Importance

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Abstract

A system and a method for file exchanges between peer computational devices connected through a network, for peer-to-peer file exchanges. The present invention enables the peer devices to retrieve information about the location of files of interest from a central location authority, which features a centralized database. Therefore, the system and method of the present invention features a mixture of client/server and peer-to-peer communication functionality, in which the bandwidth-intensive, computationally heavy process of retrieving files is performed locally, through a peer-to-peer process; while the computationally lighter and less bandwidth-intensive process of determining the location of any particular file is performed locally. The system of the present invention features a plurality of distributed, decentralized file provision computational devices, which are peer devices and which optionally operate a client module, and a central location authority, for locating files of interest between computational devices connected to the network through communication with the client module. These files are preferably tagged with a file identifier, while each peer device has an associated user identifier. Therefore, files can be managed within the system of the present invention, and can even be blocked from being allowed into the system of the present invention. In addition, the action of users can optionally be controlled by controlling the activities of peer devices. According to preferred embodiments of the present invention, multiple peer devices are considered in order determine from which peer device the file should be downloaded.

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First Claim