Patent ID: 7441040

Claim:
A moving-image streaming system comprising a streaming server and a plurality of relay servers, wherein: said streaming server includes: a first determination device responsive to a request from a client computer for determining whether said plurality of relay servers includes a relay server between said streaming server and said client computer, and having a path from said relay server to said streaming server that is shorter than a path from said streaming server to said client computer; a first transmitting device for streaming moving-image data to said client computer in response to a determination by said determination device that said relay server is non-existent; and a second transmitting device for transmitting an address of said relay server to said client computer in response to a determination by said determination device that said relay server exists; said relay server includes: a receiving device for receiving the moving-image data streamed from said streaming server in response to a request of the streaming moving-image data, and waiting for a connection request from another device; a second determination device responsive to the request from said client computer for determining whether another relay server, between said relay server and said client computer, has a path from said another relay server to said relay server that is shorter than a path from said relay server to said client computer; a third transmitting device for streaming moving-image data to said requesting client computer in response to a determination by said second determination device that said another relay server is non-existent; and a fourth transmitting device for transmitting an address of said another relay server to said requesting client computer in response to a determination by said second determination device that said another relay server exists.