Method for actively sharing available bandwidth to consumer nodes in a peer-to-peer network for delivery of video streams

1. A method comprising:

determining, via a computing device, whether a resource node has available bandwidth to allocate to a list of consumer nodes comprising a plurality of consumer nodes in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, each consumer node in said list of consumer nodes satisfying a quality of service (QoS) for the P2P transfers over the P2P network, said QoS reflecting a dynamically changing, demand-for-services based, respective number of resource nodes that each consumer node of said plurality can connect to as a primary and secondary node connection;

determining, via the computing device, a number of first consumer nodes from the list of consumer nodes to which an availability notification can be sent, said determination based on each first consumer node satisfying a dynamic quota value associated with each node's active connections, said dynamic quota value corresponding to a maximum allowable quota value indicating a maximum number of connections that the resource node can accept from each first consumer node;

selecting, via the computing device, a number of second consumer nodes from the first number of consumer nodes based on said second consumer node's being addressable by the resource node;

sending, via the computing device, the availability notification to each of the selected second consumer nodes;

receiving, by the computing device, a decline message from at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

selecting, by the computing device, in accordance with the QoS, another consumer node from the second consumer nodes to send the availability notification.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said selection of the second number of consumer nodes is a random selection.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the second number of consumer nodes comprises a statistical determination based on statistics of prior connection responses by said second consumer nodes to previous availability notifications.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a request to connect to the resource node by at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

connecting the resource node to the at least one second consumer node.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the dynamic quota value is less than the maximum allowable quota value, wherein the dynamic quota value is periodically computed by the resource node.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor associated with a computing device, perform a method comprising:

determining whether a resource node has available bandwidth to allocate to a list of consumer nodes comprising a plurality of consumer nodes in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, each consumer node in said list of consumer nodes satisfying a quality of service (QoS) for the P2P transfers over the P2P network, said QoS reflecting a dynamically changing, demand-for-services based, respective number of resource nodes that each consumer node of said plurality can connect to as a primary and secondary node connection;

determining a number of first consumer nodes from the list of consumer nodes to which an availability notification can be sent, said determination based on each first consumer node satisfying a dynamic quota value associated with each node's active connections, said dynamic quota value corresponding to a maximum allowable quota value indicating a maximum number of connections that the resource node can accept from each first consumer node;

selecting a number of second consumer nodes from the first number of consumer nodes based on said second consumer node's being addressable by the resource node;

sending the availability notification to each of the selected second consumer nodes;

receiving a decline message from at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

selecting, in accordance with the QoS, another consumer node from the second consumer nodes to send the availability notification.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one said second consumer nodes belongs to a channel swarm associated with said resource node within said P2P network.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein said selection of the second number of consumer nodes is a random selection.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the selection of the second number of consumer nodes comprises a statistical determination-based on statistics of prior connection responses by said second consumer nodes to previous availability notifications.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , further comprising:

receiving a request to connect to the resource node by at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

connecting the resource node to the at least one second consumer node.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , further comprising:

determining whether the dynamic quota value is less than the maximum allowable quota value, wherein the dynamic quota value is periodically computed by the resource node.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein at least one said second consumer nodes belongs to a channel swarm associated with said resource node within said P2P network.

13. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining whether a resource node has available bandwidth to allocate to a list of consumer nodes comprising a plurality of consumer nodes in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, each consumer node in said list of consumer nodes satisfying a quality of service (QoS) for the P2P transfers over the P2P network, said QoS reflecting a dynamically changing, demand-for-services based, respective number of resource nodes that each consumer node of said plurality can connect to as a primary and secondary node connection;

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a number of first consumer nodes from the list of consumer nodes to which an availability notification can be sent, said determination based on each first consumer node satisfying a dynamic quota value associated with each node's active connections, said dynamic quota value corresponding to a maximum allowable quota value indicating a maximum number of connections that the resource node can accept from each first consumer node;

selection logic executed by the processor for selecting a number of second consumer nodes from the first number of consumer nodes based on said second consumer node's being addressable by the resource node;

communication logic executed by the processor sending the availability notification to each of the selected second consumer nodes from the second number of the consumer nodes;

reception logic executed by the processor for receiving a decline message from at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

selection logic executed by the processor for selecting, in accordance with the QoS, another consumer node from the second consumer nodes to send the availability notification.

14. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein said selection of the second number of consumer nodes is a random selection.

15. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the selection of the second number of consumer nodes comprises a statistical determination-based on statistics of prior connection responses by said second consumer nodes to previous availability notifications.

16. The computing device of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving logic executed by the processor for receiving a request to connect to the resource node by at least one second consumer node receiving the availability notification; and

connection logic executed by the processor for connecting the resource node to the at least one second consumer node.

17. The computing device of claim 13 , further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining whether the dynamic quota value is less than the maximum allowable quota value, wherein the dynamic quota value is periodically computed by the resource node.

18. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein at least one said second consumer nodes belongs to a channel swarm associated with said resource node within said P2P network.