Patent ID: 8205004

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, from a media streaming provider via a communication channel in response to a first request, a first data item regarding a media document that includes multiple data segments, the received first data item comprising: a first media data segment of the media document from among the multiple data segments, the first media data segment comprising a first media portion, and a first portion of an index for the media document, the first index portion comprising index information relating to a first set of media data segments, the first set of media data segments comprising media data segments from among the multiple data segments of the media document that comprise, respectively, media portions succeeding the first media portion, each of the media portions succeeding the first media portion being encoded at each of multiple bit-rates, and media data segments of the media document that correspond, respectively, to predetermined media locations of the media document, each of the media data segments that correspond to the predetermined media locations including an associated media portion encoded at a lowest bit-rate from the multiple bit-rates; while the received first data item is being output for playing on an output device, selecting a second media data segment from the first set of media data segments of the media document based on: the information in the first index portion, and a supportable streaming bit-rate via the communication channel; requesting, in a second request different from the first request, the selected second media data segment of the media document from the media streaming provider; and receiving, from the media streaming provider via a communication channel in response to the second request, a second data item regarding the media document, the received second data item comprising: the selected second media data segment of the media document, the selected second media data segment comprising a second media portion, and a second portion of the index for the media document that is different from the first index portion, the second index portion comprising index information relating to a second set of media data segments, the second set of media data segments comprising media data segments from among the multiple data segments of the media document that comprise, respectively, media portions succeeding the second media portion, each of the media portions succeeding the second media portion being encoded at each of the multiple bit-rates, and media data segments of the media document that correspond, respectively, to the predetermined media locations of the media document, each of the media data segments that correspond to the predetermined media locations including the associated media portion encoded at the lowest bit-rate from the multiple bit-rates.