Patent ID: 7986687

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a processor; and a memory storing program instructions, the memory and the program instructions configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform: a) process data received from a first host; b) cause transmission of said data to one or more further hosts; c) define a group comprising one or more further hosts, wherein a further host is added to the group in response to reception of a request; d) determine whether a first condition is met, the first condition being that a number of received requests for a file exceeds a predetermined threshold; e) determine whether a second condition is met, the second condition being that a time limit has expired; f) repeat d) and e) until either of the first and second conditions is met, and then to forward the data to said further hosts in said group, and wherein the processor is configured to limit the group to further hosts situated at a same location.