Patent ID: 8543660

Claim:
A method comprising: generating, by a computing device located within a local media content network, a media index of local media content stored by one or more media content access devices located within the local media content network and cloud media content stored by one or more cloud computing devices within a cloud media content network; generating, by the computing device, a device index of the one or more media content access devices located within the local media content network; managing, by the computing device based on the media index, a predefined media management heuristic, and the device index, the local media content and the cloud media content; wherein the managing comprises: receiving, from a requesting device, a request for a media content instance included in at least one of the local media content and the cloud media content; determining, based on the device index, one or more attributes of the requesting device; determining, based on the one or more attributes of the requesting device and the predefined media management heuristic, one or more preferred attributes of media content; identifying, based on the one or more attributes of media content, the media index, and the predefined media management heuristic, an available copy of the requested media content instance that best fits the request; and facilitating access by the requesting device to the identified copy of the media content instance.