Patent ID: 8539103

Claim:
A method of selecting a stream server of a plurality of stream servers to which to direct a content title, the method comprising: (a) evaluating a cache ease-of-entry for each of a plurality of levels of a cache hierarchy for the plurality of stream servers; and (b) selecting the stream server from the plurality of stream servers to receive a content title, the selected stream server having a most favorable cache ease-of-entry over the plurality of levels of the cache hierarchy; (c) if none of the plurality of stream servers has a most favorable cache ease-of-entry over the plurality of levels of the cache hierarchy, selecting a stream server of the plurality of stream servers with a lowest miss traffic to which to direct the title; and (d) if none of the plurality of stream servers has a lowest miss traffic, selecting a stream server of the plurality of stream servers with a lowest stream traffic to which to direct the title.