| Peer-to-peer file-sharing systems offer a simple way to store and access large amounts of data in a distributed and fault-tolerant manner. These systems enable users to form communities for sharing different types of files. One important feature is the ability to search, but many existing systems provide only limited ability to search using metadata. U-P2P is a novel application framework that exploits metadata to improve search in file-sharing communities. Additionally, U-P2P simplifies the creation and discovery of file-sharing communities. Each community allows the sharing of a particular type of structured document. Users are free to define their own structured formats. These facilitate metadata search by defining the available search criteria and validating published documents. Communities are themselves modeled as structured documents, thus enabling their sharing and discovery exactly like any other document. Users can easily create new formats and communities. |
