Patent ID: 7085842

Claim:
A method of streaming a first data stream of a live event in a first and second streaming modes supported at a first computer connected to a first side of a wide area network from the first computer to a second computer connected to a second side of the wide area network, the second computer having a media player program for presenting content of the first data stream to a user at the second computer, a first mode of the media player program not changing in response to a change from the first of the streaming modes to the second of the streaming modes, the method comprising: the first computer sending executable instruction code to the second computer for invoking the first mode of the media player program and for presenting an on-screen interface allowing a user at the second computer to request in successive fashion at least the first and the second of the plurality of streaming modes supported at the first computer; in response to a request received at the first computer from a user at the second computer during the live event to change from the first of the plurality of streaming modes to the second of the plurality of streaming modes, associating time stamp values with data units of the first data stream such that the media player program at the second computer will present content of the first data stream in a manner providing the user at the second computer an experience of a mode change while the media player program remains in the first mode of the media player program, wherein the first mode of the media player program is a mode for playing content at a first content rate, the first mode of the streaming modes is a mode for playing content at the first content rate, and the second mode of the streaming modes is a mode for playing content at a second content rate, the second content rate being faster than the first content rate, and wherein when streaming in the second of the plurality of modes, time stamps of data units sent to the second computer are adjusted such that a time value difference between the time stamps of a first data unit and a second data unit is less than the time value difference between the time stamps originally applied to the first data unit and the second data unit so that the media player program, while remaining in a mode for playing content at the first content rate, plays content at the second content rate; and wherein one of the streaming mode is a live streaming mode for presenting live content of the live event and the other one of the streaming mode is a non-live streaming mode for presenting content of the live event that is less recent than the live content, and wherein the first mode of the media player transitions from the non-live streaming mode to the live streaming mode when the time stamp value of the data units of the non-live streaming mode catches up to the time stamp values of the live streaming mode.