Discovery and formation of local communication group

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions to operate a group communication service, including instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to:

• receive a communication group formation request from a requesting communication node;
• transmit a discovery message to the requesting communication node, wherein the discovery message comprises discovery data and is configured to permit broadcast of the discovery data from the requesting communication node to the plurality of local communication nodes, wherein each local communication node is located within a broadcasting range of the requesting node;
• receive an election message from an electing communication node, wherein the electing communication node is one of the plurality of local communication nodes and further wherein the election message is a response to the broadcasted discovery data;
• and
• establish a communication group, wherein the communication group comprises the requesting communication node and the electing communication node.

A method of operating a group communication service to establish a communication group, the method comprising:

• receiving a communication group formation request from a requesting communication node;
• transmitting a discovery message to a plurality of local communication nodes, wherein each local communication node is located within a proximity range of the requesting node;
• receiving an election response from an electing communication node, wherein the electing communication node is one of the plurality of local communication nodes and further wherein the election response is a response to the electing communication node having received the discovery message;
• and
• establishing the communication group, wherein the communication group comprises the requesting communication node and the electing communication node.