Method for Buffer Management for Video Swarms in a Peer-to-Peer Network

A consumer node operable in a system for streaming multimedia content, comprising:

• an interface to a network enabling communication with at least one resource node adapted to deliver multimedia content and at least one reliable node adapted to guarantee the reliable delivery of multimedia content;
• and
• a buffer for buffing the multimedia content;
• wherein the buffer is filled with multimedia content by having the consumer node first access the at least one resource node for a first time interval, and then the at least one reliable node for a second time interval, the second time interval being subsequent to the first time interval.

A method for loading a buffer of a consumer node operable in a system for streaming multimedia content, comprising:

• dividing the buffer to sections each section being filled with multimedia data during a different time interval;
• loading a first section of the buffer by accessing at least one resource node of the multimedia content during a first time interval;
• and
• loading a second section of the buffer by accessing at least one reliable node of the multimedia content during a second time interval;
• wherein the buffer continuously delivers the multimedia content to a display of the consumer node and wherein the at least one reliable node is adapted to guarantee delivery of multimedia content to connected nodes.