Patent attributes
A peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing system is provided with an enhanced search method for a client computer therein. The method includes masking at least one term in a multi-term query entered into a client computer of the P2P system to obtain a masked query and routing the masked query to a plurality of server computers. The masked query is compared to a file descriptor of server files in each of the plurality of server computers to identify a plurality of matching server files. The server computers return to the client computer as search results the file descriptor and a mathematical identifier for each of the plurality of matching server files. The server computer may return to the client computer only a subset of the plurality of the matching server files. Enhanced P2P file searching accuracy is provided.