Patent ID: 8051196

Claim:
A download and data transfer gaming method for configuring a gaming network comprising at least one host server, a tracking server, and a plurality of gaming devices, wherein the gaming devices are capable of uploading and/or transferring data as well as downloading data, the gaming method comprising: connecting the at least one host server to the plurality of gaming devices; connecting the tracking server to the plurality of gaming devices; interconnecting the plurality of gaming devices to each other; and identifying a set of data to be distributed, wherein the set of data can be divided into a plurality of different subsets of data; distributing the plurality of different subsets of data from a host server to a plurality of gaming devices, wherein none of the plurality of gaming devices receives the entire set of data to be distributed from the host server; and transferring the plurality of different subsets of data amongst the plurality of gaming devices until all of the gaming devices have received the entire set of data, without requiring further assistance from the host server; wherein the file distribution protocol utilizes a data exchange policy that implements an 80-20 rule in which at least 80% of the data transfers are performed by 20% of the gaming devices; thereby improving the download capabilities of the gaming network by redistributing the burden from the host server to the gaming devices by enabling the gaming devices to upload subsets of data to each other.