Patent ID: 7383350

Claim:
A communication method for limiting transmission rate of data being transmitted from a server to a requesting computer in response to a user's input, said method comprising steps of: accepting a user request for a specified data item at a requesting computer, the specified data item to be delivered in its entirety prior to being accessed; accepting, at the requesting computer in response to accepting the user request for the specified data item, a user input speed setting, wherein the user input speed setting is not related to a speed that is associated with the specified data item; generating, at the requesting computer in response to accepting the user input speed setting, a speed indication signal that comprises a maximum transmission rate to be used in transmitting the specified data item from the server to the requesting computer, wherein the maximum transmission rate is based upon the user input speed setting and is less than the data rate of the data link and less than the data rate capacity of the requesting computer; receiving, at a server from the requesting computer, a request for the specified data item; receiving, at the request for the specified data item, the speed indication signal; and transmitting the specified data item from the server to the requesting computer, the transmitting comprising limiting, by the server, an average rate of transmission while sending at least a portion of the specified data item across a data link from the server to the requesting computer to be not greater than the maximum transmission rate represented within the speed indication signal received from the requesting computer.