Patent ID: 8015311

Claim:
A method for streaming data chunks in a peer-to-peer streaming system having N peers, the method comprising: a) during a first time slot, 1) sending a first data chunk from a server to a first of the N peers, and 2) receiving the first data chunk with the first of the N peers; b) during a second time slot, 1) sending a second data chunk from the server to a second of the N peers, 2) receiving the second data chunk with the second of the N peers, and 3) sending the first data chunk from the first of the N peers to a third of the N peers, and 4) receiving the first data chunk with the third of the N peers; and c) during additional time slots following the first and second time slots, sending and receiving further data chunks such that all data chunks of a data stream can be disseminated to all of the N peers in 1+log 2 N time slots.