Patent ID: 7373395

Claim:
A system for transmitting data between two or more network devices, the system comprising: at least one central server coupled to a digital communications network and configured to communicate with a first network device and a second network device via the digital communications network; an authentication module, coupled to the at least one central server, for authenticating at least the first network device prior to allowing transmission of video data from the second network device to the first network device wherein the video data is formatted by the second network device and directly streamed to the first network device by the second network device over the digital communications network; and a mapping table accessible by the at least one central server and containing information indicating whether the first network device is authorized to receive data from the second network device wherein authentication is performed by the authentication module by receiving a first authentication ticket from the first network device and using information in the authentication ticket and the mapping table to determine if the first network device is authorized to receive the data from the second device.