Enhanced video programming system and method for providing a distributed community network

Abstract

A distributed community network for providing services to an arbitrarily large community of end users by distributing the load among many machines. The network uses hubs on the machines for routing packets. The hubs obtain routing instructions from a router and use those instructions for routing the packets. The packets include content for the machines based upon a particular network service, such as a chat service for permitting users to interact in chat rooms or a push/pull service for pushing content to the user machines either directly or based upon information received from the users.

1 . A method for routing packets of information in a network, comprising: 
 at a routing device located on a network, establishing at least one directory comprising at least one routing instruction to one or more targets in the network;    receiving a message to modify the at least one routing instruction; and    modifying the at least one routing instruction.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 receiving a packet at the routing device;  
 accessing the at least one directory comprising the at least one routing instruction to one or more targets in the network; and  
 routing the packet to the one or more targets in the network.  
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operation of receiving a message to modify the at least one routing instruction comprises: 
 receiving a message to add at least one routing instruction for at least one new target in the network to the at least one directory.  
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the operation of receiving a message to modify the at least one routing instruction comprises: 
 receiving a message to delete at least one routing instruction for at least one new target in the network from the at least one directory.  
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the routing device comprises a hub.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the routing instruction comprises an identification of participants to receive the packet.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the routing instruction further comprises an address on the network to send the packet.  
     
     
         8 . A method for transmitting data packets of information to one or more client devices, comprising: 
 in a server, providing for at least one directory comprising at least one identification of a client and at least one identification of at least one type of content to transmit to the client;    accessing the at least one directory; and    transmitting a packet from the server, the packet corresponding with the at least one type of content, the packet comprising the at least one identification of the client.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising: 
 receiving a message to modify the at least one directory; and  
 modifying the directory.  
 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the message to modify the at least one directory comprises an instruction to add at least one identification of a client.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the message to modify the at least one directory comprises an instruction to add at least one identification of at least one type of content.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the message to modify the at least one directory comprises an instruction to delete at least one identification of a client.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the message to modify the at least one directory comprises an instruction to delete at least one identification of at least one type of content.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8  where the at least one type of content is selected from the group consisting of text data, video data, audio data, a uniform resource identifier, a uniform resource name, and a uniform resource locator.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the operation of transmitting a packet from the server further comprises the operation of transmitting a packet from the server to a network.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the network is selected from the group consisting of the Internet, a wide-area network, a local area network, an intranet, a cable TV distribution medium, a broadcast medium, and a satellite broadcast medium.