Patent ID: 7734800

Claim:
A method of obtaining and presenting multimedia content, comprising the following steps: providing multiple media streams at a network server corresponding to the multimedia content, the multiple media streams including streams corresponding to at least first and second media types, the media streams of the first media type and of the second media type having timelines, wherein the media streams of the first and second media types can be rendered in combination to produce the multimedia content; for each of a plurality of different playback speeds, composing multiple composite media streams that represent the multimedia content for that playback speed with varying quality requiring varying network bandwidth, by selecting the media stream of the first type and modifying in a linear manner a timeline of the selected media stream of the first type based on that playback speed, selecting the media stream of the second type and modifying in a non-linear manner a timeline of the selected media stream of the second type based on that playback speed; for each of the multiple composite media streams for that playback speed and for a quality, composing a composite media stream for the quality from the modified media stream of the first type and the modified media stream of the second type; and storing at the network server the composite media streams for that playback speed; and after composing and storing the composite media streams for the different playback speeds, for each of a plurality of network clients, receiving from the network client a selection of the multimedia content to be rendered at the network client; receiving from the network client a selection of a speed designation received at the network client from a human user, wherein the speed designation is a speed factor relative to a default playback speed of the selected multimedia content; selecting one of the plurality of playback speeds that most closely matches the received speed designation; and streaming the composite media stream for the selected playback speed from the network server to the network client, the composite media stream representing the selected multimedia content; so that the network client can render the composite media stream based on the speed designation and with the media stream of the first media type synchronized with the media stream of the second media type, so that the network server can avoid having to compose a composite media stream after receiving a selection from a network client, and so that communication bandwidth is saved by not having to send the unmodified multimedia content to the network client.