Patent ID: 8160082

Claim:
A method for transferring data from an originating device to a destination device, the method comprising: transmitting data from the originating device to a first intermediate device, wherein the originating device and the first intermediate device are both communicating with one another in a first ad hoc network, and neither the originating device or the first intermediate device are directly coupled to a fixed communications network; transmitting the data from the first intermediate device to a second intermediate device, wherein: the first and second intermediate devices are both communicating with one another in a second ad hoc network, neither the first or second intermediate devices are directly coupled to a fixed communication network, the originating device is not a member of the second ad hoc network, and the first intermediate device has terminated a session with the first ad hoc network; transmitting the data from the second intermediate device to a gateway device coupled to a wired network connection, wherein: the second intermediate device and gateway device are both communicating with one another in a third ad hoc network, the originating device and the first intermediate device are not members of the third ad hoc network, the second intermediate device has terminated a session with the second ad hoc network; and transmitting the data to a destination device from the gateway device over the wired network connection, wherein the destination device indicates a desire to receive the transmitted data, wherein the transmitted data includes information that identifies a generation date of the data, and wherein the generation date of the data beyond a time limit for data lifetime indicates that the data should be deleted or not forwarded to a subsequent device.