Infrastructure for accessing a peer-to-peer network environment

• US 20040162871A1
• Filed: 02/13/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Haywood, Arvin C., Pabla, Kuldipsingh A., Arora, Akhil K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,774,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1046 Joining mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1093 Some peer nodes performing special functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Embodiments of a system and method for providing peer-to-peer (p2p) capabilities to devices with limited resources (e.g. wireless devices). A mechanism is described that allows the devices to participate as peer nodes in p2p network environments through wired or wireless connections. In one embodiment, the p2p network environment may be implemented according to a p2p platform, and the mechanism may be interoperable with p2p platform devices in the p2p network environment. A relay/proxy node on the network may serve as an interface to the p2p environment for devices using the mechanism to participate as peers in the p2p network. The relay/proxy node may be accessed using the mechanism to perform one or more p2p network environment functions on behalf of the devices.

Claims

1. A peer computing system, comprising:

a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols for enabling the peer nodes to discover peer-to-peer environment resources including each other, communicate with each other, and cooperate with each other to form peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment;

wherein one or more of the plurality of peer nodes are relay/proxy nodes each configured to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of wireless devices; and

a plurality of wireless devices each configured to communicate with one or more of the relay/proxy nodes according to a wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure to participate as peers in the peer-to-peer environment in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols.

2. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein, to communicate with one or more of the relay/proxy nodes according to a wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure to participate as peers in the peer-to-peer environment in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols, the plurality of wireless devices are each further configured to:

send outgoing messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure to the one or more of the relay/proxy nodes; and

receive incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from the one or more of the relay/proxy nodes.

3. The peer computing system as recited in claim 2, wherein the outgoing and incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure are in a binary message format.

4. The peer computing system as recited in claim 2, wherein the outgoing and incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure are transported over Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

5. The peer computing system as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more of the relay/proxy nodes are each configured to:

receive a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating one or more of the plurality of wireless devices as destinations; and

translate a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating one or more of the plurality of wireless devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

6. The peer computing system as recited in claim 2, wherein the one or more of the relay/proxy nodes are each configured to:

translate the outgoing messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure received from the plurality of wireless devices into outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating one or more of the plurality of wireless devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

7. The peer computing system as recited in claim 6, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein, to translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating one or more of the plurality of wireless devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure, the one or more of the relay/proxy nodes are each further configured to exclude one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

8. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the relay/proxy nodes are each further configured to:

receive a message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from one of the wireless devices;

generate one or more messages formatted according to one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols in response to the message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure; and

send the one or more messages formatted according to one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols to one or more of the plurality of peer nodes.

9. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the relay/proxy nodes are each further configured to:

receive a message formatted according to one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating one of the wireless devices as a destination of the message;

generate a message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from the message formatted according to the one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

send the message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure to the destination wireless device.

10. The peer computing system as recited in claim 9, wherein the message formatted according to the one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols comprises a plurality of elements, and wherein, to generate a message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from the message formatted according to the one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols, the relay/proxy nodes are each further configured to exclude one or more of the elements from the message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

11. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the relay/proxy nodes are each further configured to:

receive a query message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from one of the wireless devices;

perform a query in the peer-to-peer environment on behalf of the one of the wireless devices in response to the query message;

receive a plurality of messages formatted according to the peer-to-peer platform in response to the query;

filter the plurality of messages formatted according to the peer-to-peer platform to determine a subset of the plurality of messages formatted according to the peer-to-peer platform to send to the one of the wireless devices;

generate a message formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure from each of the messages formatted according to the one of the peer-to-peer platform protocols in the subset; and

send the messages formatted according to the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure to the one of the wireless devices.

12. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

13. The peer computing system as recited in claim 12, wherein the peer-to-peer network resources include one or more of peers, peer groups, and peer-to-peer platform communications channels.

14. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

15. The peer computing system as recited in claim 14, wherein the peer-to-peer network resources include one or more of peer groups and peer-to-peer platform communications channels.

16. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment.

17. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

18. The peer computing system as recited in claim 17, wherein the peer-to-peer network entities include one or more of peers and modules.

19. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure is implemented with the J2ME platform.

20. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless devices include one or more Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant devices.

21. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless devices include one or more wireless devices each using one of Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), CDC (Connected Device Configuration), PP (Personal Profile), PBP (Personal Basis Profile), and PDAP (Personal Digital Assistant Profile).

22. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the wireless devices is a model of cell phone and another one of the wireless devices is a different model of cell phone, and wherein the one of the wireless devices is configured to communicate with the other one of the wireless devices via the one or more relay/proxy nodes in accordance with the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

23. The peer computing system as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the wireless devices is a cell phone using a carrier service and another one of the wireless devices is a cell phone using a different carrier service, and wherein the one of the wireless devices is configured to communicate with the other one of the wireless devices via the one or more relay/proxy nodes in accordance with the wireless peer-to-peer infrastructure.

24. A peer computing system, comprising:

a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols;

one of the plurality of peer nodes configured to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of other devices; and

a device comprising;

a processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the programming instructions are executable by the processor to implement an application configured to access an Application Programming Interface (API) to communicate with the one of the plurality of peer nodes to perform the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions on behalf of the application.

25. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the API includes:

one or more methods for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages; and

one or more methods for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

26. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein, to communicate with the one of the plurality of peer nodes to perform the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions on behalf of the application, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to:

send outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol to the one of the plurality of peer nodes; and

receive incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol from the one of the plurality of peer nodes.

27. The peer computing system as recited in claim 26, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

28. The peer computing system as recited in claim 26, wherein the one of the plurality of peer nodes is further configured to:

receive a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination; and

translate a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

29. The peer computing system as recited in claim 26, wherein the one of the plurality of peer nodes is further configured to:

translate the outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol and received from the device into outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

30. The peer computing system as recited in claim 29, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein, to translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the one of the plurality of peer nodes is further configured to exclude one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

31. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the device is a wireless device.

32. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the device is a small device.

33. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

34. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the application and the API are implemented with the J2ME platform.

35. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

36. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

37. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment.

38. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

39. The peer computing system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one of the plurality of peer nodes includes a relay/proxy service configured to perform the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of other devices.

40. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the programming instructions are executable by the processor to implement an application, wherein the application is configured to access an Application Programming Interface (API) to communicate with a relay/proxy node configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network according to one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to direct the relay/proxy node to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application.

41. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the API includes:

one or more methods for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages;

one or more methods for generating and manipulating elements of the peer-to-peer platform messages; and

one or more methods for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

42. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the API includes one or more methods for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages.

43. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the API includes one or more methods for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

44. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the API includes:

one or more methods for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages; and

one or more methods for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

45. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein, to communicate with a relay/proxy node configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network according to one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to direct the relay/proxy node to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to:

send outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol to the one of the plurality of peer nodes; and

receive incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol from the one of the plurality of peer nodes.

46. The device as recited in claim 45, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

47. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the device is a wireless device.

48. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the device is a small device.

49. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

50. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the application and the API are implemented with the J2ME platform.

51. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the API is part of a J2ME platform library.

52. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

53. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

54. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment.

55. The device as recited in claim 40, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

56. A peer node, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the programming instructions are executable by the processor to;

participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network according to one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

implement a relay/proxy service configured to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of one or more devices coupled to the peer node.

57. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein, to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of one or more devices coupled to the peer node, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to:

receive outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol from the one or more devices; and

send incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol to the one or more devices.

58. The peer node as recited in claim 57, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

59. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein, to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of one or more devices coupled to the peer node, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to:

receive a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the one or more devices as destinations; and

translate a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the one or more devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

60. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein, to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of one or more devices coupled to the peer node, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to:

translate the outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol and received from the one or more devices into outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the one or more devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

61. The peer node as recited in claim 60, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein, to translate incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the one or more devices as destinations into the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to exclude one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

62. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more devices include one or more wireless devices.

63. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more devices include one or more small devices.

64. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more devices include one or more Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant devices.

65. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

66. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

67. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment.

68. The peer node as recited in claim 56, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

69. A method comprising:

one of a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols receiving one or more outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol from an application on a device coupled to the one of a plurality of peer nodes; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

70. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

71. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol to the device.

72. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol into one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes.

73. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

74. The method as recited in claim 73, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein said translating the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises the one of the plurality of peer nodes excluding one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

75. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the device is a wireless device.

76. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the device is a small device.

77. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

78. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the application is implemented with the J2ME platform.

79. The method as recited in claim 69, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include one or more of discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment, and communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

80. A method comprising:

a device sending one or more outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol and generated by an application on the device to one of a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

81. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

82. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol into one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes.

83. The method as recited in claim 82, wherein said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol to the device.

84. The method as recited in claim 83, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein said translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol comprises the one of the plurality of peer nodes excluding one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

85. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the device is a wireless device.

86. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the device is a small device.

87. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

88. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the application is implemented according to the J2ME platform.

89. The method as recited in claim 80, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include one or more of discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment, and communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

90. A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:

one of a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols receiving one or more outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol from an application on a device coupled to the one of a plurality of peer nodes; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

91. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

92. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein, in said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol to the device.

93. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein, in said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol into one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes.

94. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein, in said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

95. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 94, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein, in said translating the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement the one of the plurality of peer nodes excluding one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

96. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the device is a wireless device.

97. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the device is a small device.

98. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

99. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the application is implemented with the J2ME platform.

100. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 90, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include one or more of discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment, and communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

101. A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:

a device sending one or more outgoing messages formatted according to a binary message protocol and generated by an application on the device to one of a plurality of peer nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

102. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the binary message protocol is one of HTTP, TCP, UDP and Bluetooth.

103. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein, in said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol into one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to one or more others of the plurality of peer nodes.

104. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 103, wherein, in said performing one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols on behalf of the application in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement:

the one of the plurality of peer nodes receiving a plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination in response to the one or more outgoing messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol; and

the one of the plurality of peer nodes sending the one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol to the device.

105. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 104, wherein the incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols each comprise a plurality of elements, and wherein, in said translating a subset of the plurality of incoming messages formatted according to the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols and indicating the application as a destination into one or more incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol, the program instructions are further configured to implement the one of the plurality of peer nodes excluding one or more of the elements from the incoming messages formatted according to the binary message protocol.

106. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the device is a wireless device.

107. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the device is a small device.

108. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the device is a Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP)-compliant device.

109. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the application is implemented according to the J2ME platform.

110. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 101, wherein the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions include one or more of discovery of peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, creating peer-to-peer network resources in the peer-to-peer environment, joining peer groups in the peer-to-peer environment, and communicating with peer-to-peer network entities in the peer-to-peer environment.

111. A computer-accessible medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are configured to implement:

a development platform for developing applications for devices; and

a library of the development platform comprising one or more library functions accessible to the applications for communicating with relay/proxy nodes configured to participate in a peer-to-peer environment on a network according to one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols to direct the relay/proxy nodes to perform one or more peer-to-peer environment functions in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols.

112. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the one or more library functions include:

one or more functions for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages;

one or more functions for generating and manipulating elements of the peer-to-peer platform messages; and

one or more functions for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

113. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the one or more library functions include one or more library functions for generating and manipulating peer-to-peer platform messages.

114. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the one or more library functions include one or more library functions for performing the one or more peer-to-peer environment functions.

115. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the development platform is J2ME.

116. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the devices are wireless devices.

117. The computer-accessible medium as recited in claim 111, wherein the devices are small devices.