Method for distributing and maintaining network presence information
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- US Β· United States
- Patent Type
- Applications(United States)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- INTEL CORP
- Publication Date
- 2002-03-21
- Estimated Expiration
- Not applicable Β· inactive patent
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Abstract
Description
[0001] 1. Field
[0002] The present invention pertains to distributing and maintaining network presence information. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a server assisted peer-to-peer network communication method for determining when a person, device or service is present on a network.
[0003] 2. Background Information
[0004] A network may be defined as a group of connected computers that allows people to share information and equipment. For example, a client / server network may consist of one or more client computers connected to a central computer known as a server. People (also referred to herein as "peers," "network users," or "Internet users") may access files stored on the server by using one of the client computers to send a message to the server. In addition to allowing network users to access files stored on central computers, current network technology (such as the Internet) permits an exchange of information between people who are simultaneously present on the ...