User interface in data forwarding network

1. A method comprising:

in a user system having a user interface, the user system configured to communicate with a network of interconnected computer system nodes, sending a request, initiated from the user interface, from the user system to store at least one data item on the network of interconnected computer system nodes;

sending the at least one data item to a node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes; and

controlling at least one function, via the user interface, of storage of the at least one data item in the network of interconnected computer system nodes, wherein in response to the request from the user system the at least one data item is continuously forwarded among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, and each of the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the data is received, and wherein the user interface is configured to display information regarding file storage in the network of interconnected computer system nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each node of the network of interconnected computer system nodes is configured to detect the presence of the at least one data item at the node, apply a time stamp, and forward the at least one data item to another node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes according to a node's availability.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving, in response to a request via the user interface, the at least one data item being continuously forwarded among the nodes.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one data item comprises a data file listed in the displayed information regarding file storage, and further comprising:

accepting a user request in the user interface to delete the data file; and

sending a delete data file request from the user system to a central server in the network of interconnected computer system nodes.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface comprises one or more input or output modalities, used to control the at least one function, selected from one or more of the following: a graphical wheel format, a cubed shape, a three-dimensional representation or graphic, a keypad format, a voice-activated input, a circular button, a box, a virtual world graphical interface, an intuitive interface for execution of network functions, and an interface that executes one or more network functions via any combination of the foregoing input or output modalities.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the displayed information regarding file storage comprises a geographic location of files or an identification of one or more networks associated with storage of the at least one data item.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one data item comprises one or more files, and the at least one controlled function comprises moving the one or more files from one storage location to another storage location.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying information on the user interface regarding storage of any files in a fixed storage medium.

9. A tangible computer readable medium embodying instructions for causing a data processing apparatus to perform a method for communication by a user system, having a user interface, with a network of interconnected computer system nodes, the method comprising:

sending a request, initiated from the user interface, from the user system to store at least one data item on the network of interconnected computer system nodes;

sending the at least one data item to a node in the network of interconnected computer system nodes;

controlling at least one function, via the user interface, of storage of the at least one data item in the network of interconnected computer system nodes, wherein in response to the request from the user system the at least one data item is continuously forwarded among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, and each of the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the data is received; and

displaying information on the user interface regarding file storage in the network of interconnected computer system nodes.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein:

the user system is a first user system; and

the method further comprises sending a request, in response to a user request via the user interface, from the first user system to the network of interconnected computer system nodes to retrieve the at least one data item being continuously forwarded among the nodes in the network, the first user system executing a real-time communications client program that establishes a real-time communications session with a second user system executing a real-time communications client program, wherein the user interface provides an input modality to permit a user to display a list of users including a user of the second user system.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein:

the network of interconnected computer system nodes is a first network; and

the at least one controlled function comprises storing, in response to a user input request on the user interface, a redundant copy of the at least one data item in a second network of interconnected computer system nodes that continuously forwards the copy of the at least one data item among the nodes in the second network without storing the forwarded copy of the at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the second network.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:

sending a query, in response to a search query input from a user in the user interface, to a central server in the network of interconnected computer system nodes;

displaying, using the user interface, a generated list of file names corresponding to the user's search query; and

accepting an input from the user on the user interface to select one of the file names.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein displaying information on the user interface regarding file storage comprises displaying in one or more of the following forms: Flash, HTML, or displaying via at least one script.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the displayed information regarding file storage comprises a geographic location of files or an identification of one or more networks associated with storage of the at least one data item.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the at least one data item comprises one or more files, and the at least one controlled function comprises moving the one or more files from one storage location to another storage location.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the method further comprises displaying information on the user interface regarding storage of any files in a fixed storage medium.

17. A user system, configured to communicate with a network of interconnected computer system nodes, the user system comprising a tangible input/output device including a user interface configured to:

initiate the sending of a request from the user system to store at least one data item on the network of interconnected computer system nodes;

control at least one function of storage of the at least one data item in the network of interconnected computer system nodes, wherein in response to the request from the user system the at least one data item is continuously forwarded among the nodes in the network of interconnected computer system nodes without storing the forwarded at least one data item on any fixed storage medium in the network, the forwarded at least one data item being constantly routed within the network from node to node, and each of the forwarded at least one data item being available for retrieval if a request to retrieve the data is received; and

display, via the input/output device, information regarding file storage in the network of interconnected computer system nodes.

18. The user system of claim 17 wherein the user interface is further configured to:

accept a request from a user to display a list of files that are stored using data forwarding storage; and

display an indication of the public or private status of each file in the displayed list of the files that are stored using data forward storage.

19. The user system of claim 18 wherein the user interface is further configured to accept input from a user to control the communication of advertising information to the user system from the at least one data item stored in the network of interconnected computer system nodes.

20. The user system of claim 17 wherein the user interface is further configured to accept a request from a user to retrieve the at least one data item being continuously forwarded among the nodes.