Patent ID: 7260598

Claim:
In a content routing device, a method for directing client requests, the method comprising the steps of: maintaining a first client list identifying a first set of client devices associated with a first content distribution network; obtaining a second client list identifying a second set of client devices associated with a second content distribution network; applying a client list filtering technique to the first client list and the second client list to produce a preferred client list associated with the second content distribution network, the preferred client list potentially identifying at least one preferred client device for which the second content distribution network preferably processes client requests, the client filtering technique including applying at least one of an intersection function, a union function, and a subtraction function to each combination of the first client list and each respective second client list to produce the respective preferred client list for the second content distribution network from which the second client list was obtained; and operating a content routing technique to direct a client request associated with a client device to a content distribution network having a preferred client list that identifies the client device associated with the client request as a preferred client device and wherein each respective preferred client list is associated with a respective second content distribution network for the domain of content and each identifying at least one preferred client device for which that respective second content distribution network processes client requests for content of the domain of content peered by the second content distribution network.