Patent ID: 8001251

Claim:
An AV server which is connected to a network and distributes content to a client device requesting the content, said AV server comprising: a communication unit operable to send and receive a communication packet; a content data distribution unit operable to distribute content data to the client device using said communication unit, based on a physical connection; a content data accumulation unit operable to accumulate the content data; a protocol processing unit operable to process a command for managing a logical connection using said communication unit; and a connection management unit operable to manage a connection with the client device based on a connection ID, the connection with the client device being based on (i) the physical connection of said content data distribution unit and (ii) the logical connection of said protocol processing unit, wherein, in a case where said communication unit receives a content data distribution request based on the physical connection from the client device, said content data distribution unit determines whether or not the client device is associated with a connection ID, wherein, in a case where the client device is not associated with a connection ID, said content data distribution unit requests that said connection management unit create and store a connection ID that is associated with the client device, wherein said connection management unit is operable to manage connection management information including the connection ID associated with the client device and information used to determine a priority of the connection ID associated with the client device, and wherein, when receiving a command for deleting the connection ID associated with the client device, which is stored in said connection management unit, said connection management unit deletes the connection ID associated with the client device in a case where a priority of a connection ID associated with another client device sending the command is higher than the priority of the connection ID associated with the client device.