Patent ID: 7159022

Claim:
A method of peer-to-peer review between first and second network-enabled appliances, the first and second network-enabled appliances being connected to an interconnected network, the method comprising: determining the address of the second network-enabled appliance using the first network-enabled appliance, the address of the second network-enabled appliance being associated with the interconnected network; sending a ping message to the second network-enabled appliance from the first network-enabled appliance through the interconnected network; selectively responding to the ping message from the first network-enabled appliance using the second network-enabled appliance; establishing a periodicity between the sending of subsequent periodic ping messages based on information provided to the first network-enabled appliance by the second network-enabled appliance; and sending subsequent ping messages from the first network-enabled appliance to the second network-enabled appliance through the interconnected network at time intervals based on the established periodicity, wherein selectively responding to the ping message includes responding as a function of the number of active peer-to-peer review relationships that the second network-enabled appliance is engaged in.