Patent ID: 7930723

Claim:
A method of notification over a communications network comprising: receiving, at a central server, a request from a requesting client device, the request identifying a previously aired program; verifying, at the central sever, that the requesting client device was authorized to record the previously aired program at a time that the previously aired program was originally aired; sending, from the central server to the requesting client device, a list of a plurality of client devices that have at least a portion of the previously aired program, wherein the list is sent to the requesting client device from the central server only if the requesting client device was authorized to record the previously aired program at the time that the previously aired program was originally aired; sending, from the central server, to each of the plurality of client devices, a notice to expect a request from the requesting client device at a random time regarding downloading portions of the previously aired program, wherein the notice from the central server serves a security function, and wherein the notice notifies the plurality of client devices of a legitimacy of an expected request.