Patent ID: 7627653

Claim:
A method for distributing files across a network, comprising: receiving a request at a file server to download a file to a client; determining whether the file server is currently downloading the file in a file download stream to another client; responsive to the file server not being currently downloading the file to another client, servicing the request by commencing the file download stream on a multicast port; and responsive to the file server being currently downloading the file, servicing the request by, remembering a marked location in the file, wherein the marked location in the file relates to a current packet number of the file download stream on the multicast port, reserving, at the client, a space in a local file for previously transmitted portions of the file from the beginning of the file to the current packet in the file download stream; continuing to download the file into the local file until an end of the file, thereby allowing the client to receive the remainder of the file, and downloading the file from the beginning of the file to the marked location, thereby allowing the client to receive previously transmitted portions of the file.