Patent ID: 8688665

Claim:
A method of collaborative transcoding comprising: in a first peer device, discovering transcoding capabilities of a plurality of peer devices within a network, wherein the network is a peer-to-peer network interconnecting the plurality of peer devices and the first peer device within said network; in the first peer device, exchanging information with other peer devices of the plurality of peer devices, the information identifying content stored within said network in the other peer devices; in the first peer device, storing information about the transcoding abilities and the information about content; in the first peer device, anticipating a request by a user of the first peer device for a content item in a target format; in the first peer device, identifying a location of said content item within said network by referencing said stored information about content; if said location is not in the first peer device, obtaining said content item from the location and storing said content item in the first peer device; if said content item is not in said target format: in the first peer device, selecting, based on the stored information about transcoding abilities, a second peer device within said network to receive said content item and transcode said content item into said target format; receiving, in the first peer device, said content item from the location; sending said content item from the first peer device to the second peer device; receiving, in the first peer device, a transcoded copy of the content item from the second peer device in said target format.