A METHOD OF OBTAINING PRESENCE INFORMATION AND A METHOD OF MAINTAINING AN UPDATED MEMBERSHIP LIST OF COMMUNICATION DEVICES IN A DECENTRALISED NETWORK

摘要

A method of obtaining presence information in a decentralised network of a first one of a plurality of client communication devices by a second one of a plurality of client communication devices is disclosed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the method comprising the steps of, the second client communication device, executing a PROBE process at step 224 to establish a first virtual connection with the second client communication device in order to obtain the presence information. Upon failing to establish the connection within a specific time period; the PROBE process is repeated until a probe counter exceeds a predetermined threshold and the process branches to step 232. The failure information is broadcasted to selected client communication devices in the network that subscribe to the online presence of the second communication device so that the presence information of the first communication device is relayed to the second communication device via the selected communication device. A method of maintaining an updated membership list of communication devices in a decentralised network is also disclosed herein.