Patent ID: 8478821

Claim:
A method for managing membership in a peer-to-peer networking environment, the method performed by a first node comprising a computing device, the method comprising: receiving from a peer node on the peer-to-peer network a subscription request specifying an identity of a client seeking to join the peer-to-peer network, the subscription request including a counter field tracking a number of times the subscription request was forwarded in order to reach the first node; modifying the counter field based on receipt of the subscription request; responsive to the modified counter field indicating that a maximum number of forwards has not been reached, determining whether or not to accept the subscription request; responsive to determining to accept the subscription request, adding the client's identity to the first node's downlink list, wherein the first node's downlink list identifies a first set of neighboring nodes; responsive to determining not to accept the subscription request, forwarding the subscription request to each node within the first node's downlink list, the forwarded subscription request including the modified counter field; responsive to the modified counter field indicating that a maximum number of forwards has been reached, dropping the subscription request without adding the client's identity to the first node's downlink list or forwarding the subscription request; and responsive to a lease timeout period elapsing with respect to a child node within the first node's downlink list, removing the child node from the first node's downlink list.