Peer discovery
First Claim
1. At one network peer of a plurality of network peers, a method comprising:
- sending an existence notification;
receiving one or more active peer existence notifications from one or more other active network peers currently connected to the network;
receiving from one or more active network peers one or more inactive peer existence notifications concerning one or more inactive network peers previously connected to the network but not currently connected to the network; and
based on the received active and inactive existence notifications, selecting a prospective network address for said one network peer.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Upon initial connection of a peer to a peer-to-peer network, the peer notifies other peers of its connection to the network. The peer receives existence notifications from other peers and may use them to create a list of the peers on the network, which may be sorted by the unique identifiers of each peer. A prospective network address is selected, e.g. based on the ordinal position of the peer within the sorted list. Conflict checking resolves conflicts between the prospective network address and the network address of other peers. Each peer may periodically notify the other peers of its network address, e.g. to prevent new peers from claiming the address. When a peer becomes inactive, another peer detecting this may begin periodically notifying the remaining peers that the address of the disconnected peer is already claimed. Peers may be Voice-over-IP telephone sets and network addresses may be directory numbers.
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Citations
60 Claims
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1. At one network peer of a plurality of network peers, a method comprising:
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sending an existence notification; receiving one or more active peer existence notifications from one or more other active network peers currently connected to the network; receiving from one or more active network peers one or more inactive peer existence notifications concerning one or more inactive network peers previously connected to the network but not currently connected to the network; and based on the received active and inactive existence notifications, selecting a prospective network address for said one network peer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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5. At one network device of a plurality of network devices, a method comprising:
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sending an existence notification; receiving one or more existence notifications from one or more other network devices; and based on the received existence notifications, selecting a prospective network address for said one network device, wherein each existence notification includes a unique network device identifier, and wherein said selecting comprises; sorting each said unique network device identifier of said other network devices along with a unique identifier of said one network device, said sorting resulting in a sorted list of said plurality of network devices; determining an ordinal position of said one network device within the sorted list; and from said ordinal position, creating said prospective network address. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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21. A network peer for use with one or more other network peers in a network, said network peer and said other network peers cumulatively forming a plurality of network peers, said network peer adapted to:
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send an existence notification; receive one or more active peer existence notifications from said other network peers currently connected to the network; receive from one or more network peers currently connected to the network one or more inactive peer existence notifications concerning one or more network peers previously connected to the network but not currently connected to the network; and based on the received active and inactive existence notifications, select a prospective network address for said network device peer. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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25. A network device for use with one or more other network devices, said network device and said other network devices cumulatively forming a plurality of network devices, said network device adapted to:
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send an existence notification; receive one or more existence notifications from said other network devices; and based on the received existence notifications, select a prospective network address for said network device, wherein each existence notification includes a unique network device identifier, and wherein said selecting comprises; sorting each said unique network device identifier of said other network devices along with a unique identifier of said network device, said sorting resulting in a sorted list of said plurality of network devices; determining an ordinal position of said network device within the sorted list; and from said ordinal position, creating said prospective network address. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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41. A machine-readable medium including machine-executable code for execution at one network peer of a plurality of network peers, comprising:
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machine-executable code for sending an existence notification; machine-executable code for receiving one or more active peer existence notifications from one or more other active network peers currently connected to the network; machine-executable code for receiving from one or more active network peers one or more inactive peer existence notifications concerning one or more inactive network peers previously connected to the network but not currently connected to the network; and machine-executable code for selecting a prospective network address for said one network peer based on the received existence notifications. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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45. A machine-readable medium including machine-executable code for execution at one network device of a plurality of network devices, comprising:
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machine-executable code for sending an existence notification; machine-executable code for receiving one or more existence notifications from one or more other network devices; and machine-executable code for selecting a prospective network address for said one network device based on the received existence notifications, wherein each existence notification includes a unique network device identifier, and wherein said selecting comprises; sorting each said unique network device identifier of said other network devices along with a unique identifier of said one network device, said sorting resulting in a sorted list of said plurality of network devices; determining an ordinal position of said one network device within the sorted list; and from said ordinal position, creating said prospective network address. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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Specification