Patent ID: 8392583

Claim:
A method for controlling distribution of a shared content stream in a communications network, comprising: storing session state information about existing communication sessions within the network, receiving a request for transmission of a content stream to a requesting network client, determining that an existing session includes the requested content stream, determining that a receiver of said content stream in said existing session has a network location correlated with a network location of the requesting network client, selecting a relay network element capable of servicing said correlated network locations among a plurality of relay network elements associated to respective segments of the network, caching the content stream at the relay network element, setting up unicast communications sessions between the relay network element and each of the requesting network client and the receiver of the existing session for streaming said requested content stream to both the requesting network client and said receiver of the content stream in the existing session through the relay network element, wherein the relay network element streams the requested content stream in a time-offset manner to the requesting network client and the receiver of the existing session.