Patent ID: 7873740

Claim:
In a transport network having a set of edge nodes to which requesting end users are directed to obtain a live data stream, the method comprising: forwarding a given portion of the live stream from a first node to a second node in the transport network at a rate that is higher than an encoded bitrate of the live stream; and after the given portion of the live stream is forwarded from the first node to the second node, forwarding a second portion of the live stream from the first node to the second node at the encoded bitrate of the live stream; wherein the first node and the second node are each distinct from a node from which a requesting end user initiates a request for the live stream, and wherein the given portion represents an amount of the live stream stored at the first node during a given time period; wherein, after issuing the request, and as the second node waits for the given portion, having the second node ignore portions of the live stream other than the given portion, where the second node ignores the portions of the live stream other than the given portion until data associated with the given portion begins to be received or expiration of a time period during which the data associated with the given portion has not begun to be received.