Patent ID: 7546363

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request for a data file from a requesting device; determining data sources having the data file; creating a prioritized list of best paths to the data sources; selecting a data source having a best path to the requesting device; establishing a direct peer-to-peer communication between the data source and the requesting device, wherein the establishing of the direct peer-to-peer communication includes identifying the data source to the requesting device; and directing the requesting device to the data source for the requesting the device to obtain the data file from the data source via the best path, the directing of the requesting device to the data source including directing traffic from a first network to a second network such that the second network provides a proxy service for the first network, wherein the directing of the requesting device to the data source based on a predetermined time period having an expiration timeout, wherein the requesting device is directed to the data source after the predetermined time period has reached, wherein the predetermined time period is tailored according to content of the data file.