Peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies have traditionally been employed primarily to share electronic content (i.e., digital files) between multiple users. In particular, P2P technologies enable a single user to query a community of users for specific data file(s). Once located, the requesting user's computer system (endpoint-1) would then connect to the target user's computer system (i.e., endpoint-2, where the desired content is located), and retrieve a copy of the data file(s).
P2P technologies often experience various different connection setup procedures. For example, the endpoint devices attempting to establish a communication link may require address information to be exchanged prior to setting up a P2P connection. Also, third party servers may manage the connection setup procedures, which may require additional operations necessary to establish a P2P connection. For example, local and remote IP addresses, globally unique identifiers, network information, etc., may be required prior to establishing a connection between P2P endpoints.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds