Patent ID: 8214506

Claim:
A method for providing content to a client device, wherein the client device communicates with other devices over a network, comprising: receiving a request from the client device at a content management service which has access to a database of content on the network and a database of devices on the network, wherein the request identifies content requested by a client; designating, with the content management service, a content source which stores the content identified by the request; receiving, by at least one hardware unit, capability information from the client device; and determining, with the content management service, whether the client device does or does not have capabilities corresponding to the content identified by the request, wherein the determination is made using the capability information, responsive to a determination that the client device has capabilities corresponding to the content identified by the request, providing the client device with information to facilitate direct communication between the client device and the content source over the network, and responsive to a determination that the client device does not have capabilities corresponding to the content identified by the request, constructing a communication channel over the network between the client device and one or more other devices which have capabilities corresponding to the content identified by the request; wherein the content management service determines whether the client device does or does not have capabilities corresponding to the content identified by the request by forwarding the request and capability information to a workflow-orchestration service on another device which performs the determination.