Patent ID: 8055793

Claim:
A method for reducing delay of media playing, comprising: obtaining, by a user node, information on a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of nodes providing at least a portion of a program content, wherein the program content is to be played in a sequence of time segments; selecting a list of best nodes corresponding to the sequence of time segments, wherein for each of the time segments of the sequence, a corresponding best node, which is closest to the user node among nodes that can provide the program content in the time segment, is selected into the list; creating a plurality of keep-alive connections with the list of best nodes, wherein the keep-alive connections are TCP pre-connections that keep communication active between the list of best nodes and the user node; receiving media stream data of the program content from a best node corresponding to a selected time segment from the list of best nodes; and playing the media stream data received from the best node corresponding to the selected time segment.