Patent ID: 7720986

Claim:
A method operating in an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) provider network, comprising: receiving a media request for a target device, the target device being at least one of a set-top box (STB), a television monitor, a mobile phone, a portable media player, or a personal digital assistant (PDA); receiving signaling information from the target device and a media server; identifying at least one attribute of the target device and the media server using the signaling information; evaluating the at least one attribute of the target device and the media server against a service level objective to select a selected media format, the service level objective including consideration of the target device and available bandwidth over the IPTV provider network; and providing media in the selected media format over the IPTV provider network to the target device, wherein the media comprises video content, and wherein the evaluating of the signaling information further comprises: accessing the media of a source media format from a plurality of available formats of the media for use as the selected media format, such that the video content is adapted by selecting a media format that enables a particular type of the target device to receive the video content over the IPTV provider network within a predetermined period of time at presentation quality on the particular type of target device being used.