Patent ID: 7908345

Claim:
A method of access to a digital document in a communication network of the peer-to-peer type, said method being implemented in a peer device and comprising the following steps: monitoring one of said user's activity on at least one communication device, said monitoring based on a user software application and said at least one communication device, wherein said monitoring based on a user software application comprises monitoring a duration of time said user is active in said user software application and monitoring a duration of time said user was last active in said user software application; selecting a first data item in a digital document, the digital document comprising at least first and second data items; and before any user request for said second data item: verifying the presence of at least one address of a location containing the second data item of the digital document in storage means of the peer device; in the absence of the address in the storage means of the peer device, seeking in the peer-to-peer network at least one address of a location containing the second data item among a local address on said peer device and a distant address on a distant peer device; in the event at least one address is obtained during the seeking step, storing in the storage means of the peer device the at least one address obtained during the seeking step; upon reception of a subsequent request to access the second data item, downloading the second data item of the document from one address thus store; and checking whether the downloading of the second data item is complete, and, if incomplete, downloading if more than one address has been obtained during the seeking step and stored in the storage means of the peer device, iteratively trying to access the second data item using another address obtained during the seeking step and stored in the storage means of the peer device, and determining if the access is complete.