Method, apparatus, and system for expressway routing among peers

1. A method of expressway routing to peers, comprising:

selecting a neighboring zone to a destination zone;

retrieving a plurality of residents of said neighboring zone;

selecting a candidate peer from said plurality of residents based on a physical distance value and an estimated distance value;

determining a plurality of physical distance values, each physical distance value based on a physical distance to each resident of said plurality of residents;

determining a plurality of logical distance values, each logical distance value determined from each resident of said plurality of residents to a destination peer;

determining a ratio based on an average physical distance between a source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents to an average logical distance between said source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents; and

determining a plurality of estimated distance values, each estimated distance value being a product of a respective logical distance value and said ratio.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

forming a communication channel to said candidate peer; and

forwarding a request to forward data to said candidate peer.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of distance values, each distance value based on a respective physical distance value added to respective estimated distance value.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein said selection of said candidate peer is based on said candidate peer having a smallest value among said plurality of distance values.

5. An apparatus for routing to peers, comprising:

means for selecting a neighboring zone to a destination peer based on a request;

means for retrieving a plurality of residents of said neighboring zone;

means for selecting a candidate peer from said plurality of residents based on a physical distance value and an estimated distance value;

means for determining a plurality of physical distance values, each physical distance value based on a physical distance to each resident of said plurality of residents;

means for determining a plurality of logical distances, each logical distance determined from each resident of said plurality of residents to a destination peer;

means for determining a ratio based on an average physical distance between a source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents to an average logical distance between said source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents; and

means for determining a plurality of estimated distances, each estimated distance being a product of a respective logical distance value and said ratio.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:

means for forming a communication channel to said candidate peer; and means for forwarding said request to said candidate peer.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5 further comprising:

means for determining a plurality of distance values, each distance value based on a respective physical distance value added to a respective estimated distance value.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein said means for selection of said candidate peer is based on said candidate peer having a smallest value among said plurality of distance values.

9. A method of expressway routing among peers, comprising:

receiving a request to forward data;

determining a destination from said request;

searching a routing table for an expressway route to said destination;

selecting a zone from said routing table based on said zone not encompassing said destination;

retrieving a plurality of residents of said zone;

selecting a candidate from said plurality of residents based on a physical distance value and an ideal distance values;

determining a plurality of physical distance values, each physical distance value based on a physical distance to each resident of said plurality of residents;

determining a plurality of logical distance values, each logical distance value determined from each resident of said plurality of residents to the destination;

determining a ratio based on an average physical distance between a source of the data to each resident of said plurality of residents to an average logical distance between said data source to each resident of said plurality of residents; and

determining a plurality of estimated distance values, each estimated distance value being a product of a respective logical distance value and said ratio.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

forming said expressway route to a zone representative of said largest zone that does not encompass said destination.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

terminating said searching of said routing table in response to said destination being a peer receiving said request to forward said data.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

forming a TCP/IP connection to build said expressway route to said destination.

13. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of intermediate zones in response to said search of routing table for said expressway; and

selecting an intermediate zone from said plurality of intermediate zones.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein said selection of said intermediate zone of said plurality of intermediate zones based on said intermediate zone being closest to said destination.

15. A system for expressway routing among peers in a peer-to-peer network, said system comprising:

a peer-to-peer module operates to implement said peer-to-peer network;

a routing module operates to interface with said peer-to-peer module; and

a routing table operates to interface with said routing module, wherein said routing module is configured:

to select a neighboring zone of a destination peer based on a received request;

to retrieve a plurality of residents of said neighboring zone;

to select a candidate peer from said plurality of residents based on a physical distance value and an estimated distance value;

to determine a plurality of physical distance values, each physical distance value based on a physical distance to each resident of said plurality of residents;

to determine a plurality of logical distance values, each logical distance value determined from each resident of said plurality of residents to the destination peer;

to determine a ratio based on an average physical distance between a source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents to an average logical distance between said source peer to each resident of said plurality of residents; and

to determine a plurality of estimated distance values, each estimated distance value being a product of a respective logical distance value and said ratio.

16. The system according to claim 15 , further comprising:

an operating system operates to manage said peer-to-peer module and said routing module; and

an operating system interface operates to connect said operating system and said routing table.

17. The system according to claim 16 , further comprising:

a network interface operates to interface said peer-to-peer module with a network through said operating system.

18. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the routing module is further operates to determine a largest zone that does not encompass said destination.

19. The system according to claim 15 , wherein said logical distance value is an Euclidean distance in Cartesian space.

20. The system according to claim 15 , wherein said physical distance value is a round-trip time value.

21. The system according to claim 15 , wherein said physical distance value is a number of hops.