Apparatus and method for providing peer-to-peer proxy service with temporary storage management and traffic load balancing in peer-to-peer communications

A peer-to-peer communication method for providing peer-to-peer proxy service with management of a storage unit and traffic load balancing in a network gateway device connected between a private network and a public network, comprising:

• detecting an original peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file, which is requested by a first computer in the private network, from the public network, wherein the original peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file includes information of shared file segments and a network address of a tracker;
• loading the original peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file into an emulated external peer-to-peer client;
• modifying the original peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file by replacing the network address of the tracker with a private network address to generate an modified peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file;
• forwarding the modified peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file to the first computer in the private network;
• receiving a first inquiry message from the first computer, wherein the first inquiry message is sent to the network address of the tracker in the modified peer-to-peer meta-descriptor file;
• generating a download record and a sharing computer list;
• performing an internal inquiry procedure;
• performing a load balancing procedure;
• and
• replying the first computer according to a return result of the load balancing procedure.

A peer-to-peer communication method for providing peer-to-peer proxy service with management of a storage unit and traffic load balancing in a network gateway device connected between a public network and at least one private network, comprising:

• receiving an inquiry message from a computer in the public network;
• calculating a first bit-field indicating available shared file segments in the private network according to the inquiry message, shared file segments in the storage unit, the download record, a sharing computer list, an internal computer list, and a mask rule;
• and
• replying to the computer in the public network with the first bit-field.