Patent ID: 8898253

Claim:
A method comprising: providing an availability notification from a first client device, the availability notification indicating that media content stored by the first client device is available for access, the media content being absent from a second client device communicatively coupled to the first client device and absent from a source machine communicatively coupled to the first client device and to the second client device; detecting a request from the second client device to access the media content, the request being detected by the first client device as being received by a render machine in response to the availability notification, the render machine being communicatively coupled to the source machine and the second client device; providing, by a processor, access to the media content, the access being provided by the first client device to the render machine in response to the request, the render machine accessing the media content to fulfill the request; and communicating the media content from the first client device to the source machine in response to the providing of the availability notification.