Virtual peer in a peer-to-peer network
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- registering, by a sponsoring agent, a virtual peer including a plurality of virtual peer members with a peer-to-peer (P2P) network such that the virtual peer is established as a peer in the P2P network, wherein each of the plurality of virtual peer members is communicatively coupled to the sponsoring agent;
receiving, from a device other than one of the plurality of virtual peer members, an incoming message on behalf of the virtual peer at the sponsoring agent operating as a communication end-point for the virtual peer in the P2P network;
sending, by the sponsoring agent, the incoming message to at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members; and
effecting by-passing of the sponsoring agent for an outgoing message from the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members to a desired recipient by;
providing virtual peer credentials to the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members to be used when providing an outgoing message to a desired recipient,wherein when the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members provides the outgoing message to the desired recipient using the virtual peer credentials, the outgoing message appears to the desired recipient to have been provided by the virtual peer rather than the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to a virtual peer for a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. In general, the virtual peer is a logical construct enabling a number of virtual peer members to appear as a single peer node in the P2P network. In operation, a sponsoring agent creates and registers a virtual peer including a number of virtual peer members with the P2P network. Once registered, the virtual peer appears as a new peer node in the P2P network, wherein the sponsoring agent operates as the communication end-point for the virtual peer in the P2P network. Thereafter, when the sponsoring agent receives an incoming message on behalf of the virtual peer, the sponsoring agent sends the incoming message to one or more of the virtual peer members.
379 Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
registering, by a sponsoring agent, a virtual peer including a plurality of virtual peer members with a peer-to-peer (P2P) network such that the virtual peer is established as a peer in the P2P network, wherein each of the plurality of virtual peer members is communicatively coupled to the sponsoring agent; receiving, from a device other than one of the plurality of virtual peer members, an incoming message on behalf of the virtual peer at the sponsoring agent operating as a communication end-point for the virtual peer in the P2P network; sending, by the sponsoring agent, the incoming message to at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members; and effecting by-passing of the sponsoring agent for an outgoing message from the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members to a desired recipient by; providing virtual peer credentials to the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members to be used when providing an outgoing message to a desired recipient, wherein when the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members provides the outgoing message to the desired recipient using the virtual peer credentials, the outgoing message appears to the desired recipient to have been provided by the virtual peer rather than the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
18. The method of 1 wherein each of the plurality of virtual peer members is a member selected from a group consisting of:
- a peer node in the P2P network, another virtual peer, an independent user device, a web server, and a proxy server.
-
25. A sponsoring node for hosting a virtual peer in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network comprising:
-
a communication interface; and a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to; register the virtual peer including a plurality of virtual peer members with the P2P network such that the virtual peer is established as a peer in the P2P network, wherein the sponsoring node operates as a communication end-point for the virtual peer in the P2P network, and each of the plurality of virtual peer members is communicatively coupled to the sponsoring node; receive, by a device other than one of the plurality of virtual peer members, an incoming message on behalf of the virtual peer; send the incoming message to at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members; and effect by-passing of the sponsoring node for an outgoing message from the at least one of the virtual peer members to a desired recipient by; providing virtual peer credentials to the at least one of the virtual peer members to be used when providing the outgoing message to the desired recipient, wherein when the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members provides the outgoing message to the desired recipient using the virtual peer credentials, the outgoing message appears to the desired recipient to have been provided by the virtual peer rather than the at least one of the plurality of virtual peer members. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
Specification