Patent ID: 8151178

Claim:
A computer-based method for managing transfer of media assets formatted as media representations over digital communications networks to users, comprising: storing a plurality of media objects in a datastore accessible via a communications network, wherein each of the media objects comprises a media representation, a unique identifier, and a media descriptor defining preferences of an owner of the media representation for use of the media representation; storing a plurality of user objects in a datastore accessible via the communications network, wherein each of the user objects comprises a unique identifier for a user of media representations and a participant descriptor defining preferences of the user for using media representations; receiving a request for one of the media objects from a network device operated by one of the users; with a server, processing the request to identify a matching one of the user objects linked to the requesting one of the users and to identify a matching one of the media objects in the datastore; operating the server to determine whether to fulfill the request by comparing the owner preferences for the media representation of the matching one of the media objects with the user preferences for using media representations; and when no restrictions associated with the media representations are determined to exist in the operating step based on the comparing, transmitting with an object gateway linked to the communications network the matching one of the media objects to the network device operated by the requesting one of the users, wherein the comparing of the owner preferences with the user preferences comprises determining whether the media representation of the matching one of the media objects is compatible with a presentation context defined by the user preferences.