Patent ID: 8719881

Claim:
A content delivery method, the method comprising: operating a first content server to provide content as part of an on-demand content delivery session, to a first platform; operating a first control device, through which said content is delivered to the first platform during said on-demand content delivery session, to send an invitation signal to a second control device to trigger presentation of an invitation to join the on-demand content delivery session to an invited party, said first control device being in a content delivery path used to deliver content from said first content delivery server to said first platform; operating said second control device to identify a second content server from which said content can be provided to a second platform corresponding to said invited party, said first content server and said second content server being located at different locations; operating the second control device to communicate to said first control device a duration of an expected delay associated with retrieval of said content, said expected delay corresponding to an amount of time required by said second content server to retrieve said content from a third content server, said third content server being different from said first content server; modifying a playlist used to control delivery of content to said first platform to take into account the amount of time required by said second content server to retrieve said content from the third content server; and operating said second content server to provide said content to said second platform in synchronization with the supply of said content from the first content server to said first platform.