Patent ID: 7552143

Claim:
A method of providing multimedia contents to a client via a network, the method comprising: receiving, by a local server of a contents distribution network, multimedia contents from a plurality of contents providers connected to the contents distribution network; transmitting, by the local server, the received multimedia contents to a central server such that the central server processes the transmitted multimedia contents to construct a plurality of pieces of information relating to at least part of the transmitted multimedia contents; receiving, by the local server, the plurality of pieces of information from the central server; forwarding, by the local server, the plurality of pieces of information to a plurality of clients connected to the contents distribution network; receiving a request for supplying a piece of multimedia content from a first one of the plurality of clients, wherein the request further comprises information about a device of the first client on which the requested piece is to be played; and supplying to the first client the requested piece of multimedia content configured into a form that the first client's device can play, wherein supplying further comprises: determining whether the requested piece is stored in an edge server within the contents distribution network to which the first client is connected, if the requested piece is stored in the edge server, coordinating the requested piece to be supplied from the edge server to the first client, if the requested piece is not stored at any edge servers within the contents distribution network to which the first client is connected, determining whether the requested piece is stored in a server in another contents distribution network, and if the requested piece is stored in another contents distribution network, coordinating the requested piece to be supplied from the other contents distribution network to the first client.