Snow Leopard, Bonjour, and energy-efficient file sharing
Looks like Snow Leopard may be using Apple’s new Bonjour sleep proxy patent.
From http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/:
It’s interesting to see this patent being applied to file sharing, because the patent’s wording seemed intended for printers and specifically listed as an example the ability to let your printer enter sleep mode while appearing to remain available on the network.
Maybe Apple had both uses in mind when applying for the patent, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this file sharing application became apparent only after the sleep proxy was implemented and working, a continuation of the virtuous cycle begun when Bonjour was introduced to simplify networking.