Patent ID: 7451221

Claim:
A method for distributing content in a computer network, comprising: receiving the content by a first server; dividing a plurality of servers into a plurality of groups of servers, each group of servers having a plurality of servers; selecting a group leader server by each group of servers, to form a plurality of group leader servers, each group having a group leader and one or more back end servers; reporting the selection of the group leader servers to the first server; deriving, by the first server, an optimally sorted list of the plurality of group leader servers for the distribution of content to the plurality of the group leader servers; transmitting the content by the first server to a one or more of the group leader servers; transmitting by the one or more group leader servers, in response to the optimally sorted list, the content to one or more other group leader servers; and transmitting the content by each group leader server of the plurality of group leader servers to its back end servers.