Patent ID: 8104043

Claim:
A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a first computer in a group of peer computers, performs actions for coordinated execution of distributed tasks, the actions comprising: receiving from at least one server, by the first computer in the group of peer computers, respective peer computers in the group of peer computers comprising at least one processing unit and one input device and one output device distinct from the at least one processing unit, a first XML document comprising a set of execution instructions for the peer computers, the execution instructions comprising a sequence of tasks to be performed and an automatically, without user action, determined assignment of the tasks to the peer computers; forwarding, by the first computer in the group of peer computers to the other peer computers in the group, a second XML document comprising execution instruction information derived by the first computer from the first XML document comprising the execution instructions, the execution instruction information that is forwarded to respective peer computers in the group informing the respective peer computers of a dependency between one or more tasks assigned to the respective peer computers and one or more tasks assigned to the other peer computers in the group of peer computers; executing, by the first computer, a portion of the sequence of tasks assigned thereto in connection with execution of other of the sequence of tasks assigned to the other peer computers in the group; and receiving, by the first computer from respective other peer computers, and transmitting, by the first computer to the respective other peer computers, peer-to-peer communication messages comprising task execution status information to synchronize and coordinate the execution of the sequence of tasks, the task execution status information comprising an indication that one task upon which another task depends has completed.