SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DELIVERING RICH MEDIA CONTENT OVER A NETWORK

摘要

Systems and methods are presented that allow the efficient distribution of rich media to clients (336) by maximizing the use of available bandwidth and client processing capabilities. A rich media presentation is divided into discrete components, and a producer of the presentation specifies how a presentation is to be assembled and where resources needed for the presentation are to be found. This information is packaged into a data structure and sent to clients (336). Clients (336) use this data structure to retrieve the necessary resources for the presentation. Producers are able to prioritize the particular resources that form part of the ultimate presentation according to their importance in the presentation, and clients (336) can retrieve the resources most suitable for their capabilities, including processing power, graphics production speed, and bandwidth. A benchmarker routine running on the client (336) helps identify these capabilities just before retrieval of the presentation components, to more closely assess the conditions under which the client (336) will retrieve, assemble and present the desired show.