Patent ID: 6594699
Filing Date: 2003-07-15
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of transferring data from a server computer to a client computer in accordance with client media capabilities of the client computer, the method comprising:determining media capabilities of said client computer to receive a transfer of media data from said server computer, wherein the client media capabilities comprise at least one of client computer processor type; client computer processor speed, client computer multimedia decoder type or types, including client computer multimedia decoder type or types for a plurality of encodings of a media data in a first media format and client computer multimedia decoder type or types for a plurality of encodings of a media data in different media formats; type and version of client computer operating system; client computer memory size; hardware and software network capabilities; and network interfaces available: sending the client media capabilities to the server computer, said server computer executing a media server process that receives and processes the client media capabilities and controls the media format and media format encoding of the media data; wherein the sending of said client media capabilities to said server computer is performed a single time for multiple data transfer requests, said client media capabilities being stored and later retrieved for use in response to a later client request for a media data item without sending multiple times; and directing transfer of the media data to the client computer responsive to the media capabilities received by the server, said determining and said sending of said media capabilities occurring separately from said directing transfer of said media data.