Patent ID: 7313137

Claim:
A method of replicating and distributing a data object from a data source to a plurality of receiving devices comprising: (a) retrieving said data object from said data source; (b) storing said data object as a plurality of data blocks within a storage unit, wherein each of said plurality of data blocks is stored in a corresponding individually addressable storage unit element, and wherein each individually addressable storage unit element is associated with a corresponding counter and each address of an individually addressable storage unit element is stored in a plurality of lists each associated with a corresponding receiving device; (c) retrieving and transmitting to each receiving device concurrently each data block within said corresponding individually addressable storage unit elements; and (d) monitoring distribution of said data object to said receiving devices, wherein step (d) further includes: (d.1) updating said corresponding counter each time a data block stored within an individually addressable storage unit element is transmitted; (d.2) determining the presence of an error during transmission of a data block to a receiving device; and (d.3) deleting said list associated with a receiving device in response to the presence of a transmission error with respect to that receiving device and updating said counters associated with said individually addressable storage unit elements identified by addresses within said deleted list.