| CPC H04L 41/04 (2013.01) [H04L 41/0853 (2013.01); H04L 41/12 (2013.01); H04L 43/06 (2013.01); H04L 43/065 (2013.01); H04L 43/10 (2013.01); H04L 45/16 (2013.01); H04L 45/44 (2013.01)] | 22 Claims |

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1. A method, comprising:
at a first machine of a non-static collection of machines, wherein the non-static collection of machines is self-organized into a linear communication orbit, and a server has sent a data unit to a subset of machines in the linear communication orbit:
receiving a plurality of shards of the data unit from an upstream neighbor of the first machine in the linear communication orbit;
sending the plurality of shards of the data unit to a downstream neighbor of the first machine in the linear communication orbit; and
selecting and maintaining a subset of the plurality of shards of the data unit in a local cache of the first machine according to a data caching method, wherein the first machine selects the subset of the plurality of shards it maintains independently of whether the subset of the plurality of shards are maintained locally by the upstream neighbor and the downstream neighbor of the first machine in the linear communication orbit.
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