Patent ID: 7447775

Claim:
A method to support transmission of streaming data from a content engine coupled to a network, the method comprising: from a requesting source communicating over the network, receiving a request message including a request for particular data from he content engine, the content engine including at least two different types of servers to service the request for particular data; identifying client type properties associated with the received request message; depending on the identified client type properties associated with the received request message, forwarding the request for particular data to one of the at least two different types of servers of the content engine to stream the particular data to the requesting source; determining that the particular data associated with the received request message is stored in a local storage device associated with the content engine; and from the server of the content engine to which the received request message is forwarded, transmitting the particular data associated with the request message to the requesting source by bypassing a software communication port on which the request message was originally received; wherein bypassing the software communication port includes spoofing a corresponding server, to which the request is forwarded, into believing that the request for the particular data was received directly from a corresponding requesting source instead of being forwarded from a gateway application in the content engine that forwards the request to the corresponding server; and wherein forwarding the request for particular data is supported at least in part by: establishing a communication session between the gateway application and the corresponding server, the communication session including a software communication port associated with the gateway application through which the request message is forwarded to the corresponding server, and maintaining an alias associated with the software communication port of the gateway application such that, when the corresponding server inquires as to an address of the gateway application forwarding the request to the corresponding server, a source other than the gateway application supplying the alias to the corresponding server to spoof the corresponding computer that the forwarded request was received directly from the requesting source instead of the gateway application.