Patent ID: 7929463

Claim:
A distribution apparatus which distributes layered codec data while referring to hint information representing a packetizing method for the layered codec data, comprising: a data storage memory to store the layered codec data and the hint information; a management information storage memory to store management information which manages a plurality of groups of hint information for a plurality of distribution services using plural pieces of hint information as a group for distribution of the layered codec data in a layer-dividing method depending on a distribution service, and represents a correspondence between plural pieces of hint information forming each group and divided layered codec data and a correspondence between the plurality of groups of hint information and a plurality of layer-dividing methods; a selection unit implemented in hardware to select a group of hint information matching a target distribution service by referring to the management information; and a distribution unit implemented in hardware to packetize and distribute the layered codec data while referring to the selected group of hint information, wherein when there is common hint information among a plurality of groups, the data storage unit stores different hint information excluding redundant hint information among the plurality of groups; and the management information storage unit stores management information representing a correspondence between the common hint information and a plurality of distribution services.