Patent ID: 8194701

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving from a first node within a computer network a first bid request to forward a specified digital object to a destination node via the computer network, wherein the first bid request is received by a second node that is an intermediary node within the computer network and that includes a computer system; generating, at the second node, a second bid request to forward the specified digital object to the destination node via the computer network, wherein the second bid request is generated based, at least in part, on the first bid request; transmitting the second bid request from the second node to one or more nodes downstream to the second node, including a third node that is another intermediary node within the computer network; receiving, at the second node, a set of one or more bids that are responsive to the second bid request, wherein at least a first bid of the set of one or more bids is for forwarding the specified digital object from the second node to the destination node via the third node, wherein the first bid has been generated by the third node based, at least in part, on bid requests successively forwarded from the third node to nodes within the computer network, and on one or more bids received by the third node in response to the successively forwarded bid requests; the second node computer system generating a second bid based, at least in part, on information in the first bid, wherein the generated second bid is responsive to the first bid request and is for forwarding the specified digital object from the first node to the destination node; and transmitting the generated second bid from the second node to the first node.