Patent ID: 7865599

Claim:
A method to support transmission of streaming data, the method comprising: from a requesting source communicating over the network, receiving a request message at a gateway application of a first content engine, the request message including a request for particular data, the first content engine including at least two different types of servers to service the request for particular data; identifying client type properties associated with the received request message; depending on the identified client type properties associated with the received request message, forwarding the request for particular data to a selected server to stream the particular data to the requesting source; establishing a communication session between the gateway application and the selected server, the communication session including a software communication port associated with the gateway application through which the request message is forwarded to the selected server; maintaining an alias that (i) identifies an IP address of the requesting source and (ii) is forwarded to a kernel of an operating system of the content engine, the alias being associated with the software communication port of the gateway application; and when the selected server inquires as to an address of the gateway application forwarding the request to the corresponding server, supplying the alias to the selected server, wherein the software communication port is included in a TCP link established between the content engine and the selected server, the TCP link being identified by a socket identifier in a TCP stack of the content engine; wherein maintaining the alias includes executing, by the gateway application, a command operative to set the socket identifier to the alias; and wherein supplying the alias to the selected server is performed by a kernel of the content engine and the TCP stack, without communication by the gateway application through the software communication port, in response to a request from the selected server for a network address associated with the software communication port.