Patent ID: 7814519

Claim:
A method for providing assets implemented by an entertainment system head-end, the method comprising: providing from the head-end to a particular client device of a plurality of client devices serviced by the head-end, information identifying a plurality of media assets that are currently available on-demand to the particular client device and a plurality of media assets that are not currently available to the particular client device; receiving from the particular client device, a user-submitted request for a particular media asset identified in the information to define a requested media asset; determining by the head-end whether or not the requested media asset is currently available on-demand to the particular client device; in an event that the requested media asset is currently available on-demand to the particular client device, the head-end providing the requested media asset to the particular client device; and in an event that the requested media asset is not currently available on-demand to the particular client device: the head-end logging, in a request database including other unsatisfied user-submitted requests for the requested media asset received from other ones of the plurality of client devices, an indication of an unsatisfied request for the requested media asset; the head-end ascertaining, based on examination of the request database, whether or not a number of unsatisfied requests for the requested media asset exceeds a threshold; in an event that the number of unsatisfied requests for the requested media asset does not exceed the threshold, the head-end sending a notification to the particular client device, the notification indicating that the requested media asset is not currently available; in an event that the number of unsatisfied requests for the requested media asset exceeds the threshold: the head-end obtaining the requested media asset; and the head-end sending to the particular client device and the other ones of the plurality of client devices, a notification that the requested media asset is currently available on-demand.