Scalable peer to peer searching apparatus and method

摘要

A method of searching across a peer to peer network, each peer having searchable content and connected to a plurality of neighboring peers via links, comprises: establishing a contributor pipeline via the links to pass a query around the peers, for contribution of any available result content at respective peers; and establishing a read pipeline via the links to pass contributed results back to a query originator. The read pipeline allows results to be read by any intervening peer that is interested. The pipelines are set up using a subscribe and publish mechanism.