A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING LICENSED MULTIMEDIA FILES

摘要

A distribution method and apparatus for distributing multimedia files from service providers (20) to subscribers (30) is described herein. A multimedia communication system (10) includes multiple service providers (20). Each service provider (20) includes a media server (22) and promotion server (26), where the promotion servers (26) of different service providers (20) inter-connect via a resale gateway(40). A promotion server (26) in a first service provider (20) monitors the inventory of multimedia files stored in the corresponding media server (22), identifies the multimedia files having at least one use requirement that satisfies a predetermined criteria, and promotes the identified multimedia files. The promotion server (26) may promote the identified multimedia files to subscribers (30A) of the first service provider(20A) using a weight-based approach. Alternatively or additionally, the promotion server (26) may promote the identified multimedia files to other service providers (20B) by offering the identified multimedia files to other service providers (20B) in the communication system (10) via the resale gateway (40).