Patent ID: 8452885

Claim:
A method for managing the streaming of digital media content in a network that streams digital media content to clients via multicasting and unicasting, the method comprising: establishing a real time streaming protocol (RTSP) session to secure resources necessary to provide a unicast stream to a client from a stream server; streaming content from a first channel to the client from the stream server, which provides digital video content simultaneously to multiple different clients, via the unicast stream, the unicast stream being referred to as the original unicast stream; receiving a channel change request at the stream server from the client indicating that the client desires to playout a different channel; in response to the channel change request received at the stream server from the client, idling the original unicast stream at the point at which the channel change request was received; activating a new unicast stream for the different channel and providing the new unicast stream to the client from the stream server instead of the original unicast stream; receiving a subsequent channel change request at the stream server from the client indicating that the client deserves to switch back to the first channel; and switching to streaming content from the first channel to the client from the stream server via the original unicast stream from the point at which the original unicast stream was idled; wherein the original unicast stream and the new unicast stream are streamed to the client using the same RTSP session, wherein the original unicast stream is idled for a pre-established time interval and then progressed in time after the pre-established time interval expires, the original unicast being progressed in time comprises the stream server tracking progression of the original unicast stream to allow the client to return to the idled original unicast stream from a delayed time-progressed position.