Patent ID: 7536470

Claim:
A computer-readable storage medium for media streaming, having stored thereon a data structure, comprising: a media file divided into a series of timeblocks TB 0 to TB n-1 stored on said computer-readable storage medium wherein each timeblock consists of media packets of a short non-overlapping time span; a media header field comprising fields for global information about the media to allow decoding and rendering of the media packets; a timeblock index table field with an index entry for each timeblock in said series, wherein each timeblock index table field entry comprises: a timestamp for the beginning time of the timeblock; a length of a timeblock header for that timeblock; an availability indicator which provides information on how complete the timeblock is; and a timeblock data pointer; and a timeblock body field holding the data of the timeblocks; wherein each timeblock of said series of timeblocks is led by a timeblock header consisting of a media packet index table field with an index entry for each media packet in the timeblock, wherein each media packet index table field entry comprises: a media packet header, comprising fields for a channel index, beginning timestamp, property flags and the original media packet length; an availability indicator which provides information on how complete the media packet is; and a pointer to the media packet data; wherein the media header field and each media packet are divided into a series of data units identifiable by data unit ID; and wherein each timeblock of said series of timeblocks has a field for a beginning data unit ID of the timeblock.