Patent ID: 8180915

Claim:
A method of delivering an encoded data stream to a plurality of recipient end-user nodes of a network, the method comprising: receiving an incoming encoded data stream at a first recipient node from a transmitting node over the network; during ongoing receipt of the incoming encoded data stream at the first recipient node from the transmitting node, decoding the incoming encoded data stream at the first recipient node to produce a decoded data stream and outputting the decoded data stream for consumption at the first recipient node; at the first recipient node, using the decoded data stream to generate a modified encoded data stream being a modified version of the incoming encoded data stream; and still during ongoing receipt of the incoming encoded data stream at the first recipient node from the transmitting node, relaying the modified encoded data stream from the first recipient node to one or more second recipient nodes over the network; wherein the modified encoded data stream is generated at the first recipient node by generating additional encoded data based on the decoded data stream and associating the additional encoded data with encoded data of the incoming encoded data stream, the additional encoded data not having been included in encoded form in the incoming encoded data stream as received at the first recipient node from the transmitting node; the incoming encoded data stream comprises an encoded video stream comprising a stream of inter frame encoded video data said output of the stream for consumption comprises playing the video stream at the first recipient node; and the additional encoded data comprises intra frame encoded video data; the stream of inter frame encoded video data is relayed to the second recipient node without periodic inclusion of intra frame encoded video data in the modified encoded data stream.