Patent ID: 7702756

Claim:
A method comprising: transmitting a query by a computing device in a domain; receiving, by the computing device, a response to the query from one or more neighbor-casting (NC) groups in the domain each including one or more said computing devices; applying, by the computing device, a predetermined criteria to select one NC group, wherein the predetermined criteria is selected from the group comprising: the number of said computing devices in the selected NC group; a length of time between the query and the response from the selected NC group; and a combination of the foregoing; joining the computing device to the selected NC group; and when a length of time between a subsequent query from the computing device and other computing devices in the selected NC group exceeds a predetermined threshold: removing the computing device from the initial NC group; reapplying the predetermined criteria to select a different NC group; and joining the computing device to the different NC group.