Peer tunnels and peer group targets

1. At a computer system in a computer network including one or more networked agents formed into a peer group of peers using at least one peer-to-peer connection, a method of transferring data, the method comprising acts of:

receiving a computer readable message from a peer-to-peer network, the computer readable message being a centric message enveloped in a peer-to-peer message, wherein a centric message is defined as a message relying on centralized authority to define network organization and a peer-to-peer message is defined as a message with no central authority defining network organization;

determining whether the message is intended for the computer system, or a different computer system in the peer group;

in response to a determination that the message is intended for a different computer system in the peer group, sending the message to a plurality of peers that the computer system is aware of within the peer group;

in response to a determination that the message is intended for the computer system:

extracting the centric message contained within the message; and

delivering the centric message to an agent configured for centric type communications in a centric format expected by the agent, such that the agent communicates with other centric type communication agents over the peer-to-peer network without awareness of the peer-to-peer network over which the centric message was communicated.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the centric message is at least one of an Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP), an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), a Post Office Protocol (POP), or a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer readable message is Radio Frequency (RF) message.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more networked agents comprise smart peripherals connected to the computer system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a computer readable message from a peer-to-peer network comprises receiving the computer readable message at a protocol stack that includes a peer-to-peer protocol and a centric protocol, the method further comprising the peer-to-peer protocol examining the computer readable message to determine that it contains a centric message.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the computer readable message is transparent to the agent configured for centric type communications.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer system comprises a peer file server, the method further comprising delivering the centric message to a local peer client.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a computer readable message from a peer-to-peer network comprises receiving a Web Services message.

9. At a sending computer system in a computer network including one or more networked agents formed into a peer group of peers using at least one peer-to-peer connection, a method of transferring data, the method comprising acts of:

sending a centric message from an agent configured for centric type communications, the message having an intended centric recipient, wherein a centric message is defined as a message relying on centralized authority to define network organization;

receiving the centric message at a peer-to-peer conversion module;

enveloping the centric message in a peer-to-peer message, wherein a peer-to-peer message is defined as a message with no central authority defining network organization; and

sending the peer-to-peer message enveloping the centric message to a plurality of peers in the peer group using a peer-to-peer protocol irrespective of whether the plurality of peers includes the intended recipient of the centric message, wherein sending the peer-to-peer message irrespective of whether the plurality of peers includes the intended recipient includes sending the peer-to-peer message enveloping the centric message to a plurality of peers configured to:

at a recipient computer system within the peer group, receive the peer-to-peer messages enveloping the centric message and determine whether the message is intended the recipient computer system or for a different computer system;

in response to determining that the message is intended for a different computer system, send the message to a plurality of peers also within the peer group; and

in response to determining that the message is intended for the recipient computer system, extract the centric message and deliver the centric message to an agent, and in a format expected by the agent, such that the agent communicates with other centric-type communication agents over the peer-to-peer network without awareness of the peer-to-peer network over which the centric message was communicated.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending a message from an agent configured for centric type communications comprises sending at least one of a Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP), an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), a Post Office Protocol (POP), or a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message comprises sending Radio Frequency (RF) protocol message.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message comprises sending a Web Services message.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending a message from an agent configured for centric type communications comprises addressing the message to a distribution list, wherein the distribution list maps to the peer group.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the sending computer system comprises a protocol stack including a peer-to-peer protocol, the method further comprising examining the message at the peer-to-peer protocol to determine that the message is addressed to the peer group, and in response, the act of sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message to one or more of the peers in the peer group using a peer-to-peer protocol comprises sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message to the peer group.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message to one or more of the peers in the peer group using a peer-to-peer protocol comprises sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message to the entire peer group irrespective of any addressing done at that agent configured for centric type communications.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein sending the message enveloped in the peer-to-peer message is transparent to the agent configured for centric type communications.

17. The method of claim 9 , wherein the sending computer system comprises a peer file server configured to send messages across a peer-to-peer network.

18. At a computer network comprising a plurality of agents communicatively coupled as peers, each of the agents comprising host computing systems implementing applications designed to communicated through centric protocols, the plurality of agents forming a peer group of peers using at least one peer-to-peer connection, a method of transferring a communication from an email client application at an originating peer to an email server application at a destination peer through the peer to peer network without requiring a centric communication path between the peers, the method comprising acts of:

the email client application sending an email message using a centric protocol, wherein a centric protocol is one that relies on a centralized authority to define network organization and a peer-to-peer protocol is one that has no central authority defining network organization, wherein the email client application is connected to a protocol stack that includes a centric protocol and a peer-to-peer protocol, the email message being sent using the centric protocol and intended for an email server application;

a peer-to-peer conversion module receiving the email message, wherein the peer-to-peer conversion module is located at a location other than a location identified as a destination in the centric message;

the peer-to-peer conversion module enveloping the email message in a peer-to-peer protocol message;

sending the peer-to-peer protocol message enveloping the email message to a plurality of peers in the peer group using the peer-to-peer protocol irrespective of whether the plurality of peers includes the intended recipient of the email message; and

at each of the plurality of peers:

receiving the peer-to-peer protocol message enveloping the email message at a protocol stack associated with the peer;

determining whether the peer-to-peer protocol message is intended for an email server application at the peer that received the peer-to-peer protocol message or is instead intended for email server application at a different peer in the peer group; and

in response to a determination that the peer-to-peer protocol message is intended for the email server application at a different peer in the peer group, sending the peer-to-peer protocol message to peers of the peer group that peer is aware of;

in response to a determination that the peer-to-peer protocol message is intended for the email server application associated with the peer:

passing the peer-to-peer protocol message through the protocol stack associated with the peer to extract the email message contained within the peer-to-peer message; and

delivering the email message to the email server application associated with the peer and configured for centric type communications in a centric format expected by the destination network agent, such that the email client application communicates with the email server application over the peer-to-peer network without awareness of the peer-to-peer network over which the email message was communicated.