Patent ID: 7007295
Filing Date: 2006-02-28
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. In a computer network allowing communication between a host computer and a plurality of remote user computers, a method for packaging a single 3D animated content data for distribution to the remote user computers over a network connection, the method comprising: identifying a set of pre-load data preloaded by a remote user computer before playback of the single 3D animated content; storing the pre-load data in a pre-load file; identifying first and second streaming data respectively having first and second data sizes for being streamed over the network connection during playback of the single 3D animated content, the first and second streaming data being respectively associated with first and second scenes of the single 3D animated content; identifying a data rate available to the remote user computer for streaming the first and second streaming data; identifying a first duration of a first scene and a second duration of a second scene; storing the streaming data for the first and second scenes in first and second stream files associated with the scenes, each stream file being of a size calculated from the identified data rate and the duration of the respective scene, each stream file being packaged into a plurality of data blocks, each data block being associated with a start transmission time; allocating an excess portion of at least the first streaming data to the pre-load file responsive to a determination that the first data size is bigger than the size calculated for the first stream file; assigning a start transmission time to a first of the plurality of data blocks based on a size of the first data block and the identified data rate; assigning a start transmission time to each successive data block based on its respective size and the identified data rate; recursively updating a start time of a previous data block based on the calculation of the start transmission time of the successive data block; and streaming each stream file over the network connection during playback of the respective scene, the stream file calculated to finish downloading by the remote user computer prior to the end of the playback of the respective scene.