Patent ID: 7321928

Claim:
A method of operating a peer-to-peer network with a first peer and a second peer, wherein the first peer is a super-peer, which is adapted to perform a co-operative role, comprising: a) the super-peer receiving notification that the co-operative role is requested; b) the super-peer establishing contact with the second peer; and c) providing co-operation between the first and second peers; wherein the co-operative role is a holding role to store data for the benefit of the second peer, where the holding role includes the steps of the super-peer; d) receiving data; e) recording the received data as stored data; f) receiving requests for the stored data from users of the network or a process running on the network; g) retrieving the stored data based on the request; and h) transmitting the stored data to the requesting user or process; wherein the stored data corresponds to links to other peers; and wherein the links constitute a neural network having statistical attributes which indicate characteristics of the link.