Patent ID: 7924714

Claim:
A communication method of switching a receiving terminal of streaming content to which a rate control using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Friendly Rate Control (TFRC) is applied from a first receiving terminal to a second receiving terminal, comprising: a deciding step of deciding whether or not a route on a network between a transmitting terminal of the streaming content and the first receiving terminal is identical to a route on the network between the transmitting terminal and the second receiving terminal; a transferring step of transferring history information of a packet loss that the first receiving terminal is managing to the second receiving terminal if it is decided that both routes are identical, wherein a transmission rate of said streaming content transmitted from said transmitting terminal to said second receiving terminal is determined using said history information to take over said transmission rate from said first receiving terminal to said second receiving terminal; and wherein, if it is decided that both routes are not identical, said transmission rate to said second receiving terminal is determined without using said history information.