Patent ID: 8589993

Claim:
A method of distributing multimedia content to end users, the method comprising: during any current interval in a sequence of intervals of predetermined maximum duration T: responding, by a video server, to a first request within the current interval for a program of multimedia content from a first requestor by delivering the program of multimedia content from the video server to first customer premise equipment of the first requestor; responsive to subsequent requests for the program of multimedia content from subsequent requestors occurring before termination of the current interval, routing at least a portion of the program of multimedia content from the first customer premise equipment to customer premise equipment corresponding to each of the subsequent requestors via a network node, wherein the network node includes a central office node; and terminating the current interval and beginning a new interval in response to satisfaction of a termination criterion selected from: a first criterion comprising receipt of more than N subsequent requests for the program of multimedia content during the current interval, wherein N is a predetermined threshold; and a second criterion comprising a duration of the current interval reaching the maximum duration T.