Peer-to-peer content broadcast transfer mechanism

A method for transferring files between nodes in a peer-to-peer network having a plurality of nodes including an originating node, at least one recipient node, and first and second neighboring nodes, wherein the recipient node has a direct peer-to-peer connection to the first and second neighboring nodes and an indirect peer-to-peer connection to the originating node, the method comprising:

• receiving at the recipient node from the first neighboring node a notification that the first neighboring node can supply a first file, wherein the recipient node possesses first metadata associated with the first file, the first metadata comprising a first priority;
• receiving at the recipient node a request from the second neighboring node to upload a second file from the recipient node to the second neighboring node, wherein the recipient node possesses second metadata associated with the second file, the second metadata comprising a second priority;
• determining which of the first and second priorities corresponds to a higher priority level;
• and
• retrieving the first file from the first neighboring node if the first priority corresponds to a higher priority level than the second priority, and otherwise uploading the second file to the second neighboring node.

A method for transferring files between nodes in a peer-to-peer network having a plurality of nodes including a recipient node and first and second neighboring nodes, wherein the recipient node has a direct peer-to-peer connection to the first and second neighboring nodes, the method comprising:

• receiving at the recipient node from a supplying node a portion of a desired file having a first generation identifier and assigning to the portion of the desired file a second generation identifier that is greater than the first generation identifier;
• receiving at the recipient node from the first neighboring node a first notification that the first neighboring node can supply the desired file, wherein the first notification comprises a first neighbor copy generation identifier;
• receiving at the recipient node from the second neighboring node a second notification that the second neighboring node can supply the desired file, wherein the second notification comprises a second neighbor copy generation identifier;
• and
• determining which of the first neighboring node and the second neighboring node to retrieve a remaining portion of the desired file from based on the first and second neighbor copy generation identifiers.