CONTENT-ACQUISITION SOURCE SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT

摘要

A plurality of sources storing portions of a digital content item that includes a plurality of pieces is identified. The plurality of sources includes one or more peer computers of a peer-to-peer network. For each piece of the plurality of pieces of the digital content item, that piece is acquired from a source.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
storing obligatorily acquired digital content items under service control in one or more local storage machines of a computer based on service-commands provided via a centralized management service computer; storing voluntarily acquired digital content items under user control in the one or more local storage machines of the computer based on user-commands provided via user input to the computer; deleting the obligatorily acquired digital content items from the one or more local storage machines based on service-commands provided via the centralized management service computer, wherein the obligatorily acquired digital content items cannot be deleted based on user-commands; deleting the voluntarily acquired digital content items from the one or more local storage machines based on user-commands; identifying a plurality of sources storing portions of a digital content item, the digital content item including a plurality of pieces, at least one piece of the plurality of pieces stored on a peer computer of a peer-to-peer network and at least another piece of the plurality of pieces stored on the one or more local storage machines under service control; for each piece of the plurality of pieces of the digital content item, storing the piece under user control in the one or more local storage machines; and computer-reading the plurality of pieces from the one or more local storage machines under user control while presenting the digital content item.