Patent ID: 7774773

Claim:
An active node located between a terminal and a contents server, the active node comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing applications executable by the active node, the applications comprising: a resource information manager that receives hardware/software resources information of the terminal using a predetermined framework; a contents transformer that transforms contents output from the contents server into a pertinent format and transmits transformed contents to the terminal based on the hardware/software resources information of the terminal, and that receives contents transformation information via an active packet of an active network and updates functions for contents transformation based on the contents transformation information; and a contents header manager to place information about the transformed contents in a header of the transformed contents, wherein the active node transmits partially transformed contents to a different active node over an overlay network in response to a determination that the active node does not have a function to complete transformation of the contents, wherein the overlay network is coupled to the contents server via a wireline network and coupled to the terminal via a wireless data network, the overlay network comprising a plurality of overlay managers to manage a plurality of active nodes, the plurality of overlay managers to generate interactive tunnels to each other and to form a mesh topology, to synchronize active node information using a node configuration and management protocol (NCMP), to process a query generated between the plurality of active nodes, to set each node of the overlay network, and to process an exception condition generated during operation, wherein the resource information manager receives the hardware/software resources information of the terminal using a composite capability/preference profile framework.