Patent ID: 8639630

Claim:
A method of providing digital content over a peer-to-peer network, comprising: a user requesting a central authority computing system to authorize the download of an item of digital content to a first peer associated with the user; the central authority identifying a plurality of second peers from whom the item can be downloaded; the central authority preparing a plurality of tokens, each of the plurality of tokens being associated with a respective one of the identified plurality of second peers, wherein each such token identifies the first peer, the second peer with which the token is associated, and the item of content requested by the first peer; the central authority sending the plurality of tokens to the first peer; the first peer sending to each one of the plurality of second peers, one of the plurality of tokens, each token identifying the first peer, the second peer to whom the token is sent, and the item requested by the first peer, with a request for a part of the item from said second peer; wherein the second peers receiving said token transmits the requested part of the item to the first peer.