Peer-to-peer network heartbeat server and associated methods

摘要

A self-defined, automatically-configured hierarchical peer-to-peer networking method is disclosed. Network hierarchy is determined by the proximity (quantified as lower latency) of nodes in the network to a predetermined heartbeat server node. Nodes in closer proximity to the server node are considered parent of nodes in farther proximity. Nodes in equal proximity to the server node are considered siblings to each other. The disclosed network has a loop-free connectivity topology where a parent node may have multiple child nodes but does not share any child nodes with other parents.