Patent ID: 8621000

Claim:
A method comprising: obtaining, from a content source via a network, a playlist file including a plurality of content file identifiers corresponding to storage locations of a plurality of content files associated with alternate encodings of a content stream, wherein each of the content file identifiers contains a unique set of attribute values for attributes that differentiate each of the alternate encodings; determining that an attribute value for a stream identification attribute is the same for each of the content file identifiers, indicating that the alternate encodings correspond to a single content stream; determining that an attribute value for a spatial coordinates attribute is not the same for each of the content file identifiers, indicating that the alternate encodings correspond to different logical divisions of an image area associated with the spatial coordinates for the content stream; forwarding, to a client device, the playlist file for selection of one logical division of the different logical divisions; receiving, from the client device or a device associated with the client device, a request for a graphic representation of the different logical divisions of the image area; presenting, to the client device and responsive to the request, a graphical representation of each of the different logical divisions of the image area, wherein the graphical representations complementarily form an entirety of the image area; and obtaining, from the content source via the network and responsive to the forwarding, one or more content file, of the plurality of content files, associated with a particular encoding of the alternate encodings based on user input received with respect to the graphical representations.