Patent ID: 7530086

Claim:
A streaming media server for providing media content in a plurality of media streams comprising: a detector for identifying an event in the media content and generating an event detection signal; a module for receiving the event detection signal and generating a structural point detection signal in response to determining, based on configuration information, that the event detection signal indicates that the event is a structural point having significance to the media content; a cue generator for receiving the structural point detection signal and the configuration information and based thereon for generating a private cue having a predefined structure, wherein the private cue is configured to be used by a stream processing application (SPA) of only specific affiliates to receive information concerning an event associated with the media content and, wherein the private cue is not interpreted by a third party other than the specific affiliates; a cue handling mechanism for embedding the private cue into one of the plurality of media streams with the media content to provide precise time synchronization for the processing of the one of the plurality of media streams by the SPA; and a network interface for transmitting the embedded private cue and the media content in the one of the plurality of media streams to the SPA of the specific affiliates.