Patent ID: 7430609

Claim:
A method of changing a stream source accessed by a first terminal, the method comprising: enabling the first terminal to access a first stream of data units having a content from a first duplicating switch that is formatted to enable terminals to access the content by establishing a session with the first duplicating switch; transmitting, using the first duplicating switch, the first stream of data units to the first terminal; receiving, from a second terminal that is not presently receiving the content of the first stream of data units, a request to access the content of the first stream of data units; identifying, based the received request, a second duplicating switch from a group of duplicating switches that includes the first duplicating switch and the second duplicating switch; instructing, based on a determination that the second duplicating switch is not presently hosting the content of the first stream of data units, the second duplicating switch to access the content of the first stream of data units; instructing, based on a determination that the second duplicating switch is not presently hosting the content of the first stream of data units, the second duplicating switch to host the content of the first stream of data units; enabling the second duplicating switch to host the content of the first stream of data units by: transmitting a copy of the content of the first stream of data units to the second duplicating switch; and instructing the second duplicating switch to store at least a portion of the copy of the content of the first stream of data units; enabling the second terminal to access a second stream of data units including the stored copy of the content from the second duplicating switch by establishing a session with the second duplicating switch; receiving, based on instructing the second duplicating switch to host the content of the first stream of data units, an indication of a transfer condition; determining, based on receiving the indication of the transfer condition, that the first terminal should access the content of the first stream of data units from the second duplicating switch; enabling the first terminal to access a third stream of data units including the stored copy of the content from the second duplicating switch; providing the first terminal with an address of the second duplicating switch; and instructing the first terminal to transfer from using the first duplicating switch to using the second duplicating switch in order to access the third stream of data units using the address of the second duplicating switch.