Patent ID: 8407472

Claim:
A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising: receiving, by a server device, an authentication request from a target user device to access encrypted content; conducting, by the server device, authentication procedures for the target user device; sending, when the target user device is authenticated and to the target user device, a license key for the encrypted content; receiving, by a content server and from the target user device, a request for the encrypted content, where the request originates via a wireless access network; determining, by the content server, that a donor user device is available to provide the encrypted content via a local wireless network that is different than the wireless access network, wherein the determining includes: identifying, as potential donor user devices, one or more user devices with mobile WiFi capability that have previously downloaded the encrypted content, identifying, from the potential donor user devices, one or more user devices within WiFi signal range of the target user device, and selecting the donor user device based on the identifying potential donor user devices and the identifying the one or more user devices within WiFi signal range; and sending, by the content server and to the target user, instructions to retrieve the encrypted content from the donor user device, where the encrypted content is decrypted by the target user device using the license key.