Patent ID: 7401091

Claim:
A distributed data processing system for preparing multimedia content, in which said multimedia content comprises at least one file, said distributed data processing system further comprising: at least one first computer system comprising storage for storing said at least one file; at least one second computer system comprising means for rendering said at least one file, and a network, said distributed data processing system comprising: means for requesting at least one file comprising content data; means, responsive to said means for requesting, for determining by said at least one first computer system, whether said at least one file is stored in said storage; means, responsive to a successful determination, for obtaining associated security functions for said at least one file; means for analyzing said content data to obtain associated characteristics, and means for combining said associated security functions and said associated characteristics and means for combining said associated security functions and said associated characteristics into a data structure, wherein said data structure comprising said associated security functions and said associated characteristics is separate from said at least one file comprising said content data; combining said associated security functions and said associated characteristics into a data structure, wherein said data structure comprising said associated security functions and said associated characteristics is separate from said at least one file comprising said content data, wherein said at least one first computer system utilizes said data structure to prepare for transmitting said content data, wherein said content data comprises at least one data stream, wherein said at least one data stream is associated with a data structure, wherein said data structure comprises a hierarchy of objects, representing said at least one data stream and said at least one sub-stream, wherein said at least one data stream comprises at least one data sub-stream, wherein said at least one said file further comprises header data; means for transmitting said data structure to said at least one second computer system; means for in response to receiving said data structure, determining by said at least one second computer system whether said data structure can be processed; and in response to a successful determining step, utilizing by said at least one second computer system said data structure to prepare for rendering of said content data.