Patent ID: 8484178

Claim:
A system including a plurality of devices, wherein each of the plurality of devices is alternately selectable to be a media transmitter while remaining ones of the plurality of devices are to be selected as media receivers, the system comprising: a first device to be selected as the media transmitter, wherein the media transmitter has control of transmitting media files in a playlist to the media receivers, the first device comprising a storage device configured to store a first media file of first data, a memory configured to store the playlist, the playlist comprising a first pointer indicating that the first media file is stored on the first device, and at least one second pointer indicating that at least one second media file of second data is stored on one of the remaining ones of the plurality of devices, and an output circuit configured to i) transmit the playlist, ii) transmit the first media file to the remaining ones of the plurality of devices, and iii) in response to the first device determining that the second media file is stored on the one of the remaining ones of the plurality of devices, transfer the control of transmitting the media files in the playlist such that the one of the remaining ones of the plurality of devices is selected as the media transmitter; a second device corresponding to the one of the remaining ones of the plurality of devices, the second device configured to i) receive the playlist, ii) receive the first media file from the first device when the second device is selected as a media receiver, and iii) in response to the output circuit transferring the control of transmitting the media files in the playlist, transmit the second media file to the first device and the remaining ones of the plurality of devices; and an authentication circuit configured to authenticate each of the remaining ones of devices before transmitting the first media file, wherein the authentication circuit is configured to limit a number of the remaining ones of the plurality of devices according to a throughput of a network connecting the first device and the remaining ones of the plurality of devices.