INTERACTIVE, RICH-MEDIA DELIVERY OVER AN IP NETWORK USING SYNCHRONIZED UNICAST AND MULTICAST

摘要

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for delivering rich media over digital networks. The invention includes processing rich media in two or more sub-streams. The sub-streams include digital packets for transport over IP networks. The invention includes adding synchronizing information to the sub-streams by adding sequencing information to the digital packets of each sub-stream, where digital packets of the sub-streams that correspond to a point in play each include a sequence identifier indicating the point in play. The synchronizing information is sufficient for a client (104) to combine the sub-streams to form the rich media. The invention includes transmitting the sub-streams concurrently over one or more digital networks (106) to the client (104) for combining the sub-streams to form the rich media. Each of the sub-streams is transmitted over a different route. Each route corresponds to a unique sub-stream address.