Patent ID: 7065579

Claim:
A device, comprising: a processor; a network interface configured to couple the device to a network; and a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable within the device to: obtain two or more mechanisms for accessing a set of peer-to-peer platform resources from one or more peer nodes on the network, wherein the one or more peer nodes participate in a peer-to-peer environment on the network to discover each other, communicate with each other, and cooperate with each other to form peer groups and share content, and wherein the two or more mechanisms for accessing the set of peer-to-peer platform resources include: a mechanism for accessing a discovery service for discovering resources in the peer-to-peer environment in accordance with a peer discovery protocol; and a mechanism for accessing a membership service for applying for membership in accordance with a peer membership protocol in one or more peer groups each comprising a set of cooperating peer nodes; and access the set of peer-to-peer platform resources using the two or more mechanisms to participate as a peer node in the peer-to-peer environment.