Patent ID: 8589368
Filing Date: 2013-11-19
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: monitoring, at a processor of a computer system, pointers to instances of content stored at multiple network locations on a network, wherein a respective instance of the content stored at one of the multiple network locations, when played back on a media player, provides at least a portion of a same or similar user experience as is provided by playing back other instances of the content stored at other locations of the multiple network locations, and receiving metadata for each respective pointer specifying a type of download application used to retrieve the respective instance of the content via the respective pointer; selecting, via the processor, a pointer from the pointers to use to retrieve an instance of the content associated with the selected pointer based on whether the selected pointer's metadata specifies a peer-to-peer download application for retrieving the instance of the content associated with the selected pointer via a peer-to-peer network connection over the network, wherein selecting the pointer is further based on determining whether the peer-to-peer download application is resident to the computer system; and initiating, via the processor, retrieval of the instance of the content associated with the selected pointer over the network using the peer-to-peer download application.