Patent ID: 7640253

Claim:
In an overlay network, a method for managing a data record, the method comprising: organizing a plurality of servers of the overlay network into a tree, wherein any one of the plurality of servers is capable of maintaining a master copy of the data record and representing a root of the tree, wherein each of the other servers of the plurality of servers maintains a copy of the data record, wherein the plurality of servers transmits updates to one another based on the tree, the tree comprising a plurality of edges, each edge defining a path for updates to the data record between a pair of the plurality of servers; determining whether a first server is receiving requests for information contained in the data record at an excessive request rate, the first server being in the plurality of servers that comprise the tree; and in response to determining that requests for information contained in the data record are being received at an excessive request rate, transmitting an additional copy of the data record to a second server that did not previously have a copy of the data record, thereby adding the second server to the tree.