US Patent 7774010 Peer-to-peer group management framework and methodology

A group management framework and methodology for managing symmetric groups using peer-to-peer network communications. Group management is distributed throughout the group members of the peer-to-peer network, and group information is mirrored in each of the members of the group. The framework facilitates management of group member lists, provides group communication capabilities for external applications, and security for the group communication without the need for intermediary servers to provide services.