Patent ID: 8539237

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for securely playing a media stream, the method comprising, on a client computer: communicating with an administration server to authenticate the client computer for communication, via a communications network, with one or more servers of a set of servers, the set of servers including the administration server, a control server and a media server, wherein the administration server, the control server and the media server are different servers; upon authentication, receiving a security token for use in requesting streaming media; displaying a list of user-selectable media streams available for playing, wherein the list is obtained from a server of the set of servers; detecting a selection of a media stream from the displayed list of user-selectable media streams; and in response to detecting the selection of the selected media stream: transmitting, to the control server, a request for respective information enabling the client computer to request the selected media stream, wherein the request for the respective information includes the security token; receiving, from the control server, the respective information; transmitting, to the media server, a request for delivery of the selected media stream to the client computer, wherein the request is based at least in part on the respective information and includes the security token; receiving, from the media server, the selected media stream; transmitting, to a server of the set of servers, information related to delivery of the selected media stream to the client computer so as to enable remote logging of information related to delivery of the selected media stream to the client computer; and playing the selected media stream at the client computer.