Patent ID: 7107351

Claim:
A method for transferring remote files from a remote server to a local client, the method comprising the steps of: receiving at the local client a portion request from a local portion requestor to retrieve all portions of a remote file from the remote server to a local file at the local client, the remote file having one or more first portions preceding a second portion, the portion request comprising information specifying the second portion of the remote file; determining the status of portions received from the remote file from the remote server at the local file of the local client; responsive to the portion request, when the status of the portions received from the remote server indicates that the second portion has not been received from the remote server and stored at the local file and when one of the one or more first portions has net yet been received from the remote file from the remote server, initiating from the local client the retrieval of all not yet retrieved portions from the remote server beginning with the second portion of the remote file from the remote server to the local file; when the status of the portions received from the remote server indicates that the second portion has been received from the remote server and stored at the local file and when one of the one or more first portions has not yet been received from the remote file from the remote server, initiating from the local client the retrieval of all not yet retrieved portions from the remote server to the local file; and when a portion of the all portions of the remote file have been received from the remote server and stored at a portion of the local file, making the portion of the local file available to the portion requester.