Patent ID: 8166186

Claim:
A content distribution method, comprising: sending distribution requests by a client apparatus to a plurality of server apparatuses via a network, the distribution requests requesting distribution of a piece of content data in a distributed manner on a packet basis; distributing the piece of content data by the plurality of server apparatuses to the client apparatus via the network in the distributed manner on the packet basis in response to the distribution requests sent in the sending distribution requests; and playing back the piece of content data by the client apparatus by assembling packets distributed in the distributed manner from the plurality of server apparatuses in the distributing the piece of content data; wherein the sending distribution requests includes dividing the piece of content data into a plurality of blocks, dividing a block of the plurality of blocks into a plurality of packets, defining a plurality of areas of the block, each area of the plurality of areas being a subset of packets of the plurality of packets, assigning each area of the plurality of areas to a server apparatus of the plurality of server apparatuses, specifying a respective transfer rate individually for each of the plurality of areas, the specifying the including setting a transfer rate for each server apparatus to transfer each area, transmitting the distribution requests for respective areas of each of the plurality of blocks specifying the respective transfer rate individually for each area to the server apparatus assigned to each area to minimize distributed loads of network circuits, detecting a ratio of packets received at the client apparatus to total packets sent by a corresponding server apparatus, decreasing a transfer rate of the corresponding server apparatus to a non-zero transfer rate if the ratio detected for the corresponding server apparatus falls below a threshold, and reassigning only some of the areas assigned to the corresponding server apparatus to another server apparatus if the transfer rate of the corresponding server apparatus is decreased and maintaining another portion of the areas assigned to the corresponding server apparatus, the distributing the piece of content data includes dividing the piece of content data into the plurality of blocks in response to a request for distribution of the piece of content data, dividing each block of the plurality of blocks into the plurality of packets, setting a transfer rate to the respective transfer rate specified in the distribution request, and distributing the packets contained in the plurality of areas of each of the plurality of blocks, in response to the distribution requests sent in the transmitting the distribution requests, and the playing back includes reconstructing the plurality of blocks on the basis of the packets contained in the plurality of areas distributed from the plurality of server apparatuses in the distributing the packets contained in the plurality of areas.