Patent ID: 7756051

Claim:
One or more tangible physical storage media storing one or more executable instructions that, when read, cause one or more processors of a first node to perform a process comprising: receiving a master coefficient vector via a data network from a second node that is storing the coefficient vector, the master coefficient vector comprising a linear combination of other coefficient vectors at the second node that were used to encode a block of a file into respective encoded blocks stored by the second node, the encoded blocks at the second node comprising different encodings of the block of the file; determining if the received coefficient vector is linearly independent from one or more coefficient vectors at the first node, the first node storing, prior to receiving the master coefficient vector, the one or more coefficient vectors and one or more encoded blocks comprising encodings of the block of the file using the one or more coefficient vectors, respectively; when it is determined that the received coefficient vector is linearly independent from the one or more coefficient vectors stored by the first node prior to receiving the master coefficient vector, responding to said determination by sending a request via the data network to the second node; and receiving via the data network, a transmission from the second node sent in response to the request, the transmission comprising a new encoded block comprising a linear combination of the one or more encoded blocks stored by the second node.