Patent ID: 6888477

Claim:
A method for providing media content transcoding services, comprising: (a) fetching media content; (b) selecting one of a plurality of transcoders for transcoding from a plurality of source types to a plurality of destination types, wherein said one transcoder is selected based at least on the destination type; (c) sending the media content to said selected transcoder; (d) transcoding the media content to the destination type, thereby generating transcoded media content; and (e) transmitting said transcoded media content; and (f) wherein said selected one of said plurality of transcoders for transcoding from a source type to a destination type which have different: (1) file formats of the media content; (2) bit-rates of the media content; (3) communication protocols according to which the media content is transferred; (4) physical media on which the media content is stored; (5) encoding formats; (6) compression algorithms; (7) digital rights management information; or (8) combinations thereof.