Patent ID: 7451229

Claim:
A method for streaming content encoded in a streaming media format to at least one client as one or more media streams via a streaming protocol, said method being performed by a server and comprising: generating a serialized representation of one or more stream identifiers, each of the stream identifiers corresponding to at least one of the media streams, wherein at least two of the stream identifiers correspond to media streams intended for mutually exclusive rendering by the client; converting the serialized representation of the stream identifiers into a character string; receiving a description request from the client to describe the content; transmitting a description message via a description protocol to the client in response to the received description request, said description message comprising a header that includes the character string, wherein the header is encapsulated within the description message; receiving only one of the stream identifiers corresponding to the media streams intended for mutually exclusive rendering from the client, said received stream identifier corresponding to the media stream selected by the client for rendering wherein the client selects only one of the stream identifiers corresponding to a media stream intended for mutually exclusive rendering based on a configuration of the client; and delivering the selected media stream intended for mutually exclusive rendering to the client via the streaming protocol in response to the received stream identifier.