Patent ID: 7379966

Claim:
A system for publishing transcoded media content, comprising: a publishing service request processor that generates a media provider request based on a requesting client's publishing service request; and a media provider farm that receives said media provider request from said publishing service request processor and delivers transcoded media content to fulfill said media provider request; wherein said media provider farm comprises: at least one transcoding server; a media provider request processor that receives said media provider request and, when indicated by said media provider request, initiates a transcoding task at one of said at least one transcoding server; at least one distribution server that distributes said transcoded media content; and a cache that stores transcoded media content for subsequent distribution through said at least one distribution server; wherein said media provider request processor comprises a database containing information about the availability of said at least one transcoding server and said at least one distribution server; wherein said media provider request processor comprises a server load monitor that monitors loading on said at least one transcoding server; wherein said media provider request processor comprises a task load monitor that estimates prospective loading on one of said at least one transcoding server, wherein said prospective loading would be attributable to said transcoding task; and wherein said task load monitor determines source, destination, and server properties, searches historical transcode task load data for a closest match, calculates a difference between the transcoding task and the closest match, returns a load value of the closest match or a predetermined conservative load estimate depending on the calculated difference.