System and method for secure peer-to-peer communication between downloaded programs

摘要

A system and method for establishing a peer-to-peer communication connection between computer programs from the same security domain, but executing in first and second computers, is disclosed. A first computer program, while executing in the first computer, sends a communication a message to the second computer, requesting a peer-to-peer communication connection. Upon receiving the message at said second computer, the second computer determines whether a second computer program meeting predefined criteria for establishing a peer-to-peer communication connection is executing in the second computer. If so, the second computer sends to the first computer a reply message accepting the request. After receipt of the reply message by the first computer, the requested peer-to-peer communication connection between the first and second computer programs is established. In a preferred embodiment, the predefined criteria for establishing a peer-to-peer communication connection is that the first and second computer programs be from the same server computer.