Patent ID: 8909710

Claim:
A computer implemented method comprising: at a first peer computing device in a peer-to-peer network, sending a multicast message to at least two additional peer computing devices on an Internet Protocol (IP)-connected subnet, the multicast message comprising a session identifier, the session identifier derived from a session name based on user prior to establishing a new collaborative network; responsive to the sending, receiving a unicast message from at least a plurality of the at least two additional peer computing devices on the IP-connected subnet having the same session identifier, each of the unicast messages comprising: an IP address, or an address resolvable to an IP address, of the additional peer computing device; and other identification of the additional peer computing device; and updating or populating a list at the first peer computing device identifying peer computing devices that have the same session identifier including at least the plurality that have responded to indicate the IP address or address resolvable to the IP address and the other identification of the plurality of peer computing devices in order to establish the new collaborative network that includes each of the plurality of peer computing devices that have responded.