Patent ID: 8073951

Claim:
A method for intelligently allocating limited resources of a media server across a plurality of remote display devices communicating with the media server through a network, the method comprising: providing each remote display device with state detection logic to determine whether the remote display device is in an active or inactive state; initially allocating a resource of the media server to a first remote display device; detecting by the state detection logic that the second remote display device transitions from an inactive state to an active state; receiving a request by a second remote display device for the resource; subsequent to receiving the request, detecting by the state detection logic that the first remote display device is in the active state; comparing priority of the first remote display device relative to the second remote display device; determining that the reallocation of the resource from the first remote display device to the second remote display device is warranted based on priority of the first remote display device relative to the second remote display device and the state of the second remote display device; and reallocating the resource from the first remote display device to the second remote display device.