Patent ID: 8229488

Claim:
A method for distributing media content between portable electronic devices enabled for media acquisition and wireless communication, the method comprising joining, by a first portable electronic device, a group of the portable electronic devices being present at a common context; identifying a piece of media content acquired by the first portable electronic device within the common context and not yet distributed within the group; establishing a connection between the first portable electronic device and at least one other portable electronic device of the portable electronic devices of the group via a wireless communication channel; transferring the piece of media content via the connection to the at least one other portable electronic device of the portable electronic devices of the group; and defining a set of distribution effort criteria comprising at least one distribution effort criterion including any of a group comprising: a maximum time period until successful distribution to distribute to a receiving party among the portable electronic devices of the group, a maximum proximity value to a receiving party among the portable electronic devices of the group defined by number of relaying steps, a maximum proximity value to a receiving party among the portable electronic devices of the group based on geographical information, and a maximum number of attempts until successful distribution to distribute to a receiving party among the portable electronic devices of the group, wherein distribution efforts are ended if the distribution effort criteria set is exceeded.