Patent ID: 8159949

Claim:
A network for receiving and transferring streaming audio-video content over a linked-list hybrid peer-to-peer sub-network of nodes arranged in one-to-one chains to allow for the dissemination of audio-video content to multiple peers, comprising: a content server; a traffic server in communication with the content server configured to: direct the arrangement of communication between a plurality of nodes and the content server, determine a performance rating of a performance metric for each node, and allocate each node to a sub-network based on the performance rating and a threshold of the sub-network; one or more sub-networks comprising one or more nodes; a first sub-network, wherein each node of the first sub-network comprises a performance rating greater than a first threshold, the first sub-network comprising: a first node in communication with the content server as directed by the traffic server and configured to receive streaming audio-video content from the content server and no other node, and configured to output said streaming audio-video content to at most one other node, a second node in communication with the first node as directed by the traffic server such that the first node precedes the second node in a one-to-one connection chain, the second node configured to receive said streaming audio-video content from the content server via the first node and no other node, and configured to output audio-video content to at most one other node, and a third node in communication with the second node as directed by the traffic server, such that the second node precedes the third node in a one-to-one connection chain, the third node configured to receive said streaming audio-video content from the content server via the second node and no other node, and configured to output audio-video content to at most one other node; and a second sub-network, wherein each node of the second sub-network contains a performance rating lower than the first threshold, the second sub-network comprising: a fourth node in communication with the content server as directed by the traffic server, the fourth node configured to receive said streaming audio-video content from the content server and no other node, and configured to output audio-video content to at most one other node, a fifth node in communication with the fourth node as directed by the traffic server, such that the fourth node precedes the fifth node in a one-to-one connection chain, the fifth node configured to receive said streaming audio-video content from the content server via the fourth node and no other node, and configured to output audio-video content to at most one other node, and a sixth node in communication with the fifth node as directed by the traffic server, such that the fifth node precedes the sixth node in a one-to-one connection chain, the fifth node configured to receive said streaming audio-video content from the content server via the fifth node and no other node, and configured to output audio-video content to at most one other node.