Patent ID: 7461130

Claim:
A network computing system, comprising: a plurality of devices coupled to a network, wherein each device comprises one or more nodes; two or more of the nodes configured to couple to the network and to self-organize as a group on the network to perform one or more applications on the network; wherein, to self-organize as a group on the network, each of the two or more nodes is configured to: broadcast a discovery query for a master node for the group on the network; if a response to the discovery query is received indicating another node as the master node for the group, cache information indicating that the other node is the master node for the group; and if no response to the discovery query is received, assume the role of master node for the group; wherein the master node for a group is configured to provide or control one or more functions for nodes in the group; and wherein the two or more nodes are peer nodes in a peer-to-peer networking environment on the network, wherein the peer-to-peer networking environment is implemented according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols for enabling peer nodes to discover each other, communicate with each other, and cooperate with each other to form peer groups and share content in the peer-to-peer networking environment.