Patent ID: 7260596

Claim:
A station for a network apparatus, said network apparatus comprising said station and a plurality of other stations, all interconnected in a network by a communication link, said station comprising: a network connection; a self assessment module operable to determine a current status of said station, wherein said current status is a measure of available hardware resources of said station, and wherein said current status includes a determination of a dynamic status for said station based on current usage of said hardware resources of said station; a trust list that includes a station identifier for each other station of said plurality of other stations which is designated as trusted to perform tasks for said station; a broadcast unit operable to transmit service requests to said network connection and via said network, said service requests being directed to said each other station identified in said trust list and constituting a request to said each other station to perform a task for said station; an answer unit operable to receive service requests via network through said network connection and, in response thereto, to transmit via network through said network connection an acceptance or refusal message in respect of said service request, said acceptance or refusal being decided based on said current status of said station, as determined by said self assessment module; and a service requirement analysis module and a software resource repository in which a plurality of software modules are stored, said service requirement analysis module being operable to maintain said software resource repository by importing and exporting software modules to and from other stations having regard to demand in said station for such software modules.