically, the other application program is a personal information manager (PIM), such as Microsoft Outlook.  
           [0026]    Embodiments of the web server comprise a user interface program supporting browser interaction via the data network, typically in the form of a web page server program. The web server also runs a web implementation of the peer client program, including a peer service manager routine. The disclosed browser access via the web server supports common types of personal computer browsers, personal digital assistant browsers and wireless application protocol browsers.  
           [0027]    Hence, a disclosed hybrid architecture for a Peer Switch System provides secure peer-to-peer communication between diverse end user devices, such as computers (desktop, handheld and laptop), wireless devices like Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or web enabled phones, or other devices. Generally, “Peer-to-Peer” systems are pure systems where one device communicates directly with another device or peer. The inventive design includes a server or Peer Switch, which acts as an intermediary to facilitate the connection and provide authentication to ensure system security. In some cases it may also provide the capability necessary to traverse firewalls and deal with proxies, Network Address Translation (NAT) and other obstacles to communications. This architecture allows centralized administration and policy management of authentication, firewall transversal and other security methods to ensure the overall system integrity required by business systems.  
           [0028]    The inventive peer-to-peer service concepts encompass methods and systems for implementing the disclosed service features, for example, including specific server implementations and specific user device implementations. Other examples include method embodiments for brokering connections between peers wherein one or both of the peers reside behind a firewall or behind a proxy server.  
           [0029]    For example, one disclosed method enables establishment of a desired connection for a peer-to-peer communication session through a network, between an originating peer device and an intended destination peer device, where at least the intended destination peer device is behind a firewall. The originating peer device communicates a request for a desired connection with the intended destination peer device, to a broker device. This first request provides the broker device with session related data assigned by the originating peer device, such as the port number that device intends to use for the session. The broker sends a request to establish the connection, to the intended destination peer device. This second request forwards the session related data assigned by the originating peer device, to the intended destination peer device. In response, the intended destination peer device sends an acceptance to the broker device. The acceptance includes session related data assigned by the intended destination peer device, such as the port number that will be used by that device. The broker sends an acknowledgment, to the originating peer device. This acknowledgment contains provides the session related data assigned by the intended destination peer device.  
           [0030]    The two peer devices both attempt to initiate a direct peer-to-peer session. However, any firewalls that may be in front of such devices will typically block session set-up messages that do not originate from devices behind the firewalls. In the disclosed methodology, the originating peer device sends an initial session packet of the desired connection with the intended destination peer device through the data network. Normally, the packet would go toward the destination device, but the associated firewall would block the packet. In the embodiment, however, this transmission is adapted so that the packet is received by the broker device. In a similar manner, the intended destination peer device also sends an initial session packet through the data network, in such a manner that it is received by the broker device. The broker device formulates and forwards acknowledgements of the initial session packets to the respective devices, after which, the originating peer device and the intended destination peer device conduct peer-to-peer communications through the network, via the established session link.  
           [0031]    Another inventive method establishes a desired connection for a peer-to-peer communication session through a network between an originating peer device and an intended destination peer device, where the devices reside behind proxy servers. In the disclosed embodiment, the originating peer device sends a request for a connection to a broker server. The broker server generates two random values and supplies those numbers to a peer proxy. In the disclosed embodiment, the peer proxy may be a function of the peer server or of anther server on the network. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the peer proxy functionality may reside in any device or node accessible via the network. The broker provides one of the random values to each of the originating peer devices.  
           [0032]    Typically, peer proxy servers will not allow establishment of session connections in response to incoming requests. The proxy servers enable establishment of only outgoing connections. The originating peer device initiates a first connection, across a first proxy server, to the peer proxy. To the first proxy server, this would look like a normal outgoing connection. As part of the related signaling, the originating peer device sends the first random number to the peer proxy. The intended destination peer device similarly initiates a second connection to the peer proxy and sends the second random value to the peer proxy. To the second proxy server, this also would look like a normal outgoing connection. In response to receipt of the random values from the two peer devices, the peer proxy enables communications between the first and second connections, for example, by logically coupling the two connections together.  
           [0033]    Additional inventive concepts relate to software or program products, for example, implementing the peer client functionality. A software or program product includes information, which may be carried by at least one machine-readable medium. The information carried by the medium may be executable code, one or more databases and/or information regarding shared files or the like. In disclosed embodiments of program products intended for user devices, the information comprises executable code for causing one or more programmable devices to implement the peer manager and the peer user interface.  
           [0034]    A computer or machine readable medium, as used herein, may be any physical element or carrier wave, which can bear instructions or code for performing a sequence of steps in a machine-readable form or associated data. Examples of physical forms of such media include floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, as well as media bearing the software in a scannable format. A carrier wave type of medium is any type of signal that may carry digital information representative of the data or the instructions or code for performing a sequence of steps. Such a carrier wave may be received via a wireline or fiber-optic network, via a modem, or as a radio-frequency or infrared signal, or any other type of signal which a computer or the like may receive and decode.  
           [0035]    Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the embodiments will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or may be learned by production or operation of the embodiments. The objects and advantages of the inventive concepts may be realized and attained by means of the methodologies, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0036]    The drawing figures depict preferred embodiments by way of example, not by way of limitations. In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of devices enabling and conducting peer-to-peer communications in accord with an embodiment referred to herein as a Peer Switch embodiment.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of networks and hardware systems that may be involved in implementation of the peer-to-peer communications of FIG. 1.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a general purpose computer, for example, usable as one of the users&#39; personal computers in FIG. 2.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of a general purpose computer, for example, usable as one of the servers in FIG. 2.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless mobile telephone device, usable in the system of FIG. 2.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a portable hand-held computing device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) with wireless communications capabilities, usable in the system of FIG. 2.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of Peer Switch client software, as may be used in the embodiment of FIG. 1  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary user interface screen, useful in an embodiment such as that of FIG. 1.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of exemplary Peer Switch web server software, as may be used in the embodiment of FIG. 1  
         [0046]    [0046]FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate two browser display screens, as might appear on a PDA, when accessing the Peer Switch web server in the embodiment of FIG. 1.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 11 is a block and signaling link diagram useful in explaining certain procedures for conducting peer-to-peer sessions between Peer Switch clients in the embodiment of FIG. 1, e.g. where one or more of the peers are behind a firewall.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 12 is a block and signaling link diagram useful in explaining a process of establishing a peer-to-peer session via a peer proxy, to insure session establishment where the two peers are behind proxy servers.  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 13 is a simplified functional block diagram illustrating the elements involved and the communications conducted, in a PeerMail embodiment.  
         [0050]    [0050]FIG. 14 is a simplified functional block diagram illustrating the software architecture utilized in the PeerMail embodiment of FIG. 13. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0051]    The various embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems, techniques and/or software products for implementing different peer-to-peer communications and associated services. In the embodiments, a server provides addressing and signaling services to assist in establishing peer-to-peer sessions. The server authenticates all users and may perform other security related functions, such as providing digital certificates to peer devices so as to facilitate mutual authentication. A user may log-in from two or more computers that are on-line at the same time, for example, to allow a mobile user to control his home or office PC from a mobile computing device. Most user devices will run a peer service client application. The application may be specifically adapted as a standalone program to run on the particular device, e.g. on a particular brand of PDA. In most cases, the peer service application runs within an otherwise standard/existing personal information manager (PIM) program resident on the user&#39;s PC or the like. However, for access from devices without such a peer service client, the same or a second server provides a web interface. The web server provides standard web browser interactivity to the user but runs a peer service client application to allow access to the peer-to-peer communication services. To a peer device, the combination of the device with the browser and the web server appears to be a peer device.  
         [0052]    In the embodiments, the peer-to-peer services provide communications to other persons (or their devices) within established groups, referred to as communities. Smaller groups (teams), within a community, share information. The embodiments support a variety of peer-to-peer communications between users, including file sharing, instant messaging, remote control and the like.  
         [0053]    Reference now is made in detail to the presently preferred embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and discussed below. As noted, the peer-to-peer service involves communications between a variety of end user devices, where the users are members of communities and teams; and appropriate application servers facilitate the peer-to-peer services. For discussion purposes, FIG. 1 illustrates an implementation of a hybrid “Peer Switch” architecture that enables peer-to-peer communications between diverse data communications devices across network boundaries, and in some case, across boundaries such as firewalls. The architecture is “hybrid” in that it utilizes client-server communications for some functions (e.g., signaling for session set-up and for web access) and uses peer-to-peer communications for most communications between end users and/or between peer devices.  
         [0054]    The illustrated Peer Switch embodiment  10  consists of three principal components, the Peer Switch functionality  11  implemented in server 1 ( 13 ), the Peer Switch client implemented in various client devices, and the Peer Switch web server  15 . As shown, the system utilizes two servers, server 1 ( 13 ) performs the Peer Switch functions  11 , whereas server 2 ( 17 ) performs the peer web server functions  15 . Those skilled in the art will recognize that one physical server computer might perform both of these functions ( 11  and  15 ), or the functions/servers could be replicated at various nodes throughout the data network.  
         [0055]    The Peer Switch functionality ( 11 ) is responsible for authenticating users into a Peer Switch community, and for several administrative activities including presence mapping. For these operations, the server  13  typically maintains an associated database  19 .  
         [0056]    The Peer Switch client, or peer, resides on the user&#39;s PC, PDA or other data device. The example in FIG. 1 includes five peers. The first three peers  21 ,  23  and  25  are PCs. PCs  21 ,  23  and  25  run Peer Switch client applications  31 ,  33  and  35 , as well as other applications. As shown in this example, the client device  27  may be a PC or a PDA, and in this example, the device  27  runs the a Peer Switch client  37  adapted for PDA operation. In each case, the Peer Switch client  31 ,  33 ,  35  or  37  carries out the majority of functions between itself and other peers or between itself and the server  11 .  
         [0057]    The fifth exemplary client device  29  also may be a PC or a PDA, but for purposes of this discussion, it is assumed that the device  29  runs only a web browser application. The Peer Switch Web functionality  15  provides access to the Peer Switch community, remotely through a web server, for example via the browser application  39  in the client device  29 . To that end, the web server  15  implements a web interface  41  to the browser as well as a Peer Switch client  43 , such that the server  17  effectively becomes a client-proxy for the device  29  that lacks its own client application.  
         [0058]    The Peer Switch embodiment  10  utilizes a number of different types of logical communication connections, as depicted in FIG. 1. For convenience of discussion, the different connections are marked with a letter code. The C connections extend between peers and the Peer Switch  11 . Information communicated through such a connection includes user authentication, presence mapping, and peer-to-peer connection requests. The P connections are true peer-to-peer links that extend between peer devices. Information communicated through such a connection includes email and file transfers, instant message sessions, and folder listings. H type connections extend between Web browsers on PCs or PDAs and the Peer Switch Web.  
         [0059]    The drawings show peer connections P, for the device  29 , extending between the web server  17  and several other peer devices  21 ,  23  and  25 . For convenience, peer connections that may be established between devices such as  21 ,  23 ,  25  and  27  are omitted.  
         [0060]    The Peer Switch functionality  11  dynamically maintains a database  19  of users, teams, and shares within a community. The “shares” for purposes of this discussion are files and folders that the peers make available for sharing with the other members of their team(s), as established through the Peer Switch service. The Peer Switch  11  also authenticates users into the community and into respective teams established by community members. The peer users modify the information available for sharing, and the members of the various communities and teams change over time; and as a result, the Peer Switch functionality  11  must keep its records in database  19  current.  
         [0061]    As needed, the Peer Switch functionality  11  generates digital certificates on the fly, for example, when two clients want to connect with each other so they can authenticate one another. The server  13  also notifies users when shares and other users become available or unavailable. Several of these functions may involve a presence mapping of the users and their peer devices, by the Peer Switch server  11 . The server  13  also stores and delivers notes sent between users within the community. Another function of the Peer Switch functionality  11  is to facilitate connections between peers, for example, when firewalls, proxies and NAT systems exist in the network between the peers.  
         [0062]    Members of the same community can directly communicate with each other via peer-to-peer sessions established using the Peer Switch services, for example, for instant messaging. Within a community, users can be sub-grouped into teams for sharing information stored on peer devices. Normally, a community consists of employees (and/or their remote controlled computers) from one company. However, a community or team is not limited to that scenario. In a business context, for example, business partners or key subcontractors or the like may be added to the working community or team.  
         [0063]    Any computing device, which has the Peer Switch client software or is set-up for peer access using a browser and the web server, becomes a “peer” device of the community that was defined during the community&#39;s registration process. The database maintains record(s) identifying the users/users&#39; devices and the association(s) thereof with the various established communities and teams. A computing device may be a member of more than one community. Any files or folders that are accessible from a peer member of a community are eligible for sharing with community teams. Team members access the shared information (“shares”) via a peer device using the Peer Switch client software or via a remote device  29  having a browser  39  and using the Peer Switch web server  17 .  
         [0064]    The intent is for the generic Peer Switch client application to provide the same functionality, regardless of the particular device or software environment in which the application runs. For example, FIG. 1 shows the three PCs  21 ,  23  and  25  running different applications for work sharing, typically various types of PIMs. In the example the first personal computer (PC 1)  21  runs Microsoft Outlook application  32 , the second personal computer (PC 2)  23  runs Lotus Notes application  34 , whereas the third personal computer (PC 3)  25  runs some other PIM program referred to as “Application X”  36 . However, the Peer Switch clients  31 ,  33  and  35  are all the same application (as substantially is the client  43 ).  
         [0065]    To provide appropriate inter-working between the generic Peer Switch client programs  31 ,  33  and  35  and the different user&#39;s PIM programs  32 ,  34  and  36  running on the PCs  21 ,  23  and  25 , each PC runs an interface program corresponding to the particular user communication program  32 ,  34  or  36 . Typically, each such interface program or routine implements an application programming interface (API), which provides a logical interface between the particular personal information managers (PIM) or other user software and the generic Peer Switch client program.  
         [0066]    For example, in the first personal computer (PC 1)  21 , the Peer Switch “Outlook” interface program  42  provides the necessary two-way program calls and responses to allow Microsoft Outlook  32  to interact with and communicate through the generic Peer Switch client application shown at  31 . Similarly, in the second personal computer (PC 2)  23  the Peer Switch “Lotus Notes” interface program  44  provides the necessary two-way program calls and responses to allow Lotus Notes  34  to interact with and communicate through the generic Peer Switch client application shown at  33 . The Peer Switch interface for program X  46  provides the necessary two-way program calls and responses to allow the particular Application X  36  to interact with and communicate through the generic Peer Switch client application shown at  35 , in the third personal computer (PC 3)  25 .  
         [0067]    As shown and discussed, the embodiment (FIG. 1) uses a common personal information manager or PIM, e.g. Microsoft Outlook, as a user interface (UI) application. For example, users already familiar with Outlook do not need to learn a new UI to use the peer system  10 . However, the system is designed to allow it to be incorporated into other personal information managers (PIMs) and applications thereby making it easier to learn and use. For example, the illustrated system architecture of the Peer Switch embodiment  10  is designed to allow other interfaces such as Lotus Notes or other user interfaces.  
         [0068]    As shown, the server  17  also runs a version of the generic Peer Switch client  43 . The program  41 , however, provides the appropriate interface to the web server functionality  15  and the ability to provide multiple instances of the program  41  for use by a number of users accessing the Peer Switch communities via the web server  15  and their standard PC web browsers  39 . The version  43  of the Peer Switch client differs from the other client programs in that it may be operated substantially simultaneous for a relatively large number of users, having browser ready devices  29  that may not include their own client programming.  
         [0069]    Several other useful features of the disclosed Peer Switch embodiment (FIG. 1) should also be noted at this time, although more details are provided later. For example, security is implemented on every network connection made by the system. Digital certificates are used for authentication, strong encryption is used to secure peer-to-peer sessions, and SSL is used to secure Web sessions. The Peer Switch embodiment also incorporates technology that allows it to establish connections between peers that are separated by network security devices such as firewalls and NAT. By establishing network connections directly between clients (i.e. peer-to-peer connections P), the Peer Switch embodiment  10  creates little or no overhead for servers. Information is shared directly from PC to PC or PC to other remote device.  
         [0070]    As noted, users are grouped within communities. A community is a group of users that can potentially establish connections and share information with each other. A user can be a member of more than one community; however, two users must be members of the same community in order for them to establish a connection with each other. Within communities, users establish teams. A team is a group of users from the same community who share information. A user shares information with other users by sharing that information with a team. Information shared with a team is accessible to all members of that team. Users can be logged onto a community multiple times from different PCs or devices at the same time. Shares offered by a user are distinguished by machine name as well as by user. A user can access his own information remotely by sharing that information with a team that contains only him (and thus all devices he may use). When accessing the system remotely, he accesses not only his privately shared information, but also any and all information shared with him within the community.  
         [0071]    As noted, FIG. 1 illustrates a number of the devices that may utilize the peer-to-peer communications and the logical links between such devices and between the Peer Switch related functionalities. The links extend through a data communication network or networks. Although adaptable to intranet and private virtual network environments, the embodiments utilize Internet communications. Hence, on a physical layer, the logical communications shown in FIG. 1 extend through the public wide area packet switched data network known as the Internet, and in some cases, through various additional networks that connect to the public Internet. To fully appreciate the logical communications, it may be helpful to consider the physical networking involved. FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram illustrating several different types of devices that may be involved in the communications outlined above relative to FIG. 1 and networks that may transport such communications. It is assumed that those skilled in the relevant arts are familiar with the devices, the networks and the means of communications, therefore only a brief summary discussion is provided here.  
         [0072]    The Internet  51  generally consists of linked Autonomous System type packet data networks. The Autonomous System are owned and operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Information providers and other on-line service providers operate servers, many of which now connect to the Internet  51  via high speed lines, such as T1/T3 and the like. In the example of the Peer Switch embodiment  10  of FIG. 1, the peer-to-peer communications utilize two servers  11  and  17 ; and FIG. 2 shows those servers connected for communication via the Internet  51 .  
         [0073]    End users may operate a variety of different types of devices, which have data communications capabilities; and FIG. 2 shows just a few examples. As shown, a user may have a desk top type personal computer (PC)  53 , which will function as one of the Peer Switch clients or as a PC with just a browser, as discussed above relative to FIG. 1. The user&#39;s desktop PC  53  may connect through the Internet  51  via a local area network (LAN).  57  or any other convenient wired or wireless access network.  
         [0074]    The drawing also shows a laptop PC  59 . The laptop PC  59  is generally similar to the desktop unit  53 , but the laptop  59  is designed for portability. Typical laptops connect to a local area network in the office (or home), but when the user travels, such a device  59  will often utilize a built-in modem to initiate dial-up access to an ISP modem pool on the Internet  51 , via the public switched telephone network (PSTN)  61  or via a wireless data network. PSTN  61  normally provides voice telephone service to and from stations represented by exemplary telephone  63 . However, the telephone-based modem capability built into PCs such as  59  (or  53 ) allow a user to access the Internet  51  from virtually any location having telephone service.  
         [0075]    Modern wireless communications networks, represented by the mobile network  65  in the drawing, also provide data communications services to and from a variety of mobile devices. Such mobile user devices may include PCs with appropriate wireless modems. For purposes of discussion here, the mobile network  65  provides mobile wireless communications to a web enabled mobile telephone or “handset”  67  and to a personal digital assistant (PDA)  69 .  
         [0076]    The construction of a mobile wireless communication network  65 , today, typically includes a number of base stations  71  dispersed throughout the service region. The geographic service region may be thought of as made up of a number of individual radio coverage areas, which typically are called “cells.” Within each cell, a base station  71  provides two-way radio communications through its RF front end, essentially for its assigned coverage cell. The users&#39; mobile stations  67 ,  69  communicate over-the-air, via a standard air-link interface protocol, with one or more of the base stations  71 .  
         [0077]    Groups of base stations  71  connect to base station controllers, and each base station controller connects to a mobile switching center. In some networks  65 , the base stations connect directly to the mobile switching center. In either case, the mobile switching center in turn provides switching between the base stations  71 , for example for communications between mobile subscriber stations, as well as switching of communications to and from the public switched telephone network and other mobile switching centers. Modern versions of such networks  65  also include one or more nodes of the network that provide a packet switched coupling to the Internet  51 .  
         [0078]    For functions involving access or remote control from a wireless device, such as the mobile telephone  67  or the PDA  69 , the Peer Switch architecture utilizes spare PC processing power and PC bandwidth to overcome slow wireless network connections that plague traditional wireless data applications. Using Peer Switch, for example, the web-enabled mobile telephone  67  becomes an extended PC keyboard, for example, for remote control of a desktop PC  53  in the user&#39;s home or office. Feedback to the phone  67  is provided by carefully formatted text messages instead of screen graphics.  
         [0079]    For example, in the Peer Switch embodiment, the web-enabled mobile telephone  67  could locate and forward a 2 MB file on a person&#39;s computer  53  in a few seconds using a wireless connection through the network  65 . Following this, the remote worker can add and update calendar items in Microsoft Outlook. These schedule changes may be made directly on the user&#39;s PC  53  and are instantly available to authorized co-workers and business partners who are members of the community/team of the user.  
         [0080]    The end user devices  21 ,  23 ,  25 ,  27  and  29  (FIG. 1) may be implemented in the different physical devices  53 ,  59 ,  67  and  69 , shown in the network diagram of FIG. 2. The various end user devices and the servers shown in the drawings are fairly well known general purpose computers and/or mobile computing devices. It is assumed that those of skill in the relevant arts will be familiar with the structure, programming and operations of such devices. However, to insure adequacy of the teaching here to various readers, it may be helpful to briefly review the relevant technologies.  
         [0081]    [0081]FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of a PC or workstation type implementation of a system  151 , which may serve as one of the user terminals, such as computer  53  or  59  in FIG. 2 (or the various PCs in FIG. 1) for accessing the Peer Switch services and conducting peer-to-peer communications.  
         [0082]    The exemplary computer system  151  contains a central processing unit (CPU)  152 , memories  153  and an interconnect bus  154 . The CPU  152  may contain a single microprocessor, or may contain a plurality of microprocessors for configuring the computer system  152  as a multi-processor system. The memories  153  include a main memory, a read only memory, and mass storage devices such as various disk drives, tape drives, etc. The main memory typically includes dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and high-speed cache memory. In operation, the main memory stores at least portions of data and of instructions for execution by the CPU  152 .  
         [0083]    The mass storage may include one or more magnetic disk or tape drives or optical disk drives, for storing data and instructions for use by CPU  152 . For a home PC, for example, at least one mass storage system  155  in the form of a disk drive or tape drive, stores the operating system and application software as well as data, including received messages and documents. The mass storage  155  within the computer system  151  may also include one or more drives for various portable media, such as a floppy disk, a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), or an integrated circuit non-volatile memory adapter (i.e. PCMCIA adapter), to input and output data and code to and from the computer system  151 .  
         [0084]    The system  151  also includes one or more input/output interfaces for communications, shown by way of example as an interface  159  for data communications via the network  23 . The interface  159  may be a modem for data communication via the PSTN  61  or via the mobile network  65 , an Ethernet card or the like for communication via the LAN  57 , or any other appropriate data communications device. The physical communication links may be optical, wired, or wireless (e.g., via satellite or cellular network).  
         [0085]    The computer system  151  may further include appropriate input/output ports  156  for interconnection with a display  157  and a keyboard  158  serving as the respective user interface. For example, the computer may include a graphics subsystem to drive the output display  157 . The output display  157  may include a cathode ray tube (CRT) display or liquid crystal display (LCD). Although not shown, the PC type system typically would include a port for connection to a printer. The input control devices for such an implementation of the system  151  would include the keyboard  158  for inputting alphanumeric and other key information. The input control devices for the system may further include a cursor control device (not shown), such as a touchpad, a mouse, a trackball, stylus, or cursor direction keys. The links of the peripherals  157 ,  158  to the system  151  may be wired connections or use wireless communications.  
         [0086]    Each computer system  151  runs an operating system as well as a variety of applications programs and stores data, enabling one or more interactions via the user interface, provided through elements such as  157  and  158 , and/or over the network  51  to implement the desired processing for the peer-to-peer communication services. The end-use computer  151 , for example, runs a general purpose browser application, and/or a PIM program or an e-mail program. In many cases, the computer  151  will also run one or more instances of the Peer Switch client program and corresponding interface program(s), for the inventive peer-to-peer communications. Some PCs, however, will run a browser but not necessarily a peer client program.  
         [0087]    [0087]FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a general purpose computer system  251 , which may perform the functions of the server  11  or the server  17  (or other host computer), or the like. The exemplary computer system  251  contains a central processing unit (CPU)  252 , memories  253  and an interconnect bus  254 . The CPU  252  may contain a single microprocessor, or may contain a plurality of microprocessors for configuring the computer system  252  as a multi-processor system. The memories  253  include a main memory, a read only memory, and mass storage devices such as various disk drives, tape drives, etc. The main memory typically includes dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and high-speed cache memory. In operation, the main memory stores at least portions of data and of instructions for execution by the CPU  252 .  
         [0088]    The mass storage may include one or more magnetic disk or tape drives or optical disk drives, for storing data and instructions for use by CPU  252 . At least one mass storage system  255 , preferably in the form of a disk drive or tape drive, stores the data and programming related to the Peer Switch functions. If the system  251  operates as the first server (Server 1)  13 , the mass storage system  255  stores the Peer Switch server application  111  as well as the database  19 . If the system  251  operates as the second server (Server 2)  17 , the mass storage system  255  stores the Peer Switch web server application  15 , as well as the instance(s)  43  of the Peer Switch client and the Peer Switch web interface routine  41 . The mass storage  255  may also include one or more drives for various portable media, such as a floppy disk, a compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), or an integrated circuit non-volatile memory adapter (i.e. PCMCIA adapter) to input and output data and code to and from the computer system  251 .  
         [0089]    The system  251  also includes one or more input/output interfaces for communications, shown by way of example as an interface  259  for data communications via the network  51 . The interface  259  may be a modem, an Ethernet card or any other appropriate data communications device. To perform as one or both of the servers  13 ,  17  for the peer-to-peer service to a large number of end use customers, the interface  259  preferably provides a relatively high-speed link to the Internet  51 .  
         [0090]    Although not shown, the system  251  may further include appropriate input/output ports for interconnection with a local display and a keyboard or the like serving as a local user interface for programming purposes. Alternatively, the server operations personnel may interact with the system  251  for control and programming of the system from remote terminal devices via the Internet  51  or some other network link.  
         [0091]    The computer system  251  runs a variety of applications programs and stores relevant data, such as the above noted programs for the Peer Switch type peer-to-peer related communications services. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the computer system  251  may run other programs and/or host other Internet service applications, typically web-based or e-mail based services. Also, each system  251  may be implemented as a single computer system or as a distributed system having multiple appearances at different nodes on the Internet  51 .  
         [0092]    The components contained in the computer systems  151  and  251  are those typically found in general purpose computer systems used as servers, workstations, personal computers, network terminals, and the like. In fact, these components are intended to represent a broad category of such computer components that are well known in the art.  
         [0093]    [0093]FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a simple mobile communication device  67  for use in the network of FIGS. 1 and 2. Although the station  67  may be incorporated into a vehicle mounted mobile unit or into another device, such as a portable personal computer, for discussion purposes the illustration in FIG. 2 shows the station in the form of a handset  67 .  
         [0094]    The mobile handset  67  functions as a normal digital wireless telephone station. For that function, the station  67  includes a microphone  341  for audio signal input and a speaker  343  for audio signal output (see FIG. 5). The microphone  341  and speaker  343  connect to voice coding and decoding circuitry (vocoder)  345 . For a voice telephone call, for example, the vocoder  345  provides two-way conversion between analog audio signals representing speech or other audio and digital samples at a compressed bit rate compatible with the digital protocol of the wireless telephone network communications.  
         [0095]    For digital wireless communications, the handset  67  also includes a digital transceiver (XCVR)  357 . The present concepts encompass embodiments utilizing any digital wireless transceivers that conform to current or future developed digital wireless communication standards. For example, the transceiver  357  could be a CDMA (IS-95), TDMA or GSM unit, designed for cellular or PCS operation via the network  65  shown in FIG. 2. In the near future, the digital transceiver  357  may be a CDMA transceiver that complies with the 1xRTT standard or other future generation standard. The transceiver  357  provides two-way wireless communication of information, such as vocoded speech samples and digital message information. The transceiver  357  connects through RF send and receive amplifiers (not separately shown) to an antenna  359 . The wireless mobile station  67  may include one or more additional transceivers, as shown in dotted line form, for operation in an analog mode or in accord with an alternative digital standard.  
         [0096]    As shown, the mobile telephone handset  67  includes a display  349  for displaying messages, a menu generated by a client browser program, call related information, dialed and calling party numbers, etc. A keypad  347  enables dialing digits for voice and/or data calls and generating selection inputs keyed by the user based on the displayed menu.  
         [0097]    A microprocessor  351  controls all operations of the handset  67 . The microprocessor  351  is a programmable device. The mobile handset unit  67  also includes a flash memory  353  alone or in combination with a read only memory (ROM) and/or a non-volatile random access memory (RAM)  355 , for storing various software routines and mobile configuration settings, such as mobile identification number (MIN), etc. In a present implementation, the random access memory RAM  355  stores an operating system, vocoder software, client browser software, device driver software, and call processing software, and may store other application software, for example short message service software, e-mail software etc. For purposes of the inventive peer-to-peer communications, the software may include a Peer Switch client, adapted for the handset, similar to the Peer Switch client (PDA) application  37 , although it is envisioned that such devices can rely on the browser and the web server  17 . The memories also store data, such as telephone numbers and other data input by the user via the keypad  347 . The mobile handset  67  may also include an optional expansion slot  362 , to add memory elements or to add other user selected functional elements.  
         [0098]    Of particular note, the application software and the transceiver  357  enable a user to operate the mobile unit  67  to conduct two way data communications, via the mobile network  65  and the Internet  51 . For purposes of discussions here, these data communications capabilities enable communications with server(s)  17  and/or  11  as well as peer-to-peer communications with devices operated by others in the appropriate user group(s). If the mobile unit relies on the browser, rather than on internal peer client applications, the peer-to-peer communications go through the web server  17 .  
         [0099]    [0099]FIG. 6 shows a handheld computing device  69 , for example, in the form of a personal digital assistant (PDA). The handheld computing device may be implemented as a personal organizer, a palmtop computer, a computerized notepad, or the like. As such, the handheld computing device  69  may be any small programmable computing device.  
         [0100]    Typically, in a PDA implementation or the like, the device  69  has a microprocessor  451  or the like that is capable of running one or more application programs. The device  69  also has a display, and an input mechanism such as a keypad, a touch-sensitive screen, a track ball, a touch-sensitive pad, a miniaturized QWERTY keyboard, or the like. In the illustrated PDA embodiment, handheld computing device  69  has a touch sensitive display screen  449  and a limited number of input keys in the form of a keypad  447  or the like. The user operates the keys and uses a finger or stylus (or similar implement) on the touch screen display  449  to input information to the device  69 . The user observes information shown on the display screen of element  449 .  
         [0101]    The PDA device  69  can also be implemented with a digital wireless RF (radio frequency) transceiver  69  and/or one or more alternative wireless transceivers such as an IR (infrared) transceiver. If operating via a public mobile network, such as the network  65 , the transceiver  457  could be similar to the transceiver  357  in the mobile handset  67 . However, the device  69  may be designed to operate in a more localized environment, such as a wireless LAN. For example, short-range wireless communication and personal area networks may be implemented on campuses, in commercial buildings, apartment buildings/complexes or even in individual homes. Currently, Bluetooth technology allows for the replacement of the many LAN cables or the like with short-range radio links and can be used to connect a laptop to a cellular telephone or between other devices such as printers, PDAs, desktops, fax machines, keyboards, joysticks or virtually any other digital device and a desired connection to the Internet  51 . Bluetooth radio technology further provides a universal bridge to existing data networks, a peripheral interface, and a mechanism to form small private ad hoc groupings of connected devices away from fixed network infrastructures. Designed to operate in a noisy radio frequency environment, the Bluetooth radio uses frequency hopping scheme to make the link robust. Bluetooth radio modules avoid interference from other signals by hopping to a new frequency after transmitting or receiving a data packet. For operation in such an environment, the transceiver  457  might be a Bluetooth device.  
         [0102]    The memory of the device  69  generally includes both volatile memory (e.g., RAM 455) and non-volatile memory (e.g., ROM 453 PCMCIA cards, etc.). The device  69  may include other types of memory  462 , such as flash memory, although handheld portable devices today do not typically include disk or tape drives.  
         [0103]    An operating system is resident in the memory and executes on the processor  451 . The operating system provides a graphical user interface that presents applications and documents and receives user inputs via the touch sensitive display screen  449 . The operating system enables execution of applications resident in the memory, both for local functions and for communications using the transceiver  457 . The applications may include a browser  39  or preferably a PDA version of the Peer Switch client  37  (see FIG. 1), to enable the inventive peer-to-peer communications.  
         [0104]    [0104]FIG. 7 shows the implementation of an exemplary Peer Switch client. The Peer Switch client carries out the majority of functions provided by the system. The diagram (FIG. 7) shows the high-level software architecture of the client. The Peer Switch client consists of two principal components, the client Manager and the user interface (UI). The Peer Switch client Manager carries out most of the client functions, including accessing local information on the PC for sharing, and handling all network connections. These functions are described in more detail below. There is one Manager for each user device.  
         [0105]    The embodiment of FIG. 7 represents an implementation for a PC or the like, which runs other application programs. Here, the Peer Switch UI component runs within the PIM and acts as a front-end to the Manager. The Peer Switch client is designed so that the UI components could be written for any number of PIMs or other applications, e.g. Lotus Notes or Eudora. There can be more than one instance and/or type of Peer Switch UI component running on a PC and communicating with the one Manager at a given time.  
         [0106]    At the core of the Peer Switch client is the Peer Switch Manager. It is typically started when an associated PIM or application is started. For purposes of this discussion, it is assumed that the user&#39;s device runs Microsoft Outlook as the PIM. When the Peer Switch Manager is started, it first attempts to login to all registered Peer Switches  11 . Once logged in, the connections between the Manager and the servers  13  are persistent. Each Peer Switch  11  downloads the list of shares and other users that are available to the user from that community. As other users login and out of the Peer Switch, and as shares are created and deleted on the server  13 , it notifies the Peer Switch client over this same connection.  
         [0107]    When the user wants to initiate a connection with another peer, either by accessing information on the peer, starting an instant message (IM) session with the peer, or another Peer Switch function, the Peer Switch client sends a message to the Peer Switch that is relayed to the targeted peer, requesting a connection. In current embodiments, the request contains address and port data necessary to make the connection. The remote peer then initiates a network connection back to the requesting peer. The peer-to-peer connection is also persistent between the peers. All subsequent activity between the peers will occur over the same connection, until one or both peers log off.  
         [0108]    The Peer Switch UI component interacts with the user and displays all information and results through the PIM or application. FIG. 8 is a sample screenshot of Peer Switch Outlook working within Microsoft Outlook.  
         [0109]    With such an embodiment of the Peer Switch client, when the user opens Outlook, the Peer Switch service is started and the Peer Switch manager icon may be displayed in the Windows taskbar. Assuming that the user is an established peer member, the user can add the specific computing device to the community and login to the community. The Peer Switch server informs other active members of the community that the user is now online. As shown in drawing (FIG. 8), the peer shares appear as a ‘PeerBook’ folder (with sub folders for contacts and shared folders) in the Outlook folder list.  
         [0110]    The peer-to-peer services, particularly in embodiments adapted for implementation with Microsoft Outlook as the user&#39;s PIM, offer a PeerOutlook productivity tool, which is designed to provide the ability to securely share Microsoft Outlook information from PC to PC and PC to PDA without storing data on a server. The PeerOutlook tool also provides remote access and management of Outlook information through any web-enabled device such as laptop  59 , PDA  69  or mobile phone  67 .  
         [0111]    Examples of functions that can be performed between Peer Switch clients include:  
         [0112]    Sharing Outlook Folders—All of the types of information kept in Microsoft folders (i.e. the PST file), including email, calendar, task, note, and contact items, can be shared.  
         [0113]    Sharing Local PC Files—Any file or folder on the local PC can be shared.  
         [0114]    IM—Instant messenger sessions can be initiated between users.  
         [0115]    Notes—Users can send notes to each other. Notes sent to a user are stored on the Peer Switch server  13  and can be viewed everywhere the user logs onto the system. Notes are deleted explicitly by the recipient user.  
         [0116]    PeerMail—Users can send mail directly to one another, bypassing traditional mail servers. Among the benefits of PeerMail are instant delivery and no restriction on the size of email messages or attachments.  
         [0117]    Remote Control—The system allows a user to perform control functions on his desktop remotely from another Peer Switch client or the Web. The desktop is replicated on the remote device, and keyboard and mouse input events are sent back to the desktop.  
         [0118]    Additional Services—The peer-to-peer connection established between Peer Switch clients preferably is used to support several additional services, including voice over IP (VoIP), conferencing, multimedia streaming and Internet chat.  
         [0119]    Notification—The Peer Switch client, acting as an agent for the user on his PC, is used to support several notification services for events like emails received, appointments, instant message requests, etc. Notifications can be sent to pagers, mobile phones, unified or “follow me” messaging systems, other PCs or PDAs, or through the Web.  
         [0120]    PeerOutlook is a component of the Peer Switch suite of software productivity tools that provides secure peer-to-peer sharing and collaboration. The secure exchange of data between two peers has been addressed within the PeerOutlook architecture. Outlook information transferred between two peers is strongly encrypted and digitally signed to ensure that the data is not read or modified by other people. PeerOutlook does not require a Microsoft Exchange Server in order for a user to remotely view e-mails or other Outlook information. Data is transferred directly from peer-to-peer without storing data on a server.  
         [0121]    The peer user can access information stored in Outlook from anywhere she can browse the Internet. PeerOutlook supports common desktop browsers (Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer); browsers on Palm OS, Windows CE and Blackberry PDAs, and I-Mode and WAP interfaces for cell phones. PeerOutlook features can also be accessed through the Peer Switch Application (stand-alone executable) and Microsoft Outlook using the Peer Switch Outlook add-in type API.  
         [0122]    In the embodiment (FIG. 8), the PeerBook Outlook client provides three pages, Home, Contacts and Shared Folders, which are selectable from the folder list or from the tabs at the top of the window. The Home page, for example, lists notes and displays the system activity of the computing device for the current PeerBook session. System activity includes such actions as logging in, logging off, access to shared items, etc.  
         [0123]    The Contacts Page lists the members of the community or communities of which the user is a member. The display on the Contacts page preferably provides a color coded listing, where a predetermined color indicates those community members who currently are logged on with the peer service. From the Contacts page, the user can send instant messages and notes to any listed on-line contact. The user can also manage community teams that the user owns or create new teams among community members.  
         [0124]    The PeerBook window (shown in FIG. 8) has a main section to the right, which in this example is showing the contents of the selected Shared Folders page. The Shared Folders page lists file and/or e-mail folders to which the user has access. Preferably, color indications identify the shared items that are currently available (due to on-line status of the relevant peer device containing the items). The owner of a folder must be logged on with the peer service at the time, for the folder to be available to the community/team(s) with which it is shared. From the Shared Folders page, the user can access or manage folders or create new shares. Additionally, the user can identify any shared folder as a “Favorite.” The folders displayed on this page may be grouped in different ways, selected by the user, for example, by showing all shared folders, so as to show all shared folders grouped by team, to show all shared folders grouped by owner, to list favorites, or to show the folders shared by the particular user.  
         [0125]    Above the main section, the window (FIG. 8) lists various actions that are available to the user, for acting on the current contents of the PeerBook page. The Show Me section of the window provides various options for displaying the page&#39;s information. The Find section of the window provides a quick search function, for finding a listing on the particular page. Additionally, on the Shared Folders page, there is an advanced search function that can be used to find specific shared folders or the information that they hold. The upper right section of the window is home to the Help information and any available system options, such as Login and Change Password.  
         [0126]    In order to share folder (or drive) information, a team must be defined and the people with whom the user intends to share the information must be identified as members of the team. Once the team is created and a folder is shared with the team, any team member will have access to the folder and its contents whenever the user is logged on to the peer service from the machine containing the share. A team is composed of one or more members who are drawn from a community list. The person who creates the team is automatically made a member of the team and is designated as the Owner. Membership in teams cannot cross communities. All team members belong to the same community. To share information across communities, a user who is a member in each community can set up teams in each community and share the information with both teams. The user device signals all such activities to the Peer Switch  11 , which maintains the appropriate records in its database  19 .  
         [0127]    PeerOutlook allows members of Peer Switch teams to share Outlook folders. Peers can view and manage items stored within Outlook folders, including: E-mail, Contacts, Calendars, Tasks, and Notes. Team members also can restrict management of Outlook information to the owner of the share, all other team members have read-only access.  
         [0128]    PeerOutlook allows users to share any Outlook folder at any level with one or more Peer Switch teams. For example, a manager can chose to share his Calendar folder with team “Engineering”. This would enable all members of the engineering team to view the manager&#39;s calendar from any PC that has the Peer Switch client installed or any web-enabled device. Once an Outlook folder has been shared, team members will immediately see the newly shared folder within the PeerOutlook client application. If the team member is viewing Peer Switch through a browser, then the folder is shown the next time that the browser is refreshed.  
         [0129]    Shared information is peer and member based. Information shared at a particular peer computing device is only available if the member who shared that information is logged in at that computer. However, a community member can be logged in from any number of devices. The folders displayed in the Shared Folders page are all of the folders that the member has shared or that are shared with that member by other team members, via any of the teams of which the user is a member. In a preferred embodiment, a red icon indicates that the member who shred the folder is not currently logged into the peer service at the relevant computing device, therefore, the folder is not currently accessible. In such an embodiment, a green icon indicates that the folder is accessible, that is to say, because the member who shared that folder with the team is logged in at the relevant computing device.  
         [0130]    As shown by the above discussion, all information is shared via a defined team. In order to share information, a team must be defined, and the people with whom the user intends to share the information must be identified as members of the team. This is the case even if the user is the only member of the team, where he/she intends to share access to information from his/her multiple devices, e.g. via remote control. For example, the user may log in from a PC and activate the Windows Lock feature or the like, to make it possible to keep the Peer Switch/PeerBook connection active while at the same time preventing unauthorized use of the device. The user can then log in from another device, e.g. a laptop, mobile phone or PDA, and access shared information on the PC. In another example, the user may have shared folders on a desktop PC  53  and on a laptop  59 . To be able to access the folders from a PDA  69  or mobile phone  67 , the PeerBook user must be logged in with the peer service at server  11 , on both the desktop PC and the laptop. When the user logs in via the PDA or mobile phone, shared folders on any one device are available to the other devices, and vice versa.  
         [0131]    The “owner” of the shared folder (the ‘share’ in this example) has full read-write access to Outlook information. Other users, however, have read-only access. For example, only owners can forward e-mails using PeerOutlook. This is done because e-mails that a user forwards using PeerOutlook are sent from the default user account within Outlook. PeerOutlook does not allow other people to send e-mails using someone else&#39;s e-mail account.  
         [0132]    Outlook items, including E-mail, Contacts, Calendars, Tasks, and Notes, can be viewed and managed using PeerOutlook. For example, once a user opens a shared folder that contains e-mails, he will be able to read messages, download attachments, search for e-mails, compose and send messages, reply to a message, forward a message and attach files to a message. To read a message, a user needs only to click on the message he wants to read and it will be displayed on his screen.  
         [0133]    When a user opens a shared folder that contains contacts, he will be able to view contact information, search for contacts, add or delete contacts, and edit contact information. When a user opens a shared folder that contains calendar appointments, he is able to view appointments, modify or delete appointments and search appointments. To view an appointment, a user needs only to click on the appointment he wants to see. When a user opens a shared folder that contains tasks, he can view the task list, create new tasks, modify an existing task or delete a task. He can also sort tasks. When a user opens a shared folder that contains notes, he can view the notes, make changes, delete notes and create new notes.  
         [0134]    In the embodiments, an instant message (IM) is a communication that the user can send to any member of the community who is currently logged into the peer service. The IM messages travel directly between on-line peer devices via a secure channel through the Internet. In the embodiments, instant messages are managed via the Contacts page of the PeerBook window. In an embodiment of the Peer Switch Outlook client, a green indicator associated with a contact&#39;s name on the list denotes a community member who is logged in. Red indicates a community member who is not currently on-line.  
         [0135]    To initiate an IM session, the user accesses the Contacts page from the PeerBook window of FIG. 8. The user then selects the desired contact (if on-line) from the list on the Contacts Page. The selected contact&#39;s name appears highlighted in the display, and then the user selects “Instant Message” from the menu of options appearing above the contact list. Alternatively, the user may double click on a listed name and select “Instant Message” from the pop-up menu. The Peer Switch client program then generates a PeerBook Messaging window, and the user can type and send a message to the selected member. The contact receives the message and must access the message to complete set-up of the IM session. Once the contact has accepted, the exchange of instant messages between the parties can begin immediately and continue as long as desired. Transfer of messages between the user and the selected contact is as fast as their respective Internet connections will allow. Similar techniques can be used to set-up telephone-like voice over IP sessions and/or video telephone sessions between community members.  
         [0136]    The peer service also allows the exchange of notes between members. A note is a communication that can be sent to any member or team of the community regardless of whether or not the intended recipient(s) are on-line. The note remains available for whenever the recipient next logs in to or opens a PeerBook session. Notes can be sent from either the PeerBook Home page or the Contacts page, but notes are read via the PeerBook Home page. A note is stored in the Peer Switch server  13  for the community, until deleted by the recipient.  
         [0137]    When the user selects the Notes feature, the Peer Switch client program generates a PeerBook Note window. To send a note, a user selects the “Send Note” option from the menu above the Home page (FIG. 8). From the Contacts page, the user selects the community member or team intended to receive the note and then selects “Send Note” either from the menu above the page or from the pop-up menu if the user double clicked on the recipient&#39;s name from the Contacts list. If initiated from the Contact page, the program fills in the “To:” line in the Note window with the recipient data. If initiated from the Home page, the user can fill in the necessary recipient data, for example, from a drop down list activated by clicking on a down arrow associated with the “To:” line in the window display. The user can enter an identifying subject line and then enter the text of the note. After completion of the note, the user selects “Send,” the program closes the note window, and the computing device forwards the note to the server  13 , which notifies the intended recipient(s). Each intended recipient receives a notice and can retrieve the note message from the server, either instantly or when the intended recipient next logs in to the community.  
         [0138]    Those skilled in the art will recognize that additional functions can be delivered over the peer-to-peer connections of the Peer Switch service using peer client programming similar to that discussed above relative to FIGS. 7 and 8.  
         [0139]    Peer Switch Web is essentially a Peer Switch UI component that acts as a front end to the Peer Switch Manager and presents Peer Switch information through a Web server to remote users. FIG. 9 is a web architecture diagram, similar to the Peer Switch client architecture diagram of FIG. 7. The Peer Switch Web interfaces to and works through the web server program, in a manner analogous to the operation of the Peer Switch client programs through existing PIMs in the embodiment of FIG. 7. The web server program and the Peer Switch Web routine provide a user interface based on web page presentations and user selection of displayed links, via a standard browser application running on the end user&#39;s device. Unlike the implementation of FIG. 7, however, the UI of the web embodiment includes communications of a remote device with the web server (shown for example at H in FIG. 1).  
         [0140]    When the user logins in through the web server, the Peer Switch Manager first attempts to log the user in to all registered Peer Switches. Once logged in, the connections between the Manager (Peer Switch Web) and the servers are persistent. Each Peer Switch server  11  downloads the list of shares and other users that are available to the user from that community, and the web server  17  provides a page or pages to the user displaying that peer information. As other users login and out of the Peer Switch, and as shares are created and deleted on the Peer Switch server(s), each server  13  notifies the instance of the user&#39;s Peer Switch client running on the web server  17 , and the client provides updated web pages to the user&#39;s browser for display.  
         [0141]    Hence, Peer Switch Web (FIG. 9) is a Peer Switch UI component that acts as a proxy for all users logged into a community through the Web server. All of the shares that a user would see on a Peer Switch session on the user&#39;s device are shown in the users&#39; Web browser session.  
         [0142]    In current implementations, the pages are formatted for two common PDA browsers: Pocket IE for the Pocket PC platform, and Handspring Blazer for the Palm OS platform. The pages will also be formatted for viewing via other common browsers. FIGS. 10A and 10B show examples of two common screens, as they might appear when presented via the Peer Switch Web and the browser on the user&#39;s device. These drawings represent screens of Peer Switch Web as they might appear on a Pocket PC. FIG. 10A shows the login screen. FIG. 10B shows the current shares (shared documents/files) available to/from peers within the user&#39;s community. In the example of FIGS. 10A and 10B, the user is “Jay Pisula.” The shared folders (FIG. 10B) include folders of several other members of the community (John flowers and Steve Phillips) as well as at least one of the user&#39;s own folders (My Documents for JayPisula@devcli03). The displayed pages offer users peer communication features substantially similar to those offered to PC users in the Outlook example discussed above.  
         [0143]    In addition to the PDA browser examples discussed above, Peer Switch Web also supports full screen desktop browsers, like Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape. Peer Switch Web also supports WML/WAP browsers for web-enabled mobile phone (see  67  in FIG. 2), and the software architecture (FIG. 9) preferably supports other devices capable of browsing the Web.  
         [0144]    The Peer Switch embodiment, for enhanced peer-to-peer communications utilizes certain protocols and procedures developed to overcome particular problems and/or provide particular desirable service features. These include protocols and procedures to facilitate the communication between a Peer Switch client and server process and the protocol for client peer-to-peer communications. Consider first the communication between a Peer Switch client and server process.  
         [0145]    The protocol used to communicate between a Peer Switch client and the Peer Switch server  11  begins with establishment of a TCP/IP connection between the client device and the server  13  in the normal manner. The client sends transaction requests to the server functionality. In the current format, the Bytes  1 - 4  of the request include a network long integer, that is to say the number of bytes in this transaction; whereas Bytes  5  through end of transaction contain an XML document of arbitrary length (length given in Bytes  1 - 4 ). The server responds to the client with messages in the same format. At times determined by the server, the server sends unsolicited notification transactions to the client in the same format.  
         [0146]    The XML documents are in the following formats:  
                                                                                                                                             a. Client requests:                &lt;PBReq Action=“Login” UserID=“abc” . . .           /&gt;                b. Server responses:                &lt;PBResp Error=“0”                Action=“Login” UserID=“abc” . . . /&gt;           [relevant data elements]                &lt;PBResp/&gt;                c. Server notifications:                &lt;PBNotify&gt;                &lt;PeerPresence PeerID=“1234” . . . /&gt;           . . .                &lt;PBNotify/&gt;                      
 
         [0147]    The Action attribute on Client Requests identifies the particular transaction requested by a client. The Server Response includes all the attributes of the Client Request, so that the client can later match the response to the request.  
         [0148]    The Error attribute on Server Responses indicates the success or failure of a transaction. Success is indicated by a value of “0”. Failure is indicated by any other value, usually a string value denoting the nature of the error.  
         [0149]    Server responses may contain any number of child XML elements containing information for the client. These elements may be nested to any level. For example, a response to a PBReq transaction with an action value of “Login” may contain lists of peers online, shared folders available, notes and other data.  
         [0150]    PBNotify document elements contain unsolicited information about changes in the state of the Peer Switch community. For example, when another user logs in to or out of the community, a client process is notified of this through a PeerPresence element in a PBNotify transaction. Or, when a folder is shared with a user by another user, the first user client process receives a PBNotify transaction containing an AddShare element.  
         [0151]    In the addressing scheme of the Internet, an address comprises four numbers separated by dots. This is called the Internet Protocol address, or IP address. An example of an IP address would be 164.109.211.237. Each machine on the Internet has a unique number assigned to it, which constitutes one of these four numbers. In the IP address, the leftmost number has the greatest weight. By analogy t his would correspond to the ZIP code in a mailing address. At times the first two numbers constitute this portion of the address indicating a network or a locale. That network is connected to the last router in the transport path. In differentiating between two computers in the same destination network only the last number field changes. In such an example the next number field identifies the destination router.  
         [0152]    When a packet bearing a destination address leaves the source router, the router examines the first two numbers in a matrix table to determine how many hops is the minimum to get to the destination. It then sends the packet to the next router as determined from that table, and the procedure is repeated. Each router has a database table that finds the information automatically. This continues until the packet arrives at the destination computer. The separate packets that constitute a message may not travel the same path depending on traffic load. However, they all reach the same destination and are assembled in their original order in a connectionless fashion.  
         [0153]    Hence, to communicate via the Internet  51 , every device must have an IP address. To conduct a session with another device, the IP address of the other device must be known. The IP addresses, however, are a scarce network resource. Hence, many user devices today receive IP addresses only through a dynamic assignment, for the limited period that each such user device is on-line and active. When users go off line, the IP addresses become available for reassignment and reuse by others.  
         [0154]    It would be difficult for most people to remember the four separate numbers (sometimes having ten or more digits) comprising each numeric IP address. In addition, as noted the numeric IP addresses of many devices change, making it even more of a problem for people to keep track of them. The Domain Name System (DNS) was developed to provide some relief from these problems. In the DNS system words, which are more easily remembered, are used instead of numbers. The significance of each of the domains is the reverse of that of the numeric IP address. In the numeric IP address, the most significant numbers were on the left and the least significant on the right. The textual Domain Name System begins with the least significant on the left and proceeds to the most significant on the right.  
         [0155]    At login with the Peer Switch service, the protocol outlined above will include signaling between the end user&#39;s device and the Peer Switch server  11 . The user&#39;s device knows the address to reach at least one such server based on DNS or direct IP addressing, and the signaling to the server identifies the currently assigned IP address being used by the particular user&#39;s device. The notification(s) from the server to the user devices of the community members that are currently on line provides address information necessary to reach those on-line members. The noticed address information could include domain names, which would be translated by the standard DNS services on the Internet, but preferably the notice distribution identifies the current IP addresses for the on-line user devices of the other members.  
         [0156]    The protocol used to communicate between two Peer Switch clients also begins with a TCP/IP connection, albeit one now established between the two Peer Switch clients. Either client may send messages to the other in the same format. In this format, Bytes  1 - 4  (a network long integer) specify the umber of bytes in part A of this transaction. Bytes  5 - 8  (a network long integer) specify the number of bytes in part B of this transaction. Then Bytes  9  and following contain Part A of the transaction, which either may be an XML document message describing a Peer Request, Response or Instant Message or may be a PeerChannel header. Following Part A, the transaction includes a Part B, which comprises binary data as indicated in Part A.  
         [0157]    If Part A is a PeerChannel header, then the first four bytes of Part A are a constant, well-known value called a magic number. Otherwise, Part A is an XML document. The PeerChannels are virtual connections that are “tunneled” through the single TCP/IP connection. Tunnels are established through requests made in XML transactions. The PeerChannel header is comprised of:  
         [0158]    a. Bytes  1 - 4 —the magic number indicating that this is a PeerChannel header.  
         [0159]    b. Bytes  5 - 8 —various bit flags including the following:  
         [0160]    i. 0x00000001—suspend sending data on this channel  
         [0161]    ii. 0x00000002—resume sending data on this channel  
         [0162]    iii. 0x00000004—close this channel  
         [0163]    c. Bytes  9 - 12 —the channel number from which this data originated (the source channel).  
         [0164]    d. Bytes  13 - 16 —the channel number for which this data is intended (the destination channel).  
         [0165]    Data are delivered through PeerChannels for purposes including file transfers, virtual connections between external programs (e.g., NetMeeting), and streaming video and/or audio data.  
         [0166]    XML document messages exchanged between clients represent transaction requests, responses or instant messages:  
                                                                                                                         a. Client requests:                &lt; PBPeerReq Action=“Dirlist” . . .           /&gt;                b. Client responses:                &lt; PBPeerResp Error=“0”                Action=“Dirlist” . . . /&gt;           [relevant data elements]                &lt; PBPeerResp/&gt;                c. Instant Messages:                &lt; PBPeerMsg/&gt; [Followed in Part B by the           message itself]                      
 
         [0167]    The Action attribute on Client Requests identifies the particular transaction requested by a client. The Response includes all the attributes of the request, so that a client later can match the response to the request.  
         [0168]    The Error attribute on Responses indicates the success or failure of a transaction. Success is indicated by a value of “0”. Failure is indicated by any other value, usually a string value denoting the nature of the error.  
         [0169]    Responses may contain any number of child XML elements containing information for the client. These elements may be nested to any level. For example, a response to a PBPeerReq with an action value of “DirList” may contain a lists of folders and other items contained in a shared folder.  
         [0170]    When the XML document message contains a PBPeerMsg element, then Part B of a message contains an instant message from the user at one client to the user at the other.  
         [0171]    The process by which one computer initiates and another computer accepts a TCP/IP connection is well documented and widely used. The process by which two computers simultaneously initiate a TCP/IP connection with each other is documented, but is not implemented in most TCP/IP stacks in use today. For example, such a technique is not implemented in Microsoft&#39;s TCP/IP stack, and theirs is the most commonly used stack in the world.  
         [0172]    There is no known process by which three computers (A, B and C) already having established TCP/IP connections between A and C and between B and C can then cooperate to establish a TCP/IP connection between A and B. There is no known process by which two computers, each behind a respective firewall, which does not allow any TCP/IP connection to the inside to be initiated from the outside, can establish a TCP/IP connection between themselves. This presents a particular concern for establishing peer-to-peer connections, in an architecture of the type described above relative to FIGS. 1 and 2, where one or more of the peers resides behind a firewall. The Peer Switch embodiment addresses this concern by using a process by which one computer facilitates or brokers the creation of a TCP/IP connection between two other computers, as described in detail below.  
         [0173]    [0173]FIG. 11 shows three computers, two of which are behind firewalls. In the Peer Switch environment, the computers A and B are end user devices desiring to establish a peer-to-peer session via their client software. These two computers reside behind respective firewalls A and B. The broker computer C is one of the Peer Switch servers (see  11  in FIG. 1 or see FIG. 2). Hence, A, B and C designate three different computers connected in the Internet  51 , with computers A and B behind respective firewalls. Typically, the firewalls A and B only allow TCP/IP connections to be initiated from behind the firewall. (In this discussion, A, B and C each also refer to a computer program running on their respective computers.)  
         [0174]    Assume that TCP/IP connections already exist between computers C and A and between computers C and B, for example between the Peer Switch server  11  and two peer user devices such as  21  and  27  in FIG. 1. Assume that the users desire to establish a TCP/IP connection between computers A and B, e.g., for peer-to-peer communications. Computer A sends a packet of data to computer (server) C requesting a connection established between port PA on computer A and some port on computer B. The broker computer C (e.g. the server  11 ) validates that the proposed connection is allowed and sends a request to establish the connection to computer B. This request to B includes the port PA to be used by computer A.  
         [0175]    In response to the received request, peer computer B sends an acceptance of the request to broker computer C. This response includes the port number (PB), which peer computer B intends to use for the peer-to-peer connection. Broker computer C (e.g. server  11 ) now sends an acknowledgment of A&#39;s original request to peer computer A. The acknowledgement message includes the port PB to be used by B.  
         [0176]    Peer computer device A now initiates a TCP/IP connection from its own port PA to port PB on computer B. However, B&#39;s firewall prevents the initial session set-up packet from reaching computer B, since it is a session not initiated from the protected user side of that firewall.  
         [0177]    However, in the embodiment A also sends the initial IP packet (PA-P1) for the proposed connection PA-PB to the broker C, through the existing A-C connection. This packet is not normally available to application-level programs, so its capture is of some interest to the discussion here. There are several ways to accomplish this part of the process. One approach is to modify the TCP/IP protocol stack software to make the initial TCP/IP packet available to application programs, e.g. through IOCTL calls (IOCTL refers to input-output control and is used to manipulate a character device via a file descriptor.). Another approach to this capture is to use a packet filtering program to capture such packets and pass them to the program A. Another technique is to create an intermediate NDIS driver or a Hook driver to do the work, on operating systems such as Microsoft Windows. In any of these (or other) cases, the task is to capture the initial packet of a new TCP/IP connection and make it available to the program A, so that the program A can send it to the broker program C through its already-existing connection A-C.  
         [0178]    The other peer computer B also initiates a TCP/IP connection, in this case from port PB to port PA on the computer A. Here, A&#39;s firewall prevents this packet from reaching computer A, since it is a session not initiated from the protected user side of that firewall. The computer B also sends the initial IP packet (PB-P1) for the proposed connection PB-PA to broker C through the existing B-C connection, in the same manner as described above for the similar packet from program A.  
         [0179]    The broker computer C (e.g. server  11 ) uses information in the initial IP packet PB-P1 to construct an IP packet (PB-P1′), which would have been B&#39;s response to IP packet PA-P1, if program B had been listening on port PB and accepted the connection PA-PB (but which was blocked by the firewall B). The broker computer C (e.g. server  11 ) sends this (raw) IP packet through the network to port PA on computer A as if it had come from the port PB on the computer B. The construction of PB-P 1 ′ packet consists of copying PB-P 1  and adding an ACK of the initial sequence number in PA-P1 (plus one).  
         [0180]    The broker computer C uses information in initial IP packet PA-P1 to construct an IP packet (PA-P1′) which would have been A&#39;s response to IP packet PB-P1, if program A been had listening on port PA and accepted the connection PB-PA PB (but which was blocked by the firewall A). The broker computer C sends this (raw) IP packet through the network to port PB on computer B, as if it had come from the port PA. The construction of PA-P1′ packet consists of copying PA-P1 and adding an ACK of the initial sequence number in PB-P1 (plus one).  
         [0181]    To the peer computers, it now appears as if they have received acknowledgements to their respective requests to establish a TCP/IP session. Computers A and B now each respond to the PB-P1′ and PA-P1′ packets with the third packet of the TCP three-way handshake in the normal manner, and the desired TCP/IP connection between A and B is established. In the Peer Switch service, desired peer-to-peer communications now ensue between computer A (via TCP port A) and computer B (via TCP port B).  
         [0182]    The Peer Switch embodiment also utilizes a particular technique to establish virtual TCP/IP connections between IP-enabled devices (in this case peers), either or both of which may be located behind an HTTP proxy, using a PeerProxy controlled by the Peer Switch. FIG. 12 is a block diagram useful in explaining peer-to-peer communications is accord with this process. As shown, end user computers Peer A (PA) and Peer B (PB) are behind respective HTTP proxies. Each has a proxied connection to a Peer Switch computer (PS), typically a server  11  (FIG. 1 or FIG. 2). The Peer Switch computer (PS) communicates with a PeerProxy (PP), which may reside in one of the servers  11  or  17  (or in a router or other Internet node).  
         [0183]    Assume that there are existing connections PA-PS, PB-PS between the peer computers and the Peer Switch server and a connection PP-PS between the PeerProxy and the Peer Switch server. In this example, the user of peer computer PA wants to establish a connection PA-PB with the peer computer PB. A specific example of the method for establishing a virtual TCP/IP connection between two IP-enabled devices (Peers) then proceeds as described below.  
         [0184]    First, the originating peer computer PA sends an XML transaction PBReq with Action=Connect, to the Peer Switch server PS. The Peer Switch server PS generates two cryptographically random values of sufficient size as to be practically impossible to predict. The Peer Switch server PS sends these two values to the PeerProxy PP in an XML transaction PBReq Action=Proxy. The PeerProxy PP stores the values in a table of pending connections.  
         [0185]    The Peer Switch server PS sends one value to destination peer computer PB, in an XML transaction PBNotify with child node ConnReq containing the value and the IP address of the PeerProxy PP. The Peer Switch server PS sends the other value and the IP address of PeerProxy PP to the originating peer computer PA, in an XML transaction PBResp with Action=Connect and Scheme=PeerConnSchemeProxy.  
         [0186]    The originating peer computer PA initiates a normal TCP connection to the associated HTTP proxy server HA at port  80  and sends an HTTP CONNECT request to establish an HTTP tunnel to the PeerProxy server PP at port  443  (or another assigned port). Upon receipt of a success status ( 200 ) message, the originating peer computer PA sends the random value it received from Peer Switch server PS.  
         [0187]    The destination peer computer PB also initiates a normal TCP connection, in this case to the associated HTTP proxy server HB at port  80  and sends an HTTP CONNECT request to establish an HTTP tunnel to the PeerProxy server PP at port  443  (or another assigned port). Upon receipt of a success status ( 200 ) message, the destination peer computer PB sends the random value it received from Peer Switch server PS.  
         [0188]    The PeerProxy server PP is listening on port  443  (or another assigned port) for TCP/IP connections. When it accepts one, the PeerProxy server PP expects to receive a random value that matches one in the pending connections table. If it receives such a value within 10 seconds, then it attaches the accepted socket to that portion of the pending connection table. When the PeerProxy server PP accepts a connection and receives a value that matches the second half of the pending connection table entry, the PeerProxy server PP creates an entry in the active connection table, removes the entry from the pending connection table, and begins to forward data received on the one socket to the other socket. In this manner, the PeerProxy provides a logical connection between the connections established with the peer devices A and B, thus enabling the desired peer-to-peer communications. When a socket is closed, the PeerProxy server PP waits until any pending data has been sent to the other socket and then closes the other socket. When both sockets are closed, the entry in the active connection table is removed.  
         [0189]    Every thirty seconds, the PeerProxy server PP scans its pending connection table for entries over thirty seconds old, deleting any such entries. Every thirty seconds, the PeerProxy server PP scans its active connection table for entries where one side of the socket has been closed for more than thirty seconds, and performs closing actions on any such entry.  
         [0190]    [0190]FIGS. 13 and 14 relate to an alternate service embodiment, focused more on peer-to-peer e-mail services, referred to as the PeerMail architecture. The elements of the PeerMail embodiment (FIG. 13) may be similar to those in the Peer Switch embodiment or run in parallel to or even as a subset of the Peer Switch applications on the servers and/or on some of the same end user devices.  
         [0191]    PeerMail is a next-generation e-mail application designed for peer-to-peer communications, for example, so as to provide the ability to securely send and receive email messages and attachments from peer-to-peer without passing data through an e-mail server. The embodiment also offers remote control of PeerMail features through any web-enabled device such as laptop, PDA or phone. PeerMail operates across a variety of network obstacles (e.g. firewalls, NAT, and slow wireless connections) that make otherwise make the feature implementation difficult, if not impossible, to accomplish with existing technology.  
         [0192]    The PeerMail user interface (UI) is available through Microsoft Outlook, stand-alone applications for Windows PC&#39;s, common desktop browsers (Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer), PDA browsers on Palm OS, Pocket PC and Blackberry, and i-mode and WAP interfaces for cell phones. Security is implemented on every network connection made by PeerMail. Digital certificates are used for authentication, strong encryption is used to secure peer-to-peer sessions, and HTTPS is used to secure web sessions. By establishing network connections for e-mail directly between clients (i.e. peer-to-peer connections), PeerMail creates little or no overhead for servers. Mail is sent and received directly from PC to PC or from PC to remote device.  
         [0193]    [0193]FIG. 13 shows the high-level PeerMail architecture  500 . As illustrated, PeerMail consists of three principal components. The system  500  includes two types  513 ,  517  of servers, end user/client devices  521 ,  523  and  527  running respective client applications, and remote user devices  529 ,  567  and  569  accessing a client and application for PeerMail service via a browser and the web, for remote control. The hardware and physical network connections of the illustrated devices are essentially the same as in the Peer Switch embodiment of FIGS.  2 - 6 .  
         [0194]    The PeerMail Community server  513  (which may also serve as a Peer Switch Community Server) is responsible for authenticating users into a PeerMail community, and for several administrative activities including presence mapping. Although only one PeerMail Community server  513  appears in the drawing, there may be any number n of such servers, needed to handle the desired level of communications for the number of users. The PeerMail client application  540 ,  550  resides on the user&#39;s PC, PDA or other peer device. The PeerMail client application  540 ,  550  carries out the majority of PeerMail functions between itself and other peers (Peer-to-Peer data link) or the server  513  (signaling link). The PeerMail Web functionality is responsible for providing remote control access to peers through a web server  517 .  
         [0195]    The PeerMail server  513  maintains a database of users, teams, and shares within a community. The PeerMail server  513  also authenticates users into the community. As needed, the server  513  generates digital certificates on the fly, for example, when two clients want to connect with each other so they can authenticate one another. The server  513  also notifies a PeerMail client when other users are on-line or off-line, for example, to indicate the status of devices of other members of the user&#39;s community or communities. This notification function involves a presence mapping of the users, by the PeerMail server  513 . Another function of the PeerMail server  513  is to facilitate connections between peers, for example, when firewalls, proxies and NAT systems exist in the network between the peers, using techniques such as those discussed above relative to FIGS. 11 and 12.  
         [0196]    Examples of the PeerMail client architecture, for PCs and PDAs, appear in FIG. 14. In both examples, the PeerMail Client programming  540 ,  550  includes a PeerMail manager  541 ,  551  and a PeerMail application program  543 ,  553 . The PeerMail Manager  541  or  551  carries out most of the PeerMail client functions, including sending and receiving e-mail information, and handling all PeerMail network connections. There is one PeerMail Manager routine for each PC or other device programmed as a PeerMail client.  
         [0197]    The PeerMail Application program  543  or  553  is a stand-alone executable that contains the front-end user interface to the PeerMail Manager  541  or  551 . This application is available for common desktop and PDA operating systems, including Windows 95/98/NT/2000, Palm OS, and CE.  
         [0198]    In the PeerMail client  540 , the user device runs Microsoft Outlook  547 , and the client programming includes a PeerMail Outlook Add-In routine  547 . The Add-In routine  547  is a user interface to the PeerMail Manager  541  that has been integrated into Microsoft Outlook  545 . The PeerMail client is designed so that the PeerMail UI components could be written for any number of Personal Information Mangers (PIMs) or other applications, e.g. Lotus Notes or Eudora. There can be more than one instance and or type of PeerMail UI component running on a PC and communicating with the PeerMail Manager at one time. For example, in client  540 , the application  543  may provide a standalone user interface running in parallel with the user interface provided by Outlook  545  and the Outlook Add-in  547 .  
         [0199]    The PeerMail Manager  541  or  551  is typically started when the PeerMail application  543 ,  553  or associated PIM (like Outlook  545 ) has been started.  
         [0200]    When PeerMail Manager is started, it first attempts to login to all registered PeerMail Community servers  513  (FIG. 13). Once logged in, the connections between the PeerMail Manager and the servers  513  are persistent. Each server  513  downloads the list of community members that are available to the user from that community. As other users login and out of PeerMail, the server  513  notifies each PeerMail client of the community over this same connection. All data sent through the “Signal Link” between PeerMail Clients and PeerMail server  513  is strongly encrypted using the TLS protocol (the successor to SSL).  
         [0201]    When the user wants to send mail to another peer, the PeerMail client  540  or  550  sends a message to PeerMail server  513  that is relayed to the peer, requesting a connection. The request contains address and port data necessary to make the connection. The remote peer then initiates a network connection back to the requesting peer. PeerMail encrypts data sent between peers and creates a digital signature to ensure that the data cannot be read or changed by anyone who does not have keys to unlock the data. If the peer that a user wants to send mail to is not online, then the message is kept locally on the sender&#39;s device until both peers are online at the same time. When the recipient peer comes on-line, the PeerMail server notifies peer devices of all members of that party&#39;s community, including the peer device having the stored e-mail message. The sending user may respond to the notice by manually triggering a send routine for the message; or the sending peer&#39; device may automatically execute the Send routine of its client program for the stored message, upon recognition that the intended recipient has come on-line.  
         [0202]    Once established for direct mail transfer, the peer-to-peer connection is persistent between peers. All subsequent activity between the peers will occur over the same connection. All data sent between two peers in strongly encrypted.  
         [0203]    It may be helpful to consider a few examples of typical PeerMail transactions that occur between Peer Switch server and a PeerMail client and between clients, when sending an e-mail message to another PeerMail client. For purposes of this discussion, assume that peer user at A using device  521  and client programming  540  desires to send a message to peer user at B, who normally utilizes device  527  and client programming  550 .  
         [0204]    The user on PeerMail client A  540  (Peer A) types an e-mail message on device  521  to be sent to PeerMail client B (Peer B). In this scenario, Peer A and Peer B are not yet connected to each other, but both are online.  
         [0205]    When the Peer A user chooses to “send” the message, four hash keys are created that are in turn are used to create encryption keys for use during this peer-to-peer session (i.e. session keys). The client  540  for Peer A causes the device  521  to send a TCP/IP port identifier (chosen at random) and the session keys to PeerMail server  513  and begins listening on the identified TCP/IP port. The PeerMail server  513  passes the session keys and Peer A&#39;s TCP/IP port identifier down to the client  550  for Peer B on device  527 .  
         [0206]    The clients for both Peer A and Peer B now have the same session keys, and the client  550  for Peer B now has Peer A&#39;s TCP/IP address and port number to begin communication. The client  550  for Peer B now contacts the client  540  for Peer A using the TCP/IP address and port number, and a peer-to-peer datalink is created directly between the clients on devices  521  and  527 .  
         [0207]    When Peer A sends data to Peer B, session keys number one and two are used for encryption and decryption. When Peer B sends data to Peer A, session keys number three and four are used for encryption and decryption. In our example, the e-mail message is encrypted using session key one. A digital signature is created using MD5 hashing algorithm and encrypted using session key two and is added to the message data. The device  527  for Peer B receives the data from Peer A, and the client  550  decrypts the e-mail message and digital signature using session keys one and two. The client  550  for Peer B recreates the MD5 digital signature for the e-mail message and compares it to the one sent by Peer A, to ensure that the data has not been changed.  
         [0208]    Now if Peer B sends a response e-mail back to Peer A, session keys number three and four are used for encryption and decryption. The return e-mail message is encrypted using session key three. A digital signature is created using MD5 hashing algorithm and encrypted using session key four and is added to the message data. The device  521  for Peer A receives the data from Peer B, and the client  540  decrypts the e-mail message and digital signature using session keys three and four. The client  540  for Peer A recreates the MD5 digital signature for the return e-mail message and compares it to the one sent by Peer B, to ensure that the data has not been changed.  
         [0209]    The PeerMail Outlook Add-In  547  allows users to experience PeerMail as another account within Outlook. Using Outlook Contacts, users can tell who is a member of PeerMail and their on-line status (presence mapping). Users can search through PeerMail for contacts to add into Outlook and/or invite Outlook contacts to join the PeerMail community. Users create messages and add attachments using the standard new message user interface provided by Outlook  545 . When the user wants to send the message through PeerMail, they select the PeerMail account from the Send drop down button, just as they would do to send from another e-mail account. E-mail is placed in the Sent Items folder after it has been delivered. E-Mail from PeerMail arrives in the Outlook Inbox. Users can open, find, forward, reply, reply all, delete, print, mark as read, mark as unread, and move PeerMail messages. Users can open, print, save as, copy and remove PeerMail attachments.  
         [0210]    The PeerMail Application  543  or  553  is a messaging and collaboration front-end to PeerMail Manager  541  or  551 . With this Application user interface, contacts can be created, updated, and deleted. A presence map is available to allow users to see current on-line status of other community members. In the current embodiment, the following folders are installed by default with the PeerMail Application: Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox, Outbox, and Sent Items. Users can create, rename and remove custom folders. The embodiment allows users to perform the following actions for PeerMail Messages: Create, Delete, Find, Forward, Mark as Read, Mark as Unread, Move to Folder, Open, Print, Reply, Reply All and Send. Users also can perform the following actions for E-Mail Attachments: Open, Print, Save As, Copy and Remove.  
         [0211]    PeerMail web provides a thin Internet front-end that presents PeerMail information through a web server  517  to remote users, in a manner analogous to the web access in the Peer Switch embodiment. The PeerMail web programming, on server  517 , acts as a proxy for all users logged into the PeerMail community through the web server  517 . PeerMail messages and attachments that a user would see on a PeerMail session on a PC or the like are shown in the user&#39;s web browser session. PeerMail web preferably supports the following browsers: common desktop browsers (Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer); PDA browsers on Palm OS, Pocket PC and Blackberry, and i-mode and WAP interfaces for cell phones. Current PeerMail web embodiments allow users to perform substantially the same functions over the web, which they can perform using the PeerMail Application from one of the client devices,  521 ,  523 ,  527 .  
         [0212]    As should be apparent from the above discussion, certain aspects of invention relate to the software elements, such as the executable code and the database of the Peer Switch or PeerMail server, the software used to implement the web server and associated proxy client functions, the peer client applications, etc. Some or all of these different functions may reside on different physical systems as shown, linked by local or wide area communications networks. Preferably, server components of the inventive software reside in the computer system(s) of the entity who offers the Peer Switch or PeerMail type peer-to-peer services, and the client software resides in the peer devices of members of the teams and communities form the actual user groups. However, the software may reside on other devices and be transferred as needed, to newly program servers or user devices or to upgrade programming of the various peer service systems.  
         [0213]    At different times all or portions of the executable code or database for any or all of the software elements may reside in physical media or be carried by electromagnetic media. Physical media include the memory of the computer processing systems (e.g. in FIGS. 3 and 4), or of the portable devices (e.g. in FIGS. 5 and 6), such as various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk drives and the like of general-purpose computer systems and the mobile computing/communications devices. All or portions of the software may at times be communicated through the Internet  51  or various other telecommunication networks. Such communications, for example, may serve to load the software from another computer (not shown), for example, into one of the servers  11  or  17  (or  513  or  517  in FIG. 13) or into any other peer computer systems or portable user devices utilized in the peer-to-peer communications. Thus, another type of media that may bear the software elements includes optical, electrical and electromagnetic waves, such as used across physical interfaces between local devices, through wired and optical landline networks and over various air-links.  
         [0214]    Terms relating to computer or machine “readable medium” as used herein refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to a processor for execution or for carrying data to or from a processor for storage or manipulation. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, ROM, optical disks or magnetic disks, such as in any of the storage devices in the systems of FIGS.  3  to  6 . Volatile media include dynamic memory, such as main memory (RAM or the like). Transmission media include coaxial cables; copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a bus within a computer system. Transmission media can also take the form of electric or electromagnetic signals, or acoustic or light waves such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer or machine readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave transporting data or instructions, or any other medium from which a computer can read. Various forms of computer or machine readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions or data to a processor for execution.  
         [0215]    The drawings and the description above are given by way of example, as a detailed disclosure of presently envisioned embodiments of the peer-to-peer communications. While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best mode and/or other preferred embodiments, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the invention or inventions disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and embodiments, and that they may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and all modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the inventive concepts.  
         [0216]    Appendix—Acronym List  
         [0217]    The written description above uses a number of acronyms to refer to various protocols, message formats, instructions, system components and the like. Although generally known, use of several of these acronyms may not be strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of this discussion, acronyms have been defined as listed below.  
                                       API   Application Programming Interface       ASCII   American Standard Code for Information Interchange       CD   Compact Disk       CD-ROM   CD - Read Only Memory       CPU   Central Processing Unit       CRT   Cathode Ray Tube       DNS   Domain Name System       DRAM   Dynamic Random Access Memory       DVD   Digital Video Disk       EPROM   Electrically Programmable Read Only Memory       HTTP   HyperText Transfer Protocol       HTTPS   HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure       IM   Instant Message (or Instant Messaging)       IOCTL   Input/Output Control       IP   Internet Protocol       ISP   Internet Service Provider       LAN   Local Area Network       LCD   Liquid Crystal Display       MD5   Message Digest Algorithm       NAT   Network Address Translation       NDIS   Network Driver Interface Specification       OS   Operating System       PC   Personal Computer       PCMCIA   Personal Computer Memory Card International Association       PCS   Personal Communication Service       PIM   Personal Information Manager       PROM   Programmable Read Only Memory       PSTN   Public Switched Telephone Network       RAM   Random Access Memory       ROM   Read Only Memory       SDK   Software Development Kit       SSL   Secure Socket Layer       TCP   Transmission Control Protocol       TLS   Transport Layer Security       UI   User Interface       URL   Universal Resource Locator       WAP   Wireless Application Protocol       XML   eXtensible Markup Language