Patent ID: 7188182

Claim:
In a network environment that includes at least a sending computer system and a receiving computer system, a method for negotiating a transfer mechanism to utilize when sending an object from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system, the method comprising: an act of a sending computer system sending, via a predetermined transport, first data indicative of an intent to send an object from the sending computer system to a receiving computing system; an act of the sending computer system receiving second data indicative of an intent to receive the object at the receiving computer system, the second data including both a plurality of transfer mechanisms that the receiving computer system is configured to utilize as well as corresponding and specific characteristics for each of the plurality of transfer mechanisms that the receiving computer system is configured to utilize, wherein the specific characteristics quantify how each of the corresponding transfer mechanisms transfer objects; an act of identifying transfer mechanisms that are compatible between the sending computer system and the receiving computer system that may be used when transferring the object from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system; and an act of selecting an appropriate transfer mechanism from the identified transfer mechanisms, based at least in part on an analysis of the corresponding and specific characteristics of the identified transfer mechanisms, for sending the object to the receiving computer system.