Patent ID: 7401153

Claim:
A peer computing system comprising: a plurality of peer nodes operable to couple to a network; wherein the plurality of peer nodes are configured to implement a peer-to-peer environment on the network according to a peer-to-peer platform comprising: a core layer comprising one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols for enabling the plurality of 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 environment, wherein at least one of the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols is configured to be used by a peer node to discover peer nodes that are members of specified peer groups; a service layer comprising one or more core services each provided by one or more of the plurality of peer nodes in the peer-to-peer environment, wherein at least a subset of the core services are operable to be used by the plurality of peer nodes in forming and participating in the peer groups, and wherein each of the one or more core services are configured to be accessed by the plurality of peer nodes in accordance with at least one of the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and an application layer comprising one or more applications each provided by one or more of the plurality of peer nodes in the peer-to-peer environment, wherein each of the one or more applications are configured to be accessed in accordance with at least one of the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols, and wherein at least a subset of the one or more applications are each configured to access at least one of the one or more core services to perform application tasks in the peer-to-peer environment in accordance with at least one of the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols.