Patent ID: 8554827

Claim:
A method of forming a peer in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network having a plurality of peers, comprising: establishing, by a sponsoring node, respective communication sessions with a plurality of virtual peer members comprising at least a first virtual peer member and a second virtual peer member; subsequent to establishing the respective communication sessions, forming, by the sponsoring node, a virtual peer which represents the first virtual peer member that is separately addressable as a peer node in the P2P network and the second virtual peer member, the first virtual peer member hosting first digital assets and the second virtual peer member hosting second digital assets, wherein the virtual peer is registered with a registration agent as a peer node in the P2P network such that the plurality of virtual peer members is represented as a single peer node in the P2P network, and wherein the sponsoring node is adapted to receive requests directed to the virtual peer in the P2P network; obtaining, by the sponsoring node, metadata from the plurality of virtual peer members describing at least the first digital assets and the second digital assets; aggregating, by the sponsoring node, the metadata to form a metadata catalog for the virtual peer; receiving, by the sponsoring node, a first content discovery request from a first peer; in response to the first content discovery request, identifying the first digital assets and the second digital assets to the first peer based on the metadata catalog; wirelessly receiving a connection request from a first mobile device that has entered a wireless coverage area; dynamically integrating the first mobile device into the virtual peer as a third virtual peer member, the third virtual peer member hosting third digital assets; obtaining metadata from the third virtual peer member describing the third digital assets; updating the metadata catalog to describe the first digital assets, the second digital assets, and the third digital assets; receiving a second content discovery request from the first peer; and in response to the second content discovery request, identifying the first digital assets, the second digital assets, and the third digital assets to the first peer based on the metadata catalog.